Dead Robot - Latest Comments

Re: Expedition Everest

BearTalks — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 18:32:55 -0000

Hmm, cute :P

http://beartalks.blogspot.com/

Re: Disney Face Swapping

BearTalks — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 18:28:19 -0000

Wow, awesome!!! :)

http://beartalks.blogspot.com/

Re: Toronto ComiCon 2013

Cowtown Queen — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 10:04:32 -0000

Sooo cool!

Re: Toronto ComiCon 2013

Insomnia — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 19:24:37 -0000

You need to come to Calgary's comic con!!

Re: Toronto ComiCon 2013

Tedhealey — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 13:36:50 -0000

I'll hire you as my PR guy!

Re: Toronto ComiCon 2013

Tom Dart — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 12:08:16 -0000

Awesomesauce. Glad you had a good time. … Although… for next time… you may want to consider… that if you did pass out in your suit you would have had much better TV coverage.

Re: Toronto ComiCon 2013

Syl — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 11:08:13 -0000

How fun! Happy you had a great time!

Re: Clint Eastwood

Matt Brossard — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 16:25:08 -0000

Very cool

Re: I Just Turned Straight

Mark Ferrell — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 10:50:28 -0000

The chubby flash is going to keep me gay, for a bit longer

Re: Expedition Everest

Erik Rubright — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 18:33:55 -0000

I'm still always amazed at what Imagineers can pack into a small footprint.

Re: Diz Piks!

Syl — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 15:17:22 -0000

I like!

Re: Disney Face Swapping

Greg — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 19:09:43 -0000

Love the Sebastian swaps. Looks like a very "ehrmegerd!" moment.

Re: Disney Face Swapping

Erik Rubright — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 02:05:04 -0000

The Sebastian swaps are hysterical. Of course, I hear them saying "derp!".

Re: Disney Face Swapping

Mr. Erik Hexadecopus — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 01:47:27 -0000

Jasmine/Jafar is hilarious.
Belle-faced Gaston looks like Michael Jackson.

Re: Disney Face Swapping

Syl — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 16:18:23 -0000

this is just not right!

Re: Happy New Year!

Matt Brossard — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 00:38:51 -0000

Happy New Year!

Re: I Welcome My Snatchy Armed Overlords

Mr. Erik Hexadecopus — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 15:49:57 -0000

Perfect for leaving a bag of flaming dog poo outside a coworker's 14th floor window. If by flaming you mean exploding and by coworker you mean spy.

Re: Grippen Lake Camp

Sherry — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 14:17:07 -0000

WOW...blast from the past! I went there for 3 summers when I was 10. Loved it! I have tried to look it up on the net but yes...nothing.
Thanks for the memories.

Re: I Love A Parade

postbear — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 20:38:00 -0000

ms. payne needs more than just a lesson on inclusion. she also needs a lesson about history and how festivals change (and are changed by) history and public practice, as well as the political motivation to co-opt and transform different cultures.

i did find her column slightly surprising in that she does not complain about the lack of christian frippery, which is, overwhelmingly, the most common criticism levelled at santa claus parades (scp) by people who tend to identify as traditionalists. still, she makes the familiar, wistful and inevitably doomed plea to preserve a celebration that echoes times past, a notion not shouted in her column, but merely hinted at (surprisingly, as this is the second most familiar category of complaint). her overall distress seems to be that there seem to be few locals interested in taking the lead when it comes to making the parade more vital, interesting and, nebulously, "better". my usual response to this sort of complaint is to ask why that task is foisted on others and not the person asking for change, but i also realise she's fighting a bit of a losing battle if she wants creative people and financial backers to revitalise something as tedious as christmas.

the three main obstacles to improving the scp are i) the perception that scp is for young children (and families), a group that tends not to attract innovative artists, ii) winterlude draws the big crowds, tourists and is for people of all ages, iii) investors are unlikely to find much appeal in throwing money at an event that doesn't seem to offer much in return. any one of us could write up a long list of suggestions here, but i guarantee that tweaking any of the standard lists that exist to improve any festival or event would work here, keeping in mind some of the special qualities of ottawa, the season and target communities.

the gripe you focus on here, though, is one i find particularly entertaining. ms. payne's rejection of the stormtroopers is a bit obvious, but i can safely ignore the argument about what children's fantasy figure belongs where, and when. to me, the empire's soldiers clearly belong at scp simple because the whole festival of christmas is simply saturnalia rebranded to fit within the conventions of christianity. had early christians not so badly wanted to draw the huge population of pagans into the fold, they would not have adopted, without any significant changes, the annual orgy of events that sprawled across the roman empire and was more popular than anything christianity could have hoped for at the time (despite being, in origin and practice, antithetical to what christians claim is the bedrock of their beliefs). without the embracing of pagans, christianity might have faded away (o to dream) as just another failed cult. it seems utterly bizarre to rail against an imperial presence in this one 'christian' festival we fetishise more than any other.

further, while i understand that the garlic king just seems silly to the public, the romans would have approved, though i imagine a few tweaks would be appropriate. saturnalia made a feature of a lord, at some times a person who issued nonsense edicts, and at other times a person to fatten up and murder. the romans also used garlic medicinally, and the idea of celebrating it would have been fine by them. adding to the imperial soldier note, garlic was one of the chief ingredients in the meals of all parts of the roman military machine, so darth garlic is doubly appropriate.

finally, i find her personal anecdote at the end quite amusing. what could possibly be a more traditional and vital symbol of christmas than a journalist (and member of the editorial board of her paper) riding around in a rickshaw pulled by a man wearing a reindeer hat?

Re: I Love A Parade

dmcottrell — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 22:26:23 -0000

BTW Andy isn't in the Canadian Garrison. He's in the Capital City Garrison.

Re: I Love A Parade

Mr. Erik Hexadecopus — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 17:35:39 -0000

I like how at the end she calls on the "creative people." Those are the worst people to involve if you want yet another sanitized, cookie-cutter Christmas parade. Of course, I'd much rather see the artistic offbeat parade, Stormtroopers and all.

Re: Smrt Sixteen

Shorty — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 11:02:04 -0000

What's her name anyway?? Girl on the truck

Re: Innie, Outie, Skiddie

EvilPanda — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 02:19:10 -0000

http://www.amazon.com/Shirt...

Buy him these as a hint. I've been using them for years when I want to look dapper.

Re: Innie, Outie, Skiddie

Erik Rubright — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 01:50:11 -0000

And he gets to wear his undies more than once!

Re: Happy anniversary!

Mr. Erik Hexadecopus — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 16:58:09 -0000

Happy anniversary! Sounds like a nice haul and a fun time.