Chicago Photo Tribute #12: Random Reasons to Visit

April 24, 2015 By in Travel Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment
Chicago Loop!

The view from the Westin along the Chicago River, with a window-washer’s-eye view of the Loop.

Chicago beckons us once more. I’m up late tonight preparing for our geek-filled journey to the sixth annual Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo, or “C2E2” to those of us who have better things to do with our free time than indulge in extra syllables. I’m roughly 60% packed, have lots more printing to do, and torn as to whether or not to bother with back issues at all this year, and working under the assumption I won’t be able to sleep tonight even if I stop typing at the end of this sentence and go immediately to bed.

Hey, look at that. Still here.

Conventions are a great excuse for us to make the 3½-hour drive from Indianapolis to Chicago, but the Windy City offers a variety of reasons to drop in and hang out.

Right this way for more pics of Chicago whatevers!

Chicago Photo Tribute #11: Hail Hydrants!

April 23, 2015 By in Travel Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
Fire hydrant!

Psychedelic nature hydrant was one of the most eye-catching of the lot, and that’s what counts. That and the capacity for fire extinguishing.

It’s that time again! At least twice per year, Anne and I travel to Chicago to attend one of their fascinating Midwest comics/entertainment convention. This coming weekend, it’s C2E2’s turn, that gala of a con that’s as close as we may ever come to San Diego. In years past we’ve shared photos from our previous visits to the Windy City, where we like to explore the surroundings beyond the shows. With Chicago on our minds once more, and with a mile-long to-do list in front of me that’s maybe 10% complete…here’s another round of Chicago photo-sharing.

Dateline: September 28, 2013. That year we made a third excursion to Chicago without a con as our excuse, this time as part of a non-geek group tour. We’ve shared a few pics from that experience previously, including our primary objective of catching a showing at the Gene Siskel Film Center. Before that, we spent some time walking the grounds near Navy Pier, an area enlivened with sculptures and, for some reason, lots and lots of custom-painted fire hydrants.

These are a few of the hydrants we ran across that day, all of which Anne helpfully captured on camera. I think some of them are no longer there as of this writing, so maybe some of these pic are technically collectors’ items. Enjoy!

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Five Days, Five Big Trailers, Four Sequels and a Reboot

April 20, 2015 By in Movies/Films/Flicks Tags: , , , , , , , , 2 Comments
Star Wars: the Force Awakens!

When blockbuster trailers come, they come not as single spies, but in battalions!

It’s been busy, busy times these past five days in the world of watching previews for mega-budget movies that won’t be here for a while, speculating on same, prejudging them all and assigning our Tomatometer ratings in advance so our opinions won’t be skewed later by the movies themselves. If you haven’t see all five of the latest hopeful super-sized moneymakers, now’s your chance to catch up and revisit worlds we haven’t seen in a long time. There’s a world where dinosaurs are reborn and man is the least dangerous game; a world where “hero” is a word they keep using, but I do not think it means what they think it means; and that one rediscovered world with the lightsabers and the Force and whatnot.

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2014 Road Trip Photos #28: The Last Visions of St. Paul

April 20, 2015 By in Travel Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
Wabasha Street Caves: the entrance!

Welcome to the wonderful world of urban spelunking!

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

Each year from 2003 to 2013 my wife, my son, and your humble writer headed out on a long road trip to anywhere but here. Our 2014 road trip represented a milestone of sorts: our first vacation in over a decade without my son tagging along for the ride. At my wife’s prodding, I examined our vacation options and decided we ought to make this year a milestone in another way — our first sequel vacation. This year’s objective, then: a return to Wisconsin and Minnesota. In my mind, our 2006 road trip was a good start, but in some ways a surface-skimming of what each state has to offer. I wanted a do-over.

Day Six had taken us from the other twin cities of Fargo/Moorhead to a Minneapolis city park with its own 53-foot waterfall, and would end for the evening in Wisconsin. Before we left Minnesota’s Twin Cities for the year, we had one final appointment to keep on Thursday night for a tour that sounded interesting and offered limited windows of opportunity, but came with a catch that we weren’t aware of till after we arrived.

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Star Wars Celebration 2002 Memories: What We Did and Who We Met

April 17, 2015 By in Conventions & Events Tags: , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments
Weekend with Mori!

Anne and I look very different now than we did in 2002. I was thicker, and her glasses were larger. The gent in the middle was someone we knew online who’s probably forgotten us by now. But I bet he remembers the Celebration.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

This coming weekend is Star Wars Celebration Anaheim, where thousands upon thousands of lucky Star Wars fans will rendezvous to share their love and respect for the galaxy George Lucas built, meet other people who made it possible, and hopefully learn lots of news and spoilers about The Force Awakens. California is beyond our reach, but a few of our friends will be there and should provide us with lots of updates and photos or else.

I’ve been digging through our photos and writings from our experiences at the second and third Celebrations, which were each held here in Indianapolis in 2002 and 2005…

Our original write-up of our Celebration II experience clocked in at over 10,000 words, not including the Anthony Daniels prologue. You’ll pardon me if I don’t reprint it here, because the details are exhausting and minute and excessive and chronicled far too many minutes that weren’t worth chronicling. I think I can whittle that down to a good-parts version and add another batch of photos at the end.

Right this way for memories, actor photos, and links to the new trailer for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”!

Star Wars Celebration 2002 Memories: Cosplay ‘n’ Stuff

April 16, 2015 By in Conventions & Events Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
Diptrooper!

After their humiliating loss against the teddy bears from the space moon, many Stormtroopers were drummed out of Imperial service and forced to rely on the job skills they had before they signed on.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

This coming weekend is Star Wars Celebration Anaheim, where thousands upon thousands of lucky Star Wars fans will rendezvous to share their love and respect for the galaxy George Lucas built, meet other people who made it possible, and hopefully learn lots of news and spoilers about The Force Awakens. California is beyond our reach, but a few of our friends will be there and should provide us with lots of updates and photos or else.

I’ve been digging through our photos and writings from our experiences at the second and third Celebrations, which were each held here in Indianapolis in 2002 and 2005…

Some of our Celebration II pics have never been shared online before because (a) I hated my terrible old scanner; (b) posting large photo collections wasn’t fun in the days of 56K modems, when uploading took years and any webpage with more than a few pics could take forever to load if the files were large; and (c) back then I prided myself on entertaining friends with more text than pictures. That line of thought probably lost me a lot of readers — and maybe even friends, for all I know.

Tonight’s presentation: the first of two Celebration II photo galleries, this one featuring costumes and other fun objects from the experience. Enjoy!

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Star Wars Celebration 2002 Memories: A Night with C-3PO

April 15, 2015 By in Conventions & Events Tags: , , , , , , , 4 Comments

Anthony Daniels!

This coming weekend is Star Wars Celebration Anaheim, where thousands upon thousands of lucky Star Wars fans will rendezvous to share their love and respect for the galaxy George Lucas built, meet other people who made it possible, and hopefully learn lots of news and spoilers about The Force Awakens. California is beyond our reach, but a few of our friends will be there and should provide us with lots of updates and photos or else.

I’ve been digging through our photos and writings from our experiences at the second and third Celebrations, which were each held here in Indianapolis in 2002 and 2005. As my own tiny way of marking the occasion and unearthing unshared items from our personal archives, presented above is a previously unreleased photo of me with my best friend Anne, onstage at a special tie-in event held two days before Celebration II. You may be familiar with the thespian in the middle.

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2014 Road Trip Photos #27: The Lovely Minnehaha Shuddered

April 13, 2015 By in Travel Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Minnehaha Falls!

A few hours’ drive southeast from Fargo/Moorhead brought us right back to the Twin Cities, where we did lunch and had two more sights to see before exiting Minnesota for the year.

Through no conscious intent, many of our to-do list stops for our seven-day vacation comprised man-made structures, companies, businesses, and other unnatural things — memorials, sculptures, State Capitol domes, foodstuffs, and so on. Nature was present in the background, but in a state containing a reputed 10,000+ lakes, we weren’t veering out of our way for specific natural wonders nearly often enough by the average traveler’s standards.

That brings us to Day Six and Minnehaha Falls.

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Moving Away from Evergreen Terrace

April 12, 2015 By in TV/DVD Tags: , , , , , , , , , 5 Comments
Simpsons DVDs!

Guess which season saw the introduction of a new box design. And guess which set I hate most for ruining everything.

Obsessive completists who collect physical media and refuse to give up on The Simpsons received heartbreaking news this week when longtime producer Al Jean revealed Season 17 would be the final DVD/Blu-ray set produced. In numerous back-and-forth discussions with fans on Twitter, Jean cited poor sales in a world where streaming media has become the preferred viewing option for a lot of former disc buyers. It’s not hard to argue the diminishing aesthetic returns on later seasons may also have contributed to America’s growing consensus as to exactly how much of the show deserves to be archived in their own homes.

For anyone with the true collector mentality, this cancellation poses a special form of anguish: a no-frills Season 20 set was rush-released in 2010 as an anniversary merchandising tie-in. Anyone who’s bought them religiously since Season 1 will now have a eternal gap between 17 and 20 that can never be filled through legal means, to say nothing of the unreleased 21 through 60. Granted, you could pay to watch those online via Amazon, or indulge in the Simpsons World app if you care to watch the show on certain devices. You could store said device on the DVD shelf between 17 and 20, and argue till your face is Homer-pants-blue that it’s close enough. You’d be wrong.

For my wife and myself, it’s another stumbling block to our once-fervent Simpsons fandom.

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Echoes of Homeowners Past

April 10, 2015 By in Mundane Tags: , , , , , , , 2 Comments

Ethernet Jack!

If you’re unlike me, your idea of a fun afternoon is inviting your friends to come over with their laptops, their ethernet cables, and all their favorite games that were meant to run at DSL speeds. Everyone gathers around the ethernet wall hub like Scouts around a campfire, plugs in to the same jack, boots up Windows XP, pops in their CD-ROMs, and has themselves a grand old wired time.

I’m assuming that’s what the previous owners of this house did. Or maybe they taught Applied Computer Science classes from home to all the neighborhood latchkey kids. Or they weren’t sure which jack the phone company would endorse but they figured you can’t go wrong with “Bigger is Better” or “Holeyer is Holier”. Maybe they were anticipating the one magical day when Internet Science would let you could hook two ethernet cables to your PC and double your processing speed. If only that had ever been feasible, perhaps RealPlayer would’ve been watchable.

Right this way for another case of MCC home “improvement”!

Top 10 Surprises in the Upcoming “Teletubbies” Reboot

April 7, 2015 By in TV/DVD Tags: , , , , , , , 8 Comments
Teletubbies Time Warp!

Pictured left to right: William Shatner, Harry Shearer, June Foray, and Seth MacFarlane. Or not.

Sooner or later, every old intellectual property must be revitalized for a new generation that has no interest in it. Revivals are perpetually on the way in every medium –as of this minute, your slate of candidates includes Archie, Logan’s Run, and even gum-wrapper superstar Bazooka Joe. Why waste your time and imagination inventing new characters when you can just stamp your preferences onto someone else’s venerated labor of love?

Also on the way: the return of the Teletubbies! England’s other, other, other Fab Four were psychedelic freeform heroes to a generation of toddlers born at a weird time. Now that formerly captive audience will have the opportunity to recapture their childhood, reunite with their old mentors, and complain about all those years of characterization, continuity, and PBS crossovers that are being tossed out the window and now the seasons they’ve collected on VHS are null and void. Welcome to 21st-century entertainment, youngsters.

Right this way for…another list!

2014 Road Trip Photos #26: Voyage Like a Viking

April 7, 2015 By in Travel Tags: , , , , , , , , , 3 Comments

Hjemkomst!

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

Each year from 2003 to 2013 my wife, my son, and your humble writer headed out on a long road trip to anywhere but here. Our 2014 road trip represented a milestone of sorts: our first vacation in over a decade without my son tagging along for the ride. At my wife’s prodding, I examined our vacation options and decided we ought to make this year a milestone in another way — our first sequel vacation. This year’s objective, then: a return to Wisconsin and Minnesota. In my mind, our 2006 road trip was a good start, but in some ways a surface-skimming of what each state has to offer. I wanted a do-over.

We knew Day Six would be our last day in North Dakota and Minnesota for the foreseeable future. Based on our preconceptions, pop culture history, and the accents of people I used to know in the area, we figured we ought to visit at least one attraction with vaguely Scandinavian influence before heading back to the Midwest.

Behold: the majestic Hjemkomst!

Right this way for more Viking-style pics!

The Stage Set for Easter

April 5, 2015 By in Mundane Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

Hope on Stage, 2015

Pictured above: the main auditorium stage at our church home throughout the month of March.

It hasn’t been an easy, gracious month ’round these parts. Everywhere we turned, believers and non-believers alike were up in arms. Christians of all denominations, at all levels of faith, at various save points of their walkthroughs with Christ, have had plenty of questions, countless disagreements with others, even debates with each other. Anyone among us who never felt challenged or moved to sincere contemplation all month long wasn’t paying attention.

Easter Sunday is one of those too-rare moments when we collectively set aside our divisions, recognize why we do what we do, remember what our successes mean, realize what our failures don’t mean, and reaffirm why we ought to keep trying to do better.

We’re looking forward to service tomorrow morning. We welcome it. Right now, we need it.

* * * * *

“So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter. May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.” — 2 Thessalonians 2: 15-17 (NIV).

Easters with Wolves

April 4, 2015 By in Indiana, Travel Tags: , , , , , , , , 4 Comments

Easter Bunny Interview!

Dateline: the Saturday before Easter 2008. My family and I took a trip beyond the confines of Indianapolis into other parts of the state for a most unusual holiday event. Our Master of Ceremonies: the Easter Bunny! Everyone likes the Easter Bunny, right? Sure, the weather was ugly and conducive to death of cold, but that didn’t stop the Easter Bunny from his appointed rounds. Here he makes his grim march to the playing field.

Dead Bunny Walking!

The Bunny conscripted some little helpers into his service. Under his strict tutelage, his disciples milled about the land, planting and stashing his dyed Easter eggs here and there and everywhere.

Easter Bunny in Charge!

Once their task was complete, Lord Bunny and his li’l henchbunnies evacuated to a minimum safe distance…

…and out came the wolves.

...and Out Come the Wolves

Right this way for a look back at Indiana’s Wolf Park!

2014 Road Trip Photos #25: An Evening Stroll Through Downtown Fargo

April 3, 2015 By in Travel Tags: , , , , , , , , , 4 Comments
Fargo Billboard!

To me, this is cooler than any billboard in my hometown.

Day Five’s return trip from the nuclear missile command center back to Fargo was draining and featureless. Our evening plans took us to the complete opposite of that: Fargo’s cozy, artful downtown. Lots of brownstone buildings from times past redone at ground level with contemporary storefronts, hiding the occasional flourish here and there, all largely deserted on a Wednesday evening. The whole place was practically ours.

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Indiana Senate Bill 101.5 to Replace Governor Mike Pence with Grumpy Cat

April 1, 2015 By in Indiana Tags: , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Grumpy Cat!

If you’ve been following Indiana’s tumult in national headlines, which I covered to a limited extent in last night’s entry and satirized obliquely last week, then you’re aware that the signing of Indiana’s remix of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act has incentivized the American jester majority to demote every resident in the once-kind-of-okay state of Indiana to the status of infamous generalized punchline stereotype for the next six months. So that’s been pretty inhibitive to my mental state, especially when internet quote-unquote “friends” join in the pummeling. Because, y’know, it’s my personal fault that a Congressman became governor by carrying 49% of the vote in an election with something like 52% voter turnout, and I have no idea how many eligible Hoosiers aren’t registered to vote and would drive the per-capita percentage still downward. Doesn’t matter to the world, though: if one-fourth of us make a wish, so wish we all.

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Indianapolis v. Indiana

March 31, 2015 By in Indiana Tags: , , , , , , , , 6 Comments
Indianapolis Welcomes You!

…even if the rest of the state doesn’t.

For those just joining us: on March 26, 2015, Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed a variant of the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act intended for application at the state level, but the entire affair was conducted under, um, unique circumstances that have resulted in 90% of my Twitter feed turning into serious headlines and snarky generalizations alike that collectively amount to “INDIANA R STUPID HUUUUUUUUR!”

Pence fumbled his first attempt at damage control Sunday morning on live national TV, and even earned himself the attention of The Onion, which is never a sign of victory for your side. He and/or his speechwriters penned a second try that’s online now and scheduled for publication in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal.

Early prediction, based on the excerpts I’ve seen: it won’t help.

Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard and the Indianapolis City-County Council aren’t sitting still for this. As numerous local and national corporations of impressive size and power express their outrage and economic threats, tonight the Republican Ballard and the mostly Democrat Council gathered before a standing-room-only crowd and voted to semi-cordially ask Pence and the Indiana General Assembly to, in so many words, KNOCK IT OFF. Several Republican members were on board with this.

In a Council of 28 members the resolution required more than fourteen votes to pass. Even before the vote, it had sixteen co-sponsors.

So we’re effectively looking at a schism between the state and capital city governments.

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Seuss on the Loose on a Wall in the Mall

March 30, 2015 By in Indiana, Misc. Media Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

Giant Cat in Hat Hat!

On 1/31 as a day-long date of sorts
My wife and I drove out to catch the Oscar Shorts
To Castleton Square we rode, the only place to see ’em
But in that same mall, there was a faux museum
“The Art of Dr. Seuss” said that world-famous font
To the upscale shoppers on their weekend jaunt
In between showings, we stopped for some looks
And saw faces and names from my childhood books
Such colors and swirls made such a bright gallery
And all for sale at just beyond my salary
Pics were allowed, so here’s a few for our fans
Or visit their Facebook page and make your own plans!

* * * * *

Right this way to see a few more images! No pushing, no shoving, no messy scrimmages!

2014 Road Trip Photos #24: American Doomsday Machines

March 28, 2015 By in Travel Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
Bunker Entrance!

Down here in the bunker, during Armageddon you might not have needed 3 million SPF sunblock.

Conscious survivors of the 1980s remember the uneasy Cold War days, when tensions between America and the USSR were at their peak. Each side had their credos, their agendas, their grudges against each other, their spies, their cross-purposes, and their active, massive, scary nuclear arsenals in case the other side got any deplorable ideas. Movies like WarGames, Fail-Safe, The Day After, Dr. Strangelove, and 60% of all post-apocalyptic sagas mined our fears of mutual assured destruction for cautionary tales, humanist allegories, and disturbing visuals, all the more frightening to us youngsters because we couldn’t be sure that the adult politicians in charge wouldn’t do something stupid and trigger the end of the world.

Both countries still have their differences today, but relations aren’t at anywhere near the same state of hateful paranoia, so everyone’s cut back on their standby nuclear stockpiles. Out in the middle of the North Dakota flatlands, there’s one distant, decommissioned hideout codenamed Oscar-Zero where the U.S. military once stationed a handful of men 24/7 to oversee the controls and prepare to throw the world’s deadliest switches in case the American President declared Game Over.

Today you can bring in the whole family for a visit. There’s a guided tour and a gift shop.

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Mr. and Mrs. Kay’s Very Bad Indiana Shopping Trip

March 27, 2015 By in Indiana Tags: , , , , , , , 2 Comments
Pence RFRA signing, 3/26/2015

The actual Indiana Governor’s Office photo from today’s behind-closed-doors ceremony for Governor Mike Pence’s signing of the RFRA. No Photoshop or verified cosplayers were involved in the making of this picture.

[The scene: Kip and Kasi Kay travel from their hometown of Lewiston, Indiana, to do some shopping at a quaint stretch of stores up in the Big City. It’s the weekend after Governor Mike Pence signed Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act into law and dramatically improved the world and changed lives and ushered in a new era of human greatness and so on.]

KIP: Hello, beer man! We would like ten kegs of your finest brew.
KASI: We need it for tonight’s white-power rally.
LIQUOR STORE OWNER: What? Uh, no. You can go now.
KASI: But we have money and we brought our own truck.
LIQUOR STORE OWNER: Sorry, no. My church believes God created all humans as equals regardless of skin color. I can’t possibly.
KIP: We didn’t ask. Here, have money.
LIQUOR STORE OWNER: No can do. RFRA, folks.
KIP: What’s a roofra?
LIQUOR STORE OWNER: New law just took effect. Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Way I took it to mean, I don’t have to make any sale that offends me on religious grounds. Racists are one way.
KASI: You only sell to non-racists? Do you actually ask everyone? Is there a test they have to take before you’ll let customers go get drunk?
LIQUOR STORE OWNER: Who I sell to and when I sell it to ’em is my business. Good day, folks.
KIP: We’ll get you for this!
LIQUOR STORE OWNER: Wouldn’t advise it. I’m in the alcohol industry. I know some people you don’t wanna know.
[Kip and Kasi exit, confused and upset. Later that night, an angel leaves a quarter under Mike Pence’s pillow.]

Right this way for more of this very special MCC short play…