Category: Politics, Religion & Money

Stephen Colbert’s Alpha Squad 7

Somehow, I totally missed the introduction of Stephen Colbert’s Alpha Squad 7, the New Tek Jansen Adventure back in August.  Colbert is obviously a comics and cartoon fan, and he was a writer for Robert Smigel’s TV Funhouse, so I’m not surprised he’s doing this.  Here is part 2.  Part 1 is undoubtedly available on YouTube.

Player problem?  Click here.

EDIT: Let’s have a little fun with this.  Somebody has posted this video on YouTube, although without the teaser that I included.  I’m going to scale my embedded video up to 425 pixels across to match YouTube’s, and embed that one here.  You can compare and judge who did the better job of capturing the video.  Don’t use an old Windows Media Player, like version 7, because it’ll look awfully jaggy, compared to YouTube’s Flash player.

EDIT P.S.  The YouTube video has been replaced with my own upload.  This is as good as it gets after YouTube has processed something.  The preview still frame is nice, and if there’s a way to do that with Media Player I’ll find it.

News Leak

From today’s online Boston Globe:

Former Governor King is dead at 81

By Mark Feeney, Globe Staff

Edward J. King, whose victory over incumbent Governor Michael S. Dukakis in the 1978 state Democratic primary was one of the great upsets in Massachusetts political history and set up a storied rematch, when Mr. King lost to Dukakis four years later, died today from injuries he suffered during a fall earlier this month. He was 81.

In 1978 I was a young reporter and announcer for a small radio station in Western Massachusetts. I interviewed gubernatorial candidate King, and I couldn’t believe he was a Democrat, because every position he took was pure Republican. Having met Governor Michael Dukakis — the master of detail — several times previously, I was not impressed by King, who was short on specifics.

Before leaving, King used the station’s little half-bathroom. After he was gone, the secretary, a woman named Dana, was very upset. “Do you know what he did?” she asked in an outraged tone. “He didn’t lift the seat and he left it wet! Can you believe that?” For me that clinched it. King was no Democrat. 😉

Robot Attack

It’s the Red States vs. the Blue States! Red appears to have gotten in the first punch, but Blue will be fighting back — I hope!

Here’s a toy every boy wanted, but I never had. After all that pounding and punching, Rock ‘Em and Sock ‘Em haven’t aged a day in 40 years!

They were introduced in 1966 by Marx, a NYC company that had nothing to do with the Marx brothers, but with a knack for making inexpensive and interesting toys. Read more about Louis Marx and Co. on Wikipedia.

Mattel is bringing back the Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots for the reasonable price of $15, and Amazon.com has ’em for pre-order. Don’t see a release date, but let’s hope it’s out before Christmas.

No electronics, no batteries, only mechanically manipulated mayhem! Mattel should introduce a Marital Dispute Edition. They’d sell out in no time!