Back to Highbrow Entertainment

     About Highbrow, the TFWiki says this

To put it in terms even your obviously limited intellect can easily understand: "Highbrow is smarter than you are". No, no, don't allow your comparably plebeian cerebral encumbrance to strain itself beyond endurance in a futile attempt to grasp the intrinsic universal magnitude of Highbrow's innate mental acuity, for it will bear no arboreal reproductive spheres. The ultrascopic trans-infinite sublimity of his diurnal ponderances transcend the circumference of most sentient species' entire thought-spheres, if he does vocalize the notion personally (and you can be certain he will).

The greatest tragedy of his existence is to be clearly so far beyond all those around him, entrapped as they are by their own primitive psyches and abysmal ignorance in a barbaric escalation of pugnacious defenestration and rebuttal. That a paradigmatic mind such as his own should be bound or beholden to a lesser being, especially a rude, primitive swain such as the Nebulan biped Gort is a supreme and vexing irony.

Of Chromedome, TFWiki chimes in with this

In most universal streams, Chromedome is a comparatively quiet academic. Originally a number-cruncher at Cybertron's Institute for Higher Programming working on ways to improve the processing power of the Transformers' computerized minds, Chromedome found himself forcibly dragged into the Great War when a Decepticon attack destroyed the facility. Chromedome put his work to use programming Autobots so they could outsmart their Decepticon foes, but alas, only wound up fostering an intellectual arms race of sorts, in which both sides competed to repurpose the newest advances in programming into military advantages. Ground down over the years by this inevitability, Chromedome has come to accept that war with the Decepticons cannot be prevented—but only won.

In some universes, Chromedome is binary bonded to the egotistical Nebulan Stylor, who is more concerned with the finer things in life than intellectual or military pursuits. As such, the two occasionally clash, with Chromedome trying to get Stylor to be a little less superficial, and Stylor trying to bring out Chromedome's more social side, but generally speaking, they get along quite well despite their differences.

As a quiet 'bot of the mind, Chromedome has a tendency to fade into the background, but there also exist universal streams in which he has foregone science and taken to the front lines of battle to become a much more prominent figure. The Chromedome of these worlds is barely recognisable as the reserved scientist of those more well-known realities: instead, he is a hot-headed youth burning with an incredible passion for justice who even serves as Fortress Maximus's trusted, if impulsive and occasionally-irrational, second-in-command.

     Mindwipes Protoforms were murdered in an alley by Autobots(a cowardly, superstitious lot...) so he knew his Alt-mode must be able to inspire terror in them...

     Wait, that's not it at all.
About him the TFWiki says this:

No one knows the dead quite as well as the Decepticon hypnotist, Mindwipe. A mysterious and mystical one, Mindwipe claims to have the powers to commune with Transformers who have long since left this plane of existence. From Black Sabbaths to seances to super-conductive antennae, Mindwipe knows of many methods to reach those who now rest in peace.

Well... not really. He desperately wants to speak with the departed sparks of dead Decepticons, but all his labors to create antennae and receivers for the departed have had... "limited" success. In reality, all he's picking up are radio broadcasts of old Earth sitcoms, which he's actually become quite fond of. Still, some day, Mindwipe hopes to finally bridge the gap between the realm of the living and the realm of the dead.

Despite those shortcomings, Mindwipe is a formidable opponent, able to hypnotize and control both organic and mechanical lifeforms just by making eye contact, and boasting an eerie and precognitive "sixth sense". But sometimes he forgets this and, when the odds look stacked against him, Mindwipe's more than happy to turn tail and get while the getting's good. His loyalty lasts exactly as long as his bravery.

He is binary bonded to the Nebulan Vorath, a scientist. Yes, a scientist. They disagree on pretty much everything.

I did post him with a Killer Croc tho.

Skullcruncher debuts here

Coming to Grips with Dinosaur Kills

     One thing has long bothered me about the Lost World:Jurassic Park, and that is the cruel and terrible death of Eddie Carr

     In a previous post, I talked about the first trilogy, and when watching I googled the following: "why did Eddie Carr Die" which led me to this article.

     And I realized something really important.

     There were deaths in every movie in this franchise that I consider unjust. Just as there were many left alive we would prefer dead. For every Dennis Nedry or Dieter Stark, there is a Ray Arnold, or an Eddie Carr- Someone just trying to do the right thing. For That matter, there is Roland Tembo- a villain, or perhaps an anti-hero, but a surviving antagonist

     Jurassic Park as a franchise encompasses Man Vs Nature and Man Vs Science at the same time. John Hammond as a Frankensteinian character is not destroyed directly by his creation, and he never understands why it went wrong(after all, they spared no expense) He is broken by it, or at least I get the impression he is, but never to the point of giving up his dream. The characters who prosper and survive are the ones who either innately respect the animals they are dealing with, or come to respect them. The Dinos don't care if you are a hero, or a villain, they only care if you are tasty and dumb enough to get eaten. Actually... they don't even care about that.

     The point here I guess, and the theme is Charles Darwin at his most impersonal. Whether you are the security guy who is waiting for just this sort of incident for product testing, or the personal assistant unlucky enough to be in charge of two clever kids T-Rex doesn't care- Raptors could give a rat's ass, and Mosasaurus thinks you are just part of the show.

     The Dinos are not here to be your personal furies, They are here to be Dinosaurs- Smart, strong, fast predators. Are you on the menu?

Some other perspectives...

• http://www.themarysue.com/jurassic-world-hate/
• http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-reasons-jurassic-world-brutally-killed-its-biggest-hero/

Pop Culture League Challenge: First Quarter

     I have a surprisingly vivid memory of this- I excelled at Omega Race and Tempest, was OK at Space Invaders, sucked ass at Asteroids, and played Star Castle whenever I could find it.



     But my earliest memory of dropping a quarter into a game was Space Wars at the Aurora Mall Three cinema



     First, on the theater, this was not the infamous Aurora Mall theater where the Dark Knight Rises shooting took place in 2012.  This was inside the mall, a Mall which has undergone more face-lifts than the proverbial lovechild of Joan Rivers and Michael Jackson (Too Soon?). and now even a shopping mall is an endangered species. Back then, we never even imagined someone shooting up a theater, the biggest fear we had was older kids bullying us.

     But I feel I have digressed. we found this gem(myself and whoever I was with.that I don't recall- or the movie I was seeing) this two-player PVP miracle of science. I remember that you could set the conditions for the battlefield, gravity on, gravity off, sides closed, sides open, black hole...The ships could be damaged without being destroyed, but would suffer in performance as well. I had forgotten that it was a timed amount of play, but I recalled that upon reading the Wiki article I found. One of the ships looked like a star destroyer(wedge shaped) while the other resembled the movie Enterprise, with the engine pods swept back



     I remember being pretty good at it. I liked to pick the other ship apart, rather than destroying it outright. I don't remember how many quarters I dropped into it, just that it was never enough, for me. Then one day there was a new game at the theater, and Space Wars disappeared from my life except for memory and occasional sightings at older private arcades.

     I mentioned Omega Race, and I recall best playing that at a restaurant called the Yum yum tree- it was like a buffet and a food court in one. you could taste foods there you had never even heard of. For me, a kid whose most exotic meal was what Mom called Mock Sukiyaki(and was pepper steak over minute rice in reality) it was amazing. With this came the opportunity to destroy the training drones in Omega Race. there was a trick to it. A nasty, dirty yellow, gutless sonnovabitchin trick. You went to one side of the square, and took a couple of shots. while the drones are coming up that side, you go down the other and blow merry hell out of them from behind.

    Anyway, I think this is my stack of quarters spent on nostalgia. I will let someone else get on the machine now. Nowadays the only game I play in the arcade is "Laundry!" and I usually win.

Other Players:

• The Last HomeTown is better than me at Space Invaders
• Retro Ramblings has fond memories of virtual wrasslin'
• Green Plastic Squirt Gun went seriously retro with the grandfathers of arcade video games
• The Nerd Nook remembers Pizza Hut as red roofs, red cups and elegant dining
• The Toy Box remembers Arcades, tokens and Super NES
• 20 Years Before 2000 spent his money in Springfield
• Rediscover the 80's based his restaurant preferences on the game selection
• Collectors Universe was Chomping ghosts, blasting invaders and flew with Jan Michael Vincent as his Co-Pilot
• Cool and Collected played the arcades of south Korea and Won(10,000 Won)
• GI Jigsaw played Star Castle at Shakeys Pizza
• Retro Robot Review laments an empty building that was once Snoopers 
• Calvins Canadian Cave of Cool reminded me of Sea Wolf, another game I enjoyed

My Father

     I'm not going to go into this with some kind of nolanesque or shyamalanian twist- my Father is alive, just not well at the moment. He took a bad fall, broke four ribs, punctured his lung slightly. He is in a daunting amount of pain, and in ICU.

     For that reason foremost, I want things around me that remind me of him, to keep him close to me when I am not able to be at the hospital.

    Funny thing- Tango knows hospital. I told him we were going to the hospital, and his expression got really dark. "you are going to be going for days again" kind of dark, so I hastened to reassure him.

     My dad is 90(or will be in a month) and diabetic, has had and gone into remission from lung cancer. But I only remember him sick twice. My High school graduation(he had a bleeding ulcer that had to be operated on) and now. Don't get me wrong- he is not unbreakable- just strong and tough. Steady. Took care of his family- Still does.

     I went over to the parents house on Sunday, and knew something was awry- the car was covered, meaning no church for them, and lights were on that aren't usually left on. no one knew anything until my mom called me in the afternoon.

     It shakes you, to have a pillar knocked over, and see this strong man in a hospital bed.


     So I have Hailstorm, that he picked out for me for Christmas a few years back. The year he wanted all of his boys to have toys to play with.

     I have Hubcap, that I bought him his own of.

     And I am reading my favorite book of the ones he loaned me, that I later bought my own copy of.

     And I am doing my job, and taking care of my family, like he taught. My fathers 90th birthday is next month- there is said to be barbecue and cake in the offing. More on that next month.

     Update- I started this on Tuesday, and since then my father was moved from ICU to a regular room, and then to a rehab center for physical therapy and evaluation. He tends to heal pretty fast. Now he is mostly bored and disgusted at having to call the nurses when he wants to get up. Also, apparently telling his Nurse that you think a "Floor patient" is what happens when a patient falls out of bed is grounds for being told I tell "Dad jokes"