Season's Greetings and a Tribute to Horn Guy

Happy holidays, folks. I've been enjoying the fantastic snowfall in the city of Portland for the past week, and I'm all geared up for the holiday season. At the moment I'm listening to Japanese Christmas music non-stop and playing GTA2 at the same time. Nothing says Christmas cheer like listening to a J-Pop cover of Last Christmas by Wam! or hearing some of my favorite anime casts singing Santa Claus Is Coming To Town while I light up gang members with a machine gun or blow up cars with a flame thrower. Sleigh bells ringing alongside blaring sirens and gunfire is something special, or at least rather hilarious. Anyway, you all deserve a present this year, so time for a very special post.

May I present to you all an ode to one of the most memorable characters from the most memorable film I've seen: Horn Guy from The Barbarians.

The Barbarians is a film starring the aptly named Barbarian Brothers, Dave and Peter Paul. It's an Italian directed film of generic sword and sorcery fare, but with two overmuscled, overmulleted comedy-action heroes (Who made the fantastic Double Trouble and Twin Sitters) in their film debut. It has some fantastic scenes in it, including bizarre barking by one of the brothers, but really, the best part of the movie is one character named Horn Guy.

Horn Guy's role as a villain is very minor. He's no different than Bearded Horseman #5 or Generic Armored Baddie #46. What makes him special is his facial expressions, which I shall show you. The following photos were painstakingly compiled by my cousin Ben to be put on display in this very blog. Enjoy.
Starting off with a standard Horn Guy face

I wonder what he's glaring at so intensely.

A scream of rage, and god damn is his mouth huge.

Horn Man seems quite happy to see the destruction he's caused.

He also seems to be stricken in awe by what's happening and posseses some kind of overbite.

Horn Man does not seem amused. Look at that chin.

In this image, however, he seems greatly amused

Every villain needs an insane, maniacal laugh.

He seems very intense in this shot. I wonder what he's thinking.

Horn Guy can fit a whole grapefruit in his craw.

He seems quite pleased in this one. Notice the creepy wrinkles.

Winter Wonderland of Sorts

So we had some snowfall here, and I managed to spend plenty of time out in it. I attempted making several miniature snowmen, but the snow was a bit too dry, so I didn't manage it. I did, however, notice it was perfect for snowballs, so I made and threw some. Special note: Cars are fantastic for snow warfare, as they provide cover and a good supply of ammunition.

In any case, I had a lot of fun today, and I saw WALL-E, which is a great movie. Go see it. Now.

Happy Birthday To Me

Yep, I turned 21 today. I had dinner at the Baghdad on Hawthorne and I now have an iPod Nano. I got it for a lower price because it was open-box. Apparently the one who bought it before me returned it because he couldn't get any music on it. Because he didn't own a computer. I can't think of anything to follow that up with. More to be added later.

Wow, did I just see that? Report for 10/01/08

On Monday night we went out to dinner at Hodas, a Lebanese place on Belmont, to have a going away sort of thing for my brother. When we were driving home, we noticed a couple on at a crosswalk with a baby that was using the baby's blanket to carry a TV. We weren't sure where they were going or why they were carrying the TV with them. Maybe they just bought it, maybe they were moving it, who knows.

Also, on the way out to PCC today I saw a homeless man with a sign that said "Hungry Hungry Hobos".

First Robots, Now Dragons?

That's right, the Robot Collector has turned his eye on the Mega Brand Dragons toyline. While I have acquired a decent robot or two of MegaBlox origin, I absolutely couldn't pass up the dragons that I saw. I've gotten the ice one, the fire one, and the lightning one, and each one has a very solid design and four wings that fold around it like a shield, with a tail that folds on top. I should have pictures of them soon enough, as my next post will most likely be an image heavy inventory of my collection.

4th of July

Well, the 4th was fun. And I had an amusing sighting. At a local fireworks stand, I saw a massive package of fireworks. I mean, it was huge. The dimensions were about 4 feet in heigth, 3 in width, and 8 inches in depth.

http://www.fireworks.com/fireworks_gallery/photo.asp?pid=784

Something akin to this, mainly.

It had some great names in there, like Patriotic Power Blast, Veteran Salute, and Operation: Phantom Fury, with plenty of armed soldiers on it. It was definitely amusing.

Also, on the Phantom website that I linked, they have a firework called Battle of Khe San.

Wow, did I just see that?: McDonald's

I'm back once again. Sorry about the lack of posts, school got in the way. But with finals coming to a close tomorrow, I now have some free time.

Today I went to a McDonald's for the first time in about 6 or 7 years. I had "sworn off" McDonald's long before Supersize Me came out, but not for moral reasons, or for health reasons (though that was part of it). I stopped eating there because it didn't taste good. Yes, it's been a long time since I ate something from there, but today I decided to end my one sided feud, boycott, whatever I should call it. I bought a chicken sandwich, which was average, filling, not too horrible. The fries were good, that's always been their best merit to be honest. But the topic of this post is something that I want to add in as a feature of sorts to the blog: A new section called "Wow, did I just see that?".

I find certain people to be interesting or at least amusing, especially in places similar to those I've highlighted (K-Mart, The Bins, etc.). A lot of times, I see things that are either striking or absurd in some way. I saw something today in my brief time in the McDonald's establishment that was interesting enough to write about. A bedraggled mother in sweats with her two kids, who I had seen outside at the Redbox $1 DVD rental machine standing in line, snapping at her kids that "We're not getting Happy Meals today."

I was wondering just what the big picture is behind this. What other places the people frequent, things like that. Same thing goes for grocery stores, malls, things like that. I never think too deeply, but it is a topic of interest. So this shall mark the first People Watching Report of the Robot Collector history, with many others to follow.

The Bins

Everybody's heard of/been to a Goodwill store. When people think of second hand stores, they think of Goodwill first off, probably. However, the Goodwill just outside of Milwaukie is a different beast entirely. This, my friends, is The Bins.

Many of my readers will know what I mean, as you guys have all been with me to it numerous times. For those of you who haven't seen it, let me first give you a rundown on the history and layout that makes The Bins unique. Unlike most Goodwill stores, there are massive bins where everything is tossed into. Other than electronics and furniture sections, there is no organization. You pay by the pound for the most part, and you go through these huge troughs of used stuff, looking for whatever treasures catch your eye. The store is much larger than a standard one, and that's one of the big selling points of the Bins experience.

The kind of people who go there are, to be fair, usually average Goodwill customers. However, it's slightly different. They often bring extended gripping devices (or as I call them, grabbers) to rifle through the mounds to find what they want, they sift through the bins much more carefully, or they throw things around and act quite the opposite. Back at the old location, which was more cavelike, there was a back area that was roped off with jumper cables until a certain time. This was where the "good stuff" was. Likewise, the back saw many people camping out, waiting for the cables to be lifted so they could flood in and scavenge to their heart's content. Good times long gone, sadly, as there are no jumper cables at the new Bins. Still, the general experience is there.

I myself have gotten a few things from there, such as a Nerf Tech Target pistol in working condition that I have yet to get darts for, and I got a gift package from my cousins Paul and Tony containing a 1987 Bon Jovi shirt, a working Atari Super Pong machine, and a Paul Lekakis vinyl. Also, I got my computer chair from there for 5 dollars, a good deal, if slightly beaten up.

On my most recent trip to The Bins, I found something hilarious, interesting, and just a little unsettling. My brother and I were leaving, and he spotted $3 grab bags. Walking over, we picked some up and saw that they contained rather hazardous materials. Rusting aerosol cans, propane canisters, and pest control sprays. Looking at all this, I came to the conclusion that it wasn't the best idea to be selling all this flammable (and possibly explosive) material for only 3 bucks in a plastic bag. To me, it seemed like a grab and go bomb kit, and needless to say, my brother and I had a good laugh at it.