Winning

Spent all morning drinking coffee and reading Scott Pilgrim. Best waste of 6 hours ever.

#MemberThatEpisode Fresh Prince

Little bits where I recall an episode of a dumb TV show. Yall should do some too! Tag it #MemberThatEpisode

I won't post all my tweets..

...just the comic book, dinosaur, ninja or Star Wars ones

I totally need a Lego Red 6

Dude, for the first time ever, Jek "Piggy" Porkins!

My Neighbor Totoro is the greatest Children's Movie Ever.

Totoro by Flying-Fox

Says a guy who still thinks he is a kid.  

My Neighbor Totoro is an animated feature by Hayao Miyazaki. It’s a cute little story of two sisters, Satsuki and Mei, who befriend a Totoro, a nature spirit, and the adventures they have. There are a lot of great children’s movies out there but I’m claiming Totoro is better than all of them (yes, even Monsters, Inc and The Dark Crystal).

The characters are visually striking. Not the humans, they look like people. But the chibi (small) and chu (medium) totoros are adorable. And the Catbus (which looks exactly like what is sounds like) is whimsical and charming and stands on its on. But the giant Totoro blows them all away. Not only did it officially become the mascot and logo for Studio Ghibli but it charmed Pixar enough to give it a cameo in Toy Story 3.

The girls are perfect characterizations of children. Which is hard for grown ups to write. Becoming jaded adults washes out the magic and wonder that children see in this world, and that just doesn’t switch off because you need to write a children’s film. Yet Miyazaki manages to keep the girls acting like children throughout. Like when Mei catches the susuwatari and has to walk down the stairs sideways. Or when she runs through the bushes because she thinks she found the secret lair of the Totoro and bursts through the other side. And the victory dance the girls do when the magic seeds start to go.

There is no violence in this movie. All the conflict comes from facing the unknown. When Mei meets the giant Totoro in his magic glen, she doesn’t run away. She walks up to him and befriends him. And when Mei hears that her sick mom has taken a turn for the worse, she runs off to deliver her mother a healthy ear of corn. Of course, Mei, being the youngest of the two and not even in school yet, gets lost, Satsuki has to step up. She enlists the Totoro who helps her find Mei.

And the ending is happy too. Rumors of Mom’s sudden turn was an over-precaution by the doctors and she’s relatively fine. The mother and father notice the corn placed in her hospital room and marvel how it could have gotten there. While Mei, Satsuki, Totoro and the Catbus knowingly grin from the roof.

It’s cute, whimsical and teaches children to face challenges. My Neighbor Totoro is hands down the best children’s movie ever. 

A big Thank You to Flying-Fox for letting me use the Totoro picture. Its so cute, lets see it again, but bigger.

Man, how rad would this be...

...if this was real instead of me just playing around on Twitter.

Movie Review: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Sorry, this is not so much as a review as much as gloating that I saw it before you.

I understand if you're jealous

I feel vindicated...

...that America felt the Gerard Butler/ Jessica Biel "romantic" comedy was worthless. Bonus points for Bond getting back on top.

Dinosaur of the Month: Ankylosaurus

I’m a huge dinosaur nerd. Ever since I was a kid, I found those things amazing. Just the sheer size and variety of them overwhelmed my little mind back then. And they still rock my little mind now. Hell, if they made dinosaur pjs in my size, I would rock them.

I drew this for Valentine's Day

Ankylosaurus, is actually the name of the genus, but since it only has once species, A.magniventris, it’s cool to call the dino Ankylosaurus. If you’re on really good terms with him, he will let you call him Ankly.

Ankylosaurus lived during the Cretaceous period, aka the Badass Period, when all the awesomest dinosaurs lived. Velociraptor, Triceratops and the King Boss Ninja Mofo T-Rex also lived during that time.

Ankylosaurus is famous for its armor and its club-like tail and that one nip slip during the Grammys.  It’s armor is made up of bony deposits called Osteoderms. It’s tail is made from fused vertebrae supported by interlocking tail vertebrae. It could be swung with great force and jack an hombre up. Some dipshit thought that the tail was not actively used for defense but instead used a decoy for the head. That guy (or guys) should be wedgied.

A complete Ankylosaurus has never been found and a lot of what we know has been extrapolated from other related dinosaurs. Still, the strange dino has captured the hearts of many, including the fine folks at Toho. They used the breast as imspiration for the heroic Anguirus in the 1955 movie, Godzilla Raids Again.