Yes, I'm in a bloody rut, thank you. Top this off with other electronic problems I've been having, and I'm about ready to curl up in a Barbri book and bore myself to tears with the elements of felony murder. (Which in Virginia would be the killing of someone during the commission of an enumerated offense, if memory serves.)

So anyways, June's calendar pics:

Star Trek: Ships of the Line - USS Enterprise NX-01 is shot up, surrounded by Suliban cell-ships and some reimaged Rihannsu Warbirds. Thumbs down.

Military Aircraft 2004 - A slightly fuzzy head-on shot of a Rockwell B-1B Lancer in flight with the standard dark green/gray scheme. Tres cool.

Norfolk & Western Historical Society (color) - Fairbanks-Morse H-24-66 Trainmaster #173 working the ex-Virginian yard at Mullens, West Virginia. Acceptable; I like F-M locomotives.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 10:25 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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On the way to church this morning, I had the radio on and was listening to whatever stations the thing would pick up. It's a loaner, and I hadn't gotten my standard stations programmed into the pre-sets at that point; moreover, the reception on it's a bit dodgy at times.

So with that in mind, I hear the lyrics to Berlin's "Take My Breath Away", one of the bigger hits from the soundtrack to Top Gun. I spent my youth in the 1980s, so I naturally saw Top Gun probably a dozen times or more. Yep, I'm in love with the F-14 Tomcat. Wanted to be a naval aviator until I realized that they didn't take people who wore glasses to be fighter pilots. Sob, eh. (Small wonder that I gravitated towards Max Sterling in later years, no?)

But, as I listened, I realized, "That's not Berlin! My God, what is this?" It was done in that now popular overly emotive torturous (to the ears, anyways) supposedly soulful whining so typical of Christina Aguilera et al. Luckily, the road I was on is both straight and broad, or else I might've been in danger of a wreck. The song is that bad.

Anyways, a bit of surfing taught me that it was Jessica Simpson who did the cover. Harrumph! Lights are dim and the building's been bulldozed-dumb Jessica Simpson (who coincidentally looks a lot like Nicole Brown Simpson for some reason) has soiled one of the better songs to escape movie soundtracks of the 1980s.

As I once read in Peanuts, "You can't go home again." Even if I wasn't looking for the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm, a classic song of youth has been spoiled by a dim-bulb blonde of marginal talent. Gah.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 01:38 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I was sitting in front of my television, playing Jet Grind Radio for the Dreamcast (or P.N. 03 for the Gamecube) when a friend called me and told me to turn on the news, that there was information about President Reagan.

I told him I'd heard the whole "condition worsening" bit from the people at National Review earlier on, but he repeated himself, noting that it wasn't anything to do with a "worsening" condition. I flipped over to CNN and found out that a man was dead. It wasn't surprising, given the cowardly disease that struck him down. It is, however, regrettable; the death of a President is an unfortunate thing.

I'm old enough to have remembered Reagan vaguely. I was alive through his entire administration, and I remember watching the hearings in regards to our policies vis-a-vis Iran and the Nicaraguan resistance fighters. (Yes, I could say 'Hasenfus' while in elementary school.)

I'd recently been amused by the positive references to him in Tom Clancy's Red Rabbit, and oddly enough, watched a rebroadcast of his D-Day speech on MSNBC or one of the similar channels.

However, I don't have some grand Peter Robinson-esque story of how President Reagan changed my life. As far as I know, he never came to my corner of the Commonwealth, and that's OK. This'll be closed by three of my more favorite quips from the man:

"We have some hippies out there in the Haight-Ashbury district in San Francisco. One of them the other day was givin' some advice to his companions; he says, 'You know, your parents take care of you until you're 21; the government takes care of you after you're 65. You've only got 44 lousy years you've gotta look out for yourself.' This fellow that was doing the talking had a haircut like Tarzan, he walked like Jane, and smelled like Cheetah."

"My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever; we begin bombing in five minutes."

"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

Rest in peace, Mr. President.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 11:38 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Thanks to a local EBGames, I've been able to secure a copy of Jet Grind Radio and Sonic Adventure for my Dreamcast. This EBGames also had a copy of Space Channel 5 Special Edition, which is an interesting title to say the least.

JGR is a title originally dubbed Jet Set Radio in Japan, where the game sort of takes place. It centers around the adventures of an inline-skate gang and their efforts to defend their turf from rival gangs. There's no real violence involved; the defense involves going around and spraying your gang (the GGs; gotta love that since it harkens back to the Penn Central's GG1 electrics) logo in various places. This is done while dodging the local police and a Steve McGarrett-meets-Harry Callahan police inspector named Onishima who shoots at you.

There's even a disclaimer at the beginning of the game that makes reference to graffiti being a crime and basically "don't do this at home". It was something of a hit for the Dreamcast, but died there when Sega pulled the plug due to Sony's release of the PlayStation 2. EBGames was good enough to replace a faulty disc so that I was able to play it and so forth; with that kind of service, they've secured my business in the Dreamcast market.

Also purchased: P.N. 03 by Capcom for the Gamecube; it involves a gal in body armor shooting things and dodging; kind of like Trinity without the black leather in a manner of speaking. It got trashed in reviews, but I'm liking it so far.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 11:20 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Since I'm a long-time fan of the Nintendo consoles, I've played the Legend of Zelda series on a regular basis. Now, the Gamecube is no exception, and I've managed to pick up a copy of The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time used. Why is this so worthy of comment? Primarily because it's got a big "NOT FOR RESALE" marking on the back.

I don't know how Nintendo of America would enforce such a restriction, but I'm glad they didn't in this case. Now to track down the Zelda Collector's Edition somewhere...

Posted by: Country Pundit at 12:39 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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1896: The re-gauging of the N&W's line from Norfolk, Virginia to Bristol, Virginia is completed. The line's new gauge is four feet, eight and a half inches.

(Yes, today is a slow day in terms of opinion journalism. June is somewhat of a slow month in N&W history.)

Posted by: Country Pundit at 12:17 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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OK, so I said in the previous posting that I bought Rogue Squadron III for the Gamecube, right? Yeah.

It's rather early in the morning and I'm tired from a variety of things, but I've been reduced to a giggling fit at the opening sequence for this game. Instead of some hoary logo popping up, we're treated to the Lucasarts gold dude logo, which all of a sudden starts tapping its foot to...

The Meco Menardo disco remix of John Williams' main theme to Star Wars. But wait, that's not all! We get to see several of the main characters from the series on a disco floor, dancing and so forth while a mirrorball that's modeled on the Death Star sends out rays of green light.

Hee hee. That's too funny.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 12:55 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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