My Favorite Episode Of Mystery Science Theater 3000

Mystery Science Theater 3000 has so many perfect and classic episodes it must be hard for some people to pick their favorite. You have the Joel vs. Mike debate, the TV's Frank era, the Pearl Forrester era and each period seems to have its own perfect episode. And when tasked with picking your overall favorite there are many episodes to serious consider. You have the episode which nearly single handedly put Manos: The Hand Of Fate on every bad movie list, the Canadian equivalent of Plan 9, and the many, many railings of Space Mutiny.

My personal favorite is The Giant Spider Invasion which is Episode 10 of Season 8. Directed by Bill Rebane [who also directed the outstanding Monster A-Go Go], the film is set in northern Wisconsin and so this episode is chock full of Green Bay Packers references and Badger State jokes. I've edited it down to just the good Wisconsin related parts and it is helpful to remember that this particular episode came out in May of 1997 just five months after Brett Favre led the Packers to a victory in Super Bowl XXXI. Enjoy.

 

UPDATE: Replacing One Icon With Another

UPDATE 10-21-2014 : The mural of Taras is progressing nicely!

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A few days ago citizens of Kharkiv, Ukraine made the news by tearing down their famous Vladimir Lenin statue in the city's Freedom Square. The statue was located two blocks from where we lived in Kharkiv and I wrote about the statue a couple times, here and here. It was one of Kharkiv's main tourist attractions and served as an historical oddity that reminded you Russia was about 50 kilometers away and that the Soviet past wasn't that long ago.

But with one icon gone, Kharkiv may have a new and better one to replace it. It turns out that on the side of one of the high rises a portrait of poet Taras Shevchenko. I've written about Shevchenko many, many times..;too many to highlight individually. The building's portrait would be undoubtedly the largest Shevchenko painting and I can't wait to see what it looks like completed.

Feeding Twiggs the Giraffe

This past weekend Laura and I took in the Georgia State Fair held at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. It couldn't really compete with the Minnesota State Fair [what can?] but it was certainly a step above regional fairs or county fair's that I've been too. My personal highlight was getting up close and personal with Twiggs the Giraffe.

I've never been this close to a giraffe before and they are absolutely huge with the longest tongue imaginable, Take a look as I feed him some carrots.

This is certainly going to become my new avatar.

They also had a small feeding zoo with goats, sheep, and llamas, I got a kick out of the sign they had on the fence. 

The Battle of Atlanta Sesquicentennial

Today marks the two week anniversary of our attending the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Atlanta. We're all very sentimental about the past here in the South.

I made a little video of our experience at the reenactment and I hope you enjoy it. Keep an eye out too for a second post on the reenactment with photos we took from the event.

UPDATE: A Restaurant For The Grammar Sticklers

UPDATE: This may not be the update you want, but it's the update you deserve. The local restaurant "This Is Wings!" is no more I am sad to say. It's currently under construction and the red roof has been removed. Who knows what it will become? I'm hoping for a new shop "I Are Donuts!"

There is one local restaurant whose name makes me do a double take nearly every time I drive by. The name in question is This Is Wings! and other than being a potential title for a Paul McCartney and Wings album this restaurant must drive the grammar sticklers crazy each time they drive by. 

I wonder, are they saying that the restaurant is just call Wings! and the meaning of the sign is to let everyone know the restaurant known simply as Wings! is over here and come have lunch.

Or is it simply that they just didn't realize it should probably say "These Are Wings!" as the word "wings" is plural.  Either way, I may have spent more time thinking about their name in the week I've been in Georgia than anyone else in the Atlanta area.

Revisiting Olde Towne Morrow

A few weeks ago I wrote about visiting the abandoned Olde Towne Morrow area near our local mall and mentioned that in a few weeks the city was going to have an End of Summer get-together there. I was very interested to see how the area would be transformed and so we headed over see what was what.

I'll start first with the carnival that was set up at the Olde Towne's entrance.

They had a little Ferris Wheel, some other rides, and, of course, fair food.

Here are two "before and after" photos...it helped that the two days were very different in enhancing how different the two experiences were. 

Here an empty row of shops and offices gets transformed with some tents from local organizations and some food trucks.

As we were leaving they announced the start of the hot dog eating contest. It was standing room only and a nice way to end a fun afternoon.

Marvel With A Mango: The Mr. Taco Experience

While we were in Texas we wanted to get some authentic Mexican food and Brownsville offered many options. Nearly all of the reviews we read recommended you bring your translation dictionary if you don't speak Spanish but Laura prides herself on knowing "some" Spanish off we went.

We ended up at Mr. Taco and had a very helpful older lady helping us and with her limited English and our limited Spanish we successfully navigated ordering.

We started with a bean soup...it reminded me a little bit of ordering in Eastern Europe when the waitress offers you soup you just say "yes" and just go with it.  It was excellent with bits of pork floating around in there too. 

How about a side plate of fried onions as a garnish? Why not!

Mr. Taco's tacos are a little like White Castle in that ordering four, or five, or six, is completely reasonable. They are a perfect little handful with nearly as much cheese as meat. It was great food and at a dirt cheap price.