Eggs. The Living Legend Needs Eggs.

Once again, I'm borrowing a line from Firefly, but it appears to be my thing. That and it just seems that Joss Whedon managed to conceive a line of dialogue for every occasion. Joss is Boss. Fact. Just wait. Avengers is going to prove that. The trailer has shown us this already.

However, as much as Avengers is so awesome it's getting mentioned again, this is more about Pancake Day. Hence why I'm quoting Jayne Cobb. Today at work someone wondered what was the deal behind Pancake Day (though I'm fairly sure they phrased it as "Shrove Tuesday", Pancake Day's official name). My response - "Jesus. It's something to do with Jesus."

Now why am I babbling about this? I'm a fatalist. To that end, let's talk about the pancakes. Or, more precisely, the failure of our experiment with coffee in the pancake mix. I think the failure was the result of the kind of coffee used (at this point, I have *definitely* worked in the coffee industry too long). We used soluble coffee granules, the kind from a jar. The problem was I expecting something like iced coffee. You know, shot or two of espresso in the mix, that would've worked. A note for next time.

Okay, so I'll be honest. A bit underwhelmed by Pancake Day this year. I had, pretty much, one pancake. Well, two. One coffee pancake and one regular pancake. With cherries. I don't the cherries were the problem. My inability to find maple syrup, that was a problem. Must admit, I'm also fearing a slight Christmas Effect here. Allow me to elaborate.

Ever found that, as you grow up, Christmas becomes less and less exciting? Back in the day, as a kid, you couldn't wait. You'd wake up at ridiculous o'clock, sneak into the living room and watch really, really random CGI animation things (that you only ever found at Christmas and still have no clue what it was called), desperate to open those presents staring at you from under the tree because you've already exhausted everything that was left in the stocking. Or, in the case of my later years, under my little Christmas tree. This is the Christmas Effect - over time, excitement decreases. Has this happened to Pancake Day for me?

Well, just going to have to wait until 2013 to figure that out. For now, I'm blaming no maple syrup. Maple syrup was good last year. Also, my flipping technique needs a *lot* of work.

Random digression time. Mass Effect time. Just finished my second playthrough of the first Mass Effect. Finally decided to get around to playing Mass Effect 2. Not played very much yet. Enjoying so far nonetheless. Don't think I'll have it done in time to play Mass Effect 3. I'm saying Mass Effect a lot today. Mass Effect.

Oh, now here's something good to babble about. My growing collection of Quantum Mechanix swag. My last post prior to my list of top ten villains mentioned my anticipation of the arrival of my Claudia Donovan (of Warehouse 13 fame) maquette and F-302 (Stargate SG-1 fame) replica. But, thanks to QMx's ability to torture me with awesome stuff (namely free Firefly buttons), I now have a Viper keychain. Attached to my bag. Complimenting my Quantum Mechanix rocket (which came with my River Tam maquette) and my Millenium Falcon Lego keychain that was a gift from my nephews when they went to Legoland Windsor.

I still haven't been. A fact that still torments me to this day.

So yes. I have my new QMx swag now. Claudia is now dutifully guarding my GameCube and, by extension, looking down on me whenever I'm watching a DVD or playing a video game. Thankfully, not in a judgemental manner.

Pictures of my QMx swag will follow. Eventually...

Now to wrap this up with some kind of profound thought. "He who asks is a fool for five minutes. He who does not ask remains a fool forever." Chinese Proverb. I think that's pretty profound.

Sour Times, Impending Arrivals and TROLL!

I want to go to Norway. This is not a new thing. It's never been a secret thing either. But as will be revealed by the end of this blog, my desire to visit the wonderful land of Norway has been rekindled.

However, since I'm borderline obsessive-compulsive at the best of times, I'm going to explain all three parts of the title in chronological order.

So.

Sour Times.

I blame H.G. Wells. I won't explain exactly why, but for those who don't know, watch Warehouse 13. Start to finish...well...start to current point of broadcast programming. Then you'll understand why H.G. Wells is to blame. Anyway, to the parts that I can explain. Sour Times is my current song addiction. Every now and again, I look up a song on YouTube and I'll listen to it, pretty much on a loop, for maybe a month or two. Sour Times is by Portishead. It's a wonderful song and the video...the video is incredible. As a storyteller, it amazes how brilliant a story the video tells.

Basically, it revolves around a woman plotting and enacting her revenge on a man who she was involved with, who tried to kill her. It's told in a non-linear fashion (a style of storytelling I've always loved, but never quite mastered myself) and when it finally dawns on you why this guy is being shot by a sniper rifle...well, when it dawned on me, I was in awe. Not only is Sour Times a great song, but it tells an amazing story. Good times.

Now - Impending arrivals. Back in November 2011, Quantum Mechanix, my eternal tormentor and provider of awesome geek collectibles, had a Black Friday sale. In that sale, their replica of the F-302 fighter/interceptor from Stargate SG-1 was $19.95, down from $119.95. Bargain? You're godsdamn frakking right! And so it was ordered, along with the Claudia Donovan (of Warehouse 13) maquette, which had just been made available for preorder. Thus, it's been a long wait until the fabled Quarter 1 shipping date. But at last, after a couple of months of waiting, they have finally been dispatched! This makes me happy. Naturally, I'll be happier when they arrive and take pride of place in the locations I have picked out for them; Claudia taking up position next to my GameCube (as River Tam already defends my Nintendo 64, with Kaylee distracting anyone who tries to after it!), with the F-302 on top of my bookcase.

And now...

TROLL!

If no one's figured it out yet from the not so subtle clues of Norway and "TROLL!", I watched Troll Hunter this evening. I missed a bit of the start, but I was quickly filled in on the pertinent details. Including the shouting of "TROLL!" (meme soon to follow).

Okay then. Troll Hunter. What to say? Damn. Godsdamn. Epic frakking movie. Just...seriously, it will have you yelling "TROLL!" at every possible opportunity. Or finding similar finding words and shouting those - "BOWL!" and "MOLE!" to name but two.

The movie itself is, as my previous comments may have suggested, brilliant. It one of those documentary-style numbers, with a camera crew being caught up in a hunt for...well...trolls. Oddly enough. While the filming is pretty damn serious, there are some genuinely brilliant moments of levity that make this an amusing and compelling film. Also, Norway is very, very pretty. When I do go there one day, I may have to add troll hunting to my itinerary of seeing the sun at midnight and watching the aurora borealis.