Revamp

I've been somewhat 'meh' towards "Trickster's Tales" for awhile now. Doesn't *really* describe me since I'm more of the straight man than the comic, and considering the atmosphere from which Paleface Coyote sprung, just a bit of an uncomfortable reminder now and again. So now Vox ex Turbatio (look it up :-P). Considered Vox ex Vacuus but didn't think I really wanted to be saying that about myself. Changed the address too which might be slightly annoying but hopefully not much.

Reminiscing Part 2 (of many)

So, I've come to the conclusion that four cartoon intros/reminisces are too many to fit in one blog post. It's too unwieldy, and there's more to say than what I did say. So I'm gonna try doing one at a time, see how that works. 'Course, that might take me awhile, but oh well. Gives me something to strive for, and (relatively) new content every now and then.

Captain Planet: Originally broadcast September 1990 to May 1996

Oh yes, I went there. The ultimate in enviro-hippie cartoons, Captain Planet was about five kids with magic rings who, when needed, could summon "Earth's greatest hero." No, not Superman, but Captain Planet. Each of the kids came from a different part of the globe (Africa, North America, USSR, Asia, South America), giving the show a pretty balanced cast for an early-90s cartoon - the American, of course, was from New York City. The Soviet girl, later had her origin changed to "Eastern Europe" after the USSR collapsed - something of which I had only the very vaguest of notions. More interestingly, each ring gave command/power over one of the classical elements (Earth, Fire, Wind, Water) - with the fifth being labeled "Heart" - which always seemed to me kinda vagueish and undefined, wishy-washy, but also potentially the most powerful. Sure, the Earth guy can shape the very ground you stand on, the Fire guy can blast you with flaming destruction, the Wind girl can create a tornado, and the Water girl can potentially do all sorts of nasty things. But "Heart," from what I can recall, was some sort of empathic/mental connection type thing... usually used to make villains feel bad, or get some local critters to help, or be a general moral conscious type thing. On the other hand... it could also be used to, oh, inflame mobs, influence public opinion, even if only subtly... maybe even mind control. How fortunate that the kid with the "Heart" ring was also the most innocent/pure, morally upright... etc., etc. And of course the different elements fit with each kid's personality... steady and reliable African dude, hotheaded American, piercing/logical Russian, flexible/adaptable Asian-of-unspecified-origin (though likely Chinese I'd guess).

Other good things... oh yeah, I really wanted their solar-powered plane. And I never could figure out which ring I'd have wanted. There was a particular episode I vaguely remember that dealt with drug addiction which I found a little bit frightening.... granted, I was a little kid, but I seem to remember one of the Planeteers actually becoming an addict. After all, one of the show's messages was keeping yourself pollution-free as well. Also, I was annoyed by the PSA's at the end of each show... I'd've preferred more time for actual show and plot, and they were boringly repetitive.

Anyway though... can you imagine what people would be saying if this show debuted today? "Bleeding-heart liberals and their godless heathen tv shows..." Seriously... kids recruited by "the Spirit of the Earth" and fighting to save the planet from caricatures of all the classic environmentalist bugaboos? But you know what? I watched it, and if I'd had kids then, I'd want them to be watching something like this too. Great escapist stuff and with an important core message that Smokey the Bear would be proud of.

Oh... and Linka (the Russian girl) was probably one of my earlier TV crushes as a little eight year old. Yeah, she was a cartoon... and?

Bonus material: The end credits, and the theme song that probably is Cap's most lasting contribution to pop culture.

Reminiscing... ahh, childhood

Ever get nostalgic about your childhood? I do, especially recently about the TV shows I watched when I was a kid. This is helped in large part of course by the magical creations of Youtube and Wikipedia, which have allowed me to relive, in some small measure, a bit of those good old shows. I've been able to find the old show intros... and in more than one case, entire episodes! And now I feel like sharing. Of course, there's a lot of shows out there, and I don't feel like inundating... so I'm gonna do a few at a time. These are in no particular order, nor with any particular theme. Now, let's see if I can figure out this whole "embedding" thing...

1. Chip N' Dale Rescue Rangers - First Run March 1989 to November 1990

This old Disney cartoon is one of my earliest and fondest memories of TV cartoons. I would have been four and five when the show first aired, and probably remember it more from reruns on the Disney Afternoon after-school block. This 'toon featured a detective/rescue agency headed up by the two chipmunk title characters who went around doing good deeds for other animals and solving cases that "go slipping through the cracks." The show also starred Gadget, a brilliant girl mouse inventor, a strong-arming Australian mouse named Monterey Jack (as in the cheese, natch), and Zipper the fly - who didn't speak intelligibly but tended to be the funniest (to me, as a four, five, six, seven year old). As with most Disney cartoons, lots of humor and slapstick, but I also remember a lot of teamwork and friendship messages, especially about being gentle with one another's foibles and perseverance.

2. Batman: The Animated Series - First Run September '92 to September '95

This cartoon redefined, to a large extent, what American cartoons could be and introduced an entire generation of young people to the Batman character. Dark and moody with a penchant for serious drama and little slapstick, I could probably rewatch this cartoon as a 20-something and still really like it. I would've been 7, almost 8, when Batman came on the air, and 10 when it ended, and that sounds about right, though I no doubt caught it in re-runs as well. The art deco and rather timeless look to Gotham (relatively high tech, but police in zeppelins for example) really appealed to me, since Batman was very clearly in the "real world" but still separate and comic-booky enough. Aside from Batman (and Robin, Batgirl, Alfred) however, the villains of Batman were particularly well-done, especially the Joker and Mr. Freeze. This particular cartoon spawned a series of 'toons roughly linked, with the last show not ending until 2006.

3/4. Where in the World/Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego - September '91 to October '96 and February '94 to January '99, respectively

If the Oregon Trail was the definitive early computer game(s) for kids my age, Carmen Sandiego comes in a very close second, if not surpassing it. The games basically were educational, originally about Geography (Where in the World...), in which the player would try and catch the greatest thief in the world, Carmen Sandiego. There was an early '90s gameshow which I followed faithfully, and one of the highlights was Rockapella's song that played at the end of the show (apologies for the video, which is just clips strung together to the song). A few years later, there was a Saturday morning dramatic cartoon with the same basic premise and starring sibling detectives trying to catch Carmen. To this day, I think of Carmen Sandiego as the greatest fictional thief ever and basically uncatchable. And my love of history and geography was at least partly stoked by these shows (and games).

4. Gargoyles - First run October '94 to February '97

(apologies for the annoying ad)

The success of the Batman cartoon led to Disney considering making their own cartoon with a more mature bent to take advantage of the pre-teen/teen demographic, and this show worked perfectly for me. I liked it for many of the reasons I liked Batman - excellent writing, complex plots, darker themes (all keeping in mind I watched this show first-run and in re-runs until I was maybe 16), and I loved the voice cast. Where Batman was comic-books and detective stuff, Gargoyles was medieval history and mythology, and this is another series I could probably watch again and really like.


So that's round 1. Long post, but maybe this rekindled some memories, or interested in some new ones.

Epic Walk Part 2

Alright, so it occurs to me that I'm not particularly happy with the way the first installment of this tale turned out. So changing the style somewhat, returning it to first person. Names remain changed for the protection of the indeterminately-sinful. ;-)

So here we are, six guys and a blonde haired girl - Tiger, Coyote, Lone Wolf, Ferret, Gopher, Toad, and Dove - gone for a walk at midnight down Turnpike Road out of E-Town. Now, that particular combination becomes important later when the cops get involved, but we weren't thinking like that at the time, of course.


So we'd decided to head out Turnpike Road instead of going past the Masonic Village (Old Folks Home) and turning 'round. Gopher and Toad are mildly iffy about this since they only really came along cause nothing else was going on... the whole "epic walk till morning" thing they're not sure about. Ferret, as is his wont, is all about going wherever, whenever for exploration's sake (hence his climbing Mt. LeConte with me), and Tiger the same. Wolf and Dove are mostly just hanging out and the adventure appeals to them too.

Anyway, so Tiger's disappeared, run off into the woods. At some point, he rejoined us, coming up fairly quietly from behind. Somebody - not sure if it was Dove, Gopher, or Toad - near jumped out of their skin when he showed up next to them and just jumped into the conversation. Especially as we were discussing how this could turn into a horror movie and deciding what order we'd all die in. We decided Ferret would be first, since he was the funniest of us. Dove would be last, being as she's the only girl and you always have to have a girl survive. Couldn't decide whether Wolf would hang on till next-to-last, preserving the couple longer, or earlier in some sort of foolishly-noble self-sacrifice. Either one would work.

It was sometime around this point when somebody piped up that we'd seen an awful lot of red candles in windows (by an awful lot, I mean maybe 3 - we're out of town now and into the Lancaster County non-Amish sticks), which clearly meant we'd somehow stumbled into the Lancaster Co. red-light district... we kept an eye out for awhile for any plain-dress girls with their socks rolled down.

One of the more disconcerting (not the most, no) moments happened when somebody - Toad or Gopher, maybe? - looked over on the side of somebody's house and yelled "Holy S&^T!" Well, we were all wondering what he'd seen, and when he pointed it out we were all a little shaken too - even after we figured out what it really was. Turns out somebody's yard light, illuminating some decoration or other, also had the unfortunate effect of catching a little knotted pull-string in its beam. Which was magnified full sized onto the side of the house looking like a big old noose. Yeesh.

A little further on, we notice some deer statues in somebody's yard. Well, most of us know they're statues. Tiger and Dove aren't so sure and wonder if maybe they're real deer just standing *really* still. Yes, it was kinda rediculous even if it was very dark. Though in their defense, the two of them are from way downtown Philly... I'm not sure they knew what deer looked like outside of the Franklin Institute or textbooks. Oh wait... I was supposed to be defending them. ;-)

Tiger really wants to run up to the deer statues just to make absolutely sure, but we convince him it's a bad idea... we don't wanna be on the wrong end of a shotgun, after all. Instead, I go along with his suggestion that we take a side road up into a woodsy area for awhile, see what it's like or if there's anything interesting up there. The others more or less refuse... it's pretty dark and creepy looking, and Ferret would rather press on because he wants pictures of Three Mile Island, which he's convinced we'll be able to see at some point. So Tiger and I go up the side road by ourselves, we'll catch up with the others in a bit.

Well, it was definitely dark and creepy, and not just a little bit foggy as well. It went on for a while, as roads tend to do, and we followed it to the top of the first rise. There was a Caterpillar of some sort sitting just off the road at some sort of worksite, but that wasn't what caught our attention. Well, I'm not sure what caught our attention, but one of us saw something move in the trees out the corner of our eye, and the other heard something rustle. Already a bit spooked, and not wanting to tarry too long and get real behind the others, we turn around and head back, jogging at a brisk (for me, not him) pace.

Now, as I'm sure has become clear, Tiger's a real mischievous, prankster kinda guy. So we're heading back down Turnpike Road and he says to me, "Ted, what if one of us showed back up without the other and convinced them - Dove would be easiest and funniest - that we thought the other had already caught up? Make them think the other one of us had disappeared somewhere." Well, I thought it would be a fun idea, so we conferred for a bit. Decided I'm not nearly as good at keeping a straight face in something like this, and though they might suspect Tiger more than they would me of pulling the prank, he'd be better at it. So I sat down on the side of the road - not far at this point from the stables where I'd taken a half a class in riding - and waited for about 20 minutes before I started walking again.

Dove called me twice (I think, or was it thrice?), trying to figure out what had happened to me. The first two times I answered... "Where are you, Ted?" (or something to that effect) she asked, in a fairly-concerned voice. I responded with a kind of unintelligible groaning and some heavy breathing before hanging up. After the first two times, I just refused the call.

To Be Continued...
Next Time: Peeing on a church, random creepy yokel, Three Mile Island, and the Pepsi Machine Mirage.

Coyote Goes to Meet the Sun

Coyote and Tiger were playing chess one night when they decided to go on an Epic Walk. Well, I say Coyote decided, but it was mostly Tiger and Coyote was up for it. They decided to leave at the witching hour and walk in one direction until they met Sun. So then they went to round other people up from the dorm. Ferret was willing, but he always likes long wanderings at any hour, so that wasn't surprising. Gopher and Toad both said they'd come along, but Rabbit said he was feeling tired and wanted to sleep. "Call me when you need picked up, you won't make it as far as Sun" he told them. All the rest in the dorm weren't interested and most thought Coyote and Tiger were crazy.

Tiger wanted Lone Wolf to come along too, but knew he would be a hard sell. So Coyote suggested convincing Dove first - she liked random stuff like that, and if they could get her on board, she had a good shot of convincing Wolf. After all, she's not your typical Dove, too playful and mischievous for that, just like Lone Wolf is too anti-social to fit with any one pack long-term. Funny how couples work that way. So they went down to the Nest of the Great Jay, where Dove and Wolf were working until the witching hour anyway. Ferret, Gopher, and Toad wandered off to snag some snacks while Coyote and Tiger talked to Dove. "Come with us," they said, "we're going to walk until we meet Sun. We'll fun, and Wolf doesn't hang out with us enough anyway. We'll leave after you get off work."

Well, it took a little, but not too much, cajoling by Dove, but Lone Wolf agreed to come along with the crew. He hates Gopher and Toad, though he tolerates Toad for use as a target of abuse. The rest he liked, and Dove quite a bit of course. So the crew came back right before close and hung around while Wolf closed the store up and Dove helped him finish up. They needed to go back and change, which Ferret and Tiger grumbled about, but understood. So with all that taken care of, the seven friends set off.

Dove and Ferret started singing Les Miserables as they walked down the streets of the Virgin Queen City, and Coyote joined in. Then they all switched to The Lumberjack Song, which Tiger and Gopher led while the others chimed in. Well, I say led, but it was more tried to remember as best they could. Lone Wolf didn't sing, but was definitely amused by all this, and Toad followed along as best he could.

They hadn't picked a direction for sure yet, but had decided to walk out of Town on High Street. As they walked by Peace Alley, Wolf and Tiger staged a fight while Ferret took a picture. Then Dove climbed on some statue. This sort of thing would, of course, continue all night. The seven walked on, past the train station, and came to a fork. Decision time. To the left, a fairly well-lit street leading up to (and eventually past) the Old Folks home. To the right, a darker fork, heading out through some light woods into the Red Rose countryside, eventually perhaps to the River. A council. Toad and Gopher were fairly unconcerned about which fork - Gopher was getting cold, but with some needling convinced himself to stay. Ferret, Tiger, and Coyote were all about the right fork, but Dove quailed - theatrically, being a Theatre bird as she was. Wolf was convinced to go right, and Dove went along - insisting that none of the guys sneak off into the woods to jump out, as Tiger had been suggesting.

So right they went, Tiger leading the way. Then he ran off into the darkness, leaving the others behind.

Superpowers!

Right then, so it's been a little bit since I posted anything, eh? Bet you lot were thinking Coyote had gone to ground, nothing worth talking about anymore, and you'd finally be rid of him, didn't you?

Sorry, it won't be that easy. :-P

So, one of the things I've been talking about with people semi-lately is the idea of superpowers, and what would yours be if you could choose them? Unlike my previous post, which tested you, this is a time for you to be creative yourself. Think about it... if you could have any two superpowers (that is to say, the ability to do something not normally able to be done by humans), what would they be? It can be something out of comics, something you saw on Heroes, or just something you've always wished you could do.

Why superpowers? Well, other than for just goofing off/shooting the breeze, picking a superhuman ability probably says something about your personality. Say you want to be able to be invisible... clearly you want to be able to hide. Is this because you're afraid of conflict and would rather just turn invisible than face it? I'm not much of a psychologist, or at least not at this hour, but I think you get the idea.

Oh yeah, and that picture to your right? Green Lantern + Optimus Prime is simply... fantastic.

Anyway. So my two superpowers would be flight/flying, which I think is a pretty standard wish-fulfillment power and a desire for freedom, and phasing through solid material, a la Kitty Pryde (X-Men) or D.L. Hawkins (Heroes). This is one I think of a lot working at the Roadhouse... how convenient it would be to just phase through people, or objects, but especially people, when I need to get from one place to another, especially on an extremely busy Saturday night. Of course, I've also been told there's more to it than that... the ability to walk through walls without destroying them would be a very useful metaphor for pastoral care, so long as its not abused and you don't walk into the person's (mental, spiritual) home uninvited and/or cause havoc once you get there.

Ok, that's all for now. Fairly short, to the point. It's really not all about me.

Daemon-ology (no, not Demonology)

So, I love typologies and trying to figure out how they work, what they mean, etc. Myers-Briggs, Enneagram, various online personality tests, it's all great stuff in my opinion. Maybe it's because I like the idea of being able to point at something and say "ahh, see, that's what I'm *really* like," which of course prevents me from having to do the actual hard work myself. Now whether that's because of laziness or because I fear having to defend myself and would like some sort of "authority" to fall back on, that's perhaps a more difficult question.

Of course, that's a rather negative take on why typologies and the like fascinate me. Hmm...

Another thing I really like, and which is mostly related, is the idea of an outwardly visible representation of the self in animal form. Historically (that is to say, in the history of my white English Christian cultural context), one of the more familiar examples of this was the, well, familiar. Ok, so maybe the familiar isn't the best example I'd like to hold up.

In more modern literature/pop culture, J.K. Rowling and Phillip Pullman probably have the best example of what I'm talking about in their respective Patronus Charms and Daemons. The Patronus is probably the single thing I most wish was real from Harry Potter, a protector you can summon, made of hope and willpower, that takes a form specific to you and your personality. It may or may not be reflective of you specifically (the forms of Harry Potter and Professor Snape's patroni, as example, are not reflective of themselves so much as another extremely important person/protection in their life). I would love to be able to cast the Patronus; if nothing else, the curiosity of how it would appear fascinates me.

And whatever problems I may have with Phillip Pullman's worldview and some of his stances, I adore the concept of the daemons, a physical reflection of a person's own soul. And so, while surfin on the Interwebs last night, Coyote stumbled across this "discover your daemon" test at the Golden Compass Movie website. Fantastic! So, I took the test, and the site determined that my daemon is a fox named Trina. Here, looksee



So, intrepid reader, shall you also take this fun little online test and let the moviefolks tell you what your daemon would be if that world were real? Now of course, I know that as with all online personality type-tests, this one no doubt has problems, weaknesses, and it has a rather limited selection of animals that can be your daemon. For example, of the 30 possible choices, 20 are mammalian (a very common human bias), and none are reptiles (snake, croc, turtle?) or amphibians (frog, toad, salamander?). I am surprised, and rather impressed, that any arthropods were included at all. Still, despite these weaknesses, I did like the quiz. Maybe I'll include some others in the future.

Ta for now!

PLAYOFFS!!!

Guess what time it is... that's right, NFL Playoffs time!!! And the Titans are finally back in for the first time since 2003, woo-hoo!

Ok, backing up. Coyote *loves* football, especially NFL Football, and most especially the Tennessee Titans. It makes sense of course, being his home-state team and also probably the most epic/literary (no, not the same thing of course) of the NFL teams - and also playing on Nashville's status as the "Athens of the South." Anyway, seeing the Titans return to the playoffs again since being evicted by the accursed Patriots (boo... hiss....) makes Coyote very happy. We'll see how long that lasts.

Oh yes, one more sidenote. The kitty this time is clearly not related to the topic of conversation here, but it makes me happy in a very nerdy way. A cookie for those who know the reference.

So, playoffs. Titans have a very rough row to hoe if we intend to reach the Superbowl, and we have a good shot at losing this first game. I mean it's playoffs, so that's to be expected, but drawing the Chargers first was not what I would have preferred. We played the Chargers just a few weeks ago, and aside from giving up a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter, it was also an extremely physical, you might even say brutal, football game. Both these teams love to play physical, smashmouth football, and it showed a few weeks ago. Raw talent, the Chargers may well have the advantage on offense (ok, almost certainly on offense) - especially since Vince Young's not gonna be 100%. I pray that if he's even 80% Vince gets the start, for everybody's morale and also to get Vince extremely valuable playoff experience. Kerry Collins, despite all the complaining I do when he comes on the field, is a very solid, reliable backup, and if need be put him in if Vince isn't getting it done or aggravates the quad, but start Vince please.

Now defense, I'd say Titans have the edge. Everybody knows about the Titans D-Line, with Vanden Bosch and Haynesworth ruining Phillip Rivers (Chargers QB) day last time, but lets talk linebackers, specifically Keith Bulluck (Titans) vs. Shawne Merriman (Chargers). I've never liked Merriman, not at all, and was not surprised last year when he got suspended for juicing. Ever since then, from what I hear, he's not been the same player, but he still talks the trash. Oh, and he whines. Seriously, saying Jeff Fisher ordered a "hit" on him the last time Titans/Chargers played? Shut the he$% up you whiny baby - you got blocked hard, fair and square, and to make out Fisher as some sort of mafioso is even worse - aside from being the longest-tenured coach in the league, find me a guy that's more classy and respectable in the head coaching position.

Oh, one more thing - Special Teams, specifically kicking. Rob Bironas set (or was it just tied) an NFL record for most field goals in one game. That may be an indictment of the Tennessee offense in one respect, but it's so very nice to have such a reliable kicker, and I wouldn't be surprised to see the game come down to that.

Other thoughts on this week's playoff games.

- Too bad for the Redskins that their season had to end yesterday, but they made it a lot further than I expected them too - playing their hearts out for a murdered teammate only got them so far, but good job to build for the future. Good on the Seahawks, not getting flustered when they began to self-destruct and pulling back together. And oh yeah, a shoutout for the only Seahawks rushing TD and first of the game by Fullback Leonard Weaver, a Carson-Newman College grad! (Why yes, that is my parents' alma mater and my hometown college). Now can the 'Hawks get it done at Lambeau Field? "We want the ball, and we're going to score" indeed!

- Wow, crazy game up in Pittsburgh! It looked like the Jags were gonna run away with things, then the Stillers (err... Steelers) had a huge comeback to take the lead. Couldn't quite close the deal and great job by Jaguars QB David Garrard there at the end, but man what a finish! Sorry to all you Bethany Steeler-fans, but I was rooting Jags. :-)

- Other game tonight, Giants-Bucs, go Gints! Eli Manning doesn't get the respect he deserves, and has had way too much pressure on him since Day 1 - comes with being Peyton's little brother, but it's still not fair. Remember, Big Brother didn't win a playoff until the fourth try - this is number 3 for Little Brother. Winner gets to (hopefully) go to Bid D and knock the Hated Cowboys out of the playoffs.

Enjoy the postseason, and here's hoping for aTitan Superbowl!