• October 15, 2020 /  Bad Science Fiction, Uncategorized

    Frankenstein's face with bare teethAhh yes. The 1980s. When computers were new and the world was modern and clean. There was an optimism towards technology back then that does not exist today. When the beginning credits roll on this post modern Frankenstein saga, they bleep across the green screen in a high tech font like an old IBM dumb terminal accompanied by high tech synthesizer music worthy of an old Atari game console. Yes, this film is dated.  Probably a good reason why there has never been a DVD or Blu Ray edition, but you can find it copyright free on You Tube if you don’t want to hunt for a VHS copy on e-bay. For a true connoisseur of bad science fiction, past visions of a future that never came is all part of the fun.

    This post-modern horror story is filmed in Montreal by Director Jean-Claude Lord, but could have taken place in just about any squeaky clean suburb in the U.S. or Canada. Lord was a commercially successful Canadian director of both film and television and his next project after this one was the award winning sled dog adventure movie, Toby McTeague. Lord then spun that success into the opportunity to direct the Hollywood Sequel, Eddie and the Cruisers II. This is not Lord’s best work, but there is some interesting stuff here that begets his future success.

    The hero and monster of this story is Carl Lehman, a family man and scientist designing spacesuits for a defense contractor. Lehman ends up crossing his crooked boss, played by Richard Cox of Star Trek: The Next Generation, for the usual financial shenanigans. Cox then rigs an explosion that mutilates Lehman’s body, using what is left of him as a horrifying Frankenstein experiment. Wrap the remains in his own spacesuit, throw the whole mess into an incinerator and the fun begins.

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    Franken-Carl then has a night out on the town as he terrorizes the population, although the black remains of his spacesuit remain much less terrorizing without the help of light and reflection he does remain frightening as long as you don’t get to close. The monster also acquires superhuman strength and a very nasty temper, partially from implants provided from his boss’ monkey research. Carl’s eyes, the only part of his body exposed through the melted spacesuit, show his emotion of shock and terror at what he has become.

    After defeating the minions his former  employer sent after him, Carl is reunited with his pregnant wife one final time where he is able to explain to her that the monster he has become can no longer love her or be loved by her, or even be trusted by her. In the end, this modern Frankenstein does win the battle and creates a legacy his children can be proud of. Along the way we are treated to plenty of low budget effects and a synthesized soundtrack worthy of any 80s production. Frankenstein 2000, in some markets titled The Vindicator.

    vindicator usedCarl’s inner battle is not with his own demons, but with the demon his creator attempted to force him to be. In the end he must make the choice of not only destroying his creator, but destroying himself as well. An interesting twist on an old story.

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  • November 26, 2016 /  Cars

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    I saw this cool convertible today while shopping for groceries at Trader Joe’s. Not perfectly restored. Just an old mid-sized General Motors car from the mid-60s. It’s yellow paint is faded and it’s front bumper is twisted. This one is a survivor. Most of it’s brothers and sisters have gone on to the wrecking yard. Somebody is still driving and enjoying this one. It’s not a 442 or a rare muscle car version of the Cutlass, but the top goes down and when you hit the accelerator the high compression V8 still roars. No GPS. No satellite radio. No computer in the dashboard. Fake factory wire wheel covers. But here it sits next to all the suburban SUVs and high tech bubble cars. It’s just nice to know that some of these cars still exist. olds_2

  • October 26, 2015 /  Uncategorized

    IMG_0909End of the summer doggie splash days are popular where I live in Dallas as they are all over the country now. Large waterparks put on huge events with live music and multiple sponsors to entertain the dogs. Local swimming pools have fundraisers for local dog rescue groups and foster dogs are invited to join the fun. At the end of the summer in August and September there are many choices for dogs to cool off, go adventuring and find new friends.

    The Splash Factory in Grand Prairie, Texas is not the biggest waterpark in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. It’s not like one of the huge Hawaiian Falls franchises or the even bigger NRH2O Megawaterpark. But this little waterpark hidden in an older blue collar neighborhood near Downtown Grand Prairie has a style all it’s own. There are water guns spraying everywhere almost like giant sprinkler world. Large metal and concrete sculptures dump buckets of waters on running dogs as they pass. Spray cannons shoot out and water geysers shoot up at different times, sometimes at random. Everywhere you look water is dumping, splashing or spraying in one direction or another. Bright colors are pasted all over the ground on waterproof turf to add to the excitement. The splash factory was a water playground made for kids, but dogs are even more excited by the water shooting from guns and other strange objects throughout the park. I brought Cody and Cherokee out to the Splash Factory this year and they had a great time running around the spray. Local people showed up with their playful dogs for the event IMG_0878making this like a neighborhood picnic. It wasn’t as overwhelming as some of the bigger events so if your dog is a little shy, this might be the event for him.

    The Splash Factory is at 601 E. Grand Prairie Road, South of Jefferson and West of Beltline. For more information, their website is here:

    http://www.grandfungp.com/aquatics/splashfactory.htm

     

     

     

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  • September 2, 2015 /  Uncategorized

    Cute hamster pictures. Why? Why not!
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    This guy is looking for a way out.
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    So is this guy. Let me out of here!
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    This one just wants to guard his food dish.
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    Maybe I could launch myself out of this saucer thingie.

  • December 6, 2014 /  Cars

    There’s always something going on in Downtown Dallas. Especially during the holiday season. 005One of the most popular stops for downtown Christmas shopping is the display window at Neiman Marcus. Here’s a Quadski. A four wheeled ATV that at a flip of a switch pulls up it’s wheels and turns into a watercraft. James Bond has to have one of these stashed away somewhere. You can order his and hers versions out of the Neiman Marcus catalog.

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    In the next window they have slot cars. Not like the HO scale Aurora slot cars I used to have as a kid. Being Neiman Marcus, they have upscale slot cars. For $300,000 Neimans will re-create this 1/32nd scale slot car track at your house. They also promise to get Vic Elford and David Hobbs to host the grand opening party of your miniature road course. This is all from the glory days of road racing in the 60s and of course the setup has some cool cars.

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    Off in the corner sits a classic finback Mercedes Sedan from the early 60s. In the foreground a short wheelbase early Porsche 911 and a modified European Ford Escort. In the paddock sit a couple of Ferrari GTOs as a Mini Cooper flies by on the track. A real Mini, not the BMW made replica the sell at the dealer today.

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    Towards the back of the paddock sits a Mercedes 300SL, a Ford GT 40 and a race prepared MGB. I, myself, have owned two real MGBs in my lifetime and I want one of the slot car versions. The other end of the track shows elevation and vintage advertising banners. Just like a real road racing course from the good old days of racing. And that isn’t enough for us motorheads, Neimans also put an entire Christmas tree made entirely of car parts right down the street, complete with flashing taillights from many American cars of the 50s. Tis the season. Vrooom!

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  • October 6, 2014 /  Mice

    064There are mice in my house. My first clue was the holes in the dog food bag. Pick the thing up and pieces of kibble fall out on the bottom. Somebody is chewing small holes in the bottom of the dog food bag. Nubia is the first suspect. My sneaky little husky is coming into the living room for a midnight snack. But the holes in the bottom of the bag are too small and dainty to be the work of a 50 pound hyperactive dog. My second clue? The droppings left on the table where I leave the dog food bag. Too small to be husky droppings. Not even the border collie leaves droppings this small. To put it bluntly, these tiny droppings look like mouse s#@t. Yeah. This s#@t is coming from a mouse. A mouse has been eating the dog food. The expensive stuff that comes from Petsmart. Probably stuff that is more healthy for my dogs than the stuff in my refrigerator is for humans.

    So I sneak into the living room to catch the little sucker eating the High Tech Diet Lamb and Rice. I turn on the light and they all scatter, squeaking like crazy. Nubia and Rocky come flying into the room, their predatory drive on full throttle zeroing in on the the little squeakers as they head for cover. One…two….three….four…five of them, four looking like the tiny ones running on the wheel at the local Petsmart, and one looking more like a small rat. Not quite as big as the pet shop monsters, but bigger than his little brothers and sisters. They all head down the hall going for the hole inside the linen closet. Now Cody the Border Collie pops through the door barking and giving the lead mouse the eye like a wayward sheep. One way or another, this unruly pack of canines and rodents needs to be herded back into the living room. Cherokee and Snowball follow Cody out of the bedroom, wondering what all the ruckus is about. Now the mouse pack, being chased by two dogs into the path of three more dogs, is in a panic. Cody runs past the streaking mice to cut around the back of the two chasing huskies while Cherokee is at a dead stop in front of the mousie hole. Snowball runs back into the bedroom to grab Cody’s space on the bed while all five mice go under Cherokee and into the mouse hole and Nubia and Rocky go crashing into Cherokee and slamming him into the closet door. All three huskies land in the pile in time for the border collie to come back down the hallway looking to herd the wayward mice.  Much barking and arguing goes on as the mouse pack makes a clean escape with the dog food.

    The next day I find myself at the rat poison aisle at the local hardware store. My choices are poison, the traditional old Victor mousetraps and glue pads. The idea of having poison around my dogs is scary, as is the idea of having Rocky stick his nose into a Victor trap and ending up with cheese embedded in his nose. So I spring for the glue pads. That leads to another problem. What to do with the mouse on the glue pad. Somehow, the idea of throwing the poor little mouse, still living, in the garbage to die under a pile of kitchen waste and backyard dog droppings seems like a horrible end. Of course I could bring the big rubber mallet I bought at Harbor Freight for $5.99 in from the garage to play whack-a-mouse, but again, that seems fairly brutal for a guy who rescues dogs. Of course my rescued dogs would have no problem eating the mice, except for Snowball, who thinks that mouse tastes like poorly prepared chicken, and is holding out for the salmon treats. Mouse, squirrel, possum, the neighbor’s cat. It’s all meat for the huskies. Mouse on a glue pad is kind of like corn dog on a stick with a longer tail to them. Of course PETA is against using glue traps. According to their web site, mice are highly intelligent and very social creatures. Doing further research on the internet, I found out that pouring vegetable oil under the mouse will allow him to eventually pull himself off of the trap and to freedom. But of course you might want to get far enough away from your place to make sure that what happened to this poor guy doesn’t happen to you…

     So I basically take the little guy out to White Rock Lake and release him using the vegetable oil method into the woods. So he is free. Free to be caught by an owl or eaten by a hungry coyote, or a feral cat or just about any animal larger than a mouse. Yep. These little guys are the bottom of the food chain. Go onto You Tube and search “eating mouse”. Cat eating mouse. Snake eating mouse. Dog eating mouse. Rat eating mouse. Gerbil killing mouse. Damn. This little guy probably won’t last a day. It really sucks to be a mouse.

  • October 3, 2014 /  Uncategorized

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