One Big General WTF? (WTF? Friday...3/18/2016)

This sums up my week.

First, I need to apologize for not posting my Monday Movie Roundup for this week. I started it, gathered my stats, organized my thoughts...somewhat...and set it aside to add images later. Things happened, work happened, and I realized Wednesday that I never got back to it.

So what happened? Well...you know that car we got? The 'Transforming the Transformer Plan B' car? I took it to work Monday, left it in the parking lot, and came out after closing to find a police officer's card sticking out of the door. Someone had backed into my parked car. 

The Good: the guilty party had in fact called the police and left info. The Bad: said officer went off-duty at 2 am, and wouldn't be back until today. So I spent the week getting an estimate (about $2,000) and surviving the week. 

All well and good...until yesterday. Aaand what happened yesterday?

Crapped...out...

W...T...F...?

Well...

...at least Season 2 is out.

Mrs. Adorkification and I have seen Episode 1, and it was AWESOME. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to talk to a cop about a car...

Transforming the Transformer - Part 3: Plan B

Let's recap...

My dream to purchase a Jeep Wrangler to 'transform' into a realistic version of Rollbar moved to the back burner when my existing vehicle requires about $1,100 in repairs. This, after just acquiring the vanity license plate ROLLBAR.

Right...

So "Plan B" became shopping for a vehicle to get us through the here-and-now, but also as the vehicle to eventually go to Adorkette. She's 16, and looking forward to Driver's Ed classes this summer. 

True, this does mean the three of us will be sharing two vehicles for the next few years, but it will give us time to build credit while working towards my "Plan A".

After researching car safety reports and value data, we decided on the Hyundai Elantra as the vehicle of choice. After wheeling and dealing, we ended up with a 2010 Elantra that has about 62,300 miles on it for under $10,000...and that's with taxes, fees and all that crap included. 

Sometimes, life gets in the way of our dreams. And that sucks. But dreams are awesome, and worth holding onto even when you gotta go to Plan B.

Transforming the Transformer - Part 2: WTF? Friday...3/4/2016

So, I get the vanity plates in the mail...

 ...and what happens next? LIKE THE VERY NEXT DAY??? 

The truck breaks down.

 W...T...F...?

What does this mean? Instead of taking our time to look for the vehicle we want, we have to get whatever vehicle we can...and give it the ROLLBAR plates.

This just sucks giant donkey dong.

Transforming the Transformer - Part 1: Securing the Name

For the first part of what I hope will be an ongoing saga as I acquire my very own transformer, 

I decided to talk about the first thing I've actually acquired: the license plates.

Hey - if you're gonna get a vehicle, and make it look like a Transformer (in vehicle mode), then the character's name should be the license plates. Right? 

So as I drove around to work and stuff I started thinking about that, and looked at the license plates around me. Most of them had only six letters or numbers, so I started playing with the name: RLLBAR? ROLLBR? ROLBAR? No one variation stood out, but they all said the same thing and I figured I'd just pick whatever was available when the time came.

Then I noticed that some plates had a seventh space. ROLLBAR could be had!

Then I went to the state DMV site to look at vanity plates and was surprised at the variety. Besides the Veteran, Handicapped and Breast Cancer Supporter plates, others are available that support such things as the local university, agriculture, the military and Native American Tribes. They even have plates for antique and street rod cars. 

And while most of those have a maximum of six spaces, some have as little as four.

I know! WTF?

But there were indeed a few versions offering a full seven spaces. I took a shot, and the bar started to roll.

When I told Mrs. Adorkification that I wanted to get them right away, she was understandably confused: "Why get vanity plates for a future red Jeep Wrangler, when it would just be put on a blue Chevy Silverado now?"

Which is a valid question. The answer...

...is time.

Not that I expect the price of vanity plates to go up anytime soon, and $27 a year is nothing. It's that vanity plates are "first-come, first-served". We can get by with the truck we have now until we find a good deal for what we're looking for, even if it takes a year or more. But I didn't want to spend all that time stressing about the possibility of not getting the plates I really want, and settling for a second (albeit workable) choice. Then she asked if I expected a big demand for "Transformer Plates" between now and then.

(sigh)

But she agreed that the cost wasn't an issue, and as long as they were going on my vehicle and not hers, I could get them now.

So - $27 and a confirmation email later, the plates have been approved.

Now I just have to wait six weeks for delivery...

Monday Movie Roundup...6/30/2014

Autobots...Transform!

Transformers: Age of Extinction was the top grossing film of the weekend, with $301 million worldwide.

After all the talk of the "quality" of Michael Bay's films, that's what I thought too.

The film took about $210 million to make, so it made a profit in just three days. Any film that manages to do that says something...even Bay's. But still, WTF?

I know there'll be discussion for a while on both sides of the argument - yes, the film is that good vs. no it is not - but money, as they say, talks.

But how does it compare with the other Transformers films?

Using unadjusted worldwide numbers, T: AoE is currently fourth out of five...if you include the animated Transformers: The Movie from 1986.

(You know, the one with Eric Idle providing one of the voices and Weird Al's "Dare to Be Stupid"?) Which I am.

That film made $5.8 million, and will forever (unfortunately) be in last place. Transformers (2007) is currently third, with $709.7 million. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is second ($836.3 million) and topping them all is Transformers: Dark of the Moon ($1.123 billion).

That's right...billion with a b...

...there you go.

I don't have anything really against this franchise, unlike Avatar - which I refuse to ever watch on principle - but I just can't get behind them. I saw Transformers, and I liked it (except for the parts where I couldn't make anything Tranfsorm-ery out - at all). So I gave T: RotF a try, but the writing was so bad I ended up...well...rotf in a combination of laughter and pain. I gave up after that. I know I'm not alone, but apparently people need films like this out there to make the Summer go away or something. 

But I will say: despite T: AoE needing over $400 million more to break the Top 3, I'm pretty sure it will.

Have a good week everyone!

WTF?

Epic

When I was a kid, that word was used to describe movies. Not your typical, run-of-the-mill films, I’m talking about movies such as Superman – The Motion Picture, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Die Hard. Films now called “Blockbusters”. (Which is odd to me: what makes a Blockbuster a Blockbuster? Whose block is being busted?)

Today, my daughter uses “Epic” to describe a successful event. Whether it’s a good grade on a test or finding matching socks.

Songs and books are also called "Epic", but I can get behind those since they can be considered creative works like the epic films of my day.

Then she tells me about the variation on that theme: the “Epic Fail”.

When a skateboarder falls on his face, or a nervous kid drops the ball during a game, or someone asking for a date is shot down, these are examples of the “Epic Fail”.

I hated getting laughed at when I fell on my face, dropped the ball, and got shot down. So I can only imagine how it would feel to have those things be called “Epic Fail’s”.

To me, the most recent things I firmly believe earned the right to be called “Epic” are the Lord of the Rings movies.

“Epic Fail’s” would be the Transformers trilogy, or the Star Wars Prequels (all of which, I believe, are “Blockbusters”).