This has been a long ass day, capping a long ass four days that have royally kicked my ass. (Which is not long... or is it? Don't tell me.) This is a week late, but Robyn released her full-length album Body Talk last week, combining the best of her three prior EPs onto one disc. I bought it, even though I already had the EPs, so I'm kinda a SUCKA, but... I mean, I don't care. I love it anyway. Money well re-spent!
I just love that her music is electro and poppy and kinda dance-y, but still SUPER smart and poignant and well-written! GUSH!!! LUV!!!
Highlights... Don't F*****g Tell Me What To Do
(Seriously, I COULD have written this song!)
Fembot
Hang With Me
Indestructible
Dancing On My Own
There are more AMAZING songs on this album, but they don't have videos... yet! But check them out... then BUY the album, bitchez! Time Machine (Come ON!!! "All I want is a Delorean?! Brill!!!)
Stars 4-Ever
In My Eyes
Love Kills
And there are YET more amazing songs to be heard, but this is just a sampling. ROCK THIS!!!
So Ochocinco posed for this ad for Peta, except... aren't footballs made of pigskin or is that just an expression? They're made of some kind of leather, though, right? So are football shoes, right? Just wondering...
"There. Now let's go give those Injuns that saved our lives smallpox and steal their land!"
S0... let me think of the things I have to be thankful for this year.
1. My wonder, amazing husband. We may have our ups and downs, but there is no one I'd rather spend the rest of my life with. I have never known anyone so loving and wonderful and feel truly special and grateful!
2. My pain-in-the-ass stepson... he drives me nuts, but I couldn't imagine my life without him.
3. My most amazing friends... I love you all and hope you all know how much you mean to me!
4. Both of us having jobs, his being a real job that pays well, mine being... better than nothing. Having a house and living comfortably. These are hard times and people with a lot more have lost a their jobs and homes, so to still be comfortable and safe, makes me thankful!
5. Anyone who reads this blog... seriously, it's so all over the place and probably boring to some people, so if you check in, even if it's every so often, I appreciate it. I also really appreciate comments and feedback, ahem. But seriously, THANKS! I really enjoy writing it and I hope you enjoy reading it. It's my only writing gig right now and even though I don't make any money off of it, I get to write about stuff I love (and sometimes HATE), so it's the perfect gig. Thanks again!
6. The genius of Calvin Klein and his hiring of Kellan Lutz as his model for his latest line of undies. Seriously, I've gotten more mileage out of this than any other topic, except maybe Dazzler and Luke Cage!
7.The fact that it appears that Glee and The Walking Dead have gotten their act together... for now. They'll probably turn around and shit on me again next week, but I totally loved the last eps of both. Glee won me back by simply being sweet. The bromance between Finn and Kurt was just so charming and Finn won my heart all over again. (Also, am I the only one noticing that Rachel gets like ZERO screen time anymore? I'm not complaining!!!) I am apprehensive about Kurt being part of The Warblers at Sectionals rather than with New Directions, though. And The Walking Dead, despite being an all new, original storyline, it was a really INTERESTING one. The idea of Rick & Co. getting captured by a Latino gang seemed eye-rollingly stupid in the trailer, but there was a twist that I certainly didn't see coming and the story wound up being quite good! Well done! (I'm sure it helped that this episode was written by Robert Kirkman, the creator of the comic book.)
8. Batwoman, the most unique, idiosyncratic mainstream super hero book out there. PLUS, the highest profile GLBT character in comics... but that's beside the point. J.H. Williams III's absolutely stunning and defiantly different artwork definitely helps! Just stunning, month after month!Also, Brightest Day. Hate to say it, but a lot of the DC Universe is a hot mess right now, so my main fave is this excellent book showcasing the majority of the classic Justice League, re-establishing their lives in the modern DCU. Plus, it heavily showcases Aquaman and Mera and the new Aqualad. Also, I'm thankful for one of my childhood faves, Mera being placed front and center in the new DCU. In the past couple of years, she's gotten a stunning Tonner doll, her very first action figure and been depicted on Smallville and Batman: The Brave & The Bold. Go on, girl!
Well... I'm certainly thankful for a lot more, but that about covers the highlights. Life, love, TV, comics... what more is there? Oh... toys! I'm thankful for my complete set of Monster High dolls and the fact that I got them at retail and don't have to pay $40 a piece for them. I'm thankful for all the fun DC stuff coming out now. The new streamlined Funko line is so much fun and DCUC while kind of a pain to collect, is THE definitive DC toy collection. Okay... like I said, there's more, but those are the biggies! Hope everyone has a wonderful day and another year of prosperity and happiness!
I will probably never have reason to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade like... ever... again... in my life, but there were a few years back in the 80s, when it kinda kicked ass in a weird way.
First, in 1985, there was a He-Man and She-Ra float. I love how Pat Sajak has absolutely no idea what the hell he's talking about when he introduces it. Then they do the... I dunno, performance? It makes no sense. The actors just kinda run around and pretend to fight one another. Except Moss Man who is just chillin' until Hordak attacks him. It's kinda lousy, but was uber-amazing when I was a kid.
But wait! There's more! In 1986, they released the tragic live action He-Man movie and followed up with this float... actually, I think it's the same float, but with added "Look Kids, New Toys!" characters. Warning, the video quality is horrible... AND this year, they added narration by Dolph Lundgren, which, in case you were wondering, is ALWAYS a terrible idea.
In 1987, Marvel Comics... ahem, Marvel Entertainment got in on the act with this kinda kick ass float, starring it's heroes and villains. I love how obscure some of them are... I mean, it kicks off with Dr. Strange!
No, you didn't imagine that. That was, in fact, Robocop! Marvel, at that time, was producing a Robocop comic and cartoon series! It wasn't in Marvel continuity, but screw that! He popped up anyway! Alongside Power Man (Luke Cage), Emma Frost (The White Queen) and a high-kicking Enchantress! But notice who was missing? Spider-Man! Odd!
I guess Marvel took 1988 off, but they returned in 1989. Although, apparently, all the heroes lost their belts in the year in between. Seriously, Daredevil is wearing a straight up body stocking and nothing else! This time, they felt the need to to add disco to the mix and Melba Moore, wearing a far crazier outfit than any of the Marvel characters', sings "Holding Out For A Hero" as the characters tussle. Um, HELLO?! DAZZLER?!?! Missed opportunity! Seriously, I'm sure Vickie Sue Robinson wasn't doing anything that morning. Just sayin'!
Um... "Wonder Woman?!" What a fucktard! Wrong company, dipshit!
Well, it has been a damn fucking fabulous week for dazzling magazine covers featuring pure DELISH! First Matthew Morrison's incrediBOD cover (and additional pic) for Details...Then a trifecta of sizzle featuring one Jake Gyllenhaal on EW (oh and Anne Hathaway was there too)... This is the one I got and it's my favorite... so cute!This is my second fave. SULTRY! Least favorite of the three, but like... I mean... it's like bad sex... at least you had sex, right?! I will take shirtless Jake making whatever face he wants... as long as he isn't wearing those unfortunate biker shorts he was so fond of when he was BFFing Lance Armstrong. God, biker shorts even make Jake Gyllenhaal unattractive!
Um... I kinda think I oughta stick a picture of Pedobear on this entire blog. It features lots and lots o' pics and videos of little kids dancing around and cavorting in their undies. It's completely innocent... well, to you and me anyway. Well... to me. I don't know about you. I hope. Anyway...
Aw yeah! One of the best things about growing up in the 70s-80s was Underoos! Underwear That's Fun to Wear! (That was their slogan.) Designed to look like the costumes of kids' favorite heroes, kids could wear these underneath their normal clothes... just like real super heroes did!
Well... the GOOD Underoos looked like a super hero's costume. Unfortunately, The Hulk was hard to replicate as such, so his set were just lame white underwear with his picture on the shirt. The same formula was used on characters like Fred Flintstone. What kid wanted Fred Flinstone over Spider-Man or Superman?Also, Fred Flintstone's costume would have actually worked as a typical pair of Underoos. Just give him an orange spotted shirt with his frayed tie silk screened on it! But still... no one wanted Fred Flintstone. I'm guessing this style of Underoos kind of flopped. Here's a commercial devoted to just these styles. Like, c'mon kids pleeeeeeaaaaaassssse buy them!
Archie Andrews?! Are you kidding me? That's worse than Fred Flintstone! You'd have to be a complete fag to rock those! I guess Aquaman just barely avoided this fate. He's one of the few heroes without a chest insignia, so I'm sure they were probably challenged in coming up with a look for his costume, but cleverly, they translated his scale motif and then, just for clarity, added an "A." I had these over and over! They were OBVIOUSLY my favorite, with Robin swinging in second.
The best commercials featured animation.
Here's one that I can't embed, but it's the best. I love the girl spinning to switch her regular undies into Wonder Woman Underoos! Another fun bonus, the packages had these great full body shots of the heroes, just right for the clipping out and making little paper dolls! The girl super hero sets came in two styles. Wonder Woman, Spider-Woman and the I-didn't-know-this-existed Catwoman had tank tops. While Batgirl and Supergirl had... I guess you call them bras. I guess "women" wore tank tops and "girls" wore bra tops? Also, as I discovered yesterday, they also released long underwear as well. I never saw these and didn't know they existed!
Here's a commercial I apparently never saw, featuring all the super ladies, including Catwoman! I'm guessing we all know how the little girl who wore Catwoman Underoos probably turned out. (Slut!)
I could have sworn that Green Lantern and The Flash had Underoos later on in the series, but the Wikipedia page only lists GL and I couldn't find a picture of it. No listing for Flash, although Iron Man appears to have had a set: Their color schemes are the same, so maybe I got them confused.And they did make Shazam!, whose costume is very similar to The Flash's. During Underoos' time, pop culture shifted away from the licensing juggernaut of super heroes in the 70s to Star Wars and other live action properties. The first batch of Star Wars Underoos followed the same pattern of the heroes, by making them look like the garments worn by the characters in the movies. I just loved Underoos, so I kept buying them, even after they made the switch from super heroes to these, but I wasn't very keen on it.
I'm not sure why C-3PO was for girls, but I gotta admit, they're kinda cute! I also don't get the line in the jingle, "C-3PO has lots of style." Isn't he technically naked? That commercial was pretty neat though. It must've been fun for the young actors, being on set with the real Star Wars characters!
You can see the evolution of Underoos through the Star Wars line. I think eventually, they switched over from the "costume" look, to just images of characters across the board.
Empire Strikes Back Leia: Return of the Jedi Leia: You mean, they didn't think a Slave Leia costume would be appropriate for a 2-4 year-old? Madness!
On a similar note: What 2-4 year-old was watching The A-Team?! One who needed to be taken away from their parents or guardians, that's who! It was clearly harder for them to come up with ideas for girl Underoos. Here's Daisy Duke... but COME ON!!! Denim-print Daisy Duke-style panties?! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! I love them! Ms. Pac Man? And Family? Fail. But the boys line had its share of stinkers. If you thought Fred Flintstone and Archie Andrews were bad... GOD DAMMIT!!! Why did they stick the fucking Ewoks on EVERYTHING?!?! FUCK THE EWOKS!!! What BOY in their right mind would want this shit over Han Solo?! Hell, I'd take the Dukes of Hazard over Wicket the Ewok!!!
E.T.?! That's almost as bad! And coming in third, "everyone's favorite, Pac Man!"
Not quite as bad, but still... not GOOD... Tonto. Yeah, sorry... Robin may be a sidekick, but he's still a SUPER hero! NO ONE wants to be Tonto! And that design on the shirt is about as half-assed as you can get! Even so... I'd take this over Wicket, E.T. or Pac Man.
Underoos lasted way longer than I realized. This commercial features late 80s properties M.A.S.K., Transformers and Thundercats. These are all lame "picture of the character" styles, which they'd seemingly completely switched over to, which sucks, because a flesh colored shirt emblazoned with He-Man's metal harness was really a no-brainer! Oh well...
Here's an interview with Larry Weiss, the inventor of Underoos!
There's plenty of super hero undies these days... But they're not QUITE the same. Superman doesn't wear his logo on his junk. I wish someone would pick up this license again and make them old school... plus, I mean, yeah, I so want a grown up set of Aquaman Underoos. I'd buy like... all of them and that would be the only underwear I'd ever wear!
EDIT! I did NOT imagine it! They did make Flash Underoos! Also, note that The Hulk eventually got redesigned with a larger image in the middle of the shirt versus the small image over the heart.
This has been a long ass day, capping a long ass four days that have royally kicked my ass. (Which is not long... or is it? Don't tell me.) This is a week late, but Robyn released her full-length album Body Talk last week, combining the best of her three prior EPs onto one disc. I bought it, even though I already had the EPs, so I'm kinda a SUCKA, but... I mean, I don't care. I love it anyway. Money well re-spent!
