Dan’s Corner of the Internet

I usually dont air my personal issues here because I know everyone else has enough shit going on in their own lives that they don’t need to be burdened with my crap. Today though I’m gonna break my own rule and let those of you who read this regularly know why I am taking time off from writing and the internet in general.

About 10 days ago a drunk college kid broke into my parents home and beat up my mom. Her injuries were severe enough that she’s still in the hospital with a cracked vertabrae and no chance of operation to correct it because there is a high risk of paralysis. Yes he was arrested, he passed out at their dining room table, and yes we are taking it to trial but it’s hard to focus on writing when your worried about your parents and and trying to talk yourself out of tracking this kid down and beating him to within an inch of his life.

On top of that yesterday one of my pet guinea pigs, Katie, passed away. You may think it’s silly to be upset to get upset over the loss of a pet but Katie was special to me. I had received her after losing my first guinea pig Aahz to, of all things, cancer and she filled the void that was in my heart. We got her when she was just a few weeks old and she bonded with me right away. I had Katie for over five years and she and I spent a lot of time together. If I didn’t have her out holding her, I would sneak her carrots or fruit as a treat. She would stretch out on my stomach and go to sleep while I stroked her fur, or would come up and give me a “kiss”. If I was eating something and she was out she had to have a bite as well, be it a popsicle, a shake or in one case a bean from a burrito. Katie was more than a pet to me, she was my kid. I know that’s a cliche but I’m thirty-five and kids aren’t on the horizon right now so they were as close to kids as I have.

So right now my head is spinning and my heart is broken. I’m not asking or seeking sympathy, I just wanted to let those of you who take the time to read my stuff not to expect anything anytime soon. I’m going to take some time to get my thoughts in order and give my heart some time to mend. Thank you for your support and patience, when I get back to the point where I feel like I can write again I will but I honestly don’t know how long that will be.

To my loyal readers (all four of you) I will have a new post up soon, I promise. Just have a lot of personal stuff going on right now I have to deal with first. So don’t count me out just yet and please bear with me, I’ll have more snark and sarcasm up soon!

As I’ve said before I’m not a big fan of commercials but this one makes me laugh every time.

Monkey want’s my burger has even found it’s way into my daily conversations.

I’m sure Dohopoki had no idea when he wrote his first “Things that start with..” article that it would inspire others including myself to do the same. And since I have no other ideas for a good blog entry I’m gonna continue the trend with the letter Z.

Zombies! If you’ve read some of my other entries you know I am a Zombie fanatic so it shouldn’t surprise you that this is my first Z word. When I was but a wee lad my Dad, against his better judgement, took my sister and I out with my cousin’s to see a little movie called “Dawn of the Dead”. Holy smokes! I honestly don’t think my Dad either knew or expected this one to be as graphic (for the 70’s anyway) as it was. I refused to watch any zombie movie for a long time afterwards, then when I was older I finally faced my fears and rented both Dawn and Day to see if they were as bad as I remembered them to be. By today’s standards they’re not but I still think they hold up well. Since that day I’ve been a huge Zombie addict and will watch even the worst of them (House of the Dead anyone?) and have an annual Zombie-thon every year around Halloween. In case your interested here’s the trailer for the original and here’s the trailer for the new version. This is one case where the “re-imagined” version actually holds up to the original.

Zoo: I love the zoo. I don’t go as often as I’d like but I always have a good time when I go. I’m a sucker Animal Planet anyway so to be able to see those critters up close is always cool. I have to tell you about one of my favorite experiences at the zoo since your reading this. My nieces and nephew had just moved to Colorado from Texas so we decided to take them to the zoo for a picnic. My Dad and I were at the Rhino exhibit standing alongside a group of older people who were obviously zoo sponsors when the rhino turned away from us and started to shuffle his back feet. The sponsors were fascinated by this and remarked that the rhino was “dancing” for them and started to laugh. Needless to say the rhino wasn’t dancing, he was fixing to….well let’s say do his business. His tail went up, other stuff came out and down and was flung straight at the sponsors. I never knew old people could move so fast!

Zeus: No not the Greek God Zeus, the wrestler Zeus. You may recognize him as Tom “Tiny” Lister from such films as The Fifth Element, Friday or my fave No Holds Barred. Now bear in mind this was made in the ’80’s and Hulk Hogan was HUGE but if you’ve seen this you know why he’s a wrestler and not an actor. But this movie catapaulted “Zeus” into a wrestling career as well, granted it was short lived but it got him enough mainstream attention that he was able to make a movie career out of it.

(Suspect) Zero: I am a huge movie buff and am always on the lookout for smaller release that may get overlooked in the shuffle, Suspect Zero was one of those movies. Starring Ben Kingsley, Carrie Anne Moss and Aaron Eckhardt. I’m not gonna try to explain the plot, that’s what IMDB is for. If you haven’t seen it check it out, it’s worth the rental.

That’s all I have for the letter Z right now, thanks again to Doho for letting me steal his idea (again) and thanks for reading.

I know I’m not the first to review the three new Mountain Dew flavors nor will I be the last but it’s my blog and I’ll do what I want! :)  I’ve seen these flavors before at the local Mega-Lo Mart but they were only in twelve packs and I didn’t want to splurge on that and have them suck so I patiently waited and watched at the local 7-11 for the inevitable20 oz. bottle.  Finally after two weeks of waiting I hit pay dirt and quickly snagged one of all three flavors.  I gotta admit I’m a little hesitant to try these because……well two of them are bluish and one’s a pink/purple color. I also find myself wondering with all the clamor of people asking for them to bring Pitch Black back why didn’t they just do that? Or heck even the Gamer Fuel that came out last summer? Both of those would have been acceptable to me! But that’s not neither here nor there so I guess I should get down to the reason your reading this article.

Revolution: This one is kind of a pale icy blue in color and smells, to me anyway, like Blue Lemonade Kool Aid.  Taste is kind of lemony with a hint of something fruity, can’t put my finger on exactly what yet. According to the label it’s “Infused with Wild Berry Fruit Flavor and Ginseng!” After a few sips, I’m getting a funky after taste to it, I’m assuming that’s from the ginseng. Over all I’m not impressed.  On a scale of one to ten Revolution gets a three.

So I finished Revolution, I have to say it’s one of those weird soda’s that actually tastes better slightly warm rather than cold. Would I buy it again? Not likely.

 Time for Round two. Our contender this time is…..

Voltage: This one seems to be getting the most favorable reviews of all the ones I’ve read so far, we’ll see how it goes. The color is kind of blue raspberry-ish, the smell is about the same. According to the label it’s “Charged with Raspberry Citrus Flavor and Ginseng!” guess that would explain the color and smell. Hmm….better than Revolution taste wise, not sure how I feel about raspberry Mountain Dew though. Gonna give a few more sips and see how I feel about it then. Like Revolution it’s got an after taste to it which I’m gonna chalk up to the ginseng. Feeling kind of middle of the road on this one, I’d give it a five out of ten. Would I buy it again? Probably wouldn’t be my first choice or my second but if someone offered me one I’d probably take it.

Two down, one to go. So far I’m not real crazy about any of the new flavors which makes me ask again…why didn’t they bring Pitch Black back?

Word of warning, maybe it’s just me but after I put two of these away I felt like crap for the rest of the afternoon. The things I do for research.

Last one and it’s….

SuperNova: Color is kind of pinkish/purple and the smell is kind of a grape/berry mix. According to the label it’s Strawberry Melon Flavor and Ginseng. Of the three this one is the best, still has that ginseng after taste but it’s not as noticeable as the other two. Flavor wise you get a hint of the strawberry but not so much that you can tell what it is right away. Not sure if that makes sense or not but if you try it you’ll see what I mean. Maybe it’s just me but it almost has a cinnamon quality to it as well, but I looked over the ingredients and don’t see it listed. Some people on-line are comparing this to Pitch Black but personally I don’t get taste the comparison. Would I but it again? Probably. Like I said of the three this one has the best overall taste and the ginseng ick factor is not as strong.

Well there you have it folks, my review of the new Mountain Dew flavors. It took me longer than expected to write this simply because too much sugar/caffeine/ginseng made me feel ill. I don’t see myself sitting down and drinking this like I would regular Mountain Dew or even Code Red for that matter but I can see it finding a niche market. If you try it I’d be curious to read your feedback and see what you think.

A while back Dohopoki posted two blogs that made me laugh,one was Things that start with T and the other was Things that start with E. So being the creative writer that I am I decided to totally steal his idea, thanks Doho! So here are my Things that start with M

Meerkat Manor: I so did not want to like this show when I first saw it. I tried my best to not get roped in but failed miserably. If you’ve never seen the show it follows a clan of Meerkats called the Whiskers and their struggle to survive in the Kalahari desert. If the only meerkat you’ve seen is Timon from The Lion King then you haven’t seen a meerkat at all. These little critters are adorable and you really find yourself getting attached to them, or at least I did.

Mega Man: The Blue Bomber himself! I love the MegaMan games, or at least the older ones anyway. I can’t tell you how many hours I spent playing the first one when I was younger. I even got into a fight over it, it was a weekend rental that my cousin and I had to share, I told him he could play after my game was over. Well the particular level I was playing at that time (I think it was Gutsman) had an extra life fairly early on in the stage so I was basically playing a never ending game. Well Jerry (my cousin) didn’t like this and decided to turn off my game mid-level. Needless to say I was not amused and proceeded to beat the snot out of him. I wasn’t allowed to rent MegaMan for a while after that, I never could figure out why.

MST3K: I freaking love this show! It combines two of my loves, bad movies and sci-fi, what more could you ask for? About a week or so ago someone on X-E (I believe it was Squee4242) posted a link to this site that lists all the MST3K episodes available on YouTube and Google Video. If your familiar with MST3K and haven’t seen Manos: The Hands of Fate (another M! Wo0t!) you should check it out, it’s so bad it’s good.

The Mist: Evidently this is one of those love ‘em or hate ‘em movies. I read the short story when I was in high school and it was one of my fav’s so of course I loved the movie. I haven’t picked it up on DVD yet but from what I hear the black and white version is even creepier than the color version.

Mario Kart: I love this series of games. From the very first all the way thru Mario Kart DS (I don’t have a Wii yet so I can’t give an opinion on that one) this is one game that I never get tired of playing. And Battle mode is even more fun after a few drinks….or so I’ve heard.

Michigan: My home state, I don’t miss living there but I miss the Lake in the summer time and Henry’s cheeseburgers on the beach. Henry’s is a local legend where I’m from, supposedly someone accused the owner of using kangaroo meat of all things in his hamburgers and he offered a reward to anyone who could prove he used anything but beef. They’re greasy, messy and oh so delicious! I make it a point to stop there whenever I go back to visit.

There are a lot of other M things I could write about but it’s late and I’m tired so I’m gonna call it a night.

Ok…..just because it’s on right now I have to add one more M.

ManBearPig: If you haven’t seen this episode of South Park, try finding it on YouTube. It’s…..it’s……well here read this and see for yourself.

A while back a friend of mine did a “shout out” to his readers and I thought it was time I did something similar. I guess the first person I should thank is Matt at X-Entertainment for putting together such a great website and giving me the opportunity to meet such a great group of people. I know I don’t know all of you personally but I feel that I “know” you from either comments you’ve left on X-E or that you’ve left me here. So i’d just like to say thank you to all of my fellow X-E compatriots  who have stopped by and left me a comment. If your just stopping by to check out my ramblings do yourself a favor and click on some of the blogs I have listed, they really are a talented bunch of writers and like I said earlier a great bunch of people.  I guess this wasn’t really much of a shout out as it was a thank you. Thanks for taking the time to read the things I’ve written and taking the time to leave me a comment. I do look forward to and value each and everyone of you and am glad that I’ve gotten the chance to “know” you even if it is virtually.

I usually change the channel during the commercial break but I gotta admit I love this one from Discovery Channel especially the part where Adam sets Jamie on fire.

So I’ve been on a bit of a Blog tear lately, if it’s linked on someone else’s blog then odd’s are I’ve paid you a visit recently. Granted I may have snuck in, looked around and then left quietly like a thief but I was there and I gotta admit you guys are really talented writers! I envy the people who are able to update so often, it makes me feel like I’m slacking off. But in reading these blogs it made me think of my childhood and all of the things that I miss. Granted I could go to E-Bay and bid on most of them but it’s cheaper to just wax nostalgic here and see what things from your childhood you wish you had back. So without further ado here are some of my favorite toys that are long lost to me. 

Shogun Warriors

Aside from the robots above they also had Godzilla and Rodan as the obligatory giant monsters for you to fight. I never actually had one of these as a kid but I always wanted Raydeen, he’s the cool one on the right launching his fist in the air to get that pesky fly that always seems to bothers you when your busy.

Stompers

Oh how I miss Stompers, these things were like Hot Wheels on steroids! You pop in a double A battery, flick the switch underneath and these things would go damn near anywhere! I had quite the collection at one time and even the tracks that went with them. Later on in the line they came out with aquatic ones which was awesome because who didn’t want a pool/bathtub toy that you could play with in and out of the water? One word of caution about Stompers though, keep them away from long hair! These babies would get tangled in hair so fast it wasn’t even funny, well it wasn’t funny at the time anyway.

Astrosninks

At the height of the Smurfs popularity, McDonald’s included these nifty little critters as a Happy Meal giveaway. I used to love my Sniks but the closest McDonald’s was half an hour away so I missed out on getting them brand new, instead I traded Smurfs or other toys for them.  I honestly couldn’t tell you what happened to them now though, if they suffered the same fate as my Smurfs well, may they rest in pieces.

Atari 2600/Combat

I miss my Atari 2600, granted most of the games I used to enjoy have been re-released as part of a Classic’s collection for some system or another but I have yet to see Combat on any of them. I can’t tell you the hours my sister and I used to spend playing Combat together. Tank vs. Tank invisible with ricocheting ammo was the best. You had no idea where you were or where they were but odds were good you’d get nailed by your own shell just as easily as the other players. Good times.

MASK

How awesome was MASK? It was like getting three toys in one! You got the main vehicle, it’s alternate (and in some cases the alternate was a separate vehicle) PLUS the driver of the vehicle! The only downside to Mask was it was so easy to lose the figures and/or their masks! I loved them as a kid though and actually had all the ones listed above at one time or another. I know that makes me sound like I was spoiled but believe me I had to work to get them, either thru doing extra chores or trading with other kids.

I’m gonna call that good for right now, I know this entry is really heavy on the pictures but I figured it was easier to show you the toys rather than try to describe them to you because well I suck at it. I’ll get around to part two soon but like I said before if your reading this entry I’d love to hear about the childhood toys you’ve loved and lost.

Till next time true believers…Excelsior! (bonus points if you can tell me who originally said that phrase!) 

So I saw Speed Racer over the weekend and I have to admit it was better than I thought it was gonna be. As usual I’ll keep this review spoiler free mainly because there’s not really much of a plot to spoil in this one. Don’t get me wrong I was a HUGE fan of the anime growing up (except for Spritle, I @#$!ing HATE Spritle! And Chim-chim isn’t much better) but I wasn’t sure how well it would work on the big screen.

If you’ve seen an episode of the show then you know the basic premise of the movie, Speed comes from a family of racers and race car designers. When he was younger his older brother Rex “died” in a race after getting into a fight with Pops Racer. Pops has reservations about letting Speed race at first but it wouldn’t be much of a show/movie if he didn’t. The movie is basically the same thing except a lot flashier and more colorful. The majority of the movie was filmed in front of a green screen so they are able to do all kinds of spiffy effects and visuals that they wouldn’t be able to do with real cars and the tracks could only exist in some F/X guys imagination.

My biggest problem with the movie is there are times when it seems like they do things with the effects not because it’s necessary but because they can do it and in the final race there are parts where it’s a little hard to follow exactly what’s going on but I do have to say overall I did like the movie. Yes Spritle and Chim-chim are in it but they are toned down from the annoying little @#$!s that were in the anime so they are at least semi-tolerable. On a scale of 1-5 I’d give it a 3, enjoyable but it’s not gonna win any awards.