i-r-o-n-y

Navasota, Texas
But seriously, despite being a runner and somewhat of a health nut, I like the food at McDonald's as much as the next, average schmo. But we'd probably be better off if they all looked like this one in Nacogdoches:

What Raheem got to prove?

Last week on the Imus in the Morning program, Imus let this kid (who is a camper at The Imus Cattle Ranch for Kids with Cancer) do a little rapping. I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry at this:
Rap has certainly engulfed the planet, hasn't it? I love this picture, you probably saw a few weeks back when boingboing had a link to this great set of Engrish signs at flickr:

Rumour spreadin' a-'round in that Texas town

From the Main Street La Grange (yes, as in the "Texas has a whorehouse in it" fame) City Cam

Rockstar Games presents Bully

I'm always afraid I'll alienate people who visit this blog for things like my Sinatra posts with posts such as this one, or risk the possibility of turning off my pop-culture girlfriend. But this is just another side effect of being Exquisitely Bored in Nacogdoches. So please be patient with my nerdlingerliness®. At least you've learned a new word.

For a guy my age, I am perhaps a little bit too into the Grand Theft Auto games. Yet, I truly love them, what with their beautiful graphics, mind-blowingly huge environments, cheeky, albeit crude, humor, and brilliant musical selelctions for the in-game radio stations, and all. But, I've only felt this way about the Resident Evil and Tomb Raider games, so I'm not a complete video game playing freak. I should add the Legend of Zelda games, and possibly Final Fantasy 7 and 9 to that list, as well. But those are it. Oh, I forgot the LEGO® Star Wars™™ games. But that is definitely all besides the Grand Theft Auto series....Silent Hill, Metal Gear Solid, Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Syphon Filter.....Such is the cotton candyesque life of a childless adult.

Rockstar Games (the maker of the GTA games) has a new one coming out called Bully. Here's the spiel from Rockstar:

The Rockstar tradition of groundbreaking, original gameplay and humorous tongue-in-cheek storytelling invades an entirely new setting: the schoolyard.

As a mischievous schoolboy, you’ll stand up to bullies, get picked on by teachers, play pranks, win or lose the girl, and ultimately learn to navigate the obstacles of the worst school around, Bullworth Academy - a corrupt and crumbling prep school with an uptight facade.

The story follows Jimmy Hopkins, a teenager who’s been expelled from every school he’s ever attended. Left to fend for himself after his mother abandons him at Bullworth to go on her fifth honeymoon, Jimmy has a whole year at Bullworth ahead of him, working his way up the social ladder of this demented institution of supposed learning, standing up for what he thinks is right and taking on the liars, cheats and snobs who are the most popular members of the student body and faculty. If Jimmy can survive the school year and outsmart his rivals, he could rule the school.

Ready yourself for a hilarious return to campus living with Bully, the outrageously funny debut title from Rockstar Vancouver, available exclusively for PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system in North America on October 17, 2006.

It sounds like they've applied the GTA formula to a boarding school environment, and that sounds promising. While I've been disatisfied (as in one rental, no purchase) with previous, non-GTA titles from Rockstar (The Warriors, Red Dead Revolver, and MANHUNT), I may actually have to get this one.

Here are two preview trailers:

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

The StarWars portfolio
In preparation for the September 12 DVD release, starwars.com has some interesting highlights of the year 1977, and a compilation of vintage radio ads used to promote the release of Star Wars.

Shaw's update

Shaw's Department Store, in downtown Nacogdoches, has been a favorite photography subject of mine. It opened in 1952, and it just recently closed. Here are some current pics (just because):



These were taken by placing the camera over the top corner of some paper that had previously been lining the inside of the door so as to prevent the very thing I did. I won't be denied.

By this past weekend, the paper on the doors was completely gone, allowing the mannequins (just recently moved there) more or less their previous view of Main Street.

"The City on the Edge of Forever" part 2 of 2

Edith Keeler agrees to forgive Spock's theft of tools from the 21st Street Mission on the condition that Kirk walks her home, during which time she has more questions as to who they (Kirk and Spock) are.

A pair of star-cross'd lovers
Before Kirk returns from being with Edith Keeler, Spock's newly constructed mnemonic memory circuit reveals some disturbing and conflicting information.


They discover that Keeler is the link, either dying in a traffic accident or meeting with the U.S. President. But they are unable to determine which event is the one caused by McCoy's presence or the nature of Keeler's fate.

Spock: Edith Keeler is the focal point in time we've been looking for. The point in time both we and Dr. McCoy have been drawn to.

Meanwhile, Dr. McCoy (the random element) has arrived.
Still in the grips of the cordrazine, McCoy is in full "murderers! assassins!" mode.

The breakdown of Spock's mnemonic memory circuit allows Kirk and Keeler more time together. Keeler once again reveals how uncannily ideal of a savior she is for Kirk and Spock as she tells Kirk of her certainty man will make it to the Moon. And predicting her possible fate as the founder of the peace movement, she expresses her desire that "one day they'll take all the money that they spend on war" and spend it on peace.
Edith Keeler: You see the same things that I do. We speak the same language.
Kirk: The very same.

After his arrival, McCoy accosts a man on the street and then falls down unconscious. The man then accidentally vaporizes himself using McCoy's phaser.

Oh how I wanted that phaser!

Some young boy's dreams come true.
Drawn to it by the smell of freshly brewed, morning coffee, Bones finds and is given shelter at Edith's mission.

While Keeler is focusing on nursing McCoy back to health, Spock has repaired the mnemonic memory circuit.After hours of careful work using primitive vacuum tube circuits, Spock discovers that McCoy, if not stopped, will prevent Keeler's death. Keeler will then found a peace movement which will delay U.S. entry into World War II and allow Germany time to develop the atom bomb and conquer the world.
Kirk: Spock...I believe...I am in love with Edith Keeler.
Spock: Jim, Edith Keeler must die.

McCoy recovers from his cordrazine trip, and tells Edith he is chief medical officer on the U.S.S. Enterprise. At first he does not believe he is in 1930 America, but soon realizes that indeed he is.

McCoy: It looks like old Earth, around 1929.
Edith Keeler: Would you care to try for '30?
Edith Keeler: I have a friend who talks about Earth the same way that you do. Would you like to meet him?
McCoy: I'm a surgeon, not a psychiatrist.

Later, Spock inadvertently observes Kirk and Keeler returning home from a date. He watches as Keeler nearly falls down the stairs and breaks her neck, if not for Kirk's stopping her fall. While they think she may die in a traffic accident of some kind, Spock reminds Kirk that they aren't that sure of anything.
Spock: Save her, do as your heart tells you to do, and millions will die who did not die before.

Before she steps out for another hot date with Kirk, Keeler checks in on McCoy, who she finds to be much better.
Edith Keeler: I have to go. My young man is taking me to a Clark Gable movie.
McCoy: A who movie?

By the way, while doing research for this post, I discovered that the only Clark Gable movies to have been made up to 1930 had him cast in largely uncredited, extra or bit roles. I guess Harlan Ellison could have used IMDb.

On his way to see a Clark Gable movie with Edith, Kirk learns from Edith that Dr. McCoy is in town and then immediately sees Bones across the street.
Edith Keeler: If we hurry, maybe we can catch the Clark Gable movie at the Orpheum.
Kirk: What?
Edith Keeler: You know, Dr. McCoy said the same thing!
Kirk: McCoy!

Despite his love for Edith Keeler, Kirk holds Bones back to prevent him from saving Keeler as she crosses the street in front of a truck.



McCoy: You deliberately stopped me, Jim. I could have saved her. Do you know what you just did!?
Spock: He knows, Dr. He knows.



The past is returned to what it had been before, and Kirk, Spock, and McCoy return to the planet of the Guardian where their landing party has been waiting, but for only a few seconds of real time.
On a side note, I bought this ornament in a Hallmark store in La Grange, Texas, two Christmas seasons ago. When you press a button on it, there's a line of Guardian dialogue and the center of the Guardian flashes with blue light. It's a real testament to Star Trek (and this episode) that something like that would be made some forty years later!

Uhura: Captain, the Enterprise is up there. They're asking if we want to beam up.

Communications with the Enterprise are restored, and when The Guardian asks if anyone else desires to make a journey in time (Ha!), Kirk responds: "Let's get the hell out of here."


The Guardian: Time has resumed it's shape. All is as it was before...But, of course, that's not true. Not all is as it was before.
Read more about it at the Wikipedia entry for "The City on the Edge of Forever".