David S. Atkinson's Blog, page 200

Star Wars/EuroTrip Crossover

I got sick of endlessly hearing people talking about the new Star Wars Episode VII trailer. My brain rebelled. I suddenly thought of a Star Wars/EuroTrip crossover. It made sense. It was funny. I shared this on facebook already, but I wanted to put both of them on a post here because I keep looking at them and laughing. It’s bad when you keep laughing at one of your own jokes, but here we are:

Clickbait

Clickbait

(Well, technically….)

You Know What I Just Remembered About “Short Circuit?” The Racism.

I posted an exchange between my wife and myself the other night where she was talking about buying some chairs for the new house. She mentioned that we could just put them in our storage unit because they came disassembled and I immediately screamed: “No disassemble, Stephanie!” I got a lot of likes on that post, because almost everyone I know remembers Short Circuit.

I got to thinking about that. Then I got to thinking about what many people don’t seem to remember about Short Circuit: the racism. Remember[image error]Fisher Stevens’s portrayal of��Ben Jabituya?

An actor can portray someone of another race with no problems, but this wasn’t just that.��This��was pretty racist. I’m sure some other people remember and talk about this, and I don’t think either Fisher or the movie makers were setting out to make a racist portrayal, but this is racist. Just take a look:

I’m betting a lot of people who remember this movie fondly overlook that part.

 

My New House Still Won’t Have A Webster Door

I think I mentioned on here before that I’m building a new house. Unfortunately however, the new place still won’t have a Webster door.

I’m sure you all remember Webster:

Remember how he had that secret door in the living room to his room hidden in the grandfather clock? I think I’m remembering how that worked right. Regardless, I always loved that, always loved any secret passages. Always wanted to have one in my house.

No dice on the current place I’m building, though. They have a lot of options, but Webster doors aren’t one of them. Guess I’ll have to keep waiting.

Pointless 80s Remembrance Moment

Instead of talking about something today, let’s just have a pointless 80s remembrance. As such, here is a photo of Punky Brewster:

Those who don’t remember anything about this can just sit quietly while the rest of us get all nostalgic and stuff.

Jealous Of More Expensive Airline Travel

I found myself jealous of travellers of more expensive airlines recently. I travelled Southwest again. Whereas I still think Southwest is better than a few other airlines I won’t name (passengers of a few of whom recently had much worse experiences than me), I got a reminder that they’re still a budget airline. I only thought about this because of a friend travelling an apparently nicer airline.

In my recent travels, I of course had delays. Both ways. Going out was only at most a half hour, but going back was at least an hour. What exactly was going on wasn’t communicated completely precisely. There was something about waiting for a window going out after an inexplicable delay and then something about our plane not having yet arrived on the way back. It wasn’t clear, and at most we got an apology. Mind you, that was the perfunctory “we’re apologizing because it’s a reflex and costs us nothing” kind of apology.

Meanwhile, a friend on Alaska Airlines recently traveling had an hour or so delay (I think). They were extremely apologetic to him. The entire flight got some kind of vouchers by way of an apology. Also free drinks.

I’m jealous.

Now, I imagine Alaska Airlines is a more expensive airline than Southwest. That’s one of the reasons I fly Southwest. Still, I’ve almost never gotten a meaningful apology for delays. I’ve certainly never got vouchers by way of an apology, though I did get a free drink many years ago on an airline I no longer remember.

Sometimes I wish I flew more expensive airlines so they’d actually try to make it up to me when they don’t manage to live up to what I bought a ticket for. Of course, I’ll still probably fly a budget airline next time I fly. I’m cheap.

Time For My Annual Appeal To Hold AWP In Denver

Well, AWP 2015 is over and it’s time to reflect. More specifically, it’s time for me to make my annual plug to hold AWP in Denver again. Come on, please?

Seriously, AWP was held in Denver a number of years ago (five maybe?) and it was great. Low cost, plenty of space for lectures/panels/the book fair, centrally located in the country, and all that. Even Feburary through March, it’s much warmer and snows much less than people think…certainly better weather in that time than many of the other choices that have been selected (D.C., Chicago, Boston, Minneapolis, I’m looking at you guys). It’s a great choice.

Let’s also not ignore the fact that this is where I live and is walking distance from where I live and work. That may be an advantage only to me, but it’s a heck of an advantage for me. Puts Denver right over the top.

So…come on. Think about it. More AWPs in Denver. It’s the right thing to do.

What I’ll Feel Like When AWP 2015 Is Over

I’ve been joking a lot the last few days about the crowds at AWP, the weather where the convention is often held, the drinking, the cost, and all that sort of thing. However, one should not get the idea that I’m actually bashing AWP. AWP��2015 will be the 4th AWP��that I’ve attended, and I’ve loved each and every one of them. It’s expensive, crowded, and all that kind of thing…but it’s a great experience and I hate it whenver I miss it. As such, here’s a simulation of what I’ll be feeling when AWP��2015 is over:

Out of all of my “simulations” this week, this one is actually accurate. Long live AWP.

An Overall AWP Emotional Simulation

Okay, I screwed around again. I’ve supposedly presented simulations of what it feels like to wander around AWP 2015 (an ant nest), what the weather was going to be like at AWP 2015��(a guy shoveling in a blizzard), and what the activities were going to be like (a guy drinking). Enough screwing around. I owe you guys. As such, here is what I expect to feel like emotionally throughout much of AWP 2015:

Simulated AWP Activities

Okay, I’ve been messing around the last few days. I said I was going to provide a simulation of what it was going to be like to attend AWP 2015 and instead provide a picture of an ant swarm to joke about how many people were going to be there. Then I said I was going to provide a simulation of AWP 2015��weather and instead provided an animated gif of someone shoveling in a blizzard because AWP 2015��is in Minneapolis in early April. I’ll be more serious now.

After all, think of all that’s going to be going on at AWP 2015. There’s going to be tons of lectures, panels, readings, oppoertunities to interact with writers and publishers. It’s going to be endless.

As such, here’s a simulation of what I imagined the activities would be live at AWP 2015: