Saturday 29 September 2012

The Avengers Melted My Brain

I can remember when I didn’t care about the Avengers as a superhero group.  I’d always liked the X-Men and back in 2000 when that film came out, it was a pretty big deal in The Social Circle, but I’d never even heard of the Avengers.  Well, not this Avengers anyway.  Steed and Emma Peel, yes.  Iron Man and co, no.

Before 2008 I had never heard of Iron Man.  I knew the Incredible Hulk because I’d seen the TV show when I was a child and it had scared the hell out of me and I got him mixed up with the Jolly Green Giant and consequently was terrified of tinned sweetcorn. 


I knew Thor as a Norse God and was (and am) continually baffled as to how he was therefore also a Marvel superhero.  And I think I had heard of Captain America, but both words are so generic, I can’t be sure.

At some point I saw Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man 2 on DVD because The Housemate made me.  I did not see Thor or Captain America because The Housemate didn’t make me.  I only went to see Avengers Assemble at the cinema because I hadn’t seen The Housemate for a while and he was going.

I liked Tony Stark, Pepper Potts and Agent Coulson, so I was vaguely looking forward to seeing them again.  But I didn’t give a hoot about anyone or anything else.

But two things happened that changed The Outlook.  One was the film was better than I was expecting (because I expected the film to be interminably unbearable) so I actually enjoyed myself.  The other was something that took about forty minutes to really sink in…


But once it did…  as you may have noticed from a couple of The Previous Posts…



I got a bit… distracted…


And suddenly, I was really interested in the Avengers, as if I had always cared.  I became the kind of idiot who would watch a bunch of sequel-prequels just to make sense of a team-up film.  And look forward to it, too.

When I discovered Avengers Assemble was being released on DVD just after The Birthday, it seemed the perfectly obvious opportunity to have an Avengers-a-thon.

That’s 12 hours.  Not including all the extra time that would mount up when getting food, going to the toilet, trying to work feeling back into numb legs or rewinding to find out what the hell so-and-so just said.

I got Avengers Assemble for The Birthday, The Housemate borrowed Captain America from his sister and I rented Thor.


And as time grew nearer, I grew more excited.



Which means I should probably blog about it.  Which means I have to scrape what is left of my melted brain after 14 hours TV-vegetating back into some kind of shape and work out if I have any thoughts left.  I mostly remember explosions.


And while I do that…

I was browsing through old T-shirt designs on Qwertee.com, also known as the site that only has designs I like for sale on the days when I don’t look at it, and I came across this:


Which I thought was kinda funny even before I found out what it was referencing.

It was referencing this:


(if that link isn't working, just type "loki'd vimeo" into google and it should be the first result)

Friday 28 September 2012

Birthday 2012

I was woken on The Birthday by a strange and very loud noise, that I quickly realised was the opening strains to The Final Countdown.  At which point The Housemate burst into The Bedroom dressed as Gob Bluth à la Arrested Development and proceeded to perform a terrible magic show, involving throwing pennies at me, a stupid card trick (sorry, illusion) and the materialisation of a birthday card and birthday present.

It was the best start to a birthday.  Ever.  (So far.)

Otherwise it was a quiet birthday.  But a good birthday.

The Mother took me clothes shopping, which I no longer consider a punishment.



The one thing I really really need is a new jumper.

Birthday Clothes

We didn’t get a jumper.

The Father invited me to dinner at his house among much panic of what on Earth they could serve for dinner now I’ve gone vegetarian-plus (also known as vegan) even though every time I have been to The Father’s house in the last five years I have been given a baked potato with salad.

And The Housemate ‘organised’ a picnic

(where we saw this lovely bin)

with surprise guests

and he made V food
Birthday Brownies
Birthday Sausage Rolls
and V birthday cake
 

It’s a shovel, not a fish, by the way.

Because The Shovel has always been my weapon of choice.



I got this many cards:



And loads of presents:


Birthday Books (although technically All Points North is a nine month belated Christmas present)
Birthday Films

Birthday TV Programmes (although Spin City is region 1 and so doesn't work)
Birthday Music
OTHER (a key ring of Andrew Lancel, tickets to see Dara O Briain and some birthday money)
birthday money which I didn’t use to buy these


although I wanted to.

And that pretty much sums up my birthday.





Except for the 12 hour Avengers-a-thon…

Tuesday 11 September 2012

Me Through The Ages: Birthday Birthday Birthday Wow!

As you may be able to guess, it is my birthday today.  I am twenty-mumblehurrumph years old.

With the aid of TIME TRAVEL, I am able to chart how I have changed in the last ten or twenty years or so.

Having variously filled out questionnaires at the ages of 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16 and 17 (apparently I was too busy when I was 15) I shall now answer the same questions as a twenty-something.

1. What do you like doing? 


2. What don’t you like doing?

3. What are your hobbies? 


4. What is your favourite sport?


5. Where was your favourite holiday?


6. What do you think makes a good friend? 


7. What makes you a good friend?


8. What is your favourite pop group?


9. Who’s your favourite singer?


10. What is your favourite song?


11. Who’s your favourite author?


12. What is your favourite book?


13. Who’s your favourite actor?


14. What’s your favourite film?


15. What is your favourite TV programme?


16. What TV programme do you hate most?


17. What’s your favourite Internet site?


18. What is your favourite animal?


19. What animal would you like as a pet?


20. What animal do you feel you’re most like?


21. What is your favourite drink?


22. What is your favourite food?


23. What’s your favourite kind of meat?


24. What’s your favourite vegetable?


25. What’s your favourite fruit?


26. What’s your favourite pudding?


27. What’s your favourite name?


28. What is your favourite colour?


29. What is your least favourite colour?


30. What is your favourite number?


31. What is your least favourite number?


32. What’s your favourite day?


33. What’s your least favourite day?


34. What’s your favourite month?


35. What’s your least favourite month?


36. What’s your favourite time of day?


37. What’s your least favourite time of day?


38. Would it matter if you dyed your hair?


39. Would it matter if you moved alone to a country where you didn’t speak the language?


40. Would it matter if you gained a lot of weight?


41. Would it matter if you became paralysed?


42. Would it matter if you won a million pounds?

So there you go.