Classic PCQOTD : 8-31-06

Classic Plebian:
"And that's the way it is..."

Erudite 1:
"We ain't goin' nowhere. We cant be stopped now, cause this bad boy for life."

Erudite 2:
"First, you address the ball... hello, ball."

Erudite 3:
"The nurses in the army, they haven't tied the knot. But this one's gonna try it with Donald Penobscott."

All Erudites share the same Connection to the Plebian.

Classic PCQOTD : 8-30-06

Classic Plebian:
"You played it for her, you can play it for me."

Erudite:
"I hate to advocate drugs or liquor, violence, insanity to anyone. But in my case it's worked."

Comix Goldmine Redux

So last week about this time, I posted about the wonderful "22 Panels That Always Work" by Wally Wood. Today I stumbled on a little parody/extension done by Ivan Brunetti that is terribly amusing. If I drew comics, they'd be a blend of Wood's and Brunetti's dicta.

Classic PCQOTD : 8-29-06

Classic Plebian (from 11/30/04):
"You know how to whistle, don't you Steve?"

Erudite:
"Don't you know that a man being rich is like a girl being pretty? You wouldn't marry a girl just because she's pretty, but my goodness, doesn't it help?"

Pablo's Lesson

I suck as a business person. People keep telling me I should go out and make use of my skills, start my own business and do graphic design or make webpages or videos or be a researcher or what have you. But no, I have the talents to do the work but no talents to either seek out clientele or charge an appropriate fee for my work. I wish I could do the following:

Legend has it that Pablo Picasso was sketching in the park when a bold woman approached him.

“It’s you — Picasso, the great artist! Oh, you must sketch my portrait! I insist.”

So Picasso agreed to sketch her. After studying her for a moment, he used a single pencil stroke to create her portrait. He handed the women his work of art.

“It’s perfect!” she gushed. “You managed to capture my essence with one stroke, in one moment. Thank you! How much do I owe you?”

“Five thousand dollars,” the artist replied.

“B-b-but, what?” the woman sputtered. “How could you want so much money for this picture? It only took you a second to draw it!”

To which Picasso responded, “Madame, it took me my entire life.”

Classic PCQOTD : 8-28-06

My boss, the Town Manager, is retiring this week. He's the one who helped inspire the PCQOTD, and from the beginning has been the strongest supporter of the daily activity. In honour of his retirement, this week I'm pulling the best of the first month of PCQOTD and calling them CLASSIC PCQOTD. (The Erudites are fresh and delicious, though.)

Classic Plebian (from 12/1/04):
"Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear."

Erudite:
"But it’s time you started living, it’s time you let someone else do some giving"

Building The Blog Cabin

Blogger has added a bunch of improvements to their blogging service, and I'm trying a few of 'em out. One of the ones I'm most excited about is the concept of "Labels", something that LiveJournal has had for years, and the one thing I yearned for in Blogger. Basically, each post can be assigned a category or categories, and then you can easily search for past posts of your subject of interest. A list of categories will be in the column to the left. Also new to that column is a list of my friends' blogs. If you're not listed, well, I might not be reading your blog. Give me a good reason to do so. Blogger has also made the index of past posts a lot more accessible, which is cool. There may be other plusses in the days and weeks to come, so stay tuned.

Oh, and I always put a 200-pixel-width picture with my posts (except the PCQOTDs), so this post needed something more interesting than the Blogger logo. Therefore, I give to you something I stumbled upon while wandering through Wikipedia, "The Jersey Breakfast". Well worth viewing. Unless you're thinking about eating soon.

PCQOTD : 8-25-06

Plebian:
"The dogs kids love to bite."

Erudite:
"Tony Stark makes you feel he's a cool exec with a heart of steel."

A Is For Aquaman

This is very cool. This guy Apelad drew a Superhero Alphabet in an hour. Very creative, very clever.

I love his Monster Alphabet, too. Actually, a lot of his art is pretty damn intriguing.

PCQOTD : 8-24-06

Plebian:
"Call me Ishmael."

Erudite:
"He had emeralds and rubies just dripping off of him and a ring on every finger of his hand."

PCQOTD : 8-23-06

Plebian:
"Duck season! Rabbit season!"

Erudite:
"HE found a kangaroo that followed HIM home and now IT is HIS."

PCQOTD : 8-22-06

Plebian:
"Say kids, what time is it?"

Erudite:
"Good morning, Captain! Won't you come on out and play?"

Comix Goldmine

Sweet daddy siki, this is a goldmine. I had seen "Wally Wood's 22 Panels" before, but always as a copy of a copy of a copy of a fax of a satellite photo of the original. Somebody atually found the original, bought it, and made a series of scans freely distributable on the web. Plus, there's a great story behind it. Get it all here.

I wish I could draw; I buy lots of books on the subject, but never get around to bettering myself when it comes time to put pencil to paper. I tell ya, though...this Wally Wood thing is damn inspirational, and even better now that it's available in pristine condition. Well worth a look if you're an artist or just a comics fan.

Tribute To Siegel-Prov

This week for CageMatch, I put together a little video tribute to Dan and Dave Siegel for all the great effort and dedication they put into CageMatch. Without their participation, these first few months of CM wouldn't have been nearly as fun. They were willing to go along with my wacky storyline ideas, shoot hilarious videos, and always be there for whatever I needed. On top of that, they performed some of the most entertaining comedy I've seen in DSI.

The video is here, and a bigger version of the tribute photo in this entry can be seen here.

For this week's admittedly slipshod CageMatch promo video, click here.

PCQOTD : 8-21-06

Plebian:
"Is this the party to whom I am speaking?"

Erudite:
"I was born a poor black child."

WHAMMO!

So my friend Shane Helms, who I worked with in OMEGA, popularized a devastating wrestling move that he dubbed "The Vertebreaker." Great move, great name, always loved it. He also had a really cheesy theme song when he was in WCW that repeated "Vertebreaker" over and over again (I really want an mp3 of that one; the only clip I have has godawful Tony Schiavone's voice tripping through it.)

Anyway, I'm wandering on YouTube, and come across this video of a move called "The VerteDriver"....very nice.

PCQOTD : 8-18-06

Plebian:
"They’ll have to make the best of things; it’s an uphill climb."

Erudite:
"I said LUNCH, not LAUNCH!!!"

The Greatest

So I'm not a huge sports fan. I grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, home of UNC, and I can't stand basketball. Never was athletic growing up, never liked recess, never played sports of any kind. I always have liked drama though, and can appreciate the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat when it's handed to me in nice summary form. Thus, I like this amazing video of the greatest sports moments of all time.

One sport I do like, however, is boxing. And there should be no doubt who the greatest is in the sweet science. Check out the answer here.

Of course, nothing beats pro wrestling, and the best in wrestling is also an obvious choice. Also an amazingly touching moment here.

PCQOTD : 8-17-06

Plebian:
"Down goes Frazier!"

Erudite:
"All around in my home town,they're tryin to track me down."

PCQOTD : 8-16-06

Plebian:
"Go right to the source and ask the horse. He’ll give you the answer that you’ll endorse."

Erudites (both share the same Connection to the Plebian):
"We'll hitchhike, bus or yellow cab it!"
"It was always burning since the world's been turning."

Okay, those were hard. Here's an easier one:

SemiErudite:
"It's the peanut butter picky people pick."

PCQOTD : 8-15-06

Plebian:
"A man is born, he’s a man of means. Then along come two, they got nothing but heir jeans."

Erudite:
"I hate to disappoint you but my rubber lips are immune to your charms."

Open Letter To Siegel-Prov

I realize I've already posted about this basic subject once already, but I just sent an email to Dan and Dave explaining why I loved their post-game interview so much, and why it worked so well with what I'm trying to do with CageMatch. On the DSI CageMatch forum, I generally try to keep kayfabe, but I decided I'd like to include a copy of the email here, to share my background thoughts about what I like about the show, as well as a general shoutout to the Siegels.

I'm guessing you guys have already seen the post-game interview up on YouTube. It turned out better than I could've hoped. You guys just nailed the perfect blend of wrestling-style melodrama and subtle well-timed humour that makes that sort of interview golden. From the initial body language of upset ex-champions, to Dan's cocky "we're coming back in September" assumption, to the classic Dave Siegel hunched-shoulder response, it was just fabulous. I particularly liked Dan's little one-word responses ("Yeah?", "What?") and the classic line that says so much, "Dave, you didn't clear this with me." The wordless pause before pushing Dave off-screen was perfect and added a great bit of drama to that moment. Dave's incredulous "I'm moving to New York City", delivered as if he thought Dan knew all along was fabulous, and the "two weeks is enough notice" bit was perfect, both an accurate statement in the context of the argument, and hilarious on its own stance. And of course, "Ai! My tucchus!" is genius. And all capped off with the arrogant "I bring the funny, Dave brings the fat" line. Thanks, guys: you really have a feel for what I love out of CageMatch.

Anyway, it may sound like I'm overanalyzing the whole thing, but I just wanted to try and express how much I enjoyed such a small moment out of both of your lives. I appreciate you. I also appreciate the dedication you've shown to come out each and every week to do the show; you really made CageMatch great with your showmanship, comedic ability, and willingness to play along with the weird rasslin' framework that I love so much. Thank you.

I really would love it if both of you could come to the show next week. I'd like to thank you guys on stage and acknowledge your title reign.

Thanks,

Ted

PCQOTD : 8-14-06

Plebian:
"I bet your mama was a tent show queen, and all her boyfriends were sweet sixteen."

Erudite:
"I'm a tease, I'm a goddess on my knees."

Back To The Cage

It's nice to get feedback from people. My friend Jackson told me he hasn't seen my CageMatch videos in a while, because I haven't been linking them here on The Transmutation Effect. So here we go.

This Saturday was a fabulous show, which had Siegel-Prov end their long and celebrated reign as champions, when they fell to Community Bike after a twelve to eleven score. Both teams put on incredible shows, and they made for a great CageMatch. I've been really privileged to have Siegel-Prov out there each week to make CageMatch entertaining, and I'd like to thank Dan and Dave for being so dedicated.

Okay, so on to the videos. The promo video for Siegel-Prov vs Community Bike can be found here. At the beginning of the show, a mysterious figure interrupted the satellite feed to taunt Scott Sullivan, and that footage is here. There was an intriguing post-match interview done with the Siegels after their loss, and that video is here.

In general, all the CageMatch videos can be found on DSI's YouTube page here. I'll try to start posting the video links here each week.

PCQOTD : 8-11-06

Plebian:
"You said you were high class, but that was just a lie."

Erudite:
"When I wanna work for your love, daddy. When I wanna try for your love, daddy."

PCQOTD : 8-10-06

Plebian:
"Taste the rainbow."

Erudite:
"You mark that frame an 8, and you're entering a world of pain."

A New Frontier

So last night, after about four hours of work (well, three hours of work and one hour of fucking around), Mike Bamford and Jason Curtis and I managed to construct and erect the new movie screen for the DSI Comedy Theater. It's fucking amazing. It's just...well, HUGE. Really professional looking. And the image from the digital projector is HUGE and crisp and stunning. PT Scarborough Is A Movie is going to look even better. Jason's Film Festival is going to be stunning. And if Mike can figure out how to wire up the video mixers and whatnot, I'll be able to show my CageMatch videos on the screen NINE FEET HIGH! Too sweet.

PCQOTD : 8-9-06

Plebian:
"Tonight, what heights we'll hit. On with the show, this is it."

Erudite:
"LS/MFT" and "Strawberry, raspberry, cherry, orange, lemon, and lime."
(Both quotes refer to the same source.)

PCQOTD : 8-8-06

Plebian:
"Gimme a break, gimme a break, break me off a piece of that"

Erudite:
"I'm a princess. "P" to the "R" to the "N" to the "cess". I'm a princess."

PCQOTD : 8-7-06

Plebian:
"There’s a holdup in the Bronx, Brooklyn’s broken out in fights."

Erudite:
"I don't want to live my life again."

PCQOTD : 8-4-06

Plebian:
"I buried Paul."

Erudite:
"I never let my friends down, I've never made a boob. I'm a glossy magazine, an advert in the tube."

PCQOTD : 8-3-06

Plebian:
"And on a star-spangled night, my love, you can rest your head on my shoulder."

Erudite:
"Stupid, yes. Also dumb. But it is something I've gotta do."

PCQOTD : 8-2-06

Plebian:
"Throw me the idol, I'll throw you the whip."

Erudite:
"Would you like to tie me up with some of your ties, Ty?"

DCM 2006

DCM 2006
Originally uploaded by TedHobgood.

New York. Whatever.

The Trip
The Shows