Flashback Friday: Hero-Less Edition

~ lobablanca

I guess this could fall under the category of “Copout Flashback.” This is another old post from my Angry BloggerTM days that I thought was worthy of re-posting. It’s funny how little my opinions have changed in the more than 4 years that have passed since I wrote this post. Okay, so this was before Spider-man 3…but that wasn’t Raimi’s fault!!

Whatever the case, I still stand by my desire for justice to be served. I guess, though, I should just be grateful that Singer hasn’t subjected us to a sequel to Stripper Pole Panties Superman: The High School Musical…

12.04.06 :: hero-less edition
Non-political

Unleashing the Writer: Concerto

~ lobablanca

Well, that was weird. Whilst listening to the most rockalicious podcast EVAR as they dissect Aerosmith’s Pump, I happened to come across a mystery file on my memory stick titled “Concerto.doc.”

I honestly don’t remember writing this. Did I go through a period in which I was binge writing? Vomiting out bits and bobs of randomocity onto my keyboard in the wee hours of morning and saving it, only to be abandoned once the sobriety of daylight set back in? I’ve no idea. All I can tell you is that I created this file in March of 2006. I wish I knew where I was going with this one, but I can’t remember a blessed thing about it. However, I was so amused by the serendipity of discovering an abandoned story featuring Aerosmith while listening to bad-ass Brits talking about one of my favorite Aerosmith albums that I decided it was share-worthy.

Yes, it’s quite all right to question my tastes in shareable topics.

Figures that the best concert seats he

Flashback Friday: Terminator 5

~ lobablanca

Ha, bet you thought that I wasn’t going to post a Flashback Friday today, didn’t you, denizens? Oh ye of little faith in your loyal loopy lupine! Admittedly, I have been rather unreliable when it comes to this particular feature. But I’m trying…

So it seems that Loba is a bit of a prognosticator. It wasn’t too terribly long ago that I made a post about Terminator 5. True, it was completely in jest…but not entirely. See, I knew that once Ahnold was no longer The Governator, he was going to return to acting. And, Hollywood being what it is, I never doubted that another Terminator movie would be a strong possibility. Whatev.

Here, then, is a post I did in 2009, all about Terminator 5: The Rise of the Gipper…

governator

I was looking at a recent photo of “The Governator,” when something quite troubling struck me: When did Arnold Schwarzenegger start looking like Ronald Reagan?

Okay, so the above image has been given a little…assistance from me in proving my point. But I dare you to tell me all the places where Ahnold begins and Ronald ends. I know that both are former actors-cum-governors of the great state of KAHLEEfornia…but this is a bit ridiculous.

Of course, you could call me out on my hypocrisy right now, since it does seem that I’m poking fun at Arnold for looking like the 62-year-old man that he is. I am the one, after all, who railed against Mary McDonnell for all the plastic surgery she got while starring on BSG.

If it seems that I am being hypocritical, I do apologize. I think I’m more fascinated by the fact that Schwarzenegger has been cut off from the rest of his plastic Hollywood herd by his gubernatorial endeavors. Running California into the ground doesn’t leave much recuperation time for vanity stops with the plastic surgeon like the ones he used to make (or is there anyone out there who believes that his jaw shrank and shaped itself naturally?). So I admit that a part of me admires him for believing so much in his political objectives that he would leave behind his vanity. Part of me, though, wonders how difficult it must be for a man who once based his entire career on his looks and his muscles to have to actually look his age while all his counterparts move forward to their fifth, sixth, and seventh faces.

Ahnold’s political service will come to an end in January 2011, unless he plans to run for a congressional seat. There will be no “Presidenator” in his future, however, thanks to that messy Constitutional amendment about needing to be American-born.

I can’t help but wonder if, on January 21, 2011, there’s going to be a hot time at the old plastic surgeon’s that night. True, Maria’s been keeping the family sawbones busy with her slow transformation into Skeletor, but I suspect that the doctor is champing at the bit in anticipation of Ahnold returning with a valiant, “Come on! Do it! Do it! Come on! Peel me! I’m here!”

Okay, that was a lame ending that only Predator fans will follow. I’m sorry. I just didn’t want to end it with some reference to “I’ll be back.” Again, sorry. Just look at the image again and think happy Ahnold thoughts.

BookBin2011: The Robber Bridegroom

~ lobablanca

Inspired by my recent reading of Patti LuPone’s memoir, I decided it was time to dig out that copy of Eudora Welty’s The Robber Bridegroom and give it a go finally. One of LuPone’s first musical gigs was playing Rosamond in the musical adaptation of Welty’s story.

I feel rather badly about this post because I really didn’t like this story at all. I can’t find any objective fault with it. Welty was a skilled writer and her story was imaginative and whimsical…a Brothers Grimm-inspired fairytale embedded into the mythology of Americana by way of the Deep South.

True, there were aspects and attitudes of the tale that I found questionable at best and deplorable at worst, but I know they are merely reflections of attitudes and actions that were at one time considered acceptable by many within this country. Still, Welty was progressive in many aspects of this tale, particularly taking into consideration that she was writing this fairytale as a woman from Mississippi in the early 1940s, a time in which prevailing attitudes toward women’s roles in all aspects of American life were being reevaluated and readjusted, thanks in part to the shift in responsibilities brought about by World War II.

All that being said, I simply don’t like this story. I felt no kinship or connection to any of the characters, I’m not particularly enamored of the particular time in American history during which this story was set, and I simply couldn’t be bothered to feel any degree of enthusiasm at any time while reading this novella. Thank the prophets it’s not long; I don’t think I could have made it through had it been longer than it was.

Final Verdict: I’m sure that those who are fond of Americana and/or fairytales turned slightly on their ears will enjoy this story. However, I’m releasing Ms. Welty’s Robber Bridegroom and all his quirky friends to more welcoming pastures than mine.

Sprechen Sie Selar?

~ lobablanca

I wish I spoke German a little better than I do…which is pretty much not at all. I can understand some things. I can say some things. I know my colors and body parts. I know how to ask for beer. I know how to say I don’t feel well and how to ask where the hospital is. I also know how to say I think you’re a pain in my ass. I also know how to sing along with Rammstein. You know, the important things.

So I was searching for pictures of Dr. Selar from Star Trek: The Next Generation (for a particular reason, which may or may not become more obvious here…depending on whether or not I can get my Shop-Fu skillz back in motion), and I came across this Facebook page of character sketches from what looks like a German release of the Star Trek: New Frontier book series. I wish I could understand all that’s been written without having to have the page translated. Am I really that lazy? This morning, yes.

I’ve never read any of the New Frontier books, but I have heard great things about it. I was so close to buying the first book recently. Then I saw who wrote it. Peter David.

I’m still angry with him for what he did to my captain. And I can carry a grudge for a Very. Long. Time.

Still, these might be what I need to fill the emptiness left by my still-lasting ban on new TNG books. A ban implemented because of Peter David. Hmm.

Anyway, my limited grasp of the German language aside, the character sketches included this portrait of Dr. Selar, who is a prominent character in the New Frontier universe. It’s lovely and made me smile, so I thought I would share it with you…because you’re all lovely and make me smile as well.