Well, I looked, honest I did, and didn't see any better place to make my debut. I'm a long time AWAD E-mail subscriber, and a couple of recent daily words convinced me to register here. Being from the southern U.S., I may be able to contribute some new words, phrases, and discussion. Maybe. I hope.

Mike

Dear Hinch: We badly need all the new talent we can get. So you are indeed very welcome. Please do bring us some questions about words, about language.
When you have more time, please tell us more about yourself in you bio. It is much more fun replying to someone who is not a total stranger to us. AWADtalk's most senile citizen. Bill Hunt

I'll fill out the bio more fully now, wwh. I was all excited, so I skipped that bit. Thanks!

Mike

Dear Mike: hurry back with some questions and comments. Bill
"Senior systems analyst" Sounds like a challenging job. You must have to have a considerable knowledge of technical terms, some of which us feather merchants might benefit from.

Welcome Mike. Don't be a stranger for long, hear! Too bad, I was just in Tampa last week. I could have met you and your lovely wife. Next time, or if you make the trip to MIS, send me a pm.

G'Day Mate!

Greetings from Perth, Western Australia.

OK I'll bite - "MST3K" in your bio. I don't think we have this flavour? species? type? game? in Oz. Do tell. (Looks like you've made your first contribution to the global dissemination of knowledge - congratulations!)

No doubt Hev, the Board's self appointed greeter, will be along soon to say G'day from the other side of the country.....

stales

Howdy, stales! Thanks! Um, MST3K, or "Mystery Science Theater 3000", was a smart, witty, low budget television show that was cancelled for good in 1999 after a ten year run on two different cable channels. It has a stubborn following, however, namely me and about 37 other people.

Thanks for the welcome!

Mike

Thank you, consuelo! As you may have seen in my bio, the wreckers start on the kitchen soon. Tomorrow, in fact. I reckon we'll be ready to receive visitors in, oh, September or so. Kidding. I think.


Mike

Welcome Hinch! Glad to have you aBoard! Look forward to getting to know you and enjoy your posts. Don't be shy, just jump in to any thread. Enjoy your time here as much as the rest of us do!

Lemme add my welcome too - Hi there Hinch! You are going to love it here. A.Word.Of.Warning: It is easy to spend waaaaay too much time here.

about 37 other people.

say, any chance you've had contact with the FL branch of Hell's Tunas?



errare est humanum

I'm delighted to add my welcome, Hinch. Great to know there's another Floridian aBoard. As far as I know we're the only two.

slithy

I'll keep an eye out for it....."WA" stands for "wait awhile" = so it should be released hereabouts somewhere in the next 5 - 10 years.

FYI, "Hinch" is the surname of one of our louder mouthed journos - first name Derren (sp?). It was also the name of his TV show, a sort of early evening current affairs show during which Derren (a self styled protector of the ripped off etc) bailed up various "entrepreneurs" (read con men) in their doorways, getting into their Merecedes etc. Interviews usually ended with Hinch or one of the intrepid reporting team pursuing a departing car (on foot) shouting things like, "Mr Smith, will you tell the people of Australia why you rip off old ladies" etc etc etc.

A spoof of his show, "Hunch", was even funnier!

stales

Welcome Aboard, Hinch. Hope you enjoy it here. I was glad stales asked about MST3K--I'd never heard of it, either. Long ago we had a very nice person named Whizzper, whom I think was from Florida, but whom I believe was not yet familiar enough with computering to stay here.

MST3K

Welcome, Hinch! My favorite MST3K is The Teenager from Outer Space.

"But...but what about TORture???"

Welcome, Hinch.

To expand on MST2K for the unwashed masses:

The premise of the show was that Our Hero, Mike, was imprisoned in a spaceship, sentenced to watch old, bad Science Fiction movies. He and his robot companions watched the shows, and we watched them too, accompanied by Mike and the robots' smarmy, funny commentary. The movies were interrupted by commercial breaks and short episodes of Mike and the guys interacting with the evil forces who imprisoned them.

During the last episode, Mike and the robots finally got out of their prison and returned to earth. There, Mike got a garden level one-bedroom apartment (in Minnesota, IIRC), where he and the robots settled into a life watching old, bad SF movies on cable.

It was the only series I've ever seen with a truly perfect ending.

Mike got a garden level one-bedroom apartment (in Minnesota, IIRC)

hmmmmm . . . .

Howdy, Hinch! And welcome to our merry band of word marauders!

I got hooked on MST3K when I was working shift-work in the casinos. Since it came on late, it was the perfect thing for unwinding with its soothing potion of SF and laughter! I have about 75 episodes on tape!!!
It took me a little while to get into it, though. I remember flicking around, channel-surfing, and stopping on it for a bout 5 minutes now and then during its first year or so, and saying, "So these guys are ridiculing movies...big deal!" But one of those late nights after a hard shift and over an hour's commute, I hunkedered down and happened to started watching The Attack of the Eye Creatures!...and, finally, I "got" it! I was ROMFL!!! That's still one of my favorites. And the The Rebl Set. One of my favorite quips was during one of the shorts they sometimes showed...a foal was standing under her motherly mare, partaking of her milk, then suddenly walked away, and one of the guys said, "Oops! Sorry Pop!" The "John Banner-o-gram" was another classic bit from the show...(you just had to see it folks, can't explain it). Great material! Good, heady humor...science fiction fans who like to laugh are missing a real treat if they missed this one!

And I really liked the chemistry Joel had with the 'bots...when he left and Mike took over it wasn't quite the same for me (though still good...just nothing like it!). Mike always did some great work in the sketch segments, too! (not to mention that he was the head writer)

It was based on the premise that bad science fiction movies weren't quite so bad if you had someone pointing out to you how bad they were. I had problems with that concept but then de gustibus non carborundum est as I always say.

My son loves that show. I know its on when I hear him busting a gut first thing on Saturday morning. (It is still on here in Western WI on DirectTV.) Welcome Hinch!

Yikes! Well, I waited too long to do individual replies, so I'll just say thank you all very much for an extremely warm welcome. ALthough I will point out, Whitman, that "Attack of the Eye Creatures" was so ineptly made that, in addition to the occasional accidental shot of tennis-shoe-wearing monsters, the end credits listed the title as "Attack of the the Eye Creatures", and it was recorded in MST3K lore with the double "the" forever after.

Again, thanks, all! I'd better get busy and start posting somewhere else besides the thread I started, I reckon!

Mike

Good to see you here, Hinch! We need some new, interesting blood here and it looks like you're the guy! (MST3K notwithstanding... hehehe)

BELATED WELCOME Hinch

Well, as stales predicted, I'm here representing Sydney, Australia (I've asked the other 3 million Sydney-siders and they agree that I should represent them) with the above - albeit late - welcome! Away from computer for almost a full four days (only enough time to pop in and advise CapK that politicians don't have culture and let AnnaS know that I was not insulting her car).

Hinch, since you're already up to 5 posts, I can see you've started well. Keep it up!

Shame, stales, shame! You should know it's actually Derryn Hinch, and ... that's life!

Hev