Fun in the Austin sun
A Trip to Austin, Part the First - Navigation Woes and Deep-Dish Pizza. Plus Electronics.
The Sunday of Labor Day Weekend, I drove up to Austin to meet with rangerdrakeson. I really only had two specific goals. Everything else was pretty much to be played by ear. These goals were that I would meet with rangerdrakeson to (1) get a box of goodies to take home to mckke_qushe and (2) eat with rangerdrakeson at Conan's Pizza.
Well, I got to my friend's house with little incident. I keep getting lost in his subdivision, though. It never fails. I make a right, then a right, then a left, then... Wait, how many rights? Was that supposed to be a left? I know these street names, but how were they connected, again? With a little help from rangerdrakeson on the phone, I managed to get to get there, anyhow.
Our first stop, before we ate, was a Best Buy in the vicinity of MoPac and 290. Government discount cards in tow, I got myself a couple of digital television converter boxes. Hey, don't call me greedy! The government program said two per household, and I have a household. That means I get two. One went into the living room and the other is going on a little four-inch black-and-white jobadoo that I have in my bedroom. That way, I can watch TV much more clearly when I draw Stupor Hero comics or paint my Orks.
With the aid of his trusty GPS navigator (upon which I have become entirely too dependant), we set off for adventure, starting with a deep dish, Chicago-style pizza! The GPS device directed us out to the area of Guadalupe street, known by UT students as "The Drag."[1] I knew there was more than one Conan's, but I did not know where the second one was. I found out that it was there, next to a bizzare video store and in close proximity to several other pizza joints.[2] Little did I suspect, however, that the Conan's empire was expanding while I was away...
The deep-dish pizza was awesome, as it always is. The decor was fun to look at, with all the pulp novel cover art posted all around. There were also a few bits of Marvel Super Hero artwork, too, which I found to be rather enjoyable. The meaty pizza was filling and delicious, and we wiled away the time, musing about the old days and about common friends.[3] Plus, for some reason, the fighter planes in the video game adjacent to us were shooting down giant matroska dolls, a nonsensical happenstance that made question marks appear above our heads. A Trip to Austin, Part the Second - Obscure Videos and Mistaken Cultural Identity
Afterward, we paid the video store a little visit. They had --get this!-- The old "E.T." video game for the Atari, available for rent! It blew me away that they would have such a relic. Also, they had just about every cult film that any of you loyal readers could imagine. This place would be a veritable Mecca for any fan of celuloid cheese!
As I walked past a movie poster for Edward James Olmos' "Zoot Suit," I mused aloud, "You know, when I was little, I thought about getting a zoot suit. You know: big hat, watch on a chain, the whole bit." It was true. I had been inspired by a Tom & Jerry cartoon in which Tom makes himself a zoot suit and performs Louis Jordan's "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby?" Though he was the heel of the animated short, he epitomized coolness to my eight-year-old sensibilities.
"There's just one problem with that, though," rangerdrakeson said. "If you go out wearing one, with your complexion and features, people will be like, '¿Que paso, amigo?' You know. They'll mistake you for Hispanic or something."
"Um..." I responded. "But... I *am* Hispanic. I'm half Mexican. Part Apache, too, but..."
"Wait, what?" It was apparent that he was getting pretty confused. "I thought you were Fillipino or something. Hawaiian? Didn't you say you were Samoan?"
"Samoan?! I haven't gotten that heavy, have I?"
"No, no, you said people used to *mistake* you for Mexican."
"No," I corrected. "People used to mistake me for Arab. I remember telling the stories about how my mom used to be mistaken for Fillipina or Hawaiian, or Cherokee when she was little, though."
"I guess that's what I must have been thinking of..."
I couldn't help but be amused at the whole thing. Once we got back on the highway, I laughted out loud when he started apologising again. I could tell he was worried that he had offended me, but I was shaking my head and waving it off. "I will say, this, though," I said. "This is blog-worthy. It's just so amusing that I have to blog it."
"Please don't," he said.
"I just have to," I insisted. "It's that funny." A Trip to Austin, Part the Third - Of Zombies, Lost Malls, and Trading Card Games
My good friend rangerdrakeson (who, I might add, is not racist or racially prejudiced in any way - honest!!) showed me the TxDOT office where he works. It's right next to a graveyard, which is set to be moved in case the office expands.
"You know what you need?" I suggested. "You need the Vapire Killer whip. They sell it online, you know. Then you could have some fun whipping skeletons and zombies on your way to work!"
On our way to the office, we had passed by the second location of Conan's that was indicated on the GPS device. Curiously, neither of them was the one I remember visiting with Heather years ago, the one with a private booth for Stevie Ray Vaughn. This means that there were actually THREE locations of Conan's.
So far...
From the TxDOT office, we visited Dragon's Lair, where he used to work, but still hangs out. I cleared out about three quarters of their stock of Vs. System cards. rangerdrakeson was kind enough to let me use his discount for that one particular visit. What a stand-up guy.
Following our excursion to the comic shop, my friend said he wanted to check out a mall he used to frequent. Strangely, the mall as it stood now was hardly a mall at all. Rather, it was a large mass of mini-salons with an affixed ice skating rink. Sure, there was an office of some sort, and a small guitar shop, but the vast majority of the square footage was devoted to a maze of hairstylists and a skating rink. We wandered around what little there was to wander, with my friend puzzled at every corner.
"There used to *BE* things here," he insisted. "This was a real mall, not a bunch of hair salons."
We sat for a bit while he helped me plough through my Vs booster packs, helping me find the rare cards.[4] We talked a little about urban renewal in the area before we finally headed off.
"Hey," I asked as we pulled out of the parking lot of the not-mall. "Is that another Conan's?" A Trip to Austin, Part the Fourth - The End of the Road and Musings of Anime Clubs Past
We meandered into a comic / hobby shop. I found a few new monthly titles that I had missed earlier in the week. Had a rather nice conversation with the manager / owner / clerk / whoever at the counter, mostly about cosmic Marvel titles during and after the Annihilation story arc. We were agreed that "Guardians of the Galaxy" and "Nova" were great new titles, and that with the Secret Invasion, the Skrulls were no longer the joke of the universe.
Also while there, rangerdrakeson presented me with a copy of the January '08 White Dwarf magazine he had secretly purchased while at Dragon's Lair. The cover feature? The ORKS! WAAAAAUUUGH!!! Dakka dakka dakka!
Ded killy.
There was one final stop on our little trek through the Capital City. We stopped on the way to rangerdrakeson's house for a chocolate Frosty at a nearby Wendy's. He had some coupons for free ones, and that made them taste better.
"You know," he lamented, "I think that I miss Aggime. Actually, I miss what it was." It was a gathering place for a rag-tag group of anime otaku, sharing something that, at the time, was esoteric and scarce. All the shows were on bootlegged, fansubbed VHS copies that were traded, smuggled, borrowed, or flitched. In the case of the old Corn Pone stuff, they were multi-generation copies of copies. He beleived that, because anime had become so manstream, and was now widely available at nearly any retail outlet that sells DVDs, there was no need for any such organization.
"What it was," I said of the organization, "it was for us. It was what we needed it to be, and it served the purposes we needed it to serve. What it is now isn't what it used to be because it doesn't have to be that for us anymore. A whole new generation is there, so the club will evolve into whatever they need it to be. It will serve them however they need it to, then it'll transform into whatever the next generation needs it to be."
"You should be proud," I continued. "You created a living, breathing organization that will go on and on, and that's taken a life of its own."
He seemed to grumble a bit, taking little consolation from what I offered.
And then, after dropping him off at his house, I drove that dangerous I-35 corridor back to my hometown. It was a good visit. We reconnected. We had fun. We reminisced, geeked out, and philosophized and had fun while doing it.
[1] I am told by my father that, back in the 70's, people actually used to drag race there. I don't see how it would be possible nowadays, what with the horrific traffic and all.
[2] Also, it was surprisingly hard to find, despite being in plain sight. We had to call the place and ask for directions even though we drove right past it.
[3] Some of them, it turns out, have hidden stashes of hentai. I'm not saying who. They know who they are. Others, on the other hand, have UNhidden stashes of hentai. They know who they are, too. You know what? Probably more than those namelessly mentioned here are going, "Cheese it! He knows! Hide the stash! Hide the stash!"
[4] Hey, mckke_qushe! Still no 8-drop Mephisto, but I have ANOTHER 9-cost Galactus, Devourer of Worlds.
The Sunday of Labor Day Weekend, I drove up to Austin to meet with rangerdrakeson. I really only had two specific goals. Everything else was pretty much to be played by ear. These goals were that I would meet with rangerdrakeson to (1) get a box of goodies to take home to mckke_qushe and (2) eat with rangerdrakeson at Conan's Pizza.
Well, I got to my friend's house with little incident. I keep getting lost in his subdivision, though. It never fails. I make a right, then a right, then a left, then... Wait, how many rights? Was that supposed to be a left? I know these street names, but how were they connected, again? With a little help from rangerdrakeson on the phone, I managed to get to get there, anyhow.
Our first stop, before we ate, was a Best Buy in the vicinity of MoPac and 290. Government discount cards in tow, I got myself a couple of digital television converter boxes. Hey, don't call me greedy! The government program said two per household, and I have a household. That means I get two. One went into the living room and the other is going on a little four-inch black-and-white jobadoo that I have in my bedroom. That way, I can watch TV much more clearly when I draw Stupor Hero comics or paint my Orks.
With the aid of his trusty GPS navigator (upon which I have become entirely too dependant), we set off for adventure, starting with a deep dish, Chicago-style pizza! The GPS device directed us out to the area of Guadalupe street, known by UT students as "The Drag."[1] I knew there was more than one Conan's, but I did not know where the second one was. I found out that it was there, next to a bizzare video store and in close proximity to several other pizza joints.[2] Little did I suspect, however, that the Conan's empire was expanding while I was away...
The deep-dish pizza was awesome, as it always is. The decor was fun to look at, with all the pulp novel cover art posted all around. There were also a few bits of Marvel Super Hero artwork, too, which I found to be rather enjoyable. The meaty pizza was filling and delicious, and we wiled away the time, musing about the old days and about common friends.[3] Plus, for some reason, the fighter planes in the video game adjacent to us were shooting down giant matroska dolls, a nonsensical happenstance that made question marks appear above our heads. A Trip to Austin, Part the Second - Obscure Videos and Mistaken Cultural Identity
Afterward, we paid the video store a little visit. They had --get this!-- The old "E.T." video game for the Atari, available for rent! It blew me away that they would have such a relic. Also, they had just about every cult film that any of you loyal readers could imagine. This place would be a veritable Mecca for any fan of celuloid cheese!
As I walked past a movie poster for Edward James Olmos' "Zoot Suit," I mused aloud, "You know, when I was little, I thought about getting a zoot suit. You know: big hat, watch on a chain, the whole bit." It was true. I had been inspired by a Tom & Jerry cartoon in which Tom makes himself a zoot suit and performs Louis Jordan's "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby?" Though he was the heel of the animated short, he epitomized coolness to my eight-year-old sensibilities.
"There's just one problem with that, though," rangerdrakeson said. "If you go out wearing one, with your complexion and features, people will be like, '¿Que paso, amigo?' You know. They'll mistake you for Hispanic or something."
"Um..." I responded. "But... I *am* Hispanic. I'm half Mexican. Part Apache, too, but..."
"Wait, what?" It was apparent that he was getting pretty confused. "I thought you were Fillipino or something. Hawaiian? Didn't you say you were Samoan?"
"Samoan?! I haven't gotten that heavy, have I?"
"No, no, you said people used to *mistake* you for Mexican."
"No," I corrected. "People used to mistake me for Arab. I remember telling the stories about how my mom used to be mistaken for Fillipina or Hawaiian, or Cherokee when she was little, though."
"I guess that's what I must have been thinking of..."
I couldn't help but be amused at the whole thing. Once we got back on the highway, I laughted out loud when he started apologising again. I could tell he was worried that he had offended me, but I was shaking my head and waving it off. "I will say, this, though," I said. "This is blog-worthy. It's just so amusing that I have to blog it."
"Please don't," he said.
"I just have to," I insisted. "It's that funny." A Trip to Austin, Part the Third - Of Zombies, Lost Malls, and Trading Card Games
My good friend rangerdrakeson (who, I might add, is not racist or racially prejudiced in any way - honest!!) showed me the TxDOT office where he works. It's right next to a graveyard, which is set to be moved in case the office expands.
"You know what you need?" I suggested. "You need the Vapire Killer whip. They sell it online, you know. Then you could have some fun whipping skeletons and zombies on your way to work!"
On our way to the office, we had passed by the second location of Conan's that was indicated on the GPS device. Curiously, neither of them was the one I remember visiting with Heather years ago, the one with a private booth for Stevie Ray Vaughn. This means that there were actually THREE locations of Conan's.
So far...
From the TxDOT office, we visited Dragon's Lair, where he used to work, but still hangs out. I cleared out about three quarters of their stock of Vs. System cards. rangerdrakeson was kind enough to let me use his discount for that one particular visit. What a stand-up guy.
Following our excursion to the comic shop, my friend said he wanted to check out a mall he used to frequent. Strangely, the mall as it stood now was hardly a mall at all. Rather, it was a large mass of mini-salons with an affixed ice skating rink. Sure, there was an office of some sort, and a small guitar shop, but the vast majority of the square footage was devoted to a maze of hairstylists and a skating rink. We wandered around what little there was to wander, with my friend puzzled at every corner.
"There used to *BE* things here," he insisted. "This was a real mall, not a bunch of hair salons."
We sat for a bit while he helped me plough through my Vs booster packs, helping me find the rare cards.[4] We talked a little about urban renewal in the area before we finally headed off.
"Hey," I asked as we pulled out of the parking lot of the not-mall. "Is that another Conan's?" A Trip to Austin, Part the Fourth - The End of the Road and Musings of Anime Clubs Past
We meandered into a comic / hobby shop. I found a few new monthly titles that I had missed earlier in the week. Had a rather nice conversation with the manager / owner / clerk / whoever at the counter, mostly about cosmic Marvel titles during and after the Annihilation story arc. We were agreed that "Guardians of the Galaxy" and "Nova" were great new titles, and that with the Secret Invasion, the Skrulls were no longer the joke of the universe.
Also while there, rangerdrakeson presented me with a copy of the January '08 White Dwarf magazine he had secretly purchased while at Dragon's Lair. The cover feature? The ORKS! WAAAAAUUUGH!!! Dakka dakka dakka!
Ded killy.
There was one final stop on our little trek through the Capital City. We stopped on the way to rangerdrakeson's house for a chocolate Frosty at a nearby Wendy's. He had some coupons for free ones, and that made them taste better.
"You know," he lamented, "I think that I miss Aggime. Actually, I miss what it was." It was a gathering place for a rag-tag group of anime otaku, sharing something that, at the time, was esoteric and scarce. All the shows were on bootlegged, fansubbed VHS copies that were traded, smuggled, borrowed, or flitched. In the case of the old Corn Pone stuff, they were multi-generation copies of copies. He beleived that, because anime had become so manstream, and was now widely available at nearly any retail outlet that sells DVDs, there was no need for any such organization.
"What it was," I said of the organization, "it was for us. It was what we needed it to be, and it served the purposes we needed it to serve. What it is now isn't what it used to be because it doesn't have to be that for us anymore. A whole new generation is there, so the club will evolve into whatever they need it to be. It will serve them however they need it to, then it'll transform into whatever the next generation needs it to be."
"You should be proud," I continued. "You created a living, breathing organization that will go on and on, and that's taken a life of its own."
He seemed to grumble a bit, taking little consolation from what I offered.
And then, after dropping him off at his house, I drove that dangerous I-35 corridor back to my hometown. It was a good visit. We reconnected. We had fun. We reminisced, geeked out, and philosophized and had fun while doing it.
[1] I am told by my father that, back in the 70's, people actually used to drag race there. I don't see how it would be possible nowadays, what with the horrific traffic and all.
[2] Also, it was surprisingly hard to find, despite being in plain sight. We had to call the place and ask for directions even though we drove right past it.
[3] Some of them, it turns out, have hidden stashes of hentai. I'm not saying who. They know who they are. Others, on the other hand, have UNhidden stashes of hentai. They know who they are, too. You know what? Probably more than those namelessly mentioned here are going, "Cheese it! He knows! Hide the stash! Hide the stash!"
[4] Hey, mckke_qushe! Still no 8-drop Mephisto, but I have ANOTHER 9-cost Galactus, Devourer of Worlds.