As I've been mapping all my runs lately (quick plug for Gmaps Pedometer), and seeing how far I go in about 40 minutes, I was reminded of being a missionary and how we walked everywhere and how I always told myself that when I got home from Argentina, I'd try to walk more instead of driving everywhere, because really it doesn't take THAT long to walk somewhere.
Now, I can't say I've stuck to that in the least (things are much further away in American than they are in Argentina, because everyone here has a car), but yesterday I started wondering how far away things are in my hometown of Grantsville, and how everything there still seems like a long distance because when I was a kid everything seemed really far away. So I went to my handy distance mapping site and looked at how far I'd be running if I was doing my jogs in Grantsville rather than in my neighborhood in Salt Lake. And frankly I was really surprised. The Handy Corner that we used to ride our bikes to for cheap candy and video games, is only a mile and a half from my house. It really seems farther away. Maybe because of all the open spaces between our house and there. I don't know. Anyway, since I'll be running a 5K there for the 4th of July, I think it'll be really eye-opening to see how far 3.2 miles will get me in Grantsville.
Showing posts with label nostalgia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nostalgia. Show all posts
Thursday, June 02, 2011
Friday, May 22, 2009
Utah man sir, will be til I die! Ki-yi!
Just picked up the final printed/bound copies of my dissertation. I'm not 100% sure, but I think this means I'm all done. And by all done, I mean ALL done. All DONE. ALL DONE. After approximately 10 years of being a student at the University, I think I may have finally finished up with that.
I was up at the U last month for a concert and my friend asked me how long I'd been familiar with the U campus. I really had to think about that, because it's been a part of my life for so long -- well before I ever was a student there. When I was a kid my dad would take us to the Natural History museum to look at the dinosaur bones on a Saturday or a day we were out of school. A little later, we took some youth education courses there at the Museum, including one that my saintly mother had to lie about my age to get me into.
Anyway, aside from those classes (I remember taking one on animal intelligence, but don't remember if we went to others), I also remembering going to Utah football games as a very young child, and my dad making us walk what seemed like miles and miles (he parked at the old Armory on Guardsman Way), and then feeling like the games lasted for hours and hours. What I mostly remember was that we had candy, and eating too much of it. When I was a little older we went to a Utah football game for my birthday one year. I continued going to Utah football and basketball games off and on as I was growing up, and we always watched the teams on TV.
When I was in 7th grade, I participated in something called Utah Talent Search where they let middle school kids take the ACT, and I won a scholarship to a summer youth education program called the Youth Academy of Excellence, (nerd camp basically) at the University of Utah. My parents bought me a bus pass and for two weeks I would ride UTA in from Grantsville to downtown Salt Lake and then transfer up to the U. Our group would meet in the Union building and we often take field trips off campus or to labs on campus to learn about interesting stuff. I usually got to the Union a little before things were going to get started, and loved to watch college kids play NBA Jam and try to see what codes they used to unlock secret players or other upgrades. One time I even saw two guys open up a weird mode where they were driving polygon tanks and shooting at stuff. But I digress. I participated in the Youth Academy of Excellence the next summer as well, and I have to say I miss some of the fountains that used to be on campus. When I was up there today, I noticed that the fountain between Student Services and the Union, which hasn't had water in it for years is now gone. There also used to be one over by the old business loop, where the Museum of Fine Arts is located now.
As I moved on to high school, I think most of my interaction with the U surrounded coming to sporting events. I remember one year my friend's dad had a tailgate permit and we used to come up before the games in their van and eat KFC in the parking lot. One game it the weather was terrible, and I'm not ashamed to admit we stayed in the van listening to the game on the radio rather than go out and sit in the rain. Obviously I outgrew those days. :)
As I neared high school graduation, I received lots of mail from lots of colleges all over the country. Not sure how they find out about you, but somehow they do. I went to USU for Engineering State the summer after my Junior year and had a lot of fun at that, and went back the following December to test for their uber-top scholarships (didn't get one). My brother was already a student up there and I thought that might be a fun place to go. I even went on a recruiting weekend at BYU. The U never invited me up for anything as far as I can recall, but when it came to apply for admissions I only sent apps to Utah and USU. I was accepted at both with a marginally better scholarship offer from the U. I'm not 100% sure how I ended up deciding to go there, but I do recall my dad suggesting that quality of school might matter more in the long run than just having lots of fun.
Anyhow, I ended up choosing the U, and also getting into a summer high school research program where I "got to" live in the old dorms during the week. I had a room in Van Cott Hall and let's just say generations of student will forever underappreciate the quality of the new dorms/Olympic Village. I spend the summer working in a genetics lab up in the Eccles Human Genetics building, where among other things, I fed fruit flies and harvest larvae. Something about the experience led me to decide that I didn't want to be a geneticist. Which left me in a bit of a quandry about what I ought to study in my time at the U.
That fall I got an apartment with a couple of my high school friends who were also going to be going to the U (I think there were only 3 of 4 of us from my graduating class who came to Salt Lake, most college-bound folks went to USU, BYU, SUU, or elsewhere), and for about a month we were just chillin' in our super cheap bachelor pad (we were paying $500/month split 4 ways). I had a variety of one-time payment scholarships, so I didn't have to work that year and just got used to the college life of homework and tests and what not. I met one of my best friends, Shawn, in my biology and calculus class (taught by KG himself, Ken Golden) and we've been great friends since then. He just lived down the hill from campus and often after classes we'd hop in my silver shuttle (1987 Toyota Mini-van) and cruise down to his place, which was infinitely nicer than mine, and then he'd kick my butt at SFII. My high school friend roommates got into a fair amount of booze and a little bit of drugs, so I was glad to have an LDS friend to relate to. Two of the four moved out at the end of the first quarter and we found random roommates by posting openings up on campus.
I was a biology major for just one quarter (this was the last year the U was on quarters) and then decided Computer Science was the life for me. Unfortunately because we were now 1 quarter into a 3 quarter year and when I got back from my mission the U would be on semesters, I couldn't really get started on coursework for my pre-reqs, other than finishing up my Calc series and taking a bunch of generals, along with an Intro CS course, taught by one of my all time favorite CS profs, JZ (Joe Zachary). The Runnin' Utes advanced to the national title game that spring, nearly winning the title.
In the spring, I got my mission call to Argentina, and enjoyed what would be the last Mayfest (what with the changing of the schedule), where Everclear came and played on the Union lawn for free, and other bands were jamming all week long. In June, I headed back home to G-ville for a couple weeks and then hit the road for two years of awesome missionary life.
Upon returning to the U, School kept me busy as I finished pre-reqs and got into the CS program. I got a job as a receptionist at the College of Pharmacy, one of my all-time favorite jobs. If only $8.00 an hour were enough to live on. :) I worked there full-time in the summer and then part-time when school was back in, including walking up there from parking down at the old dorms during the Olympics when everything up by the village was fenced in. Every day, I would watch inspectors check cars with more access than mine for explosives while I walked past with my backpack unmolested. After two summers of working there, I applied for and got a job as a Teaching Assistant in the CS program and did that for the next year and a half or so. I worked a summer job as an intern for the LDS Church doing software development and testing in the Temple Department and made some great friends there, even some who were big (but rational) BYU fans.
I still found time to see my fair share of basketball, football, and volleyball games, and still remember the first pep rally that Urban Meyer came to and had his coming out party at. In my previous years I'd never seen a coach reach out to the student body like that and his enthusiasm and confidence that something special could happen at the U were contagious. His motto of "Why not us? Why not now?" set the tone for two amazing years, spanning my last year of undergrad and my first year of grad school.
That last summer before my last semester, I started thinking that maybe grad school was something I ought to do, since people kept asking me what I was going to do with my CS degree and I didn't really know other than "be a programmer". I just wasn't sold on doing more in-depth CS stuff. Another friend of mine was telling me about this Medical Informatics thing that was like a go-between for programmers and doctors and I ended up applying for that program and getting accepted. Now, my friend Jon just started his PhD in chemistry and he spend all spring flying out to visit various programs and getting wined and dined and recruited. I didn't even know if there were other schools that had a program called Medical Informatics and whether or not the U's progras was even a good one. Turns out it's perhaps the oldest or 2nd oldest program in the country. So, I guess I could have done a better job researching my options, but I really didn't even know what I was going to be studying to be honest, much less what kind of research I would be doing to get my degree. My initial plan was just to get a Master's degree (what would I do with a PhD?) but the department made me a funding offer that I couldn't refuse that was tied to my getting a PhD. So that's how I ended up doing 5 more years of school at the U.
During my time as a grad student, I spent a lot of time off-campus, working on my research project with Intermountain Healthcare. However, I also enjoyed being a member of the Muss, and seeing the Utah football team go to, and win, 2 BCS bowl games -- twice in my 5 years, can you believe it? I enjoyed going to see Yellowcard, Mos Def, Shiny Toy Guns, Girl Talk, and Lupe Fiasco live in concert, at free or low-low prices, on the Union lawn.
Long story short, I now have a great job working for Intermountain Healthcare, one of the worldwide leaders in Informatics and Electronic Medical Records, and I'll be getting hooded this weekend, bringing an end of sorts to my time at the U. However, as you can tell from this essay, I think it's pretty clear that the U will always have a special place in my heart and I'd be very surprised if I don't still make a habit of heading up to campus on a fairly regular basis, if for nothing else, to watch the football team kick some butt. Now if I could only find season tickets for less than $300/seat.
I was up at the U last month for a concert and my friend asked me how long I'd been familiar with the U campus. I really had to think about that, because it's been a part of my life for so long -- well before I ever was a student there. When I was a kid my dad would take us to the Natural History museum to look at the dinosaur bones on a Saturday or a day we were out of school. A little later, we took some youth education courses there at the Museum, including one that my saintly mother had to lie about my age to get me into.
Anyway, aside from those classes (I remember taking one on animal intelligence, but don't remember if we went to others), I also remembering going to Utah football games as a very young child, and my dad making us walk what seemed like miles and miles (he parked at the old Armory on Guardsman Way), and then feeling like the games lasted for hours and hours. What I mostly remember was that we had candy, and eating too much of it. When I was a little older we went to a Utah football game for my birthday one year. I continued going to Utah football and basketball games off and on as I was growing up, and we always watched the teams on TV.
When I was in 7th grade, I participated in something called Utah Talent Search where they let middle school kids take the ACT, and I won a scholarship to a summer youth education program called the Youth Academy of Excellence, (nerd camp basically) at the University of Utah. My parents bought me a bus pass and for two weeks I would ride UTA in from Grantsville to downtown Salt Lake and then transfer up to the U. Our group would meet in the Union building and we often take field trips off campus or to labs on campus to learn about interesting stuff. I usually got to the Union a little before things were going to get started, and loved to watch college kids play NBA Jam and try to see what codes they used to unlock secret players or other upgrades. One time I even saw two guys open up a weird mode where they were driving polygon tanks and shooting at stuff. But I digress. I participated in the Youth Academy of Excellence the next summer as well, and I have to say I miss some of the fountains that used to be on campus. When I was up there today, I noticed that the fountain between Student Services and the Union, which hasn't had water in it for years is now gone. There also used to be one over by the old business loop, where the Museum of Fine Arts is located now.
As I moved on to high school, I think most of my interaction with the U surrounded coming to sporting events. I remember one year my friend's dad had a tailgate permit and we used to come up before the games in their van and eat KFC in the parking lot. One game it the weather was terrible, and I'm not ashamed to admit we stayed in the van listening to the game on the radio rather than go out and sit in the rain. Obviously I outgrew those days. :)
As I neared high school graduation, I received lots of mail from lots of colleges all over the country. Not sure how they find out about you, but somehow they do. I went to USU for Engineering State the summer after my Junior year and had a lot of fun at that, and went back the following December to test for their uber-top scholarships (didn't get one). My brother was already a student up there and I thought that might be a fun place to go. I even went on a recruiting weekend at BYU. The U never invited me up for anything as far as I can recall, but when it came to apply for admissions I only sent apps to Utah and USU. I was accepted at both with a marginally better scholarship offer from the U. I'm not 100% sure how I ended up deciding to go there, but I do recall my dad suggesting that quality of school might matter more in the long run than just having lots of fun.
Anyhow, I ended up choosing the U, and also getting into a summer high school research program where I "got to" live in the old dorms during the week. I had a room in Van Cott Hall and let's just say generations of student will forever underappreciate the quality of the new dorms/Olympic Village. I spend the summer working in a genetics lab up in the Eccles Human Genetics building, where among other things, I fed fruit flies and harvest larvae. Something about the experience led me to decide that I didn't want to be a geneticist. Which left me in a bit of a quandry about what I ought to study in my time at the U.
That fall I got an apartment with a couple of my high school friends who were also going to be going to the U (I think there were only 3 of 4 of us from my graduating class who came to Salt Lake, most college-bound folks went to USU, BYU, SUU, or elsewhere), and for about a month we were just chillin' in our super cheap bachelor pad (we were paying $500/month split 4 ways). I had a variety of one-time payment scholarships, so I didn't have to work that year and just got used to the college life of homework and tests and what not. I met one of my best friends, Shawn, in my biology and calculus class (taught by KG himself, Ken Golden) and we've been great friends since then. He just lived down the hill from campus and often after classes we'd hop in my silver shuttle (1987 Toyota Mini-van) and cruise down to his place, which was infinitely nicer than mine, and then he'd kick my butt at SFII. My high school friend roommates got into a fair amount of booze and a little bit of drugs, so I was glad to have an LDS friend to relate to. Two of the four moved out at the end of the first quarter and we found random roommates by posting openings up on campus.
I was a biology major for just one quarter (this was the last year the U was on quarters) and then decided Computer Science was the life for me. Unfortunately because we were now 1 quarter into a 3 quarter year and when I got back from my mission the U would be on semesters, I couldn't really get started on coursework for my pre-reqs, other than finishing up my Calc series and taking a bunch of generals, along with an Intro CS course, taught by one of my all time favorite CS profs, JZ (Joe Zachary). The Runnin' Utes advanced to the national title game that spring, nearly winning the title.
In the spring, I got my mission call to Argentina, and enjoyed what would be the last Mayfest (what with the changing of the schedule), where Everclear came and played on the Union lawn for free, and other bands were jamming all week long. In June, I headed back home to G-ville for a couple weeks and then hit the road for two years of awesome missionary life.
Upon returning to the U, School kept me busy as I finished pre-reqs and got into the CS program. I got a job as a receptionist at the College of Pharmacy, one of my all-time favorite jobs. If only $8.00 an hour were enough to live on. :) I worked there full-time in the summer and then part-time when school was back in, including walking up there from parking down at the old dorms during the Olympics when everything up by the village was fenced in. Every day, I would watch inspectors check cars with more access than mine for explosives while I walked past with my backpack unmolested. After two summers of working there, I applied for and got a job as a Teaching Assistant in the CS program and did that for the next year and a half or so. I worked a summer job as an intern for the LDS Church doing software development and testing in the Temple Department and made some great friends there, even some who were big (but rational) BYU fans.
I still found time to see my fair share of basketball, football, and volleyball games, and still remember the first pep rally that Urban Meyer came to and had his coming out party at. In my previous years I'd never seen a coach reach out to the student body like that and his enthusiasm and confidence that something special could happen at the U were contagious. His motto of "Why not us? Why not now?" set the tone for two amazing years, spanning my last year of undergrad and my first year of grad school.
That last summer before my last semester, I started thinking that maybe grad school was something I ought to do, since people kept asking me what I was going to do with my CS degree and I didn't really know other than "be a programmer". I just wasn't sold on doing more in-depth CS stuff. Another friend of mine was telling me about this Medical Informatics thing that was like a go-between for programmers and doctors and I ended up applying for that program and getting accepted. Now, my friend Jon just started his PhD in chemistry and he spend all spring flying out to visit various programs and getting wined and dined and recruited. I didn't even know if there were other schools that had a program called Medical Informatics and whether or not the U's progras was even a good one. Turns out it's perhaps the oldest or 2nd oldest program in the country. So, I guess I could have done a better job researching my options, but I really didn't even know what I was going to be studying to be honest, much less what kind of research I would be doing to get my degree. My initial plan was just to get a Master's degree (what would I do with a PhD?) but the department made me a funding offer that I couldn't refuse that was tied to my getting a PhD. So that's how I ended up doing 5 more years of school at the U.
During my time as a grad student, I spent a lot of time off-campus, working on my research project with Intermountain Healthcare. However, I also enjoyed being a member of the Muss, and seeing the Utah football team go to, and win, 2 BCS bowl games -- twice in my 5 years, can you believe it? I enjoyed going to see Yellowcard, Mos Def, Shiny Toy Guns, Girl Talk, and Lupe Fiasco live in concert, at free or low-low prices, on the Union lawn.
Long story short, I now have a great job working for Intermountain Healthcare, one of the worldwide leaders in Informatics and Electronic Medical Records, and I'll be getting hooded this weekend, bringing an end of sorts to my time at the U. However, as you can tell from this essay, I think it's pretty clear that the U will always have a special place in my heart and I'd be very surprised if I don't still make a habit of heading up to campus on a fairly regular basis, if for nothing else, to watch the football team kick some butt. Now if I could only find season tickets for less than $300/seat.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Only 4950 tickets to go....
The more things change, the more they stay the same. This axiom is nowhere more true than at your local arcade's ticket redemption counter. Having made my first trip to the arcade at least as early as 5 years old, I've got over 20 years of arcade experience. And the crazy thing is that for the most part the things you can buy with your tickets that you've won playing Skee-ball and Whack-a-mole, and push the quarters over the edge doesn't seem to have changed much in that time. I thought I'd put together a little gallery of the typical prizes you can get for your tickets.
The spider ring -- always a classic. Not sure why anyone would want a ring that looks like a spider, but I've had my share.
The Chinese fingertrap -- the first time I got one of these, I couldn't even get it off my fingers without help from someone else. Not sure what American fingertraps look like, or why the Chinese invented these.
The candy necklace -- Those are some pretty high quality candy circles there. I nearly busted a tooth or two on these.
or if you feel necklaces aren't manly enough... the candy watch -- similar to the necklace but with that gigantic tooth-busting watch in the middle.
The sliding number puzzle -- worst case you can always pry the tiles out and rearrange them correctly.
The bouncy ball -- still fun even at my age.
The popper -- great fun for all ages. Like a time-delayed bouncy ball.
The stencil ruler -- Honestly, who has ever actually used one of these. You can barely fit a pen through those holes and the actual shapes ends up being tiny even in comparison to the tiny shape on the ruler.
The monster finger puppet -- These were always great fun for no particular reason. Its just cool to have a monster on your finger.
The levitating snake -- I am still fascinated by these.
The friendship bracelet -- with neon colors straight from the 80s. Don't let those knots come untied, because nobody knows how to put those back together.
The parachuting army man -- if only there was some place high enough to throw these from. Usually you just end up wadding up the parachute and throwing the guy into the air and hoping the 'chute opened up enough for him to get some good glide time.
The Styrofoam airplane - I think we used to get one of these almost every time we went to the planetarium. They actually fly pretty good, and you can make them do loops if you mess with the rear stabilizer wing.
and its counterpart, the Styrofoam bird -- Personally, I prefer the plane with its plastic propeller nose to this guy, but this one is still fun and if you are more of a nature buff, there's usually at least two different birds to choose from.
and then in the back behind the counter up on the shelf for **5000 TICKETS**....
the ghetto blaster -- OK, so this one probably isn't still up there on the back shelf, but only because its not even worth 10 tickets nowadays what with everyone owning an ipod. Its not like anyone ever got one of those in real life. Well maybe they did, but it wasn't someone like me who only got to an arcade once or twice a year.
I hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane as much as I did. I found a couple websites that sell most of these things (and many more) in bulk. I'm sure I left off somethings that you might remember, especially the girly stuff that I always just skipped right past. I'm sure there were some butterfly erasers or something that were popular for the little girls. Feel free to let me know what I've missed in the comments.
The spider ring -- always a classic. Not sure why anyone would want a ring that looks like a spider, but I've had my share.
The Chinese fingertrap -- the first time I got one of these, I couldn't even get it off my fingers without help from someone else. Not sure what American fingertraps look like, or why the Chinese invented these.
The candy necklace -- Those are some pretty high quality candy circles there. I nearly busted a tooth or two on these.
or if you feel necklaces aren't manly enough... the candy watch -- similar to the necklace but with that gigantic tooth-busting watch in the middle.
The sliding number puzzle -- worst case you can always pry the tiles out and rearrange them correctly.
The bouncy ball -- still fun even at my age.
The popper -- great fun for all ages. Like a time-delayed bouncy ball.
The stencil ruler -- Honestly, who has ever actually used one of these. You can barely fit a pen through those holes and the actual shapes ends up being tiny even in comparison to the tiny shape on the ruler.
The monster finger puppet -- These were always great fun for no particular reason. Its just cool to have a monster on your finger.
The levitating snake -- I am still fascinated by these.
The friendship bracelet -- with neon colors straight from the 80s. Don't let those knots come untied, because nobody knows how to put those back together.
The parachuting army man -- if only there was some place high enough to throw these from. Usually you just end up wadding up the parachute and throwing the guy into the air and hoping the 'chute opened up enough for him to get some good glide time.
The Styrofoam airplane - I think we used to get one of these almost every time we went to the planetarium. They actually fly pretty good, and you can make them do loops if you mess with the rear stabilizer wing.
and its counterpart, the Styrofoam bird -- Personally, I prefer the plane with its plastic propeller nose to this guy, but this one is still fun and if you are more of a nature buff, there's usually at least two different birds to choose from.
and then in the back behind the counter up on the shelf for **5000 TICKETS**....
the ghetto blaster -- OK, so this one probably isn't still up there on the back shelf, but only because its not even worth 10 tickets nowadays what with everyone owning an ipod. Its not like anyone ever got one of those in real life. Well maybe they did, but it wasn't someone like me who only got to an arcade once or twice a year.
I hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane as much as I did. I found a couple websites that sell most of these things (and many more) in bulk. I'm sure I left off somethings that you might remember, especially the girly stuff that I always just skipped right past. I'm sure there were some butterfly erasers or something that were popular for the little girls. Feel free to let me know what I've missed in the comments.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Classic Cartoon Countdown #1: Transformers
Well, I can only drag this thing out so long. If it seems as though I've been neglecting this blog lately, its only because I've been out of town so much lately, first to California and then this week to Nashville. And while I had visions of cranking out a few more honorable mentions, I can't justify putting the actual countdown off any further, so they'll have to go mentionless. Without further ado, I give you the #1 Classic Cartoon of my childhood: The Transformers
Transformers! More than meets the eye!
The Autobots were mainly cars and were the good guys.
The leader of the Autobots was Optimus Prime a big rig truck who in his robot form was only the main engine part of the truck. Where the trailer portion of his truck form came from I never knew. Just when he would transform it would come out of nowhere.
The Decepticons were the bad guys and were a bit more versatile in their forms, although they had a large fleet of jets that was probably their core transformation.
The leader of the Decepticons was Megatron, a robot that transformed into a gun that was like a hundred times smaller than his robot form. He would transform into the gun, and one of the other Decepticons would shoot the gun. In addition to the jets there was also a guy who changed into a tape recorder (Soundwave), and he had some little mini-decepticons who were the tapes and would come out and turn into a dog or a bat and attack the Autobots.
Soundwave
Somehow these robots came from outer space and were here on the earth battling each other. There were always some humans around for us to relate to, and I remember learning from this show that being inside a car during a lightning storm is good because the rubber tires keep you grounded.
Eventually, to keep the interest of the viewers, some new subgroups of robots were introduced. The ones I most remember were the Dinobots, who were autobots who turned into dinosaurs; the Constructicons, decepticons who transformed into construction vehicles, but also could merge all together in Voltron-like fashion to make one super robot; the Aerialbots, Autobots who were jets, and who also formed some uber-robot; and the Insecticons, Decepticon insect robots.
The Constructicons
Transformers was a great show and I really enjoyed it until perhaps they got too successful for their own good. At some point, a Transformers movie was made for theatrical release. I remember we were really excited about it, but never actually went to see it. (We usually only went to 1 or 2 movies a year when I was growing up.) I've still never actually seen this Transformers movie, but there must have been some huge plot points, because after the movie came out, the entire cartoon changed a ton. Most notably Optimus Prime had been replaced by a robot named Rodimus Prime, but also there were some new weird space robots and we never could really figure out what was going on and who everyone was. So we lost interest and stopped watching it. I'm not sure whose idea it was for the movie to completely change the plot of the TV show and leave some of us lost and bewildered.
As I've been reliving this memories from my childhood, I find that a lot of the shows I used to watch were thinly veiled commercials for the toys that were affiliated with the shows. But apparently the veil was thick enough that I never really felt that way about the show. In fact, I always felt that the toys were just a way for us to relive our favorite moments from the shows. That said, the Transformers were by far the coolest toys ever associated with a cartoon. Toys that transformed from robots into jets, cars, guns, tape recorders, even dinosaurs and insects.
I remember one year making a list of Christmas gifts I would like that included probably 20 different transformers. Not that I expected to get them all, just that I would have been happy with any of them. The only drawback I can remember to the toys was that you had to put all the stickers on yourself, and it was no easy task to get them all lined up in the right spot without them getting stuck misaligned. Getting those stickers right could make or break the look of your Transformer and it was a stressful first 30 minutes of having the toy as you got it all set up. I remember my older brother got the whole set of Constructicons one year, and one of the pieces was kind of tricky to transform, at least tricky enough that I broke it once and had to pay to replace it.
The Transformers truly were a great show with a great line of toys associated with it. And for that they have earned the #1 spot on my Classic Cartoon Countdown.
***********************************************
Here's the final countdown:
#10: Underdog
#9: Thundercats
#8: G.I. Joe
#7: Superfriends
#6: Scooby's All Star Laff-a-lympics
#5: Voltron
#4: X-men
#3: Looney Tunes
#2: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
#1: Transformers
Stay tuned next week for a brand new Friday feature.
Transformers! More than meets the eye!
The Autobots were mainly cars and were the good guys.
The leader of the Autobots was Optimus Prime a big rig truck who in his robot form was only the main engine part of the truck. Where the trailer portion of his truck form came from I never knew. Just when he would transform it would come out of nowhere.
The Decepticons were the bad guys and were a bit more versatile in their forms, although they had a large fleet of jets that was probably their core transformation.
The leader of the Decepticons was Megatron, a robot that transformed into a gun that was like a hundred times smaller than his robot form. He would transform into the gun, and one of the other Decepticons would shoot the gun. In addition to the jets there was also a guy who changed into a tape recorder (Soundwave), and he had some little mini-decepticons who were the tapes and would come out and turn into a dog or a bat and attack the Autobots.
Soundwave
Somehow these robots came from outer space and were here on the earth battling each other. There were always some humans around for us to relate to, and I remember learning from this show that being inside a car during a lightning storm is good because the rubber tires keep you grounded.
Eventually, to keep the interest of the viewers, some new subgroups of robots were introduced. The ones I most remember were the Dinobots, who were autobots who turned into dinosaurs; the Constructicons, decepticons who transformed into construction vehicles, but also could merge all together in Voltron-like fashion to make one super robot; the Aerialbots, Autobots who were jets, and who also formed some uber-robot; and the Insecticons, Decepticon insect robots.
The Constructicons
Transformers was a great show and I really enjoyed it until perhaps they got too successful for their own good. At some point, a Transformers movie was made for theatrical release. I remember we were really excited about it, but never actually went to see it. (We usually only went to 1 or 2 movies a year when I was growing up.) I've still never actually seen this Transformers movie, but there must have been some huge plot points, because after the movie came out, the entire cartoon changed a ton. Most notably Optimus Prime had been replaced by a robot named Rodimus Prime, but also there were some new weird space robots and we never could really figure out what was going on and who everyone was. So we lost interest and stopped watching it. I'm not sure whose idea it was for the movie to completely change the plot of the TV show and leave some of us lost and bewildered.
As I've been reliving this memories from my childhood, I find that a lot of the shows I used to watch were thinly veiled commercials for the toys that were affiliated with the shows. But apparently the veil was thick enough that I never really felt that way about the show. In fact, I always felt that the toys were just a way for us to relive our favorite moments from the shows. That said, the Transformers were by far the coolest toys ever associated with a cartoon. Toys that transformed from robots into jets, cars, guns, tape recorders, even dinosaurs and insects.
I remember one year making a list of Christmas gifts I would like that included probably 20 different transformers. Not that I expected to get them all, just that I would have been happy with any of them. The only drawback I can remember to the toys was that you had to put all the stickers on yourself, and it was no easy task to get them all lined up in the right spot without them getting stuck misaligned. Getting those stickers right could make or break the look of your Transformer and it was a stressful first 30 minutes of having the toy as you got it all set up. I remember my older brother got the whole set of Constructicons one year, and one of the pieces was kind of tricky to transform, at least tricky enough that I broke it once and had to pay to replace it.
The Transformers truly were a great show with a great line of toys associated with it. And for that they have earned the #1 spot on my Classic Cartoon Countdown.
***********************************************
Here's the final countdown:
#10: Underdog
#9: Thundercats
#8: G.I. Joe
#7: Superfriends
#6: Scooby's All Star Laff-a-lympics
#5: Voltron
#4: X-men
#3: Looney Tunes
#2: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
#1: Transformers
Stay tuned next week for a brand new Friday feature.
Friday, June 16, 2006
Classic Cartoon Countdown #2: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
I am Adam. Prince of Eternia and keeper of the secrets of Castle Greyskull. This is Cringer... my fearless friend.
Fabulous secret powers were revealed to me the day I held aloft my magic sword...
...and said... By the power of Greyskull!
Only a few others share this secret... The Sorceress...
...Man-At-Arms...
and Orko.
Together we defend Castle Greyskull from the evil forces of Skeletor.
I'm really not sure that much else needs to be said. I think the intro speaks for itself. But maybe I'll just say that He-man was a show that I loved to watch every afternoon. This cartoon is just recently becoming available on DVD, so maybe I'll have to check that out sometime. He-man always had plenty of chances to get rid of Skeletor. Pretty much every week, he'd have Skeletor hanging off a cliff or something, only to let him go.
He-man had some of the coolest toys of all the shows out there. Every action figure had its own unique feature it seemed. There was the cobra guy who shot "acid" (I guess if you had some kind of acid you could use that instead of water), I had a lizard guy with a tail you could whip around, there was a two headed guy, a guy with three different faces (Man-E-Faces, I believe was his name), Ram Man, who had a spring inside so you could launch him just like in the show. The Orko figure I had had a little zip cord thing to make him move around on his own, plus it came with a magic trick. There was even a line of He-man figures that featured a rotating chest piece that showed battle damage! There were tons of unique figures to get. Of course there were a few lame ones. Our neighbors had a Prince Adam figure, and someone I knew had a Teela figure. Who wants a girl action figure? Girls?
And we haven't even got to the castles yet. You could get the Castle Greyskull or Skeletor's castle and they each had some cool features. I especially remember Skeletor's castle had a microphone that you could use to change your voice to sound kind of Skeletor-ish. How cool is that?
The success of the cartoon inspired a theatrical released movie that was a huuuuuuuuuuuuuge disappointment. Basically, He-man and Skeletor came to our world and did some stuff, but they were the only characters from the cartoon who even showed up. Not sure who thought this would be a good idea. Maybe Los Angeles (or wherever it was set) was easier to get to for filming than Eternia. Whatever the case was, I'm sure children across the country shared a collective, "huh?" upon viewing this film.
***********************************************
One quick note regarding the countdown. In American Idol-esque fashion, you'll have to wait a little more to find out what is #1. I'm leaving tomorrow morning for a family vacation to California (Oceanside) and will likely be without internet for approximately 8 days. I can only imagine the number of emails I'll have in my Inbox when I return (2? 3?), but I'll also be unable to post to the blog. And I'll only be in town for 1 day before I leave for a conference in Nashville, so I can't promise that you'll know the winner until two weeks from today at the earliest. On that note...Big Digital, out.
***********************************************
Here's the updated countdown:
#10: Underdog
#9: Thundercats
#8: G.I. Joe
#7: Superfriends
#6: Scooby's All Star Laff-a-lympics
#5: Voltron
#4: X-men
#3: Looney Tunes
#2: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
Fabulous secret powers were revealed to me the day I held aloft my magic sword...
...and said... By the power of Greyskull!
Only a few others share this secret... The Sorceress...
...Man-At-Arms...
and Orko.
Together we defend Castle Greyskull from the evil forces of Skeletor.
I'm really not sure that much else needs to be said. I think the intro speaks for itself. But maybe I'll just say that He-man was a show that I loved to watch every afternoon. This cartoon is just recently becoming available on DVD, so maybe I'll have to check that out sometime. He-man always had plenty of chances to get rid of Skeletor. Pretty much every week, he'd have Skeletor hanging off a cliff or something, only to let him go.
He-man had some of the coolest toys of all the shows out there. Every action figure had its own unique feature it seemed. There was the cobra guy who shot "acid" (I guess if you had some kind of acid you could use that instead of water), I had a lizard guy with a tail you could whip around, there was a two headed guy, a guy with three different faces (Man-E-Faces, I believe was his name), Ram Man, who had a spring inside so you could launch him just like in the show. The Orko figure I had had a little zip cord thing to make him move around on his own, plus it came with a magic trick. There was even a line of He-man figures that featured a rotating chest piece that showed battle damage! There were tons of unique figures to get. Of course there were a few lame ones. Our neighbors had a Prince Adam figure, and someone I knew had a Teela figure. Who wants a girl action figure? Girls?
And we haven't even got to the castles yet. You could get the Castle Greyskull or Skeletor's castle and they each had some cool features. I especially remember Skeletor's castle had a microphone that you could use to change your voice to sound kind of Skeletor-ish. How cool is that?
The success of the cartoon inspired a theatrical released movie that was a huuuuuuuuuuuuuge disappointment. Basically, He-man and Skeletor came to our world and did some stuff, but they were the only characters from the cartoon who even showed up. Not sure who thought this would be a good idea. Maybe Los Angeles (or wherever it was set) was easier to get to for filming than Eternia. Whatever the case was, I'm sure children across the country shared a collective, "huh?" upon viewing this film.
***********************************************
One quick note regarding the countdown. In American Idol-esque fashion, you'll have to wait a little more to find out what is #1. I'm leaving tomorrow morning for a family vacation to California (Oceanside) and will likely be without internet for approximately 8 days. I can only imagine the number of emails I'll have in my Inbox when I return (2? 3?), but I'll also be unable to post to the blog. And I'll only be in town for 1 day before I leave for a conference in Nashville, so I can't promise that you'll know the winner until two weeks from today at the earliest. On that note...Big Digital, out.
***********************************************
Here's the updated countdown:
#10: Underdog
#9: Thundercats
#8: G.I. Joe
#7: Superfriends
#6: Scooby's All Star Laff-a-lympics
#5: Voltron
#4: X-men
#3: Looney Tunes
#2: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
Friday, June 02, 2006
Classic Cartoon Countdown #4: X-Men
If only I'd made the X-men #5 on my list I could have coordinated this entry with last week's huge opening of X-men 3: The Last Stand, which I saw on Monday by the way, and thought was pretty entertaining.
Movies, aside, I'm pretty sure the only reason that I am even a fan of the X-men is because of the Saturday morning cartoon that used to come on. It introduced me to the likes of Professor Xavier, Wolverine, Storm, Rogue, Gambit, Jubilee, Beast, Cyclops, Jean Grey, along with such badguys as Magneto, Mr. Sinister, Apocalypse, and the ever present sentinels.
There were several different plotlines explored during the run of the show, and I never was able to follow one of them, but I remember parts of the stories of the Phoenix, the X-men going to some island where there were dinosaur people living, the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, Wolverine going to Japan, and even one where Magneto had teamed up with the X-men, at least I think I remember that.
I think the coolest thing about the X-men is that they are like the other all-star shows I've already mentioned (Superfriends, Laff-a-lympics) except that they were designed that way from the beginning, so they are more likely to compliment each other in terms of personality and abilities.
And beyond anything else you might say about this cartoon, it was just so freakin' cool. I'm sure that a large portion of the recent film trilogy's success can be attributed to the fact that this cartoon was one of the sweetest ones that ever hit the airwaves.
Here's the updated countdown:
#10: Underdog
#9: Thundercats
#8: G.I. Joe
#7: Superfriends
#6: Scooby's All Star Laff-a-lympics
#5: Voltron
#4: X-men
Friday, May 26, 2006
Classic Cartoon Countdown #5: Voltron
Among the classics cartoons of my childhood, a special place belongs to Voltron. For any of you who somehow aren't already familiar with this show, basically there were some evil space bad guys trying to take over the universe, and Voltron was a robot designed to defend the universe against these kinds of threats. Then, somehow this robot was broken up into 5 pieces (lion-shaped robots) that required someone to drive them and put them together to form Voltron.
5 space explorers were sent to the planet where the lion robots were to be the ones who would put Voltron together in time of need. The explorers were:
Keith (Red suit, black lion). He was the leader of the Voltron force and also the pilot of the black lion that formed the head and torso of Voltron.
Lance (Blue suit, red lion). He's the wiseguy of group, cracking jokes and what not. He pilots the red lion that forms the arm of Voltron that holds his Blazing Sword.
Pidge (Green suit, green lion). Pidge is the little kid of the group. I personally, was never sure whether Pidge was a boy or a girl. The clothes Pidge wears often feature some kind of fringy trim, and Pidge is often shown with some kind of headband or barrette holding his (her?) hair in place. The green lion forms one of Voltron's arms.
I'm supposed to believe this is a boy?
Hunk (Yellow suit, yellow lion). Hunk is the strongest member of Voltron force and pilot of the yellow lion that forms one of Voltron's legs. Spends a lot of time hanging out with Pidge.
Princess Allura (pink suit, blue lion). Princess Allura is the reigning royalty on the planet where the Voltron robot is. Originally, I'm not sure for how long, the blue lion was piloted by a guy in a black suit named Swen who was injured in an attack which forced Allura to take over piloting the blue lion, and also resulted her being the token female (we're still not sure about Pidge) on Voltron force. She often talks to some mice who live in her castle. Oh, the blue lion is one of Voltron's legs.
Note: You can see Swen in this picture. He's in the black suit.
Pretty much each episode consisted of the evil space people coming up with a plan to stop the Voltron force from forming Voltron, then sending a giant space monster down to the surface of the planet in a large coffin shaped landing pod. This giant would then get ready to wreak havoc, which would spur the Voltron force to enter their lion robots -- each of which came from a special color-themed location on the planet. The blue lion was under water, the red lion was in a lava cave, the green lion was in the woods, the yellow lion was in the desert, and the black lion was disguised as a statue in front of the castle.
Then, in their separate lion robots the Voltron force would attempt to defeat the monster, unsuccessfully of course. Then they would, wisely, decide to join together as Voltron, which resulted in this impressive checklist of technical jargon:
"Ready to form Voltron! Activate interlock! Dynatherms connected! Infracells up! Megathrusters are go!"
Then the lion robots all came together to form Voltron, who then proceeded to use a variety of again unsuccessful attack methods (shooting lasers, launching limbs at the monster, etc.) before finally deciding to "Form the Blazing Sword!" which was the ultimate weapon in the universe and always successful in dispatching anything that dared to defy it.
Some thoughts about Voltron:
-Why didn't they just always go straight to the full-on Voltron with Blazing Sword attached mode? Seems like it would have saved them some time.
-Why would the people who wanted to control the universe always attack the planet Voltron was on? He didn't seem to be capable of space travel (maybe I'm wrong) so why not just move on and leave him alone?
-The "live action" children's show Power Rangers was such a blatant Voltron rip-off that the first time I watched it I predicted the appearance of a blazing sword and was shocked to be right. The only real difference between these two shows was that the Power Rangers had different kinds of animal robots that went together to form the big robot.
Here's the updated countdown:
#10: Underdog
#9: Thundercats
#8: G.I. Joe
#7: Superfriends
#6: Scooby's All Star Laff-a-lympics
#5: Voltron
Friday, May 19, 2006
Classic Cartoon Countdown #6: Scooby's All Star Laff-a-lympics
Similar to last week's entry (The Superfriends), this week's entry is another all star cartoon of sorts. Scooby's All Star Laff-a-lympics was a show where in each episode 3 teams of Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters would travel the globe participating in Olympic style competition. At the end of each episode, one team would be declared the victor and get the gold medal.
The three teams were the Scooby Doobies, the Yogi Yahooeys, and the Really Rottens. The choice of who went on each of the first two teams seemed fairly arbitrary, and of course the Rottens were made up of bad guys and villains from a variety of cartoon shows.
I can't recall everyone on each team, but I know the Scooby Doobies had Scooby Doo, Shaggy, Scooby Dumb, Dynomutt and Blue Falcon, Hong Kong Phooey, and Captain Caveman. Yogi's team included Yogi Bear, Booboo Bear, Cindy Bear, Quick Draw McGraw, Huckleberry Hound, Augie Doggie, Doggie Daddy, Wally Gator, and the Grape Ape. The Really Rottens were made up mainly original characters including such baddies as Mumbly Mutt, the Dread Baron, an evil magician named the Great Fondoo and his magic rabbit, and Orful Octopus.
For each event, each team would pick a team member or two to compete. The Really Rottens, shockingly would usually try to cheat to win, but more often than not would get caught and lose points as a result. The other two teams seemed to win fairly often, although the Scooby Doobies won more than the Yogi Yahooeys.
Overall I thought this show was a lot of fun to watch, as each episode had a brand new variety of events and it was always interesting to see who from each team would participate in the event and how their specific abilities would affect their performance.
Some credit for this entry is owed to Wikipedia and this page.
Here's the updated countdown:
#10: Underdog
#9: Thundercats
#8: G.I. Joe
#7: Superfriends
#6: Scooby's All Star Laff-a-lympics
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Classic Cartoon Countdown Honorable Mention: Star Wars Droids
Star Wars Droids: The Adventures of C-3PO and R2-D2 is a cartoon that I remember as being exciting because anything to do with Star Wars back then was exciting. Basically this cartoon was set in the time before Episode IV and after the yet to be made Episodes I-III. C-3PO and R2-D2 basically were on their own looking for someone to be their master. They'd find someone and spend a few episodes with that master before circumstances led to their moving on to finding a new master.
Not much stands out to me from this series, other than somehow through this series I was informed that C-3PO and R2-D2 were characters in each of the Star Wars plots that George Lucas had written, even though at this point I don't know that Eps. I-III had even been green lighted for production.
Also of note, Anthony Daniels,the actor who voiced C-3PO in the movies, was also his voice in this cartoon.
Friday, May 12, 2006
Classic Cartoon Countdown #7: Superfriends
The Superfriends cartoon was, in my opinion, pretty much one of the coolest ideas ever in cartoon history. Get all the superheros together as one all-star team of heroes and pit them against all their individual arch-enemies and some collective enemies. How could this fail to work? If you ask me, it didn't.
Basically, you've got the Justice League of America (Good thing America is always there to save the world and even the universe at times. You can't tell me the UN could put together a team like this.) consisting primarily of:
Superman
Batman
Robin
Wonder Woman
Aquaman
Green Lantern
Flash
Hawkman
Apache Chief
Black Vulcan
Samurai
They are based out of the Hall of Justice
Their enemies go by the name of the Legion of Doom and include such baddies as:
Lex Luthor
Brainiac
The Riddler
Scarecrow
Bizarro
Cheetah
The Toyman
Sinestro
Black Manta
Captain Cold
Giganta
Grodd
Solomon Grundy
They hole up in a little place that looks like this:
While logic might imply that someone like Superman would be sufficient to handle any number of bad guys, but luckily logic doesn't need to enter into the argument when cartoons are in the mix. Each episode allows different superheros and supervillains to take center stage and often allows them to team up with exciting results.
The lists above do not include some heroes who also appeared in some of the other seasons. I remember the Atom, Green Arrow, and some kind of girl that hung out with Green Arrow. A large number of these comic book heroes (and villains) I would probably have never heard of if not for this show. It allowed these lesser known supes to get their day in the sun, while drawing in those of us who'd never heard of the get to them know them along with folks we'd already heard of before.
Here's the updated countdown:
#10: Underdog
#9: Thundercats
#8: G.I. Joe
#7: Superfriends
Basically, you've got the Justice League of America (Good thing America is always there to save the world and even the universe at times. You can't tell me the UN could put together a team like this.) consisting primarily of:
Superman
Batman
Robin
Wonder Woman
Aquaman
Green Lantern
Flash
Hawkman
Apache Chief
Black Vulcan
Samurai
They are based out of the Hall of Justice
Their enemies go by the name of the Legion of Doom and include such baddies as:
Lex Luthor
Brainiac
The Riddler
Scarecrow
Bizarro
Cheetah
The Toyman
Sinestro
Black Manta
Captain Cold
Giganta
Grodd
Solomon Grundy
They hole up in a little place that looks like this:
While logic might imply that someone like Superman would be sufficient to handle any number of bad guys, but luckily logic doesn't need to enter into the argument when cartoons are in the mix. Each episode allows different superheros and supervillains to take center stage and often allows them to team up with exciting results.
The lists above do not include some heroes who also appeared in some of the other seasons. I remember the Atom, Green Arrow, and some kind of girl that hung out with Green Arrow. A large number of these comic book heroes (and villains) I would probably have never heard of if not for this show. It allowed these lesser known supes to get their day in the sun, while drawing in those of us who'd never heard of the get to them know them along with folks we'd already heard of before.
Here's the updated countdown:
#10: Underdog
#9: Thundercats
#8: G.I. Joe
#7: Superfriends
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Classic Cartoon Countdown Honorable Mention: Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a Saturday morning cartoon that does not seem to have had the syndicated success that some of the other cartoons of its era enjoyed, but was certainly an interesting show. At least to my and my brother. I'm sure some if its popularity with us was due to the fact that our favorite babysitter happened to be familiar with the whole D&D scene and even ended up leaving us his multi-sided die collection (He left us with 4-, 8-, 12-, and 20-sided dies).
The premise of the show was that a group of kids were on a Dungeons & Dragons ride at an amusement park (don't ask me why an amusement park would have a D&D ride) and somehow got teleported over into the real realm of Dungeons & Dragons with each kid being assigned to a certain character class (Ranger, Thief, Acrobat, Barbarian, etc.)
Their main goal always was to return home again, but each week they needed to achieve some other objective either as a step towards their return home or as some kind of side quest that resulted from their desire to help everyone in their path or avoiding one of their several antagonists. Each week the Dungeon Master popped up and gave them some cryptic advice on how to try to get home next, only to disappear just as magically.
One of their enemies were Venger, a fairly evil looking dude who looked like the bad guy in Legend but with only one horn.
Another was Tiamat, the 5-headed chimera dragon with different heads that each spit different bad things (Fire, Ice, Lightning, Acid, and Toxic Gas).
I distinctly remember one episode where the kids managed to make it back to the amusement park, but one of their friends had been turned into a Merman of sorts, so they returned back because they didn't want him to have to remain a merman in the real world.
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