You have no idea how thrilled I was to come across the new MADBALLS at Toys 'R' Us on Sunday! In many cases I think the original designs were actually better (expect an in-depth review and comparison to the old balls to appear on Scary-Crayon in the next week or so; I've already taken all of the photos for it), but I'm still glad that the Madballs are making a comeback. I'm not sure how well they'll do this holiday season and in 2008+ -- part of the reason the Madballs worked back then was that they were in keeping with the general trend of gross-out properties in the mid-80s; today they lack that context -- but I'm hoping for the best. I loves me some Madballs.

What the title says: it's time for another photo post!

We had our first snowfall of the season last week, so I stood on the porch and took a few pictures to capture the occasion. Most of the photos came out a bit blurry due to the motion of the falling snow, but this shot of the neighborhood turned out pretty well.

And here is a picture of the bush adjacent to the walkway that leads to the porch. It has snow on it as well! Unfortunately, thanks to slightly warmer temperatures and several days of rain, the snow is all gone by now. It's a bit sad -- I really do like how pretty everything looks covered in snow -- but I'm glad that I didn't give into the temptation to use that wonderfully powdery snow to construct a snow Dalek. When one takes the time to make snow creatures, one generally wants them to stick around for at least a full week.

I've had Chastity for quite a while -- I ordered her online back when I was still in New Haven -- but I didn't actually take her out of her packaging until a couple of weeks ago. I also wasn't aware that Ross carries toys until a couple of weeks ago, and my discovery of this information and subsequent findings compelled me to get General Mono in a 2-pack with a Donatello figure. I'd originally passed over the 2-pack when it was more widely available last holiday season and earlier this year, but that was before I'd played the TMNT movie game. Mono and the rest of the stone generals were almost wholly devoid of characterization in the actual film, but Mono put up a memorable enough showing in the game for me to want to grab him upon seeing him this time around. Besides, at $10, the 2-pack was about $6 cheaper than its original price.

Anyway, Chastity and Mono's relationship began as one of convenience -- she's got really weird legs that make it difficult for her to stand, whereas Mono's a heavy guy with a pretty solid footprint -- but the more I looked at them posed together, the more I liked them as a legitimate couple. I'll probably carry their relationship over into any Scary-Crayon toy comics in which they appear! I also find something highly amusing about a woman named Chastity dating a guy named Mono... who's always hard as stone.

Wonder Women! I already had the one on the left, but the one on the right (and the stand on which they're both positioned) is new. I usually don't double up on my DC/Marvel comic character figures (Batman being the primary exception) without a functional reason -- for example, even though I have a Justice League Unlimited Hawkgirl, I'll probably end up getting a version from one of the DC Direct lines because they're larger and have better articulation -- but the Super Friends Wonder Woman was just too gorgeous to pass up. I really, really like these figures that take after their animation counterparts rather than sporting a more realistic look, and the additional articulation points on the SF WW made her even more of a must-buy for me. The brighter colors and curvier proportions didn't hurt either!

I got Batzarro the same day and place that I got the Wonder Woman above -- I'd actually planned to get a regular Bizarro figure, but then I saw this guy next to him and had to revise my purchasing plan. An insane, eyeless Batman with a toothy demonic grin? Awesome! I'd still like to get a Bizarro someday, but I'll wait for one from another DC Direct line. The one from the Batman-Superman line is indeed cool -- probably my second favorite Bizarro figure next to the old Superman Series 1 Bizarro (I like my Bizarro figures smilin'!) -- but something about the blue highlights in his hair doesn't work for me.

And here's Fast Action Battler Brawl! He's pretty cool, despite being part of a line that is ostensibly designed for much younger kids than the standard deluxe figures. In fact, he's larger and sports more visual contrast than the deluxe Brawl, which makes him a more attractive addition to my perpetually swelling Decepticon ranks.

And finally, here is a cute pic of Bacardi on the pillow outside my door. He has this plush lobster that he's fond of fetching, but when nobody is around to throw it -- or when he's not in the mood to run about -- he sometimes curls up with it and licks it. He really likes that lobster. 🙂

All for now, then. Hope y'all are having a happy holiday season!

I almost stole some boxes today!

See, I'm almost ready to mail out this year's round of holiday packages (holiday cards probably won't go out for another week and a half), so I ventured out to the post office today in search of boxes. Now, I have boxes here -- lots -- but I've also heard that they have free mailing materials down there. So this year, rather than emptying whatever I already have in the boxes and stripping them of previous labels and scribbling out stamps and business logos and whatnot, I figured I'd make it easy and pick up a few free boxes and mailing envelopes from the post office.

Obviously, I wasn't clear on how the free materials thing works -- or the fact that the post office carries two different types of materials. The priority mail flat rate boxes are indeed free, and can in fact be ordered on the US Postal Service website at no cost (though I imagine there's a shipping charge somewhere). However, there are other materials that cost money... and given the first sentence of this entry, you can probably guess which kind I had in my possession when I left without paying. (more...)

So we were just watching a bit of "The Science Bowl" on one of the local education channels. Seeing the show always brings back some fond memories for me -- I was one of the alternates for our middle school team (wow, that was like 15 years ago!), which basically meant that I got to miss classes and accompany the team to games, where the other alternates and I got to watch via closed circuit TV and eat cookies backstage -- but that's not what motivated me to post about it. No, I'm posting because of the sheer ridiculousness of the answer I just heard.

See, Mr. Z (the host; good ol' Mr. Z is still at it!) paraphrased the Alvarez hypothesis -- leaving out the relevant bit of info, of course -- and asked the contestants to note which heavenly bodies the hypothesis proposed was responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs. And immediately one of the teams buzzed in and gave the following answer:

Angels.

They even repeated it.

ANGELS.

You should have seen the look on Mr. Z's face. Or on mine, for that matter, at least for all of the two nanoseconds it lasted before I collapsed into a maniacal fit of laughter.

Incidentally, we had to turn from it because the teams ring in via a bell, which caused poor Bacardi to bark and twirl like mad because he kept thinking someone was at the door.

Angels killed the dinosaurs.

I just did a rundown of the sites on my blogroll. Apparently many of them haven't been updated in quite a while -- some not since 2006! I'm fine with that (I keep them there mostly as a reminder to myself about the existence of these people, and even if they haven't updated their presence on the blogroll will prompt me to send out an e-mail to check in with them from time to time), but it's still kind of shocking in some cases. Frex, I'm pretty surprised that Omni stopped posting altogether in May. Considering how long Omni had been posting -- and how long her posts were on average! -- that was kind of like looking out the window and seeing Pegasus pigs soaring above the neighbors' rooftops. Ah well, what can you do?

Anyway, I found only one 404 error, so that's good (the offender was a reference to Tamara's old blog, which I've since updated to reflect its current URL). And I have added a link to my sister's blog, Hot Box, so now y'all can visit there if you like and marvel at how the same genes contributed to such markedly different viewpoints. I will admit to being a big fan of the header image, though!