Happy New Year everyone!
Thank you for all your visits, likes and comments throughout 2015.
Here’s to 2016…
Have a good one,
G x
Holidays
Happy Holidays All!!
I just wanted to wish everyone a wonderful time this holiday season…
Enjoy!!
G x
Pee Wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special
It’s Christmas Special time again…
Thanks to the wonders of Netflix our household is currently being educated in the lovingly surreal ‘Pee Wee’s Playhouse’. The kids are loving it and I am a big fan. It’s a crazy, cool show, fronted brilliantly by the genius Paul Reubens as the loveable Pee Wee Herman. And as we are now in December the Christmas Special has just popped up to enjoy and so we did…
Made for the holiday season of 1988, the Christmas special is in the style of an American variety show in that loads of guest stars pop in and do a spot each. Let’s just say these are done to varying degrees!
Firstly though all the regulars of Pee Wee’s Playhouse are present, from Randy to Chairy in the the Playhouse and visits from Miss Yvonne to The King of Cartoons. Penny is present too as are the Dinosaurs and the Food that lives in the fridge. I’m aware at this stage that if you’ve never seen Pee Wee you may think I’m tripping. And if you have seen Pee Wee it’s a lot like tripping!
Right onto the celebrities… Let’s get the scariest ones out of the way first! Grace Jones singing ‘Little Drummer Boy’ Is something that I think will haunt me for a long time but not as much as the Del Rubio Triplets which is simply terrifying!! Who in the wardrobe department thought it kid-friendly let allow adult-friendly to let women of that age dress in those outfits. I can’t stop shuddering!!
The fun ones though include Cher, Whoopi Goldberg and my favourite Magic Johnson, he sleigh rides with Pee Wee but his best moment is where he informs us he is Cousins with Magic Screen!! Brilliant. Another cool one is Dinah Shore Who calls up Pee Wee on his Picturephone and proceeds to sing a rather extended version of ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’. Bored of listening Pee Wee genius slips out of view and replaces himself with a mannequin wearing a mask of his face!
At the end of the special, the main man appears, Santa. Who informs Pee Wee that his list was so long that all his presents have taken up all the room on the sleigh, so no other children will get gifts this year. At first Pee Wee acts selfishly which is a brilliantly honest and child like reaction but then caves and tell Santa to share his presents with the boys and girls. And so the lesson is learned and the fun draws to a close with Pee Wee aboard Santa’s sleigh.
This special is special, it’s crazy, mad fun with a message of good cheer, it celebrates time with friends and their value. Pee Wee is such a cult classic and I love every minute of its insanity. Brilliant.
G x
Power Rangers Megaforce – The Robo Knight Before Christmas Special
Robo Knight Before Christmas – what a cool title. Good start. Sadly from there it all goes wrong…
Robo Knight wants to know what Christmas is all about so he asks Noah. Now Noah is supposed to be the brains of this operation remember, his suggestion is to stand in a shopping mall next to a pile of donated presents and pretend to be a toy! Yes, that’s right stand in a shopping mall and observe consumerism. That’s the heart of Christmas isn’t it?! But don’t worry there is someone even more dumb than Noah as Robo Knight, a 6ft or so robot weighing who knows what is mistaken as a donation and sent to Africa with the rest of the toys! Jeez.
Once in Africa the kids ask Robo Knight if he’s Santa and if he will tell them stories. He does so around a camp fire whilst preparing some soup for them. Then the inevitable clip show begins. He recalls his history with the Power Rangers and how they are good humans and taught him about humanity. How lovely.
Once the kids are asleep he morphs into Lion Zord and whizzes to a random rooftop in New Zealand to find a gift placed on a ledge for him, how incredibly lucky he chose that roof to land on! The gift? A snow globe with a picture of him and the Rangers in. Awww…
I watched this episode with my middle daughter, she didn’t seem too impressed either to be honest. But watching in her company meant I couldn’t swear or shout at the television of course, I won’t do that now either as I’m a good boy but you should know that this episode does make me swear. A lot. It’s not good.
But it’s Christmas, yay!
G x
He-Man & She-Ra: A Christmas Special
This year I have decided to try and watch as many Christmas Specials of the shows I love as possible. So snuggle up by the fire for the first instalment…
T’was the night before we put up the Christmas tree and all through the house, not a creature was stirring not even the cat… so I decided to watch ‘He-Man and She-Ra: A Christmas Special’.
It’s a festive tradition of mine to watch this each year and every year I love it a little bit more, yes even the sappy song in the middle that Bow sings! It’s got He-Man, it’s got She-Ra, it’s got Skeletor, it’s got Hordak, the lot. The opening shot of the decorating of the halls for Adam and Adora’s birthday in the royal palace is like a who’s who of the good guys. I’m stoked to see one of my all-time favs Snout Spout present, you can’t beat a robotic elephant!
I won’t ruin the plot as everyone should watch this but basically thanks to Orko’s usual clumsiness two Earth children end up on Eternia and whilst they are there they teach everyone about the holiday of Christmas. Of course Marlena knew all about Christmas but didn’t tell anyone of her home planets traditions until now, huh?! But this isn’t that kind of review, nothing bad to see here at all.
All these lessons on giving and caring aren’t good for the bad guys agendas and Horde Prime doesn’t want Christmas spirit spread around the place, he’s bad ass, don’t you know! So he sends Skeletor and Hordak to rid the planet of the kids Forever. Mwhahaha…
Too many escapes and re-captures to count later the children end up in the clutches of Skeletor. Of course like most of the best moments and dialogue in He-Man, Skeletor comes out on top and in this special he is ‘piss your pants’ funny, that’s a technical term! Trudging through the snow with the kids they start to explain Christmas to the master of evil. Love, caring, joy, disgusting. There are some brilliant moments here; the kids explain that people have fun at Christmas to which Skeletor asks “you mean they get in fights?”. Or my funniest bit when the Manchine puppy is being carried by Skeletor and it starts liking his face. Skeletor commands it to stop but the pup isn’t listening, he carries on to which Skeletor whins “you’re drowning me!”. Classic.
The ending is a fun reversal of the evilness of Skeletor as he saves the children much to his own disgust. “I don’t feel well”, “I don’t like to feel good, I like to feel evil!”. Ok, so there is nothing amazing about this special, it’s not deep or meaningful or essential viewing but what it is, is fun, easy-going, festive goodness and who doesn’t want that this time of the year. Oh and it ends with Prince Adam dressed as Santa. Brilliant.
It has the Power.
G x
Advent Calender Day!!
It’s the 1st…
Has to be done.
G x
Christmas Tree Assembled
Our Christmas tree is up and the whole house decorated and looking wonderfully festive. Caught this chap trying to get in on the action…
Advent Calender day soon…
G x
Xmas Haul!
My first post since Christmas and 2015…
The festive period came and went like a whirlwind made of tinsel. It was great fun though, great time spent with family and the customary far too much to drink and eat. Then there was the presents…
At the age of 32, I still write a Christmas wish list and because my family are so cool, I always get what I ask for!
So this year’s haul looked like this:
Neo Geo X
Super Smash Bros for Wii U
Super Mario 3D Land for Wii U
Pokemon Link for DS
Gengar T Shirt
Dragonite Plush
TMNT Monopoly
Power Rangers Megaforce Vrak Figure
Power Rangers Megaforce Tokyo Vinyl Red Ranger
Power Rangers Super Megaforce Mega Bloks Ranger and Gosei Set
Pac-Man Badge Set
Sega Arcade Classics Book by Hardcore Gaming 101
Plus lots more.
An amazing haul and that doesn’t include the ultimate present from my Wife… I’ve waited over 20 years for this one…
A NES!
In stunning condition with Gauntlet II and Rescue: The Embassy Mission included. I am so so pleased with this beauty, I never had a NES and now I do, it brings a tear to a grown man’s eye!
I hope you all had as much fun as we did…
Back soon with reviews, updates and random electronic scribbling!
G x
Happy Holidays!!
I just wanted to wish everyone out there Happy Holidays and to thank you for all your support throughout the year.
Have a great time all… enjoy!
Chat soon,
G x
- g quests - The Life & Times of a Geek 