Dork Geek Nerd: February 2023

Chance of a ghost

When Randal has a severe heart attack in the film "Clerks III" and is rushed to hospital, the surgeon tells him he has a 20% chance of survival. My prognosis was considerably rosier. Ahead of my heart op, the doc informed me the odds were 90-something percent in my favour. High 90s. I know I pride myself on an above-average level of recall, but I wasn't in my right mind. Let's say it was 97%. I was also given the option of an additional procedure which would lessen the likelihood of further ticker trouble in the future. However, this would mean (a) heavier medication for the rest of my life, and (b) only a 92% chance of the two-part operation being successful. I declined. Maybe it was the gamer in me, who'd failed too many "easy" dice rolls in the past, but that extra -5% was a short-term risk I wasn't willing to take. The day before I went for surgery, my father said, "There's no point worrying, because if something goes wrong, you won't know anything about it." Which was comforting in a way. Sort of.

Bookmarks

I have so many bookmarks. Too many. Then again, it's fun to open a set-aside tome after months or years and reveal a b/m I'd forgotten about. Here's a selection...

SMALL BOOKS

1. This fiery babe is hand-drawn and -coloured. Sister EM bought her for me from a market trader eons ago (early 2000s?). 2. I fished this cool Snoopy out of a Weet-Bix packet in 1992. 3. There was an article on Kotaku lately about collectors driving up the price of "waifu" cards. We were a bit like that with the key women in the original "Star Trek: TNG" CCG (mid-'90s). I have Crusher, Troi, etc., but this black-bordered Ro Laren remains a favourite. Great, complex character played by Michelle Forbes. 4. It's the Doctor and he's in a library - what's not to like? 5. Did you ever see this series? Some of the animals have textured sections, e.g. this chap/chapette has a strip of fur you can pet. Makes reading even more therapeutic :-)

MEDIUM-LARGE BOOKS

1. Present from my best cousins when I was a small boy. They lived in England for a stretch and convinced me to join them in supporting Liverpool FC, which I've done ever since. 2. When RS visited SFL in Alb., one of them grabbed this freaky lenticular 'mark for yours truly. 3. From BS, following a trip to India...I think. 4. Authentic Japanese example thanks to either sister AC or brother-in-law YC. 5. Regular Hawaii-goer CM knows about my passion for hedge mazes (and tree mazes, vine mazes, etc.). I'm quite fond of pineapple as well - not to mention bookmarks!

Familiar theme

The mags that still exist tend to operate with skeleton crews doing loads of unpaid overtime and minimal resources. They find cheap ways to fill pages, e.g. Red Bull were a fantastic free source for spectacular sporting images as long as you credited them properly. They cleverly repackage their own old material and often buy stories from overseas in bulk - sometimes even changing the names/places/cultural references to imbue a local feel.

For a period, I freelanced on a famous music title that had been reduced to a staff of three. The little red light on my desk phone was constantly blinking. The passcode must have been written nearby because I soon discovered the message bank was FULL of enquiries. I started jotting down the details in a notepad until the editor told me not to bother. They'd given up on answering. They couldn't worry about stuff like that and get the next issue out.

Recent viewing

"Barking Dogs Never Bite": Highly inventive, equally problematic 2000 black dramedy.

"Blackpink - Light Up The Sky": Testament to hard work, celebration of friendship.

"Coma": Russian sci-fi. Sensational visuals with nifty premise.

"Everything Everywhere All At Once": DEMANDS awards. Michelle Yeoh's an international treasure.

"Good Night, Oppy": For 15 invaluable years, Mars supported life.

"Mary Poppins Returns": The low-key best Disney (musical) sequel?

"Re/Member": "Groundhog Day", except redemptive, videogame-ish teen slasher.

The post-credits scene for "Re/Member" annoyed me. You guys may wanna skip it. Now I've said that, you definitely won't, though, right? <sigh>

[Seen on Kanopy, Netflix, Prime x3, Disney+, Netflix.]

Badges, magnets, stickers

My friend RS just did a good post about fridge magnets. It inspired me to highlight a few badges, magnets and stickers from my own collections. In all three cases, I could easily have picked only examples featuring cute gals. Instead, I tried to go for a mix of subject matter and corresponding stories.

1. I loved, loved, loved the original "Attack Of The Show!" (RIP), which screened in Oz on FUEL TV. I even liked the recent reboot (also RIP). This badge came from the man himself, RS. 2. If memory serves and volleys, I picked up this golden Mario at a convention. 3. Nerd humour courtesy of Abbey's Bookshop in Sydney. 4. When he moved house a while back, PG gave me multiple Rush badges, including this'un. (Multiple "Legend Of Zelda" badges, too.) 5. Received as a thankyou for contributions to the ultimate website/podcast devoted to The Phantom.

1. A gift from Mum upon moving into my first sharehouse. She has a quirky sense of humour at times. 2. I was there - along with BS, AP and MB. And at several more venues. Ate Mexican food, drank Mexican beer and refused to pay the ridiculous "end-of-millennium" prices cabbies were charging on the night. 3. Another gift from RS. He's visited Scotland. Regretably, I have yet to do so. 4. When HV went to Singapore on assignment, I suggested she sample a S. Sling in the Raffles bar. She brought me back this souvenir. 5. Prize for winning the trivia comp on one of my cruises.

1. From an Aussie pop-culture con. Two of my all-time fave stickers. 2. Made by pal-of-a-pal artist NH. I actually had a little bag of her celebrity portraits - no idea what happened to the rest. 3. From RS. Wonderful shot of Carrie Fisher (RIP) as Leia, cooling off after escaping jerkwad Jabba. 4. Beaut decal from a beaut fanzine depicting a beaut C64 game. I conquered "Bruce Lee" repeatedly back in the day...when it didn't crash. 5. In the mid-'90s, I was so desperate to get my hands on the "Fist Of The North Star" anime, I ordered the VHS through a local video barn that dabbled in comics, etc., from the UK, for $85! That was a fortune then, even if it did come with extras like this. Yes, I am blogging on a mysteriously ripped sticker as I complain about the cost of a videotape 30 years ago :-)

Joker

On a magazine that wasn't called "Meeple", we paid readers $20 if we published their joke and $50 if it was the gag we deemed the best for that issue. During my time on the mag, the number of written/typed submissions steadily decreased until many folks were clearly just sending printouts from mailing lists or websites (with their contact details added in biro). The most blatant - I'll never forget it - was a large padded envelope containing a phonebook-thick pile of jokes printed from various online sources. In the accompanying note, the person wrote, "Just deposit $20 per week into..." Talk about ballsy! Talk about frickin' presumptuous. IIRC, we ran one or two, paid them for those, then recycled the block of paper.

A few podcast recs for ya

OK, must stop delaying my due-tomorrow writing work (a piece on home security) or I won't be able to take the day off to properly enjoy the Super-duper Bowl. Happy listening!

Recent viewing

"Alphaville": I get it now. (Bully for me.) OR - Surreal scifi succeeds using only '60s Paris.

"Appleseed Alpha": Sexy heroine, varied post-apocalyptic cyborg-ian scenarios.

"Dominion - Prequel To 'The Exorcist'": African sands conceal sinister church. Unexpectedly substantial!

"Lupin The 3rd Vs Cat's Eye": Doubly enjoyable nostalgia as legendary thieves boogie.

"Per Tutta La Vita": Fake priest's weddings annulled. Cue brilliant drama.

[Seen on Kanopy, Netflix x2, Prime, Kanopy.]

The sleep of the unjust

We did receive our newspaper. What I didn't get was much sleep. As I've aged, health issues have made doing so increasingly difficult. However, it often feels like my body just refuses to nod off. My eyes can be watering from watching Korean and Japanese reality shows, and I can be yawning regularly, and I'll still lie there for four hours, futilely changing position over and over, until eventually I go under for maybe two hours. Don't suggest anything diet-, exercise-, bed- or whatever else-related. I've tried it all.

No news ain't good news

We didn't receive our weekend newspaper this morning. First-world problems, NBD, etc. After waiting until after the latest time it's ever been delivered, I walked up the road to the shopping centre. There were no papers at the newsagency. Or at the supermarket checkouts. Or in the service station outside the centre. "Guess I left it too late," I lamented to the servo bloke. "No, we didn't get any today," he informed me...which would explain everything else. Seems this suburb simply missed out.