Arrgh! A’vast ye scurvy ooks!  I’ve had an image for a while of a pirate MINIon.  There are many stereotypical pirate motifs and have probably missed a few.  Then again, MINIon #1883 shares the publication date of “Treasure Island”   maybe he knows where the treasure, or bodies are buried.

So I’m getting back into the hang of work all day, come home and drawing. Not as bad as I remember it. Today’s MINIon has been brought to you by the color green, and the number 387. For those who have had the misfortune to have known me since I was a child (hmmm… actually I don’t think there is anyone here who fits that description). I had red hair as a kid (my ancestors were kicked out of Ireland for sheep rustling- or at least that’s the story I’ve heard). My hair was more auburn than red, my older brother… the part that isn’t white, is still very red. So I know about the Irish genes fair complexion, freckles, sunburn (all the time).  On MINI Takes The States I usually get asked about if my sunburn hurts, because I tend to forget to apply sunscreen at least one day and that day tends to be a bright sunny day, in the desert. Happy St. Patrick’s Day- and don’t forget pinching the wrong person can get you arrested and a black eye.

knock… knock… knock… ook? knock… knock… knock… ook? knock… knock… knock… ook? I could launch into a rousing rendition of “Soft MINIon” but that might be a bit too much.

For those who don’t know, Terry Pratchett, author of the “Discworld Series,” passed way… Let’s start by saying I’m I a big fan of certain authors.  Unfortunately, many of the authors I read either die, or stop writing.  You see, I’m a fan of a rather narrow genre called “Comic Fantasy”  It all started in high school. with Robert Lynn Aspirin’s “MythAdventures”.  After that I moved on to the Discworld Series in which “Sir Terry” commented on the world’s issues through the lens of a fantasy world.  I’ve read many of his novels and, frankly, recommend any, and all of them…  His first novel in this series “The Color of Magic” defines a few things, including the importance of the number 8,  my favorite colour- violet, and the character “Rincewind.”

Books are a wonderful way to enrich & escape your normal life all at the same time… kinda like driving a MINI.  

Really? I decided to do a “Year in MINIons”? It’s past 11:30 and I still haven’t posted today’s MINIon.  What was I thinking? As a commentary for today’s MINIon, let’s just say when Cecil learned that a certain movie would have “minions” in it, he was first perturbed, and then he saw what studio was making it and decided that it wasn’t a big deal, since only on rare occasions had that studio produced anything original, creative, or with any staying power… within a year it would be forgotten. Now he’d just like to remind everyone that he was using the term MINIon long before any film came out with “cute little yellow creatures” in it- not the other way around.

Here’s another MINIon!  This one needs to just make sure to not answer the door for candy-grams, or trick-or-treaters for UNICEF, or… (cue Jaws theme)

You know how some people really bug you? Okay- not really…  This one goes to a MINIon who I met when I was first starting out and was going to almost every event possible.  I really can’t remember exactly which was our first event, but I know I’ve chatted with them at numerous events including Mickey & MINI and a couple Mini Meets…  “What is a Mini Meet?” you ask.  Before the “new MINI” or “BMW MINI” had come out Mini owners gathered annually to have fun.  Mini Meet East and Mini Meet West, once every 5 years they got together for Mini Meet East Meets West.  These still happen and after a rocky start, I think the “new MINI” owners have been accepted by most.  My first Mini Meet was in Alcoa, Tennessee and I had just bought my classic.  I was such a newbie, to the point where I had driven the Classic all the way and then (after asking “What’s that sound?”) realized that there was something broken and needed to be repaired.  I then made it to Mini Meet East Meets West in Winona, Minnesota.  Had a great time except for needing to scrounge for tools to do a quick repair, so Tink, my classic Mini, didn’t sound like it was going to rattle apart!  So besides repairing Minis, there are a bunch of other things that happen- a car show, an autocross, r/c car competition, classes on repairing your Mini, some drives, and the Funkana.  Yes, a “Funkana”-  imagine a race in which you have to do silly things along the way.  In the case of Winona, it was based on the Italian Job, and it had to do with liberating some gold bars, driving a course and depositing the gold bars.  Basically a silly bit of fun.  I lurked and took pictures.  After a few more long trips (and the purchase of a Roadster) I decided that Tink would be more of a local car for a while.  

If you haven’t figured out I’m a comic book guy this far into this process, you might want to go back and reread a few posts…  When I was growing up my favorite character was “The Flash”  – no relation to Flash Gordon.  The character that started the Silver Age of comics, so who’s the guy in the funny helmet?  You see the Silver Age for DC was mostly known for reinventing their old characters in “modern” ways.  The Flash (now on TV, again… but where is Mark Hamill as the Trickster?) started off in 1940.  Origin: Jay Garrick was a college student who fell asleep while taking a cigarette break and knocking over a “heavy water” experiment… instead of dying a grisly and horrible death he woke up and was able to go really fast.  This was before the “Super Friends” in which one voice actor used a sped up voice, and the next time the character spoke v…e…r…y   s…l…o…w…l…y, also before a red headed third grader was running around in a red sweatsuit wishing his mom would sew a lightning bolt on it.