deadly vortex of doom

Once unpacked today, I had a funny thought that this image would be worth much more than the crappy images I had taken of Hound after I had freed him from his mint-condition box...



The new blender I got for X'mas isn't anything fancy, but it is the first one I can call my very own. Hound sizes it up like he's none too sure if tangling with it is a good idea... he's already been witness to its awesome destructive power on the likes of frozen berries, bananas, vanilla ice-cream, milk, and pineapple bits... Hmm...

The Last Haul of 2005?

I've been unusually quiet - mostly due to the fact I've been sitting at my family home for nearly a whole week now. But I'm pretty sure it's safe to say that my junk-buying for 2005 has come to an end.

As I told myself earlier, I did end up opening up that BT-04 Hound import on Christmas Day. It was one of two metal items I got that day. Hound did not disappoint - in fact, I asked myself why I hadn't enjoyed him before... actually it stirred something in me that made me want to continue collecting the hi-end Transformers revival line. Who says they don't make'em like they used to?

The other metal object I unwrapped was a new blender from my parents. Now I'm not too sure what brought that on. I guess it's their way of giving me a subtle-hint that they want me to move into a house of my own instead of flushing money down the rental-hole. In any case, I've been loving it immensely over the last few days and have been making fruit smoothies like nobody's business..... non-stop.

Other junk I've been amassing - I've gone absolutely Star Wars crazy this week. Had time to play games of Star Wars Minis with my brother (and enjoyed a Boxing Day trip to the local hobby-shop to load up on discounted boxes of Minis). Among the more interesting pieces that I found in my blind-boxed sets were a Clone Trooper on a "BARC Speeder", a large Hailfire Droid, a more versions of Chewbacca than I know what to do with (I can now stage games featuring Chewie in 3 different movie settings). Between games, I was able to squeeze in viewings of Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and the two Clone Wars cartoon DVDs... Come to think of it, I might want to drop in Revenge of the Sith tonight.

Lastly, in my junk-buying haze, I also stopped by EB-Games this morning on during a walk around the neighbourhood (my home is only a block or two away from the local mall). Grabbed Need for Speed Underground for PSP only because I thought the price was right second-hand. That is, it was half the price it was when it came out back in May... Plus I was dying to break-even on that Edge membership card I bought a while ago. With today's 10% discount, I've finally started saving money... which is funny because for a while I honestly believed that was the worse promotional buy-in I'd ever made.

Pics later, but for now - check out IGN's review of NFS Underground Rivals.

Regifting Hound

Yeah, so I'm headed home for the week - I mean home home, as in away from the apartment I live in.
I was packing up and giving the apartment the once-over and my eyes landed on a box sitting above one of my shelves. And something in me stirred... I was reminded of a debate I participated in on the Robot-Japan forum. To keep or not to keep, was the topic.
Emotions ran high on both sides when it came to arguments about whether or not people should keep their collectible toys in "mint in-the-box" condition (possibly for resale or auctioning later on) or should they be enjoyed as they were meant to be (i.e.: opened up and played with like we did when we were little). An element that was pointed out by many was that lots of today's collectible grade toys weren't meant to be played with considering their fragile nature (the whole "they don't make'em like they used to" side of things). I for one was on my own high-horse reassuring everyone that I did indeed open every box and handled my toys at least a few times before committing them to my glass cabinets for permanent display.

Little did I realize that at one point - I did forget about one guy... a remake of the old Transformer Jeep, Hound. This guy was released around late 2004 in Japan (and later made it to American toy stores in cheapy plastic form too). Of course, when I had the time and money I had sprung for the imported die-cast metal version. But somewhere along the way, I did forget... it arrived on my door step in the mail and I put it aside for some reason or other. And it did remain "Mint in Box." And for that, I'm a little embarrassed. I had truly become one of those collector geeks.

But no more, I told myself this morning!
I plucked the box off the shelf and packed it into my stuff before leaving. And come Sunday, I promise the world, it will no longer be MIB... I WILL play with him. :)

Scratched DVD - but not so bad

I was just about to have a cow tonight while inspecting the discs in a boxed set of Azumanga Daioh I bought earlier this week.

The fourth disc (of 5) has what appears to be a factory defect: a gash in the plastic (like it didn't come out of the press right). But after giving it a test spin in my player, looks like everything's fine. I suppose the scratch wasn't over part of the actual data - as in the disc was not full.

This is must be karma making up for having me return that Ghost in the Shell documentary DVD a few months ago. Now that one was a bad defect. Ugh!

Speaking of DVDs... looking forward to finally checking out the new edition of Sin City that just came out. Other items on the want-list: certain volumes to complete my collection of Patlabor, the new Serenity disc, The Matrix Trilogy box (can you believe a geek like me doesn't have a copy of the Matrix on DVD?)...

And finally I oughtta watch Ronin tonight. Montreal lent it to me when I last saw him... nearly a month ago. Maybe I'll just make a copy and return it during the holidays.

Social experiment...

Did the last of my X-Mas shopping today... I slept in until 11am all messed up. Sadly it wasn't for social reasons. I was up all night playing that accursed PSP game. Looks like discipline goes out the window.

Went to the MEC today to grab some little things ...like gloves so that I can stop freezing in my thin liner-gloves. ^_^;

I tried something to conclude a little experiment today.
A little while ago UG was saying she couldn't understand why she had men drooling over her when there were plenty of other better-looking women around. Note: that's actually somewhat true after she had her son - her figure never quite recovered its original *ahem* form. But don't tell her I said that.
Anyway, during the course of that particular conversation she had noted a comment from her brother who once told her "you make eye contact with everyone you talk to, it's inviting."

I got to thinking how different everyday chores would be if I gauged how people reacted if I made a lingering look into their eyes. And of course, not to be totally stupid (or gay), I also chose members of the opposite sex to try this on.

Yesterday at The Bay's make-up counter I was picking up a little gift basket for my mother. The sales-person fetched my stuff for me from under the counter, swiped my credit card, and put everything in a bag. I only ever made eye-contact when I quickly wished her happy holidays before leaving... It was quick, efficient, but not particularly warm.

At the MEC, when I paid for my gloves, I made eye-contact on purpose... she smiled. I thought that reaction was interesting. Seemed like selling me a pair of gloves was a high-light of her day. Oddly, however, I also noticed that when I said "Merry Christmas," it was almost like an afterthought... Hmm... Not sure what conclussions I could draw from that.