West Week Ever – 9/20/13

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So, last Saturday, Lindsay and I did the Color in Motion 5K. It was the first 5K for both of us, and it went pretty well. Like other color runs, there are stations set up along the route where volunteers NAIL you with a corn starch colored powder. For a good chunk of the race, I was blind in my left eye from where the red volunteer just went crazy on the left side of my face. Seeing as how a 5K is roughly 3 miles, I can say that I ran the first mile without stopping. Then, I realized I’d lost Lindsay, so I looked for her and we walked the rest of the way. Once done, I gave myself a baby wipes bath in the parking lot, and then headed up to Retro Con.

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Retro Con, held outside of Philly, is a celebration of all things from the 80s and 90s. The vendors had everything from Transformers to Nintendo games. But I wasn’t there for the vendors. No, I was there for a mega Twitter meetup, as I’d finally get to meet a lot of my online friends for the first time. And it did not disappoint. Over the course of the day, I met @claymationhowl, @JohnDoctorKent, @FakeEyes22, @meistershake, @bmorin54, @doubledumbass, @P0LISHPHEN0M, @howardthedeck, @chapmanrunner, @monsterfink, and I reconnected with @lamarrevenger. Using the UnderScoopFire table as home base, we took turns taking tours of the place to see what we could find. Mostly we just found overpriced collectibles. I’d taken some Will’s World of Wonder stock to sell, but there weren’t many takers. In fact, it seemed like other dealers were doing most of the buying from each other. I had a rather tacky experience where I sold a Batman figure to a guy for $15. Later on, I found out he had a vendor table, and as I walked up, he tapped the figure, saying “Thanks for the hookup, man.” That’s when I noticed he had a $30 price tag on it. Needless to say, he ended up taking it home unsold. There were also retro cars like K.I.T.T., the General Lee, and the Back to the Future Delorean, but I ended up only seeing the DeLorean (I’d forgotten about the others until they had already left). Wanna see some pics?

I think I was this kid's first black experience. Even after I finished taking the pic, he continued to blast me until his mom made him stop.
I think I was this kid’s first black experience. Even after I finished taking the pic, he continued to blast me until his mom made him stop.

 

Flash Gordon and blerds!
Flash Gordon and blerds!

 

"I pity the fool who thinks I'm Chris Kirkpatrick!"
“I pity the fool who thinks I’m Chris Kirkpatrick from *NSYNC!”
Fighting evil by moonlight...
Fighting evil by moonlight…

 

It's my first Joe
It’s my first Joe!

 

Yeah, I collect Toy Fair catalogs, but there was no way I was paying $75 for this.
Yeah, I collect Toy Fair catalogs, but there was no way I was paying $75 for this.
This has become my most popular Instagram pic.
This has become my most popular Instagram pic.

 

In other news…

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Since all the cool kids were talking about it, I decided to go out and seek some of those limited edition monster cereals that are hitting Target. Since Count Chockula and Boo Berry are kinda pedestrian, I went for the deeper cuts of Yummy Mummy and Frute Brute. I’d never had them growing up, as I wasn’t allowed to have much sugary cereal. So, what did I think? As an adult fan of sugary cereals, I was disappointed. Yummy Mummy is described as “orange cream flavored”, but it misses something. You see, I expected it to be infused with a citrusy twang, but it’s really just “orange” in scent and surface. At the end of the day, it’s just another sweetened corn cereal, but it doesn’t really do as much for its fruit side as Froot Loops or Crunchberries do. I killed the box yesterday morning and proceeded to open the Frute Brute – which is the same exact cereal, only orange-cream is traded for cherry. According to my taste buds, Yummy Mummy won the matchup.

arsenio

Arsenio Watch, Week 2: I quit. I’m not the biggest fan of myself, but I love myself enough to not endure that torture anymore.

I tend to wake up late in the mornings, so I watch a lot of daytime TV, like Jerry Springer and Judge Mathis. Since those shows are geared towards the unemployed, all the commercials are either for payday loans or unaccredited for-profit colleges being pimped by Lil Romeo. One, however, caught my eye recently. It’s for Kaplan University’s School of Nursing, and it stars a cute girl who’s updating her social media profile on her first day of nursing. All her friends and family are getting the message and congratulating her as she goes about her day. Then they show one of the “patients”:

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WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?! KILL IT WITH FIRE!!! You probably can’t tell because this picture was taken with a tube TV, but this guy looks like one of those soulless CG characters from The Polar Express. Uncanny Valley!!!! Someone had to have complained because I haven’t seen this commercial in a week. I found it on YouTube, and that scene is mysteriously missing:

Who can help me solve this mystery?!

Links I Loved

Magneto Was Right – The Nerds of Color

Rubber-Suit Monsters Fade. Tiny Tokyos Relax. – The New York Times

The History of the Trapper Keeper – Mental Floss

That ep of the No Topic Required Podcast that I mentioned last week has been posted, and you can listen to it here.

I’m not even gonna play the usual games. Considering all the friends I got to meet, it’s no contest that Retro Con had the West Week Ever. Make sure you follow them all on Twitter!

Me and Howie Decker
Me and Howie
Me and Corey
Me and Corey
Me and Tank
Me and Tank

 

Howie, Tank, Brian, and Dean
Howie, Tank, Brian, and Dean

 

See you guys next year, if not sooner!

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6 thoughts on “West Week Ever – 9/20/13

  1. Don’t know the context of the weird doll thing, but it’s probably a weird doll thing that they give to nurses in school to practice doing things like putting a respirator on and stuff. Y’know, like CPR compression torsos that are full-bodied so you can do all the other things nurses do too.

    We had one set up in a surgery table on display in the hospital at Arizona. A little creepy…

  2. That CPR doll is wicked creepy. I love how the guy on Twitter claimed the overpriced ToyFair pic. HAH! It is a small world, as you said.

    Have you heard the clip of Howard Stern baggin’ on RetroCon people? I told Corey to listen to the Mel B interview and in the process he found the RetroCon coverage, funny stuff: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfUT_MSacWY

    I guess this is as good a time as any to announce my pregnancy- as you can see in that last group pic, I’m about 5 months along now. Good god I need a treadmill and some looser t-shirts.

    Good times! Hope to see everyone again next year!

  3. Ugh. Man, I hate that I missed all that Twitter loving. When I’m done with school I hope Retrocon is still going and you guys go. Seems like the place to meet up.

  4. @Jenn – That creepy doll thing is still giving me nightmares!

    @Howie – those poor guys got eviscerated by Stern. I felt really bad for them. And you don’t look pregnant. I wish I looked like you!

    @Vincent – you should really try to make it next year, as I think you’d enjoy it.

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