I'm leading off with furniture, which could be a bad sign...
I took in an estate sale today, playing a little hooky while I was running errands. It was at one of the mansion-sized houses over near a north-south corridor in KC called Ward Parkway. Heck, I just wanted to see the inside of a house mine could fit in four times over. Anyway, while there I scored an old office chair made by a company called Cole-Steel. It's got a nice art deco look to it, it doesn't rattle, and the casters are in great shape. I've got some leftover rollerblade casters, and I wanted to see if I can install them. After searching on the 'net, I discovered that (at least from what I found) nobody does any kind of restoration work on these old chairs, at least, none they share with the world. I think the casters are permanently attached via a welded-in metal piece, which is fine so long as they work. I was also amazed that the lowest price for a banged-up version of this chair was six times what I'd paid for it. However, I can't sell it, as I'm sure my current chair will someday succumb to wear, and my kid has already adopted it as a play toy, climbing up on it demanding to be spun around until he can't sit up straight. I think I saw another one in a corner at the sale; I might have to sneak back tomorrow and see if a little Brasso and Armor-All can't create a matched set. :)
I also saw this next item, which I'm tempted to buy (it's only a buck, but someone wrote "1.00" on its top in Sharpie, diminishing its hilarity slightly) if it's still there. Apparently, the great Muhammad Ali lent his sports-icon image to a lot of things, but I'm not sure I would have wanted my face on this box. Then again, were I the target of the product, I'd be pretty sure I was in trouble.
Normally, I find most historical texts very dry and hard to get through, but there's one major exception: Anything by Sarah Vowell, especially if you can get the audiobook where she's the reader. It's like listening to an extra educational episode of "This American Life." She's got a new book out, "Unfamiliar Fishes," about the history of Hawaii becoming the target of missionaries and eventually a state. Like her other books ("The Wordy Shipmates," "Assassination Vacation," "The Partly Cloudy Patriot"), there's a lot of humor, mixed feelings about events, and a love of looking back at what made things the way they are today. Some of the things I found interesting about this book (in no particular order):
- Her nephew, Owen, who will often end farewells with 'don't die.'
- NASA used whale oil to lubricate its equipment for the moon landing, among other missions, as it's quite resistant to low temperatures.
- At one time the Hawaiian people voted on who their next king would be (the previous rulers had died leaving no heirs, due to the same sort of contact with diseases via American/Europeans that wiped out most of the American Indian population).
- Henry Cabot Lodge and Lorrin A. Thurston were pretty Machiavellian dudes, even by today's standards.
Anyway, it was an interesting read, though sometimes depressing. History is often complicated, messy, and full of stuff that rarely turns out well for the little guy. Vowell acknowledges the shortcomings and mistakes of the Hawaiian monarchy, but also points out the ironies and actions of what was done to make it a state, which often was at odds with the ideals we hold dear in our Constitution and view of our country. She also wonders (as do I, now) what the last Queen of Hawaii, Liliʻuokalani, would think if she knew someone from the islands would someday attend the Honolulu school that taught some of the people who took over her country, become president, and then have a song she wrote ("Aloha Oe") performed at his inaugural. History is weird like that.
Okay, enough real-life: On the heels of what I suggested be done for Batman films (just make ones with at least decent scripts, don't worry about continuity between them) comes word that there's already scripting afoot for fifth 'Pirates of the Caribbean' movie. They appear to be set up to put out stand-alone PotC films, which shows they learned two lessons: people like the first stand-alone film the best, and if you make a clunker, you don't have to make your subsequent film acknowledge its unpopular ancestor. I think it's also safe to say that so long as Johnny Depp keeps putting on the Jack Sparrow costume, this series will make money hand over fist.
And there have been Wonder Woman sightings, including some shots of the full costume. Yes, those are now red boots instead of blue, as many fans had requested. Though I do wonder why she's chasing two Observers from 'Fringe,' and why they're in jogging suits. Ah, well, crossovers rarely make sense, anyway.
There's also been news on the remake of Total Recall, with Bryan Cranston being cast as a villain in the story. From what they describe, it seems to be going for a dystopian spy-thriller vibe (though that's really preliminary). While they may be making a different film than Arnie's 'Total Recall,' it sounds like they might not be going by the Dick story terribly closely, either. The short story had more in common with 'The Lathe of Heaven' than it does with the first film or the description I'm seeing here. And that's fine; the first movie was enjoyable even though it diverged pretty much right after Quaid went nuts in the chair. I'm not sure if I want a re-creation of the get ready for a surprise scene, but a cameo by the actress from that part of the film would've be a great Easter Egg (sadly, she passed away in 2008).
And for all you tunneling and building addicts out there, the 1.4 version of Minecraft has been released. I've seen the wolves that were added, though the one I tamed didn't follow me underground, it just sat at the entrance to my mine. Also, the concept of changing your spawn point to wherever you last used a bed sounded completely awesome, so I was a little disappointed when it didn't seem to work. I wonder if one of the handful of mods (well, only one, really: The 3rd person camera one I mentioned a few posts ago) I use is to blame. Being able to put your spawn point in the structure a bajillion miles from where you started would be a godsend, especially if you saw a few tons of iron in the form of mine track go flying when that creeper snuck up and turned you into pixel-kibble.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go don a ninja outfit and grab my shovel so I can sneak across the state line into Kansas and drag some of the new Google fiber-optic data cable over to my house. They got the city right, just the wrong state. And I've been okay with Time-Warner's service for the most part, but I'm hoping Google's experiment right next door will have some effect on rates and services in my area. I wonder if I can rent a camouflage-painted backhoe somewhere? Anyway, here's the fun stuff:
- Friday is April first, and no one is safe.
- Unless this is an April Fool's joke, we may be looking at a new fashion trend that I'll spare everyone their eyes by not participating in, ever: the Chinese Shirt Roll.
- It's more of a 'cute shooter,' but Front Runner is a fun time-waster with auto-fire, upgrades, and a cartoony look with a musical vibe.
- Certainly the Doctor would encourage every organism not of legal age to avoid intoxicants, but I'm sure he'd want everyone to be aware of how to mix a proper 11th Doctor Sonic Screwdriver.
- Take this next one with a wink and a nod: Bacon-Air, the scent of bacon in a can, for all your baconized atmospheric needs.
- For the 'Trivial Pursuit' file, here's the 50 most expensive films thus far (and no, it's not adjusted for inflation so don't say 'Cleopatra' or anything; nobody does research anymore for lists). And there's a great many I'm saddened to see made their money back and then some.
- This should boost sales of that 'finger armor' stuff I see at conventions: Thorn Dice.
- Here's another list (this time with photos) of 20 clever toaster designs. I note that Cylons didn't make the cut.
- The full trailer for the next series of Doctor Who is out, and like most 'next episode' sequences, it intrigues without actually letting you know what the heck is going to happen.
- George Takei questions the casting of the live-action 'Akira' movie, but I figure he'll get his revenge when the actors have to actually use the script.
- Mister Rogers once tried to breakdance on his show. My mind is blown, my childhood in ruins.
- Please let this be an April Fool's prank: Roger Corman's next epic for SyFy? Piranhaconda.
- We end with Robo-Leap, a game where you have to time your robot's rotation to launch it in the correct direction, gathering targets and then finding the exit before time runs out.