2011’s Best Stuff

I waited on this longer than I had planned. I mean, it’s going to be on time (which you can tell because you’re reading it), but I kept putting it off.

I’ve actually put a lot of things off this last couple of months. I finally figured out that it wasn’t the weather or Thanksgiving or lack of parties that has had me down. It’s work. I’m in one of the miserable slumps I go through every ten months or so where I am just despairing about having to do this for twenty-five (or more) more years. But I think I’m coming out of it now. A new year is looming and I see nothing but hope and joy in the future. No, seriously. I’m starting to feel good. Of course, another major factor is that as I write this introductory section I am a few hours away from seven days of work-free life. And I need it. Badly.

Toy Review – Star Wars: Luke Skywalker’s Tauntaun (Target Exclusive) By Hasbro

            I forgot to mention “Target Exclusive” in the header for the Landspeeder review the other day. Oops. I wonder if I will have fixed it by now.

I got this Vintage Boxed Tauntaun the same day that I did the Landspeeder. It was way too much to spend at once, but I’ve been anxiously awaiting updates to both of these toys for a while. While I attribute most of the Landspeeder’s appeal to nostalgia, I think everybody truly loves a tauntaun. The existence of ThinkGeek.com’s tauntaun sleeping bag should be enough to prove that.

Argh! I Have Got To Write Something About Christmas!

 

I have two hours left here to write before I go on vacation for seven days, where I assure you I will not be doing any writing. I do not have enough entries for next week, but I’m going to figure something out. Mainly right now I am concerned about a Christmas post.

It’s hard to do Halloween posts every year, but I get by because there is so much stuff that can fit under the Halloween umbrella and work on a nerd-oriented blog.

Christmas, on the other hand, is kind of a pain. I love Christmas every bit as much as I do Halloween, but there’ s only so much Christmas stuff to write about. Especially when you’ve done it for three years. How many times can I list my favorite Christmas movies or tell you how great I think rum and egg nog are?

But I do want at least one strictly Christmas post, so here it is. I’m going to reminisce about some of my favorite Christmases in no particular order.

 

Toy Review – Classic Doctor Who: City of Death By Underground Toys

I’ve mentioned it before, but in case you haven’t read every single article here on Needless Things like you so totally should, City of Death is one of my favorite Doctor Who stories. It stars Tom Baker – who will always be My Doctor – and Lalla Ward as Romana – who is high on my “Companions I’d Like To Bone” list. The story was written by Douglas Adams (yes, that Douglas Adams) and it features a good bit of his signature humor.

While the episode itself has great pacing, an exciting story, and very strong acting from the entire cast; the very best thing about it is this:

That is Scaroth of the Jagaroth and he is one of the best villains ever, both in design and in the story.

This Is A Recap of PCW Empire Wrestling 12/15/2011. Just Not A Very Good One.

Note: I started off just fine yesterday and then degenerated into this whole other thing because I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to make the PCW recap a worthwhile read because I was kind of distracted during the show. I’m still not sure I can do it justice, but here’s attempt #2. Also, I’m just going to refer to this as PCW for the sake of my writing flow. Otherwise I’m going to have to go back every five minutes and correct “PCW” to “Empire” and I’m just not going to do that. And yes - that is a very shitty picture. Trust me, it goes with the body of work here.

This Is Not A Recap of PCW 12/15/2011. It Is An Essay On Partying.

Yes, I did attend Platinum Championship Wrestling’s show at the Masquerade last Thursday night. Yes, I was entertained by a lot of what I saw.

However. For a variety of different reasons December 15^th was more about getting out and partying than it was about watching wrestling, and let me just tell you the Hooligans made the party happen. But PCW certainly helped.

I had already been planning on going incognito for the event. We had a few guests from out of town as well as a couple of Hooligans that can’t always make it out, so hanging with my people was more of a priority than running around in my mask and taking a bunch of crappy pictures, as will become obvious over the course of this non-recap.

Toy Review – Masters of the Universe Classics Teela By Mattel

Okay, well – if you’re still with me after yesterday’s ramble, here’s the review I started out writing before it went off the rails.

I’ve wanted a Teela figure since I started collecting the Masters of the Universe Classics figures. Actually, that’s not true. I’ve wanted a Teela figure since I was a kid, as she was pretty cool on the cartoon and a redhead to boot. Although I’m pretty sure the figure leaned more towards brunette. But either way, when compared to such female offerings as Lady Jaye or Baroness, Teela just came off as a little too girly. I never had that many MOTU figures in the first place, so Teela just wasn’t as high a priority as, say, Stinkor (not that I ever had him either).

Teela Review... Oops, No - Tapered Off Into An Old Man Rant

I feel like I should be doing posts about Christmas, but I’ve been doing posts about Christmas for three years now and there’s only so many times you can talk about how much you love Elf or egg nog. And besides that, the general tone of the world has just got me down a bit. Not November down, mind you – I’m just thoroughly irritated by all the secular hatred and derision towards Christmas. We’re living in a mean, hateful world and sometimes it really bugs me.

Christmas Comic Book Wednesday – Batman: Noel & A Child Is Born & Deadpool MAX-MAS

I picked up a few Christmas comics at the ol’ comic shop because that’s the sort of thing I like to do.

The first is Batman: Noel, which is written and illustrated by Lee Bermejo. Bermejo was the artist on Brian Azarello’s Joker, which I have yet to read but really want to now. The second book is A Child Is Born, which is an adaptation of the birth of Christ by Billy Tucci. Finally, we’ve got Deadpool MAX-MAS, which is a whole other thing entirely.

Toy Review – Star Wars: Landspeeder By Hasbro

            In a way this vehicle is the centerpiece of my Star Wars collection. It was one of the first vehicles I got as a kid – I called it the Sand Speeder then – and to this day still has one of the simplest, most effective, and downright fun features of any vehicle. Naturally I’m talking about the retractable wheels that make the toy appear to be floating above the ground.

Despite the fact that the Landspeeder was left behind on Tattooine before A New Hope was even halfway over, I used it every time I played with my Star Wars figures. It’s one of the most iconic vehicles from the films and much like the toy, the film version had a simple and effective gimmick. They’ve touched it up over the years, but even the original mirror effect under the speeder looked pretty darn good.

The Meg Lee Chin show from a few years ago

Note: I didn’t think this was substantive enough to post when I first wrote it nine months ago. Now I guess I do. I can’t explain why. I’ve just been very introspective lately and have been doing a lot of thinking about the past. So here’s a thing about the past.

Today (well, March 16^th when I wrote this) is Meg Lee Chin’s birthday, which gives me something to write about.

Toy Review – Masters of the Universe Classics Bubble Power She-Ra By Mattel

I’m going to see if I can do this figure justice in half an hour. Probably not, which means I might miss Wednesday. I hate missing posts like I have been lately, but work has been a bitch and I’ve had a case of the Mondays every day. Well, every work day.

Note: Obviously I didn’t finish, since you’re reading this on Thursday.

Toy Review – Masters of the Universe Classics Tytus By Mattel

So I had writer’s block for a while. Not just on the couple of non-blog pieces of fiction I’m working on, or even just some bullshit about comics. I couldn’t even crank out a toy review. It was bad. Normally I am pretty bummed out through most of November, but once we get the house decorated for Christmas I’m back to my normal, ebullient, optimistic self. But this year it took me about an extra week to get there. I’m not sure why, but all that matters now is that I’m over the hump and ready to get back to work. Er, quasi-work.

Movie Review – The Muppets

I’ve adored the Muppets ever since I can remember.

My family sat down and watched The Muppet Show together whenever it came on. Segments from that absurd variety show are indelibly stamped on my memory in a way that not many things are. The Muppet Show introduced me to Elton John, Steve Martin, John Cleese, Harvey Korman, Vincent Price, Peter Sellers, and countless others. By the time Christopher Reeve, Lynda Carter, and the cast of Star Wars hosted their episodes I was old and aware enough to have what were probably the first geek-out moments of my life. It’s funny, because Lil’ Troublemaker is the same age as I was when those shows happened, and I don’t think there’s an equivalent experience available for him. Except for watching our Muppet Show DVDs.

Toy Review – Masters of the Universe Classics Icarius By Mattel

Holy crap, I totally forgot to review this guy!

I put it off because he came out during October and he is clearly not a Halloweeny release. I had intended to post the review at the beginning of November but I never even wrote it apparently. This came to my attention the other day when that piece of shit Snout Spout fell over and knocked Moss Man and Man-E-Faces off the shelf. As I was putting that stupid piece of garbage back in his place at the rear of the shelf, I saw Icarius standing there on the shelf below and wondered why I couldn’t remember writing about him.

It’s because I never did.