Consequences

Even though it was all for fun, writing this blog has really been somewhat of a life-fulfilling activity (there have been reasons that I have not been writing in the past couple years and that will addressed at a later point).  Writing this blog over the years has had a lot of great consequences.  I've met interesting people, discovered great music, shared and received fascinating ideas, and found a lot of humor in the world.  

However, the best consequence was re-connecting Angie.

It all started with a little blog post congratulating Angie for becoming Miss Wheelchair Iowa 2009.  I had met Angie through a friend nearly 10 years earlier, at a time before she was involved in an automobile accident and becoming a quadriplegic. Around the time of the accident, our mutual friend moved and we lost touch...until the blog post.  We started hanging out again to catch up and then more often as friends and after about a year we started dating.  It's been a wild few years since then full of ups and downs - we became engaged on Dec 24th 2013. 

One Ring to rule them all...

I thought we would take is slow, maybe get married in a year or two but Angie was all "Nope, let's do this."  We were married on September 6th, 2014.  It was an exceedingly busy 9 months of planning and I am mightily thankful that Angie actually handled most of the planning and organizing.  Angie did an incredible job and created a wedding that reflected us and preferences. It wasn't your typical wedding (we are anything but typical) but it was an amazing day.

We decided to do a theme wedding...I know, I know some of those are horrible, but we decided it would be fun to have a 1920's Hollywood themed wedding.  The basis for this being that we are both big fans of both theater and movies, plus you know the outfits back then were just elegant and fun.  That was our base point for planning and the ideas developed from there.  Sticking with the theme, I had hoped to get married at the old Billy Joe's Picture Show location since I was always such a fan but unfortunately our guest list (correction - Angie's guest list) made that space a little too tight.  So after much searching we decided on the Iowa Events Center.  IEC used to be called Veterans Auditorium and I had seen many great concerts there like Kiss, Motley Crue, and Ozzy (and yes it is where Ozzy bit the head off a bat); how could I have a problem with a historic institution like that?  I think it is cool.

Of course, Hollywood themed we had to set the mood...so we started brainstorming.  We let our imaginations and desires run a little wild (sorry, this is probably going to just be a bunch of pictures).

We needed people to know where they were going.  We needed a lighted marquee.  This was created by my dad.  He did a great job, especially because I just said - "Will you make us a lighted marquee?"  We didn't know how it would be hung or where it would go, but it ended up being incredible.  Unfortunately, this picture doesn't do the lights justice.

Our names in lights

Red carpet and red curtains were a must and of course our bridesmaids and groomsmen would be seating in movie theater seats.  Gold stanchions and velvet ropes to keep the crowd in line.

The walk down the red carpet

We thought it would be funny to have us photoshopped into various famous movie posters like we have been in all these movies.  It was a fun photo shoot and our photographer (Black Label Studios) did a great job of making the posters.  The frames came from the Re-Store in Des Moines - only $10 each!

Grease, Phantom of the Opera, The Princess Bride, Singin' in the Rain, The Wedding Singer.

Top Gun - close up

Refreshments - movie popcorn and candy...what else did you expect?  Movie film, popcorn, and the velvet ropes and stanchions were loaned to us by the Merle Hay Cinema (I miss you guys already).  Movie reels were loaned to use by Fleur Cinema.  Both are places we visit regularly.

Popcorn and candy waiting for the guests.

Our star ready for the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  We also pressed our hands into "cement" ala Grauman/Mann's Chinese Theater for our unity ceremony (probably shouldn't trust us with fire).  Unfortunately that didn't turn out as great as I would have liked, just too much rushing on the day of the wedding to get it done right.

Our star

We decided we were famous enough that we needed life-size* cardboard cut-outs of us.  OK, I thought of the idea because I really didn't want to pose for a lot of pictures and figured this way that we could still let everyone get pictures with "us."  It worked like a charm.

*not quite life-size - mine is a little shorter, Angie's is a little taller to make for more balanced photos.

Feeling a little flat

Real vs Doppelganger -
Is it strange that facebook recognized and automatically tagged the cutouts instead of us?

My grand entrance song was the theme to the Muppet Show.  "It's time to play the music, It's time to light the lights..."  Angie did the more traditional wedding march, but we left to Red Sweater by The Aquabats.  Seriously, could she have been more open to strange ideas?

Center Stage  - Fur stole and tails and top hat.

We both love the movie, The Princess Bride, so we thought it was only fitting that we convince our minister to re-enact that scene at the beginning of the wedding.  Luckily, The Princess Bride is also one of our minister's favorite movies, so it didn't take much convincing (Thanks David!).  Not everyone got it...but to us, it was hilarious.

Wuv, twue wuv.

As our minister went to change into his normal clothes, our wedding had a short interruption by Elvis who serenaded us with some "All Shook Up."  This was a surprise that I did not know about until the rehearsal the day before.  Why Elvis?  I had been joking with Angie for years that if I ever got married, I was going to Vegas and getting married by Elvis.  So this was an inside joke that no one else would understand.

Ladies and Gentleman...Elvis!

The Feature Presentation

The fun and surprises continued with the reception.  I don't care for cake, of course, I would happily eat it on my wedding if Angie wanted a cake...but she agreed that we should go with Rice Krispie treats (one of my favorites).  Angie had a Rice Krispie cake made with Princess Leia and Han Solo toppers.  We also had a large selection of Rice Krispie treat flavors including: original, scotcheroo, peanut butter and bacon (the Elvis), and Fruit Pebble.  Instead of a full sit down meal, we decided to have a lot of appetizers of our favorite foods such as mini-corn dogs and white cheddar cheese curds (it had to be white cheddar...I am picky like that).  IEC did a great job with all the food and I wish I had been able to eat more.

mmmmm....

"I love you."  "I know."

Angie then surprised me with a Groom's Cake.  It was styled after a pinball machine with a hockey theme.  I had originally wanted to set up my pinball machines so everyone could play during the reception.  However that idea got thrown out early due to some demands from the IEC. So this cake was a really cool way of Angie bringing in more of my favorite things.  I am not even sure what a groom's cake is, but it was really thoughtful of Angie...and also made of rice krispie (with marshmallows and candy for various buttons and lights).

Delicious, delicious pinball

Our good friend, Tim AKA DJ NSFW, spun records for the first half of the reception.  Then our favorite local band, No Good Deed,  played a set for the second half.   I would recommend either or both for all your Des Moines area music needs.  I wish I had more time to rock out.

No Good Deed

It was a great day...and we passed the line of paparazzi as we left triumphantly.

Here are just a couple photos from the day that I thought turned out well.

On the new pedestrian bridge in downtown DM

A quiet moment before all the craziness

Thank you Angie for all the hard work and effort that you put into our wedding.  I feel like a total slacker for not doing nearly as much and for not having the creative surprises for you that you had planned for me.  I love you and think that you are wonderful.  I am glad that having you in my life has been the best consequence (by far) of this blog.  

Thank you to everyone who was able to help us celebrate or wished us well,  Special thinks to everyone who was in our wedding or helped along the way, it would not have been the same without you.  We appreciate you all.

The Roots of Dorkness...

A Creative Commons Licensed photo from GP(MPK)

I have been into comic books for nearly thirty years.  It all started in 1983.  In 1983, Star Wars was shown on HBO for the first time.  Watching Star Wars on HBO was a big deal.  It was the first time you could see Star Wars since it had been in the movie theaters years earlier.  Remember this was before DVDs, and even before everything was released on VHS.  Our family didn't have cable...cable wasn't even available in our neighborhood.  But we were invited by some family acquaintances to come over and watch.  After watching Star Wars, us kids were left to our own devices in the 'play room' while the adults enjoyed some alcoholic beverages.



There was a pool table and various stuffed animals, but after a few rounds of trying to smash each others fingers with pool balls I became bored.  Looking around I found a shoe box.  Inside was a pile of comic books...they looked ancient to my eyes (later I realized they were just a year or two old, but had been treated rough).  They weren't the best comics - a mix of mostly crappy Marvel and DC: Red Sonya, Conan, Green Arrow, Silver Surfer, Aquaman, and Fantastic Four (some of these might have actually been decent but all were in the middle of a story line so it was hard to know what was going on).

Worst blog post ever.

I had seen comic books before but they were usually Donald Duck, Popeye, or Archie...stuff that just didn't interest me at all.  These were different - realistic characters, intriguing art, complex stories, anti-heroes, and villains.  I found these comics fascinating.  I guess I showed enough interest that the box of comics was given to my brothers and I.  I probably read each of the comics about 10 times.

This began an obsession that lasted about 15 years (one dorky obsession of many).  I was never a huge collector, but would gladly read whatever I could get my hands on (which wasn't much considering were we lived).  It wasn't about the money for me, it was about the stories, characters, and art.  It was a simple enough hobby, but one that helped me down the road to dorkdom and relating way too much to The Comic Book Guy on The Simpsons.  It is a hobby that still calls to me although I feel much differently about it these days.  It is a hobby that I probably spent way too much money on.  It is a hobby that I still see the impacts upon my life so many years later...but more comic stories later, this was just about the very beginning and how Star Wars made me a dork in more ways than one.

Last Minute Christmas Idea #5

Gift Idea #6 : Star Wars: Frames

At $3000, this makes the Tim Burton/Danny Elfman music box set seem down right affordable.  Especially when you consider that he probably used film frames from the crappy re-mastered editions instead of the original trilogy.  And I don't think I really need to spend $3000 to look at 230 film frames from each movie that were personally picked by George Lucas.  Hasn't Lucas already proved with the prequels that he really doesn't understand why people liked Star Wars?  But damn, that wooden case is cool as shit.  I also hate how it is a limited edition of 1138...really?  I liked the movie THX 1138, but why does a Star Wars box set have to pay it tribute.  Just cheesy and dumb...I am really surprised they didn't choose 1977 editions, that at least would have made a tiny bit of sense.  I mean as long as we are tying in Lucas' movies that have nothing to do with Star Wars, why not have Howard the Duck laser etched on the box?

You can buy one for yourself (or me) here.  Can I just get the case for $50?  Or maybe just the Vader medallion for $10?

Christmas 2008

It was a pretty good Christmas, I got some decent gifts (although sadly no Muppet Whatnot from FAO...in fact a shocking lack of Muppets involved all around) and I gave some decent gifts.

My theory of Christmas is a lot different than a lot of people's...I don't tell people what I really want...although reading this blog I have mentioned some items that I do love - but was not really expecting. I give my mom a list of things because I know she is busy taking care of America (human) and shopping for a whole list of people, but everyone else I will pretty much just let them figure it out. I am not usually looking to get anything specific - I more just enjoy seeing what other people think I will like. It is not a test - I am not thinking to myself "How well does this person know me?" I just like to see how other people interpret me. Does that make sense? There have been various levels of success and failure over the years.

GF_Unit did really well this year after I mentioned the Millennium Falcon quilt from Pottery Barn. She did not go out and buy me one, thank god...because I would have said "You spent $230 on a blanket? Seriously?" No, GF_Unit took the idea and hand made me a Millennium Falcon blanket. Big bonus points for that. It turned out pretty awesome...especially for being handcrafted in a short period of time. I can't imagine the time and effort that it took to make. It is much better than a $230 one (although I do reserve the right to still buy one if they go on sale!). The picture below doesn't do it justice. Is it perfect? No but it is much more heartfelt and it means a lot to me. Hopefully George Lucas doesn't sue her for copyright infringement. Now I look like a total dork with my Star Wars blanket and hoodie.

Homemade Gift from GF_Unit

Original Inspiration

Now if only I could get a Muppet Whatnot from FAO for my birthday...nudge, nudge, wink, you know what I mean.

Favorite Things

Pinball: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (SWE1:TPM)

Although it is not my favorite Star Wars movie, it is my favorite Star Wars themed pinball machine (There are 3, I've owned 2 and have pretty extensive time on the third). This is the only pinball machine that I have purchased new in box...for a few reasons. First, it came out at a time when I was finally able to afford a new pinball (after college with a decent paying job). Second, my brother and I now had some experience with pinball machines and were not nearly as intimidated as when we first got into the hobby. Third, it was the last pinball produced by my favorite pinball company Williams/Bally. We happened to tour the WMS factory during Pinball Expo 1999. We saw these machines being built on Oct 23rd, on Oct 25th Williams announced that it was closing its pinball division (Pinball Black Monday).

Admittedly it is not the best pinball machine out there, but it was the second of the Pinball 2000 (P2K) line, that offered many unique features and so many possibilities for the future. P2K was killed before it could come into its own (possibly the decision to kill pinball had been made years before...so no matter how well it did, it would still have been doomed). For a great look at Pinball 2000's creation and demise check out the DVD: Tilt - The Battle to Save Pinball. An interesting watch for anyone interested in pinball, engineering, design, marketing, or business.

What is great about this pinball:

• Projects video onto the playing surface - ball interacts with video.



• There are other great points like the pivot-buttons around the regular flipper buttons, the neon light saber, etc... but the video is the main thing. It is impressive, it is a whole new way to play pinball. This should have been the future of pinball.

What went wrong:

• It had too much Jar Jar Binks.



• The pinball developers were not allowed to see the entire movie while they were working on designing the machine...I think the whole picture would have led them to better designs.



• It was a rushed production on a new platform...this led to a quick design that doesn't have as many shots as a well planned pin.



• Die hard Pinball Fans are resistant to change and hated the new system before it even came out (let alone have played it).



• Due to production issues (and Lucas dictations that it could not in any way come out before the movie), the pinball came out a little over a month after the movie hit the theaters...by that time all the publicity had died down and a lot of people didn't like the movie.



• Short sightedness by the company. Williams should have given Pinball 2000 a couple years to develop and mature before cancelling (but the lure of slot machines was too strong).

It is an impressive machine. You can get a taste of what could have been...but you are left hungry for what never happened. It is an easier game than some of my others so beginners like it quite a bit. I often get the following comments - "This is so cool. I've never seen one like this" or "How come they didn't make any more?"

P2K - I mourn our loss of you. You are one of my favorite things.

60% Dork (part II)

I really love this Millennium Falcon quilt from Pottery Barn for kids. But at $220 for a queen it is too much for me...but maybe if it goes on sale. It really does have to be seen in person as the picture does not do it justice. It is a handsome piece of bedding for any Star Wars dork. Seeing the Millennium Falcon jetting through hyperspace on my bedspread makes my insides feel all squishy.

Bad news: I am calling No-Shave November off for the year. I think my kinda-beard looks like crap (although GF-Unit says she likes it...and Hetero Life-Pal CT thinks it will be good for the winter). It is also itchy...and I hate being itchy. So No-Shave November is over for me tonight!

60% Dork

I have long known that I am a dork. I've always enjoyed all the dorky things in life - Tolkien (long before the movies), Star Wars, Star Trek, D&D, Dr Who, sci-fi, fantasy, comic books, action figures...that type thing. I agree more with Dwight on the If it is dorky, I will usually like it. I just have never known how dorky. Hetero Life-Pal CT and I once went to a Star Trek convention...it cost $15 - I was expecting maybe $5. I was very disappointed in the whole experience, so I could always say "At least I am not THAT dorky..."

Star Wars was always one of my biggest dork weaknesses - Yes, I have watched all three original movies in a single night. Yes, I saw all the re-releases on opening night. Yes, I can quote way too many Star Wars lines. Yes, I have bought the Star Wars soundtrack on more than one occasion. What can I say? Going to see Star Wars in the theater is one on my earliest memories.

When Marc Ecko Cut & Sew came out with his Boba Fett hoodie last year, I thought "I am not dorky enough to spend $100 on a Star Wars hoodie." Although I think there are tons of cool Star Wars toys available now (have you seen the Lego Star Destroyer? Awesome.) I have always avoided buying them...not wanting to be the middle-age Star Wars collecting dork who proclaims his religion as The Force. Secretly though, I coveted the hoodie and had little day dream fantasies of wearing it. Today, they are having a 40% off sale. I found out that I must be 60% dork because that seemed a reasonable price to pay (still a little high for a hoodie but at least palatable).