The Return of Lil Mac!

I think this commercial promoting the release of Punch-Out for the Wii has been around, but it's totally worth another watch if you've already seen it.



The guy who plays Lil Mac is spot-on, but what I love most if the nonchalant way "Doc Louis" eats that chocolate bar.

BONUS: Enjoy the styling sounds of the Minibosses covering the Punch-Out theme.

Madness and Murder

My friend and co-worker, Jenny Hilborne just recently got the exciting news that she first novel, a murder mystery called Madness and Murder is getting e-published in 2010.

As an aspiring writer myself, I'm very excited for her and offer her a very BIG congrats! Jenny Hilborne's book will be released in the 3rd Quarter of 2010 by Eschelon Publishing, who discovered her earlier this year at the Southern California Writer's Conference in San Diego. The story follows Inspector Mac Jackson through the city fo San Francisco as he traces a killer. I haven't actually read it yet, but I look forward to checkign it out next year.

Jenny Hilborne's site has a litte more info on the book and the method to her own writing "madness". Check it out: http://www.jfhilborne.com/

OPEN LETTER TO MISSION VIEJO MAYOR FRANK URY

UPDATE: Response Received From the City
I just received a response from Jerry Hill, Public Services Operations Manager for the City of Mission Viejo. He says:

"We can absolutely help by once again turning off the recycled irrigation on city owned landscapes.
We will begin turning of our systems today and will keep the recycled irrigation water off until Sunday night / Monday morning.
We have been in communications with SMWD and will continue to encourage resolution of the Oso Reservoir anaerobic situation as soon as possible."

Mr. Hill, thank you for helping to ease the suffering from symptoms of this "anaerobic situation". Now, let's keep the pressure on SMWD to get the CAUSE fixed once and for all.

I just sent the letter below via email to Mayor Ury, the City Council, and the Public Works department. Feel free to copy, paste, and send it to them, too.
Mayor Ury - fury@cityofmissionviejo.org
City Council - cityadmin@cityofmissionviejo.org
Public Works - publicworks@cityofmissionviejo.org
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mayor Ury, et al:

On behalf of your constituents in northern Mission Viejo, I am asking for your help in easing our suffering from the incredibly pungent sulphur smell coming from the Upper Oso Reservoir. I am urging you to take whatever action necessary to recommend suspension of the irrigation again for as long as possible. Although the SMWD and other specialists are working to correct the problem, hundreds of Mission Viejo residents are forced to endure the malodorous side effects because the Reservoir feeds the irrigation lines that water public and median areas in northern Mission Viejo.

After last week's City Council meeting, Mission Viejo agreed to stop irrigation of the public spaces for three days in order to help ease the terrible smell that lingers throughout the northern Mission Viejo neighborhoods and it seemed to make a noticeable difference. Then the irrigation began over the weekend and the foul smell of rotten eggs and feces returned. This stench stays all night, penetrating our homes and in the morning, the smell is still there, just as pungent.

One of the aspects that I and so many of your other constituents love about living in Mission Viejo, one of the safest cities in the United States, is that we can enjoy our neighborhoods and the mild climate we are so fortunate to have here. Families can leave windows and screen doors open in the evenings for fresh breezes and overnight instead of eating up electricity with A/C units running all night. People could enjoy walking and jogging through their neighborhoods in the mornings or the evenings. But with this terrible rotten egg smell not only lingering outside, but suffocating us in our homes, we cannot enjoy any of these cherished aspects of Mission Viejo life.

If you are in doubt about just how acrid this smell is or simply have not had the opportunity to personally experience what whole neighborhoods must suffer through every night and every morning for the past two+ weeks, I strongly encourage you to drive through the Pinecrest area (Marguerite and Santa Margarita Pkwy) between 10pm and 9am. You only need to drive through with your windows down to get a sense for what many neighborhoods full of people are living with inside their own homes because of this issue.

Feel free to also visit my blog post about this issue and read the 160+ comments left by Mission Viejo residents who are dealing with this issue on a daily basis. The blog post URL is http://finkythekid.blogspot.com/2009/10/smell-that-ensnared-mission-viejo.html

Again, I urge you to PLEASE help your fellow Mission Viejo residents by whatever means necessary while SMWD continues to resolve the algae issue. Any further pressure you can apply to SMWD to continue making the resolution of this issue a priority is also greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time and assistance.

Best Regards,

Ryan Fink
Concerned Mission Viejo Resident

Stench Rally at Mission Viejo City Hall! (Mission Viejo STILL Stinks!)

ATTENTION ALL:

There will be a rally at the Mission Viejo City Hall on THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12th at 4pm to demonstrate to our elected officials how badly we need their attention and assistance in resolving this issue. Tell your friends! Tell your neighbors! The more people that show up, the more they will understand this isn't just five or six people "complaining" about a pesky smell.

City Hall is located at:
200 Civic Center
Mission Viejo, CA 92691
(across from the Library)

While I would really like to be there, my work schedule isn't going to permit me. But I strongly urge EVERYONE reading this to attend, if possible. It obviously doesn't stink down i nthat part of Mission Viejo, so at least take the opportunity to breathe some "fresh air"!

And a big thanks to the Anonymous poster who first proposed this rally. They can ignore emails, but they can't ignore bodies!

Mission Viejo - still smells!

Well, it still stinks in Mission Viejo and in a 3-5 mile radius around the Upper Oso Reservoir. The City of Mission Viejo says they have stopped the common area sprinklers that are fed from the Reservoir, which seems to have eased a little bit of the Stench, but it's still wafting heavily in the evenings and mornings.

KTLA was out Tuesday night covering the story and stopped by to interview a few locals, including myself:
http://www.ktla.com/videobeta/watch/?watch=a38197e5-23a8-4982-bab5-67e512d78ec3&src=front

I recognize that action is bein gtaken, but there are still soe questiosn left unanswered. Namely, how can SMWD continue to insist the fumes are "not harmful" to humans when they have not yet publiclly identified what the gas creating the Stench is. They've taken readings and determined - SOMEHOW - that there's no presence of hydrogen sulfide coming from the Reservoir. Funny, b/c there's definitely a strong sulfur component to the Stench.

Seems odd to tell people the gas is "harmless' when you haven't been able to positively identify what the gas is, right?

The Smell That Ensnared MIssion Viejo Continued (PART III)

UPDATE 2 : City of Mission Viejo posted video of the City Council Meeting last night. Skip to 58:00 into it to bypass the Closed Session. John Schatz, SMWD General Manager speaks shortly after they begin the public comments.
http://missionviejo.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=4&clip_id=398

UPDATE 1 : There's a new article on the Register website
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/oxygen-water-ferons-2634663-lake-reservoir

---------------------------------------------------------------
Yes, the smell continues in Mission Viejo for yet another day.

Just wanted to post a big "THANK YOU" to everyone here who has helped make their voices heard about the STENCH that continues to haunt our neighborhood.

Not just here, but in places that really count like calling newsrooms, emailing reporters, contacting the SMWD and City of Mission Viejo, etc. It's unfortunate that the Stench still persists, but I feel like there is progress being made now that our voices are being heard.

Just curious, was anyone able to attend the MV City Council meeting last night? Would like to hear from anyone who did.

Although I cannot access the site from work, I do get updates from the City of Mission Viejo site (linked to in my Part II post) and I saw this message from a "caring soul" (I've edited it for content):

"Wow. What a bunch of hysterical SoCal pXXXXs--all of them with their little panties in a knot because a natural process in a lake nearby has resulted in an odor for a couple of days. I really love the woman who plays the "I'M PREGNANT!" card immediately. So? You're pregnant. Biology works again! Ease up, dipXXX, your precious little baby is fine."

Gee, thanks for the thougtful words from someone who is OBVIOUSLY not affected by this smell. Now, go back to your bridge underpass, troll. If I could access this page on the Mission Viejo City's site, I'd post a response to his dumbass.

The Smell That Ensnared Mission Viejo PART II

UPDATE #2 : As I posted in the comments in my original
post, there's a Mission Viejo City Council Meeting TONIGHT at 6pm at the civic center (where the Library is). Should we make our presence known? Just a thought...

UPDATE : 6:13pm - Nope, it came back. BARF!!

Halloween has come and gone, but in Saddleback, The Stench still lingers!

Thanks for all the feedback in the previous post below. It's good to know I'm not alone and crazy and that so many other people are making calls and sending emails to the City, SMWD, and news outlets to help spread the word about what is going on. It's amazing that SMWD and Mission Viejo had scant mentions of this stinky phenomenon until days after it had become incredibly noticeable (that's putting it nicely.)

Thanks in no short part to people who've commented here, it looks like there's not at least a litte bit of info on the Web about this, though it seems there's a few different stories out there. One rumor includes a broken sewer pipe causing the algae bloom.

Posts on The Stench of '09:
City of Mission Viejo (leave comments!): http://tinyurl/ykaz739
OC Register:
http://sciencedude.freedomblogging.com/2009/11/01/algae-bloom-causes-bad-smell-in-mission-viejo-area/66177/

Keep making those calls and sending emails on Monday.

And, let's be sure to remind any elected officials that Tuesday is election day. I know there aren't any huge races in MV (what about RSM?), but perhaps it'll at least remind them we are people, too. And we vote.

Uh oh, sundown. CLOSE YOUR DOORS AND WINDOWS!!

The Smell That Ensnared Mission Viejo

UPDATE

November 11, 2009 - It's RALLY TIME, people! See the newest post for details: http://finkythekid.blogspot.com/2009/11/stench-rally-at-mission-viejo-city-hall.html

The Santa Margarita Water District is supposed to have an update this afternoon (10/30) on their progress for correcting the "algael bloom" and how long until we can go outside again without it smelling like a giant rotten egg. Check http://www.smwd.com/ or call them:
949-459-6420 (Business hours)
949-361-6294 (After hours)

Hit the "Samuel L. Bronkowitz" title at the top of this page to take you to the other updates on the main page of this blog.

Mission Viejo, CA stinks. I mean, it reeks to high heaven. There is a sulphurous odor so malignant and intrusive, it has enveloped the neighborhood and penetrated the walls of my house for nearly 48 hours.

My first encounter with the mysterious malodor occured as my wife and I drove home two nights ago. Turning through the intersection at El Toro and Rancho Santa Margarita Pkwy, the air inside our car suddenly became infused with a putrid sulphur smell. Sometimes there seems to be pockets of this nasty smell in various places we drive through and we figured it'd pass. Unfortunately, the smell only intensified the further we drove. Now approaching the intersection of Rancho Santa Margarita and Maguerite Pkwy, the stench was nearly overwhelming.

We pulled into our garage and quickly closed the door, hoping to keep the foul rotten egg smell from invading out house, only to find the inside of the house smelled almost as bad as the neighborhood around us.

"Oh my god," my wife exclaimed, "this smell is TERRIBLE!"

And, indeed it was. Like an invisible Fog of rotting putricity, this sudden, terrible odor had settled upon our neighborhood and invaded our home. I felt bad for our cats who had to be there with it the whole day.

"But, what do I do?" I wondered aloud.

If you want to report a crime, you call the police. A medical emergency or fire? Call 9-1-1. But what do you do when there's an outrageously offensive odor covering at least a square mile of public and private land? I was at a loss. So, I took to the internet.

But I found nothing about it on the mews, the local paper, or an extensve Google search. What could possibly be causing this incredibly bad smell? Settling into bed coughing and trying to ignore the sulphur smell that hung in the room, I figured, maybe there'd be something about it on the news or internet the next morning.

Better yet, maybe it'll blow away in the night.

Nope.

The next morning, it was still bad. When we got home that night, STILL horrible. I took to the internet again, but this time found a new story from several years ago about a "sulphur" smell that cropped up in another part of the County. It said "to report an odor call the Orange County Water & Santitation district." Perfect!

Unfortunately, the OCWSD serves only part of the County- and not the part I live in. But, they were able to direct me to my water provider -Santa Margarita Water District. NOW, we were getting somewhere. I called SMWD and got their after-hours answering service, who was well aware of the problem from the volume of calls they were getting, but had no idea what was causing it either.

The following morning (the third day now!) the sulphur stench still swallowed the neighborhood. So, I called SMWD back and finally - an answer!

An "algae bloom" in the Upper Oso Reservoir (about 1/2 mile north of my house.) Apparently, the oxygen levels were incredibly low, which gave rise to an (anaerobic?) algae, which was now going gangbusters and sending this ridiculously bad smell into neighboring developments.

Sadly, this story has no ending yet in sight. Although SMWD is responsible for maintaining the Reservoir and is actively working on the algae problem. At this time (1pm on 10/30/09) they did not have an estimate for how long it would take for the smell to dissipate permanently. SMWD said that they are doign something to churn the water in the reservoir which will help re-oxygenate it and get rid of the algae, but that was all the specifics they could give me on the "solution." They did advise that the common green areas in that part of Mission Viejo are fed by water from the Reservoir, so that will continue to perpetuate the stench until the water is cleansed.


So, there you have it.


Anybody else out there smelling this horrible, horrible smell?

AIRPLANE! needs a 30th Anniversary re-release in 2010

Demand it from Paramount, NOW!
Hey folks, what's more fun than a leaflet about famous Jewish Sports Legends?

Airplane!

This film was one of the first comedies I remember seeing when I was a kid. Somehow it got a PG rating when it was released in 1980, which is amazing considering today it'd easily get a PG-13 and maybe even an R given the blatant pair of breasts which appear prominently in the third act.

The comedy team of Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker really set the bar high for all future slapstick comedies with Airplane (which came after Kentucky Fried Movie, their hilarious cinematic collection of spoof vignettes). The path they blazed with Airplane set the precedent for Top Secret and the Naked Gun movies, the latter of which met with much more box office success.

I IMPLORE Paramount to give this movie a limited theatrical re-release next year. I guarantee it'll be the best comedy you watch in the theater all year. There are so many funny moments in this film, it's futile to try and make mention of them all here.

If you have somehow never seen this movie or haven't seen it in a while, well, watch the whole damn movie on YouTube now:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYYBpntLYp0

Or, just enjoy a few of "Johnny's" funniest moments:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YV5h6xzGKo

So take yourself back to a time when tickets "smoked" and you gave your cab driver another 20 minutes, but that's all! And demand it from Paramount next year!


So There!

Plaid Stallions

As a perfect companion site to Shawn's Branded in the 80's website, anyone who appreciates 70's and early 80's fashion and toys MUST check out Plaid Stallions . The pictures below are just a snippet of the amazing stuff Plaid Stallions has posted from old catalogues.

Turn your little boy into a stud!

This brings back so many preschool memories.

Gaetti!

Well, well, looks like there is some interest in Gary Gaetti. Don't give me that "Gary who???" crap. You know who I'm talking about. Enjoy this interview some small Missouri newpaper did with him. It's so rare to ever see anything like this publically, the man could be discussing the intricate workings of a belt buckle and I'd still watch it. And still laugh.

And, is it me, or has his schnozz gotten smaller?

No "pez' between Pez Co. and Burlingame Museum

For many years a couple of hardcore pez candy aficionados ("Pezheads" to those in the know) operated and maintained a large collection of pez dispensers and memorabilia in a little store front south of San Francisco in the town of Burlingame. The dedication started and still stands as a labor of Pezhead love. More than a decade ago, I myself was something of a Pezhead and part of the official Pezhead email distribution list. The museum owners we also on this list.

Say what you will about people, most of which were middle age adults, who elect to revolve their waking lives around a candy dispenser, but the one thing all the Pezheads shared was burning passion for their dispensers and trying to obtain as many as they could. And this was a time when "new" dispensers were uncommonly produced by Pez USA (which was an entirely separate company from the Pez Co that was still based in Austria). Before there were 100 different kinds of NASCAR Pez. When Pez purposefully avoided putting "realistic" human heads on dispensers, before there was a really nasty looking Darth Sidious dispenser. Or this ridiculous abomination. And, what kid or collector wouldn't want an exciting Mozart Pez ? I mean, that last one's like right out of an Archie McPhee catalog.

Pez!

The Pezheads behind the Burlingame Pez Museum even made what Guiness recognized as the World's Largest Pez Dispenser. These guys were serious. And in the mid-90's when Pezheads were made contact with Pez USA, the candy maker was always very friendly to its fans. I'm pretty sure they took no objection to the Burglingame Museum, and were even receptively amused by it.

The Giant Pez Dispenser that may get Joan of Arc'ed

But, my how things have changed in the last ten years (coughGreedycough). The Museum is now being sued by the Pez company over licensing infringement issues and even calls for the destruction of the giant pagan Pez god the museum proprietors created ("Thou shalt have no false Pez!")

In an ironic way, the Pezheads may have brought this upon themselves, though it was a long time in the making. Back in the mid-90's, Pezheads all over the world were clamoring for more and more Pez dispensers to be made. Pez production, particularly in North America, had really hit a lull since the 60's and 70's and while there were not too many new dispenser models released each year, it seemed Europe and often Canada would get new dispenser liness that the US was constantly not privy to (i.e. Pink Panthers, Super Mario and gang, Asterix & Obelix, just to name a few.) By the late-90's Pez finally realized they could tap into financial gains from the pent-up domestic pez demand, which started with putting dispenser heads on a variety of stem colors (instead of just one color per head), then introducing florescent colored stems, and then introducing a limited-time premium dispenser, which Pezheads could obtain through mail order. [I actually like the premium promotion because the dispensers were re-molds of classic dispensers like the Psychedelic Eye with Hand or the Bride & Groom.]

Anyway, Pezheads ate this stuff up. After years of it, the Pez company finally realized they had some clout they had long been without. And now you find Pez everywhere, not just in a corner fo a Michael's or CVS. Pezheads fed a monster that got out of control and is now turning on its own fan base. I'm not saying it's right, but I do see the legal merit behind Pez's claim that Burlingame cease from creating "non-licensed" materials. I just think calling for the destruction of the giant Snowman dispenser is a bit ridiculous. I suppose there isn't really anything to gain by Pez co. seizing the giant dispenser - what would they do with it?

I'd think the Burlingame guys would be able to claim it was "fan art" and not something they were trying to "dupe" people into believing was sanctioned by the Pez company. And it's not like they were making multiples and selling them. They made one and kept it in an obscure museum. Quit being so greedy and self-important, Pez Co. You're lucky enough to have had a revival of interest. Count yourself lucky and move-on. By the looks of the Museum, I don't think you're really leaving anything on the table by allowing these dedicated fans and free promoters of your product to continue doing their thing. And, if they are actually making any significant money from unlicensed T-shirts, why don't you just cut a deal with them? Or, make your own to sell to people, if you must cut the Burlingame folks out.

Thy humble Burlingame Pez Museum

Well, I'm sure the Burlingame folks are "pezzed off" over this, but it'll be interesting to see what the result of the suit is.

Read the article here

Photos used here courtesy of the Burlingame Pez Museum website.

The Mysterious Cloning of Ernie Hudson

I saw Ghostbusters in the 80's when I was a kid and I loved it. Sure, I might have been only 8 or 9 when I first saw it and didn't get all the jokes, but I knew it was funny. And the older I got the more the movie grew endeared itself to me as a comedy standard. I knew Ackroyd and Murray from old SNL reruns and other movies. Ramis was new to me, but I dug the nebbish tech-geek he played in the movie. And then there was Winston. The "new guy" who comes in in the second half of the movie willing to believe anything they say, as long as there's a steady paycheck in it. They didn't give Winston much to do, except say a few funny lines and play the "outsider" for a little bit.

All was well and good when a sequel was announced and was released June 1989. We got a new villain in Viggo; Dana Barrett returns; Janoz as the new dweeb gunning for her, a slightly re-vamped version of Slimer (who now seems to have turned traitor on his fellow ghosts), Louis Tulley reprising his role, and all four original ghostbusters....or were they?

I had no problem recognizing all of the other actors reprising their roles, but I didn't even know they had kept the same actor to play Winston in the sequel. You think that sounds silly, in recent years I've encountered other people who also saw GB II as kids and didn't realize it was the same actor. Or, supposed to be.

Take a look at the pictures above and try to tell me that there isn't something fishy going on. GB II was released in 1989, which means it was filmed in 1988. Assuming the original GB was filmed a year before its release in 1984, that makes a five year gap between the two productions. There's no way that the visage of Ernie Hudson changed that much in such a short amount of time. Sure, the actor playing Winston in GB II looks Ernie Hudson from GB I, but anyone can see there are some subtle, but obvious differences.

What am i getting at? A late-April Fool's joke? No. A conspiracy to replace the real Ernie Hudson with a clone at some point in time after GB I? Maybe.

I wish I could find a bigger picture of Mr. Hudson from GB I than the one above, but it's all I got.

I'm not saying this conspiracy is real. I'm just saying that the guy playing Winston in GB is not the same one in GB II. Why? Who would want or need to create this kind of conspiracy? Who knows. But they should know that there's a few of us out there who are on to them. Oh yes, we can tell. And we'll be watching.

Star Wars: REALLY Special Edition

some say it's even better than those damn prequels: