Flashback Fridays

Flashback Friday: Hurricane Isabel

~ lobablanca

It’s another weird flashback this week, denizens. However, it’s been a bit of a weird week in general, what with Bajoran-shaking earthquakes and now the impending arrival of Hurricane Irene. Quite a unique geological/meteorological time, indeed, for the D.C. area, eh?

All the Irene-inspired insanity that has been transpiring throughout the day has reminded me of the last time that a hurricane dared to approach the Capitol City. Ironically, this was a Lady “I” storm as well: Isabel, back in 2003. The very first year of LobaBlanca’s online blogerific lair. I kept up a running commentary back then, interspersing hurricane-related thoughts among my Angry BloggerTM diatribes. Some of them were actually kind of poetic. Or at least interesting enough to milk for a flashback 😉

Here, then, is the block of posts that I made back in 2003, to commemorate the arrival of our last blustery Lady of the Tropical Furies. I’ve even included the non-hurricane-related posts from that period, as a blast from the past of those wild and wacky Dubya Days…

9.16.03
Irritations abound anymore. I’m stressing about things that really shouldn’t stay on my mind 24/7; however, I’m glad to see that I can still revel in my gallows humor. Case in point: My apartment complex’s leasing office, in their infinite wisdom and caring, has provided us all with a handy hurricane survival guide in light of Isabel’s imminent arrival. They also provided a tornado survival guide, just to be extra safe.

The hurricane guide tells us all to fill our bathtubs with water, which we could drink or fill our toilets with in case we lose our water service. Rather clever, right?

The tornado guide tells us that, in the event of a “twistah,” we should lie on our sides in our bathtubs and cover ourselves with pillows and blankets.

Guess we shouldn’t forget our snorkles?

9.17.03
So, I forgot another Isabel-inspired funny moment from yesterday. The Today Show interviewed Tom Ridge for his words of guidance pertaining to the hurricane. The Secretary of Homeland Security? Interviewed because of a hurricane? “We must rise up against Mother Nature’s terrorist attacks!”

Next step: little “w” will wage war on the environment.

Oh wait…

9.17.03 :: midday edition
John Ashcroft is defending the USA PATRIOT Act’s provision that the Department of Justice can subpoena library records to see what we’re reading. Oh no. Now they’ll see that I recently read The Stepford Wives and my plot to replace little “w” with his Disney audio-animatronic peer will be thwarted.

If I were Ashcroft, I think I would be more worried about the American people actually reading this piece of Orwellian drivel.

By the way, USA PATRIOT is actually an acronym. It stands for “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism.” Doesn’t it warm your heart and chap your ass to know that your tax dollars helped pay for word jockeys to come up with this absolutely useless manipulation of emotion-inducing verbiage?

9.18.03 :: Hurricane Isabel edition–8:30 a.m.
I’m sitting in my little veal pen (read: work cubicle), staring out the windows, waiting for the portentous arrival of Isabel. Only those who live in or have ever lived in the D.C. area could understand the hype that we inject into a mere meteorological event. Even one of this magnitude can be embellished to god-like status. At this point, I’m almost certain that Isabel has risen to the right hand of Zeus in her powers. Thank the gods that we never saw the likes of Hugo in this area. I don’t know what we would have done…

On a more politically minded jag, I still believe that we can make a difference if we just make the effort to make our thoughts known. I also believe that politicians are only as powerful as we allow them to become. Finally (for now), I truly believe in the quote, “Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.” It’s time to start raising our voices a little louder. It’s time to stop the power-hungry from believing that they have absolute power. Maybe Isabel will take some of the trash in D.C. with her when she sweeps through…we just need to help her out a little bit.

9.18.03 :: Hurricane Isabel edition–11:30 a.m. and still waiting…
Oh, but she is beautiful…

Thank you, NASA, for this breathtaking photo.

9.18.03 :: Hurricane Isabel edition–1:30 p.m. and there’s rain
The most powerful government of the most powerful nation in the world is now officially closed. Because of rain. And a little wind. It’s at a moment like this when I wouldn’t live anywhere else on earth.

So, I don’t even know that much about Wesley Clark yet, and already the daily rag has moved on to speculate about Hillary Clinton’s potential entrance into the Democratic fray. Someone needs to take the controls of this ever-growing train. Anyone? Hello?

9.18.03 :: Hurricane Isabel edition–3:30 p.m. and it finally begins
I think this is going to be the final update for the day (I’ve hit a record for entries today, no?). It’s finally starting to look properly foreboding, and I believe I may be freed from my pen early today (either by company choice or by…personal furtive movements).

Time to go watch Mother Nature at her canvas…it’s a thrilling sight to see…

9.18.03 :: Hurricane Isabel edition–9:30 p.m. with artistic reflection as I walk my dog
Smoke wisp clouds–violet in the glare of city lights still burning; silver over the dark of powerless streets–mottle and streak indigo sky.

The rain has stopped–Mother Nature’s respite of water and wind near the midnight hour. Trees glow iridescent with waxy leaves shining wet and bright.

Isabel rests.

9.19.03 :: Aftermath?
Again the federal government is closed. Doesn’t it make the workers wonder, are they at all necessary?

We lost power in our apartment complex at around 1:00 a.m. Even half asleep, I realized the surreal beauty of complete darkness.

Power is back though, and life continues…for some. Most, I think, have chosen to remain indoors for the moment. That’s fine with me…I like the quiet.

Flashback Friday: “I Want Your Hands on Me”

~ lobablanca

So I was driving home yesterday in some of the worst rush-hour traffic I’ve encountered in quite a while, and I needed something to brighten my spirits a little. Something like the 80s playlist on my iPod, full of all the synth-heavy cheese one needs to combat those Beltway blues. And that’s how I rediscovered this little gem:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W7u7g7oV68&w=640&h=510]

What I love the most about this version of the song (and I do have both the Sinead-only version as well as this Sinead/MC Lyte version, a bizarre collaboration that wasn’t matched until Missy Elliott and Nelly Furtado joined forces for the Tomb Raider soundtrack remix of “Get Ur Freak On”) is the movie to which this will always be linked in my mind: 1988’s A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master.

Yeah, I can hear those gears turning in your brains right now. Let me help you out: This song was at the beginning of what I consider to be one of the strangest and most visually memorable of Freddy Krueger’s kills, not only for this movie but of all time. I like to call it “Cockroach Crunches.”

Oh, but I miss the days of prosthetic make-up and practical effects.

The best thing about watching the music video on YouTube is that you can see that several others found their way to the song because of Freddy K. My favorite of the comments that I read was “Thumbs up if a cockroach death scene brought you here.”

The death of poor bug-fearing Debbie Stevens was so memorable, in fact, that back in 2009 Mezco released an action figure of her transformation, as part of their Cinema of Fear series:

I actually saw this figure at the Silver Snail in Toronto the last time I was there. However, I opted to purchase other figures and I left roachy Debbie hanging on her hook.

Another trip to Toronto might be in my near future. And, oh yes, denizens, Debbie will indeed be mine (if she’s still hanging around the Silver Snail, that is; most places try to keep their stores roach-free).

Hmm. And here you all probably thought you were going to get a Flashback Friday on that Sinead O’Connor song… 😉

Flashback Friday: Ray of Light

~ LobaBlanca

So I mentioned last Friday that one of my future flashbacks would be a response to an ImagiFriendTM challenge. I’m to blog about music. While drinking.

Well, guess what, denizens? Loba has, indeed, been partaking of a great deal of beer-y goodness this evening. And it still continues to flow as I type. I’m finishing up the vestiges of a double chocolate stout, which is chasing on the heels of a London ale, a smoked porter, a…something dark…followed by a something lighter but not too light because I hate those beers…bottom line is, I’ve been drinking. Drinking to the point where my tongue feels a little numb and everything has that pretty hazy glow. And I’m still drinking. So that part of the challenge is being met.

What sparked this challenge was two-part and started with this review of Madonna’s most recent CD, Hard Candy. The only comments I would add to this review are that the only thing hard about this album is trying to listen to it. And, just like candy, it indeed sucks.

The second part of the challenge came from this post, in which my ImagiFriendTM expounds upon memories of the music that served as the soundtrack to his youth.

It’s like a Flashback Friday. Only better. And boozy-awesome.

Well, denizens. I can’t really expound on music in any sort of knowledgeable way. I think I’ve proven that every time I’ve written something tagged under my Music category.

Wow. That’s a weird cross-selection of posts, innit?

But I can tell you why I love Madonna’s Ray of Light and why I think it’s going to be remembered as her greatest album EVAR.

First, a little backstory. RoL was Madonna’s first new studio release since 1994’s Bedtime Stories. This ’94 offering is actually a fine album and indicative both of her continuing evolution away from her early bubble gum pop days and her journey toward a more mature sound and style. I think the evolution had actually begun on 1992

Flashback Friday: Chip and Dale’s Rescue Rangers

~ LobaBlanca

First, I’ve had a few people point out that they’re surprised by the absence of one particular theme song here for Toon Tune June. My response to this surprise is that I decided a while ago that my very last Flashback Friday will be dedicated to all things pertaining to this particular cartoon…as it is teh awesome and deserves to be the final word in my flashback endeavors. So, when that particular cartoon appears here, you will know that the end has arrived. Until then…

I decided to end Toon Tune June with a theme song from the great pantheon of Disney cartoon themes…and also with a nod to the very first Toon Tune June entry. See, Disney seriously rocked the after-school syndicated cartoon world for many years. And why not? They’re Disney. They’ve got the money and the resources. So there was a long line of cartoons that played on constant rotation on all the syndicated networks: Tale Spin, Ducktales, Darkwing Duck, Gargoyles (oh, there’s a post all to itself…oh, the Trekness of Gargoyles!!)…but of all the theme songs and all the cartoons, I loved this one the best: Chip and Dale’s Rescue Rangers.

And, before anyone points this out, yes, I know it’s actually called Chip ‘N Dale’s Rescue Rangers. I don’t know why, but that “‘N” just really irritates the English major in me. It even irritated me when this show was first airing in syndication. Leave me to my proclivities, denizens.

Oh, and I did say that I was going to give a nod back to the first cartoon theme I posted, Tiny Toon Adventures. So, here it is: The voices of both the titular Chip and Gadget Hackwrench, the team’s pilot, mechanic, and Jane-Of-All-Trades, were done by none other than Tress MacNeille, she of Babs Bunny fame (and still HI-larious as Crazy Cat Lady on The Simpsons).

Tress MacNeille is teh awesome. So is the theme to this cartoon.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfxIa-643zI&w=480&h=390]