Where the heck is Zoid?? by Malicious

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Where the heck is Zoid??

POSTED BY: MALICIOUS
UPDATED: Thursday, May 27, 2004 20:01
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VIEWED: 1824
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Thursday, May 27, 2004 1:01 PM

I miss Zoid! Where is he? He has not given any convoluted, twisted and long winded responses of late. I am concerned and fretful and won't be able to think of anything else until he is found.

Oh, hey, a cicada! And someone put Old Bay seasoning on it! Yummy.

Mal-licious

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Thursday, May 27, 2004 1:47 PM

BADGERSHAT

Mal, you're very odd......

--Jefé The Hat

***************************
"I like smackin 'em"--Jayne

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Thursday, May 27, 2004 1:57 PM

ZOID

I'm right here Mmmm-a-lishus. I took last night off because I had managed to miss LotR:TRotK in theatres and finally got my DVD. So I spent an entire evening with that wonderful film. (I'm a geek)

It's off-topic, but as far as I'm concerned LotR is a sensational trilogy. Of course, every time I watch it I'm struck by the obvious parallels between that storyline and Allies vs Axis of WWII. Tolkien was apparently deeply influenced by that conflict, and the whole series comes across as a morality play of the politics, the bravery, and the cowardice of the major participants in that conflict (I love the symbolism of the Eagles coming in to drive away the Nazgûl dragons).

Luckily for me, his morality and mine coincide, so I am thoroughly able to enjoy Tolkien's message: That self-sacrifice and fighting against the longest odds are necessary if Man seeks to defeat Evil. Those who hesitate, those who bargain for their own safety, those who shirk their duty or turn a blind eye are depicted as Evil themselves, or possessed by it.

These are values some of us see paralleled in Firefly. Hopefully our trilogy will fare as well as LotR has done with this movie lover.

There, is that convoluted enough fer ya'? I got a proposal to write for the regional to do tonight; but I promise I ain't gone nowhere, and I'm still reading the more serious threads and pitching in a short-ish comment here and there...

Thanks for thinking of me tho'. (zoid blushes fetchingly, which -- on a 45-year old, balding geezer -- is a fairly disturbing mental image)

Respectfully,

zoid
_________________________________________________

"I'm telling you right now. When all's said and done, that little girl's gonna change the world. Not just this little bit she's done here, neither; big things. I couldn't be prouder if she was my own daughter."

- Malcolm Reynolds, owner-operator of Firefly-class transport, "Serenity"; from A Child Shall Lead Them: A History of the Second War of Independence Wilkins, Richard

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Thursday, May 27, 2004 2:49 PM

MALICIOUS

Jefe,

...and your point being...?

Mal-licious

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Thursday, May 27, 2004 2:49 PM

MALICIOUS

Zoid!

So glad you are found. I can sleep soundly now. See how short-winded I am?

Mal-licious

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Thursday, May 27, 2004 3:27 PM

GUNHAND

Heya Zoid I was wondering where you'd gone too, didn't want them sending out a posse looking for you like they did for me. I mean they threw me in rehab and all...and I don't even have anything worth rehabbin!

I too missed Return of the King in the theatres because it was during one of my moving expeditions, I'm never gonna be all the way moved I don't think. But I got it for my birthday on DVD and watched it Tuesday before NCIS came on, and I was impressed. Impessed with the whole triology as well.

I also have to agree with you on most of your points about Tolkien. One of the things that a lot of people forget is that he was in World War I as well so he'd seen the elephant so to speak and he could see WWII coming with a foresight that is pretty accurate, especially for the time since most believed that after the Great War there would never be another one that even came close.

And as history has a way of repeating itself, I can see some of what he saw then, now. But that's coming close to politics and I stay away from them on these boards here.

Anyhow good to know you didn't finally go off and crawl in a bunker anywhere. And if'n ya feel the urge the one I have has a wetbar and surround sound so come on down.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
"Oh hey, I got an idea. Instead of us hanging
around playing art critic till I get pinched by
the Man, how's about we move away from this
eerie-ass piece of work and get on with our
increasingly eerie-ass day, how's that?"

My eerie-ass website:
http://gunhandsfirefly.homestead.com/Index.html

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Thursday, May 27, 2004 4:08 PM

ZOID

Guns:

Since the trilogy was originally published in 1954, I naturally assumed most of the symbolism -- adapted from Beowulf, of which Tolkien was a scholar -- was entwined with the second 'war to end all wars', especially America's reluctance to participate due to our isolationist tendencies, which were only overcome by the persistence of the war-mongering F. Delano Roosevelt. ;) However, your comment regarding Tolkien's experiences in the first Great War makes the very late entry of the Eagles into the fray even more apt. While most attribute the last-hour arrival of the AEF (Yanks) 'over there' as the turning point of the war, it is probably closer to the truth that the smallest miracles -- the Spanish Flu outbreak in 1918 -- ended that terrible war of attrition. Suddenly, neither side could go on. "Of the U.S. soldiers who died in Europe, half of them fell to the influenza virus and not to the enemy (Deseret News). An estimated 43,000 U.S. servicemen mobilized for WWI died of influenza (Crosby)."

So even though the Eagles enter the battle in the final act at the very gates of Mordor, the littlest fellows, the Hobbits, provide the miracle that turns the tide to victory. Hmmm. I dunno, tho'. An estimated 20-40 million people died during the two-year span that the pandemic struck the world, so maybe not so good a symbol for victory?

I'll have to keep considering it. As to the bunker thang, I've already got one picked out in The Shire... Cambridgeshire, that is. They have beer, there, as opposed to 'beer' here.

Respectfully,

zoid
_________________________________________________

"I'm telling you right now. When all's said and done, that little girl's gonna change the world. Not just this little bit she's done here, neither; big things. I couldn't be prouder if she was my own daughter."

- Malcolm Reynolds, owner-operator of Firefly-class transport, "Serenity"; from A Child Shall Lead Them: A History of the Second War of Independence Wilkins, Richard

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Thursday, May 27, 2004 4:24 PM

GUNHAND

I thought about the Eagles as being pretty symbolic as well. Roosevelt did things that would today have gotten him impeached, but he was one of those few people down through history that were willing to gamble to do what they believed to be the right thing. Winston Churchill being another, and a lot of the debate of the Wizards and the human kings over how real the threat was always struck me as pretty much a direct parallel to the events post-Munich's "Peace in Our Time" time.

The Roharim wondering why they should go to war to save Gondor when Gondor didn't come to their aid at Helm's Deep being one of the prime examples of the "late peace" to "early war" mentality I've seen over and over again in histories of that time.

Another parallel I see is that in one of the books, I can't remember which off the top of my head, one of the Wizards says basically that the defeat of Sauron in the earlier age wasn't a victory but that the war had changed from overt to covert, but soon would be in full boil again. This reminds me a lot of the interwar period and blends in one of my stranger notions that not only didn't World War I end in 1918 but the whole conflict as a whole didn't end in '45 either. The ripples from 1914 still haven't played out and if anyone needs some proof of that all I need to do is point at a map to that spot where Yugoslavia used to sit. We're still living with the events of almost a century ago and there isn't a clear winner, maybe there never will be. It's my firm belief than by the time of the 'Verse they won't even seperate the 20th century into WWI, WWII, etc it'll just be called "The Century of War" or maybe "The Hundred Years War II." But hey, what do I know.

Now back to Tolkien and the Great War. Our entire involvement in the First World War has been a matter of great debate in my household since 1917 when my great-grandpa went "over there" with Blackjack Pershing. He always thought that what they were doing along the Mexican border or even in Haiti or the Dominican Republic was more in the national interest than our entry into World War I. Now that may sound odd to any Europeans who happen upon this, but to him he didn't think that World War I was "our" war. But by gum when we were in it he fought and fought hard, because that's what we do, but that war always was seen by him and to a lesser extent my grandpa as one we could have either taken or left.

All the rest we were there for because no matter what you thought about the Great War it wound its coils around the rest of the century helping to set up all the conflicts that came down after it for the most part.

Whew that was long and rambling, and altogether too serious for a where the heck were ya thread. Hope ya don't mind so much.

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Thursday, May 27, 2004 5:40 PM

ANNIK

Sticky with a more pithy statement to follow up these missives... have you guys ever heard of the old UK comedy, "Not the 9 O'Clock News"?

I think it ran in the 70s or so. I've only got one soundtrack cassette and they have this delicious little item (again, this was back in the 1970s so I make no comment on current applicability):

"A respected political analyst has put forward a theory regarding the recent behaviour of the United States. It seems that since they were late for the last two world wars, they want to make really certain they're on time for this one."

... I'm ducking and running away to the wilds of Canada now. LOL!

Cheers,
Annik
... my sister's a ship. We had a complicated childhood.

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Thursday, May 27, 2004 5:53 PM

ZOID

Annik wrote:

Quote:
"A respected political analyst has put forward a theory regarding the recent behaviour of the United States. It seems that since they were late for the last two world wars, they want to make really certain they're on time for this one."

Ah-hah! Very good! Just remember, as with cats, he who comes last, comes best.

(For those who knoweth not their cat physiology, the last tom in -- due to feline reproductive design -- sires the most offspring. Those damned cats: overpaid, oversexed and over here)

Convolutedly (at least according to Mmmm-a-licious),

zoid

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Thursday, May 27, 2004 6:06 PM

DELIA

Quote:
Originally posted by Malicious:
Oh, hey, a cicada! And someone put Old Bay seasoning on it! Yummy.

Ain't it a great time to live in Maryland?

___________________________________________
ANYA: Don't be ridiculous. Martha Stewart isn't a demon. She's a witch.
XANDER: Please, she-- Really?
ANYA: Of course. Nobody could do that much decoupage without calling on the powers of darkness.

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Thursday, May 27, 2004 6:09 PM

GUNHAND

Since Memorial Day is coming up I'm gonna slip a little and restate one of the greatest remarks ever made.

De Gaulle: Mr. President, I think France is going to leave NATO, furthermore I think you should pull all of your troops out of my country, we're tired of them being here.

Eisenhower: That's perfectly fine with me Mr. President, but it may take a while to dig them all up.

May have been a little late by some standards, but hey we're like the cavalry, we show up when the showin' is really needed even if we don't have a horse in the race.

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Thursday, May 27, 2004 6:54 PM

ZOID

Gunhand wrote:

Quote:
Since Memorial Day is coming up I'm gonna slip a little and restate one of the greatest remarks ever made.

De Gaulle: Mr. President, I think France is going to leave NATO, furthermore I think you should pull all of your troops out of my country, we're tired of them being here.

Eisenhower: That's perfectly fine with me Mr. President, but it may take a while to dig them all up.

May have been a little late by some standards, but hey we're like the cavalry, we show up when the showin' is really needed even if we don't have a horse in the race.

Complete regurge quote, because I couldn't agree with you more. If we hadn't showed up in '41, everybody in Europe would be speaking German, today. No doubt about that.

Maybe the rest of the world, too. While Hitler may have been a poor military planner, he did raise rabidity to a national artform. Somebody with passable strategic skills and the de rigeur Ubermensch mentality would have eventually gotten the reins of the Reich -- at least in the shadows -- away from "the little paperhanging sonofabitch", and that would've been all she wrote for the Japanese Empire in Asia, too.

Regardless, Britain would not have survived much longer without the all-out commitment the U.S. responded with, and certainly they'd never have managed the retaking of mainland Europe. When I was first stationed in the UK, back in '87, there were still people alive in England who'd regale me for hours with stories of 'the glorious Yanks' who saved them, who always had chocolate bars and gum for the kids, who smiled and joked and passed out wonderful American cigarettes...

And piled their ruined bodies on the beaches of Normandy, or spent their last unheralded moments trapped in wrecked machines freefalling from the cerulean blue skies over France and Germany.

There's my Memorial Day thought. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need a moment. I cna't see the monitor anymore...

Respectfully,

zoid
_________________________________________________

"I'm telling you right now. When all's said and done, that little girl's gonna change the world. Not just this little bit she's done here, neither; big things. I couldn't be prouder if she was my own daughter."

- Malcolm Reynolds, owner-operator of Firefly-class transport, "Serenity"; from A Child Shall Lead Them: A History of the Second War of Independence Wilkins, Richard

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Thursday, May 27, 2004 7:19 PM

GUNHAND

Yeah Zoid I agree with you there, I don't ever bring up politics or stuff around here but this time of year...well what can I say. I'm gonna keep it confined to as succinct and non-bombastic a level as I can.

The worst thing that could have happened to the world is if Hitler would have died in early '41 before Barbarossa. If someone who wasn't certifiably insane would have been running the Wehrmacht then the world would definately be a much different place today than it wound up becoming.

Now is the way it became perfect? Not by a long shot but if you look at the alternatives I think we all have a lot to be thankful for that some wise men decided they wouldn't back down from what was quantifiably evil and stood up to fight it.

My great uncle is going over to Omaha Beach for the 60th anniversary, he landed there on D-Day, after serving in Africa and Italy. He's proud of what he did but he's a humble man and doesn't let it on. But I know. I'm proud of him and of all his brothers, cousins and comrades in arms who served, and some who died, to put down an evil in the world.

He's a little worried to be going truth to be told, he's not sure what sort of reaction or reception he'll get in France while he's there this time. But he figured this will be the last of the "Big" anniversaries there he'll be up for making the trip for. My mom talked to him the other day and basically told him to not worry, no matter what they say to him over there they can't take away the truth of what he and a whole bunch of men like him did. And that's just another reason I love my family.

We've (here I mean my family) has been in our nation's military for over 200 years now, on both sides of the Civil War and in every major and minor war since the French and Indian through Iraq. And more than a few only ever made it back home in a flag draped box, or left parts of themselves in some foreign land. Does that mean my family loves war? Nope. Ask anyone who's been to it and they'll tell you we hate it. But that doesn't mean you have to hate us for fighting them. That's the one thing I hope gets across especially this Memorial Day when people's opinions are running high. Feel free to hate war, just don't you dare hate the warriors.

My ancestors, and my relatives were and are Big Damn Heroes, and if no one cares to tell them so, don't make it any less a fact. Zoid, you're a Big Damn Hero too because if you were there in the '80s you were fighting a war that was best summed up in a novel and good movie,"A war without any battles, any monuments, only casualties." And I salute you for that and everyone else who's had to leave home to go fight a war they may not even understand the why's or wherefore's of.

I think I'll join you in that moment.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
"Oh hey, I got an idea. Instead of us hanging
around playing art critic till I get pinched by
the Man, how's about we move away from this
eerie-ass piece of work and get on with our
increasingly eerie-ass day, how's that?"

My eerie-ass website:
http://gunhandsfirefly.homestead.com/Index.html

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Thursday, May 27, 2004 7:53 PM

ZOID

Gunhand:

You young whippersnappers can do without sleep, but I've got to get to bed, ummm, 45 minutes ago. I've gotta get up in 6 hours and keep people who (apparently) have trouble chewing gum and walking at the same time from killing themselves flying in planes. But I'd not let your last remark go unanswered; t'would be most unchivalrous.

All the men on both sides of my family tree have been in harm's way every time our Nation has called (none of us can cook or type worth a damn). My father and three brothers joined the Navy in Galveston on 8 Dec 41, after hearing FDR's 'infamy' address the previous evening. My Dad (passed 3 years ago, almost to this day) used to joke that after they signed up, he and his brothers looked at one another and said, "Wait a minute... Where the hell is Pearl Harbor?"

Please note that I have not rendered an opinion on current affairs, nor shall I, except where it's germane to Firefly. The point is that I think the call to arms absolutely is germane to Firefly. I think it's perhaps the most germane consideration of the character motivations in Firefly. Zoe and Mal certainly would understand what we're talking about.

If it's not too late, or after he returns, let your great uncle know that I appreciate what he and his compatriots risked and gave. As far as what other people think of me for serving my country, well you oughtta be able to figure out how much the need to be popular drives me by now... I was raised to do and say what my conscience told me was right, whether it was fashionable with the masses or not.

G'night. God keep you and yours, and our great nation safely in His care.

Respectfully,

zoid
_________________________________________________

"I'm telling you right now. When all's said and done, that little girl's gonna change the world. Not just this little bit she's done here, neither; big things. I couldn't be prouder if she was my own daughter."

- Malcolm Reynolds, owner-operator of Firefly-class transport, "Serenity"; from A Child Shall Lead Them: A History of the Second War of Independence Wilkins, Richard

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Thursday, May 27, 2004 8:01 PM

GUNHAND

I understand about the not needing to hear it said man, but don't make it any less true.

Now get to bed before your aged self turns into a punkin or something.

Ya know, as many times as we've veered off into historyland around here, because a lot of it does pertain to Firefly, maybe we should start up a history discussion thread somewhere and just let everyone throw their cents into how crazy the past can be.

I'll let Uncle Bob know what ya said tommorow, he's not all that worried about what may come of his trip on his own account, he's still a large semi-musculair man...well okay he's pushing 85 but he's mean as cat

when he wants to be so he'll do fine. He's more worried about his buddies I think, but I'll tell him.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
"Oh hey, I got an idea. Instead of us hanging
around playing art critic till I get pinched by
the Man, how's about we move away from this
eerie-ass piece of work and get on with our
increasingly eerie-ass day, how's that?"

My eerie-ass website:
http://gunhandsfirefly.homestead.com/Index.html

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

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