And joining Shirley Temple and Sid Caesar is http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/13/showbiz/a ... ?hpt=hp_t2]Ralph Waite.  (The father on The Waltons, for you young whippersnappers out there.)
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Color me GOBSMACKED but I just found out that Vanessa Mae - yes - THAT Vanessa Mae - the violinist/crossover artist - is skiiing the downhill slalom for Thai in the Sochi Olympics under her fathers name Vanakorn. 
So if you see a Vanessa Vanakorn from Thai doing the downhill slalom at the Olympics and you think she looks a little familiar? Well there's a reason for that. 

I think her coolness factor just shot into the freaking stratosphere. She's certainly qualified for Blue Blaze Irregular status with Buckaroo Banzai. Now if she turns her mind to science, she's a shoe-in for the Hong Kong Cavaliers proper! ^_^

 

http://www.latimes.com/obituaries/la-et ... z2t8zjLAHB

Link.

...Just...just check out the videos in the link!

Sid Caesar is dead; and nearly a month before the ides of March.  In Comedy, timing is everything.
Easily my favorite performance was his brilliant caveman from Mel Brook's History of the World Part I

So I've been enjoying some of the 'Dungeon Crawler' fics posted on Spacebattles. A guy dropped into Sailor Moon with abilities based on an Anima character build out. A guy dropped into the Buffy universe in the guise of one of his Champions character builds. One of our own, Vulpine Fury, has Giving It the Old College Try, in which a guy finds himself at Illuminati University with abilities based on a GURPS build...
Watching these I've been getting tempted to try one too. Only I've been getting tempted to try doing one in which the system and setting are mismatched. Like say Buffy & Golden Sky Stories, or Worm and Toon (well, at least a Toon character would have a survival advantage in the Worm universe). As the title says, it seems to me this is either madness or mad genius.
-----

Will the transhumanist future have catgirls? Does Japan still exist? Well, there is your answer.

(see the revised text in reply #6)
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

The green, grumpy German girl groused , “You hired me to deliver a bouquet?” 

Dr.--unofficially--Drakken smiled what he hoped was a disarming smile. “Yes, as quickly as possible.” 

She moued, very prettily as far as Drakken was concerned.  “To whom?” 

He handed the black jumpsuited woman an envelope of creamy seed paper. 

Drakken was fairly sure that if she were truly put out by him this conversation would have truly ended with the trivial nature of the cargo. Ramona Wandblume had the reputation of dealing only in small exotics & valuables : she wouldn’t even consider thinking about couriering a collectable figurine less than two hundred & fifty U.S dollar-equivalent credit units. The dual facts that she had neither stormed out, nor reamed him out,  but had  agreed poutingly suggested that he had a beachhead from which to conduct further operations.  

Wandblume opened the envelope, shook out the card into a  palmy palm. Her eyebrows shot up once she hit the punchline. 

“They’re lovely, dumpkof!” She smacked him across the head with a mixed assortment of hardy zero-gee blooms. 

“Couldn’t you just have asked me out, like a...” She caught herself which was another sign that she was relaxed.  Flower bedecked Dr. Drakken was elated : the evolving assignation was enthralling.    

“...Normal guy?” He threw his blue arms skywards with a risible, vivacious bark of laughter : “What fun is normal?” 



“None at all!” She brushed a sprig of baby’s breath off of his shoulder. “Vhat took you so long? I vasn’t exactly being subtle six months ago!”

“Between being Fen still-in-the-wrapper and never before really having any girlfriend experience, I would have missed a Vegas display of dating interest!”

“Vell then, time to start exposing you to girls...that did not come out vell?”

Dr. Drakken, was poleaxed for three point five seconds ; then giggling his guts out on moonrock : “It was a bit awkward,” He managed, bootstrapping himself off of the floor and out of a potentially mood killing explanation. “ but I know exactly what you meant!” 

“Gut! Ve vill begin vith coffee und see.”

She dragged him into the fantastically convenient coffee shop, Lollygags. 



Sweeping her eyes across the cozy little booths, faux pleather--doubly fake!--arm chairs, diode candles & plasteak wood decor, Wandblume declared : “A bit stiff, but It vill do!”



Drakken’s assessment  was very esoteric: “Wow, Moon Boodle’s!”  

The mustachioed man, listlessly polishing the same glass over and over,  behind the bar intoned moodily, “More like Moon Boondoggle’s, sir.”

Sure enough the place was emptier than church on a Saturday night.

“Moon vas?!” 

As they took their seats in a booth both slightly larger and more fun than a confessional, Drakken exposited : “Before I turned blue I was set upon weekend vacationing as H.G. Wells’ Victorian mad scientist, Professor Cavor. This,”  He spun about slowly encompassing  the establishment’s ersatz appeal in a out flung swing of arms. “is exactly like the secret Eidolon Sanctum room in Boodle's Gentlemen's club* where my slightly altered variant of Well’s scientist meets with the cream of society to ensure the Victorian space program!**

There was a glister in Ramona Wandblume’s eyes that fought and lost against the slightest of scowls as she watched her date’s waltzing reverie unfold : they was the outward   manifestations of her inner verdict regarding his geek gusto. She found it  as perplexingly sexy now as the first time she had met him six months previously. 

 Drakken only enhanced her  consideration of him through a bit of banter with the barman. 

“It’s like this all of the time?”

“All of the time, sir.” Drakken was beginning to see less of a man and more of a bipedal bar tending Eeyore. 

“This must be the only not bright orange bubble-tea establishment on the whole of Luna!”

“I reckon so, sir.” Drakken was now fairly confident that the listless laborer sported a detachable pink ribboned tail blocked from view by the dark fake wood and actual brass of the bar. 

“Tapioca is not a beverage!”

“Yes, sir.”

“I, my good man, can not in good conscience let such an excellent establishment go by the wayside!” 

This was said with such ardor that, even in the eyes of Eeyore, a fragile flickering of  faith fired faintly. 

“That would be appreciated, sir.” 

Wandblume strongly suspected that it wasn’t just bluster on the part of the slightly maddening man that was attaining approval in the metaphorical atria of her affections.

She was correct. 

*****

 

*Boodle’s exists : the Eidolon Sanctum does not. 

**More than a slight alteration of  H.G. Well’s, The First Men in the Moon. 

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/11/showbiz/h ... ?hpt=hp_t1]CNN article here.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Quote:From: Captain@Ciara.Fen
To: [whom it may concern]

SUBJ: [RFP] Construction of Space Vessel. [Confidential]

To Whom it May concern

It's no secret at this point that the Ciara's getting old. She was almost 20 years old before we bought her, and a few thousand launch and landing cycles and a few Atlantic storms haven't been kind, not to mention the scars of the conflict ten years ago. What is a secret for the time being is that Sean, our engineer, found fatigue cracks in the keel during an ultrasonic inspection. Repairs aren't possible. He estimates the ship's safe to fly for only another six months or so.

So, we plan to retire the Ciara after our current contract with Stellvia Trading runs out next month. She won't be going to the scrapper's torch; the museum at Port Phobos have asked for her, to go alongside their Boskone cruiser as part of a war-era exhibit

Anyway, point is, we're in the market for a new ship.

Minimum requirements are that she must be water-landing capable, have sufficient armament, armour and sensors for self-defense (To PEPPER Class 1-C), sufficient propulsion capability to reach a minimum of 0.1c, 15 light-years range, crew and passenger accomodations for a minimum of 30, a 2 shuttlecraft of Bolitho-size or bigger, and cargo capacity of 50 tons. Ideally, she'd operate with minimal crew and maximum passengers. Delivery is expected within 6 months to a year from order. Bonus points will be awarded for onboard amenities and crew comfort. Being able to land somewhere conventional for a change would also be nice...

We're hoping to add an interstellar run to our usual repertoire, maybe out to Gallifrey or other offworld colonies if there's demand for it.

Full details, budget and specifications are attached to this message. There's a deadline of 4 weeks from today for submission of proposals. We'll make our decision within two weeks of that date.

Is mise le meas
Raymond Garret.

--------------

The one with the fancy hat and jacket, and the weight of the world on his shoulders.

SS Ciara: Secure Cargo, Passenger and Charter. Mars. Venus. Earth.