THE FINAL CHAPTER!

I've saved the best(?) for last with the final chapter of Calculus Cutups.  Now that the originals are all done, maybe I should try doing the new Cam inspired Kurt Cobain themed strip before I forget what I was going to write about in the first place.  It will require meticulous research and lots of character sketches and drawings to get things just perfect.   Yes, I am such an awful artist that I need to do character sketches and stuff for a comic strip with stickmen characters.

Clearance!

Remember back when I posted about getting some vintage 80's glow in the dark and cap action car sets from Chinook Hobby?  I was driving by there today and noticed on their sign that they had a new clearance section now open, so I had to stop and look.  You can go upstairs where everything is marked down on models, train stuff, cars, and action figures.

They had the little DC Universe figures for 99 cents each as well as Indiana Jones and Star Wars figures for $1.99.  They even had original 80's Go-Bots models kits available in singles and a four pack.  They weren't snap-tite kits, so they required glue and skill, so I had to pass.  I did end up getting some more cars though!

The cars ranged from old 80's vintage stuff to new stuff like Fast and the Furious and were also all different scales.  I got Cody this Joker van which is die cast at a 1/48 scale.   You can totally tell it's the Joker's because there is a sticker on him right on the side, also he is driving it.  The van itself is built pretty solid and surprisingly heavy.  If you beaned someone in the head with it you'd probably drop them...multi-purpose.

I picked up Avery two different cars.  Last time I got him a sound and lights car, but since it was from 1984 the battery was dead.  I made sure not to get anything with batteries this time.  I got him the Matchbox crane set which seemed cool at the time and it says right on the box "BATTERIES NOT REQUIRED".  I still should've read the box more careful as the truck in the picture isn't even included in the set.  Now I have to go back to get a truck.

I also got him this Italian made 1:25 scale die cast car and I not even sure what the hell it is.  It looks flashy and the body is die cast while the frame and wheels are plastic, so it will probably take him at least ten minutes to break it.  The doors also flip up.

Finally, I did manage to get myself a car.  The coolest most bad ass car from the 70's (other than the Gremlin), a 1977 AMC Pacer X! 

They had a couple boxes of the Matchbox glow in the dark launcher sets, so if you are still interested then let me know.  Mike?

Comix

Here is part 3 of the classic Calculus Cutups series.   I know you will notice it right away, so I'll point it out, so you don't have to.  Just like in part 2's spelling error, part 3 has a flub in the "art" continuity.  Mr. Andryfunk has hair in all the panels through the entire series, yet in the sixth panel of this installment he is missing his hair.  Oops.

I've also been harping on this for months but the latest and final installment of the Scott Pilgrim series is out today.  I thought it was out in Wednesday like all the other comics and such, but apparently it is out on Tuesday with the new release books.  I went to Indigo after work and picked it up.  It is thicker than previous volumes.

Chips Ahoy!

This a follow up to a post I did a while ago when I wrote about the PC Ballpark Hot Dog chips.  I bring you more tales of fast food flavored snacks with Doritos Cheeseburger nachos.  The full name would be Doritos Late Night All Nighter Cheeseburger which is way too wordy.  Do they really need "late night" and "all nighter" in the name?  Isn't that kind of the same thing?

They don't really taste like cheeseburger, but are definitely cheesy and if hamburger helper made a chip this is what I would imagine they would taste like.   Despite tasting cheesy, but not hamburgery they do taste pretty good.  I polished off the entire bag unlike my bag of hot dog chips which I ended up throwing out because I couldn't bring myself to finish them.  I would buy these again!

The "Late Night" line must be Doritos new prestige nacho chip line as they also have a Late Night Last Call Jalapeno Popper flavor as well.  Next time I'm out buying groceries I will be grabbing a bag of those.

Rock on

Just in case you forgot about it SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD will be unleashed into theaters in only one month's time.  The final volumebook of series, Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour, will be out July 19th!  There is also a Scott Pilgrim video game, but the Playstation jerks get it first on PSN and then it will be available on XLA.  It's like a retro looking type brawler in the vein of River City Ransom which means I will love it.  And course there will be a soundtrack and yes, Plumtree will be on it!  Edgar Wright also got Beck to write all the songs for Scott's band in the movie, Sex Bob-omb.  Beck gets in four tracks as Sex Bob-omb and two songs under himself.  Although the two Beck songs are just different versions of the same song.

CC's 2

Since Cam demanded Calculus Cutups be scanned, I have scanned the next installment.  I also updated the first one with a scanned copy.  Cam also wants brand new CC's (that what he calls them) and I've already got one planned out.  Although, it does have more dialogue than previous strips, so I'm not sure if I'll have room for all the word balloons.   I need those words because it is a dialogue driven story, but don't worry there is still blood.

click to embiggen

And yes, I know there a spelling error, but it's about 17 years too late to fix it.

Now Playing II

Seeing as how no one liked Calculus Cutups (I don't blame you) here is the list of current crap in all forms that I am "enjoying". 

MOVIES

The Deuce Bigalow Saga - We watched Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo and then the much anticipated sequel Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo.  Yes, it was stupid, but I enjoyed it and it had some funny parts.  I'm just waiting to use the line "That's a huge bitch!".

The Animal - Yes, the Rob Schneider movies just keep coming.  It's as dumb the Deuce Bigalow movies, but I think I liked it better.  Norm MacDonald's cameo was actually funny, unlike his Deuce Bigalow cameos.

Power Kids - A Thai movie starring some kids.  It's a movie starring a bunch of kids, but it pits them against a bunch of terrorists.  It has stupid kiddy stuff and then it has the kids kicking guys in the face and kicking them out windows.  If you just fast forward to the fights you should be okay.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force Vol 7 - Okay, I actually haven't watched it yet as I JUST bought it.  But I will and I will let you know how weird and crazy it is.

Breaker! Breaker! starring Chuck Norris.  I actually have four Chuck Norris waiting to be watched.  This early Chuck flick isn't that great, but he drives a sweet 70's van and punches a guy in the nuts and knocks him out.  It was hilarious and the highlight of the entire movie.

MUSIC

The Qemists - Join the Q.  Some drum and bass type band from England.  They are good, so that's all the matters.

Plump DJs - Global Underground DJ Series (mix album)  More good stuff.

The Lambrettas - English mod band from the late 70's.  Catchy, poppy tunes.

GAMES

Split/Second - A racing game where you can blow up objects around the race track and if it comes to it, the track itself.  I suck at racing games, but the explosions looked too cool.  It can be fun, the rubber banded AI can be frustrating.  I'd like to know how on a straight away at top speed you can be passed by a guy driving the exact same car as you or passed by a guy driving a weaker car than you.  I don't get it.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 - I am up to 91 hours of just playing the online multi-player.  Dennis finally opened his copy, so now we have a squad of three.  It can fun, but sometimes frustrating because one night I can be doing to so well and then the next night I can totally suck. Also, the shotguns need to be patched as you can get killed by a guy with a shotgun from across the map.  WTF?!

Pokemon - I am currently playing two Pokemon games, Pokemon Sapphire on my Game Boy Advance SP and Pokemon Heart Gold on my Nintendo DS Lite.  Can be a bit addicting, but also after a while it can get to be too much.  I just started Sapphire, but I have like 70 hours in Heart Gold and I'm maybe 3/4 finished, I'm getting a little burnt out on that one.

Heart Gold also comes with the PokeWalker which like a combination of a pedometer with a Tamagotchi.  You can put Pokemon from the game in it and walk around to generate Watts which you can use to try to catch more Pokemon, find items, and unlock more routes on the PokeWalker.  I am up to 904,223 steps and 43,209 watts.  I read that it takes twenty steps to generate 1 watt.  Also, it takes 20 steps to burn 1 calorie.  Crazy!

READING
Not much cuz it's too hard.

Blast from the past

Last time I was back in Cranbrook I wrote about finding some old high school things in one of my many boxes of stuff still in my parent's basement.  I mentioned I had found some old "comics" I had did called "Calculus Cutups".   On my most recent trip back to Cranbrook I found these again with the hopes of putting them on my blog for everyone to see.

Unfortunately, "Calculus Cutups" aren't as nearly as good as I remember, in fact they are pretty awful.  If you were caught with these in school today you would be expelled and forced into counseling.  Luckily, I turned (sort of) normal and haven't done anything criminal yet.  Despite "Calculus Cutups" being lame, you get to see it anyway.  I was going to scan it, but then got lazy, so I just took a picture, so the quality isn't that good.  If the demand is there I will scan the remaining four strips, so you can enjoy them in high res.

click to embiggen

CBK wrap up

I got back to Calgary on Tuesday, but you are only hearing about it now because I'm lazy.  Cranbrook was the same as always, but it was good because the weather was nice and I even got a little exercise.

On Monday night my parents and I went to Sakura, one of three sushi places in Cranbrook.  Sakura is in between the Mt. Baker and Pages in the same place where Midorak used to be.  The service was good, the food was brought out quickly and it tasted okay.  It was quiet as first, but got busier and noisier as dinner went on. 

The other sushi places are in the Mt. Baker and Cranbrook Sushi is where the old Taco Time used to be.  The funny thing is that my dad said some guy from Neno's says Cranbrook Sushi has the best sushi he's ever had.  I was like, "Some grease monkey from the auto body shop says it's the best he's ever had?"  That's a ringing endorsement if I ever heard one.  Cranbrook also an East Indian restaurant called Taj Mahal inside what is left of the Cranbrook Mall.  My dad wants to go there next.

Me and Willie went to Liquidation World aka LW while I was back.  They actually had some cool music/band t-shirts, but not in any of the sizes I wanted.  They had 3rd Bass shirt I almost bought and for some reason there was a Girugamesh t-shirt in there.  Girugamesh are a Japanese visual kei band, so it was weird to see that in there with Kayne West shirts.

I bought a variety of Jolt goods including gum and some energy drinks.  I would've liked the gum to have like a berry flavor instead of mint and spearmint because that's too much mint!  Anyway, two pieces of Jolt gum is the equivalent of one cup of coffee.

I 'm sure you guys (Mike and Cam) have heard about the now infamous deer attacking a dog and cat in Cranbrook.  Somebody filmed it and put it on YouTube and it has over 1 million hits now.  It was on the CTV news here in Calgary.  It starts out funny with the cat climbing on a fawn and basically biting it on the head then the deer takes off and beats down some dog.  Then as the deer smells the cat, the cat takes a swipe at the deer, so the deer lays the smack down on the cat. On the news the mayor was saying he isn't against a deer cull and with this YouTube video bringing in unwanted attention it might happen.  All those rednecks got guns already, so just let 'em have at 'er.  I was reading in the Townsman before this even happened that Fish & Wildlife were meeting with city council to see what can be done about the urban deer.  I guess they'll be under added pressure to come up with some kind of solution to the problem.  BANG BANG??

That was my trip.  I'll probably head back to Cranbrook at the start of August hopefully.  I keep bugging my dad to buy a canoe for the lake and I said if he did I would come over.  I'll let Avery do all the paddling.