Hotties of Yore: a redirect

Well, I missed my Hotties of Yore post this week, but you should check out Joe Bloke's The Fit Birds blog, and some great Raquel Welch pics.

Nerd Girl of Note #25

Who is it? Meg Foster Websites Fan Site Why do nerds love her? Oh, there are so many reasons.
Meg Foster has made quite a run in nerdery. She appeared as Evil Lyn in the oh-so-fantastic [sarcasm] Masters of the Universe, she portrayed the goddess Hera in the Xena and Hercules television series, she's a Star Trek alum having appeared in an episode of ST:DS9. Then there are appearances in Quantum Leap, The Twilight Zone, Miami Vice, and The Six-Million Dollar Man. Oh, and They Live and Leviathan. Sheesh! That's a lot.

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Evil Lyn


Evil Lyn

Welcome New Followers!

This new Follower tool is going to make things hard on me, I just know it!

Big welcome to Uranium Willy who many of you know from The Uranium Cafe. Tons of retro goodness there from movies, comics, etc. A fun blog worth looking into.

Also a big welcome to Rox of Spazhouse, whose blog Spazhouse has some cool photography. He says in his blog description "I just don't know where this blog will take me." So, it is a cornucopia. Nothing wrong with that.

If you have not been to these, check them out. Sharing is caring!

Follower Mystery Semi-Solved?

Looks like Google/Blogger just released the new Follower Gadget. As with all things developer related, I am sure there were unforeseen (not to mention unrectified) snags.

Here's to hoping they don't try "improving" anything else in the near future :-)

BTW: Reis, you don't appear to be following anymore. I hope that's not by choice. You were my first [sniff].

Album Review: Dean Martin, Live from Las Vegas

"And now, the star of our show. Direct from the bar..."

Yes, I still call them albums :-)

I was never a big Dean Martin fan, not anti-Dean, just unfamiliar. Well, they were playing this album in an episode of The Sopranos (the one about the beach house). I found the album on Amazon, and it is hilarious. It is far more a comedy routine than a concert; Martin makes up new words to songs and cracks jokes in the middle of them. He says "If you want to hear me do a song straight, go buy an album."

Some of the jokes are pretty old, but he's a funny guy. Well worth getting if it's your kinda thing, or if you like comics.

Oh, and some of my retro readers might be able to enlighten me here. I had heard Dino was not really a big drinker; that was just a shtick. Wikipedia said he ran moonshine, but that doesn't necessarily make you a drunk :-)

This one goes out to all my retro friends.

Hard to type DJ talk :-)

One more reason to ignore eBay!

Someone pointed out recently (sorry, I forget which blog) that eBay sellers were getting away from actual auctions, and just picking the price they want and hoping it goes up.

I was looking for some... uh... alright, it was action figures! Um, well, I found one I wanted, but said, "hey, maybe I should look at Amazon first."

Not only did Amazon have it for less, it was from the same seller!

I am done with eBay. No mas!

Poll closed, Local Stores win!

Well, you guys are lucky, at least 9 of you are, to have a good local game shop. We have one that is all Magic the Gathering, and another that has everything, but the people who run it are scary.

Well, I am going to call my old beloved game shop from Raleigh and get the PHB2 from them and support my small business geeks!

Here are the final results, as I am going to take the poll down:
Local Game Shop: 9 votes
Big Online Shop (Amazon, etc): 3 votes
Online Game Shop: 2 votes

What online shops do you guys use? I am always wary...

Fiction's Finest Nerds #14

Pete Wrigley (the older brother) is a bit of a nerd. Evidence: his little brother is the coolest kid around (he has a tattoo for goodness sake), he's in love with a girl who wants to stay friends, and most damning, he is in the marching band. I won't say that being a ginger makes him a nerd, but it never helps.

The older Pete narrates the episodes of The Adventures of Pete and Pete, and is often the hero, occasionally using the power of nerdliness to save the day, such as in the episode "Day of the Dot" where he uses their science demonstration on how a water molecule is formed to win his love back. All this by changing the marching band routine. That, my friends, is high nerdery!

Okey, boring time!

I thought I'd post a few pics from the cruise I was on last month. I think they are pretty cool. I don't want to bore anyone too much, so I am only putting up a handful. I won't go into them too much. The first one is yours truly; the cane is remnant of a motorcycle accident.

More Action Figures!

See? They aren't all Wonder Woman!

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Infinite Hero Crisis, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Hal Jordan


Some Justice League figurines; Hawkgirl, Batman


25th Anniversary Baroness


Japanese gashaphon; Ms Muni Muni from Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, Tyris Flare from Golden Axe


Japanese gashaphon; Catwoman. Can you believe these are what you get in gumball machines in Japan?


Playmobil Halloween Costume. I thought it was the devil. They make everything else!


The Buddy Christ!


OK... One more Wonder Woman. The Super Friends version!

Ah hah! Bubbashelby, were you dropped?

I've noticed several followers fall off today. I didn't think the Pam Grier Week announcement was that offensive :-)

Then I hear from Ugly Angie, Trixie, and The Acrobatic Flea that they are losing followers... Hmm...

Now, I see Bubbashelby at the top of the pile. Is Blogger/Google going nuts or something?

The Song(s) Stuck in My Head: Tears for Fears

One of the best bands from the '80s, IMHO







I love the line, "it's hard to be a man when there's a gun in your hand." Not just a pacifist message. I think it means you don't have to be brave, strong, or virile when you have an "equalizer." I'm not anti-gun, per se, anti-crazy ass guns perhaps.

A Fun Little Game

My fake band/album cover. via Lubbert-Das

1. Go to "wikipedia." Hit “random” or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
2. Go to "Random quotations" or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
   The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.
3. Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days” or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
4. Use photoshop or similar to put it all together.

Calling All Blogs! Pam Grier Week is Coming!

Dirty & Nerdy is hosting Pam Grier week next month, March 15-21. It will be a multi-blog event. If you'd like to participate, go here to find out more.

New Blog, Looking for Contributors

Hello all,

I know I can get a little Wonder Woman heavy at times, and thought some of you might be interested in WW, but you blog might not be superhero-centric. So, if you'd like to contribute to the Amazon Princess blog, let me know and I'll send you an invite. Might be a good way to share news and info.

Consider it an experiment.

--Darius

Hotties of Yore: Annette Funicello

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New logo, a little early.

Okey, I had removed my logo for internet blackout week, but got tired of not seeing anything up there... The week really ends tomorrow (or taoday on New Zealand time?).

This latest one is more of my more adventuresome hack-art jobs. The encircled WW was cut from one picture, and Themricyra from another. I used The GIMP's "Nova" filter on the sun to give it more of a ray spreading quality.

I'm going to have to get more chairs!

Welcome all to two new followers:

First, his holiness the Reverend Fred Phantom, who many of you likely know. He has his movie blog Midnight Confessions and is a contributor at Film Ferox.

Second we have Dash MacBastard of Paper and Plastic, Please which is full of comic and action figure goodness.

Check them out. Go ahead, all the cool kids are doing it!

Blog Alert: Para Abnormal

Hey all, here is a blog I have been following. Para Abnormal, which has original one-panel comics that are either gamer-centric or nerd-term puns. Lots of fun and worth a look.

Kool-Aid!

Okey, here is my Twitter link. My ID is d_whiteplume, or click the little image below.

Some apes really are more equal than others.

The prophesies of Pierre Boulle are coming about!

NPR did a story about an orangutan that has learned to whistle. Why is this important? Because Bonnie, said simian, learned to whistle because the workers around her would whistle. From a super-nerdy science point-of-view it is cool.

You can read or listen to the story @ NPR here. As for Dr. Zaius, you can look at your copy of History of Apekind. I think it is in Chapter 2.

Hey! Welcome Trixie!

We have another "I thought I was following" blogger, that I thought was following as well. Welcome to Trixie, who runs Trixie's Treats, which you might remember from my DARDOS awards post. I know a few of you follow her already, but if you haven't been there it is a great blog. Check it out, yo!

The Doctor Who Fan Song

This is from an Aussie TV show "Chasers War on Everything" that is on the G4 network. This is a little annoying, but very funny. Put a Spock outfit on this guy and change some words, and you'd have the American version :-)

Blog Alert: Web Stuff @ Bin-Blog

Binny is a freelance web developer, and on Bin-Blog he posts items regarding web technologies. One thing readers here might like is a method for updating Twitter from your address bar. This is a Firefox only item (not sure about other Mozillas). I am not a big Twitterer, just a twit, but think I will have to join the bandwagon since I have an account.

One thing I learned from this post, regardless of my non-Twitter use is about bookmarks in Firefox. Did you know that if you give a bookmark a keyword, all you have to do is type the keyword in the address bar to get there? I added the keyword "nerd" to my bookmark for this blog, and when I typed it in the address bar - whoosh! I was here!

Now, if you enter the same keyword for two blogs, say "geek" for Geek Orthodox and for Geektopia, apparently it goes to the first one it gets to. But, it is still a neat tool, since using it keeps you from having to do a bunch of folders. Just to bad it doesn't either open both in tabs, or alert you that the keyword is already in use.

[...] and knowing is half the battle.

Welcome to Atom Kid

Newest follower Atom Kid has a blog, Atom Kid, which is full of geeky goodness. He recently did a post I know some of you will be interested in (whether you know it or not) regarding the band The Four Eyes (here) - a band that does nerd rock about WoW and D&D. I know we have some MC Frontalot fans out there, so go check Atom Kid out.

MDA Stride & Ride, March 24th

Hello all,

I thought I'd pass on a post from The Nerdy Bird who runs one of my favorite new-to-me blogs, Has Boobs, Reads Comics. She's participating in the 6th Annual MDA Stride & Ride, on March 24th at the Palisades Center Mall in West Nyack, NY. Check out her post here.

Not trying to be a bleg, but I know we have a lot of socially minded readers, and if the MDA is something you contribute to anyway, this could be a way to do a solid for a fellow nerd. The donation site is registered to the MDA through Verisign, so it is the real deal.

Nerd Girl of Note #24

Who is it? Aisha Tyler Websites IMDb Entry Why do nerds love her? She's pretty darn nerdy.
I used to love Talk Soup, now The Soup, and Aisha Tyler was probably my favorite host. She has a stand-up special Saturday, February 21st at 11 PM on Comedy Central called Aisha Tyle: Lit. She introduced me to my favorite sexual euphemism: Slippery Mitten :-)

Fun!

Weird Al: White & Nerdy

In case you never saw this, since I mentioned it, here is Weird Al's "White & Nerdy"

Quick rant: Wikis are stupid!

Ever notice than Wikis (Wikipedia, Wikia, etc) want you to cite sources? I am all about that. Problem is, it is impossible to find how to site sources with their half-assed markup language.

Oh well.

OMFIPU! The Herculoids!

Okey, so like people who are born again, or are in a program for their addiction, I am spouting a lot about action figures. I know it is a sickness, but I don't care.

I found something completely by accident today. I don't know how to describe how it made me feel. When I was a kid I would have shot Luke and Han in the face for these. I would have emptied Spider-Man's web fluid packs. I... I... Ugh! This picture say it all!


Is that not the most beautiful thing you've ever seen? [sniff]

See the rest (Oh, yes. There are more.) at Toynami.

CRACKED: The 5 Most Ill-Conceived Action Figures

Thanks to Samurai Frog for reminding me of CRACKED. They block it at work, and I do my surfing on the job ;-)

Anyway, The 5 Most Ill-Conceived Action Figures is pretty funny.

My apologies to Cobra Commander

My good friend, Cobra Commander, came to see me this afternoon. Unbeknownst to me, Destro has been reading my blog, and printing out some of the less flattering things I have said about C.C.

My dear friend Cobra Commander, it was all in good fun, and not all of the posts are disparaging. You can see some of the previous posts here. However, for the sake of our friendship I feel a public apology is in order, so I am sorry.

On the upside, I think this has strengthened our friendship. We went out to have a drink-or-three, and talked. I said I would never make fun of his squeaky voice, effeminate mannerisms, or alleged sanity. He said he will not shoot me. At least not today.

He really opened up to me. He explained that all his anger comes from his incompetent minions, the scheming Destro (oh, I hate that guy), his longtime crush on Lady Jaye, and the world's refusal to see things his way... And then it happened. He actually took off his mask. Believe me, I was as shocked as I imagine you are.

Ah, that new follower smell!

Big welcomes to new followers.

First we have Cerebus660 of The Glass Walking-Stick, who I believe is waiting for those eight magic words, "a lone survivor, and he is miraculously unharmed." ;-)

And we also have the esteemed Dr. Monkey Von Monkerstein, former(?) foe of our friend Dr. Zaius. You two play nice, now. The election is over. You can see what the hell I am talking about at Monkey Muck, or stop by Monkey Scan, and other blog collectives you can find at his profile, because I am a lazy bastard.

So, again welcome, and everyone go see these blogs. Don't make me get all Cobra Commander up in here; by which I mean whiny and sexually ambiguous.

Justice League! To the K&W Cafeteria!

Is it just me, or are these a little corny looking? It looks like The League of Extraordinarily Old Gentlemen, and a Lady. Hal Jordan looks like he's smiling at his grandkids, and Superman just might have a Depends wedgie.

Shit Talkin' Tough Guys: Thundarr the Barbarian

I have posted this clip before, but Thundarr has to be included in the Shit Talkin' Tough Guys category. He's hardly worth quoting, as every episode was jam-packed with smack talk. Of course, the best one, from this episode was:

"There can't be more than fifty of them. I'll be fine."

and from one I watched yesterday:

"I am no man, wizard. I am Thundarr!"

Fiction's Finest Nerds #13

Kay Simmons was the ditzy blonde IT nerd on Pamela Anderson's VIP. She's smart and cute, and it seemed every week she saved the day with some amazing piece of computer geekery, that was always 100% unrealistic.

Kay was played by Leah Lail, who you can see at a fansite here.

Thundarr... Did you always make that noise?

I never, ever, remember Thundarr going "aaaaaaaaah-hee!" Every episode I have watched lately has him doing it. Twice so far in the current one. Weird.

Where do you buy your gaming stuff?

Thought I'd add a poll, since I have not had one in a while.

I was thinking about this recently, because I am a sucker... I mean I was looking for the 4e PHB. I check with Amazon on the release dates, as Wizards' site is pretty crappy.

So, Amazon has it $11 cheaper than retail, and it will be on my doorstep, likely, on day of release if I pre-order. Then, I thought I should get it from my local hobby shop to support them. Then I thought, "those guys are kinda dicks," and thought of getting it from an online game store, which means paying more than retail (most likely) with the shipping.

I think I will drive up to Raleigh and get it at a store where they are not dicks; supporting my formerly-local game shop. Makes you wonder, though, if game shops and bookstores are a thing of the past?

Welcome to Mickelodeon!

A new follower here is Mickelodeon who runs a Doctor Who blog, http://www.my-silvermac.com/. Sorry I can't get to it for a better description this morning, but our network nazis block a lot of sites. I looked at it a bit last night, and it looked very cool. So, welcome Mickelodeon and check out the blog.

Ugh. I hate asking, but I am trying to find something.

Last week someone posted an animated GIF of The Lord of the Rings with World of Warcraft style chatter as the subtitles. I have a bunch of WoW guys in the office, and meant to show it to them, now I can't find it. Anyone know what I am talking about?

Damn Google Reader. I don't always go to actual blogs anymore, so they all look the same :-)

Blog Alert: Damn Cool Pics

There are some really cool pictures of tiny, and I mean tiny miniature figures (H.O. scale, maybe?) at Damn Cool Pics today.

I used to paint 25mm/28mm RPG miniatures, and can't imagine painting, much less sculpting, these little folks.

Uh... What?

WTF? Is this real? If it is, who named it?

OK. Maybe I stretched the truth before?

Denial is a sure sign of addiction. The first step to recovery is acceptance. I was slapped in the face today (metaphysically) when I returned from the bookstore with an issue of ToyFare, and received a box from Amazon with a, well, Amazon in it.

"Hello, my name is Darius, and I like action figures."

They are not all Wonder Woman, I just have more of her than anyone else. Is that so wrong?



The teeniest one on the left is from Hot Topic. That makes me kinda cool, doesn't it? Please say yes.

Blog Alert: Blog Nelson Dániel

My Spanish is pretty lousy, but it appears that Nelson Dániel is a Chilean artist who specializes in comic images. I am not sure all the work is his, but stylistically, they seem to go together. He has some really great stuff, including this selection of superheroes we know with the powers of other superheroes. He does a lot of contemporary characters, but there is a good selection of old Saturday morning cartoons like Thundarr and The Herculoids. Definitely worth taking a look at.

Premature Book Review: The Sufferings of Prince Sternenhoch, A Grotesque Tale of Horror

Ladislav Klima's The Sufferings of Prince Sternenhoch: A Grotesque Tale of Horror delivers on its title. It has everything; a decadent noble of questionable intelligence and sanity; a twisted, depraved, satanic shrew; not so graphic lewdness; dungeons, murder, madness... It is frankly, at times, difficult to stomach; and I have read The 120 Days of Sodom — more than once.

Prince Sternenhoch is an esteemed noble who marries a horrid woman, Helga. She is from a decadent, fallen aristocratic house (decadent in the Lovecraftian sense). He cannot stand the sight of her, but is drawn in through some unknown force. Immediately the marriage falls apart. A man comes between them, and then things start getting really ugly.

The book takes the form of a journal, and at times gets a little hard to read, as Sternenhoch is supposed to be fairly stupid. His descent into madness is well written, as we don't know how mad he really is until he does (the mad typically don't think of themselves as such). At times the book is quite horrific, as the title implies.

Two welcomes!

Hey all, big welcomes to:

Kindertrauma of, you guessed it, ..::kindertrauma::.. where you can see descriptions of Official Traumatizers, Traumafessions from readers, and Name That Trauma (which helps readers define some forgotten emotional scar whose name or title cannot be remembered).

Also an old friend of AiN, Jarl Frå Oslo. He's been around for a long time and just discovered he was not following. I always thought he was. I did have a follower leave a few weeks ago, maybe a Blogger glitch dropped his subscription? I thought maybe my Dick Cheney reference drove someone away :-) Anyway, Jarl runs Demons & Dragons, a Polish old school D&D site. While the text is often a mystery, he posts a lot of great pictures. Here's an old fav from my October 2008 mention of his site:

The :Dish - Pretty funny.

The :Dish is on the Style Channel, and is hosted by Danielle "Topanga" Fischel. It is produced by the people who do E!'s The Soup. I've only seen one episode, and it was pretty funny. The wife laughed, so it can't be too bad.

Since I am testosterone positive, here are some pics of the host.

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