Arrested Development season 4 episode 1: "Flight of the Phoenix"

The rise of the phoenix, or the fall of an empire?

I don't know. I've only seen the first two episodes so far. It seems wrong to judge this season's individual episodes, especially considering just how many holes are present in episodes 1-2 and the fact that the season was designed as a single anthology for viewers to piece together in a larger entity. But I am impatient, bored, and so many of the best "Arrested" ideas come from single episodes that I'm going to run through a few points from the "premiere" anyway (Buster, GOB, the train, Tiny Town, the jetpack, the mole, the Japanese investors, the surrogate - all from a single episode!)

Highlights:
-Ron Howard
-Kristen Wiig as young Lucille
- Cinco de Cuatro and everything about this holiday
-Michael sending George Michael off to college in the staircar with a banner
-Michael having had a year of law school before George Michael was born with an minor emphasis on maritime law
-Every image and joke associated with maritime law and "You're a Crook Captain Hook!" especially Lucille being referred to as a "seaward/c-word matriarch"
-GOB living in the abandoned model home with someone...
-GOB and forgetmenows
-The LA reporter, John Beard
-The wee-Britain BBC2 O.C. reporter
-The "Michael B." company
-Buster losing his jewels
-Michael and George Michael's relationship and communication issues
-Michael's absolute hatred of George Michael's new Asian roommate "T-Hound"
-George Michael doing his best Jesse Eisenberg-as-Zuckerberg impression
-The mysteries: just a few like, Who is doing what during that Cinco de Cuatro celebration? Why does Michael go back at the end of season 3? Why does Lucille turn the Queen Mary around at the end of season 3? Why do we see George Sr. go into GOB's drugstore after GOB? What is the camera crew doing on campus around George Michael and Michael? What does Michael do in Phoenix? What is the real status of George Michael and Maeby's relationship?
-The mural Michael passes in the Phoenix airport
-The discussion about tipping African Americans

Lowlights:
-Seth Rogan
-The timeline details don't quite seem to make sense, yet
-I'm kind of tired of money and the Bluth company's issues driving everything
-Lucille's legal status is...unclear
-The watermark joke about piracy isn't very clear or well-done
-Michael hitting rock bottom with Lucille 2 isn't as "rock bottom" as I would hope to see

And...it's back. We get more Bluths. I think I'm going to have a hard time fighting my own brain today and tomorrow with the rest of the "season" because one part of my brain wants everything to be so smart and fast and subtle and fit together as perfectly as seasons 1-3, but the other part also recognizes just how batshit crazy seasons 1-3 were, so reason and logic need not be barriers to quality, especially when viewing cumulatively. So, for example, when in episode 2 it seems as if George Sr.'s lemonade-seminar-sweatlodge-RV living-Oscar abusing-Roger Sterling drugtripping-hippieChloeGailTheSnailing operation in the desert apparently lasts a full year, I want to know what the hell is everyone else doing for a year that George is just off on his own, and if this year is between 2006-2007 or 2012-2013...But then it just overwhelms me that I'm not far enough in or appreciating this all enough, so I stop and write this all to help see and say that more "Arrested" is a dream come true and by the end of episode 15 I will see the new episodes as a brilliant exercise in comedy and pop culture. I hope.

Navajo Star Wars!

So, it looks like Star Wars is being dubbed in Navajo:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/02/entertainment-us-usa-arizona-starwars-idUSBRE94101P20130502?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews

So many questions! Will Luke give that classic guttural Navajo "Noooooo!!" when Darth Vader says he is his father? Will Darth Vader go, "Gawwwwwww, the force is STRONG with this one!"

Ha! Of course not. They're dubbing it in Navajo, not in English.

Will they go with the emotions expressed in the movie or will Princess Leia have all the sopping-wet-sponge-enthusiasm of a Bashas grocery clerk in her voice?

Only time will tell, I guess!

Win a Boros Reckoner! Deck building contest

I have not played much Magic: the Gathering lately, and in fact even missed the pre-release for the latest expansion set ("Dragon's Maze"). So I have some cards left over from the Gatecrash pre-release (which was the last time I played), and I thought "I want to give these away." But randomly giving them away is stupid, and thus, a contest!

The Contest:
Build a 100-card Commander/EDH deck featuring Borborygmos Enraged as your general on TappedOut.net, including an explanation of how the deck would ideally work. Post a link to this deck in the comments section. I will review and judge the decks based on potential effectiveness, fun, and originality.

The Deadline:
All decklists should be submitted by 11:59 PM on 5/31/2013. You know, the end of May.

The Prize(s):
The Grand Prize will be your very own copies of Borborygmos Enraged and Hellkite Tyrant. And, to motivate you to actually enter, a Boros Reckoner. I'll also give out prizes for Most Effective, Most Fun, and Most Original. These prizes will contain one rare and a few commons and uncommons.

The Rules:
Enter only one deck per person, please. Also Borborygmos Enraged has to be your general. That's pretty much it.
Also feel free to post comments on other people's decks.
Have fun!

Being a Part of Majority Culture (and how it can blind you)

This last Sunday I visited a largely-African-American Baptist church congregation for their Sunday worship service. I came as a visitor of my friend and co-worker, Mike, and the whole experience made me think a ton about majority/minority culture and church.

The first thing that struck me about the service was that it was an entire experience not only of a certain "style" of worship/tradition, but that of a completely different culture than I have known in any previous churches. I have been to MANY different types of Christian churches, from Pentecostal to more ecumenical, and although these have differed in varying degrees from one another, there was a general sense that these are shared a singular "culture" of church. This African-American Baptist church, on the other hand, while it shared many things in common with other churches I have been to, was VERY distinctive in its overall cultural feel. And it was beautiful.

And it helped bring me to a greater understanding of the appreciation of the value of that culture, and how that appreciation could easily result in hostility which could easily be mistranslated into racism. This particular church, while mostly African-American, is welcoming and open to people of all races and colors, and I felt very welcomed.  However, I have heard of many other African-American churches (and this is confirmed by Mike) that are less-than-open to non-African-Americans joining their church. Previously, my thought on this was, "That seems kind of racist, but I guess I can see how there'd be some mistrust there..."  My thought now, having witnessed this church culture firsthand, is now more along the lines of, "Yes, I can see why there would be hostility towards cultural outsiders, because I would certainly want to preserve this cultural uniqueness that is based on a shared history and experience with others in my culture."

And fears that outsiders may come in and change this culture are not unfounded. Let's face it: the majority culture DOES tend to homogenize as many things as possible to itself. This is not necessarily intentional or malicious, but it does happen.

In summary, I found it interesting that, being a part of majority church culture in the past, I was more or less blind or unaware of the existence of completely unique culture within churches that goes beyond simple music or preaching or worship style. Why? Because as a "part" of "majority" culture (i.e., I'm white), I didn't see it as "culture", but rather as simple objective reality. Having now stepped OUTSIDE of this majority culture, it is obvious that it is also a "culture", and easier to understand why OTHER cultures would be wary of those who would (again, intentionally or not) affect change that altered their own culture or attempted to homogenize it to majority culture.

So, in a sense, I was an outsider to much of this culture, but I still felt very welcomed and was able to enjoy the service in the cultural tradition that I DO share in common, which is that of Christianity. While this church IS definitively African-American in the cultural tradition of its services (and in that sense, I will always be an "outsider"), it is so in the context of being, first and foremost, of a CHRISTIAN tradition, and in that sense I felt right at home, and will likely go back, and hopefully continue to learn and grow into the culture of Christianity, which transcends all cultures.

All the Cars, Part 7: 1981 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Brougham diesel

Car/Body/Engine: 1981 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Brougham / 2-doors, coupe / 5.7L V8 diesel engine, 120 HP

Features: 3-speed AT, A/C, RWD, seats 5

Owned?: yes

Purchased for/from: Traded my (non-functional) 1981 Ford Escort and my 1983 Dodge Ramcharger for it with a guy who wanted a truck and wanted to fix the Escort.

Summary: Easily the most balanced (between power and miles per gallon) diesel vehicle I have owned, as well as the most powerful. Delivers a fairly consistent 23-27 miles per gallon of diesel, has no trouble accelerating to freeway speeds (and beyond). Front seats are comfortable, although the cushions are worn, while rear seats are extremely comfortable, as they still have nearly-fresh cushions. The most trouble-free diesel vehicle I have owned thus far, and the only one with consistently-working air conditioning.

What I Like: Everything works, plenty of power, reasonable fuel economy, comfortable, reliable, unique and somewhat rare.

What I Don't Like: I would like to someday get the vinyl topper replaced as well as paint the outside and restore the interior. Ideally, I would also fix the cruise control.

What Happened to It: Sold to a guy from California, who was going to use its smog-exempt status to make it into a gasoline-powered sleeper car.

All the Cars, Part 6: 1983 Dodge Ramcharger

Car/Body/Engine: 1983 Dodge Ramcharger, 2-doors, hatchback / 5.2L V8 gasoline engine, 143 HP

Features: 3-speed AT, RWD/4WD, seats 5

Owned?: yes

Purchased for/from: $750 from a guy with lots of vehicles in his front yard.

Summary: Purchased for snowy roads on a motor delivery route. Used as rarely as possible for that purpose, as the 10-12 miles per gallon of gas essentially negated any money I made delivering on the days I drove it.

What I Liked: Lots of room, powerful 4WD system (rarely got stuck anywhere), sweet-sounding engine.

What I Didn't Like: Terrible fuel economy, HORRIBLE snow/slick road control UNLESS in 4WD.

What Happened to It: Traded (along with my non-functional 1981 Ford Escort) for my current car, a 1981 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Brougham diesel.

All the Cars, Part 5: 1981 Ford Escort

You may remember my series of posts describing the various cars I've owned over the years. I realized that I now have 3 additional parts of this series to write. So here goes...

Car/Body/Engine: 1981 Ford Escort, 2-doors, hatchback / 1.6L 4I gasoline engine, 68 HP

Features: 4-speed MT, FWD, seats 5 (theoretically)

Owned?: yes

Purchased for/from: $600 from a guy who wanted cash to buy a motorcycle.

Summary: this was the first gasoline car that I had owned since the van. I really loved this car, it was always reliable, fuel efficient, and was the vehicle that I drove on a newspaper motor route in central Washington for two months during the winter. Although it wasn't big enough to handle thick or deep snow, it's front-wheel drive system made for excellent handling on very treacherous icy mountain roads.

What I Liked: Plenty of headroom, 35 miles per gallon of gas, smooth manual transmission, incredible reliability.

What I Didn't Like: The 1.6L 4-cylinder engine would sometimes struggle getting up steep and long hills, however the lack of power was more than worth it to me for the fuel efficiency.

What Happened to It: Attempting to free the car from a snow drift, the engine died. Afterwards, the car would turn over, but refused to start again. I traded it and my 1983 Dodge Ramcharger for my (current) car, a 1981 Oldsmobile Cutlass diesel. Hopefully he saved it, I'd hate to think of it going to the crusher.