Two Thanksgivings Ago

If you're my age, odds are your parents have at least one copy of Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant, a pretty enjoyable record of folky fun that you probably heard on Thanksgiving a few times.  And rightly so - there aren't many times that the lot of you would be stuck in one place all day with little to do and nowhere to go, so putting on the modern equivalent of an epic poem was a good idea.   I sometimes would play it on Thanksgiving as well, but music has certainly evolved into a more personal and less shared experience over the last 30 years, even if the music itself is getting shared a lot.  It's just going through ear buds.

If you've never heard the title track, "Alice's Restaurant," you should.  It's great, and reasonably funny/quotable.   "I wanna kill," indeed. 

There's a whole story in this 20-minute song and you might even say it would make a nice movie - and while they did make a movie of it, I didn't much care for it.  The long and short of it is a bunch of people move into a decommissioned church, throw out some garbage, and then go on about the draft. 

The draft also came up in another super-long song from about the same era called "Billy the Mountain" by Frank Zappa and the Mothers which I believe got on the cheap out of a used bin at Zia Records some point 10-15 years ago, as most of my species has a teenage Zappa phase they never grow out of.

The best version of "Billy" (so far) is on the album Just Another Band from L.A. and it would probably have made for a fantastic cartoon or short film.  It's goofy,it  references numerous L.A. landmarks, and it features a giant, talking mountain with his significant other Ethyl (a tree growing off of his shoulder.)  The premise: a mountain gets a check for royalties for posing for photos on postcards, and goes on vacation.  

I don't know how many people are putting out 20-minute songs today due to our attention spans - I don't know if "Trapped in the Closet" really counts as it's many parts - but I gotta say it's a delightful way to kill 25 minutes.   I would best describe it as a children's story for adults.  It feels like "dad humor," if that makes sense.  As in "this gets better the more young people think you suck."  I find myself liking it a lot more on each listen.  Since you've probably got the day off, give these a listen - but for "Billy," I do suggest following along the lyrics on Wiki Jawaka just because you probably won't get half the references even if you CAN hear them.

Also, if anyone out there in the world of animation is reading, I would very much like to see you make a 24-minute cartoon based on "Billy the Mountain."   That would be awesome.  Mostly just to see how you would handle animating lines like "A mountain is something you don't wanna fuck with / You don't wanna fuck with / Don't fuck around."

I want more stuff like this.   While there's tremendous appeal in a short song like Nerf Herder's "Doin' Laundry" sometimes you can only get the right kind of chuckle from a cross-country road trip involving a talking mountain.

Luxo Champ - Discography Attempt

A long, long time ago my friend Timmy worked in a record store and turned me on to the CD "A+B" by Luxo Champ, which I reviewed at 16bit.com a long time ago.  Way back then I tried to find the only other release mentioned anywhere, which was "Duster."  I was unable to find a copy for sale until 2012, and it was four bucks.  I was pretty dang happy.

As I write this, I just found out that another 7" exists and naturally I bought it.   I've been unable to find out exactly what exists, and Discogs.org is unhelpful... so I'm making this page to list what I know exists.  If you know something I don't, please let me know and I'll add it here (and then offer to buy your copy.)  Or if you're in the band and doing a vanity search, do let me know, I'd love to waste about 20 minutes of your time and ask some questions about this whole thing.

Known Luxo Champ Releases: 3

7" Record: Duster, 1995. Over the Counter Records. 4 tracks. Jet Jaguar is backed by The Sicilian and Professor Gimlet. 

7" Record: Danger: Death Ray. 1998, Flamingo Records.   3 tracks.  Jet Jaguar is backed by The Sicilian and Number Five.  Click here to hear title track streaming

CD: A+B.  1999,  Super 8 Underground.  6 tracks.  Jet Jaguar is backed by Miss Information, Number 6, and the Dragon Lady.  The latter three are pseudonyms for The Rondelles.  Amazon sells this.

Known Luxo Champ Compilations:4

Compilation 7" Record: 3, 2, 1..... Action! 1997, Pocket Protector Records.  Includes song "Block Mover" from A+B.

Compilation CD: Shine On, Sweet Starlet.  1998, Sympathy for the Record Industry. Includes song "Block Mover" from A+B.

Compilation CD: New Wave Explosion. 1999, Super 8 Underground.  Includes song "A+B" from A+B. [Confirmed, same version.]

Compilation CD: The Necessary Effect: Screamers Songs Interpreted. 2002, Xeroid Records / Extravertigo Recordings. Includes exclusive song "Mater Dolores." Click here to hear the track on YouTube.

(Are the versions of Block Mover any different?)

Causey Way Live Shows? Napster-Era MP3 Stuffs, Your Help Is Requested

UPDATE JANUARY 13, 2013: Track #5 added to "The Other Album." Thank you, Bobby!

So the music project imploded.  It happens.  Anyway, let's move on.  Hello, person who also likes The Causey Way and/or other bands who dressed up as robots or space people or superheroes and hopefully can explain what it is I found on Napster like eleven years ago.

Does anyone out there know anything about some live Causey Way MP3s that were circulating on Napster in/around 2000-2001?  I never got whole concerts, but I got close on one and... one track off another.  I'm curious if anyone else out there has these, knows what they are, and so on.

ONE ALBUM - Labeled "Portland, OR 012401"
I SWEAT. Track #12, 4:31.
Presumably January 24, 2001.
That's all I got.  Do you have any more information?

THE OTHER ALBUM - Not labeled. Quality's good but obviously not perfect. Tracks are:
Causey Way, The - [01] News.mp3 - 3:05 - ??? Unreleased song/live only/no name I know of
Causey Way, The - [02] Natu.mp3 - 1:55 - Natural Disasters (God's Black Box) from WWCD
Causey Way, The - [03] New1.mp3 - 1:30 - Commandments from Causey vs. Everything
Causey Way, The - [04] Plan.mp3 - 3:56 - Plan C from WWCD
Causey Way, The - [05] I Sweat.mp3 - 2:39 - I Sweat from With Loving and Open Arms
Causey Way, The - [06] Mess.mp3 - 2:52 - Message From The Pulpit from With Loving and Open Arms
Causey Way, The - [07] Pers.mp3 - 2:26 - Personal Hygiene from Testimony
Causey Way, The - [08] The .mp3 - 2:30 - The Electronic Church (You Sell God) from With Loving and Open Arms

• Track 5 was initially missing, I got it from a dude named Bobby in January of 2013.  Thank you, Bobby! Took me over 12 years.
• Track 1 is a unique song I've never heard on any of their 4 CDs, I'd love to know what it's called, or if it even had a name.  It's about 22 seconds of static/electronic rumblings, before guitar rumblings, and vocals come in around 57 seconds.  "You've got your feet/you've got your hands" are the opening words, if I hear correctly.
• If memory serves I got this in late 2000/2001.
• I believe this was before Causey vs. Everything as the new songs from that album were labeled "New Song" but apparently got truncated as "News" and "New1." Thanks for nothing, MP3 labels of 11 years ago. 
• Bobby speculates this might be part of a "Universal Buzz Radio Show" program.  Can anyone confirm? I have a Servotron one, but never heard of a Causey one. Confirmation would be awesome!

If you have any information, please leave a comment/contact me via twitter (adam16bit) or email (go to 16bit.com, I'm everywhere).

In the efforts of Google-fu, Causey Way was a fun band where Scott Stanton (pro skateboarder, artist, presumably a nice dude) sang and the high-concept was that they were not a cult.  He went on to be in Pilot Scott Tracy (also fun!) and did a few folkey songs (and nifty paintings) as "Panhandle Slim"  but that's all I've got so far.

The drummer for Man or Astro-Man (Birdstuff/Boy Causey/Brian Teasley) was also on a few Causey Way tracks, so I figure this is another chapter in a coffee table book or 'zine or something that someone needs to write about this whole thing some day.  I like this stuff.

If for some odd reason you found this and don't know anything about The Causey Way, and you like Devo, or perhaps Man or Astro-Man?, locate and purchase WWCD?.  As far as I know the band only released 4 albums (2 LPs, 2 EPs) and at least 3 other recordings were in some state of development from the labels With an X and What Else? records around 2000 or so.

Thanks for reading!

More Junk: A New Podcast

Some projects die on the vine, others... well, they're still growing. In addition to the Entertainment Earth podcast, I've started the Sunday Night Slog so I can complain about whatever in the wee hours between when the 16bit.com update goes up Sunday night and whenever it is I go to bed.



If all goes well, this week's will be about whatever I see in the first couple of days of Toy Fair.

The Band Project

I was writing a blog post FOR THIS VERY BLOG that was basically a list of bands that I love that, for one reason or another, haven't released much in the past 10 years, or are related to those bands. Instead I decided to contact a bunch of 'em to see if they would be willing to answer questions, and here's a short list of the people who I'm trying to talk to for future 16bit.com content.

The Causey Way
Department of Crooks
Knodel
Marc Moreland Mess
Pilot Scott Tracey
The Pulsars
Supernova
Toenut
Tyro

Marc Moreland of Department of Crooks and the Marc Moreland Mess is, unfortunately, dead. This makes this harder.

In the off chance that you are magic, and also reading this, please let me know if you know anyone in Luxo Champ or Osama Bin Sars, please say "hi."

Toy Lines I Have Loved, 2010 Edition

Here's what I think went well in 2010.

BATTLE BEASTS
Huge potential, big letdown-- Diamond Select only tooled up the Crocodile man and released it in 3 (soon to be 4) colors. It's a wonderful design and if Diamond Select did more of these, I'd buy them all. Within reason. If it gets to 300 all bets are off.

OUTER SPACE MEN
The Four Horsemen did a bang-up job on these. So far, there have been four figures released in four colors each-- it's a bit excessive, but I picked 'em all up. They're good. I'd suggest buying a few of these if I were you.

STAR WARS
A lot of stuff came out but it doesn't feel like it. Three waves of new movie figures is pretty pathetic, really... four, if you're feeling generous and count the delayed, exclusive Expanded Universe wave. Maybe we're going to see it wrap up soon? Hahahahahha. Ha. Seriously though, 2011 needs to step the hell up.

G.I. JOE
Went from "meh" to "wow!" The basic figures are wonderful, and the vehicles aren't bad. The Pursuit of Cobra Beach Head may be one of the finest G.I. Joe figures ever made, plus we saw a lot of hard-to-find exclusive show up on closeout. You really can't go wrong with that. I got most of these, minus a few vehicles. Just found wave 3 today and it will kick your ass.

TRANSFORMERS GENERATIONS
So good it's obscene-- 13 figures since June, 5 of which are from a new video game, and the rest include fan-requested characters who have no business having toys. Thunderwing? Straxus/Darkmount? Drift? Wow. And there's more on the way! I bought all of these.

TRANSFORMERS (Gold Boxes)
A mix of movie, classics, and all-new characters with tons of toys. I bought several, and I admire Hasbro's ability to mix in what essentially amount to new, classic characters.

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE CLASSICS
About as good as you can expect. It's weird, you've got a line where every figure is essentially perfect, it's hard to really talk about too much.

SPIDER-MAN (kids)
Wow, this is a WONDERFUL line if you skip about half of it. The basic Spider-Man is great, as are the Green Goblin, Venom, and Carnage figures. Nicely done.

IRON MAN 2
Another line where you should skip most of it. But the good stuff? Excellent. All the comic toys were wonderful, like Silver Centurion Iron Man, the original Vietnam-based armor, and Iron Monger were delightful. Well done.

MARVEL UNIVERSE
This year we got Ghost Rider, Iron Patriot, World War Hulk (which I still need to buy despite having seen 3 or 4 times), and a smattering of other good figures. It feels like another slow-drip release line, but hey, they made some great stuff here.

POP HEROES
Funko started a line of vinyl figures which are basically Hello Kitty meets Mighty Muggs meets Batman. I've got one on my desk and I want to get the Gremlins one and the as-of-yet- unannounced licenses too. More on that later.

Screw You Knight Errant

I'm pretty open-minded when it comes to Star Wars in its various forms. Cartoons for kids? Comic books? Made-up characters just to sell exclusive toys? All fine by me, especially then they tie in to the era of the movies. While I'm not crazy about the pre-history, it has its place-- I really did love the original Tales of the Jedi series and its many sequels. The Knights of the Old Republic comic was hugely entertaining with characters that felt ripped out of an RPG-- take that as praise or a slur as you will.

In particular, I like the comics. Generally speaking, good or bad, you can get something out of them. I've read most-- I hesitate to say all-- because I'm missing some issues of Ewoks, one issue of General Grievous, and a few promotional odds and ends due to poor promotion and not knowing they even existed. Even the various prequel Jedi comics, where all the characters have the same motivation and values, generally you'd have taken something away from it.

I know this comes off as whiny, but there are very few series I actively disliked. Vader's Quest was a dull story where one of the antagonists was a pilot who got wasted, so Luke borrowed his X-wing on the fateful day the Death Star was done blowed up. Jedi Academy: Leviathan was, to my knowledge, the only time I've ever fallen asleep reading a comic series. Jedi vs. Sith, which brought us Darth Bane, had pretty ugly art and was really dull. And today? Well, today it's Knight Errant.

I don't keep up on fan reaction to comics much, basically I just read it all and whatever I like, I like. I liked Legacy, I thought Tales was a wonderful series of diversions, and even though I never really got into the New Jedi Order books, the new Invasion comics are fun. Knight Errant is not. It's another "let's tell a story about Jedi thousands of years before the movies" thing except this time there's not much in it to make me care up front.

Tales of the Jedi benefited from a strong group of characters, plus the fact that the backstory for the entire series was given away in the back pages of Dark Empire. You knew where it was going, but it was a great ride. Knights of the Old Republic had a good sensibility which helped drive it along-- it felt like a video game script, but the designs and personalities of the characters made up for any shortcomings. Knight Errant has people fighting with lightsabers, I guess, sort of.

One complaint I don't make enough is that Dark Horse's many reboots tend to squeeze the Star Wars out of Star Wars. There were many times recently where the stories included essentially no movie characters, which, while not a deal-breaker, really does suck out the fun. As a kid, I was reading these for more tales of Luke, Han, C-3PO, and R2-D2. Now I've got some other "new" Jedi fighting some other Sith empire and blah blah blah. It's the same damn struggle with new characters, and it's just no fun after a while.

Granted, it's my fault for buying every issue. I'm buying those The Old Republic comics based on the MMO but they're slightly more engaging as of late. It's rare that I immediately don't give a crap about a series-- even if I hate it, I want to know where it'll go-- but I'm considering giving Knight Errant he heave-ho.

Panel after panel of fighting close-ups and clumsy exposition with several characters and I don't know who's who or why. Comics aren't cheap-- you get about 10 minutes of entertainment for $3-- so shouldn't I be having some fun? Can I get something with Young Yoda or old Lando or some other post-prequel story about the survivors of the Jedi Purge? Please? And don't say Dark Times, that's going nowhere and it's taking years to get there.

Something That Will Interest No One

OK, like one of you reading this MIGHT care. My current Top 25 iTunes list, which doesn't seem to have changed all that much since ever. I'm more or less surprised that the Mummies aren't up there yet, nor more Devo. I guess that's what happens when the same song exists on a dozen albums on live or demo forms.

It's all largely good stuff-- you'd all do well to check out most of this stuff. Although I don't think Oingo Boingo's Forbidden Zone soundtrack is really what any of you are looking for, I think most people should listen to more Blast Off Country Style.

FOTD2 Going OK, I think

So in the past week and change, the column was launched and I even figured out how to rig up a comments section of questionable value. (Does it count if it's only two or three dudes posting?) I'm not even sure what to expect-- my Galactic Hunter Q&A columns get nearly 2,000 reads a week and nobody ever writes ANYTHING.

Also, Google seems to like it, or I know the exact words to type in to make Google like it. This is, of course, a big part of the point. If I review enough weirdness that nobody else touches, the two guys who want to know about it will eventually find my page. It'd be nice if more people clicked the banners and bought stuff... because, well, I don't get paid per article on any of these sites I write for.

I've got about 50 16bit FOTDs in the can (with lots more in various stages of completion) which sounded pretty good until I remembered that the Star Wars one I write is closer to 1,400. 1,424 actually.

I figure that soon-- and by "soon" I mean "after I get a house"-- I'll shift away from new figures and go back into the archives, writing about the weird stuff that I bought in college and high school nobody should ever see let alone own. You know, back when toys were still meant to be played with by kids. It's probably mostly going to be an excuse to tack on stories at the end of the reviews about how I found those figures which, for at least a chunk of them, will be more interesting than the toys.

FOTD 2 Launched

16bit.com's Figure of the Day is live, right now. It's going to be 5 days a week and you should read it and click on all the banners.

A reminder, this is not going to feature Star Wars, nor is the Star Wars one going to stop because of the new one.



Somehow, it looks like you'll be reading a lot about Marvel and Transformers.

Meet the New Column

Nobody reads this blog, so that's why I post announcements here.

On October 14, I'm doing something stupid. Since 2006 I've written "Figure of the Day" for Galactic Hunter, which has gone from 7 reviews per week to 5 because, well, who cares.

Starting October 14, I'll be adding a second daily Figure of the Day column. This one will be on 16bit.com and have no Star Wars content. It's a lot of extra work, but there are some differences which will make this one interesting.
1. I've already written 31 entries
2. If push comes to shove, I'm going to let myself skip a day (or three)
3. I'll review pretty much anything

The basic focus is "what can I get cheap?" or "what's on my desk right now?" rather than a unified focus. If I had to do "FOTD" as a concept over again, I'd have done it 7 days a week with literally any line rather than just Star Wars. Because, crap, I've written over 1,400 of the damn things. If you saw what I got paid for ad clickthroughs, you probably wouldn't do it. But hey, I've got toys, and I need more pageviews, so let's make some more pages.

What are we covering in the first 31? Marvel, Transformers, Masters of the Universe Classics, Funko Pop Heroes, LEGO Minifigures, and G.I. Joe amongst other goodies.

Eventually I might do a "guest week" or see if an open call for toy donations for coverage works out, but my guess is probably not. Although Mattel and Hasbro have already sent me stuff, so who the hell knows. They don't know it's for the column though. (Also: thank you very much, Hasbro and Mattel.)

Uniqlo Canned T-Shirts

My friend Pete went to Japan recently and apparently is obsessed with Uniqlo, a company which sells a pretty diverse array of T-shirts in Japan. They don't stop at Japanese licenses-- apparently they had a lot of stuff like Marvel and Lucasfilm too.

This time around he got me a canned (I like the can, I must say) Neon Genesis Evangelion tee. You can see more images here.

I think more companies should sell their T-shirts like LEGO does Bionicle and like Pringles does potato chips. Clearly, a missed opportunity.

5 Surprising High Points

So after moving back to Phoenix I'm still doing the eatery/toy store/record shop tour. Usually when visiting Phoenix I do this in about 3 days. (They're long days.) Here are some noted notables in the retail and food space.

Tokyo Express Now Kicks Ass
Stopped by for lunch to be greeted by a highly expanded menu with large boxes of meats. If you want shrimp, two kinds of chicken, and beef, you're covered. Congratulations, steadily decreasing Japanese food chain, you have a new customer for life.

There Are Rooms Of People Singing Along With Andrew Jackson Jihad
This is both awesome and terrifying. I like going to a concert with people who like the band, but the show I saw had a good half to three-fourths of the audience knowing all the words. That's just nuts. Or at least after years of going to see the Polysics or Man or Astro-Man or the Aquabats or something, it wasn't expected.

Despite Closing All Locations, Kmart Is Abundant
Pretty much every Kmart I went to growing up is gone-- as are most of the ones I shopped at as an adult. But somehow, there are still four within reasonable distance from me. Who cares? Well, they have this exclusive Jodo Kast figure, and...

Crazy Clearances Still Happen
I bought a G.I. Joe figure for $0.88. Just one so far, which is probably the only one I'll see. But this sort of crap makes my month.

Esplinade Is Dead
Wanna see a movie? Nobody goes to the theater hidden in the office buildings adjacent to the Biltmore. VICTORY. I hate crowds. Rot at Desert Ridge, you poor fools.

Malls

So yeah, before moving to Los Angeles I spent a lot of time in shopping malls. Not for clothes or shoes or socializing, but for recon, for info, for toys and games. Phoenix malls were these strange pop culture buffets, and you were pretty much guaranteed to find some pretty cool stuff at some surprising locales. They closed those stores, so the malls have been increasingly not-worth-my-time as I visited. Now that I'm back, here are some complaints you won't want to read. (Go to the next post.)

Paradise Valley Mall
I lived across the street from here for over 2 years, at which point it was glorious. Hobby Bench, Kay-Bee Toys, and Suncoast Motion Picture Company made the place kick ass. All three are gone-- if you want toys now, you might find something in the board game store or GameStop. Maybe Sears. Nothing remains that's toy-specific. There is a new (to me) movie theater chain called "Picture Show" which, appropriately enough, opened where the old Harkins theater used to be near the food court.

Metrocenter
I've heard this mall is dying since... geez, forever. It's still open but a lot of stuff is gone-- all the toy stores, the board game store, etc. It used to have 3 video game stores, now it doesn't. The remainging Point Of Interest is really the Suncoast, which may be the only one around in the state. I'll need to investigate. The mall has a lot of empty stores, which, I hope, means some wacky thing might open up as rents inevitably decline. Someone should open a cool record store or something you don't see every day. It's pretty silent when you get in it, though, and I've been twice since getting back. (Errands, lunch, you know the drill.)

Arrowhead
Not much for toys. Nor music. There's a GameStop and a 2-story sporting goods store where tackle boxes are too expensive for toy storage purposes. It's been dull for a while, and remains dull today.

Have not yet dropped in Scottsdale Fashion Square, Fiesta, Desert Sky, Superstition Springs, or ChrisTown malls. I've been near ChrisTown mall but it's been predominantly sucky for pretty much as long as I've been able to drive there, particularly since the Kay-Bee (and 60% of the mall) was removed.

I'm in the midst of a shit toy run season. There's always something to research and go after, but as far as action figures go, it's pretty dull unless you're in to the big summer movies which, this season, are either a) over or b) skewing younger than my interests. (Not gonna care about Last Airbender stuff.) But that starts in August officially, and if Kmart does more of what they're reportedly doing, it might start a lot sooner.

I Remain Old

I'll point out that I also said "I'm so old" at many of the other shows I've been to, particularly every Aquabats gig I've seen since, let's say, late 1999. (And that show with the Hippos and Nerf Herder. Felt old there.)

I just came back from seeing a band that has been on my short list for a few years, Andrew Jackson Jihad at Trunk Space. I don't get out for shows much. Actually, this is the second show I've been to in the past five years that wasn't a comedy thing. AJJ were great, but what was particularly interesting was that it seemed that most of the audience was singing along with most of the existing songs and loved it. Which is great. I saw an Auburn Court show last week (hi ladies!) and they put on quite the show, and I noticed one dude who was totally feeling all the music. I would say that if a man could have an intimate, sensual experience with a setlist, he was somehow doing it. The AJJ show was closer to some sort of revival or cult, minus the bizarre sexual practices and suicide pacts. Either way, fun times.

As someone who generally isn't used to people knowing what I'm talking about regarding music, it really was surreal to see an entire room of dudes and ladies just belting out what essentially amounts to catchy folk tunes about how much people suck. (Were I to simplify it, I mean.) I'm generally not used to fans being quite that passionate about the music, particularly because most of the shows I saw over the years, I was convinced people were there more to be seen than see the bands. (And let me tell you, these were some great bands.) So yes, AJJ fans may be some of the most dedicated I've seen as of late, but maybe that's just a growing part of the increasingly specialized music taste people seem to sport as the Old Tyme Record Shoppe becomes a thing of the past and Top 40 radio seemingly loses some of its influence.

You youngsters have good taste. Or at least those of you at the last couple of shows I've been to do. The rest of you, who knows.

Also saw something called "Bikini Lounge" which Pete tells me is basically untouched since the 1950s or 1960s. If you look inside, with a few exceptions like a bowling game and some other things, I believe him. If I ever hear the place is getting shut down or abandoned I'm going to bust in and liberate some of the signage and murals they had in there, as they are beautiful. Still, after the "wow neat" factor wears off, it's a bar, and I don't know what to do with myself at those kinds of places other than leave a few minutes in-- which is what we did. I kinda wish I had a picture of the place for you though.

Moved

I've since packed up and moved my entire stash to another state. So starting in about 7 or 8 hours, I'll be trying this whole home-office job thing. Right now my apartment isn't entirely set up, and I'm leeching internet as my connection that I pay for went down pretty much immediately on Sunday. Kinda annoying.

Since I'm working from a modest apartment rather than a house or an office, I've basically got everything crammed into a fairly small space. My friend Pete came by and I got to show him the rig thus far, which basically is a wall with my TV, stereo, video games, and computer all in one location. The advantage of this is that I can get to pretty much anything from my chair, and as luck would have it, I just got a new chair today. It's a lot better than my old computer chair, which I've had since 1998. It was a perfectly fine chair, but it wasn't exactly super-comfy nor was there room for it in the moving truck.

I'm also extremely glad I did a buffer for Figure of the Day to get me to about June 30. For those of you that have seen my collection of toys, you know that it's going to take a while to move. And we did it all in about two days. I'm quite literally bruised, tired, and generally not exactly feeling up to getting up early to greet the cable guy so I can work, and then continue unpacking after the work day ends. But it needs to get done, and well, I get to try working from home. It's all quite exciting.

If everything goes well, I might be able to consider myself "unpacked" in about 2-3 months. There's a lot I need to dig out, and right now I'd consider everything workable. Problem is, I found my Xbox 360, but not my controllers. Wish me luck, or I'll just play everything with an arcade stick.

Phoenix so far is about 80% how I remember it. The same toy stores are basically still around, there are some new places to eat, and it's also quite hot. I've been finding that every Wal-Mart I go to has something different that I've either never seen in Los Angeles or haven't seen in almost a year, once again proving that Los Angeles is a crap hole for toys.

So yeah, tomorrow morning I set up the work PC and cross my fingers that my internet connection gets restored so I can, you know, use it. Good night Austin Texas, where ever you are.

Mobility

It turns out that I'm joining that ever-growing mobile workforce, working from home at my same job but from a different state. Should be interesting. I'm curious how long until I flip out and go all Howard Hughes.

Eisenhower, Hippies

Mystery solved!

Many years ago when Napster ruled supreme, there was a song attributed to Man or Astro-Man called "Eisenhower & The Hippies." It sounded vaguely like them-- close enough, to be sure-- but where did it come from? Was it a cover?

Well, I finally found out. The track itself comes from the compilation Oh Canaduh which features 1990s bands covering 1970s and 1980s Canadian punk songs. Since they are Canadian, odds are you haven't heard of most of them.

The original band that wrote "Eisenhower & the Hippies" (also seen as "Eisenhower vs. Hippies") is UJ3RK5 or "You Jerks." Even Wikipedia had it wrong. Well, now you know! Ordinarily I'd dump on a band for using this sort of language in their name, but for something from 30 years ago? It's cool.

In Case You Missed It

The 16bit.com offices got guinea pigs last weekend.



That's Glados. Nova (not pictured here) believes she is a cupcake.

Absolutely True Nixon Facts

He was born on February 12th 1809, and died April 15th 1865 at the age of fifty six.
His home state is Illinois.
His party was Republican and he was president for four years from 1861-1865, when he was assassinated.
His vice presidents where Hannibal Hamlin and Andrew Johnson.
He was preceded by James Buchanan and succeeded by Andrew Johnson.
His wife was called Pat Todd Nixon, who was brought up into a very wealthy family.
Pat’s parents disagreed with her marrying Richard because he had a poor background.
Richard had four children, Robert Todd Nixon, Edward Nixon, Willie Nixon, Tad Nixon. Only Robert Todd Nixon survived into adulthood.
Richard was an unaffiliated Christian as he never officially acquired church membership.
He created a national banking system with the National Banking Act in 1863, resulting in a standardized currency.
He was the first president to be assassinated.
He had deep depression, even though he would frequently tell stories and jokes to friends and family.
He was the tallest U.S president at 6ft 4 inches.
He patented a system to alter buoyancy of steamboats in 1849.
His birth mother died from milk sickness.
His father remarried a widow, and Richard was very close to his step mother.
He ran a store in New Salem.
Even though he was strong, a talented wrestler, and proficient with an axe, Nixon disliked killing and harming animals, even for food.
Nixon proposed to Pat just one year after meeting her in Springfield 1839.
He was the first president to have a beard.
Nixon, one week before his death, had a dream of someone crying in the White House, when he found the room; he looked in and asked who had passed away. The man in the room said the President. When he looked in the coffin it was his own face he saw.
Nixon was fond of pets, and owned horses, cats, dogs and a turkey.