Rants and Raves

Raves:

Comics: To clarify when I say comics I don’t mean comic books or graphic novels, I mean comics, like the ones featured in the daily newspaper. Some of the most famous of these are Peanuts, Garfield, and Calvin and Hobbes. I really admire the fact that these cartoonists can constantly make me laugh on a daily basis, with a limited amount time to get them out. Most comics are in a four panel form. Whether in full color or in black in white they are guaranteed to put a smile on my mouth as I read them. Some iconic characters from long ago like Dennis the Menace started on newspapers, which I still watch. There is just so much to say about the charming, clever, and overall funny strips that continue to live this day.

Shows that only exist to sell toys: The 80s was a wondrous time of happiness and thirty minute Saturday morning commercials. Don’t get me wrong, I love Ninja Turtles, Transformers, He-man, and a lot more of those glorious shows from my dad’s generation. They constantly introduce of new characters, vehicles, and accessories, which always seem to end up in the toy store a few weeks later. Some people might say that the shows aren’t made to sell toys, but I believe otherwise. Take TMNT for example, a weird toy line that was made even before the show came into consideration. Though the shows often constituted of cheaper looking animation and stilted voice acting, the experience actually made the shows so much more enjoyable.

Sitcoms: If the 80s was the time of Saturday morning cartoons, then the 90s was the area of sitcoms. Sitcoms were usually there to ridicule or joke about everyday life. Most sitcoms were filled with nostalgia and fond times even if watching them again did make me cringe every once in a while. Most sitcoms nowadays are still held in high regard. I enjoy shows such as Big Bang Theory and Modern Family. The canned laughter of sitcoms is a classic trick to get a reaction from the audience, and sometimes it actually worked on me and my brother and sisters.

Rants:

Airplanes: When I say airplanes I mean the actual airplane itself, rather than the ride. On almost all airliners, the seats on the plane are really dirty with crumbs of food and old wrappers and whatever else the million and a half people before me decided to leave. In addition, the seats are designed just to make you uncomfortable. The reclining function of the seat is no help when I try to sleep, but even though the recline function is mediocre, the TV set (placed on the seat behind me) is now harder to see. Why do they make us turn off the electronic devices during lift off? I understand when they say that cell phones and laptops could interfere with the radio communications of the plane and the tower, however I don’t think my Gameboy will cause the plane to crash into another plane.

Nickels: There are six different types of coins in American currency. Pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, fifty cent coins, and the silver dollar or the dollar coin. These coins all have a purpose. Pennies to make exact change, dimes so we don’t run out of pennies, and quarters for candy machines and making a dollar. The nickel however serves no purpose at all. One of the worst feelings in the world is going to the mall seeing a candy machine. Finding a coin in a pocket, I run to the machine and I put in my coin – Plot twist, it’s not spinning. Looking at the coin I and realize that’s it not a quarter. My day is ruined and it’s the fault of that nickel.

If it isn’t Lego, let it go: The Company Lego has been around since 1932 and has dominated the toy scene ever since the 70s. With a company as massive as Lego, competition with other corporations is inevitable. That normally wouldn’t be a problem, except that the competition are merely copies of Legos piece design, set idea, and set design. Most of these copies are from other countries, but some are popular here in the United States of America including Mega Blocks and Kreo. Some of these copies are so obvious they are painful. Companies such as Brick, S (the name of the company is actually S), Minifigures, town and Bela copy set names, designs and even parts piece for piece from existing Lego sets.