Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Top 10 #6: Top 10 Pop Culture References That Will Make Me Feel Nostalgic For My Childhood, I Hope

Okay, people. This one is personal. So personal, in fact, that anybody who reads this list will surely be able to figure out not only just how old I am, but also precisely which elements of pop culture I was most receptive to as a child. And yes, yes, it's a damnably geekish list. (Although, on the other hand – when you're talking about pop culture, what's not geeky?)

So, the latest of my Top 10 Top 10 Lists That Don't Really Deserve To Be Top 10 Lists:

It's
The Top 10 Pop Culture References That Will Make Me Feel Nostalgic For My Childhood, I Hope!


10. The Seven Cities of Gold! (It was actually called The Mysterious Cities of Gold, but that's not how I remember it.) They get this big golden boat, and later on they get this big golden bird-plane thing?

9. The theme from Inspector Gadget. And from the show itself, especially that story where they're in this big house and it gets completely flooded with water. But mostly just the theme.


8. Ulysses 3000. (It was actually called Ulysses 31, but that's not how I remember it.) The crew is frozen, hanging in space, unconscious and just floating up near the ceiling of this big metal room . . .

7. Hot jam donuts, sausage rolls, twisties, icy poles. And sunnyboys, even though I'm not sure I ever actually had one myself.

6. The Mac Plus. Especially when used to play the original Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego? game. Especially the "typewriter" sound effects.

5. The original line of Transformers toys (the ones with metal in them!), and The Transformers: The Movie. By which I mean the real Transformers movie, the one with Orson Welles as the voice of Unicron.

4. Doctor Who. Especially any Tom Baker story where someone slowly transforms into a hideous monster. (There are a bunch.)

3. The Super Nintendo. F-Zero, Street Fighter II Turbo, Super Mario World, Super Mario Kart. And NBA Jam, and Super Ghouls 'N' Ghosts, and StarFox. And Castlevania. And all that glorious 8-bit sound! And everything else. And the original NES console and various Segas, too, I guess . . . but most of all, the Super Nintendo, summer of 1990-91.

(video not entirely related, but you should probably watch it anyway.)

2. LEGO. Glorious, brilliant, spectacularly wonderful Lego.

1. The Rage outro, on a Saturday morning at first light.



So, did these references actually make me feel nostalgic for my childhood?
Hard to say.

What about you?
And what are you nostalgic about?

Friday, January 22, 2010

Down!

Lack! Absence! Off! Crash!

From later tonight, I'm going to be without home internet for a while. Apparently it takes "10-20 working days" of non-access in order to switch my account from ADSL to Naked ADSL. I've gotten so used to constant broadband internets, I'm not sure how I'm going to cope . . .

Lucky for you, though, I've already scheduled some posts (including the continuing Top 10 Top 10 lists!) to publish over the next few weeks. This blog will not be without content! And please keep commenting – I promise I'll reply, even if it's a day or two late.

Here's hoping all goes well. In the meantime, here's a picture of Christina Hendricks that I hope will cheer you up.


Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Top 10 #7: Top 10 Ambiguous Sporting Team Nicknames

This one is clearly the most dull of my Top 10 Top 10 Lists That Don't Really Deserve To Be Top 10 Lists. However, it does have nice pictures, and also I spent at least a minute writing the hidden mouse-over text. Enjoy!

It's
The Top 10 Ambiguous Sporting Team Nicknames!

(And all from completely genuine top-rank sporting teams, btw . . .)


9. A's

8. Reds









Mostly taken from USA sporting teams, of course: American sports, you will agree, are clearly more . . . ambiguous.

Enjoy yr afternoon
-Thoapsl

Friday, January 15, 2010

Friday Is Out Of Context

I found this in a comic book. This is set in the same fictional universe as Iron Man, Spider-Man, and the X-Men. The words in the speech bubble are interesting, I think. My initial reaction:

*whattttttttttttt*

Interesting? What do you think?

This Friday Is Out Of Context Thoapsl Says: A spell is not always restful.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Top 10 #8: Top 10 Song Titles That Are No Longer Hits When Rephrased As A Question Instead Of As An Assertion

Ah, January. Yesterday I bought a 7 kg frozen turkey from the supermarket, ex-Xmas stock, half price: a bargain of the delicious! While I wait for it to defrost, I'm stocking up on carrots and re-reading Margaret Fulton recipes for sage & onion stuffing. I also purchased a parsnip. (No, parsnips do NOT taste like wood! They taste good! Shut up!)


It's
The Top 10 Song Titles That Are Not Longer Hits When Rephrased As A Question Instead Of As An Assertion!

If you can figure out all of the pre-rephrased song titles before you click on the links, you are clearly excellent.












Right on!
(And yeah, #6 is dubious, but I couldn't resist.)

Did you get them all? What other assertion-into-question song titles should I have used? Let me know in the comments. This is important. Probably. "A blog without feedback is like a dirty sock", they say.

Also: any turkey-roasting hints? I am open-minded, cookery-wise.

Cheers

Friday, January 8, 2010

Top 10 #9: Top 10 High Concepts Improvised In Less Than One Minute

Yeah: as I figured it might, turkey did not permit me to publish very much this week. (Also I've been visiting folks up in the country, not that that's any excuse – they do have the internets up there, too . . .)

But anyhow, with that introductory ado adone – here's the latest of my Top 10 Top 10 Lists That Don't Really Deserve To Be Top 10 Lists!

It's
The Top 10 High Concepts Improvised In Less Than One Minute!


10. Soup On A Plane

9. The Zombies Eat Jim Carrey

8. Cop Who Plays By The Rules

7. These Dinosaurs Are Driving Me Crazy!

6. Limousine To Hell

5. Six Guns, One Bullet

4. Party In Hitler's Brain!

3. No More Puppies!

2. The Killer Is Calling From Inside Your Hat

1. Lasers On Ice


One day, I will write a movie script that will get made.

I'm pretty sure a few of the ones on this list have already been done, though. And #5 actually sounds pretty cool, don't you think? (Ah, who am I kidding, they all sound awesome wicked cool . . .)

Now, I look forward to seeing at least one person claim in the comments that I don't really understand what "high concept" means. Don't let me down, people :)

More Top 10 Top 10, coming soon!

Love, Thoapsl