Something I Thought I'd Never Do

  I got a Barnes and Noble gift card with $70 on it from my Uncle for Christmas in 2012. So I bought Twilight for kicks and giggles and some score soundtracks and some DVDs. Anyway for a man who read the Twilight books, I actually liked it. And I am straight by the way. However I did manage to get a lot of backlash from my some of my coworkers about it. I did manage to annoy a coworker about the series by only mentioning it to him.
  If I had to pick a side on the whole Team Edward or Team Jacob crap, I would pick Team Charlie? Now why on earth would I pick a character who basically has no major role in the story whatsoever? Well he is a heck of a lot more interesting than Jacob or Edward, plus he's a badass Chief of Police of Forks WA. Stephanie Meyer should write a book series based on Chief Charlie Swan and his day to day duties of being the Chief of Police in Forks WA.
  Back to the books. They weren't all that bad like everyone and their brother thinks the series is. Yes some points were laughable mostly in the first book, After that they got better and better as they went on.

The Nigerian Lottery

  One of the things that makes me laugh is none other than the Nigerian Lottery scam. I can't believe that people are so gullible to this scam. If you have ever received an email saying that you just won X amount of millions of dollars in the Nigerian Lottery, saying in order to receive your money you have to send a certain amount of money and your bank account information.

How can you be this stupid?

  Now first off there is no such thing as a Nigerian Lottery. Nigeria does not have a lottery that I know of off hand. What I can tell you is that people are so stupid thinking that they actually won money in a foreign lottery. Secondly how can people fall for this crap when they know that they never entered in such a lottery.
  I was in the post office the other day to send out a package to my cousin's newborn son when I happened to see a pamphlet about Foreign Lottery Scams and how they can ruin your life, finances, and etc. Well I couldn't help but laugh at that pamphlet because I am smarter than the people who fall for the 419 scam.

Elderly People are most of the victims

  Wait what is a 419 scam? Well a 419 scam refers to the section of the crimes code 419 which is about lottery scams. So Nigerian Lottery/419 scam is the same thing essentially. Now where was I? Oh yes the
Nigerian Lottery. Most people who fall for this nonsense is elderly people because they are the most gullible people to fall victim to scams. It's a fact elderly people are more likely to let a total stranger walk in to their house to "Buy Antiques" and then later come back at night and rob them of their valuables.
  If it sounds too good to be true then it usually is. If you are suspicious of a Nigerian Lottery scam, check out Snopes.com that website lists email scams and debunks internet hoaxes and Urban Legends. I highly recommend that website it's worth your while.

Glassic Ford Model A Replica's

  One of my biggest pet peeves is Glassic Ford Model A replicas. A product of the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Glassic Model A replica was built on a Ford Mustang II or a Ford Pinto chassis. These Cars really grind my gears because for the money you spend on a replica, you just might as well buy a real Ford Model A.
  Now replica cars make you look like a dork at car shows and are frowned upon at car shows and even the AACA sometimes frowns at them. Glassic Model A replicas can be spotted real easy like a crocodile at an alligator rally. Just how can you spot a Glassic Model A? Well a dead giveaway is the bucket seats and 8 Track tape player and the modern ford Steering wheel and the modern day tires? Well seeing these features makes you want to laugh so hard at how stupid it looks. I'd rather own a real Model A than have a Glassic replica. Also Glassic's are also known as Shay's.

Columns

Title Screen

  One of my favorite video games of all time is Columns for the Sega Genesis. It may be a boring game to some people but it is actually a good game to improve your thinking skills. and keep you concentrated on things. It has some of the greatest music ever composed for a video game by Tokuhiko Uwabo and for Sega altogther for that matter.

Alternate Title Screen

  Most people who have played this game once or a few times probably only know of Clotho, which is the best known score from the soundtrack. What most people don't know that there are two other score tracks for the video game. Those score pieces are Lathesis and Atropos named after the Three Fates with Clotho being the other fate. Now how do you access the other score tracks? Well. You select options then you select the other soundtracks by selecting the BGM you want. It's pretty simple really.
   In addition to the scores I posted 2 wallpaper pictures of the 2 title screens in 1366x768 resolutions for anyone who wants them as their desktop background.

Mattel Basic 30 Hornswoggle

  On Friday I went to the mall to go buy 2 pairs of shoes for work. I go through pairs of shoes like crazy doing my job where I am on my feet all day long. Anyway before I headed into The Shoe Dept, I made a quick detour to Kmart. I am not kidding here that is really the name of the shoe store at my local mall. Anyway I raced into the toy dept in Kmart to find that they put out a fresh case of Basic 30. The case was all there including the AJ Lee. I grabbed one of the 2 Hornswoggle's that was on the shelf and headed two isles over to look at the Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars, sadly there was nothing new. Anyway I found it odd that a wfigs.proboards.com member had sent me a PM the day before offering to sell me a B30 Hornswoggle loose for $15. I didn't respond back for some reason.
  B30 Hornswoggle is an updated version of his B19 figure. The B30 version has several updates, including a more accurate open mouth headscan with improved hair mold, new Tattoos on his arms and his current black Hornswoggle T-shirt. To be honest the B30 Hornswoggle is the Best Hornswoggle figure there is to date.

Mattel Basic 29 Stone Cold Steve Austin

  Today I was in Toys R Us and found something that was on my wants list for a long time. I picked up a Basic 29 World Champions Stone Cold Steve Austin. I used to have a few Stone Cold Steve Austin figures during the Jakks BCA days. I never owned a Mattel Stone Cold Steve Austin before until today. I passed on the WrestleMania TRU Exclusive Elite figure a few times, and the All Stars 2 pack because it was too expensive for what it came with. I never got the first WrestleMania Heritage Basic or his Legends figure because I wasn't collecting at that time. Now I finally got a Mattel SCSA.
  This figure has a painted on Austin 3:16 shirt with the Stone Cold Steve Austin skull on the back, He is wearing blue jeans with a black belt. This figure is straight out of the Attitude Era.
  I would like to mention that the headscan is dead on accurate.

Mattel Elite 21 Honky Tonk Man

  Well it has been a great while since I last blogged about getting an Elite Flashback figure. That last figure was E19 Miss Elizabeth. Anyway I went to Walmart today since I got paid today. I headed straight  to the toy dept to find a fresh case of Elite 21 that was untouched. I saw Honky Tonk Man there and quickly grabbed it with joy.  It was an excellent finding considering I had a dream the other night that Elite 21 hit my Walmart and sure enough my dream came true.
  Honky Tonk Man comes with a break apart acoustic guitar. The guitar accessory has a striking resemblance to the Jakks counterpart. Freaky indeed. Honky Tonk Man comes in case assortment A and is not present in the revision case assortment B. As with every flashback, Honky Tonk Man is packed 1 per case.

Mattel Basic 28 Tensai

  Today I received my Mattel Basic series 28 Tensai. Yes Lord Tenasi, the Hip Hop Hippo, A-Train, Baldo, Albert, whatever his previous gimmick may have been. Anyway I got him through a trade on wfigs.proboards.com. I couldn't be any happier with how this figure turned out. Mattel really hit a home run with the tattoos on Tensai. The detail is incredible. I mean really incredible.
  Tensai also has a unique body type mold as well because Tensai is really heavy in real life at 350 lbs. His figure is pretty heavy too. I guess Mattel is trying to scale weight as well as height. I keed I keed. Anyway Tensai is easily a perfect 10. Tensai is packed 1 per case.

Hot Wheels Needs to Make More Acura's and Hyundai's

  The other day I was in Walmart and stumbled across a Hot Wheels 2012 Acura NSX Concept and realized that Hot Wheels doesn't make many Acura's too often. In fact they only made 3 so far. They made the Acura HSC, The NSX and the 2012 NSX Concept. It's a damn shame that brands like Acura and Hyundai get neglected in the Hot Wheels lineup. That brings me to part 2 of my rant, Hyundai's.
  Now what does Hyundai and Acura have in common here? Well they only have had 3 cars in the Hot Wheels Lineup. Hyundai has had the Spyder Concept aka NEOS, Tiburon, and the Genesis Coupe. Its really stupid to neglect these brands of cars since one is a huge player in the Japanese Luxury car market in the USA. While Hyundai is a major player in the mainstream Korean car market. I would also like to add that Hot Wheels made one Infiniti, the G35. Also Hot Wheels made one Lexus, the SC400.
  Hot Wheels also completely neglects Kia for some reason. If they made more of Acura's and Hyundai's and at least try to make a Kia I would be happy.

Midnight Express Soundtrack Review

  Today I thought I would review one of my absolute favorite Academy Award winning score soundtracks, Midnight Express. The movie adaptation of Billy Hayes book, Midnight Express was scored by Giorgio Moroder, who is a synthesizer pioneer who helped power the disco era and the Hi-Enrg era of music. He scored Midnight Express and won an Oscar for it, which he deserved it.
   Now onto the soundtrack review. The score tracks that appear on this soundtrack are out of chronological order, meaning that they don't go from scene to scene as most score soundtracks usually do. The first track on the CD is Chase. Now Chase is probably the track that stands out the most and is the one that most people are familiar with. Chase is the song that plays in the film when Billy Hayes is trying to outrun the Turkish authorities in Istanbul. Now Chase goes on for 8:29. It is the longest song on the soundtrack. In addition, this version is rearranged so the version in the movie sounds a lot different and is way darker. While I'm on the subject here, the whole soundtrack is rearranged versions of the

score used in the movie. While it's not a bad thing, it sure does make the score a lot less depressing and twisted.
  The second track, Love's Theme is from the scene where there is prison sex. I don't need to go any further with that. Love's Theme is the second longest piece of score on the CD running at 5:38. The next track is my second favorite track, Theme From Midnight Express Instrumental. This track plays throughout the film in scenes such as the one where Billy Hayes is being taken to be interrogated after he was caught at the airport smuggling Hashish. The instrumental version runs at 4:43. Now there is an alternate version of this track with vocals from Chris Bennett which is the last track on the soundtrack and runs a few seconds longer than the instrumental. The Version with Chris Bennett was not featured in the film at all.
  Next up is Istanbul Blues. This song was not composed or written by Giorgio Moroder, but by David Castle and Oliver Stone. This track is played during a montage in the film. It's a cool track that fits the movie.  The following track is The Wheel which is played in the mental ward scene when the prisoners are all walking around in what is called the Wheel of Istanbul. 
  The sixth track is Istanbul Opening which is the opening score track in the film which was much darker and tense than the rearranged version of the soundtrack CD. Not much explanation is needed here. Track seven is Cacophoney which I believe is played during the scene where the Warden tries to rape Billy Hays and in the mental ward. It's a very confusing track but it's good. It paved the way for techno musicians.
  Finally there is the Vocal version of the the third track which I stated above. Overall I love this soundtrack. It's one of those that is an essential to an Academy Award winning soundtrack collection and it is one of those that is different from the rest. That is why I believe it won the Oscar for best score in 1978.