PCQOTD : 4-28-06

Plebian:
"Ho ho ho."
(no, NOT Santa Claus.)

Erudite:
"Sir, does this mean Ann-Margaret's not coming?"

Super CageMatch In Chicago

This week's CageMatch video will be delayed a day or two, as Zach asked me to make a promotional video for the Super CageMatch taking place this Friday at the Chicago Improv Festival. I'm pretty happy with the way this turned out.

Check it out on YouTube.
Downloadable version available on Powerbomb.

Stay tuned for the promo for this week's CageMatch at the DSI Comedy Theater, as champions The Pride take on the unified power of Siegel-Prov!

PCQOTD : 4-27-06

Two Erudites, no waiting. Each with their own Connection to the Plebe.

Plebian:
"Well, here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten me into."

Erudite 1:
"We finally got a piece of the pie."

Erudite 2:
"Like a complete set of Shakespeare that you get in the corner drugstore for a dollar ninety-eight, we're Morocco bound."

PCQOTD : 4-26-06

Plebian:
"How do you spell relief?"

Erudite:
"A Monday night party."

Good Enough For Me

An amusing little parody trailer for V For Vendetta, entitled C Is For Cookie. It amused me.

The People Should Not Be Afraid Of Cookie...

PCQOTD : 4-25-06

Plebian:
"Sorry about that, Chief."

Erudite:
"Great Caesar's ghost!"

PCQOTD : 4-24-06

Sorry about the delay; had problems posting to Blogger this morn.

Plebian:
"You know what they call a Quarter Pounder With Cheese in Paris?"

Erudite:
"Snakes on a mutha..."

no, just kidding. Really, I meant to say:
Erudite:
"What kind of Mickey Mouse organization would name their team The Ducks?"

PCQOTD : 4-21-06

Plebian:
"57 Varieties"

Erudite:
"It's all-righta!"

CageMatch 4-22-06

As loyal "Transmutation Effect" readers, you have the first opportunity to see this week's CageMatch promotional video before Zach loads it up to YouTube and it gets posted on the DSI forum boards.

Get ready to enter the cage!.

HOOK THE LEG!!!

Last night, I went to see wrestling with Jennings, Lil' G, and Rossi. The show was put on by Count Grog, a guy I've worked with before, and this new group is all gimmick-related, full of cheesy characters and ridiculous situations. Grog calls it GOUGE, and it's a lighter-hearted wrestling experience. We had a blast, sitting right up against the ring and screaming and jeering. A couple of my friends were wrestling last night, Krazy K and Dexter Poindexter, and my old promoter from OMEGA, Thomas Simpson, debuted his new "Hard Gay" character, T-Dawg HG. We're down with the Klowns.

A good time was had by all. We'll be back. Check out the pix. Go through them one-by-one instead of a slideshow to see the comments.

PCQOTD : 4-20-06

Plebian:
"A fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust."

Erudite:
"Nobody does it half as good as you. Baby, you're the best."

Queen To King's Level Ten Count

Chess Boxing. It's a real thing. I heard about it on NPR this morning, where they described it as "this bizarre sport in Germany that combines the thinking man's sport, chess, with the number-one fighting sport, boxing." Turns out there's a sanctioning organisation, the WCBO, and an entry on Wikipedia. The way it works is thusly: you start with a four minute round of chess, then the competitors have a one minute break, then a two minute round of boxing, then back to chess again, eleven rounds in all. The match can end by checkmate or knockout. Sweet.

I would like to take this opportunity to announce the formation of the WDWF, the World Dungeons-And-Dragons Wrestling Federation. We alternate three minutes of pro wrestling action with two hours of exciting role-playing and dice-rolling. Matches can end by pinfall, submission, or when you run out of Mountain Dew.

PCQOTD : 4-19-06

Plebian:
"The other white meat."

Erudite:
"Funky Chinamen from funky Chinatown."

Two Turntables, Fuck The Microphone

You wish you were as cool as DJ Kentaro.

Here and here and here. Lots more here.

PCQOTD : 4-17-06

Three quotes; one Connection. It's a game fit for a king! Enjoy!

Plebian:
"Cathy adores a minuet, the Ballets Russes, and Crêpes Suzette."

Erudite 1:
"Be excellent to each other. And... PARTY ON, DUDES!"

Erudite 2:
"Your powers are weak, old man."

Lightning In A Can

Every time I see this promotional image for "The DaVinci Code", I think Steven Seagal is the star of the movie.

PCQOTD : 4-17-06

Plebian:
"I'm an excellent driver."

Erudite:
"I do wish we could chat longer, but... I'm having an old friend for dinner."

I Won!

I bought my first North Carolina lottery ticket today. I took it back to my car and scratched it off to reveal that I had won a free ticket! A first-time winner! So I go back in and claim my ticket, take it back to my car to scratch it--and I won another free ticket! So I go back in and claim my ticket, scratch it off, and won nothing. I am a two-time winner!!!

First CageMatch Promo Video

So I'm the host of this little show at the DSI Comedy Theater that goes by the name of CageMatch. Basically, two improv teams square off against each other, and the audience votes who they like better. The champions move on to face a new challenge the next week. So this week, there's this one guy who is a member of both teams. The Artistic Director for the show made a ruling that he would have to decide which team he would play for this week, live on stage, to add some drama to the show. This, along with a comment from Tommy B, inspired me to create a PPV-style promotional video for this week's show. I enjoyed creating it so much, I may do this every week.

Chekkit out.
Available for download here.

Kit Is My Hero

flyingcircususus
Originally uploaded by TedHobgood.

Kit just got me the entire Monty Python's Flying Circus on dvd for $37, brand new. That's forty-five episodes and over 24 hours of British comedy goodness. Thank you, Kit FitzSimons.

Ten-HUT!

PCQOTD : 4-13-06

Plebian:
"I think I'll make a snappy new day."

Erudite:
"Are these the breasts of a forty year old?"
"No ma'am. They're very impressive... bordering on spectacular."

Secret Agent Beastie

I'm still trying to figure out this site, but it's amused me so far...

Basically, it's what would happen if the F.B.I. were global.
And were run by National Geographic.
And were animals.
Anthropomorphic animals.

Sweet.

PCQOTD 4-12-06

Plebian:
"The pump don’t work ‘cause the vandals took the handles."

Erudite:
"Kilt him a b'ar when he was only three."

Recartooned

I love this website. This guy invites people to draw their versions of Saturday Morning Cartoons, and then posts them on the site. Some drawings are close to the originals, some are creative interpretations, and some are just freaky. Shown here is a portion of Steve Hogan's jaded punk version of Josie (she of Pussycats fame). Go check out the site for bunches more.

PCQOTD : 4-11-06

Same rules as yesterday: two Erudites that share the same connection with the Plebian (only one connection today, though.)

Plebian:
"Laugh now, monkey-boy!"

Erudite 1:
"You're nothing but a drifter who found a bag of mail."

Erudite 2:
"Van Gogh and Rembrandt, don't be uptight, 'cause here comes Kid Dy-no-mite!"

A Has-Meme

Courtesy of Kit:
Go to Wikipedia and look up your birthday (excluding the year). List six events, four births and two deaths in your journal, including the year.

I've added reasons why I chose each item.

OCTOBER 16
Events:
* 1793 - Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI is guillotined at the height of the French Revolution. (I have a guillotine pin my dad brought me back from Bastille Day.)
* 1869 - Cardiff Giant, one of the most famous American hoaxes, discovered. (Hoaxes are cool.)
* 1968 - United States athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos are kicked out of the USA's team for performing a Black Power salute during a medal ceremony. (I used a picture of this as one of my Ethan Kaye Rocks Through History series.)
* 1978 - Karol Józef Wojtyła becomes Pope John Paul II (Eddie Murphy has a great routine about when the Pope got shot.)
* 1995 - The Million Man March occurs in Washington, DC. (Chris Rock has a great routine about Marion Barry at the Million Man March.)
* 2002 - Bibliotheca Alexandrina in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, a commemoration of the Library of Alexandria that was lost in antiquity, is officially inaugurated. (Libraries are cool.)

Births:
* 1758 - Noah Webster, American lexicographer (d. 1843) (Boring.)
* 1854 - Oscar Wilde, Irish writer (d. 1900) (Stephen Fry portrayed him. I still haven't watched the movie.)
* 1908 - Enver Hoxha, Albanian dictator (d.1985) (Long story.)
* 1925 - Angela Lansbury, English-born actress (Boring, she wrote.)
* 1946 - Suzanne Somers, American actress (I liked Joyce DeWitt better.)
* 1984 - Melissa Lauren, pornographic actress (Heh.)

Deaths:
* 1793 - Marie Antoinette, Queen of France (executed) (b. 1755) (She's famous. I've heard of her.)
* 1981 - Moshe Dayan, Israeli general (b. 1915) (On Laugh-In, Judy Carne walked up to Sammy Davis Jr and said "What's black and white and has two eyes?" Sammy D didn't know. Judy said "You and Moshe Dyan.")
* 1990 - Art Blakey, American jazz drummer (b. 1919) (I thought if I included some jazz guy, people would think I was hip.)
* 1994 - Raul Julia, American actor (b. 1940) (He's a'ight.)
* 2003 - Stu Hart, Canadian professional wrestler (b. 1915) (You should know why.)
* 2005 - "Len" Dresslar, American singer and voice actor (b. 1925) (I want to do voice acting.)

They also seemed to have executed a lot of Nazis on my birthday in 1946.

A search of IMDB also turns up the following lovely fact:
Hogan's Heroes stars Sigrid Valdis and Bob Crane were married on this day in 1970.

PCQOTD : 4-10-06

Plebian:
"To boldly go where no man has gone before."

I felt bad that this was too easy, so you have two Erudites today, but each one has the same two Connections to the Plebian quote.

Erudite 1:
"You rang?"

Erudite 2:
"Well, possum on a gumbush!"

Hey Rube!

Ever since I was a little kid, I've loved Rube Goldberg-esque devices. Goldberg was a guy who dreamed up these fanciful, overly-complicated systems to do simple activities, such as how to tee up a golf ball or something. The Goldberg machines interested me in the same way that domino tumbling does: the thrill of a chain of events happening from a single action that you initiate. When I was a kid, I had one of those wooden building block sets that had a series of tracks that let you make complicated systems that a marble would roll through; I loved that thing.

This video is a twelve minute compilation of various Golbergian machines made for a Japanese tv show. They're absolutely brilliant, using a plethora of mechinations and devices that connect together artistically to ultimately do one simple thing: reveal the tv show's catchphrase. Twelve minutes sounds like a long time to sit around looking at an internet video, but I loved every second of it.

PCQOTD : 4-7-06

Plebian:
"Come along, my fine feathered finks."

Erudite:
"Cherokee people, Cherokee tribe, so proud to live, so proud to die."

I'm Pretty! I'm A Bad Man!

Never ever forget who The Greatest is.

PCQOTD : 4-6-06

Plebian:
"If you won’t scold and dominate us we will never give you cause to hate us."

Erudite:
"Fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face."

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, DEATH!

So here's a stream of consciousness for you.

Today's PCQOTD featured a reference to the utterly crappy-looking Beverly Hillbillies movie. Ben mentioned that Dolly Parton was in it, a fact I did not know. So I looked it up on IMDB, and sure enough, there she is. I then noticed that Buddy Ebsen, Uncle Jed from the original tv series of The Beverly Hillbillies, had a cameo as his other tv character, Barnaby Jones. Well, says I, I like Barnaby Jones, maybe I should watch this film after all, if for no other reason than to enjoy a favourite character. So that got me to thinking about a web project I've had in the back of my mind for some time, a site celebrating the fabulous over-the-top detective/adventure tv series that were produced by Quinn Martin. So I look up ol' Quinn's biography just for the fun of it, and find that he was once married to a woman named Muffet Webb.

And her name amused me so much, I had to make this post about it. Enjoy.

PCQOTD : 4-5-6

Plebian:
"They just use your mind and they never give you credit; it’s enough to drive you crazy if you let it."

Erudite:
"I got to have a long talk with that boy."

No Picture Necessary

Some 98 year old guy just walked into where I work and said he was going to sue us for violating his democracy.

Good luck, buddy.

PCQOTD : 3-4-06

Plebian:
"Oh pooh.. I’m not afraid of you. Why, you’re nothing but a pack of cards."

Erudite:
"Who's Yehoodi?"

Manders vs El Gigante

Photo_040206_026
Originally uploaded by TedHobgood.

On 4/2/06, a bunch of us went out to Bandido's in Carrboro to get some dinner. Amanda Dorich announced that she was going to order El Gigante--and finish it! We, of course, didn't believe for a second that that would happen, so we put money on it. And we lost.

Click here for the gutbomb.

PCQOTD : 4-3-06

Plebian:
"Snakes...why did it have to be snakes?"

Erudite:
"May I have ten thousand marbles, please?"