I Can't Quit You, Quatchi! #5

Hard to believe it's been four years since Eliza and I began Quatchi Watch, our blog celebrating the cool Sasquatch mascot created by Meomi for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. (Quatchi's co-mascots Miga, Sumi and Mukmuk made guest appearances too.) And it's been well over two years since I've had any Quatchi news on my personal blog. So, with the 2014 Winter Olympics now in full swing, it's high time for another Quatchi update...

Our biggest Quatchi scoop came from poking around the Museum of Vancouver's searchable online database -- he was originally named Zooni (!?!), he had no feet, and his brown, ovoid nose was instead represented by a pair of tiny nostrils, as seen up above... Below, Zooni sports eyebrows as well, something Quatchi never had...

This next one shows how Mukmuk (not Miga) seemed to be Zooni's original partner in crime...

As for the Quatchi we've come to know and love, here's a blurry color guide...

Going back even earlier is this preliminary Zooni/Quatchi sketch...

Typing "Quatchi" into the Museum of Vancouver database search returns 211 results, a big chunk of which are collectible pins. Says the MOV: "We have become well versed in the surprisingly elaborate backstories of Quatchi, Miga, Sumi, and Mukmuk. This is in addition to charting their evolution from simple line drawings to 3D renderings to officially licensed Olympic merchandise and full-sized costumes." I found these two...

The detailed physical descriptions in those costume links are particularly interesting -- I'd love to see a Quatchi "Bound Costume Performance Manual"... The larger-than-life-sized mascots also wore this hockey jersey (follow the link to see the accompanying goalie stick and pads)...

One of the Quatchi costumes, as well as those of Miga and Sumi, were on loan to Vancouver's BC Sports Hall of Fame when I visited in February 2012. Here we all are...

Elsewhere in the Quatchi-verse, the handful of other Quatchi-related sites and blogs have mostly petered out, save for QuatchWatch, where Sammers and her fuzzy companions continue to travel everywhere, bake up a storm, and explore their Toronto home, like at this David Bowie art exhibit...

Quatchi also still appears in regular comic-strip form on the Homeless Quatchi Project, a site that raises awareness about Vancouver's homelessness problem. For whatever reason he's blue instead of brown, maybe because he's cold. Here's a sample...

And a cool .gif...

On TV, our favorite masquatch (to coin a portmanteau) was mentioned in an $800 answer on the November 9, 2011 episode of Jeopardy!... Spoiler alert! The contestant got the correct question -- see for yourself at the 6:37 mark in this video...

Check out this faux horror-movie trailer for Quatchi and the Ghost, featuring a killer homemade costume...

And here's a very short computer animation of Quatchi moseying along...

The most expensive Quatchi item currently on eBay is this four-foot fiberglass figure, listed at $19,999 (plus $799.99 shipping)...

That's about it for now. For those catching up, here are my previous Quatchi updates, from February 12, 2011, February 28, 2011, June 6, 2011, and November 27, 2011, as well as everything on my blog with a Quatchi tag. As usual, there's always more Quatchi stuff to be found on flickr, Pinterest, Pingram, Tumblr, YouTube and so forth. Finally, there's this Facebook page called Long Live Quatchi, which pretty much says it all.
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My Favorite Pop Culture of 2013!

Movies
Of the 32 movies I watched this year, only six were 2013 releases: Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me, Don Jon, Jackass Presents Bad Grandpa, This Is the End, Sound City and Star Trek Into Darkness. The Big Star documentary was great; the others ranged from pretty good to meh... I still wanna see Anchorman 2, Frances Ha, Inside Llewyn Davis, Nebraska, The Punk Singer and some others... As for older movies, I rediscovered Blade Runner, and watched its myriad versions multiple times.

TV
Bob's Burgers became a new favorite. I plowed through all five seasons of Parks and Recreation in a few weeks, and kept current with the latest seasons of Louie and Mad Men. I watched Breaking Bad all the way up through its finale, and while I saw some of the final-season episodes of Eastbound & Down, I haven't yet caught the end. I still watch Saturday Night Live fairly religiously, as I have for the last 25-odd years, mostly out of habit. It's still topical and unpredictable, if not consistently funny.

Rock 'n' Roll
The only 2013 album I regularly played start to finish was David Bowie's The Next Day (unless you count Best Coast's seven-song EP/mini-album thing Fade Away). This led me to revisit all of Bowie's back catalog, which I listened to pretty extensively for much of the year (I played "Station to Station" dozens of times in the car)... Disappointing were new releases by the Pixies, the Strokes, the Replacements and Iggy & the Stooges... However, the 'Mats and the Stooges kicked ass at the Toronto Riot Fest; the only other show I went to this year was a Mudhoney in-store on April Fool's Day... As for older stuff, I sprang for Bob Dylan's 47-disc Complete Album Collection: Vol. One ($197 on Amazon -- that's $4.19 per disc!)... The one album I listened to far more than any other was 1980's Pleasure by Girls at Our Best!. Since I couldn't find the lyrics anyplace, I took a shot at transcribing them here... Other 2013 albums/songs I like:
Camera Obscura -- "Do It Again"
Neko Case -- "Madonna of the Wasps"
Dead Ghosts -- "B.A.D."
Grant Hart -- "Morningstar"
Melvins -- Everybody Loves Sausages, Tres Cabrones
Mudhoney -- Vanishing Point
Thee Oh Sees -- Floating Coffin
Those Darlins -- "Optimist"
Wooden Shjips -- "Ruins"
Yeah Yeah Yeahs -- Mosquito

Books
Jeez, did I only read two books this year? Yep. Those would be Bebe Day by Day by Pamela Druckerman and Jim Gaffigan's Dad is Fat. Both are related to parenting, which makes sense -- in January I became a first-time dad to twin girls (which also explains why I've been even further out of the pop-culture loop this year)... The Replacements: Waxed-Up Hair and Painted Shoes: The Photographic History looks terrific, though I haven't actually read the text yet. Same with Fan Interference, which is also gathering dust on my nightstand.

Comics
Didn't read many comics either, other than Peter Bagge's Reset, Allie Brosh's Hyperbole and a Half, and A Matter of Life by Jeffrey Brown. All good.

For those keeping score, here are my favorites from 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, and 2006 (movies and music).
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Happy 40th, Ghost Rider!

Issue #1 of Ghost Rider, starring my third-favorite comic book superhero (behind Batman and Spider-Man), was released 40 years ago this month. That's it above, though the character first appeared in Marvel Spotlight #5 in August 1972, with a cooler cover, below.

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Toronto, Part 2: The Rest of It

I went to the Blue Jays/Yankees games in Toronto last Monday and Wednesday, while skipping Tuesday’s game (Ichiro didn’t play in that one anyhow), bringing the number of current stadiums I’ve attended a game at to 27. That leaves only Miami, Tampa Bay, and Wrigley, where in 2009 I sat in the stands during a long rain delay before the game was officially postponed, so that one doesn’t count.

These were the first MLB games I've seen on fake grass since the Mariners ended their run at the Kingdome in 1999. Rogers Centre (née SkyDome) is one of last of those circular, symmetrical, artificially turfed stadiums, though its retractable roof pointed to future stadium design. Besides the ballpark, I never liked the Jays either, mostly 'cause they began play the same season as the M's, 1977. In that time, Toronto has won two World Series titles, while the M’s have never even made it to the World Series. Also, the blue-blooded, all-American, flag-waving yahoo in me thinks it’s lame to have a major-league team outside the US... Here's Ichiro in centerfield, or what would roughly be the 20-yard-line if the field was situated for the CFL's Toronto Argonauts...

Still, Toronto loves the Jays, and there's apparently little interest in replacing their dumb stadium with something less bland and more up-to-date. For the record, the Jays beat the Yankees in both games I attended, 5-2 and 7-2, and Ichiro was 1-for-8 in the series.

Apart from baseball, I hit Toronto's hockey highlights, beginning with the Hockey Hall of Fame. The amount of jerseys, sticks, pucks, trophies and other memorabilia was overwhelming, but in a good way. Above is a closeup of the original Stanley Cup, with the etching "Seattle World's Champions Defeated Canadians 1917." Below is an old Seattle Metropolitans sweater...

Elsewhere, I walked around the newish Air Canada Centre and the old Maple Leaf Gardens, respectively the current and former homes of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The latter has since been converted into a smaller college hockey arena on an upper level (there was practice going on when I wandered inside), and a big grocery store on the main floor. On aisle 25, next to the cans of tuna, is a spot marking centre ice in its former days. Here it is, with my feet...

At the city's Reference Library I looked up some Evel Knievel-playing-hockey articles, and at various shops I picked up some hockey-related trinkets for friends (my own souvenir is a T-shirt with this sweet Penguins logo). The only bad hockey-related experience I had was at Wayne Gretzky’s sports bar -- the “Great One” burger (with a “99” seared onto the bun) tasted like a hockey puck, and the service sucked ass.

Far better was Shopsy’s and their killer corned beef sandwich, rivaled only by Dunn’s pastrami sandwich -- I call it a draw. Smoke’s Poutinerie had a food truck at Sunday's Riot Fest (see previous post), and I enjoyed their pulled pork poutine so much there that I had another one a few days later at one of their storefront locations. My pie at Pizza Pizza was so-so, and I never did make it to Don Cherry's Sports Grill. All along, I pretty much ate my own weight at various Tim Hortons -- I love that they have a Blue Jays donut...

Like I've experienced in other cities in recent years, Toronto also has a sensible public bike-rental kiosk system, here called Bixi. It got me around to lots of other places, like the CBC museum, The Beguiling (a comics shop where I picked up Adrian Tomine’s latest Optic Nerve), Honest Ed’s (a crazy discount emporium where I got some baby bibs) and Ella+Elliot (a high-end baby store where I got some little utensils). Here’s El Mocambo, where the Stones recorded side three of Love You Live in 1977.

As a lover of observation decks, I was stoked to go up the CN Tower, which until 2008 boasted the world's highest observation deck. At 1,467 feet, it's nearly two-and-a-half Space Needles tall! Aesthetically, the CN Tower has got nothing on the Needle, but even with some distant haze, the view was phenomenal (see the photo at the top of this post). Here’s a shot looking straight down at the Rogers Centre (with its roof closed, obviously)...

And here are my feet again, standing on a glass floor at the 1,122-foot level...

I hit one other observation deck on my trip, the Space Needle-esque Skylon Tower, 80 miles away in Niagara Falls (I rented a car that day). The falls themselves are impressive, despite the unchecked tackiness surrounding them -- myriad casinos, tourist traps, Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville... Here's my token Niagara Falls shot...

While in town I visited an unofficial Evel Knievel Museum, where they have one of Evel's test Sky-Cycles, as well as lots of other motorcycle displays, Nazi stuff (!?!), and for some reason, a bunch of Dan Aykroyd memorabilia. There wasn’t much in the way of Evel’s personal possessions, just a bunch of mass-produced toys and photos and such, all fading under fluorescent lights. They didn't have my book, but they did have a shooting script of the movie based on my book, with my name on the cover...

So, Toronto. My lifetime experiences in Canada have mostly been limited to several trips to Vancouver and Victoria, so in my mind that's what Canada is supposed to "be like." Strangely, Toronto felt less like Canada to me and more like Chicago, in terms of size, scenery, and climate... Incidentally, on my way to T.O. (that’s what the locals call it!), I changed planes in Calgary, bringing my provinces-I’ve-visited count to three: I’ve been to British Columbia countless times, I made a quick spin through Windsor, Ontario in 2008, and now Alberta. Cool.
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My Favorite Music, Movies, Video & Books of '12!

Movies
The Dark Knight Rises
I'm Now: The Story of Mudhoney
Searching for Sugar Man
Notes: Of the 19 movies I saw this year, eleven of which were 2012 releases, and just these three of those I deemed list-worthy... I got myself all psyched for The Amazing Spider-Man, but it turned out to be a proverbial turd in the punchbowl... And the less said about Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, the better.

Video
Breaking Bad: Season 4
Eastbound & Down: Season 3
Get a Life: The Complete Series
Louie: Season 2
Notes: This doesn't include stuff from the "Movies" list above, just TV shows... Still need to see season five of Mad Men, released this year... Can't wait 'til the latest seasons of Breaking Bad and Louie are out on video, hopefully in 2013.


Songs
Best Coast - "Mean Girls"
Dum Dum Girls - "I Got Nothing"
Bob Dylan - "Pay in Blood"
Ben Gibbard - "Ichiro's Theme"
Japandroids - "The House That Heaven Built"
King Tuff - "Bad Thing"
Melvins - "Let Me Roll It"
Bob Mould - "The Descent"
Public Image Ltd. - "One Drop"
The Rolling Stones - "Doom and Gloom"
Soundgarden - "Been Away Too Long"
Bruce Springsteen - "We Take Care of Our Own"
TacocaT - "Cat Fancy"
Thee Oh Sees - "Lupine Dominus"
Jack White - "I'm Shakin'"
Notes: I just don't get into new albums as much as individual songs anymore, though the exception this year would be Best Coast's The Only Place... A couple older acts I became obsessed with in 2012 are the Beach Boys and Hüsker Dü (the first rock concert I ever saw was the Beach Boys, at the Puyallup Fair in 1981 or '82, and I regret not seeing them on their 50th anniversary tour this year; I saw Bob Mould open for the Pixies in '89 (and thought he sucked)... I'm also bummed that I again missed the original Dinosaur Jr. lineup when they came through town... Otherwise, I saw some classic rock bands for the first time (Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, Heart) as well as a couple new favorites (Best Coast, Dum Dum Girls), plus some old standbys (Girl Trouble, Melvins, Young Fresh Fellows).

Books
The Art and Making of The Dark Knight Trilogy
Bringing Up Bebe by Pamela Druckerman
The Obamas by Jodi Kantor
Everybody Loves Our Town by Mark Yarm
Notes: I didn't read much this year. The other ten books I did read were either published in previous years (the best of which was Duff McKagan's It's So Easy (And Other Lies)), or comics...

Comics
The Art of Daniel Clowes: Modern Cartoonist by Alvin Buenaventura
Batman: Earth One by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank
Harvey Pekar’s Cleveland by Harvey Pekar
New York Drawings by Adrian Tomine
Notes: I still wanna read Chris Ware's Building Stories.

For those keeping score, here are my favorites from 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, and 2006 (movies and music).
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Happy 50th, MAD!

MAD magazine hits the big five-oh this month, joining the Seattle Monorail, the Seattle World's Fair, the Rolling Stones, and Spider-Man as cool things that hit the big five-oh this year.

Other than the MAD Presents Batman special I picked up over the summer, I probably haven't bought a single issue since the '80s. (For that matter, I don't think I've ever sat through a full episode of MADtv.) Perhaps the best MAD-related thing to come out in the last 25 years is the awesome, unauthorized Roctober tribute issue -- here's a better look at the cover.

MAD meant the most to me between 1977 and 1984 or so (ages 8 through 15), when it spoofed the first Star Wars and Indiana Jones installments, along with the other movies and TV shows and video games (above) that I was tuned into. I didn't quite get all the political humor and social commentary, but I dug Spy vs. Spy, the Fold-ins, and all the stuff by Al Jaffee, Don Martin, Mort Drucker, and especially Jack Davis. And I must've played that stupid Makin' Out flex-disc a million times.

Anyway, congrats to the usual gang of idiots!
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We Hardly Knew Ye: Maakies

See the final strip here.

Dook dook dook.

UPDATE

Turns out Tony Millionaire was just keeping everyone on their toes... Look.

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Happy 50th, Spider-Man!

My second-favorite superhero ever of all-time ever hits the big five-oh today.

At least it was 50 years ago this month that Spidey made his debut in Amazing Fantasy #15. I've always dug Spider-Man, even if I didn't actively read his comics as a kid. Instead, I watched his cartoons on TV and had this Mead folder and listened to this book/record set over and over...

I also had one of these...

Sam Raimi's film trilogy of the '00s was pretty awesome (the first two, anyway). I was really looking forward to this summer's reboot, but was pretty much underwhelmed by its cliches and redundancy and general pointlessness. Still, I'll probably watch it again sometime.

Batman is still my favorite superhero.
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My Favorite Music, Movies, DVDs & Books of '11!

Movies
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Moneyball
Win Win
Notes: Of the 29 movies I watched this year, 12 of which were 2011 releases, but just these three I deemed list-worthy.

DVDs
The Rolling Stones: Some Girls Live in Texas '78
Louie: Season 1
Breaking Bad: Season 3
In Treatment: Season 3
The People vs. George Lucas
Eastbound & Down: Season 2
Lemmy
Don Cherry's Rock'em Sock'em Hockey 23
Notes: This doesn't include stuff from the "Movies" list above; it's mostly either TV shows or films from previous years first released on DVD this year.

Songs
Apex Manor - "Teenage Blood"
The Baseball Project - "Ichiro Goes to the Moon"
Beastie Boys - "Make Some Noise"
Black Keys - "Lonely Boy"
Black Lips - "Noc-a-Homa"
The Dirtbombs - "Cosmic Cars"
HeadCat - "Let it Rock"
JEFF the Brotherhood - "Ripper"
R.E.M. - "We All Go Back to Where We Belong"
Wild Flag - "Something Came Over Me"
Yuck - "Get Away"
Notes: Like last year, I listed songs instead of albums, since really the only new 2011 album that I've found start-to-finish killer is Only in Dreams by Dum Dum Girls (also good: their He Gets Me High EP). Otherwise, my favorite '11 albums are either new reissues of old faves (Some Girls by the Stones), or sorta new-to-me favorites from years past (Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!), neither of which apply... I became obsessed with Devo this year, and saw them in concert in September. Other bands I saw this year were the Black Lips, the Butthole Surfers, and the Baseball Project, where I shot this video.

Books
The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training by Josh Wilker
Evel by Leigh Montville
I Want My MTV by Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum
Skyjack: The Hunt for D.B. Cooper by Geoffrey Gray
Notes: The other 21 books I read this year were either published in previous years, or comics...

Comics
Batman #1
Green River Killer by Jeff Jensen and Jonathan Case
Huntington, West Virginia “On the Fly” by Harvey Pekar
Old-Timey Hockey Tales by Robert Ullman and Jeffrey Brown
Paying for It by Chester Brown
21: The Story of Roberto Clemente by Wilfred Santiago
Notes: None.

For those keeping score, here are my favorites from 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, and 2006 (movies and music).
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Your Attention Please: New Flickr Sets

Check out my new flickr sets: Batty, Baseball Zines, and miscellaneous pocket schedules from Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia.

Thanks for your time.
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