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Here's a revoltingly cute idea: Do you have a kiss you'd like to plant on some individual whose lips are not readily available?

Then make use of the TTOS Digital Mistletoe!

Just name the recipient "Under The Mistletoe" so to speak in the Comments below. Anyone you like...you don't even have to know them personally--Hell, they could be fictional characters, I'm cool with that! XD

Make it a peck on the cheek...a full-on smooch...why, slip 'em a yard of tongue if you so desire!

(Digital Tic-Tacs will be  discreetly provided :3)

And don't worry if you miss Christmas Day itself--feel free to use the Digital Mistletoe as long as it remains up!


Pucker Up, Peoples!

Ebenezer Scoot

Um..That thing that Colleen just said? That.


So my roommates are off Thanksgivinging with their family, and I'm here by my lonesome, watching the MythBusters Marathon(nerdiest of the many available marathons on cable today), and trying to come up with something to write so as to make relatively constructive use of my day.

(I also seem to be developing some weird variation of Dyslexia--I keep having to re-edit what I write and remove improperly placed spaces, and capitalize or uncapitalize letters. It's darned unsettling)

I was going to write a long overdue new entry in my long-running series: A FIELD GUIDE TO COMMON FANFIC AUTHORS. Folks seem to like that. But re-reading the fics that my new entry addresses was too depressing for what is ostensibly a holiday, so I thought I'd instead share with you peoples some music. I'll do the field guide tomorrow--it'll be a nice accent to Abraxas' planned nugget of FF joy.

That's right! The Destroyer himself will be filling the void left by Mr. Bricken's holiday break and bringing us a fic!


Ok, on with the show!

I pulled five of my favorite videos from my Youtube channel for to share with you (those that aren't DEVO, that is--they get their own articles, as you've seen). I'd be quite surprised if many of you were familiar with these songs or even have heard of these bands: That's ok, I'm used to it.

On the other hand, I am playing to an international community here--three of the bands I'll be featuring, though they never amounted to much stateside, were (and for all I know, still are) pretty well-known in England, and another had a respectable following in their native Ireland.


Understand, I'm not writing the bios of these groups here--rather, my intention is to share a bit of the soundtrack of my misspent youth(not that my adulthood is particularly well spent, but I digress)

This is the music I first got into at the age of 12. Now, unless teenagers have changed drastically in 20 years, High School and Junior High kids tend to form cliques around their shared musical tastes: The Metalheads over here, the Rap/Hip-Hop fans over there, The Pop/Top 40 crowd elsewhere, and so forth.

But the time period I'm concerned with (circa 1989-1990) was a transitional phase for Rock music: Punk and New Wave were all but dead as popular movements, and Alternative (which the music I love would eventually be lumped in with, justly or not) had yet to emerge. In between was a short lived movement known alternately as Post Modern or Post Punk, or simply Modern Rock. Often, such music would be described simply by citing where it was most commonly played and called "College Radio".

This was, and to a great extent still is, my music.

Now I don't mean to imply that back then this music didn't have a following, or that such fans were absent from my community. They were there, but I was a hundredfold shyer at this period in my life than I am now, and I never had the nerve to introduce myself to this crowd and share my music with those who could appreciate it. My own circle of friends were either Metalheads,  indifferent to music, or listened to whatever was popular.

I didn't meet people who really shared my musical tastes until after High School--and the few I knew during my school years were much older and outside of school.

I used to hate it when a friendly, well-meaning individual would ask me what I listen to--often I'd try to change the subject as I was so weary of the blank stares I'd get when listing my favorite bands. It got worse in the mid-90s: I could've simply told people I was into Alternative, but that meaningless umbrella term encompassed a great deal of music I found abhorrent--and I had no real interest in explaining how the music I liked was different.

What's the point of this rambling? Music has always been, for me, an intensely personal and solitary pursuit. I just wanted that understood before I presented my selections.

I wanted it known to all what these songs mean to me--They're not simply entertainment, they are dear old friends.

Come with me and meet them, after the jump...


(off-topic note: after several months with no reply from her site, I've decided to post THE CATHEDRAL OF YAYA. If asked to by her I'll certainly take it down, but seeing how I'm not making any kind of profit from posting her images, I really don't think she'd mind--somehow I doubt every site that's posted her pics has gotten her express permission. So feel free to visit and worship Divine Grace made Flesh)




We'll start with "For Love", by British Shoegazing outfit Lush ("Shoegazing" being a term for a short lived subgenre so-called for its extensive use of effects pedals, resulting in guitarists spending a lot of time looking down at their shoes) the only thing more gorgeous than the song are they who sing and perform it:

That's Miki Berenyi and Emma Anderson--they look even better in the video (how can a nerd not melt at the sight of a smokin' hot half-Japanese British girl with dyed hair?)






Next is "Sensitize" by the oddly named That Petrol Emotion. This is one of the most upbeat tunes I've ever heard, and a guaranteed mood-lifter.

Here's what an Irish band NOT run by a self-important douche sounds like:




Guadacanal Diary is the only American band I'm featuring today. A relatively unknown group, they were part of a critically accclaimed, if not commercially successful movement of Modern Rock acts from the American South. They hail from Athens, Georgia--a college town known to music buffs as the home of REM and the B-52's. This is probably their most well-known tune--and a really nifty video: "Always Saturday"




This one, "You Keep It All In" by The Beautiful South, another Brit act, was off probably the last cassette tape I ever purchased--1990's "Welcome To The Beautiful South"(though I bought it a decade later on clearance--best quarter I ever spent!). The album, and this song in particular, is catchy as hell and features some of the cleverest and most darkly humourous songwriting I've ever heard.



And finally, one more Anglo outfit: The Primitives with "Secrets". Sort of a poppier, British version of Blondie, The Primitives were a fixture on the UK charts--but never quite made it in the colonies, all they're really remembered for over here is the song "Crash" as it was featured on the Dumb and Dumber soundtrack. This is another of my personal feel-good tunes, and if the song itself wasn't enough to perk up my spirits--gazing upon lead singer Tracy Tracy and sighing certainly helps:



(sigh)

I was born in the wrong country--I so very much should've been British!




Ok, that's about enough for one day--time to go figure out what I'm gonna be eating tonight.

And Remember: 7:00 PM Central Standard Time, Tonight: MST3K Night of the Blood Beast--Turkey Day Edition! Be there! find it at my youtube channel in the Favorites, then come to the blog for chat and commentary.

See ya there

DJ Scoot

Blah,



I'm the only person I know who gets post-holiday blues after Halloween.

Granted, it used to be a lot worse--the bigger my Halloween was, the deeper my depression.




This year was actually pretty cool--I half watched The Walking Dead, traded quips with dear Colleen as we watched The Screaming Skull on MST3K(via Youtube), and then stayed up until 3:30 AM getting to know Topless Roboteers RubyRoses and Boredlizzie(now TTOS regulars, Krom willing)while watching Class of Nuke 'Em High on G4. Say what you want about that channel--but anybody who shows Troma films on Halloween is ok by me!

So I'm moderately bummed.



Here's a little something for myself and anybody else mourning the end of All Hallows Eve, just a little good cheer:

It's a lesser-known tune by The Clash, and it always makes me feel better.




Until next time, my dear friends.


Scoot The Blue

(blowing into conch shell)



SUPERFRIENDS! ASSEMBLE!


Hmm...not that simple, huh?


This article is directed at a very specific group of people--a collection of like-minded souls who found my little blog and made it their virtual second home. They came not only to shoot the shit and occasionally comment on whatever nonsense I happen to post, they started to contribute, sharing their unique perspectives and talents with my dear readers. They became almost a family.


And then...They disappeared.

Where did they go?





Now for some of you, I know the answer:

Colleen is still here, we just spent 7 hours straight chatting. She's been here almost every day, and we love our conversations, but we greatly miss the rest of the family.

Robbie, along with being absurdly busy, has been without Internet for the past few weeks--completely understandable.

Myriam and Abraxas are busy as hell with school--Ok.

Joltess recently touched base--she's been occupied with her horses and Canadian Thanksgiving. That's cool. She should be back if we don't lose her to World of Warcraft.




Differences in time zones make it diffficult for many of the Superfriends to communicate at the same time, I know:

I've no idea where our Imperial Ambassador, George, is hiding himself.

FadR has apparently FadEd into oblivion.

I've seen Fabi on the TR boards, but she hasn't graced us with her presence in some time.

I really hope my theory that Aussie Superfriend Doctragon was eaten alive by dingoes is false. You've got the best taste in music of anyone I've met in years--we need you!(you're also kinda cute, I'm not sure why that's important--but there it is)

New Superfriend, but longtime fellow Topless Roboteer Rickicker finally caved in to my repeated begging and showed up at SOHB--and then disappeared. WTF?




And Zorrt1! Where the hell are you? You live like two hours from me!



Look, I know you guys have jobs and school and lives outside of the online world. I'm not trying to get on your cases here. My goal is not to pester or guilt-trip anyone into coming back to the fold.



I just want you all to know: Colleen and I love you and miss you! <3 As much fun as the two of us have chatting, we'd rather have you folks with us when we're having a 7 hour bull session--there's only so much two people can do!


Come back as soon as it's convenient for you:

You guys will always have a home at SOHB. We're not going anywhere.


I'll let Joey Ramone speak for us from the beyond...




See you soon.


The Family Scoot

Hello Peoples!



I got two blogworthies to yammer on about today, so I decided to consolidate:


Friday night I was away from the safe, warm womb of Cyberspace and had to spend most of the day in the cold, lonely wasteland that is "real life".

Some friends asked me to babysit, and as I have no real obligations to prevent me, and I could really use the $20, I happily accepted. I would've done it for free--they're good people and their kids are no trouble. Basically I got paid to watch movies and make sure the house didn't get swallowed up by the Earth while my friends were out.

Not a bad deal.

I ended up watching two of the most iconic films of 1980s Nerdery: Tron, and The Princess Bride. But since it isn't the 80s anymore, I saw more than just the movies.

See, I'm a Special Features buff. Commentaries, making-of documentaries, blooper reels, interviews, deleted scenes, alternate endings--I eat that shit up.

The 20th anniversary edition of Tron that came out in 2002 has some great stuff--you get not only a crash course in how one of the most influential technical achievements in cinematic history came to be, but you get to sit and gape in total awe at how far CGI has come in the last two decades.

But as awesome as Tron's bonus goodies are, they're not what really got to me that night.

Naturally, I've seen The Princess Bride a few hundred times or so--It's brilliant, hilarious, magnificently nerdy, and the most quotable movie not made by Monty Python or Quentin Tarantino, but I'd never seen the Special Features:

I only watched the interviews--it was getting late and I still wanted to have time to watch the movie. The actors featured were Mandy Patinkin, Robin Wright Penn(who's aged beautifully), Fred Savage and Chrises Guest and Sarandon.

After a bit of random reminiscing they shared their memories of Andre The Giant:

In accordance with everything I've heard about the man, the actors were of one mind concerning the late wrestler--specifically, that he was one of the kindest and most charming individuals any of them have ever known.

Mandy Patinkin shared a lovely anecdote about working with the big man:

It concerned the "Cliffs of Insanity" scene, which was filmed at the Cliffs of Dover in England, and actually involved the actors being pulled up a cliff on a winch.

Wallace Shawn(Vizzini)was more than a little concerned about this scene--for the diminutive actor suffers from extreme acrophobia. But even more than the actual act of being pulled up such a high cliff, Shawn feared that his phobia might ruin the film--such was his terror that he was convinced that he'd freak out and blow the scene.

Andre saw how nervous and fearful Shawn was. In response, he reached down with one of his dinner plate sized hands and patted the little man on the head like a child saying: "Don't worry--I'll take care of you" (Patinkin does a spot-on Andre The Giant impression--try to imagine his voice as you read this)

I couldn't help tearing up at that--regular visitors probably know I'm a sentimental bastard, and that was just too much for me. There just aren't enough stories out there of simple, heartfelt kindness in Hollywood. I'm not talking about big charitable gestures or impressive humanitarian acts--just basic, honest sweetness. Why do we lose people like this so quickly and easily?


I'm gonna give everyone a minute after that, seriously, take a moment--get yourself together. I'll wait. You don't wanna get into what's next while you're all melancholy.





So the new season of quite possibly the nerdiest hour of programming in history--Mythbusters, just started. And as much as I love the show for it's pure unadulterated, geeky goodness, one aspect of the show's appeal managed, amazingly, to slip my mind:





Kari Byron--KARI GODDAMN BYRON!!!


I'm so very, very, embarrassed. See, since starting this blog I've endeavored to offer my readers the nerdiest of eye-candy. I'm not just a pig, folks--I could have decorated my blog with Sports Illustrated Swimsuit models or Playboy centerfolds, but I choose to celebrate Nerdity as well as Beauty in my little corner of cyberspace.

Up 'til now I thought I'd done a good job--but how I managed to let the lovely Ms. Byron slip by unnoticed is beyond all comprehension.

How in Krom's name did I manage to...Y'know what, forget the bullshit--just three words: Hot. Geeky. Redhead.

HOT!

GEEKY!

REDHEAD!

Who doesn't love Hot, Geeky Redheads? SOHB even has one on Staff.
So here's a few pics to make up for my laxity, one or two will eventually be going up on the sidebar, but for now--enjoy them all: