A dream of extraordinary magnitude

Funky Friday will be a once-in-a-while thing that I’ll do (if I have the time that week) to post links YouTube videos. No, I’m not going to embed them, because that can lock up some folks browsers. Each Funky Friday will have a theme or a music style that links them together. This week, it’s all Hip-Hop. No, not that crap that you hear on the radio. I’m taking you back to a time when even Mainstream Hip-Hop was still worth a damn.

Kid ‘n Play – Gettin’ Funky – Some may know them from the House Party movies or their Sealab 2021 appearance, but heads from the late 80’s/early 90’s knew Kid n’ Play from funky joints like this. That little combo dance move they do at the end is the ‘Kick Step’ and a lot of people around here knew how to do that. I knew how to do that, which will probably blow the mind out of anybody that didn’t know me from then. Yeah, once upon a time I had some decent boogie-down skillage.

Serious Lee Fine – Nothing Can Stop Us Now – In what’s probably the best ever sampling job ever done with “One Nation Under a Groove” by Funkadelic, these three emcees thow down on a level that puts most current pop rappers to shame. Oh, I forgot: mainstream Hip-Hop doesn’t have shame. Anyway, this group was highly slept-on even though this video was always on Yo! MTV Raps at the time. In fact, I could never find that album back then, either, so distribution may’ve failed them. Speaking of Yo! MTV Raps, Ed Lover used to constantly make fun of the one guy’s hat. Hey, I like that hat. The group eventually appeared on the show and the results were pretty funny. I have it on tape somewhere and I’ll convert it once I find it.

K-Solo – Spellbound – Back when rappers were still exploring the art of the rhyme, K-Solo took the idea of spelling in the middle of a rhyme, expanded it into a song and did it without sounding like an disjointed idiot. He didn’t just spell a word in the middle of a rhyme, but he did it in a way where the letters became a part of the rhythm AND the rhyme. Give it a listen, trip out to that rhyme style and, damn, funk out to that beat.

Whodini – Funky Beat – We kicked it off with funk and so shall we end it. When I was a kid, Whodini was my favorite group, period. I’ll eventually do an entire post on Whodini. For now, just dig the only music video on Earth to feature the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Dinosaurs, multiple chef hats (a true primal element of comedy), the ‘Funky Beat puppet’ and Thedore Huxtable.

That’s enough for today. With any luck, I’ve made your Friday a much funkier experience. Have a good weekend!

edit: found new version of a vid that was deleted after the post was made

Categories: Hip-Hop, Music Posts by PrimeOp

I’m still working my way through unlocking items in Raw vs. Smackdown 2006, which was bought at around $10 once RvS2007 hit the streets. No, it’s not the shiny, new game, but it still has a lot of my favorite wrestlers who aren’t in WWE anymore. Eddy Guerrero (R.I.P.) is still among the living here Kurt Angle, Christian and Spike Dudley haven’t moved to TNA yet and divas Trish Stratus, Stacy Keibler and Lita are still around. Right now, I’m working to unlock the extra arenas by completing certain challenges. I still have a few to go and they include throwing 10 people out of the Royal Rumble (and I always mess up on the 9th and poor Andre the Giant gets tossed out) and completing a spank combo in the “Fufill your Fantasy” match. Yes, a spank combo done by sports game-like meter where you must time your movements when the hand cursor is in the right place. It’d be easier if I knew which part of the hand was supposed to be within the target section on the Spank-o-meter when pressing down. Unfortunately, yet appropriately, the Spank-o-meter is a pain in the ass (ba-dump-BUMP). I wonder if the ladies have their own Spank Stats. Don’t laugh! Even Tekken Tag’s Bowling mode has a stat system. Eh, at least it won’t be boring trying to figure this out.

I’ve loved the Create-a-wrestler mode in grappling games ever since I first played WWF War Zone by Acclaim. There’s an insane amount of options for customizing your characters and that allows you to make danged near anyone you want to make. Guy and Cody here (from Final Fight)

aren’t done yet, but close enough to just goof around with in the game. I’ll have more ridiculous screenshots (and maybe videos) once I’ve done some work on other characters. On an odd note, I’ve heard that a lot of custom options where taken out of the 2007 edition and that some prefer 2006. I’m tempted by 2007, since Tazz, Psicosis, Super Crazy and Ken Kennedy are playable in it. I’m not clocking doo-doo dumb dollars in crazy stacks so I can’t swing dough like that all the time. Maybe I’ll get 2007 when it’s 10 bones in about a year.

Hmmm… I wonder if I can make Nutroll in this…

edit: After some consulation with the referee and hours of soul searching, I decided to change the name of the post. If you saw it earlier, you’ll probably forget it in a few days anyway. If you didn’t see it, then you didn’t miss much.

Categories: Video Games, Wrestling by PrimeOp
Tags: final fight, SvR 2006

So back in 2003, I hurt my drawing hand in a moving accident. That’s one of the things that slowed my art output to a slow crawl. In fact, it was still bothering me when I did that doodle page there. In the full-sized version (click on it to see that and other dumb stuff like the Punisher’s burning corpse) I point out to the parts that hurt then. As I type this, my hand hurts, but in completely different places. Seeing as how I planned to draw another multi-character pic soon, that’s some crappy timing.

In case that some one is actually reading this and doesn’t know about the main site, there’s a poll for who’ll be in the 10,000 hits pic that’s been delayed for various reasons. In more proof that most people know me from doing ScrollBoss, an obscure video game character is beating out the likes of Dr. Doom and the Juggernaut. Now, I’m pretty sure it’s probably one to three people voting for him over and over again. The fact that anyone gives that much of a damn about a character means that character should be drawn. The mere fact that the site is visited by people who don’t automatically vote for X-Men characters makes me want to do more polls.

Categories: Art by PrimeOp

January 31st, 2007 will forever be the known as the day that the Mooninites tried to take away our beautiful, wonderful freedoms.

Boston devices a cartoon marketing ploy
FNC dedicates an entire hour to it
On Slashdot

Then, the authorities kick it up a notch:
Arrest Made In Boston’s Hoax Device Incident

I hope whoever planned the whole thing has proof that they alerted the authorities before it happened. By proof, I mean proof that they have in their hands since the police can just throw away any embarassing evidence on their end. Well, evidence more embarassing than an Atari 2600-styled alien flipping them the bird. And besides the fact that the other cities that they did this in (and notified the authorities) didn’t go apespit.

I think TestPattern has my favorite description of events so far:

It’s been pretty hilarious to read the national media coverage of this, especially watching reporters who obviously have never heard of “Aqua Teens” try to describe it. They try so hard to be formal, to be precise, to follow AP style, even with the most ridiculous content. The resulting language makes it sound like no one in the mass media even owns a TV.

Sure, it’s not as funny as Evil Bert cold lampin’ with Osama Bin Laden but this really has made my week and it’s not even over yet.

Categories: Cartoons, News by PrimeOp

First, thanks to everyone from various places that stopped to say a kind word after what happened last week. We’re putting together a mini-shrine for Grandpa and I’ll take a picture of it once we get more done with it.

I think one of the suspects of slowing down my drawing was my old, small lightbox. Dimming after about a decade of use, I’d have to wait until dark just to see through two pieces of paper. I’m one of those hacks who likes to sketch things small, make an enlarged copy of it and trace it onto another piece of paper. One thing that’s always bugged me is how I’d try to redraw something from a small sketch only to see all the energy get sucked out of the poses. When I overanalyze everything and try to make it look realistic, it ends up looking boring and lifeless. The sketches? The sketches are usually full of crazy and wonder and the fresh scent of a new idea. So lightboxing enlarged sketches keep the initial energy from that sketch.

That Final Fight picture that I did a little while ago is an example of that. Not perfect, but not as flat and boring.

Categories: Art by PrimeOp

If you’re on the board, you may have seen a post about this, but I forgot to post about it here and on my sites. My grandfather, Roosevelt, passed away from cancer this Monday morning. Our family took care of him during the times that he wasn’t in professional care and it’s one of the things that I’d mentioned when I said that I wouldn’t have a lot of time to do as much for ScrollBoss this year. He was one of the nicest and most giving people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting on this planet and I’m really going to miss him a lot. I didn’t notice this until recently, but I think he’s one of the main influences of my collecting lots of knick-nacks like action figures since he had a fun, wide assortment of small statues. More than anything, I hope that even a fraction of his wisdom rubbed off on me.

Rest in peace, Grandpa.

Categories: Uncategorized by PrimeOp

The Playahata Awards 2006 edition brings the acclaim and shame like Huey and Caesar did back in the Boondocks comic strip. It gives love where it’s due and hits below the belt when it’s more than deserved. Between Playahata.com and Davey D’s sites, my faith in Hip-Hop survives. To tell the truth, I want that t-shirt that Naomi Campbell’s wearing. I’m sure there’s a funny, suggestive line to follow that up with, but I’ll leave that up to you.

Speaking of Davey D, his is one of the sites where I’ve been learning about this RIAA-inspired SWAT raid on a DJ:
Digital Music News
Davey D’s blog
In other words, it took 30 SWAT guys to take down a guy that makes mixtapes.

Finally, farewell to wrestler Bam Bam Bigelow who passed away Friday. He was a favorite of mine back in the day, especially as a big man that could move much faster than you’d imagine. I’ll have to watch that match he had against Taz tonight in his memory. As I thought, Lance Storm has a great tribute to the man on his StormWrestling site. Beast of the East, rest in peace and thanks for those matches and overall coolness.

Categories: Hip-Hop, News, Wrestling by PrimeOp

We finally have snow in this neck of Ohio for the first time of this winter. So what. Big deal. I don’t enjoy snow or the snow vibe that it brings with it. Back in the days of m’yooth, it’d be snow fort time! Snowball fight time! “Take wintery G.I.JOE and Cobra figures out in the snow and lose most of their weapons even though you should know better” time! Not these days. Now I’m the old guy with the rickety knees who hates the snow.

To add insult to injury, this is the week where I get my late Christmas present of some free money. If the roads are too dangerous, I won’t be able to get out of the house to buy anything. I’m itching to get some new art supplies.

Categories: Uncategorized by PrimeOp

I was typing out a longer post, but YouTube crashed Firefox and, well, that was the end of that. Luckily, I have an extension that saves tabs in case of crashes. The post is lost, but I’ll still post the video:

Categories: Uncategorized by PrimeOp