Category: Blogposts

Posts not connected to a comic… sometimes information, sometimes just ranting, it’s a bit of a gamble when you read these.

A Year in MINIons- MINIon #1933

Posted on March 27, 2015 by Bruce

1933So… I finally am on vacation, Spring Break has been a long time coming… I joke about how the school calendar is determined.  They bring a bunch of psychiatrists into room and ask how long a human can work with kids before going insane.  They smile and add a week and say that’s when a break will happen.  Please don’t get me started on the myth about how teachers get all these vacations… My reply usually has to to with when you can go to the bathroom… you will not win, give up now.

So tonight’s MINIon is based on what many teachers in this day and age need to survive.  So you have Bacchus and the date is based on when Ernest & Julio Gallo started their winery…   if you paid teachers a living wage, I’m sure other, better wines would be on the list.  Enough politics after the stupidity happening in Indiana time to go on vacation.

A Year in MINIons- MINIon #4466

Posted on March 26, 2015 by Bruce

4466OK, fine, I have a problem… I admit it, for over 25 years I have been going to the same pizza place. It all started when I was working late my first year of teaching and ordered dinner from a national chain pizza place, and they could not find the school building… It’s a school on a major street- really?!? SO I looked for the “local place” and discovered Gramboli’s. Since then, Gramboli’s has been the go to place when we don’t want to cook (which is way too often) and the place where we have seen the family grow up… I remember watching the kids do their homework, kids who now have kids. Many ask us what to order- my reply is “anything.” We now come in and have the people who work there make suggestions. This week was rough so we’ve dropped by nightly. Sunday was the Indy Webcomics Group, and after that was my lack of desire to cook. Sue and I have talked about posting about various pizza places we visit on the road… maybe, some day, but Gramboli’s will always have a place in our heart because of the people, and the pizza.

A Year in MINIons- MINIon #0678

Posted on March 25, 2015 by Bruce

0678I realize the image might be too small to notice, but I believe a true geek who grew up in the late 70’s and early 80’s would recognize the book being held by MINIon #0678.  When I was growing up I had my first job when I was  about 13, unfortunately for me there was a game store in the same mall, so I would get paid, cash my check, and spend all my money.  This is pretty amusing since I am currently known for buying games and never playing them, something I started early on.  I remember in junior high school getting invited to my first D&D campaign.  That character lived through many adventures even though I always felt the Dungeon Master liked having a high level assassin around to do his dirty work.  I upset a few friends when I would accept the contract on their character and let a dagger slip towards the end of the adventure.  It wasn’t until college when the rule of “your character must be neutral or good- because we are fighting evil” came into play, so I switched from assassins to Magic-Users or Rogues.   I haven’t played a role playing games in decades… everyone seems to like Fantasy Football around here instead of just Fantasy.  So MINIon #0678 is looking for adventure- somewhere.

A Year in MINIons- MINIon #1776

Posted on March 24, 2015 by Bruce

1776I’m sad that the state that my family has lived in since before statehood has decided to discriminate against people.  I try to stay away from politics since this is an all ages comic, but as a teacher I work on the golden rule- “Treat others the way you want to be treated.”  I wish the elected officials in Indiana felt the same way…  Now politics are going to hurt people more than they usually do.  I wish our elected official could once, just once, tell their puppeteers “no.”  When will the people actually have a voice again?  Or maybe it would be best if a monkey bent on world domination was in charge, at least Cecil sees people, as people… no matter who they love, what they believe, or what they look like, unlike the elected representatives of the people of Indiana.

A Year in MINIons- MINIon #1955

Posted on March 23, 2015 by Bruce

1955Always been a fan of rocket packs.  One of those untold stories of Cecil is actually about his exploits with his “Simian Aero Corp” of which MINIon #1955 is a proud member.  Why #1955? Dave Stevens, creator of “The Rocketeer,” was born in 1955.  If you’ve seen the movie, you only know part of Cliff Secord’s story- hunt down the original comics they are a sight to behold.

A Year in MINIons- MINIon #0020

Posted on March 21, 2015 by Bruce

I0020 mentioned podcasts before and how there are some I’ve just kept with since I first discovered them.  White Roof Radio, Podcacher, and Decoder Ring Theatre.  I discover the last one while just randomly searching for something new, and instantly knew it was my kind of show.  I remember listening to the original “Shadow” and one of my favorite short stories is “Jeffty is Five” by Harlan Ellison, so I’m a sucker for nostalgia.  So Decoder Ring Theatre produces a series of radio dramas in the style of the 1930’s & 40’s, one featuring “Black Jack Justice” crime noir with a comedic twist, and then the adventures of “Canada’s Greatest Super Hero” the Red Panda.  (Did I mention this group is out of Toronto?) I’m a very grumpy person if I miss an episode.  So I present MINIon #0020- named after the episode the introduced one of Cecil’s favorite villains, and what I thought was my radio call sign- until I was informed otherwise.  Listen to it and see if you can’t figure it out 🙂 Episode #20  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

A Year in MINIons- MINIon #0097

Posted on March 20, 2015 by Bruce

0097There are a few icons in the MINI community, when I bought my first MINI I was told about MINIon #0097, a “MINIGuru,” and over the years I have been helped out by this good samaritan and expert on all things MINI.  He put in the pulley, air intake, and infamous “Zoomer’s” exhaust in my first MINI.  He helped to diagnose the initial issues with the classic including the advice to drive straight home after Mini Meet East in Alcoa, Tennessee and not drive the Dragon with a broken steering rack. Most recently he loaned me a scan gauge on MTTS 2014 and with a glance told me it was the thermostat.  I will always recommend MINIon #0097’s shop in Atlanta if you need any bits or bobs, work done on your MINI, or an honest opinion about a mod.

A Year in MINIons- MINIon #0064

Posted on March 19, 2015 by Bruce

0064Over the years I’ve learned that there are many different kinds of geeks, and I’ve spoken about this multiple times in the past.  So many people think that if you are a geek on one topic, you’re a geek in all topics… umm… nope.  You see I consider myself a geek when it comes to comic books, and Star Trek.  When it comes to stuff like manga, Stargate, or Buffy the Vampire Slayer- no so much.  In some cases it’s because they reached peak popularity when I was busy with other things. It’s not that I don’t appreciate other pop culture things, but I just may not have spent enough time to become a geek.  One of those blackholes in my geek rep is video games.  I’m old enough to have played “Pong” and an Atari 2600… but you see I had an older brother.  My brother was really good at playing video games, to a point where it was easier to just not play.  So while I did play some games, I tended to avoid video games at home.  A few years ago I even tried World of Warcraft with my older brother.  I dropped out because he had already maxed out his character and would swoop into to “help” and it just stopped being fun.  I felt like Parzival hanging around killing off kobolds and waiting for them to respawn to gain experience.  Soon I decided it wasn’t just my brother being helpful, but I was too much of an introvert to deal with the social aspects of MMORPGs.  For the record my favorite arcade game growing up was the Star Trek Strategic Operations Simulator, which was a simple vector graphics reimagining of Spacewar.  Although I did spend a lot of tokens in the Star Wars X-Wing simulator (sitdown version).

A Year in MINIons- MINIon #1883

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Bruce

1883Arrgh! 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.