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Post by pitbulllady on Oct 30, 2012 10:17:30 GMT -5
To quote Megamind, "you were right, and I was.... less right", lol! At least, I HOPE I was less right, and that you were always right on the money with your assessment that Randall was once a picked-on nerd, and Sullivan a bit of a bully(and most certainly a jock). We really have not had anything official from Pixar about Randall's role or his character in Monsters University, except for this tiny little possible clue that a DA member found and posted, a PEZ dispenser, of all things: www.nationwidecandy.com/pez-disney-monsters-university-144-count-058-oz-ix-004308.htm ! I'm guessing that since these are the first pieces of merchandise released in connection with the movie, that they are officially Disney/Pixar-endorsed, and that the representations are fairly accurate. Randall certainly looks like a happy-go-lucky little nerdy geek with those purple glasses and that silly grin, I must say! I don't see any trace of that perpetually angry scowl or that sly, sneaky smirk he's always shown with in any pictures or stuff connected with the original movie. In fact, he looks really young and innocent, maybe backing up what some of us have speculated, that Randall was one of those unusually gifted kids who went to college at a much younger age than most. I guess we will get to see how he made that "descent into darkness" in the prequel, what happened to make him a bitter, desperate individual obsessed with success, but then, that still does not resolve what eventually becomes of him, does it? In fact, it makes what happened all the more worse, because I can't help but to feel that Sullivan played a role in Randall's downward turn, and then, because he didn't like the results, threw his former co-worker away like a piece of garbage and never once felt a moment's remorse? It would be extremely wrong for Pixar just to leave it at that, now wouldn't it? This little picture, small though it might be, gave me a tiny little shred of hope today, and I surely needed it with all the crap going on in my life. It might be just a PEZ dispenser, but it gave me a reason to smile for the first time in a long while. Is it too much to hope for maybe an animated short or a special on the DVD of M.U. starring Randall, and resolving what happened to him after all? Or is that just too much to hope for? pitbulllady It certainly is a different expression than I've seen them give to Randall in the past. Also, it does appear that he's wearing glasses which is interesting. If he used to need corrective glasses, I wonder why he doesn't wear them now? Do you think Randall wears lenses or that maybe he never really needed glasses? I know that that happens since my father used to wear glasses when he was young but it turned out that he never really needed them and the doctor who told him he needed them just wanted to make more money by getting more people to think they needed glasses. Funny enough, my dad's vision is actually better than most people his age. He has pretty much 20/20 and he's 69. My boyfriend also used to wear glasses a long time ago and then it turned out that he didn't need them. I really wonder how often that happens? Anyway, it is just an interesting random thing to wonder about....as to why Randall no longer wears the glasses. As for Randall being interested in success....well, I'm sure he was back then too. He's pretty smart. I'm sure he cared a lot about doing well....although somewhere along the line I think Sulley must have made him more bitter. Randall might need glasses for reading or driving; he DOES hold that newspaper in the original movie really close to his face, come to think of it. As a Scarer who relies on "invisibility" to practice his craft, he would not be able to wear glasses obviously, while on the job. He might wear contacts, but more than likely, he just does without vision correction at work. Perhaps that has contributed to what so many people have assumed is an angry scowl; it is really from straining to see! As a college kid, he would have needed the glasses more, with all the reading he would have been doing. Pitbulllady
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Post by pitbulllady on Oct 30, 2012 10:02:03 GMT -5
Actually, and I'll edit my post in a moment, maybe that theft report was actually FROM Randall he was the victim, not the perp heh heh heh. That's what I was thinking. It was more likely Randall's coffee and then someone else took it. Read the report carefully. It says that the individual whose coffee was stolen was a faculty member, and Randall would not have been on the faculty staff. Pitbulllady
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Post by pitbulllady on Oct 28, 2012 19:22:59 GMT -5
The $210.00 price tag is actually for a whole CASE of Pez dispensers, 144-count, to be exact. Believe it or not, there is a big market for Pez collectibles, and I'm betting that the collector market, rather than just kids with a sweet tooth, is mostly what this candy marketer is aiming for. According to the site, these ARE official Disney merchandise, too. I don't even think that these are available for actual sales just yet, because the description says that they "will be modeled" after the four characters, which means that they aren't yet being made in bulk, and probably even still will be in limited quantities. Now, nobody would love a full-length Randall-centric movie more than me, but honestly, I don't see that happening, unless it's a direct-to-DVD deal, perhaps again made available on a collector's edition of the movie DVD. Unless Pixar really has a huge hit with M.U., I kinda doubt they'll make another M.I.-related full-length theatrical release, and it will probably be past my lifespan if they do. But, yeah, if they show that Randall did not start out as a bad person, but was MADE that way by his circumstances, they can't just leave what happened to him in the original movie up in the air. They have to resolve that, not just to show whether he's alive or not, but to bring closure to the conflict between him and Sullivan, however it got started. IF our mutual hunch proved right, that Sulley DID have a part in Randall's turning towards the "dark side", then it's up to Sulley to make things right again. If he never looks back on what he did, and tries to fix things, he will be forever an evil son of a female dog in my book, and the same goes for the writers at Pixar who let that stand.
pitbulllady
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Post by pitbulllady on Oct 28, 2012 12:59:30 GMT -5
To quote Megamind, "you were right, and I was.... less right", lol! At least, I HOPE I was less right, and that you were always right on the money with your assessment that Randall was once a picked-on nerd, and Sullivan a bit of a bully(and most certainly a jock). We really have not had anything official from Pixar about Randall's role or his character in Monsters University, except for this tiny little possible clue that a DA member found and posted, a PEZ dispenser, of all things: www.nationwidecandy.com/pez-disney-monsters-university-144-count-058-oz-ix-004308.htm ! I'm guessing that since these are the first pieces of merchandise released in connection with the movie, that they are officially Disney/Pixar-endorsed, and that the representations are fairly accurate. Randall certainly looks like a happy-go-lucky little nerdy geek with those purple glasses and that silly grin, I must say! I don't see any trace of that perpetually angry scowl or that sly, sneaky smirk he's always shown with in any pictures or stuff connected with the original movie. In fact, he looks really young and innocent, maybe backing up what some of us have speculated, that Randall was one of those unusually gifted kids who went to college at a much younger age than most. I guess we will get to see how he made that "descent into darkness" in the prequel, what happened to make him a bitter, desperate individual obsessed with success, but then, that still does not resolve what eventually becomes of him, does it? In fact, it makes what happened all the more worse, because I can't help but to feel that Sullivan played a role in Randall's downward turn, and then, because he didn't like the results, threw his former co-worker away like a piece of garbage and never once felt a moment's remorse? It would be extremely wrong for Pixar just to leave it at that, now wouldn't it? This little picture, small though it might be, gave me a tiny little shred of hope today, and I surely needed it with all the crap going on in my life. It might be just a PEZ dispenser, but it gave me a reason to smile for the first time in a long while. Is it too much to hope for maybe an animated short or a special on the DVD of M.U. starring Randall, and resolving what happened to him after all? Or is that just too much to hope for? pitbulllady
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Post by pitbulllady on Oct 9, 2012 20:08:17 GMT -5
Actually, and I'll edit my post in a moment, maybe that theft report was actually FROM Randall he was the victim, not the perp heh heh heh. ======== Welcome around LG heh heh. Ahh a new officialist site...a researchers bread and butter. Time for me to do what I do best...I'll get back to you all when my initial research is complete. I shall research each page as best I can. TAH...looked at the first page, and what did I tell ya Pixararians. Football (or Mon-equivalent). I knew Sullivan would be into that. --- I'm guessing it's a bag...maybe in a dorm...lounge or...something. I dunno 0_0 Well given the many tentacle monsters it's not out of the question it's for others.....but given the choice I'd say, yeah a Randall referrence. When I read the section on "Sports" I immediately thought, "yeah, football...Sullivan's gonna be all OVER that". Noticed that few other real, serious sports were offered, like basketball or baseball. LaCrosse? I mean, really? One other thing that stood out: emails. This movie is supposed to have taken place several years(long enough for Sulley to acquire that "spare tire")prior to the original, when everyone was in college, supposedly, and the original was in 2001, when the internet and emails were only just starting to really become widespread in most parts of the US in the HUMAN World(I didn't get a computer until 1997 and many people here where I live STILL can't get internet), so I'm guessing the guys were in college sometimes around the '80's, early '90's at the latest, so it would have been very unusual at that time for anyone to have email. I mean, the personal computer was a rarity here in this world at that time. Looks like the Monster World is a lot more advanced than we are, in more ways than just inter-dimensional travel. pitbulllady
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Post by pitbulllady on Oct 9, 2012 17:46:47 GMT -5
Randall does not strike me as a thief, at all. I mean, he flipped out when wrongly accused of cheating, so the guy DOES have a sense of morality, however strained it might have been by his situation. Also, I can't see Randall liking iced coffee at all...that is pretty much associated with the Bohemian coffee shop set in the US...you know, the people who were formerly known as "hippies" or "beatniks" in past generations, who recite God-awful poetry while their audience sips iced coffees and lattes...you know, like most US college professors? Not Randall's type of folks, believe me. Now, given how SULLEY appears in the trailers, HE might be up to such mischief just for mischief's sake, but without any more information on how Randall will be portrayed, it's just not enough to go on with him. Maybe those things were pranks and he's in on them(metal foil+microwave makes cool college prank) I'm still highly skeptical, though, that he'll be shown as anything other than someone who was evil from the instant that he was conceived, and if that does appear to be the case with MU, I can think of a whole lot of other things on which to spend my hard-earned money. Given how popular Randall is, with a whole lot of people who disagree with the notion that he's just totally evil, always was evil and will always be evil, and given that Pixar must surely know this by now, if they go that route, it will be nothing less than a deliberate slap in the face to those of us who fall within that category. I cannot think of any reason to continue to support them, financially or otherwise, if that's the case. I'm still holding out that tiny little flicker of hope that I'm wrong, but I've seen nothing to make that flicker burn into a brighter spark, let alone a flame. Just how DOES someone put their name on a sandwich and a half-finished cup of iced coffee, anyway? Given it was faculty, I'd put my money on the theft being from another faculty. Believe me, teachers steal food from each other all the time; I can't begin to tell how many times I've brought food to work and left it in the faculty 'fridge, only to find it had mysteriously disappeared when lunchtime arrived and I went to get my meal, back when we had more than 15 minutes to eat, and actually had a way to heat up food(microwave got removed from cafeteria for fear of students injuring themselves). OK, I did check out the site, though, and I agree, it's funny and realistic as heck! Brings back memories...most of those listings on the safety blotter are really pranks, and to be honest, I did some pretty similar things myself back in the day. It's just college life. What I DID find, though, that is probably a Randall reference, is in the campus store here: monstersuniversity.com/edu/store.html , where you can actually buy real stuff. There is a MU hoodie and a tee-shirt with FOUR sleeves, and the t-shirt is actually sold out already! Those have GOT to be a Randall reference, especially since they are actual item fans can purchase. pitbulllady
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Post by pitbulllady on Jul 27, 2012 12:14:28 GMT -5
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Post by pitbulllady on Jul 23, 2012 13:43:44 GMT -5
I was at a Hallmark store the other day and they have the Christmas ornaments for this year out for sale already and I saw one of Sulley with Boo. No Randall though. I wonder if there will EVER be a Randall ornament. Hallmark HAS made a Randall ornament, very detailed, too, back when the movie first came out. You can still find 'em on Ebay now and then. pitbulllady
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Post by pitbulllady on Jul 22, 2012 22:37:57 GMT -5
We don't have playgrounds around here other than those at schools, and you have to work there to be there, either that or be a student. Only elementary grades even still have playgrounds, and a lot of those don't anymore.
pitbulllady
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Post by pitbulllady on Jul 7, 2012 22:29:36 GMT -5
Sorry, I was referring to Pixar Planet - but like pitbulllady said, I'm pretty sure there are a few officials flitting around on there to gauge the moods of their fans. I should also mention that the Boom! comics (yes, I hated them too) are not actually by Pixar, but are a separate spin-off. Pixar only gave the authors PERMISSION, and it's pretty unlikely that they'd have refused whatever their opinions on the content - after all, it's a way to make money for them, so they wouldn't have turned it down just because they didn't feel the characters were accurately portrayed. That thing about the snakes is horrible, by the way. Now you mention it, I think I did stumble across the thread in question - is that the incident where the guy stabbed a snake in the throat and posted photos on DeviantArt? I can hardly believe that people think it's okay to do things like that and, what's more, label it as "art". Horrible. I'm actually quite keen on reptiles; when I was younger I longed for a leopard gecko or corn snake, but my mother hated them so much I could never get one. *wistful sigh* As for the thing about members leaving the board because they lose interest, all I can say is that I will try very hard not to do that. It's true my interests tend to fluctuate, but they work on a kind of rota - sometimes I just need a break from one fandom, so I'll move on to another for a while, but I'll never completely abandon the first one. If I haven't posted for a long time, it's probably down to exams or Real Life, that syndrome which strikes all of us at some point. Also, I agree with all the ideas about the sequel. Flashbacks would definitely be interesting, but at least for now, it seems unlikely. As far as I can make out, it seems to be all about Sulley and Mike and how they started off as bitter enemies, with Mike acting the role of school geek. (That just doesn't roll with me, though. He's a long way from a geek, being as lazy as he is and probably not the brightest either ) What I think will happen is that the three of them start off on an okay footing, not the best of friends but not rivals either, until something happens that Randall can never forgive. Some kind of betrayal, maybe? Or it could even have been something insignificant, forgettable - after all, sometimes the small things can just grow and grow until you can't even remember where all the hatred started. If you think about it, Randall DEFINITELY hates Sulley in the movie, but Sulley does not initially show animosity back until the plot starts happening. "May the best monster win", and all that. Which causes me to think that maybe Randall has some kind of grudge, and Sulley feels almost guilty about that in some ways - and we might just find out the reason for it all in the new movie. It's rare that two individuals just start hating one another so intensely for no reason, and I don't buy that the rivalry was the ONLY reason. Again, this is all speculation, but I suppose all we can do is wait and see. (Note to self: my god this post turned out long. I should be doing a history paper right now. Ah well...let's just call it a warm-up, hey? xD) I can't see Mike EVER being the hard-working, studious geek-type of guy, and I'm having trouble completely buying into Sulley being a practical joker, too. THAT seems more of Randall's speed, unless the two of them were in cahoots as the campus pranksters at some point. Then again, I've seen a lot of movie trailers which did not accurately portray the characters or events in the actual movie, which was one of the reasons I never saw MI in theaters. It just seemed to me like a rip-off of a Nicktoon I was(and still am, even though it's no longer in production)very fond of, "AHHH! Real Monsters!" I avoided Megamind in theaters like the plague because of its stupid trailers, which made it seem like a combo of Incredibles rip-off and yet-another round of typical Dreamworks fart jokes, even though nothing could be further from the actuality. It eventually wound up at the top of my favorite movie list of all-time. So, you just can't tell when it comes to trailers these days; the one for MU MIGHT be an indication of how the characters act in the movie, or not. Like you said, though, people don't just start hating each other for no reason. SOMETHING big had to have gone down to cause Randall to harbor that much resentment of Sullivan, and even moreso, for Wazowski. Mike really seemed to be the one who kept stirring the proverbial fecal matter by rubbing Randall's second-place status in his face, after all. Had that little scene in the locker room not happened to set a negative tone for the workday, I don't think that Randall would have acted like a jerk(yeah, I said it)when Sulley offered to shake hands with him. Ah, yeah, the snake torturers on DA...the incident with the poor Water Snake was one of many, probably the first, but not the one that caused some of the board members here to leave. THAT one involved a guy beating a Black Racer to death with a shovel, and posting its mutilated corpse on DA, actually CREATING a user profile for that purpose, and boasting about how he'd saved his kid from this horrible thing that was "going after" the kid, the dogs, etc., along with who-knows-how-many other lives by slaying this beast. Almost always it's the same: the person doing the killing justifies that act by claiming that the snake was "going after" or "attacking" either a child or a pet, even though it would be completely illogical and irrational for a snake to do that, when it clearly cannot EAT either a child or a dog, and is incapable of actually hurting anyone at all! That was the case with the guy in Louisiana who caught a harmless Yellow-Bellied Water Snake(a docile species I happen to keep as pets) and rammed a hunting knife down its throat, then threw it to the ground to photograph it as it writhed in agony and died. He claimed it was a "Water Moccasin" (so why would he pick it up if it was venomous?)that was "going after his little bro", but later admitted to me in a PM(after DA threatened to kick him off)that he'd known it was harmless, his "little bro" was actually 17, and they'd just wanted to torture and kill something and watch its suffering because they "got off" on that, and it was "just a snake" so they didn't figure anyone would actually mind. Wanna meet your neighborhood serial killer? Might wanna check DA first. It's widely known that many serial killers start out by torturing and killing animals, to hone their skills and because they do "get off" on pain and suffering in other living things, be they human or animal. We have had a lot of board members who were very young, like 10 or 11. Many didn't join because they like Randall, but because they just wanted somewhere to hang out and get attention, or because one of their friends or a sibling joined. We had a pair of sisters come on here just to fight, seriously. And, like you said, for many people, it was more a matter of that nasty disease called Real Life getting in the way. In some cases, a parent did not approve of them being here on a board devoted to such an "evil" character. Given how much time has elapsed since the original movie was released, and how little spotlight has actually been shown on Randall by Disney-Pixar as compared to Mike and Sulley, though, it's pretty amazing that the board is still here at all. Few fans stick with their characters for that long without getting ANYTHING good in the form of "canon" from the studio to keep them happy. pitbulllady
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Post by pitbulllady on Jul 6, 2012 20:32:59 GMT -5
I think Marty from Madagascar has made that word nation-wide know hehehe. Oooh, hold on to that plushie of Randall, those things are rare and pricy. And like PBL said, yes, your not alone. In some ways we're sort of the underdogs of the fanship. Many consider our observations strange and intriguing...to misleading and pathetic. The later I hope you don't face (though you won't face that here). Pixar's intention with the prequel, in terms for Randall, is speculatory at this point. I've researched the teaser trailer and have concluded little for what could happen with Randall. However, through my observation, it is my hope that there actually is no "villain" in this prequel. That the antagonist is the "protagonists" themselves. Quiet periods have occurred...however I have posted my research notes on the trailer...and there's always the Fanart (my personal CoMONdy session. ADVERTISEMENT OF SHAME!!) and fanfiction section. And with the upcoming prequel (if it CAN be called that...), it should pick up. I'm totally hoping that there won't be a villain or "bad guy" myself, RB. It's really not necessary at all. There will be enough conflicts/resolutions and generally weird stuff going on simply because it's COLLEGE, without bringing a central bad guy onto the scene, unless it's Waternoose, to show how he initially manipulated Randall(AND Sulley, too)to turn them against each other. Even if they DO go that route, though, it doesn't resolve what happened to Randall in the original. I'm kinda hoping...but it's a hope that's growing fainter...that maybe Monsters University will combine present-day with flash-backs, perhaps kicking off with Mike and Sulley remembering their college days with Randall and wondering what went wrong, and that by the end of the movie, things between the three of them will have been resolved to at least some extent. pitbulllady
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Post by pitbulllady on Jul 6, 2012 16:44:03 GMT -5
I thought that too, but I'm hoping that the prequel might be a chance for us to learn more about Randall and his background, and why he is the way he is. My head-canon is that he was bullied at some point. But Pixar knows that we exist and what we want - at least, they must do seeing as the board is listed on their website - so the likelihood is that they'll slip something in to appease us. And you never know - Pixar seems keen on its sequels, so there might be another follow-up in years to come. (Shrek, anyone? Toy Story?) If Monsters University is popular, they might turn it into a trilogy. We can only hope... Just out of curiosity - how many active members are on this board? I know there were quite a few at some point, but scanning through the recent topics all I see are threads from you and mintygreen. I'm not complaining; your posts are always fascinating to read, as well as amazingly detailed (where do you get all your information? Is it just from the DVD special features?). But are you the only ones, or is this just a quiet period? Anyway, thank you for replying and I shall keep my fingers crossed for the new movie. (I should mention: I am dragging my little cousin along as a cover to make it look like I’m not actually a nearly-sixteen-year-old girl going to see a “kid’s” movie. That way I can just say to everyone, “I know, I’m having to go and see this movie ‘cause of my little cousin…it’s a real drag, isn’t it?” I’m basically a closeted Pixar fan. Sadface.) We've had a lot of folks over the years who discovered Randall, joined the board, then moved on to another fandom. You know how many fans are; they're all gung-ho over someone one week, and the next week they could care less about that character or movie or whatever because something else has come along. We've had many members who honestly just wanted attention, and weren't really fans per se. And, to be honest, a group left here because they didn't like me or RandallBoggs because our opinions differed from theirs. One in particular developed a huge disliking of me because I take a very strong stand against people wantonly killing snakes just because they are snakes and then posting their pics on Deviant Art to gloat and boast as if they've saved the world from some horrible evil monster by bashing a Garter Snake to death with a shovel(apparently instrument of choice in dispatching all manner of scaly creatures). She refused to acknowledge that most people have a bias against reptiles in general and has no issue with people killing them for the hell of it. I do. I haven't been to Pixar's official site in quite some time, so I wasn't aware that this board was listed. Are you sure you're referring to their official site, and not the Pixar Planet or Upcoming Pixar sites? Both of those are fan sites, not operated by Pixar or their employees, although supposedly there have been some Pixar employees lurking on the former. I'm sure that Pixar by now is well aware that Randall has a very large fan following, a very dedicated following that's stuck by him through thick and thin, and that many of those fans do not believe he is "evil" or that he started out "bad", or that he's beyond redemption. BUT, it waits to be seen if they actually agree with us or not. Everything that's been released involving Randall so far seems to be Pixar thumbing their collective noses at us, from the God-awful BOOM! comics(Sid as criminal mastermind in TWO universes, lol) to the Japan Disney "Ride and Go Seek" attraction, where you can purchase plush DEAD Randall cubes at the gift shop. I'm a cynical, quite skeptical person myself; it comes with old age, unfortunately, so I'm not really holding out a lot of hope that Randall will be portrayed positively at any point in Monsters University. He might not even have much of a role at all, despite Steve Buscemi getting top billing as a cast member on many sites. I would rather just have him fleetingly appear, than for Pixar to portray him as someone who has always been bad. IF they show his "slide into darkness", starting out as someone who was just another student, perhaps a friend of either Mike or Sulley, and show how and why he came to harbor so much resentment of them, then they'd BETTER have a trilogy, or at least a "short", to resolve what happened to Randall. I absolutely detest what was done to him in the original-regardless of what he did, he did NOT deserve that, especially given that Waternoose went to jail! Sulley and Mike got by with what would be considered a lynching under our law, what was surely illegal under theirs, and it really tarnished their sterling reputations in my eyes. That either of them, and Sulley especially, can simply go through life and forget Randall ever existed and never feel one pang of guilt about what they did, and STILL be held up as heroes by the Pixar people, is simply unacceptable. Heroes don't lynch anyone. I'd be happy if Pixar just let Randall star in his own animated short, or special on the DVD, as long as they don't try to cram that "evil reptile Randall" down my throat. pitbulllady
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Post by pitbulllady on Jul 6, 2012 11:54:33 GMT -5
Glad you joined us, alicestrangeway! Rest assured, you're not the only "crazy" person who loves Randall, who sees beyond that surface paint of "he's just a villain". I think there's a bit of rebel in all of us that makes us go against the grain, and in this case, the "grain" would be finding Mike and Sulley to be the most interesting and appealing characters in MI. Like you, I fell for Randall the moment I saw him. It wasn't a matter of having to think it over. This site has been quiet, given how long it's been since the movie was out, but hopefully things will pick up as the prequel gets closer. I've got mixed feelings about that myself, since I never have been a great fan of prequels in the first place, and of course, there's my concern that Randall is once again going to be portrayed simply as someone who was just inherently evil(no doubt because he's reptilian)and has had it in for dear Mike and Sulley from the time they first met. I hope Pixar is not that shallow, but I've lost a lot of trust in them over the years since MI came out.
pitbulllady
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Post by pitbulllady on Jun 1, 2012 11:13:12 GMT -5
That's a beautiful Yellow Anaconda-looks a lot like mine. Just consider yourself fortunate that in Canada you can still travel from place to place with snakes like this; in the US, crossing a state line with a Yellow Anaconda is a Federal felony now and many states and cities have banned ALL constrictor snakes from Corn Snakes on up altogether. So much for "home of the brave, land of the free".
pitbulllady
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Post by pitbulllady on May 16, 2012 20:25:35 GMT -5
As far as I know, there are no pictures in existance of me as a kid. My father had an entire cabinet at his house devoted to album after album of photos he had taken of me, my brother and younger sister and other family members, pets, vacations, etc. His house burned down to the ground a little over three years ago, taking all those memories with it.
When I was a kid, cable tv did not exist. Only the military and the largest universities had computers, and those were huge mainframes that took up entire vaults. One of my earliest memories was of John F. Kennedy's assasination. There were three networks on tv, plus ETV. If you lived way out in the country like we did, you needed a huge metal antenna on a pole to access the channels, and you had to go out and turn the pole when you wanted to change channels because the stations were located in opposite directions. If anyone was running a tractor or an electric fence was on within, say, 10 miles, it messed up your reception so you couldn't watch anything. At midnight, all networks signed off the air with the National Anthem, and came back on at 6 am, usually with farming shows, followed by the local news. There was no internet, no video games, no dvd's and even the Sony Betamax video tape player/recorder was years down the road. FM radio was something only found in the large cities, and AM radio played everything from Country to R&B to Rock on the same station. At night, you could listen to stations hundreds of miles away. I lived in terror of jets breaking the sound barrier with those loud sonic booms and would run inside anytime I heard one approaching! We raised our own farm animals, and one of the highlights of each winter, once the weather got cold, was killing, processing, and cooking a hog. It was just a fact of life that you got used to at a very early age. I can remember at the age of five or so, helping to scrape the hair off a dead hog that had been dunked in a 55-gallon metal drum set at a 45-degree angle into the ground and filled with a mixture of boiling water and Red Devil lye, and helping to cut up chunks of skin and fat to be put in a big black "washpot" over a fire to be rendered into lard and "cracklins", the best part of the hog! My grandparents lived next door and owned the property we lived on, and I was very close to both of them, more than with my parents. My grandmother's parents had both come over from Ireland, and she used to tell us traditional Celtic folktales of monsters and things and sing us traditional Irish songs. There was a big microwave relay tower nearby, that had a blinking red light on top at night to warn passing aircraft, and she told me it was a child-eating monster called "Raw Hide and Bloody Bones", that ate bad little kids that refused to come inside at night...had me scared half to death of that thing! Ah, those were the day... I was already legally an adult when Pong came out on the Atari game system, and when Apple released the first home/personal computers. I'd already been a professional educator for many years when the first portable phones, a monstrosity called a "bag phone", came out.
pitbulllady
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