Dance this mess around

Even as I type this at my desk, there is one big ass tow behind Ingersoll Rand air compressor firing two jack hammers about 20 feet away. They are replacing the front stairs, they have ~4’ rise and are ~10 wide, thats a lot of concrete to remove. First they pulled off the field stones, then the jack hammers, this is day three.

I need a way to stay at my desk and not go crazy. So I pull out the Bose noise cancelling headset, and fire it up. Nice, the active noise cancellation takes out the air compressor completely and slightly attenuates the jack hammer.  Fire up The B-52’s first album, start with “Dance This Mess Around” and all I can hear is Fred and the girls demanding that you “remember, when you held my hand?”

AHHH, solitude in the B-52’s. I gotta go dance this mess around, round, round!

The Venture Brothers

I can NOT say enough positive things about The Venture Brothers. Its the only show on my DVR that is set to record new episodes AND repeats, its that good…

So what is “The Venture Brothers”? You ask? It is an homage to all that was campy in the 60’s and 70’s, and specifically, the animated series “Jonny Quest”. The series follows Dr. Thaddeus S. Venture (known as “Rusty” or as he called himself in college “TS Venture”) his two sons Dean and Hank, and their hyper-macho body guard Brock Samson (“The Swedish Murder Machine”.) The basic story is that Dr. Venture’s father was none other than the heroic, heart throb Dr. Jonas Venture, he can’t live up to his fathers legacy, but he tries his best. Dr. Venture is an emaciated rat faced little whiner with delusions of grandeur and a trust fund that just wont quit.

The show is loosely based on “Johnny Quest” as illustrated by these two images.

I love Jonny Quests hair in that image, it looks like it must weigh 10 pounds. There are several episodes of The Venture Brothers that feature Jonny and Hadji, and the animators faithfully captured Jonny as a big haired meth addict; good stuff.

The Venture Brothers is what happens when you let smart, creative people get too far off leash, and its awesome. In the series Dr. Venture’s nemesis is “The Monarch” (as in butterfly). The Monarch has been authorized by the “Guild Of Calamitous Intent” to arch Dr. Venture, and of course The Monarch has henchmen to help him out with his arching tasks, so The Monarch’s henchmen are members of the henchmen’s guild. Brock Samson, the bodyguard, has been assigned to Dr. Venture by “The OSI” and has a license to kill, literally; he has a laminated license with his photo, in one episode Brocks license expires and he is required to get it renewed again before he can kill anyone.

All in all, its a very funny show, full of subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) cultural references. The theme song and soundtrack for the series are excellent. The music is available on iTunes and is also included on a companion CD in the Blue-Ray product. Note that The Venture Brothers airs on Adult Swim, and as such, its a bit much for anyone under the age of 18.

And of course they have Venture Brothers ACTION FIGURES!!!!!