Last week I posted the TWENTY-NINTH batch of the M.C.F.A.T., or Mysterious Cloaked Figure's Astonishing Test questions. Thanks to those who played along and answered:
1) Have you ever gotten around to watching a movie or television show that everyone raved about when you were younger, only to wonder what all the fuss was about? I already went over it this weekend, but why was F/X such a big deal? I was also unimpressed when I finally saw Porky's a year or two ago, but I understand why kids in my elementary school would have been wowed by the nudity. I also didn't think The Omen was all that scary; I was actually bored at times, and wondered why it was considered a classic. I guess not everything is timeless, and it is not only important to see films or shows when they come out, but also where you the viewer are at that time in your life. Friends I liked in an aspirational manner, because these people living independent lives in the city could have been my near future when I was in college. In a similar manner, I now enjoy How I Met Your Mother, because it's a way for me to relive vicariously the life I never quite got to back when I was still in my 20s. One show represented a desired future, while another represents a past that could have been. If I was in elementary school when either show came out, or retired, I don't think I could have appreciated them on the same level. Conversely, another interesting aspect of this is nostalgia, in that a lot of things I enjoyed because I was just the right age, I will always look back on fondly. By today's standards, Knight Rider wasn't all that complex or sophisticated a show. But because it's something I watched when I was in elementary school, it will always hold a place of high regard. By today's standards, it probably wouldn't have lasted one season, let alone four. It makes me wonder then, if the remake was really that much worse. No, no it was. It started getting better, but it was too late.
2) Is it better to feel nothing so you feel no pain, or feel pain so that you might also feel joy? Pain is important. Physical pain tells us when something is wrong. So does emotional pain, though it can make us irrational. More importantly is the value of contrast. We wouldn't know what it was like to feel fine if we didn't have the opposite to compare it to. Still, for every loss I've encountered in my life, from family to friends to pets to relationships, I find myself a little desensitized, find I recover more quickly because I've been through similar things before, and know to expect it. That can be a slippery slope where I get too numb and two comfortable, maybe avoid relationships so I don't have to go through the pain of a breakup. It's tough finding a balance in life sometimes, and it gets easier and easier as I get older to turn on the old emotional novocaine and just not care. I worry about that sometimes, because while I might feel no pain, I might be separating myself from my humanity in the process. As fast as life goes by, going through it as an automaton isn't living at all.
3) What habit or habits would you like to give up? Ironically, 6 days after posing this question, I fell off the wagon and had a Venti Mocha Frappuccino after four months of training and discipline. I imagine it was the whipped cream that put me over the top back when I had two or three of those a week, and exercise alone isn't why I've dropped 30 pounds over the last year or two. I was never a coffee drinker before I discovered those things after college, and lately I've been getting a caffeine fix from the free coffee in my cafeteria. Now around 3:30 or 4:00 I feel myself fading, and I need a cup. I put in way too many sugars, like 6 or 7, because I don't actually like the taste, and to make matters worse I hit the snack machine for a packet of Peanut M&Ms. I lucked out for about two days when they were out of those. The weird thing is, I usually feel more tired at first, then get a burst of energy that lasts through my workout, then I'm ready to crash by the time I get home, then the caffeine seems to kick back in when I'm ready to go to sleep after midnight. I don't need that much sugar, I really don't need caffeine, and I really don't need to have all that so late in the day. When I first started working at my current company, by the Winter I got into having green tea in the afternoon, with 2 or 3 sugars, and no snack. That was a far better habit. I could probably list dozens more, but the last one that I'll mention here is my morning nap. I get up at 7:15, finish my breakfast by 7:35. then go back to bed until 8. I should probably just sleep a little later and stay up, or just not take a 20-25 minute nap that sometimes goes longer, and as it is makes me have to rush to get to work on time. The thing about habits is, by definition, they're things we do without thinking about after a while. Sometimes I need to switch from autopilot to manual, but it's tough.
4) Do you have a plan for your life and, if so, how is it working out so far? My plan was to save as much money as possible, invested in many different ways, until I accumulated enough to bolster a poor salary, or even support me should I go unemployed for any extended period of time. My ultimate goal is to buy a house, with a large enough down payment that my mortgage and taxes would be something I could afford with my paycheck. I've been working nonstop since 1996 and still live at home. I'm a lot closer to my goal than I was 14 years ago, but a home is a bigger investment than just money; it requires time, which I don't seem to have because I'm always working or playing in bands on the side to earn more money. I've definitely curbed my frivolous purchases, such as DVDs, since the technology is becoming obsolete and I can just rent movies, plus I'm running out of room to fit all my stuff, which is another reason why a house is a good idea. I guess achieving goals requires risk and sacrifice, so until I take some chances and give some things up to free up some time, I'm not going to move forward with my plan. At least I've managed to remain steadily employed. I left my first job by choice for a better one, while I was laid off from the second one, but was fortunate enough to find a third immediately. My field will require me to adapt, and the sort of design work I do will eventually dry up or become scarce as more and more people focus on web design since it's so much cheaper and more immediate. I've run across older designers unwilling to adapt, who may be in for a rude awakening. I'm prepared to learn whatever software or skills I need to remain an asset to any company that will have me. And if it ever came down to asking people if they want fries with that, then so be it. One thing I learned after college was that benefits and a steady paycheck are more important than fame or dreams. In the real world, it's important to have things like insurance and a 401K plan, and to maintain a steady stream of income.
SPECIAL BONUS QUESTION(s): Who is Chip to Pidge? To Spike? Kev Bayer, fellow ‘80s kid, nailed it. I was talking about two different Chips from the two most popular robot cartoons. Chip and Pidge were twin brothers on two different Voltron cartoons.Pidge piloted the Green Lion of the lion version, while Chip flew the helicopter as part of the Air Team in the vehicle version. Meanwhile, on The Transformers, wheelchair-bound Chip Chase was a computer-savvy ally to the Autobots and good friends with their main human ally, Spike Witwicky.
This is the TWENTY-NINTH edition of the M.C.F.A.T., or Mysterious Cloaked Figure's Astonishing Test! It's been so long since the last one, even I nearly forgot it existed. Or maybe I was just starting to struggle with the roman numerals.
The M.C.F.A.T. is not an unhealthy sandwich, but rather a series of questions I give my readers a week to respond to before sharing my own answers. You may answer the questions below on your own blogs or in the comment section, and check back next week when I link to your answers and post my own. Pick up your pencils....now!:
1) Have you ever gotten around to watching a movie or television show that everyone raved about when you were younger, only to wonder what all the fuss was about?
2) Is it better to feel nothing so you feel no pain, or feel pain so that you might also feel joy?
3) What habit or habits would you like to give up?
4) Do you have a plan for your life and, if so, how is it working out so far?
SPECIAL BONUS QUESTION(s): Who is Chip to Pidge? To Spike?
There's no right or wrong, and you can't fail if you answer. Good luck!
Last week I posted the TWENTY-EIGHTH batch of the M.C.F.A.T., or Mysterious Cloaked Figure's Astonishing Test questions. Here are the answers you came up with:
1) How has the forced transition to digital television affected you? There are definitely some flaws in the system, and most of the champions of the switch are people who were already paying a monthly fee to watch television via Cable or some other pay service. The way a digital box works is that it translates the signal coming to an antenna so a regular television can pick up digital broadcasts. Changing the channel on a TV or VCR is now pointless, as they must be set to either 3 or 4 while the box is set to your desired station. Since the VCR can't change what the box is set to, programming shows is now impossible. You can set it to tape channel 3 or 4 at the desired time, but you need to manually set the box to the channel you want to be taping. This means that the only way to watch one channel while taping another is to have two boxes and split the coaxial cable leading to the roof antenna, so one box goes to the television while the other goes to the VCR.
I've also noticed that digital signals are weaker than analog. Our television in the living room only picks up about a 22% signal, and while most of the stations are crisp, CBS occasionally breaks into squares and I've yet to get NBCat all. Oddly enough, the smaller television in my parents' bedroom does get NBC and about 5 or 6 other channels that the living room TV does not, even though both are connected to the same antenna. My dad's theory is that the cable leading to that television may be shorter, and there's less resistance. I tried switching the boxes, since I had an Insignia in the living room and an RCA in the bedroom, but both locations still got the same channels. It's not the brand; it's the location(or the television). I left the Insignia on the bedroom TV since I had another Insignia on my VCR in the living room that kept picking up the remote signal for the Insignia attached to the television. The only other thing left to try is to rotate the antenna, which I found to be very tightly bolted to our chimney. There are a lot of tall trees in our neighborhood and it doesn't take much to interfere with a digital signal.
Ultimately, I don't see it as an improvement. I'm not opposed to paying for a service if I want all those extra channels, but on principle it doesn't seem fair for the government to make free television so unreliable that it forces people to get Cable whether they want to or not. Television was always free; that's why there were so many commercials. Advertisers paid for the programming. I'm going to look into other options for recording shows as well. I know some require Cable or a subscription service like TiVo, but I've been trying to figure out if a DVR exists that will work like a VCR, picking up the shows through an antenna and just saving them to a hard drive rather than a cassette, which is a dated technology. I'm wondering how the millions of Americans who either can't afford or don't understand this switch are managing. We're adjusting, but there's nothing I really watch during the Summer so I think it's going to hit me a lot harder in the Fall, especially if I can't watch NBC unless I use my folks' television. I miss analog. Sure, we didn't have subchannels that broadcast weather or traffic cameras 24/7, but I'd trade all the dash-2, dash-3, and dash-4's for a television that got the basic stations I wanted.
2) If you could wield any fictional weapon for one day, what would you choose? If it's only for one day, then it has to be the Infinity Gauntlet, which would make me the supreme master of time, space, mind, soul, power and reality. With the Reality gem I could make my life as good as my dreams, while the Time gem would be the key in stretching out that one day to an eternity of happiness. I'd probably use the Mind gem to move my memories of that day deep into my subconscious, so the transition back to ordinary life would be more bearable, but I'd have an inexplicable feeling of content deep down.
3) Do you ever lose focus and “crash”, and how do you regain productivity and momentum? I was hoping for some advice here. There are some days when I just can't focus on my work, and find myself checking my e-mail, reading blogs, or playing a game. I'll go back to what I'm supposed to be doing, work for a bit, and then my low attention span kicks back in. Early in my career I had days where I could sit in front of a computer for eight hours straight, skipping lunch, and get a ton of stuff done. I guess it helped that we didn't have internet access at my first job. I think part of the problem is that I've been in a bit of a slow season. I know I have time to slack off and will still get my work done. When I'm under pressure and have a lot more projects going, I tend to focus more. Of course, when I have TOO MANY projects the same thing can happen when I have too few, and I'll get sidetracked until I make a list and just start tackling things one at a time. I guess as the brain ages, it needs more variety. Maybe the key is to take smaller breaks and time myself, allow five minutes to check my e-mail or talk to a coworker, then go back to my tasks. I can probably vary my work as well, when I feel my attention slipping from one flyer, move it aside to work on another flyer, or an envelope, or something else that needs to be done. Basically, I need to take a planned “channel surfing” approach to my day.
4) What was your favorite made-up or modified childhood game? When we played “tag”, we played it on our bicycles. And you didn't have to touch the other person if you were “it”; you had to hit them or their bike with a tennis ball. We very quickly upgraded that model and switched to using a frisbee, shades of Tron, and I never had a better time than I did when I was playing that game, even the time I flew over my handlebars when my front tire hit a root while I was flinging the frisbee and not hanging on with my hands. I hit the pavement palms first, skinning my hands, and my bike ended up landing on me. But I hit my target, and I was happy.
SPECIAL BONUS QUESTION: What late comic book editor maintained an unprecedented knowledge continuity among his company's vast assortment of titles? I was referring to Mark Gruenwald, an editor with an encyclopedic knowledge of his company's history. In his own writing and that of the writers he oversaw, Marvel enjoyed the greatest sense of a shared universe. Past stories and characters were remembered and integrated seamlessly into new ones, and events in one book affected plots in others. You didn't have to read every comic they made each month, outside of crossover events, but it made for a much richer tapestry if you did. Since Gruenwald's demise, Marvel's bankruptcy, and subsequent rise thanks to renewed interest in the medium due to their film projects, some of that continuity has been lost. From what I've read, companywide arcs like Dark Reign and others have begun tying the Marvel Universe back together the way it was in Gruenwald's prime.
It’s BACK! Welcome to the TWENTY-EIGHTH edition of the M.C.F.A.T., or Mysterious Cloaked Figure's Astonishing Test! Have you missed it as much as I have? Answering that question is optional.
Here’s a quick refresher on how this thing works: just answer the questions below on your own blogs or in the comment section, and check back next week when I link to your answers and post my own:
1) How has the forced transition to digital television affected you?
2) If you could wield any fictional weapon for one day, what would you choose?
3) Do you ever lose focus and “crash”, and how do you regain productivity and momentum?
4) What was your favorite made-up or modified childhood game?
SPECIAL BONUS QUESTION: What late comic book editor maintained an unprecedented knowledge continuity among his company’s vast assortment of titles?
There's no right or wrong, and you can't fail if you answer. Good luck!
Last week I posted the TWENTY-SEVENTH batch of the M.C.F.A.T., or Mysterious Cloaked Figure's Astonishing Test questions. Here are the answers you came up with:
1) What did/do you want to be when you grew/grow up? I originally planned to be an architect, based entirely on my experiences with blocks, LEGO®, BILO, and my Erector Set.
I'd outgrow that phase by the time I was heavily into reading mystery series such as the McGurk series and The Three Investigators books. I loved the young crime solvers in those books, loved the notion of secret lairs and kids making a difference. I started carrying around a small magnifying glass everywhere, which I got beat up for in 7th grade and was told by the school's security guard that I should have known that would happen, running around like an idiot with the small plastic toy. Undeterred, I made a wooden sign for a room in my basement that read “Secret Service Detective Agency”. I thought I was Sherlock Holmes, though the only “mystery” I solved was in fourth grade when I claimed to have found a neighbor's missing cat. I wrote about it in an essay for a school assignment, but the teacher noted a disconnect between me hearing some rustling in the bushes in the woods behind my house, and the owners finding the cat on their own a few days later.
By high school, I was pretty heavily influenced by comic books and cartoons, and the doodles of superheroes in the margins of my notebooks began spilling over into the notes area. I had always tried to draw, as far back as elementary school when I admired classmates who could draw, and by the time I graduated high school I decided I wanted to draw comics professionally and be a famous inspiration to other young people. That dream evolved into graphic design and digital art as I realized in real life people need a steady paycheck and benefits. It's interesting how much I jumped around before settling on something realistic.
2) What's the biggest thing you've remembered that you hadn't realized you'd forgotten? I'm sure that as soon as I answer this question, I'll remember something bigger, because if it's forgotten then I certainly can't write about it. But a week ago, when talking to one of my friends about the various parks and gardens on Long Island, I recounted a tale of taking my girlfriend at the time to an outdoor performance by Ray Charles, and then realized I hadn't thought of or spoken about that in well over a decade. The man was a legend, and certainly should have been mentioned when I was writing about my best concert experiences a few weeks ago. People had blankets and chairs and wine and cheese, and Mr. Charles was accompanied by his trio of female backup singers and a full band, playing under a tent in case of rain that thankfully never came. I'm very glad I had that experience, and sorry that I'd almost forgotten about it.
3) Is work performance directly proportionate to salary? I think it shouldn't be, but it's often the case. How often do workers in fast food and other eateries forget a cheeseburger or some other part of an order, or make a sandwich the wrong way? Burger King corporate might boast that you can “have it your way”, but the staff doesn't always get that memo and I can't tell you how many times my mom has ordered a sandwich with no mayo for my dad, only to get home and find mayo on it. Sometimes a chicken sandwich will turn out to be a burger, and they're always confused when you don't order a meal by number. “Just the sandwich?!” is the incredulous question we encounter every time. In Subway, ordering a sandwich from the toasted menu does not guarantee that it will be toasted. I always have to remind them; they always get annoyed, and usually leave it in the toaster, or on the counter next to the toaster as they move on to the next person on line.
When I graduated college, I would say my salary was one fourth of what I'm making now. I worked just as hard back then, if not harder. I wanted to feel a sense of accomplishment, and to feel proud. I wanted to be rewarded for my hard work and effort, though at some companies the “reward” was often more work. I gave Burger King and Subway as examples, and some might say I'm expecting too much from people barely making minimum wage(and barely speaking English, which is a separate issue I'd be politically incorrect in criticizing and will probably be in trouble for just mentioning--I try to work past the language barrier, yet sometimes it's frustrating). But we all start somewhere, and I can remember climbing ladders in the boiling heat of Summer to paint rooftops while avoiding hornets, or running around at a gas station trying to help three or four customers at a time. It never occurred to me that, because I was making five dollars an hour or less with no benefits, I could slack off. I never think that I'm working for a paycheck, but that I'm working to do a job. I've never left an office at 5:00 PM because it was 5:00 PM. When I done with what I had to get done with for a particular day, that's when I can leave. I think my parents' generation had that work ethic, but more and more Americans today have shifted to a sense of entitlement, that they won't do certain tasks, or do them well if they don't get the compensation they think they deserve. That's not to say that sometimes they aren't right; my boss at the gas station once asked me to clean the restroom, and when I opened the door and saw the walls, floor, ceiling(!) and every surface but the toilet was “painted” with...well, let's just say that was my line, and I was refused. I thought I'd be fired, but he just got one of the other attendants to do it. Even though there are legitimate “You couldn't pay me enough to...” situations, the majority of us swing to the opposite extreme and don't do the jobs we're supposed to do.
4) How far would you go to escape? On a recent episode of Chuck, Casey tells Chuck that it's easy to get out of handcuffs if one is willing to break one's thumb(which he later demonstrates). On last week's Terminator: TSCC, Sarah bites into her own thumb to get out of cuffs. Then there was that story a few years ago about the climber trapped on the edge of a cliff and starving, who would have died if he didn't cut his own arm off with a pocket knife.
In all of those situations, I think I would still remain trapped and/or dead.
SPECIAL BONUS QUESTION: Which part of my body is disproportionate to its counterpart? My left thumb is shorter than my right, one of many mutant deformities.
Welcome my friends, to the TWENTY-SEVENTH edition of the M.C.F.A.T., or Mysterious Cloaked Figure's Astonishing Test!
If you're just joining us, here’s how to play: just answer the questions below on your own blogs or in the comment section, and check back in a week or so when I link to your answers and post my own:
1) What did/do you want to be when you grew/grow up?
2) What’s the biggest thing you’ve remembered that you hadn’t realized you’d forgotten?
3) Is work performance directly proportionate to salary?
4) How far would you go to escape?
SPECIAL BONUS QUESTION: Which part of my body is disproportionate to its counterpart?
There's no right or wrong, and you can't fail if you answer. Good luck!
Last week I posted the TWENTY-SIXTH batch of the M.C.F.A.T., or Mysterious Cloaked Figure's Astonishing Test questions. Here are the answers you came up with:
1) Which pieces of (snail) mail do you typically open first or with the most urgency? Nothing jumps out at me more than that bright red Netflix sleeve. It's often the first thing I grab when I come home before disappearing for a few hours. The rest of the mail can sit on the hallway table for weeks or even months, although it only took forgetting a credit card bill once to make me keep an eye out for that the first of every month. Most everything else is either junk or bank statements that I go through all at once when I have time. Ironically, two days after writing this question I discovered a notice that one of my CDs was maturing last Saturday. I'm still within the grace period this weekend to renew it for a better rate than the one they automatically kicked it into, so I have to make sure to take care of it. Honestly, every important envelope should be red and/or promotional; it would make my life a lot easier.
2) You're under attack from some thugs; which fictional character from one of Joss Whedon's shows is best suited to help you out? Jayne Cobb comes to mind as a dumb, blunt instrument, but he couldn't be trusted. If he were more like Casey he'd be an effective protector, but honestly with Whedon it's all about the girl power. River would be formidable but unstable, and at the end of the day I'd have to be cliché and just go for the obvious choice of a slayer, either Faith or Buffy.(Note to self: consider Whedon characters for a possible future installment of the ”My Fives” feature).
3) What is one compulsive habit you wish you could quit? Snacking. Last Friday in a fit of depression and craving I bought myself a family sized bag of Tostitos. I go to the gym regularly, and I make an effort to walk every day on my lunch break as weather and time permit, but then I undo all these healthy activities with cookies, chips, pudding, and more. Even when there aren't any snacks in the house, I rummage around late at night until I find something. I've been known to eat an entire bag of saltines around midnight. A lot of times I snack not out of hunger, but boredom. I'll fight it for a while, but eventually I fall back into the same habits. It's a cycle that really needs to stop for my physical and emotional well-being.
4) Of all the cartoons you may have watched as a child, which had the strongest lasting influence on your life? Transformers. I played with the toys. I watched the cartoon religiously every day after school. I drew the characters. I collected the entire comic book series, which led to my eight year comic book collecting habit of countless other titles. And I can't wait for the latest live action movie. I don't know if it taught me anything, other than setting me on the path to being an artist, and other than one book jacket design, I haven't done any Transformers related work in my career. The biggest influence on me morally would have to be an episode of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe in which He-Man pulls his archenemy Skeletor up from the edge of a cliff, to the villain's surprise. The whole mentality of the hero being better and not sinking to the villain's level has stuck with me my whole life, and given me the patience to at least try to be the good guy in situations in which I'm tempted to drop someone off a metaphorical cliff.
SPECIAL BONUS QUESTION: What functional type of fashion accessory is most common among the heroes of the DC Universe? Finally, I think the bonus question is going to be open for debate this week. I thought about the wording, and I think “functional” helps my argument, but I'm not sure. Kev said capes while Sean said exterior underwear, and B13 said boots. Underwear and boots fall under attire more than accessory, while cape could go either way. The answer I was looking for is rings.
First and most obviously there are the Green Lanterns, a galaxy wide corps of heroes armed with rings that channel energy based on their willpower. Sinestro is a rogue Green Lantern who turned on this Corps using a ring that wielded yellow energy, which the green rings were weak against. He eventually put together his own Corps, all armed with fear-powered yellow rings. Since then, writer Geoff Johns has created an entire spectrum of ring wielders: Red Lanterns(anger), Violet Lanterns(love), Blue Lanterns(hope), Orange Lanterns(hope), Indigo Lanterns, and Black Lanterns(Death).
If a galaxy full of characters with power rings isn't enough, there's the Legion of Superheroes, a team of superpowered teens from the future all armed with rings that bear their logo and allow them to fly and communicate with one another. The Barry Allen Flash kept his costume miniaturized inside his ring until he needed it. Even Batman had a Kryptonite ring in case Superman had to be put in his place The ring originally belonged to Lex Luthor until it gave him cancer, at which point Supes entrusted it to Bats as a sign that they were going steady. Or something. The point is, a lot of these characters have rings that do things.
What's this? The TWENTY-SIXTH edition of the M.C.F.A.T., or Mysterious Cloaked Figure's Astonishing Test? Time does fly in between my bouts of inquisitiveness.
If you're just joining us, this test practically explains itself. Just answer the questions below in the comment section or on your own blogs, and check back in a week or so when I link to your answers and post my own:
1) Which pieces of (snail) mail do you typically open first or with the most urgency?
2) You're under attack from some thugs; which fictional character from one of Joss Whedon's shows is best suited to help you out?
3) What is one compulsive habit you wish you could quit?
4) Of all the cartoons you may have watched as a child, which had the strongest lasting influence on your life?
SPECIAL BONUS QUESTION: What functional type of fashion accessory is most common among the heroes of the DC Universe?
There's no right or wrong, and you can't fail if you answer. Good luck!
Last week I posted the TWENTY-FIFTH batch of the M.C.F.A.T., or Mysterious Cloaked Figure's Astonishing Test questions. The following brave souls answered the call(and questions):
1) Where were you when America's new president was sworn into office? I know not everyone voted for the guy(I didn't), but it's hard not to notice the historical significance, and as much as I was dealing with in my personal life this past week, I definitely saw the effects of the inauguration on those around me, and I'm sure we all have interesting stories to share. I neither agreed with nor liked Bill Clinton. I don't agree with Obama, from his stance on abortion to his proposed economic plans, but it's hard not to like the guy. He's a comic book geek and he has definite presence and charisma. The day of the inauguration, people began vanishing from their cubicles as we got close to noon, much to the chagrin of one supervisor who walked by and wondered where everyone went. Most gathered around the flatscreens in our dining area, watching in awed silence. I kept working, but I did get a streaming video up online in the corner of my monitor. I tried calling my parents at the nursing home but no one was answering the phone. I listened to more of the ceremony in my car on the way to lunch, and sat in a pizzeria watching as the new president led the old one to his helicopter. There was a genuine sense of history in the making, of a renewed sense of patriotism and inspiration. No president lives up to his speeches and promises, and reality always sets in, worse for some than for others. I genuinely hope this one turns out as good as people think he is, and only time will tell.
2) Who is your favorite legacy hero and why? Legacy heroes are more common in DC Comics than Marvel. They've been around so much longer, they often have new characters take on the mantle of predecessors. The masks and powers might be the same even if the person underneath changes. I've heard good things about Captain America's replacement, though I haven't read any issues firsthand. Back in my collecting years, I could argue that Quasar was a legacy hero, in that the quantum bands that gave him his powers as Protector of the Universe were passed down to him. Other notable successors included Thunderstrike(Thor's replacement before making a name for himself after the thunder god returned), War Machine(who wore the Iron Man armor for a significant period of time before getting his own distinctive suit), and Spider-Man 2099(who had the distinction of a great science fiction origin that gave him, among other abilities, organic webbing, a concept the publisher would eventually adopt for both the screen and print depictions of the present-day character).
My absolute favorite legacy character is Terry McGuiness, Batman Beyond. This was a hip and stylish animated series that passed the hero's mantle on to a young rebel who grew into the role over the course of 52 episodes, mentored by his predecessor.
3) What was your best concert experience? A week ago, I would have said Pearl Jam. They were my favorite band back in college, and up until recently the only major act I'd ever seen. It was an amazing outdoor show at Randall's Island, and I still have the t-shirt I bought as a souvenir as well as my favorite sunglasses, which flew out of my flannel shirt pocket while moshing along with my ticket stub. I could only grab one thing, and it was the stub that vanished in the mud and grass beneath the surging crowd.
Flash forward about a decade to Metallica, and now I'm not so sure Pearl Jam was my best experience. I was closer to the stage, younger, and outside, but there was something about seeing legends in person after so many years that was epic. It also marked a return, since they had a slew of subpar albums since the black album, the album I listened to the most when commuting back and forth to college in Queens. The set list was phenomenal, playing the perfect mix of new stuff and the best of their first five albums, completely ignoring the bad years. There were lasers and black beach balls and multicolored jets of flame and I still have a mild ringing in my ears. Life is inevitably full of regrets, and I'm ecstatic to be able to cross “never saw Metallica live” off of my list.
4) You're piloting a plane when geese fly into your engine; what do you do? If I don't wake up from that nightmare, I run screaming from the cabin, “IS ANYONE HERE A PILOT?!” Hopefully, Chesley Sullenberger is on board, or we're all going to die.
SPECIAL BONUS QUESTION: Can you name all the GoBots in the following questionable clip?
I'll admit right now that I can only name two off the top of my head. Freaking GoBots.... Leader-1(and a doppelganger), Crasher, Cop-Tur and Herr Fiend. For the record, Leader-1 and Cop-Tur were the only two names I didn't have to look up. And though I couldn't recall her name, I did remember Crasher, the evil girl robot you know is a girl because of her lipstick. Freaking GoBots.
It's 2009, and the TWENTY-FIFTH edition of the M.C.F.A.T., or Mysterious Cloaked Figure's Astonishing Test is the first of the year! I can't believe January is almost over, but this has been an insane month for the Whorenelli clan.
If you're just joining us, this test practically explains itself. Just answer the questions below in the comment section or on your own blogs, and check back in a week or so when I link to your answers and post my own:
1) Where were you when America's new president was sworn into office? I know not everyone voted for the guy(I didn't), but it's hard not to notice the historical significance, and as much as I was dealing with in my personal life this past week, I definitely saw the effects of the inauguration on those around me, and I'm sure we all have interesting stories to share.
1) Is it good or bad when sitcoms feature celebrity guest stars? I'll somewhat echo the sentiments of Darrell and Jeff, and say that the traditional sitcom model with the canned laughter or studio audience is all but dead. It was great in the ‘80s, and for a good portion of the ‘90s, but as I've gotten older I just don't find the things funny that a laugh track is telling me I should find funny. How I Met Your Mother is the sole current show with a laugh track that I still enjoy. It's those half hour comedies that break from telling me what's funny and let me figure it out for myself, while breaking away from filming in a studio, that still hold my interest, including The Office, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, 30 Rock, My Name is Earl, The Simpsons, Family Guy, and Scrubs(returning Tuesday, January 6 2009 on ABC).
I think the key to a celebrity guest appearance is to not call attention to the fact that the guest star is a “celebrity”. While the network promo departments are notorious for pointing that out as the sole reason to tune in to an episode, it's how that person is used that determines whether or not the guest is a good addition. Jennifer Aniston was one of the stars thrown at us in commercials for a recent 30 Rock, but it was the surprise inclusion of former cast members from Night Court in that episode that I really loved. The performance and the function these stars serve is the most important thing. Brendan Fraser is easily the best guest star to appear on Scrubs, but for his character's story arc, and not the fact that he was Brendan Fraser.
I think it's also important that a guest star mesh naturally with the regular cast, and not detract from their chemistry. If new viewers are brought in for a particular actor who isn't on the following episode, they might not stick around. Near the end of their run, Arrested Development had an episode subtly acknowledging the fact that the show was nearly canceled, and made fun of ratings stunts such as celebrity guests while incorporating several guests at the same time. Ironically, throughout their run stars like Henry Winkler, Scott Baio, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Ben Stiller, and Charlize Theron all made integrated appearances that contributed more to the story than just star power.
I think the most important problem with the “celebrity” guest is that when a network pushes that, as ABC has, giving Courtney Cox more time in a recent Scrubs commercial than the regular cast, they forget that their regular stars are celebrities too.
2) What is the most shocking thing you've seen on the internet? B13 is responsible for 90% of it, though I won't be linking to his favorite animated gif of a “meat chopper”, or any of the other shocking things I've come across on my own. After a friend sent some of us a video of a man who shoots himself in the head while in police custody, something I'd seen before, I started thinking about this question. That particular video, perhaps due to the theatric liberties movies take, didn't seem that shocking. There was no loud bang, no shouting, and no musical score. Just a pop, a slump, and some mild swearing and griping on the part of the officers. No, the most shocking thing I saw was a few years ago at my old job, when curiosity got the better of me and I allowed a coworker to play a video of an American slowly being beheaded by a group of terrorists with a dull knife. There are a lot of ugly, horrible, and shocking things in this world, and with the internet there really isn't anything we can't see on demand. Whether we should or would want to is a whole other question, of course.
3) Is it possible to have too much free time? Free time isn't bad, and amid the hustle of work, band, family, and friends, I sometimes wish there were more hours in the day. Then I come to a long weekend like this one in which I finally get the time I've been wanting all year, and I worry about being bored. Thus far, I've found ways to occupy myself, and ultimately I don't think free time is bad, only what we do with that time. Sometimes it can be a welcome respite, and other times it can inspire us to be creative and come up with things we'd normally be too busy to think about.
4) Inspired by a recent Dwight Shrute monologue, I ask you: what's your perfect crime? I think it would be great to create a fake persona with my friends, for all of us to maintain a blog about this fictitious individual. We could have him be in his thirties, still living with his parents, not have a girlfriend, and have legendary bad luck. He could also have way too much knowledge about comic books, movies, and television shows. Perhaps once a week this guy could post photos of his “vacations” to local nature preserves. If I could convince people that a loser like that actually exists, maybe even maintain this character for five years or more, that would be the perfect crime. I'm sure most people would see right through it though, and it would be difficult for multiple writers to maintain a consistent voice, and junk.
SPECIAL BONUS QUESTION: What (animated) fictional town offers a whirlwind existence, race cars, lasers, airplanes, mystery-solving, time travel, and more? I got some good answers for this, but the one I was looking for is Duckburg. I was thinking of Duckburg.
Welcome to the TWENTY-FOURTH edition of the M.C.F.A.T., or Mysterious Cloaked Figure's Astonishing Test! From time to time, I still like to ask my readers questions. Maybe I like to know you're still out there. Maybe I'm tired and it's easier to write questions than paragraphs. The reasons aren't important. In any event, please answer the questions below in the comments or on your own blogs, and check back in a week or so when I link to your answers and post my own:
1) Is it good or bad when sitcoms feature celebrity guest stars?
2) What is the most shocking thing you've seen on the internet?
3) Is it possible to have too much free time?
4) Inspired by a recent Dwight Shrute monologue, I ask you: what's your perfect crime?
SPECIAL BONUS QUESTION: What (animated) fictional town offers a whirlwind existence, race cars, lasers, airplanes, mystery-solving, time travel, and more?
There's no right or wrong, and you can't fail if you answer. Good luck!
Last week I posted the TWENTY-THIRD batch of the M.C.F.A.T., or Mysterious Cloaked Figure's Astonishing Test questions. These are the brave souls who stepped up to answer:
1) Do you like Halloween? Why or why not? I love Halloween. Wearing costumes on a day when everyone else is wearing costumes is very liberating. I don't need to be as restrained. I can relax and not worry about people making fun of me, because everyone else looks funny too. It's the one day of the year I can almost blend in with the normal people.
2) What is your favorite sound effect? Hands down, the original Transformers transformation sound is an easy winner, although Sean's answer of a lightsaber igniting is pretty good too, and probably a close second.
3) How do you feel when studios recast roles to different actors in sequels to popular films? It depends on the circumstances. I don't like that Terrence Howard will replaced by Don Cheadle in Iron Man 2, especially since Howard seems to be one of the last ones to know, and that his “next time, baby!” line now takes on a certain irony. I will say that Gyllenhaal was an improvement over Holmes in The Dark Knight, and I can respect when someone died like Richard Harris and they needed to replace him in the Harry Potter sequels. I haven't seen The Mummy 3 yet, and though I like Maria Bello, she's no Rachel Weisz. Unseen seemed to confirm my concerns. The James Bond series, out of necessity, is one of the few that works recasting the main character, mostly because they're loosely connected films and not true sequels. Within something as tight as a trilogy, you get that soap opera or Bewitched effect in which it's weird that this newcomer is being treated with such familiarity by the other cast members, whose characters don't notice the change. So, to sum up, within a short series where it happens out of some negotiating or financial misstep, it bothers me, but with remakes, loosely connected films, or unavoidable circumstances such as death, less so.
4) Fire or Ice? I'd rather freeze than burn. Burning is quicker but I imagine more painful. With ice, I'd go numb first, and it would be like falling asleep. In general, I'd rather be cold than hot.
SPECIAL BONUS QUESTION: Who is Zsaji? As most people looked up easily, Zsaji was a minor but crucial character in the original Secret Wars. Her healing abilities saved Earth's heroes from certain death, and as a love interest for Colossus, she'd have a lasting effect on him long after she sacrificed herself to save him and he returned home to break up with Kitty Pryde. The scary thing isn't that I remember Zsaji, but that I spelled her name right on my first try...
Welcome to the TWENTY-THIRD edition of the M.C.F.A.T., or Mysterious Cloaked Figure's Astonishing Test! I remain most inquisitive. Please answer the questions below in the comments or on your own blogs, and check back in a week or so when I link to your answers and post my own:
Welcome to the TWENTY-SECOND edition of the M.C.F.A.T., or Mysterious Cloaked Figure's Astonishing Test! “Twenty-second” is a fun word to say aloud. Please answer the questions below in the comments or on your own blogs, and check back in a week when i link to your answers and post my own:
1) What do you think will be the most popular Halloween costumes this year?
2) Do you recall the first time you received an e-mail, and what it was?
3) What would be your ideal life after retirement?
4) Who are your three favorite recurring commercial characters?
SPECIAL BONUS QUESTION: Who made Blake black and why?
There's no right or wrong, and you can't fail if you answer. Good luck!
The Twenty-First edition of the Mysterious Cloaked Figure's Astonishing Test didn't draw as many answers as previous editions, but I do appreciate the responses I did receive:
Perhaps it was just a busy week; I know mine was busy. Possibly some of these were hard questions; I know I'm going to struggle with some of them:
1) At what point would you say some of your favorite shows ”jumped the shark”, and did you continue watching them anyway? Smallville certainly tops the list, although it jumps back every few weeks, just enough to keep me watching. Hopefully after eight years, the main character will finally move off the farm and become the hero he's destined to become. It's a little ridiculous that he never finished college, lost his father, had his mom move out before he did, has met the Justice League as well as his cousin, and yet after all that he still spends most of his time hanging out in a barn. I'm wary of the upcoming season's version of Doomsday.
Beast Wars is as close to a perfect series as I've ever encountered, with great characters, beautiful computer animation, and a solid story that plays out after three seasons to a solid conclusion that flawlessly illustrates what happens when writers plan ahead. I was floored when I learned how the show really tied in to the original Transformers, and it may be the only animated series with an episode that made me cry. That being said, the sequel series Beast Machines proved to be one giant shark jump, and I wish they'd left it to our imagination what happened when these characters finally got back to their homeworld of Cybertron.
Gargoyles was another epic series that started on a small scale with medieval creatures waking up in modern Manhattan and grew in scope until they were tackling more complex storylines inspired by Shakespeare. By the third season, they jumped networks along with the shark, and without the direction of the series' creator they got bogged down in stories of the Gargoyles trying to fit in with the humans.
I can probably think of more examples of shows that have jumped, but there are very few that I stopped watching entirely. Enterprise is one of the few I can think of that I dropped after a season or two, but then it jumped early on.
2) What was your greatest pain, and how did it change your life? Honestly, at the age of 33 I'm fairly certain my greatest pain is yet to come, so I probably should have qualified this question with a “so far”. My greatest emotional pain was when my girlfriend left me after two-and-a-half years, and it threw my life into turmoil as I suddenly didn't know my future. I was sure we'd end up together. It pushed me to eventually seek a better job after months of wallowing, and lots of free, boring weekends led me to accept more and more band jobs just so I'd have something to do. I became wary and cautious, and even when she stayed in touch for a bit and raised the possibility that we might get back together “someday”, I couldn't trust that she wouldn't leave me again. It was years before I even considered another girl, promising “her or no one” to God if He'd bring her back, though realistically I couldn't dictate such terms to Him, and once I found out she'd married someone I regretted the corner I'd painted myself into with that “deal”. I regressed to a previous and familiar state of shyness and antisocial behavior, and even now I'm still crawling out of my shell. On the advice of friends, I've started paying attention to things like body language when I go out to bars, and avoid folding my arms or leaning on the bar around a bottle with my back to everyone else. I've made efforts to engage girls in conversation, though sometimes that's a challenge. The other night I met a girl who neither owned nor watched a television; that limited my range of topics.
Physically, my greatest pain so far occurred after intestinal resectioning to correct a birth defect known as a Meckel's diverticulum. The dizzy spells, blood loss, and sharp pains in my side preceding my hospital stay were bad, but I think the pain I felt when I woke up with twenty staples holding my abdomen together was worse, not to mention the discomfort of the nasogastric tube that remained in place for a few days until I healed and was allowed to eat and drink again. I'm not quite a hypochondriac these days, but the experience did make me more sensitive to certain symptoms and more concerned if I felt lightheaded or had a stomach ache. It was at least a year before I stopped checking for blood.
In some ways I'm fortunate. For all their health problems, I still have both of my parents. I've seen friends go through that pain, and I know it's inevitably in my future. And if I ever do settle down and get married, I know there's a chance that years of joy will be capped with my wife's death. I probably should keep an eye on younger women to increase the odds that I'll die first, as selfish as that seems. Pain has a way of improving our lives, but my biggest surprise has been how little things change. I almost regret that my life went back to normal after a near-death experience, that it led me to be more cautious and not to go on vacations or take more chances with my social life.
3) What are three of the worst things you've ever done? Do these questions count? Yikes. In no particular order: a) Up the block from my house there once lived a mentally challenged girl named Gina. I remember one Summer playing at my friend’s house across the street from hers. She was older than us but acted younger, and was running around laughing and giggling with the smaller children. There was a metal pole on the ground that I picked up and started carrying over to a fence. I'm not sure if I was thinking of building something or pretending to joust or what I was playing at, only that when one of my friends called to me, I turned around with the pole balanced on my shoulder and heard a loud “CLONK!”. I saw Gina standing there looking stunned, and I didn't realize that she’d been following me and I'd hit her when I swung the pole around, until she put a hand to her head and ran to her house crying. After that, her parents didn't let her out of the house much.
b) Of the girls that caught my eye in college, there was one particularly quirky but cute girl that I thought I might have a shot with, despite terse conversations about how she didn't understand the “meaning” of the Metallica songs I'd put on during art classes. We had one sort-of “date” in which my friends set up a group visit to see the tree lighting in the city, and then all backed out so that it was only she and I. We got lost, never found the tree, and ended up walking and talking for a few hours before catching a train back to campus. I had barely enough money for the subway, so I didn't even buy her food. Undeterred, I tried two more times to ask her out near the end of my last semester of classes before I'd be leaving for an internship. The first time, I rushed out of a class as she was leaving and asked her in the hall if she'd like to see a movie “sometime”. She sort of gave me a maybe and excused herself quickly and easily, especially since I neither specified a movie or a time. My final attempt was the worst. I asked if she'd go to my friend's Christmas party with me and she scrunched up her face and shook her head like a small child refusing broccoli. After mustering the courage to just take one final definitive swing and a miss, I couldn't take it. “WHAT'SA MATTER?” said an angry voice that sounded like an evil Brooklyn version of myself, “DON'TCHA LIKE ME OR SOMETHING??” She looked a little afraid at that point, and I was pretty much finished. A few months later I had to visit the campus to check in and report on my internship. I saw her in a class, and as she was leaving she kissed a guy I was friends with. So not only did I yell at the girl for turning me down, but there's a very real possibility I was hitting on my friend's lady. Whoops. It wouldn't be the last time I'd inadvertently approach someone who was already in a relationship, but thus far it's been the last time I've yelled at a girl. A few years after that incident when my own girlfriend was breaking up with me, between the tears and literary quotes I was remarkably civilized, telling her that while I was sad she was leaving me I'd be grateful for the time she spent with me, opening my eyes to the possibility that sometimes, just sometimes, geeks find love in real life.
c) When I was a kid, I once turned the top hooks on a wall mirror in the dressing room of a department store. It held to the wall for a few minutes, and it was only after I'd left that the thing finally tipped forward and crashed to the floor. “What was that?!” asked my mom, turning in the direction of the shattering noise. An 8 or 9-year-old imp just shrugged innocently, and it was years before I told my parents the full story. I did a lot of things like that when I was a kid, and if I didn't limit this question to three items I'd be typing all night.
4) Are there any habits or rituals you engage in on a daily basis? How do they assist or harm your life? I find chewing gum helps me when I get those anxiety spells while driving. I know which stretches of road will cause me to worry and induce the lightheadedness, shortness of breath, and or swollen temples, so I pop in a stick of gum in psychological anticipation. Most days I don't even think about it, and get to my destination before I realize my mind was elsewhere and I didn't need the gum. The habit reinforces the fact that the problem has a psychological trigger and reduces the need to think about it. And if I don’t think about it, it won’t happen and I’m fine.
One thing I almost always do when I reach a destination is think or say aloud, “Park, Brake, Off.” That little mantra helps me remember to shift the car into park, engage the parking brake, and turn off my headlights if they're on.
Before I start working each day, I check my personal e-mail as well as any blogs, online comics, or other sites, often before my work e-mail has even loaded. Sometimes throughout the day, I'll stop in the middle of designing an ad with the sudden A.D.D. urge to check my e-mail or read a synopsis and message board comments for a television show that I watched the night before. I still get my work done, but long gone are the days I'd work for four or more hours steady without distraction. It's a bad habit that spills over into the evening when playing one more game or checking one more blog adds up to a bedtime of 1 AM or later.
Another positive habit I've developed in the last few years is staying well hydrated throughout the day. I drink at least one 32 Oz. sports drink a day, refilling the bottle with water before I leave the office to go to the gym. I drink half of it throughout my workout, and finish the other half after dinner when I take a Multivitamin, a Vitamin C, and two B12s. So I consume 64 ounces of liquid a day or more, which is pretty good. This past Friday I had several bottles of apple juice and orange juice after donating blood, in addition to the tea I had with my lunch and my regular daily fluids. Then I went out drinking for a friend's birthday, pacing myself with Guinness and beer only to find myself sipping bourbon by the wee hours of the morning. If I drank as much alcohol as everything else I drink, I probably wouldn't be here right now. I definitely develop habits and get addicted to things, but thus far I haven't become an alcoholic like my uncle, which my parents always feared. One night a month or less is enough for that particular habit.
SPECIAL BONUS QUESTION: What is the significance of 926535? I can never remember more than the first four decimals to Pi. If I were able to retain the sequence to ten digits after the decimal point, 3.1415 would be followed by 926535. I guarantee I've forgotten that already. Maybe I do need easier questions in the future...
Ask and ye shall receive! The M.C.F.A.T., or Mysterious Cloaked Figure's Astonishing Test, continues to draw answers, and so I'll continue to learn new Roman numerals and post questions:
1) At what point would you say some of your favorite shows ”jumped the shark”, and did you continue watching them anyway?
2) What was your greatest pain, and how did it change your life?
3) What are three of the worst things you've ever done?
4) Are there any habits or rituals you engage in on a daily basis? How do they assist or harm your life?
SPECIAL BONUS QUESTION: What is the significance of 926535?
There's no right or wrong, and you can't fail if you answer. Good luck!
From around the globe they came, at least, from around one quarter of the globe, bloggers seeking answers. Brave souls stepped forth to take up the challenge of the Mysterious Cloaked Figure's Astonishing Test for what seemed like the TWENTIETH time:
1) Are you offended when a film or television show lampoons something close to you, be it nationality, faith, gender, etc.? If so, how do you respond? I think a lot of the world's conflicts could be resolved if more people had a sense of humor. In America, there's a fine line between what is and isn't acceptable, especially within the boundaries of free speech. If something is clearly a joke, outrageous for the sake of being outrageous, it doesn't usually bother me. Family Guy has crossed this line occasionally, but while I might cringe at a joke that has God getting in a bar fight, using his Son's name in vain then asking Him to get the car, within seconds the show is already moving on to its next target, perhaps the Jewish population or the mentally challenged. They've done Clinton jokes and they've done Bush jokes. They make fun of everyone equally, so I can't be too bothered.
There was recent talk of boycotting Tropic Thunder for jokes about the mentally challenged. Like Scott Nehring and Darrell, I have to wonder if the jokes are aimed at the disabled or the stupidity of characters mocking the disabled, which are two different things. Nehring points out how There's Something About Mary managed to be on the acceptable side of this distinction, and I'll be able to judge better for myself once I see Tropic Thunder. I think people have the freedom to make movies and shows that mock or disagree with things I believe in, just as I'd have the right to do the same. I'll usually check out a movie for myself rather than go by negative buzz. Catholic groups had called for a boycott of Dogma, but that didn't stop me from seeing it. I didn't particularly like it, and didn't agree with a lot of things in it, but I don't think I would ever organize and stop people from seeing something. I'd give my opinion, but we each ultimately have to decide for ourselves. At some point I'll probably watch something of Michael Moore's, but I haven't felt any particular rush or desire to do so.
2) If you were granted with superhuman intelligence and or abilities that had the unfortunate side effect of ending your life in a few days, how would you spend your final hours? Obviously a cure would be my first priority but, failing that, I imagine I'd want to record as much data as possible to benefit others once I was gone, from technology to researching cures for diseases. Rodney McKay went through a similar experience on an episode of Stargate: Atlantis. Of course, when they finally find a way to restore his normal state and save his life, a lot of the research he did was no longer comprehensible to him. I think if there was no way to reverse my condition in such a situation, I'd also look into creating a virtual version of myself, so I could live on. Sure, it wouldn't have my soul or be me, just a computer program that thought as I did, but at least the world could still benefit from my gifts and I wouldn't be forgotten. With my luck, the simulation would probably duplicate my ordinary self, and suffer from numerous blocks and command loops that kept it from advancing and achieving its true potential.
3) If someone you knew repeatedly demonstrated poor hygiene, would you ever broach the subject and tell the person? I was amazed by how many people answered this in the affirmative. Certainly, family pulls no punches, and my mom has probably always been the first one to tell me if I smelled. My dad's never had the greatest olfactory senses, otherwise I would have heard from him as well. There were about four or five years after college in which I didn't have a dental plan and didn't go to the dentist. At some point in that time, I somehow got a cavity in one of my wisdom teeth and didn't notice until it was a gaping crater. No one ever said anything to me about my breath, and when I discovered it I worried that it may have been among the reasons my ex-girlfriend left me. I had the tooth removed along with the other 3, and I've made regular visits to the dentist twice a year ever since.
I suspect one of my band leaders never visits a dentist. He had worked for a major corporation for about 25 years before being laid off, and after a period of unemployment he finally found a job packing boxes in a warehouse. I have to wonder whether or not the job offers a dental plan, as his breath is horrible. You can smell it within a three foot radius when he speaks. It's beyond lacking professional care. Even when I wasn't seeing a hygienist twice a year, I was still brushing every day and using mouthwash. I got into a conversation with one of the other band members about it, who wondered how the guy's wife could stand to kiss him. “Maybe she throws a handful of Tic Tacs at him?” I suggested. “He needs something stronger, like a urinal cake” suggested the other guy. Ultimately, if anyone should say anything to him I guess it should be his wife. We're certainly not close enough to broach the subject, and with that breath we keep our distance. It does hurt to hear that you smell from people close to you, but in the big picture I personally would prefer they tell me rather than laugh at me behind my back. I've always been fortunate to have friends who will laugh right in my face, for better or worse.
SPECIAL BONUS QUESTION: What was the name of my first pet, and what was it? My mom has always had cats, and the first one I remember is an orange cat named Muffin. He had a younger brother named Dudley, who passed away before I could remember him, although there is this photo of some little fat kid emptying an entire box of crunchy treats on to the floor for them:
I also vaguely remember emptying a box of Cheerios on to the kitchen table and my mom finding both myself and my orange “brother” eating off the table. As an only child, I guess I thought of the cats as surrogate siblings. It was very sad when Muffin got a tumor on his back leg and passed away.
I'll conclude with a shot of Muffin from happier times, relaxing on the couch with Cindy, a Calico my mom adopted after we lost Dudley.
Cindy was short for ”Cinderella”, so named because on her first night with us she wandered into the fireplace and came out covered in soot. Over thirty years later, and we still keep it covered and have never lit a fire.
And that does it for XX. What say you all; should there be a XXI?
Well, the return of the M.C.F.A.T., Mysterious Cloaked Figure's Astonishing Test, was definitely welcomed by a few readers, so perhaps I'll keep these going, at least whenever I have a busy weekend like this one. The worst case scenario is that no one responds but I gain an impeccable knowledge of Roman numerals. Let's get to some questions:
1) Are you offended when a film or television show lampoons something close to you, be it nationality, faith, gender, etc.? If so, how do you respond?
2) If you were granted with superhuman intelligence and or abilities that had the unfortunate side effect of ending your life in a few days, how would you spend your final hours?
3) If someone you knew repeatedly demonstrated poor hygiene, would you ever broach the subject and tell the person?
4) Who are some of your favorite television characters that originated one one series before being spun off into another?
SPECIAL BONUS QUESTION: What was the name of my first pet, and what was it?
There's no right or wrong, and you can't fail if you answer. Good luck!
A M.C.F.A.T., or a Mysterious Cloaked Figure's Astonishing Test, is both a blessing and a curse. I can write questions pretty fast and get a break one week, only to have a lot more to write the week following. Still, for all those night's I struggle with writer's block and post meaningless drivel, it's nice to have a topic or five to focus on.
For our NINETEENTH edition, here are the fellow bloggers who participated:
1) Should film critics be genre-specific? Why or why not? General critics do serve a purpose, but I think there should also be specialists, just as there are in the medical field. Certain genres have a very specific fan base, whether you're talking about horror movies, animation, science fiction, comic book movies, or even movies based on video games. Taste is subjective, and some critics may discount a movie solely based on its genre. Will Heath Ledger get the same recognition for his portrayal of the Joker? Some would look down on the role due to the source material, but I submit that comics are not only more mature than they were twenty or thirty years ago, but that Ledger was every bit the presence that Daniel Day-Lewis was in There Will Be Blood or Javier Bardem was in No Country For Old Men. I think certain genres have validity to the audience that appreciates them, and can be better judged by a true connoisseur of those flavors. One critic might deem all horror movies to be garbage, while a horror aficionado could explain the difference in quality between a Saw and a Jason X. I think we could benefit from professional genre specialists, beyond the thousands of fans who use the internet as our forum to say how great Robert Downey, Jr. was in Iron Man or Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean. Because no matter how much critics might universally pan certain genres, we're still going to see and love those films. I wonder though; if we see what we want to see anyway, then maybe we don't need critics at all.
2) What are some of your favorite movies and/or episodes of television shows depicting time travel? The Back to the Future trilogy certainly ranks high on my list. I also have a soft spot for Groundhog Day style episodes of television shows where characters are caught in a loop. I remember a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode that starts with the ship exploding then keeps cutting back through events leading up to the destruction, with crew members recalling the events each time the loop resets. I think that series used that conceit many times. Supernatural ran an episode entitled “Mystery Spot” this past season, in which one brother continually relives the same day which ends and resets every time the other brother dies in ways ranging from comedic to horrific.
The Stargate SG-1 episode “Window of Opportunity” is probably my favorite instance of a time loop episode, certainly the funniest. That series has a lot of great time travel episodes, ranging from 1969 which establishes the precedent of precisely how a Stargate can be used to traverse time when a wormhole is caught in the path of a solar flare, to Moebius, in which a trip into the past radically alters the timestream and creates a new future. Most recently the direct-to-DVD movie Stargate: Continuum inspired this question, and while it follows a similar theme to Moebius with the altering of the timeline, I really appreciated the revelation about the time machine at the end, brilliant in the context of the series and the writers' attention to continuity.
I'll probably catch flak from Trekkies if I don't at least mention The City on the Edge of Forever, which set precedent for science fiction aliens hiding under a Winter cap, but I'd probably catch equal flak for mentioningStar Trek IV, which proved that when you're stuck in the past, you can always get by with a little help from your whales.
3) At this exact second, how did you get where you are in life? Where I am physically is in my room in my parents' house, where they kept me imprisoned for 18 years only to have me get revenge by sticking around an extra fifteen years and counting. The real world is scary! Where I am professionally is employed as an art director making a decent living at a company that people have probably heard of. I was competitive with kids who could draw in elementary school, though I wasn't in their league, and by high school I got into comic books. With more art than notes in most of my note books, I decided to study art in college, despite people telling my my 99.9% math average might lead to more profitable fields. I wasn't sure I'd stick with my graphic design major until Sophomore year, when we got computers. I was hired immediately after graduation by the publishing company that I interned at during my last semester. I learned everything and was paid next to nothing, and after four years my friend Rey pulled some strings and got me into the catalog company he was working at. Seven years later I was caught in a wave of layoffs, my luck finally running out after surviving previous downsizings. I was fortunate to have a friend in yet another company put my resumé through, and I finished work at one company on a Friday only to start at another one the following Monday. That's where I am today; who knows where I'll be tomorrow?
4) Will there be sex in heaven? (Hat tip to TheWriteJerry, who made this inquiry in an e-mail during the week that sparked an interesting discussion among the GeekFriends™. With their permission, I'll share some of their ideas next week.) This is actually a pretty simplified excerpt of a much longer discussion about the nature of heaven itself, about which Curt mused, “...I think the afterlife will not be anything like anything we can imagine. I can imagine people floating around or walking around, or being old or young, or short or tall or neither. Since I can imagine it, I'm pretty sure it's all wholly inaccurate.” As Jeff pointed out in his response, my phrasing does presuppose the existence of an afterlife, a belief not everyone shares. As a Catholic, I do believe in an afterlife and so couldn't phrase the question any differently, and it was a question originally raised by Jerry(along with “will there be movies in heaven?”) Sex does serve a purpose in the physical world, as both the ultimate expression of love between a husband and wife but for procreation as well. Even a nonbeliever would have to admit from a Darwinian standpoint that our species wouldn't continue to be fruitful and multiply if the experience were unpleasant. But it is an Earthly pleasure, and I think Heaven is beyond our ability to understand in this life, as Curt said. I don't have Rey's permission to quote him exactly, but he basically paraphrased something C.S. Lewis once said about explaining love to children, with the analogy that chocolate is the greatest thing a small child might imagine sharing. As adults, we learn there's something more fun than candy. By that reasoning, as an ascended soul we might look back on our mortal life as our childhood. In the next life we'll be well beyond the things that are fun and serve a purpose in this one. Enjoy what you have, but don't mourn not having it in the future; it won't seem as important, and there may be something better, an intimacy greater than a few seconds of nerve endings firing.
SPECIAL BONUS QUESTION: What is “that” one thing Meat Loaf wouldn't do for love? I'll accept both humorous and serious responses. For years I never really knew, but according to Wikipedia I just wasn't listening to the lyrics closely enough: “Each verse comprises two things that he would do for love, followed by one thing that he would not do. It is that latter part of each verse that is the "that" of the title.” I'm not alone in my confusion, and at one point the singer even tried unsuccessfully to diagram and explain the lyrics to an audience with a blackboard and chalk. He would have had more luck explaining Steve Miller's “Pompatus”.
Click Myclofigia once a day to get our city to #1!
MCF is a mild-mannered
artist from the suburbs.
His knowledge of obscure
comic book characters
is more powerful than Gladiator
of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard on
an ego-trip. Able to leap topics
in a single sentence faster than
a speeder-bike on the moon of
Endor, MCF has never written
about himself in the third person
and now dreads the day he
utters aloud the fateful phrase,
"MCF is gettin' upset!"
