Oh, No ... There Goes Tokyo

My #NaBloPoMo post today killed two birds with one stone:

On occasion I contribute to Warehouse Find, The Official Blog for NostalgiaZone.com.

The blog's orchestrator - Jim Fitzsimons - tolerates my monkey business (sometimes) and posts (often reluctantly) the things I write. (So long as there's cash money involved to grease his palm. Personally I think he publishes my blatherings just because he often needs a nap and doesn't feel like grinding out something week in and week out ... but we won't delve into his questionable methods or work ethics right this moment.)

At any rate, click this link and read my latest contribution. 

Because it's better than unwrapping that extra large package of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and sticking them onto your thighs where they'll just end up anyway.

The video below is a bit of a clue to the post at Warehouse Find. Please enjoy.

.......... Ruprecht ( STOP )

A Very Special Episode of Assault Of The 2-Headed Space Mules

The G.O.O.C.H. Squad (Gang Of Occasional Co-Hosts) is back on Attack Of The 2-Headed Space Mules, Douglas Arthur's podcast of the bizarre and strange.

In this iteration, Brian Curtis, Jeff Hickmott, Jim Fitzsimons, Douglas and I perpetrate game show contestants (and game show hosts!) and attempt to guess cover songs for points and fabulous prizes. Comedy and hijinks ensue.

Episode 56:
The First Ever
Assault of the 2-Headed Space Mules
Colossal Cover Song Quiz!

 
Please, enjoy.

.......... Ruprecht ( STOP )

Possible Delusion

"Correlation does not necessarily mean causation."

- Jim Fitzsimons

True. But ... it can't hurt.

And no one can say that by not wearing my shirt I was the source of a loss.

Which didn't happen.

Of course I'm talking about the Los Angeles Dodgers' Game 6 World Series win last evening against the Houston Astros, a game that saved them from certain elimination and forced a deciding Game 7 this evening. I like to think I contributed not only faith in my team but a little bit of causation along with a ton of correlation, regardless of my friend's statement above.

At any rate, the final curtain call for the 2017 baseball season culminates with tonight's winner-take-all. Go, Dodgers.

.......... Ruprecht ( don't STOP until the final out of the season )

And hey! This is a thing this month ... !!!

Bowie Podcast, Part 2

That Douglas Arthur ... he's such a card.

When we left Douglas and his Assault Of The 2-Headed Space Mules podcast, he'd cut me off in mid-sentence ... literally:

"... and we're going to stick a pin in it right there, right at that critical moment where we're just about to find out what Michael's favorite album from David Bowie is. What will it be, what will he choose?"

So, for those of you champing at the bit left on that frustrating cliffhanger of a ledge from Part 1 of the 'cast, here you go ...

.......... Ruprecht ( STOP ) 

It's As If He Was My Twin ...

"Hi. My name is Michael. Pleased to meetcha ..."

"I'm gonna Google my name. Wish me luck."

This, from a friend of mine this morning, one Jim Fitzsimons.

I'ven't done so. I think it was the "wish me luck" part of comment my friend made which piqued my curiosity. So away I went.

The result? It took 143 images before I was even remotely mentioned. And I'd be willing to bet no one would get the reference.

Almost two years ago I did a post on Frankenstein: The True Story. Thus the image of Michael Sarazzin, which was the featured image on the post. Makes sense. Sort of. And, both our first names being "Michael" makes even more sense.

But it was image #83 that threw me for a loop. Here it is:

Yeah. I know. Ted Cruz, American politician representing the great state of Texas in the United States Senate and current hopeful Republican presidential nominee. Go figure.

With minimal digging, I discovered the reason Mr. Cruz' mug popped up was because it was tied to a piece where one Michael Noble Jr. of The Gazette, a daily newspaper published in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. So ... there's that.

Is there an image of me anywhere in the Google search? 

No. No, there is not. And I'm okay with that.

But included in the search, way down the line if you care to scroll that far (and past some rather, let's say "interesting" entries), there is this image ...

 

... which is a virtual spot on likeness.

.......... Ruprecht  ( STOP enabling me, Jim ... )

It's Been A Year Already ...

It's been over a month since I've posted anything.


In fact, 2015 (last year!) was the latest anything got tossed out there for public consumption. I fleetingly wondered if the blog would continue. (News Flash: There was never any doubt it wouldn't go on and on ... much to the chagrin of many of you out there. Am I right?)

And oh ... is there lots to talk about entering into 2016.

Not the least of which is the abundance of notable deaths to start off the New Year. Of those passings who have made me sit up straight:

• Celine Dion lost her husband Rene Angelil to cancer. (And, right behind him and also to cancer, Dion's brother Daniel.)
• British actor Alan Rickman. The Harry Potter films. Galaxy Quest. Die Hard.
• Richard Libertini. (Law & Order, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Animaniacs and one of my favorites, Awakenings with Robert Dinero and Robin Williams)
• Dan Haggerty of the 70s television show Grizzly Adams.
• David Margulies (no relation to actress Julianna Margulies) of Ghostbusters and The Sopranos fame.
• And just yesterday? The Eagles' co-founder Glenn Frey.

 
And, of course, the one that really hit home for me: David Bowie last Sunday.

When I caught word of Bowie's passing early Monday morning, I was floored. It hit me hard. I was instantly awake and alert when I got the news and immediately jumped out of bed and accessed all the news I could.

I read the articles, listened to the news reports. I devoured the tributes that came flooding in. Bowie's catalog was on continuously throughout the day as I ran my own personal marathon of his output. I was in a funk, overcome by melancholia. As I watched and listened to his 2002 "Live By Request" performance from New York and "Changes" came on, tears gushed down my face uncontrollably. And then again when he began singing "Station To Station." I couldn't help myself.

I thought about posting something but my friend Douglas Arthur beat me to the punch. He contacted a few on-line acquaintances:

"Any of you interested in discussing Bowie for a show?"

Of course he was talking about recording another Assault Of The Two-Headed Space Mules podcast. 

Yeah ... I was in. 

So, in lieu of continuing to write something gushy, what say you just listen instead?

Recorded this past Saturday evening, Assault Of The Two-Headed Space Mules host Douglas Arthur, partners in crime Jim Fitzsimons, Brian Curtis and I talk David Bowie ...

 

Please enjoy. 

.......... Ruprecht ( STOP )

Of Man-Thing And Mike Ploog

A couple guys named Michael:

Mike Ploog (left) and Michael Noble (uhm ... oh, on the right)

Yes ... I've been busy with a lot of things of late.

Including guest writing over at Warehouse Find, the Official Blog for NostalgiaZone.com where my meanderings reveal 

MY SUPER HERO ORIGINS ... !!!

(Well ... maybe just the origins of how I got into comics ...)


Take a gander ... and comment over there, too.

.......... Ruprecht ( STOP )

Stopping Alzheimer's Cold

For years I've been operating under an incorrect assumption. (And yes ... for lack of a better term, I will call it "an incorrect assumption," a proper term for what I've supposedly known it as and used it as all this time.)

I'm talking about one of my hated foes of the English language, acronyms.

More to the point I'm talking initialisms, not acronyms. But, in reality, I'm talking both. It's taken me half my life but I finally know the difference.

A friend of mine - Jim Fitzsimons - called me out on my use of "damned acronym" during an on-line discussion recently when, in fact, I should have said "damned initialism." The term in question I was referring to was "TANSTAAFL," something of which I hadn't the faintest clue. I would be duly educated on both the term and what it was, however.

Now to be fair, up until being corrected I didn't know the meaning of "initialism." Oh, I'd heard the word before but I'd never used it, either in speech or in writing ... until being called out, that is. Come to find out, I've been referring to initialisms as acronyms for a long, long time.

Having damned TANSTAAFL, I was immediately warned by Jim he was about to ram a pedantic moment down my throat. Now while I appreciated the fair warning he supplied me with, I was doubly appreciative of the educational moment there in more so. That was when I learned the difference between an acronym and an initialism, courtesy of a Penn & Teller video he provided. (Later, I topped what I'd learned with additional research on both terms along with some information gathered on "TANSTAAFL" itself.)

I'm a big believer - and advocator - of life-long learning. I try to learn something new every single day. (It's a not-so-secret bent of mine that, in so doing, I will effectively thwart any intimations of Alzheimer's disease wishing to take up residence inside my brain in my later years. Yes, I might be deluded about such prevention ... but why tempt fate? If you know me, you know I can use all the help I can get.)

So ... I *hrumphed* while coming to the conclusion I didn't know what I was talking about when it came to what I thought I knew to be an acronym and my obliviousness to initialisms, but I am all the wiser now in knowing the down and dirty on both.

Thanks, Jim. Keep foisting your pedanticalness on me. 

Someone's got to watch out for me and call me on what I think I know.

.......... Ruprecht ( 's ignorance was STOPped cold in its tracks with a little help )