One Step Closer...Coming For You, Luca Brasi!

 

Luca Brasi lunch box? No.

But we're getting closer...

My Complex Feelings Towards Boba Fett

 

Back around the beginning of 1999, I wrote a piece about my strong dislike of the Star Wars character, Boba Fett. I say "piece," because this wasn't a blog post. In fact it was pre: Facebook Notes, Blogger, UJournal, MySpace, and even Friendster. I also say "piece" as it is quite the piece of shit. Even now I loathe much of my writing as soon as I write it. So you can imagine my feelings for something I wrote almost 25 years ago! BUT, I do like a few of the things I mentioned in it.

The gist of the piece was that it's okay for nerds to go against "popular nerd opinions." My unpopular opinion, was that Boba Fett was a one dimensional character, a "filler character" as I originally described him, who had achieved unwarranted hero worship. I went on to say:

I don’t see why everyone goes crazy for this guy (Boba Fett).  He’s a bounty hunter, but so is Luca Brasi from the Godfather.  I've never seen anyone carrying a Luca Brasi lunch box in my life.

(*A quick, modern Google search, which didn't exist in the 90s, yielded zero results of "Luca Brasi lunch boxes." So if you're looking for something unique for your Etsy store...)

I also debunk the belief that Boba Fett should be credited with the capture of Han Solo. 

Boba Fett does deliver Han Solo’s body, frozen in carbonite, to Jabba the Hutt.  However, he didn’t actually capture him.  Darth Vadar captured Solo, and if you really want to get literal Lando Calrissian actually captured his friend Han.  Nice friend.  Boba Fett was simply in the right place at the right time.

This remains true.

Back around 2009, when I was a co-host of the podcast "You've Got Geek on You," I even added that I will give Boba Fett due respect for standing toe to toe with Vader when he told him "He's of no use to me dead." But this diplomacy, while brave and admirable, doesn't really account for Hasbro pumping out a shit ton of action figures with his likeness. I mean, you don't have a figure of Llewellyn Thompson sitting on a shelf collecting dust, do you?

(*This Dennis Miller-esque reference also required "Googling")

I continued with this sound gem:

Valentine's Day is coming up...let's say you have your secretary call and order flowers for your wife, but you merely sign your name.  Should acne-covered kids in arcades across America wear t-shirts of you?

(*Remember arcades?)

You can see why I am cherry picking and NOT posting the whole "piece," right?

The intention of my original writing still holds true, it's okay to go against the popular culture opinions of the day. Fans LOVED Boba Fett, I didn't. Not until 20 years later when another fan, named Dave Filoni, came along and gave a back story and dimension to this previously flat character in The Clone Wars cartoon. I loved the backstory and emotional motivation that was brought to the young Boba Fett. I cheered when he showed up in The Mandalorian. And now, I am enjoying the hell out of the deeper exploration of the character in "The Book of Boba Fett" series. Yet, ironically, many of those original Fett fans are starting to level their hatred towards the series, ostensibly for the same reasons I love it.

I'll keep watching. I'll keep being opinionated. And I'll keep looking for those Luca Brasi lunch boxes.

On the EVE of JAN 6

 Stay with me...this is going somewhere...this is some Third Eagle of the Apocalypse shit right here!

EVE

PLUM

EVE PLUMB

EVE 6

JAN 6

JAN was 1 of 6

JAN created GEORGE GLASS

Donald Trump appointed GEORGE Edward GLASS as the Ambassador of the United States to the Portuguese Republic from 2017 to 2021

G E O R G E E D WA R D G L A S S has 17 letters

Q-Bert is the 17th most popular game on Atari...

I think I lost the thread, guys...

Fully Vaxxed

On Friday May 28th at 10:10 am (edt), I am fully vaccinated with some of that sweet SWEET Moderna running through me!

I suppose this is where I tell a 5G joke, or a Bill Gates joke, or an "I'm going to lick all the doorknobs" joke...

I suppose I could talk about ALL of the things I missed out on these past 15 months...

...or, like so many others, the loved ones that I lost.

I could list all of the things I plan to do...

...the things I am most excited about.

But in truth, most things probably won't change.

I'll still wear a mask in many public places out of respect for those who haven't been "vaxxed" yet. Or, because of health reasons, can't be.

I'll still wear a mask when I am with my daughter ion any place she has to wear one, because she is still too young to receive a vaccination.

I'll still wear a mask when I'm at any location that requires, requests, or recommends I do.

I'll still wear a mask when I am feeling sick, so as not to spread this or any potential disease on to my fellow members of society.

I'll still wear a mask when pulling off various heists.


I am just grateful to be able to see the many people I have missed for well over a year. Be able to hug them. And to tell them about some of these wicked heists I've been involved in!

Every Day Is A Lesson - Today: Stinging Nettles

(This post was written on 3/9/2021. For some reason, Blogger pulled it down and "investigated" whether it violated their standards. I'm not sure if Big Nettles controls Blogger, but I found it funny if not completely bizarre).

*********

Throughout the pandemic, construction has continued on a railroad line in front of my house. What was once a "training" section for SEPTA will now be an extension of the Elwyn/Media line into Wawa. It's far enough removed from our property that I don't worry about Kit playing on or near it, though we have discussed the potential dangers. After all, every day is a lesson.

Yesterday we took the time to discuss how dangerous the third rail for a train is at all times. We discussed the electrical power that runs through it and how, under no circumstances, do you ever touch or go near it (even though it's suspended about 40 feet or more in the air). Why take chances?

Later, in the early evening I was inside when Kit came running in holding her hand and crying. It's not uncommon for her to hurt herself and quickly recover, after all, she's a daredevil! So I didn't think it was serious. I comforted her and asked her to explain what happened.

She told me and Julie that she was looking to decorate the "fairy garden" that she's been building outside when she saw what she thought was a little shrubbery. "That would look cute to the fairies," she thought.

So she reached down to yank it out of the ground and immediately felt the pain of a STINGING NETTLE!

If you have never experienced the pain of stinging nettles consider yourself lucky. It's an odd sensation not unlike being stung or cut, but with no visible ailment. The pain/itch can last up to 24 hours! Luckily, this particular incident seemed to subside after about 5 or so. However, that coincided with bedtime which is already a tricky time of night.

Because it was her right hand, she proclaimed she wouldn't be able to do her homework for the night. Rather than give her the night off, I took dictation and her homework's handwriting changed ever so slightly (I write like a 7 year old).

I made her spell out every single word in the sentence she wrote for her writing assignment. I didn't correct her when she spelled a word incorrectly, so it looked like a normal sentence I myself would actually write.

In the end I sent it to her teacher with a note about those dangerous Stinging Nettles. This morning, because she's still learning remotely, I overheard her teacher in group guidance discussing with the kids the dangers of stinging nettles.

It was nice that my kid could contribute to the lessons of the day.

Third Time's A Charm?

 

So perhaps Gus is Pennsylvania's second most famous groundhog, but I think I might be Pennsylvania's second most "accurate" prognosticator.

On January 6th I wrote about Trumps Tweet's and the fact that Twitter had deleted 7 of his last 10 Tweets. Later that afternoon, he'd inspire his devotees to "storm the castle" in an attempted coup of the US Government.

On January 8th I wrote about how Jack Dorsey & Twitter refused to curb Trump's megaphone by taking away this Twitter account. Later, they'd temporarily suspend his account, and ultimately make the suspension permanent.

In no way do I think I influenced any of these things from happening.

But....

The power ball is up to $550 Million.

Odds of winning 1 in 292,201,338.

I'm 1.

Let's see what happens.

Twitter is Fine For Entertainment, But Not News

There is a lot to take issue with in regards to Twitter and its CEO, Jack Dorsey.

They continually refused to curb Donald Trump's megaphone as long as his campaign continued to pour more and more AD revenue into the company during the 2020 Presidential Election. Now that it's over and that faucet has been turned off, the costless "face saving" display of temporarily suspending his account was a no-brainer. Perhaps it should be more permanent. Regardless, to many, this is too little and way too late.

Far more informed and well spoken people can, and will, continue to have this discussion.

But what I want to point out is Twitter's poor use of language.

This is the message you receive when you read through some of Twitter's aggregated Tweets on a certain subject:

For example, right now TED CRUZ is trending in regards to the increased criticism he's facing for his unsubstantiated claim that there was voter fraud in the 2020 Election. This played an enormous part in the riots we saw in the US Capitol on January 6th.

The number of unique Tweets in that aggregated "nest" is 14. FOURTEEN! And worse, they come from 8 different accounts.

There is no way on Earth (*round or flat), that 8 people's thoughts in 14 total Tweets could bring you "up to date" on this subject. Or almost any subject, really!

Sure, if you were trying to...let's say steal a piece of art from the US Capitol, and you accidentally tased yourself resulting in your heart stopping, we could probably cover that in 14 tweets. Hell, I bet I could do it in 1:

Nailed it!

But really how well informed could you possible be on something as intricate and complicated as this issue, or really any issue, facing our nation?

My point is, Twitter is merely entertainment, It is an absolutely atrocious place in which to get your news.

Please read newspapers. Yes, you can read their online sites, but you should be paying for it! 

Rather than saying, "Dammit, I used up my 5 free articles this month," please pay for well researched, and meticulously vetted information. Not from some stupid limerick written by a guy who really only joined Twitter to tell dick jokes and sometimes posts rants when his anger boils over.





(*And it's round, dummies - you're up to date)