Friday, October 6, 2023

Still on the road this (and next) week. But I wasn't as busy this week so I had a chance to actually put some time into everything except this intro.

Item 1: a link

Remember #iatethebones? Ben Warheit does.

Item 2: a list

New Food Items at the 2023 Minnesota State Fair, ranked

1. Dill pickle cheese curd taco
2. Crispy lutefisk steam bun
3. Cheese curd stuffed pizza pretzel
4. Honey ham loaf breakfast sandwich
5. Everything cream cheese ba-sant
6. MinneCookieDough pie
7. Sweet corn ba-sant
8. Galabao
9. Hot honey cheese sticks
10. Walleye fritter pops
11. Lemonade sorbet
12. Maui-sota sticky ribs
13. Al taco baba
14. Cheesecake curds
15. Fried butternut squash ravioli
16. Pickle fries
17. Italian duo dunkers
18. Chicken mono with tomato chutney
19. “Kind of a Big Dill” pickle lemonade
20. Bee sting sundae
21. Mini donut paleta
22. Donut delights
23. Bacon-wrapped waffle dog
24. Irish butter ice cream over brown sugar cinnamon toast
25. Loaded lobster fries
26. Smoked beef arepa
27. Sota—cuterie board
28. Basil hummus with spicy walnut topping
29. Fruity cereal milk biscuit
30. Jam’nades (both flavors)
31. Dill pickle lemonade paleta
32. Crunchy balboa
33. Fried green tomato sandwich (vegetarian)
34. Fried green tomato sandwich (BLT)
35. Birthday cake mini donuts
36. Cloud coolers (all flavors)
37. Miami mango pickles

Item 3: a media recommendation

Item 4: word of the week

Sufflate

At first it looked like any other balloon, a limp, wrinkled sausage of potential entertainment - but slowly, as the disheveled clown blew in staggered bursts of sputtering breath, twisting the sufflating tube with a dexterity belied by his sloppy mien and patched jester's cap, the audience couldn't help but recognize the fearsome silhouette as it gradually sharpened. The crowd, whimpering pathetically, cowered in the grandstand, devolving into a seething mass of incoherent terror by the unmistakable figure of Hasbro's notorious mechanized beast... Rampage/Protoform X.*

* Rampage/Protoform X (voiced by Campbell Lane) was created by a Maximal experiment to recreate Starscream’s immortal spark; while he became nigh invulnerable, he was also left in constant pain, driving him insane and causing him to become a violent serial killer. He went on a killing spree, wiping out multiple colonies before being captured by Depth Charge and put into stasis. He was placed aboard the Axalon, to be dumped on a barren planet, only for Protoform X to be ejected during the fight with the Darksyde at the beginning of the series. He is eventually revived after his stasis pod falls out of orbit, gains a giant red king crab beast mode which also has a tank mode, and goes on a rampage, attacking Maximals and Predacons alike until he is defeated by Silverbolt. Megatron finds his unconscious body and tears out half of his spark, using it to keep him under his control after throwing him in the Restoration Chamber and renames him Rampage. Rampage is clearly angry with this arrangement, frequently expressing his hatred for Megatron and occasionally threatening him. In "Transmutate", a more sympathetic side of Rampage is shown when he meets the titular character, a deformed and simpleminded Transformer, befriending it and talking Megatron out of executing it and into allowing it to join the Predacons. Ultimately, Transmutate is destroyed while stopping Rampage and Silverbolt, both of whom it had bonded with, from killing each other. Rampage is grief-stricken and allows the Maximals to leave without a fight. In the third season, Depth Charge arrives on Earth to hunt down Rampage, who is delighted by this and the opportunity for revenge. The two fight numerous times over the course of the series, Rampage always narrowly escaping from death. Megatron uses his half of Rampage’s spark to create Dinobot II, who willingly inflicts damage upon the spark to keep Rampage in line. In the series finale, Rampage attacks Depth Charge while he tries to destroy the Nemesis. The two battle once again; ultimately, a cackling Rampage allows Depth Charge to impale him with a shard of raw energon, causing a massive explosion that kills them both.

Item 5: a photograph

See ya!

Okay, I wasn't completely honest earlier - I didn't spend any time on the outro either. See you next week.