Monday, July 8, 2013

They Say It's My Birthday!

Cake ladies and gentlemen, cake. It is a good day. :D

63 comments:

tryanmax said...

Happy, happy!

AndrewPrice said...

Thanks. :)

Anonymous said...

Andrew, I wish you a happy and patriotic birthday!

And since I didn't originally comment on a certain movie thread, I offer you these segments of an old 1998 Monstervision showing of "Big Trouble in Little China" as a birthday present.

Warning: Not for the easily offended. Okay, you've been warned.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

(The letter reading at the start of Part 2 is a scream. It's amazing what TNT's bosses let this guy get away with on their channel back the '90's.)

-Rustbelt

Commander Max said...

Happy B-day Andrew.

BevfromNYC said...

Not you too??? Okay, one more time and that's it for July. I'm Happy birthday'ed out... {{{clears throat...places on big smile}}}

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANDREW!!! YEY!! AND MANY MORE!!!

Anthony said...

Happy Birthday!

tryanmax said...

So, I'm curious, exactly how evil are these talks about creating a free-trade zone between the US and EU? Is this a Bilderberger thing? Or just George Soros as usual?

TJ said...

Hope you have a great day, Andrew!

AndrewPrice said...

Thanks Everybody!

TJ... where there is cake, there is a good day. :)

AndrewPrice said...

tryanmax, I suppose that depends on who you talk to. Free trade is great for everyone involved. But you know, it's also black helicopter stuff for the right crowd. Of course, they like that, so I would say it's a win-win. :)

In truth though, I doubt that will happen because it will be a slaughter for European workers.

AndrewPrice said...

fyi, I was at Costco yesterday and you would not believe what they are selling. Apparently, there is a trend now of suburbanites raising a couple chickens -- we even have one in the hood. Costco has responded by selling small chicken coups. What a world!

K said...

Rustbelt - Monstervision. Nice.

BevfromNYC said...

Andrew - Yes, growing your own veggies and raising chickens (for eggs only) is all the rage these days. Even my brother and his family are thinking about getting a few chicken though they don't official live in "suburbia" though. When asked "That gonna be really loud 'cause don't you need a rooster to get the hens to lay eggs?"...well, my brother, the doctor, (in an exasperated tone that only a brother can have) schooled us in basic biology and pointed out that women do not need a man around to create eggs and it is the same with chickens.

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, I wonder if these people know that chickens are truly dirty creatures? Our neighbor has one they let free range (though it has a house) and I can't imagine the mess it's leaving all over their yard.

I had no idea you could get eggs from a chicken without a little chicken nookie first. Perhaps the egg did come first then?

AndrewPrice said...

Rustbelt and K, I enjoyed the clips, but I never watched Monstervision.

K said...

Free trade is great for everyone involved.

Especially if you're a lawyer or a clerk. If you're in manufacturing, not so much.

While on the subject, I saw "Dispicable Me2" yesterday. Cost: 76 million. Compare to "Monsters U". Cost over 200 million. They're going to make comparable money, but DM2 was mainly animated in France and MU at Pixar in the US. I expect there's going to be a lot of "right wing" US animators quite soon.

AndrewPrice said...

K, There will always be some job disruption, because free trade brings shifts of production to lower cost regions. But that's not a bad thing. All consumers benefit from lower prices. Economies benefit from re-allocation of resources. Producers who no longer face tariffs benefits as well. And most studies have shown that the jobs created are generally better than those lost.

Also, despite what people keep wanting to believe, US manufacturing is a live and well. Depending on how you calculate it, we are first in the world or right behind China, and it grows every year.

Also, opposition to free trade has been a left wing thing since forever. The populist right is now mimicking the old socialist left on this.

BevfromNYC said...

Andrew - Not only are they dirty, but what do you do when you want to leave town? I am not sure there are vets who board chickens...

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, Good question. You can't take them with you and you can't leave them alone.

Maybe they have chicken sitters now?

BevfromNYC said...

I see a new emerging field - Urban/Suburban Farm-sitters...I think I will start a network like Angie's List for qualified chicken-sitters! Anyone interested?

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, LOL! Now that is capitalism at work! :)

AndrewPrice said...

Has anybody seen "hat-gate"? Colin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers was caught wearing a Miami Dolphins hat and wouldn't apologize. This has upset the internet sports-troll community greatly.

Personally, I find this ridiculous.

Anthony said...

K,

Rather than start opposing free trade or something, Pixar needs to start making better movies :).

I haven't seen Despicable Me 2 yet, but I saw MU on day 1 with my kids and while it was visually amazing, the plot was phoned it and quite a few of the jokes went over the heads of kids (elementary school kids aren't familiar with the college movie tropes that MU riffed off of).

Anthony said...

I didn't know the suburbs getting into farming was a trend. My daughters and I have a small garden of vegetables and fruit which we grow for kicks, but we let the rabbits and the huge groundhog (the area above his tunnels look like an earthquake zone) in our backyard eat them.

Our neighbors two houses down do sell eggs and rabbits for money. Just so we're clear, they are selling the rabbits as pets, not food, though I don't think they are doing welfare checks or anything after a sale.

AndrewPrice said...

Anthony, Apparently, raising chickens has become a trend. I've seen a couple articles on it. And now I've seen Costco selling suburban chicken coups.

You have a ground hog? Neat.

As an aside, in the past, I've grown watermelons (worked well), tomatoes (worked really well), various failed veggies, an apple tree (failed) and orange trees from seeds (started as a desk farm because I was bored with my job... worked well until they got frozen when moving jobs).

tryanmax said...

I have a brown thumb. And not from sitting on it.

If I had two chickens, I would have two really nice Sunday dinners. (One, possibly on a Saturday.)

AndrewPrice said...

Clearly, Bev will want to screen you out of her Farm Sitter's List. LOL!

BevfromNYC said...

I've grown various kinds of basil (worked very well) in my tabletop Aerogarden. Tomatoes (not so well) and I can grow nothing but impatiens in my window boxes...no light. Though I do have plenty of mice that I have come to consider pets. I don't even have to feed or water them 'cause they just help themselves. They came with the apartment and I didn't even have to pay extra!

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, My mother grows basil.

Ug, mice. If they didn't poop on everything, I wouldn't care so much. But those little jerks poop on everything and they destroy cabinets and wiring.

Anonymous said...

Happy birthday!

(Now go buy yourself some containers.) :-)

AndrewPrice said...

LOL! ScottDS, company advocate at large. :)

Critch said...

1. Happy Birthday
2. Chickens not only provide eggs, meat and fertilizer, but they keep ticks and chiggers in check in your yard.

AndrewPrice said...

Thanks Critch!

We've actually never had a tick problem here (we did in Florida and Virginia, but not here). In fact, I thought we might not even have them in Colorado, but apparently we do. The internet tells me they can transmit Colorado tick fever, tularemia and
Rocky Mountain spotted fever. None of that sounds like fun.

BevfromNYC said...

Critch - Interesting about the ticks and chiggers! However I doubt your average suburban chicken owner will be using their chickens for "meat". I just can't see the ASCO chasing it around the yard with a hatchet to chop off their little heads. But then again, maybe I am just projecting.

AndrewPrice said...

Wow. Now we have an acronym: Average Suburban Chicken Owner (ASCO)!! All we need now is a slick brochure and we can get financing from some crazed venture capitalist!

In any event, yeah, I can't see most people killing their chickens.

Rustbelt said...

Andrew, K, glad you guys enjoyed the clips!

Andrew, Monstervision, simply put, is a cult classic along the lines of MST3K. Not a show per se. Just scary movie airings on Saturday nights on TNT during the 90's. Joe Bob Briggs hosted the show from 1995 until its demise in 2000. Of all the things I miss from the days when cable networks aimed for niche audiences, the hosted show is definitely one of them. (Of course, it depends on the host.)
Maybe the movie postings here could use some Drive-In Totals...

-On chicken farms, uh, I'll pass. I have two parents who grew up in small towns surrounded by farms. Whenever chickens are brought up, all they talk about is how bad chicken droppings stink. I'm not one to challenge that ruling.

tryanmax said...

Rustbelt, one more way in which auxiliary broadcast stations are doing what cable TV used to do: the Me-TV network, which runs nationally on various auxiliary frequencies, carries the hosted horror program Svengoolie, previously only seen on local channels in the rustbelt.

BevfromNYC said...

ASCO-Aid Commercial
[insert logo here]
[Voice-over]
You love the eggs, but hate the mess. Do you have chickens, but just need a break? Do you want to take the kids to DisneyWorld, but can't because your chickens might starve or worse?

[add clip of fox sneaking into a henhouse]

[Cut to harried housewife:] I WANT to leave town, but who will take of my chickens? Oh, woe is me...

Well now there's ASCO-Aid, the best in chicken-sitting services. We will feed, walk, and even keep the foxes at bay while you enjoy a fun and worry-free holiday! Call us a 1-800-ASCOAID

[insert disclaimer here]

T-Rav said...

Fun fact: I went to a nearby lake for the Fourth and came back with about thirty chigger bites. (No, really; I counted.) I took two baths in twelve hours, used Epsom salts, anti-histamine cream and medication used to treat poison ivy, and they're still itching. Such is life.

Anyway, Happy Birthday Andrew! Enjoy lots of cake and lots of presents, in that order. (Or not--your choice.)

AndrewPrice said...

Rustbelt, I love the new avatar! :D

That's what I've heard about chickens too. I would prefer to avoid them... unless we could make serious money chicken sitting. ;P

I like the idea of the host a good deal, back when they did it. I still recall enjoying watching Elvira and later Gilbert Gottfried (Up All Night), who were often better than the movies they showed.

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, Nice ad! I think it would work. ASCO... LOL!

AndrewPrice said...

T-Rav, Sounds like a good reason to avoid lakes. Actually, I've never even heard of a chigger until Critch mentioned them.

Thanks on the b-day. The cake is well underway to being eaten. :)

tryanmax said...

T-Rav, calamine lotion.

Wikipedia said...

Trombiculidae are a family of mites. In their larval stage, those species which bite their host and cause "intense irritation" or "a wheal, usually with severe itching and dermatitis," are called chiggers.

AndrewPrice said...

Wow, who knew the Wikipedia delivered? LOL!

BevfromNYC said...

T-Rav - Next time you go to the lake, take some chickens with you. As we have learned today, chickens eat chiggers and ticks! Just a thought.

Hey maybe we can add Rent-A-Chicken kiosks at lakes around the country! Another bright idea brought to you by ASCO-Aid!

Rustbelt said...

Thanks, Andrew! (The Big G and I have known each other for quite some time.)

That's true about the hosts. I guess that's why I miss them. They helped turn a potentially horrible experience into a happy, laughable experience. (MOVIE SIGN!) I think the downfall started when TNT briefly turned over hosting duties to Charles Barkley. (uncomfortable silence) The less said, the better.

tryanmax, I wasn't aware that Me-TV did that. I thought it was just a replacement for either the WB or UPN after they merged into the CW. And you say it started in the country's rust belt? For some strange reason, I find that intriguing!

Rustbelt said...

Countdown to Catastrophe

JULY 8, 1914 (99 years ago today…)

The previous day’s consensus agreement suddenly runs into multiple problems. Hungarian Prime Minister Tisza pulls an about-face, going back to his original position- calling for the demands on Serbia to be harsh, but not unreasonable. He writes to Emperor Franz Joseph, saying that “it must be demonstrated before the eyes of all the world that we stand on a basis of legitimate self-defense.” He adds that the lack of diplomatic formalities before declaring war will not only mean war with Serbia, Russia, and Romania- but with Italy as well. He reasons that “Serbia should be given the opportunity to avoid war by means of a severe diplomatic defeat.”
This comes after increasing pressure from the Germans for Austria to act quickly. In Vienna, German Ambassador Tschirschky reinforces this view. In Berlin, Austrian Ambassador Szogyeny is told by Undersecretary Zimmermann and Foreign Minister Jagow that German officials are getting impatient for Austria’s decision. Berchtold tells them nothing.
Meanwhile, two other problems are looming. Seven of Austria-Hungary’s sixteen army corps are on “harvest leave.” This allows troops from rural areas to tend to their farms, or the massive estates on which they live. (In this historian’s opinion, this policy seems more fit for ancient Greece than 20th Century Austria-Hungary.) The men are due to trickle back between July 19th and July 25th.
Also complicating things is an impending official French visit in St. Petersburg. France and Russia- a fanatical republic and a backward autocracy- have been allied since the 1890’s because of their mutual fear of rising powerhouse Germany. French President Raymond Poincare and Premiere Rene Viviani are scheduled to meet with Czar Nicholas II and other top Russian officials from July 20th through July 23rd.
If mobilization were to begin anytime soon, (and thus it was noticed by outside observers that “harvest leave” had been cancelled), other Great Powers would know something was up. And if the demands are sent during the Franco-Russian meeting, the enemies of Austria and Germany would be together and thus able to coordinate their response.
Berchtold meets with Conrad that night. Conrad insists the ultimatum be delivered with a 24-to-48-hour time limit, giving Serbia no time to mobilize. To his annoyance, he agrees that, because of the circumstances, the demands cannot be delivered until later in the month.
Berchtold then tells him, “it would be a good thing if you and the War Minister would go on leave for awhile so as to keep up an appearance that nothing is going on.” Conrad and War Minister Krobatin each go on vacation leave. Again, the Germans are told none of this.

Anonymous said...

Happy birthday from me as well, Andrew! I hope it was enjoyable.

- Daniel

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, A rent-a-chicken kiosk! LOL! Like the Red Box... "The Red Coop."

AndrewPrice said...

Rustbelt, The Big G is a friend to us all! :D

I wish channels would do more things with hosts, but I guess it's too expensive. Plus, whenever they do something now, they bizarrely do only 3-4 clips and keep running those over and over even though it wouldn't take much to do more clips.

AndrewPrice said...

Thanks Daniel!

Writer X said...

Happy (Belated) Birthday! Hope you had a good one. :)

BevfromNYC said...

We are SO on the cutting edge of pop culture...sadly, our idea of "chicken-sitting" business may have come too late. Maybe "chicken-rescue" business though...

Urban Chickens Increasingly Abandoned by Hipster Owners (aka ASCOs)

AndrewPrice said...

Thanks X! I did! :)

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, Why am I not surprised? These people abandon puppies once they realize they require attention, imagine how impossible it will be for hipsters to care about chickens!

Still, we can do the Red Coop Kiosks. :P

AndrewPrice said...

P.S. Talk about funny timing! LOL!

EricP said...

Happy belated birthday, AP! I finally have my wife's review of Without a Hitch, so will be posting it at Amazon soon.

AndrewPrice said...

Thanks Eric! And thanks for the review! :)

rlaWTX said...

Hey, Andrew, Happy belated birthday! Did you get my present? The USPS was having trouble with the invisible paper around that awesome invisible gift, so I hope it go to you! :)

AndrewPrice said...

rlaWTX, I'll ask the mailman! "Where's my invisible present!" :P

El Gordo said...

Happy birthday! I´m late to the party, but anyway: Cent’anni, Andrew!

AndrewPrice said...

Thanks El Gordo! :)

Post a Comment