The Weirdest of Als...Again!

You might remember last July's entry where I wrote about going to see the Weird Al Yankovic concert at MSG.

Well, a few weeks back, I saw him again! This time at UBS Arena in Queens.

Well, I don't need to tell you that Weird Al still puts on a hell of a good show.

The thing is...it was 99% the same show as last year.

In place of playing "You Can Call Me Al," he brought Puddles out again to sing a duet of "Happy Together."

And speaking of Puddles, his act was mostly the same, except his Kevin Costner tribute didn't end with the gratuitous shot of his ass from Waterworld.

In its place was singing "Under Pressure" while he made this guy eat Ding Dongs.

But still, they didn't disappoint. And this time, I went with friends! Two of them never got to see Weird Al live, and of course they loved it.

I'm on the far right. Don't know what's better: going to concerts with friends, or that we pulled off the Me and The Boys meme.

Down to the facial expressions, too. It's uncanny.

I even saw Machoverse!

He goes to cons and such dressed as Macho Man Randy Savage. You've seen him in my past NYCC entries. 

Well, he also loves Weird Al and got to meet him at this very concert dressed as Macho Man as he appeared on The Weird Al Show.

Down to carrying a plus Harvey The Wonder Hamster with him.

Oh, and on the way home on the train, I saw a beetle!

And I was finally able to hit his merch booth, and of course I got the pins.

I missed out on them last year because the merch booths at MSG were, predictably, crazy.

"Oh, I'll just get them off the website," I said.

The website did not sell the pins. I had to get them in person. This time I don't think I waited more than fifteen minutes.

And speaking of pins, I found some at the flea market the other day!

I found an old Russian guy not only selling old Olympics pins, he had Soviet ones, too.

The red one was from the All Union Games in Leningrad, and Team USSR handed those pins out to everyone that participated. Thanks to a trip to eBay, they came in colors other than red. But red seems to be one of the rarest ones. Either way, I got it for ten bucks, which is a hell of a steal either way.

Various ephemera I saw that day, too. Not much pay dirt this time around, sadly. Either it was the heat or that it was the first time I was able to make it there all year, but there was more junk than treasure this time around.

I did also see a box of old Playboys (but not old, old ones), and a book from the fifties or so about How to Freeze Food. Old cookbooks are always treasure trove of crazy, but since I don't cook, I just left them behind.

And here's that Odyssey that everyone's been talking about lately, I guess.

Smol Feelings by Nao Romero

Magnum XL-200 train from Coaster Pins

KB Toys pins from Icon Heroes

No, I don't have a pin problem. But these were all ones I ordered ages ago and all came in the mail at roughly the same time.

I have…feelings attached to these two KB Toys pins. They’re two symbols of that long forgotten toy store chain: its toy soldier mascot, and their ubiquitous price tags. KB Toys was my first job, and I worked in my childhood toy store, talk about living the dream. I worked there until the day it closed, roughly 20 years ago now, with the rest of the chain folding not long after that. It couldn’t compete with the bigger chain stores and the advent of online shopping. And also private equity. Thanks, Mitt Romney. Seriously. His company Bain Capital rotted it from the inside, and it’s one of the many reasons I’ll never like him.

Oh, and I saw Supergirl! It was...okay. Supergirl herself was the highlight, and I liked Jason Momoa as Lobo. But what I loved most of all was the worldbuilding. I love stories about what mundane things in space are like, and we see Supergirl take the bus, and go to an intergalactic 7-11. Which is something the Mandalorian & Grogu movie kind of touch on, but I liked how this movie handled it.

I didn't care for the girl whose only purpose was to stand around and yell "OY! This is what the moral of the story is!"

That'll do it for July. And once again August will be a busy month. Lots of cons, and a few movies, like Spider-Man and Coyote vs ACME.

Olympics Fever!

It's the end of July, and as promised, here's the Kool-Aid Man comic I've been teasing.

Behold: The Adventures of Kool-Aid Man #2! What's so special about this issue? Well, for one, it was one of the comics that you could only get by sending away Kool-Aid points back in the 80s.

But it's also the comic where this panel comes from:

It was from a time travel story where The Thirsties steal a time machine to stop the Boston Tea Party. More on that it would leave everyone thirsty, and less preventing one of the first shots of the American Revolution. 

Here is the whole page:

According to Jim Salicrup (the writer), the Ben Franklin cameo was just a fun Easter Egg he tossed in.

The next page is just as crazy.

And this is just nuts to see. Kool-Aid Man riding a horse to make Paul Revere's ride to warn everyone about The Thirsties.

After all is said and done, Kool-Aid Man beats up the Thirsties, they travel back to the present, the 4th of July picnic is saved. There's a second story where the Thirsties invade a campsite, but again, Kool-Aid Man just beats them up and everyone drinks of his life juice. And there's two other issues in the Marvel run, and SIX with Archie.

I'll share those another time. But now for this month's topic: It's the Olympics again!

It's been a while since I posted about the Olympic Mascots...SIXTEEN YEARS AGO?! So much has happened since then. The 2020 Olympics were held in Tokyo in 2021, thus averting the timeline shown in Akira.

As I noted in the December 2020 entry, Izzy's Quest For Olympic Gold had been found!

And then there were the mascots. Tokyo's were actually pretty cool.

Meet Miraitowa and Someity, the mascots of the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics, respectively. Of course it was a given that Japan, the country that perfected mascots, were gonna create some of the best ones I've seen. As the story goes, their designs were based on their respective logos, while Someity's colors were based on cherry blossoms.

So what are the mascots for the current Paris Olympics? I honestly forgot. So a quick Google later...

Meet The Phyrges. They're anthropomorphic Phyrgian hats, nothing too special about them. If they look familiar, you're not alone.

They're more recognizable here in the States as Smurf hats, particularly the red one worn by Papa Smurf.

And just for funsies, let's catch up on the mascots for the Olympics I hadn't covered since then.

Here's 2016 Rio's mascots: Vinicius and Tom. Vinicius represents Brazil's wildlife, while Tom represents Brazil's forests. They're named after Vinicius de Moraes and Tom Jobim, the co-writers of "The Girl From Ipanema."

If they look like they stepped out of Brazilian Adventure Time, you'd be right. They had their own cartoons that aired on Cartoon Network Brazil, and as they say, as was the style at the time.

And here are 2012 London's mascots:

Wenlock and Mandeville, the Olympics and Paralympics mascots. I noted in the 2008 entry that a lot of mascots were oddly phallic, and these two were no exception. At least the trend stopped after these guys.

As their story goes, their bodies are made from the last girder that built the Olympic stadium, and they're made out of "highly polished steel allowing them to reflect the personalities and appearances of the people they meet." Their eyes are cameras, and the yellow lights on their heads symbolize the ones found on London taxis.

I'm just going off Wikipedia, people. Let's move on to the Winter Olympics mascots.

These are 2014 Sochi's mascots, "Leopard," "Hare," and "Polar Bear." I've mentioned before that the Winter Olympics mascots aren't nearly as impressive or creative as their summer counterparts.

The fake mascot the Simpsons created, Fatov, was way more creative and should've been the real mascot.

It's so creepy, but I love how it's just the lower half of Homer's face turned upside-down. 

The Paralympics mascots had a bit more thought put into them. These are "Snowflake" and "Ray of Light." I bet all these names sound more creative in Russian.

Okay, these are more like it. These are 2018 Pyongchang's mascots: Soohorang and Bandabi. A neat looking snow leopard and black bear.

And finally, coming full circle are 2022 Beijing's mascots Bing Dwen Dwen and Shuey Rhon Rhon. A friendly Panda and a Chinese Lantern, respectively.

Since we're still in the midst of the current games, the mascots for the next two games: 2026 Milan & Cortina d'Ampezzo and 2028 Los Angeles haven't been revealed yet. At the rate I'm going, I'll update this post again in 2040.

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7 and Spock

Hey, guess what? Beaming For Bunnies is officially seven years old!

Yes, on February 27th, 2008 I started up this little corner of the Internet to combat my crippling depression following a recent breakup, and it's grown so much since then. The energy died down a few years back, but dammit I'm stubborn and I refuse to shut this place down!

So it's been quite a weird month, so much has happened in 28 days.

For one, this shark from the Super Bowl halftime show became a worldwide phenomenon.

As did a color-changing dress.

For the record, it was blue & black. Dumbasses.

After playing Pokémon games for 17 years I finally won the freaking lottery.

And now to never care about it again.

That dumb movie version of 50 Shades of Grey came out and was quickly forgotten, save for the thousands of memes it spawned.

Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel won big at the Oscars, proving whimsy has a place at fancy award shows (but sadly not movies about LEGO).

Seriously, so much whimsy is packed into each frame.

My Amiibo collection grew by quite a bit. Wave 3 finally came out and my God did preordering save a ton of frustration. I've got all 4 store exclusives (dubbed "The Four Horsemen" by how sought after they are). 

Below are Lucario (TRU), Rosalina (Target) and Shulk (GameStop):

And then came Meta-Knight (Best Buy):

Wave 4 is officially the Mario Party line, which I'm really not interested in save for Toad (who is already preordered).

I'm waiting for the Waluigi Amiibo, too. Soon...

And just when I thought I was in the clear, they announce this one:

Gold Mario, only exclusive to Wal-Mart. Son of a BITCH.

SNL celebrated its 40th anniversary nine months early (it premiered in October 1975). It was three and a half hours long but only about half of it was worth watching. Just like a regular episode!

Bill Murray giving his all as Nick The Lounge Singer

And finally, not only did we lose famed voice actor Gary Owens (best known for Laugh-In, Space Ghost and Powdered Toast Man):

Wonderful writer and comedian Harris Wittels (who coined the word Humblebrag):

One of my favorite shows from the past ten years Parks & Recreation:

LITERALLY the saddest & most satisfying ending ever.

But also Leonard Nimoy, Mr, Spock himself. He's had many roles in his long and prosperous career, but I'll always remember him from his appearances on the Simpsons.

"My work here is done."
"But you didn't do anything!"
"Didn't I?"

I don't need to tell you guys how awesome "Marge vs The Monorail" and "The Springfield Files" are, but I urge you to check them out again for old times sake. 

I'm going to go curl up into a ball and think about the good times, singing this song along with Mr. Nimoy. It's only fitting that we honor his memory in such a way.

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The Big Game!

This month really crept up on me, folks. Seriously, it felt like just yesterday I was watching the ball drop and now February will be tomorrow.

But anyway, the Super Bowl is coming up on Sunday and everyone will be cheering for the Jacksonville Spungoes and the St. Louis Scorpions or whoever the hell is playing this year. As per usual I'll be alone amusing myself with the Puppy Bowl and the occasional riffing of the weird commercials that we'll all be sick of in a week, all while gorging myself with those Scoops chips, the best snack God almighty had blessed unto us.

But hell, the Puppy Bowl is something I anticipate more than the Super Bowl itself these days. All 18 hours of it. I hope Meep The Bird livetweets again, she's one of the few Twitter feeds I trust these days.

Look at that, they got penguin cheerleaders this year! Do the Broncos have penguin cheerleaders? No. No they do not. But at least the real game will have competent refs. So many missed calls in last year's Puppy Bowl I lost about 400 dollars. I think I have a problem with gambling, guys.

And apparently this year there's going to be a few alternatives to THAT, like the Kitten Bowl on the Hallmark Channel.

I love kittens more than I love puppies and this is supposed to parody the Super Bowl but come on, at least have them pretending to play a different sport! Maybe a little rugby or hell, some foreign version of football that's not actually called soccer! At least it's better than what's gonna be shown on Nat Geo Wild, the Fish Bowl.

Everyone's a fucking comedian these days. Seriously, I'm not making this up, it's definitely happening. At least literally watching a fish in a bowl is better than watching yet another Duck Dynasty marathon.

What's also interesting about Sunday that for the first time that I can remember, Super Bowl Sunday just happens to fall on Groundhog's Day.

I guess if Mr. Phil sees its shadow, it'll be 6 more weeks of Peyton Manning or something. I never said I understood football, you knew this going in.


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