Random Thoughts

March 18th, 2009 by skippy

A bunch of ideas that didn’t pan out into full posts.

1) Some people believe that once enough emotional energy is invested into something, that thing starts to become real. The thing could be an idea, or a place, or even a person. The idea is that if enough people spend enough time thinking about something, or believing in it, it takes on a sort of life on it’s own.

Some folks even think that this is where gods come from. That they are the manifestation of the emotional outpouring of their followers. There was a movie called Destiny Turns on the Radio which explored this idea with the avatar of Las Vegas traveling around dispensing and taking away luck on a whim. They called him an Animus.

I think Sam Elliot is one of those, but for cowboy movies.

2) If the Watchmen movie makes enough money there will probably be a cartoon spin-off. I’m hoping it’s thematically based off of Muppet Babies. Mainly because I want to see Baby Rorschach . That will be a whole lot of wrong and quite possibly the most awesome cartoon ever.

“I’m not stuck in the playpen with you. You’re stuck in the playpen with me!”

3) Total War: Empires is a fun game and has prevented me from much productive activities for the past week. Now I want someone to make a zombie apocalypse mod for it. Because I really want to watch Colonial Militia engage the undead with nothing more than muskets, bayonets, and moxie.

4) I’d like to see children’s programming by Frank Miller. I would just not, you know, ever show it to any actual children.

5) Squirel Underpants

6) I think that many problems in our society stem from a basic lack of respect. People get too caught up in their own lives, and their own problems, and just never take the time to think about how their actions might impact the lives of others. Self-absorption has bred a toxic level of contempt for our fellow citizens. There aren’t any consequences for acting like a rude SOB so people feel free to do so with alarming frequency.

I think that if retail and fast food employees where allowed to set one person on fire per year, these problems would go away in about a week and a half tops.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 at 10:49 pm and is filed under Just kind of babbling. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Thrax Says:
March 18th, 2009 at 11:28 pm

isn’t the first one part of the backstory for American Gods?

Minty reply on March 19th, 2009 9:03 am:

Pretty much, yeah. As well as Small Gods and a bunch of different stories/philosophies.

donnaidh_sidhe Says:
March 18th, 2009 at 11:41 pm

It’s also a pretty fundamental part of the Discworld conception of divinity.

SailorJoe Says:
March 19th, 2009 at 12:44 am

i concur with both of the above statements.

and i totally agree with number 6. lack of mutual respect as fellow human beings causes a lot of problems in this world.

Stickfodder Says:
March 19th, 2009 at 1:02 am

The solution in number 6 is perfect. People would be more courteous and less people would be going to Star Bucks as they would probably start rotating cashiers whenever the current one used up their one incineration.

Kieran Says:
March 19th, 2009 at 1:14 am

lol to do with 6) i believe it was best summed up in a Conan story The Tower of the Elephant: ‘Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.’ :P

Mongrel Says:
March 19th, 2009 at 2:31 am

For number three you could always try FlintLoque. It’s a tabletop fantasy Napoleonic game, the Russians are Undead and allied with the Polish werewolves .

Tim Covington Says:
March 19th, 2009 at 4:10 am

Watchmen Saturday Morning Cartoon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDDHHrt6l4w

TheShadowCat reply on March 19th, 2009 7:33 am:

Please, for the love of everything sacred, please tell me that was a joke.

CAPTCHA – Kertesz’s Freeport – and why is Kertesz’s port free?

Twan reply on March 19th, 2009 12:51 pm:

Why is everybody re-posting that cartoon!? Skippy even had it in an article. I’ve had that blasted thing posted on my facebook 3 times AFTER I posted it on there myself.

LT Ronald Says:
March 19th, 2009 at 4:13 am

For #4

Wasn’t Sin City for children? Shit! I guess i should have watched it before i let my kids… *Asks co-workers* OOOOPS.

Stonewolf Says:
March 19th, 2009 at 4:19 am

You realize, a flintlock is a decent counter-zombie weapon. Once you expend your 20-odd rounds, you now have a club with a spike at one end. That should be made into an alternate-history movie. As for 6, I’m for it.

TeratoMarty reply on March 19th, 2009 10:14 am:

I would watch this excellent movie.

Stonewolf reply on March 19th, 2009 12:10 pm:

I have images of fields of battle covered in mist and gunsmoke. Slowly the bodies of dead revolutionaries and redcoats rise up and search for their living brothers. They catch the sent and amble off into the fog. It clears, revealing General Washington. In front of him stands lines of riflemen, red and blue mixed against this undead menace. Open fire! :)

ashley Says:
March 19th, 2009 at 4:37 am

Hmm to be able to set one person a year on fire…. oh the possibilities there. It would have to be out in the open though, in front of all the rude MF’s that throw things across the counter or act like thier order of 50 things should only take me 45 seconds to make even though they were in the line that wrapped around the building. Or maybe it would be a particularly annoying, not to mention hygeine impared, coworker. hmmm

Chilv Says:
March 19th, 2009 at 5:33 am

Concept art for Skippy’s Watch-Children:
http://hamfist.blogspot.com/2006/04/just-dont-ask-please.html

Sean reply on March 19th, 2009 6:46 am:

Am I a bad person for laughing out loud at Baby Rorshac? Or will he just come get me in my sleep?

Stonewolf reply on March 19th, 2009 12:12 pm:

No, Baby Rorshac is cute.

Twan reply on March 19th, 2009 12:56 pm:

I love how baby The Comedian still has a moustache and a cigar.

notsomuchactually Says:
March 19th, 2009 at 5:52 am

I loved #5. Got a bunch of strange looks from co-workers when I busted out laughing. I wonder if they make rabbit underwear? If they did, maybe I wouldn’t have so many of them running around my yard and eating all my tulips.

M578Jockey Says:
March 19th, 2009 at 5:55 am

Squirrel underpants! I love it. I recently moved to from liberal and decadent Massachusetts to the Buckle of the Bible Belt, and I have met many people who would love the idea of protecting us from the furry perverts.

Captcha: economy my…..has been shot to hell just like the rest of the country’s…

Rio Says:
March 19th, 2009 at 6:30 am

Now, see, the problem with number 6 is that I wouldn’t be able to pick only one person out of the year. Maybe one per day. And some bonus fires for when I’m out shopping and *see* someone being a douche.

Scud Says:
March 19th, 2009 at 6:53 am

Much easier than setting one person on fire a year. Just bring back dueling culture. Be an ass, its either pistols or swords in the park at dawn. Easy way to Darwin-ize polite society.

laughing-in-class reply on March 19th, 2009 8:31 am:

Speaking as someone who works in fast food. THANK YOU! lol. I completely agree. But, instead of pistols or swords couldn’t I just dunk the jerks head in hot grease?

Captcha: Amidship their…squirrel underpants are for sale.

Chris reply on March 19th, 2009 12:45 pm:

The catch is that this produces asses that are good at fencing/duelling. The problem is then arguably worse (they can grief the non-asses).

donnaidh_sidhe reply on March 19th, 2009 12:46 pm:

I came to that conclusion a while ago, but then I came to Chris’s conclusion shortly after. :/

CCO reply on March 19th, 2009 10:02 pm:

David Weber in the Honor Harrington universe has legal dueling in Manticore. Yes, it gives the good guys & gals problems too, but if you spend enough time at the pistol range, the problem goes away (in the aggregate). You can see the Baen free library for more. Michael Z. Williamson also has legal dueling in Freehold.

Anonymous and STILL Employed Says:
March 19th, 2009 at 7:03 am

1″Belief itself cannot move mountains, but it can create somebody who can” – Reaper Man

2 Sort of like a demented version of the Rugrats?

3 Hell Yeah!

5 I though they meant underpants made of squirrels. That would be itchy. Is it just me or did that ad use the title music from Monty Pythons Flying Circus

6 Too f**king right. If I didn’t show up to work with a high level of alcohol in my blood every middle class jerkbag in the midlands would be in serious trouble.

Random Thoughts are fun, you should do this more often.

paula Says:
March 19th, 2009 at 8:47 am

My only complaint with #6 is that there are a lot of rude fast food workers too: how about we ALL get one pyro-person per year?

I’ve been on both sides of fast food and retail, and can tell ya there are jerks on BOTH side of the counter. Besides, if we all get a yearly freebie, that’ll just a.)straighten out everybody else’s manner’s that much faster; and b.)really help the worldwide ecology, what with the reduced demand for resourses + lots more fertilizer…..

Minty reply on March 19th, 2009 9:09 am:

Yeah, but the problem with that is the customers’ gigantic sense of entitlement will mean more retail/fast food workers get incinerated. Trust me, power in the hands of the perpetually disenfranchised is in no way asking for trouble. I mean, just look at what happened to Russia.

TeratoMarty Says:
March 19th, 2009 at 10:23 am

I’ve always thought that every teenager, no matter how rich or privileged their background, should be forced to work a service-industry job for at least a year. Kind of like going in the Army (but the Army didn’t want my fabulous ass, so never mind). It would be educational and maybe teach them to treat their fellow human beings with a bit of respect. I’ve seen former waiters forget the past and turn out to be assholes anyway, so re-education could be applied as necessary.

Dave in NC reply on March 19th, 2009 11:08 am:

Can I use my re-education tools that are stamped with “Louisville Slugger”?

captcha: worst missions – the Pope’s $#!% List

Sequoia Says:
March 19th, 2009 at 12:00 pm

Hmm. Quick question. How much room does Total War: Empires take up on the good ol’ Computahr.

Twan reply on March 19th, 2009 12:59 pm:

All of it.

More than Rome: Total War.

Sequoia reply on March 19th, 2009 3:42 pm:

All 37.2 GB? *GASP*

Billy Says:
March 19th, 2009 at 2:27 pm

With #6, if a person is working both fast food and retail at the same time, does that mean I get 2 free burnings? I really want to burn some dolts up at Target and Mcdonalds, though I do hope that if I burn a person up at a party, that a few others “accidently” catch on fire as well.

captcha: regret Holden, I bet you regret banning his book “catcher in the rye”

Billy Says:
March 19th, 2009 at 2:34 pm

by the way, my favorite quote of all time: “Kill my boss?! Do I dare live out the american dream?”

Dave in NC reply on March 20th, 2009 6:56 am:

Homer Simpson, Treehouse of horror III (I believe).
Just FYI.

My fave is “To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life’s problems.”

Billy reply on March 20th, 2009 7:48 am:

I knew that, I just had to be to work a few minutes, so I kinda sped on that. And you know that that is the question people would be asking themselves reguarding #6

Lit Says:
March 19th, 2009 at 5:00 pm

Regarding the Watchmen Babies, to quote South Park, “Simpsons did it already”…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk-F_XhDoq0

Freiheit Says:
March 19th, 2009 at 8:04 pm

I don’t recall where I read it but the flambe is a lot like the “gold medallion” hypothesis.

The idea is when everyone is born, they get a gold medallion. You wear it everywhere. With your gold medallion, you get to kill one person with no repurcussions except you have to give up your gold medallion.

The idea is that if you have your medallion, folks will be nice knowing that today might just be the day you decide to use your medallion.

If you see someone without a medallion you know they’ve snapped already. That can go either way without their medallion they might be more careful, but on the other hand you know that they killed someone and the second time is easier than the first.

Captcha – 69 existence, oh man my tounge is going to be so sore!

CCO reply on March 19th, 2009 9:48 pm:

Shoot! What was that science fiction story (circa 1980s) where you could pre-pay for a crime if you wanted to. The story was the man wanted to kill someone (I think he found out his wife was cheating on him). He then goes out and works for like ten years out on the frontier and almost gets killed several times by wild beasties and what-not. Comes home and changes his mind.

stmercy reply on March 23rd, 2009 6:15 pm:

History of the Catholic church? Indulgences? Oh, wait… you said fiction…

My bad! :D

captcha: have Jacob- take my money? And then I can burn anyone I want, right? Have I mentioned that I teach high-school?