Saturday, April 17, 2010

Worst Drivers

Drivers are people that everyone deals with on a daily basis.  Whether you take the bus, a taxi, or drive yourself, we all have to deal with drivers.  I'm sure that on more then one occasion we've caught ourselves pissed or irked by some drivers behaviors.  Luckily for you, I've been studying the habits of these terrible drivers and have compiled a list of them with their natural habitats and their dictionary definitions *not verified.  Since there are an insurmountable amount of classifications and hybrids of bad drivers, I've tried to limit myself to only 7 bad drivers today.  After you're done reading, tell the people!  Be afraid!  They could be your neighbors, your sisters, or even worse..YOU! 

ahem..on to the list..

NUMBER 7
 THE SKUNK

The Skunk ~ Driver who's car and/or clothes reek of stank (yes stank!)  Cars often smell of alcohol, cigarette smoke, or rotten fruit.  Found frequenting clubs, bars, and parties.

Everyone reading this list has either seen or been in the car with The Skunk.  They can't seem to fight the urge to smoke while they're driving, often times blowing smoke directly into their passengers faces.  I'm blowing it out the window though!  Umm..No..you're not.  Your window is open so the smoke is just being blown into the backseat.  Not only that, but their cars reek of the nastiness.  The Skunk tries sometimes to be courteous by getting out of the car to smoke.  Unfortunately for all the passengers, the smoke still sticks to The Skunk's clothing which still comes into the car.  I bet many of us have seen them attempt to cover their stank with Axe or Tag right?  Sorry buddies but it doesn't really do anything.  One other classification of Skunks are the ones who seem to miraculously lose food in their cars.  80% of the time (*citation needed) it seems to be fruit and you end up with that awkwardly bad yet mildly delightful smell.  Okay that's kinda pushing it but you just can't seem to ever ignore the smell.  The final class of Skunks are the Sport Skunks.  That's not to say that these skunks play sports, its just that they smell as if they took a bath in sweat.  Their nasty B.O. combined with sticky seats and oftentimes hot weather produce a smell almost as bad as the smokers.  These are the easiest to detect with signs like shiny hair, wet spots in their underarms, heavy breathing, and constant fidgeting. 


NUMBER 6
ATTENTION WHORE

Attention Whore ~ Driver who must be the center of attention.  Often has spinning rims, ridiculously bad paint jobs, ugly unnecessary tails that do nothing, and almost always has loud obnoxious music blasting.  Frequents main streets (ex- Sonoma in Vallejo, Mission in SF) but can just as easily be found in mall parking lots or schools.  Drivers also like to exit cars idiotically while the cars are running and then proceeds to either dance outside the car while it moves or dances on the hood. 

These drivers are those drivers.  The ones who apparently feel that everyone on the road has to hear their music.  They usually have techno music (which apparently all sound like boom boom chicka pow pow) or "hardcore" rap music.  Are they deaf?  Here's a better idea instead of destroying the ear drums of your passengers and every person within a half mile radius of your car - GET A HEARING AID.  I pray that they know how idiotic they look and how weak their systems sound because most of the time all we can hear is rattling and vibration from their "sick bass".  I'm from the bay area and I've seen more then my share of Attention Whores.  The ones that are also ridiculously annoying are the "hyphy" drivers.  I'm all for the movement and music but seriously guys..GROW UP.  I hope that this ghost rider video is legit. 


NUMBER 5
TECHNOLOGY WIZARD

Technology Wizard ~ Usually has some form of electronics on hand.  Often seen holding a cell phone to one ear while they are completely oblivious to their surroundings.  Frequently seen at stoplights and freeways. 

Wasn't there a law that passed saying that we can't hold our phones up to our ears while we drive anymore?  Its funny because very few seem to believe that being on their cell while they're driving makes them a bad driver.  How did most people try to use their phones without clutching it to their ears?  What's that you say?  They did the smart thing and bought headsets or some blue tooth enabled device freeing up both hands to more easily pay attention to the road?  No of course not silly they started texting!  Yeah because having your eyes and head down while you fumble with your phone is much more safer.  Thank God they finally passed a law preventing texting while driving so hopefully they can prevent text related deaths. 


NUMBER 4
BROKEN SIGNALER

Broken Signaler ~ Drivers incapable of using their cars turn signals.  Also unable to make hand signals or give any indication that they are turning or are attempting to turn.  Studies have shown that some Broken Signalers actually have the ability to turn their signals on, but not until the least opportune moment. 

You see that little yellow light there in that picture?  It can be red, white, or yellow, but they all function the same!  You trigger that light to indicate your intent on making a left or right turn.  How do you access this magical feature that apparently only competent drivers can use?  By moving your left hand an inch from the wheel and clicking this easily visible knob/handle up or down.  Not hard right?  For some reason this simple task seems to completely be forgotten by drivers on the road.  You've been in that situation where you're in a lane that can either go straight, or turn left.  There's one car in front of you and you're waiting for the red light to turn green.  The car isn't signaling so he should be going straight right?  The light turns green and for some reason the car in front is slowly creeping forward and then in about 4 seconds, he slightly (I mean SLIGHTLY) angles his car to the left.  He's not gonna..HE IS!  You then get upset and must find a way around the car.  How does he give you one last slap to the face?  He of course turns his signal on right as you're about to pass him.  ARGH!!!!!


NUMBER 3
LOST PUPPY

Lost Puppy ~ Drivers who (unlike their canine counterparts) are anything but cute.  Loves to consistently drive (minimum) 5 miles under the speed limit and spends (minimum again) 3 seconds stopped at green lights.  Can be seen looking for parking many times.  Often has traits of the Broken Signaler but is indeed a much more irritating species.  Frequents narrow roads, residential areas, and streets with lots of traffic. 

The worse part about the Lost Puppy is that they always seem to be around when you're in a rush.  Need to get to class before you're late?  Sorry but someone is attempting to locate a specific bank which is three blocks away and they're constantly stopping in front of you.  Need to get to the hospital because your wifes in labor?  Sorry but the baby has to wait because the Lost Puppy in front is attempting to locate an easily seen parking lot 30 meters ahead.  The Lost puppys love to go at a snails pace and actually attempt to find the places while driving.  Here's a thought that you can take and give to any Lost Puppys you know (and I KNOW you know some) = Get a GPS or pull over to the side and look at a map!  Their stops are so inconsistent and frequent too..but not nearly as bad as..


NUMBER 2
HEAVY FOOT

Heavy Foot ~ Drivers who's feet are apparently so heavy that they cannot control how much force they apply to the brake pedal or gas pedal.  Frequents congested areas and stop lights. 

Everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) has encountered this species of driver at one point.  Whether you've been in the car with them or have been behind their cars, they are easily noticeable.  When you're in the car and for some reason, you seem to be taking a bow every 5 minutes, you're with a Heavy Foot.  They love to slam on their brakes and whenever they're given an opportunity to move forward, they slam on the gas!  The constant change of speed results in strained necks, headaches, nausea, and all sorts of other problems that are more then mildly irritating.  If you've been behind these beasts, then you often see their lights go from non-existent, to bam flashed bright red in your eye!  The worse part is that since their feet are so ridiculously heavy, their car comes to a screeching halt forcing other drivers behind to do the same (often times with more then a few car lengths in front of them).  The strangest thing about this unique species though is that you can never tell who they are just by looking at their feet.  Apparently they have some crazy deal with shoe companies that allows their mammoth sized feet to fit into tiny normal sized shoes.  Either that or they're just really bad drivers. 


Throughout my studies, I've encountered these wild animals and have even risked being in the same vehicle behind them fearing for my life.  The next driver I'm about to discuss is to be avoided at all costs.  You've been warned!

drumroll please..


ratatatatatatatata


NUMBER 1
THE FLASH

The Flash ~ Most common species of bad drivers.  Often referred to as the Rush Hour Driver or the Incessant Horn driver.  This animal seems to always be in a rush and usually drives at a minimum of 15 mph over the speed limit.  If behind another vehicle, this driver will tailgate coming as close as a foot behind and if at a red light, will honk his horn at the second the light turns green.  Can be seen multi tasking on the road eating, talking on the cell phone, and sometimes doing makeup.  Be aware that engaging with this species can also put extra risk to the children often seen in the back of these drivers cars.  AVOID AT ALL COSTS.  Frequently seen on freeways, near schools, and all main roads.  Usually comes out between the hours of 6:00am to 10:00am and 2:30 pm to 8:00pm but can be seen at all times of the day. 

Flashes are so frequently seen that it's become a given that you'll encounter them.  Unfortunately, their condition is contagious, leading to spirited arguments and some type of sign language consisting of the raising of one lone middle finger.  Apparently in Flash language this is a form of a challenge which results in other drivers becoming enraged and being turned into a Flash themselves.  Avoid their bait and attempt to drive normally.  Although hard, do your best to stay away from their gang signs and do not engage!  They will do everything in their power to cut you off and make your driving experience as dangerous as possible.  In my studies I've found that by slowly pacing the car next to you, while having a Flash behind you, the Flash becomes enraged and violently swerves back and forth in between lanes to attempt to pass.  Do not allow them to.  It's a fun game I like to play.  But be warned: Flashes will attempt to pass and if they do, they will attempt to do the same thing to you. 

Hope you enjoyed my list and tell me what you think!  Did I miss any?  Let me know.  Thanks for reading and make sure to vote!  Scroll up and it'll be on the top right of this blog! 

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Kids Cartoons I Miss

Before I begin my list, I'd just like to repeat again that these are my picks and my opinions.  I highly doubt that many of you out there will completely agree with my rankings and with so many great cartoons to choose from its entirely understandable.  In fact, there are so many great cartoons from my childhood (90s) that I decided to double the list this week and make a top 10 today.  Unfortunately, because even 10 choices doesn't seem enough, I had to omit many popular choices such as:

Rugrats (seriously would've been my number 11)
Rocko's Modern Life (weirdly awesome show about a wallaby)
Aaahh!!! Real Monsters (monsters in school and their misadventures)
Dexter's Laboratory (Dee-Dee get out of my labor-a-tory!)
Gargoyles (I honestly never watched this show but it oozes with style)
Duck Tales (A-Whoo hoo?)

and many many more.  With dozens of great picks to choose from, I had to go with my own opinion and my experiences. 

NUMBER 10
REN & STIMPY
1991

Now I know a lot of people are already gonna be upset that Ren & Stimpy isn't ranked higher then number 10 on my list, but please before you get upset, hear me out.  I used to love this show when I was younger.  I watched it as often as I could on Nickelodeon, bought the comic books, and even played most of their videogames.  If you asked me 10 years ago whats my all-time favorite cartoon, I'd have to say it would've been Ren & Stimpy.  I was really excited when the DVDs came out and immediately bought them.  Question for you now is, have you recently watched an episode of Ren & Stimpy?  I'm amazed at what they got away with showing kids in the 90s.  This show didn't seem as entertaining today as it did when I was younger and the overly adult reboot in 2003 showed how twisted the creators of Ren & Stimpy were.  Bottom line is, I loved it as a kid, not so much as an adult.  Entertaining, but sort of lost it's appeal as I got older.

One of the most famous episodes of Ren & Stimpy is right here.  Guaranteed to make you happy and filled with joy!

NUMBER 9
RECESS
1997

I have to confess, that I didn't really start watching Disney's Recess until it was shown on UPN but I loved all the adventures the kids would get into.  Recess was about T.J. and his friends in elementary school.  What made the show appealing to kids was it's great blend of relatability mixed with it's over the top atmosphere.  I'm sure all of us could relate to the episode of Recess where the kids are stuck indoors on rainy days and forced to find entertainment inside.  Or what about the episode where the kids all buy monster cards and it becomes a schoolwide obsession?  This show had entertaining characters, funny stories, and can still give a lot of us feelings of nostalgia. 



NUMBER 8
MUPPET BABIES
1984 

Muppet babies they make our dreams come true!  Come on, you know that you remember the theme song.   Although this show released in 1984, there were 8 seasons running until 1991!  I remember watching episodes of this as a young kid and enjoying every one of them.  I honestly didn't know anything about the muppets before muppet babies and thought that the muppets were actually a spinoff of their baby versions cartoons.  While today it really seems kinda embarassing to say I enjoyed a cartoon about baby versions of famous sock puppets, I don't care.  I loved this cartoon and I ain't ashamed!


NUMBER 7
POWERPUFF GIRLS
1998

Now if my last entry seemed really babyish, this one might have a lot of you questioning what was going on with me.  This show came out in '98 meaning I was already 11 years old.  While I wouldn't freely admit I watched this show back then, I have no problem saying I did now.  The show about 3 cute and super powered girls fighting off crime was one of the main reasons I wished I had cartoon network in my area as a kid.  I used to watch this show at my friends house and there was something just oddly cool about it.  The bad guys were fun and funny (Mojo Jojo and the Gang Green Gang), the supporting cast was enjoyable (the Mayor stands out), and the action wasn't half bad.  The main characters were great (Bubbles was my favorite) and for some strange reason, I couldn't get this song out of my head years later!  Yeah I liked this girls cartoon and I'm sure I wasn't the only little boy who watched it.  Hopefully..

*fun fact ~ Bubbles voice actress (Tara Strong) does voiceover work for cartoons like Pokemon, Drawn Together, and Family Guy as well as video games like Metal Gear Solid, No More Heroes, and Rikku from Final Fantasy X.


NUMBER 6
DOUG / HEY ARNOLD!
1991 / 1996

Alrite while I know this is technically cheating and I could've easily made a top 11 list instead of clumping these two together, its my list so I can do what I want!  Honestly though, these two kind of entertained me in the same ways and were also similar in others.  Odd kid dealing with school life?  Check.  Strange family members? (Judy for Doug, Grampa for Hey Arnold!) Check.  Colored best friend? Check (yes Skeeter is blue, but we all know what color the creators were going for). 

Doug and Arnold were both characters who really weren't that special.  Doug dreamt really big and had great fantasies, but he pretty much was just a normal kid.  He had crushes on girls, had problems with bullies, and overcame his minor problems.  The same can be said about Arnold.  He also dealt with bullies, overcame minor problems, and had crushes on girls.  Neither one of these two shows were really all that funny, yet they were entertaining to me, and still are.  I enjoyed them then and look forward to someday finding them on DVD or any other media so I can share them with my future kids someday. 



NUMBER 5
X-MEN
1992

Arguably one of the best cartoons on Fox Kids, X-Men pulled us in from the second we saw the awesome opening and heard the great theme.  Seriously, check this out and tell me that this wasn't great. X-Men Opening.  How pumped would you have been back when you were a kid to see that?  Mutants with super powers fighting other mutants, cool characters that have still stayed relevant for close to 50 years (spawning countless cartoons, comics, movies) and a story that was really entertaining!  This show introduced many of us to the Marvel universe (the other main one was Spider-Man) and we loved every minute of it.  Although the story kind of got a little too complicated for some kids (story arcs spanning 3-4 episodes or even entire seasons) we still enjoyed it and unfortunately the show stopped production in 1997.  The X-Men are still popular enough to spawn new shows like X-Men Evolution, and Wolverine and the X-Men, but none will probably ever live up to the 1992 version I grew up with.


NUMBER 4
BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES
1992

Batman is iconic.  He's been in countless amounts of movies, spawned shows in nearly every decade since his introduction, and is almost universally known.  Batman was introduced to mainstream media in a campy live action 60s show starring Adam West and Burt Ward.  Not until '89 did the darker Batman show up in Tim Burton's classic Batman film.  Thankfully, Batman the animated series showed more of the Dark Knights moody atmosphere, and less of the '60s Bat-Dances.  I could spend all day discussing Batman's history, but you could actually check it out right here.  The animated series was praised for its great story telling and ability to capture the way that many feel the Dark Knight should be like.  You have all the main villians like the Joker, Two-Face, Mr. Freeze, and the Penguin but one famous villian actually came to be through the cartoon.  I'm talking about Harley Quinn of course, the Joker's sidekick/lover.  Great characters, fun fight scenes, good visuals, and quite possibly the best Batman and Joker voices ever (Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill) made Batman one of the best cartoons of it's time.  Scratch that, I still would watch this show so mark this as one of my all time favorite cartoons ever. 


NUMBER 3
TINY TOON ADVENTURES
1990


The miniature versions of Looney Toons famous characters were a delight to watch as a kid.  Buster and Babs bunny had just as much personality as their adult counterparts and the show even had some cameos of Bugs and other famous characters like Sylvester and Daffy.  The shows greatly written and produced theme just helped to fuel the love for this show.  If you didn't watch this show as a kid, I'm sorry to hear that but happy to let you know that you can still pick this series up on DVD.  This show spawned video games along with thousands of other merchandise and even had two spin-offs (The Plucky Duck Show and Pinky, Elmyra, and the Brain).  If you're a fan of '90s cartoons but haven't seen this show, you're doing yourself an injustice.  This show (like Muppet Babies) proved that pint-sized versions of famous characters truly can work. 


NUMBER 2
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES
1987

Now I know for a fact that you know who the turtles are.  In fact, you're probably singing the theme song in your head right now aren't you?  What can be said about the turtles that hasn't already?  The show ran for close to 10 years, had 3 live action films, had one of the most successful toy lines ever, and had some of the best video games at the time (TMNT the arcade game, Turtles in Time).  Named after famous artists (obviously) four mutant turtles were taught to be ninjas from their rat master Splinter.  Vigilantes who loved Pizza, they used their skills to thwart the evil Shredder.  Meh, to sum it up just watch the theme song.  I loved this show as a kid, owning most of their toys and probably having all of their old episodes recorded on VHS somewhere.  I loved this show so much, that I wanted to be a ninja turtle when I grew up! Well, that or a wrestler (can you blame me?  It was the '90s!).  The Turtles are still classic and even today have movies, cartoons, and comics coming out. 

*Speaking about their video games, DO NOT BUY THE TMNT REMAKE ON XBLA.  It is terrible.  That is all.

Now what on earth could possibly be better then the turtles?
Well, for starters, take a look at the title of this list.
This is the top cartoons I miss.
I love each and every one of these toons but there are some that I miss more then others.
Also, just because I enjoyed some of these as kids, that doesn't mean that I'd watch them today
(as indicated by Ren & Stimpy)
Which brings me to...

NUMBER 1
ANIMANIACS
1993

The Animaniacs was a half hour of insanity.  You had the Warner brothers and their sister Dot, Slappy the Squirrel and her nephew Skippy, Buttons and Mindy, and Pinky and the Brain who were so popular, they two spinoffs!  Acting as a sort of cartoon comedy block, each character had their own little plots.  The Warners loved to wreck havoc along the Warner Bros studio, always avoiding Ralph the security guard.  Pinky and the Brain tried to..of course..Rule the world!  The writing was great and a lot of it had to do with the hidden adult content.  Now I'm not saying that it was as bad as Ren & Stimpy, but there were definitely some moments not suitable for children.  But that was some of the appeal of the show.  It was aimed at children, but also tried to entertain adults too.  The great writing also got a great boost from the amazing musical scores that Richard Stoner's team (did music for tiny toons and freakazoid to name a few) wrote, with one of the most famous songs being Yakko's Nations of the World.  Wow..I dare you to try to remember the song, let alone sing along.  How could a song be so catchy, yet simultaneously teach us geography?  The animaniacs is my number 1 pick and definitely deserves to be on your list for top cartoons. 


Didn't Quite Make The Cut:

Bobby's World
Freakazoid
Ghostbusters
Swat Kats
Darkwing Duck
Pinky and the Brain
The Tick

Let me know what you think! Agree?  Disagree?  Like it?  Hated it?  Let me know please.  Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed this new list.