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National Coffee Day. The Bean Must Be Noted

Formerly Known as The Caffeinated Achiever reminded me that this day is National Coffee Day. On realizing this a celebration is in order. It might be a brisk cup of artificially flavored joe from one of my favorite local coffee joints Rocket Rush or I’ll sell out and run to the later opened Starbucks down the street. In times like these, you must spend your money where it’ll count most.

The holiday snuck up on me so a quick re purposing of an old brand is all I have to share. Animated for your pleasure above. Still shot and shared here.

Posted 29 September 2008 † mrgroonk § Branding § Holidays ‡ Comments ° Tagged: ,

The Body Art Machine: Serving Up Drinks with Art

A couple weekends ago I learned my shiny new Blackjack II takes multi-shots. So of course, things got a little crazy after that. Days later I learned the multi-shot reduces the image size and does nothing to adjust for darkness, like most other futurephone tech. So now I have a crapload of multi-shots that are for the most part crappy. In effort to squeeze something from nothing I’m doing a mosaic thing with them while starting a collection of body art photography of the people I meet.

Drinks and Art Go Together

The above is an intricate design of a lady holding a fish. It was found on one pretty awesome bartender at the local Sports Page. I’ll make a special return trip with a proper camera, and insatiable thirst for beer, to capture a better quality pic.

Posted 29 September 2008 † mrgroonk § Groonk's Life in Pictures ‡ Comments ° Tagged: , , , , ,

The TV Season Explodes with the New

As certain areas of finance wait for Daddy to cut a check and save them(and possibly us) from living lives of Common People*, I turn my eyes to that magic box of light and shadow. Dancing, drinking, and screwing are sure to come later. Perhaps only moments after House snarks, bitches, downs a few vicodin and saves another life through sheer orneriness. Until then…

Previously on my TV/DVR:

Heroes, season 3 has a long way to go before I care about it again. They’re well on the way to re-treading the first season which is silly since they already had a first season. Time to move on to the next level, please. Heroes will never be A-List superhero TV fiction for me. I’ve read my fair share of good(Rising Stars, Powers, X-Men, etc etc) and bad(thankfully, I’ve forgotten the names of those books) steps into the superpowers-are-real-and-we-must-find-a-way-to-deal-with-this trope. Heroes will never be as smart as Buffy or Angel. The one thing I could count on Heroes to be was a fun distraction. Lately, it’s managed to be an unfun bitch.

NCIS still finds a way to be a fun, character driven show. It even throws in mini-bits that turn into season long arcs. Then, of course, there’s lovable goth metal forensic scientist Abby Sciuto. Spinning an entire episode around her wouldn’t be a bad idea. (Looking at you CBS.) I didn’t forget about you, Ziva David. We’ll talk more on you later.

Fringe is going in the right direction. Denethor makes my night every time crazy falls out of his mouth. I’d like to get a better idea on the clandestine group running The Pattern. I get there are people out there making a lab experiment of the world, now show me pieces of why they’re doing it.

Knight Rider murdered 44 minutes of my time. It was a vengeful murder, too. I want my fucking time back but I can’t have it as it lays lifeless and cold in Ducky’s morgue. You can bet your ass Knight Rider won’t get a 2nd chance to kill again.

House without Wilson is gonna be tricky. I hope they’re up to it. They get bonus points for having the lovely Felicia Day(she’s answering House questions behind that link BTW) not have cancer this week.

True Blood I liked better when it was called Angel(and before that Forever Knight). I really dig Sookie’s(worst name in TV) telepathic nature and would rather follow that more. The vampire bit has been done to death. Not undeath. Just death. By the by, HBO, next time you set a series in The South, give at least half a thought to having actual southern actors play the leads. You can’t tell me Hollywood isn’t overflowing with actors running from their small backwater towns. Least that way the world gets the authentic southern twang that I hate so much.

No Heroics is airing across the pond. I’ve only seen one episode so far. After that one viewing I’m generating intense like for it. Sure it’s crass. Sure there’s gonna be sex and shooting and the neurotic/psychotic side of “capes” you normally wouldn’t see. Which is the reason I like the thing in the first place. (noted earlier here)

I’ve not made time to watch anything else.

Pushing Daisies starts next week. Never has death made me happier.

Continue Reading »

Posted 27 September 2008 † mrgroonk § On The Set § Pop Culture Schlock § Uncategorized ‡ Comments ° Tagged: , , , ,

Pirates, Me Hearties. Ye Should be Talkin’ Like Them

Something new for the weekend, mates. Displayed in full visual’n all hearing sound(refresh for more possibilities). For the entire weekend, ye lubbers. As aye will be in the blues washed town of Memphis, TN.

Arrr.

Be sure’n visit me mate Bosun Snee from Seriously Guys to learn how ye should be celebratin’ this fine day.

Piratey Groonkness

And don’t forget me rum.

Pirate Gargoyle. Now in Technicolor.
Posted 19 September 2008 † mrgroonk § Branding § Groonk's Life in Pictures § Holidays ‡ Comments ° Tagged: , , , , , , ,

No Heroics: Now That (is Possibly) How You Do Superhero Comedy on TV

Warren Ellis reports seeing the first 3 episodes of a new superhero comedy show called No Heroics. The three and a half minute trailer (seen below) sold me.

This trope has been done with varying degrees of success. For a long while you couldn’t trip over a new comic that didn’t play up the ideas for laughs. I recall two movies via Hollywood that even attempted to pull off the “superheroes are ordinary” angle.

THE SPECIALS, a James Gunn creation that I’ve not had the pleasure of seeing.

MYSTERY MEN fell short in so many areas it can’t really be called good without sneering a little.

On TV we had/have:

The Tick. The animated version was a jewel of win. The live action version, that never got a chance to shine thank you very much Fox, had more than enough laughs inside to satisfy your average fanboy or mainstreamer.

HEROES had a decent stab at being intriguing the first season. After that second season, though, the less said about Heroes the better.

THE MIDDLEMAN does not deal with a world of superheroes but it does include a heavy dose of comic book evil that must be fought. How I kept from geeking-out all over this show on a daily basis is proof of my superhuman ability to horde all the good television and not share them with the world. I keep them in various trees around my backyard. From time to time, I lose track of some shows. They sit buried in cold earth forgotten and alone. Maybe they’ll sprout into marvelous Bushes of Serial TV and my entire complex will gather round them and watch the strange synergy of nature and technology unfold before them.

But that’s a silly idea. I don’t even have a back yard.

NO HEROICS (he says with trepidation) looks like they made all the right moves. You folks in Britain can watch it on ITV2 this Thursday at 10:30 PM. If it turns out to be as good as advertised, you(see british citizens) should watch it on the TV. It’d keep the ratings high and NO HEROICS on the air.

Elsewhere in the world, other means of non-heroic enjoyment will surely be available hours after each show airs.

Am I missing any other shows or movies where Superheroes roam the Earth in mass quantities? Drop a note and let me know.

Posted 17 September 2008 † mrgroonk § On The Set ‡ Comments ° Tagged: , , , , ,

Day 4: D*Con Midnight Lurkers Point and Shoot Edition

The last of all I recorded 9 days ago at the festival of costumery called Dragon*Con. No visual bookmarking needed as I grouped these into their own tag placement. There aren’t many pics from this night/morning. More on that another day.

As always, the entire D*Con 2008 set is at your beck and call.

Posted 09 September 2008 † mrgroonk § Groonk's Life in Pictures ‡ Comments ° Tagged: , , , , , ,

Day 3: Steam Powered D*Con Mecha Infused Lens Action

The entire set is here. I hope your visual bookmarking skills are strong.

Posted 06 September 2008 † mrgroonk § Groonk's Life in Pictures ‡ Comments ° Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Day 2: D*Con Photo-tacular Costume Explosion Experience

This year’s set is halfway done.

Posted 05 September 2008 † mrgroonk § Groonk's Life in Pictures ‡ Comments ° Tagged: , , , ,

Day 1: Dragon*Con 2008 Visual Feast Exploration Special

The other days are pending.

Posted 04 September 2008 † mrgroonk § Groonk's Life in Pictures ‡ Comments ° Tagged: , , ,

Early Mornings Are a Hell I Don’t Experience Willingly

And by willingly I mean I set the clock, go to bed, the alarm goes off and I actually wake up and get going.

What lies above is the mock up for the current splash screen(That also includes twitter updates. Last time for that gimmick. I promise). It represents, possibly, the last D*Con I’ll see for a while. That’s if plans go forward as I like.

I hear there’s a game on that’s kind of a big deal. So this year the jocks will roam the streets with the geeks. It’ll be like high school all over again. Only this time, the freaks & geeks are heavily armed with dull blades and years of pent up aggressions. Should be interesting to see.

Heh.

As with last year, there will be tweets. In addition with last year there will also be Twitpics and maybe even Flickrs. All these things depend on wireless connectivity and willingness to upload.

Come, come. Please attend. The fantasy/sci-fi and gaming geeks come out tonight…and for the next 3 nights/4days.

Posted 29 August 2008 † mrgroonk § Branding § Groonk's Life in Pictures § Tales from the Futurephone ‡ Comments ° Tagged: , , , ,

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