Michael Hopcroft

Re: Answers & Questions Q: Why did you set my copy of Gone With the Wind on fire? A: It's a terrible book anyway.

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat the fate of one Professor Herman J. Quackenbush III, inventor of the Portable Hole. NT: More fun things to do with a Portable Hole.

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat

Re: Answers & Questions Q: How does Unicron keep his appetite for dessert? A: Second star to the left, and straight on till morning.

Re: City of Heroes - Online Hero Game

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares Darn, it was more interesting the other way.

Re: City of Heroes - Online Hero Game The good news is that the game is running without difficulties on my nigh-antiquated computer. The bad news is that I keep getting ambuished by gangbangers who are faster than I am and gang up on me in groups. These are quite far away from my current mission site, but they're everywhere with no way to avoid them and are usually one to three levels higher than I am (I currently am stuck at Level 2), with the result that I'm spending a lot of time in the hospital. At least I was able to find the trainer to GET to Level 2. Last time, on a different server, I couldn't. As a result, I don't feel especially super at the moment.

Re: Answers & Questions

Re: Answers & Questions

Re: City of Heroes - Online Hero Game Just got a trial account (it expires on April 24th) and was wondering if someone would contact me privately and tell me how the heck to play this game, much less use the Mission Architect. I tried a Blaster and got through the tutorial just fine, but I never found the trainer for level 2. This made me woefully unprepared for the first mission I was given and I ended up getting killed by some street thugs. I was, of course, teleported back to the hospital and resurrected, but I'm wondering what I have to do to, among other things, make the camera do what I want it to and to find that skill trainer -- The pointer I thought went to her went to another contact instead.

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares And have you slain Dargon (the Destructor) lately?

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat Hot Pink Ping-Pong Balls. We never said Foxbat had taste....

Re: Utraman No, these were syndicated episodes from the 1960s -- the same run (I think) that Oddhat's been watching in Japanese with English subtitles. They were on a borderline-bootleg tape I'd rented at a video store to check out for MSTing potential for the con. Joel and the Bots frequently mocked classic (and not-so-classic) Japanese TV series that were badly dubbed into English. One example is the submarine adventure Mighty Jack, much beloved in Japan.

Re: Answers & Questions

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat Many, many things, none of which are funny.

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat A monkey. Haven't you always wanted a monkey? And a green dress -- but not a real green dress, that's cruel. NT: Unexpected things you would do if you had a million dollars.

Re: Koko When I saw the title of this thread, I immediately though of Max Fleischer's character Koko the Clown -- frequent guest star in the Betty Boop series later on, but originally the star of his own series of silents. The most notable entry in that is Koko's Earth Control, in which he and his dog find the control room for the Universe and end up accidentally bringing about the Apocalypse. Ko-ko is also the protagonist of Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado -- a low-born man elevated to high rank, struggling to avoid the wrath of an insane Emperor and preserve what little dignity he has left in the face of orders that mean his certain destruction. People forget just how black a comedy The Mikado really is.

Re: Utraman There was a con several years back where I organized a MSTing of two translated-badly-into-English Ultraman episodes. It's hard to describe the hack job this thing was -- including editing bits and pieces of other episodes into one episode for no apparent reason. One of the episodes had the producers borrowing the Godzilla suit and augmenting it with a lizard-like ruff that got torn off in their wrestling match. (The hybrid monster did not breathe radiation but was clearly recognizable otherwise as Godzilla.) I'm not familiar with the Ultraman mythos. Did he ever pick up any nemeses or recurring villains? Is anyone on Earth Hunting him? How much of his consciousness does Ultraman share with Hayata? Are there other Space Patrol officers he can call upon for aid in a truly serious emergency (one that threatens the imminent destruction of the entire planet Earth)? Oh yes, I have questions....

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares Roger Corman made a space-based riff on The Seven Samurai (Battle Beyond the Stars), so why not? It sounds to me like a perfectly viable concept.

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat "Here are some puppies, Mother. Kick away!" NT: Subtle signs that your grandmother has finally lost her mind. (Difficulty: she still remembers who you are and who and where she is.)

Re: Answers & Questions Q: Why are you covered in paint while wearing cammo? A: Yes, Chun-Li, that outfit does look good on you. Don't kill me!

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat "I don't think nukes are appropriate to this dorm cafeteria, Mr. Belushi." NT: Things that would be improved by the random insertion of John Belushi.

Re: Answers & Questions Q" Glarlx xkxro drbl s'sst'kun? A: Six months out of every year, I might as well be wearing crepe.

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat "Welcome to Little Caesar's. Can I take your order? NT: Hamburgers in Hell.

Re: Answers & Questions Q: What do over-optimistic economists say when thing don't turn out as planned? A: Anatomically impossible, Mr. Garibaldi. But you're welcome to try.