Patton Oswald pulls a Toshio Okada

...now he just needs to start losing weight. (sfx- cymbals crash)

Oswald's rant on the subject of being a Geek pushes all the right buttons this week. The internet nerd-sites are divided in discussing the merits of his argument, while fact checking the accuracy of his name dropping. I don't even want to go near Topless Robot after this one! Mostly he seems to be laying the smack down on a generation of fans while supporting my theory that the amazing internet is actually diluting pop culture. Or at least that's my take on a rambling tirade covering hundreds of 80's references. I don't suppose I'm actually quite sure of the message he is trying to impart, other than he himself has grown tired of pop culture, which translates to meaning you and I should be as well.

What can be said is that, in the grand scheme of things, Oswald's essay on geekdom is a similar cultural touchstone to Gainax founder Toshio Okada's second wind as a far sighted critic of the industry he helped to create. I don't see the comedian reinventing himself as a celebrity fitness guru any time soon, but you never know. At any rate, it's always going to be a big deal when one of the guys who cashed in big on their passion bails on it all just before the big down turn in quality.

I think it's safe to say that time is upon us here in the states, and the proof is that we live in a world were there is new TRON, the incoming year is supposed to be one of the biggest for genre film, ever, and it is an era where even a fellow like myself is busy cultivating an online presence. It's the halcyon days of late twentieth century geekdom, for sure, but it's already 2011.

The 80's is definitely were it's at, and anyone coming at this hobby from the Information Age has certainly been deprived of some part of the experience of discovery. I agree with him on that, and I like that Oswald is willing to cop to seeing The Dead Milkmen back in the day, or that he has never watched, but is aware that lots of people love "Dark Shadows," but the snob geek game of one-upmanship inadvertently makes the case for the the way things are now, where a person can become an expert over night, possibly as a form of geek self-defense. If discussing things geek must degenerate into a string of lame shout outs then I guess it's time has indeed come to pass.

Gawker Media hacked: All nerds on full alert

Great. What a crummy site.

I'm talking about i09, or at least the people in charge. Definitely not the content, which is actually quite good. No, from the beginning I found i09 to be a craggy mechanism with a laborious process of logging in over and over until the traffic died down enough to forget what you were going to say in the first place. It never mattered since the comments wouldn't even appear half of the time. I stopped commenting years ago (and really only ever for the bump this place would get,) and haven't really visited recently, so it's great when to get an email suggesting I change all of my passwords just to be safe.

Of course when this happens you immediately get all kinds of similar emails, including one very trash talky rant that you probably shouldn't have opened.

I've logged onto other sites and not had this problem, but for how much longer? Do I stop participating online? I guess I had a good run, and I still have my blogger account. Good ol' blogger. You can comment here all you want and not worry because these people have their act together.

oh man, when I get a warning from topless robot...

Black Friday persists in 2010

No signs that the masses are catching on to the consumer sham that is Black Friday.



Then there's this perspective...



I like how she mentions football. Football is key to Black Friday's success. It preoccupies the men just long enough not to notice the damage being done until it's too late. In the future, every major holiday will revolve around spending sprees and football.

People seem to have yet to learn that Black Friday is just another way to dump the leftover inventory of stuff that everyone already has. This year, boys want Bey Blade and girls want Zoobles. Thanks to the maximum-hyped, forever ingrained in our culture clearance shopping spree known as Black Friday, they'll be getting Rise of Cobra and more Barbie, in what is becoming the new (corporate mandated) childhood tradition of "let-down" gifts. Move over, senile old aunt with the drug store toy aisle plastic, hello everyone else in the family with the Toy'R'Us two year old (two lifetimes already, by a child's recognition,)out of style, uncool "Door Buster"

On the other hand, why couldn't Black Friday be used as a convenient excuse for some urban camping? Obviously it's a heartier type doing this up north, but why couldn't some adventurous folk begin dismantling this whorish new tradition by actually using space in line as a legitimate campsite? There are probably some great uses for all the open space of a big box retailer parking lot whenever the store is closed. Just show up, set up your gear, interview with the news crew, then later, after hours, break out the booze. The next day the news crew is back to see you pack up and leave when everyone else is just starting to show up, and you've made an positive impression on the general populace, if not the corporations.

House (1977) vs. Deep Discount .com

I've seen a great many movies in my slowly diminishing life. I'm talking thousands of hours of film watching. Some great, some not so much. Some weird stuff, some shocking stuff, even some stuff that defies categorization.

Then there's "House"




"House" is the creation of Nobuhiko Obayashi, an art film guy from the sixties who was working in advertising when the offer came to direct a new kind of horror film. Boy did he ever! The movie is positively the most bizarre attempt at horror I've ever witnessed, utilizing virtually every known film making technique, and turning all horror cinema cliches inside out. It is so visually daring that keeping up with subtitles is next to impossible. So deranged is this film, that a synapses won't help much in describing it, suffice to say that it involves several 70's idols going to a haunted house and getting picked off one by one. Yet, that is is only a small part of what is going on in this film, which really must be seen to be appreciated or understood. It is so great, and Criterion did such a great job, that I hardly even mind that it took Deep Discount.Com over four weeks to ship it to me.

Seriously, Deep Discount, what is your problem? Everyone knows that shopping on said site can result in surprising shipping options, but who can complain when it's free? One week, two weeks, yes, that is all very much like it was expected in the twentieth century. But four and a half weeks? A scary (or completely bizarre) movie ordered a week before Halloween cannot rightly be expected in time for the party, but now it's almost Thanksgiving, and the horrific 'Ween sugar buzz has been replaced by frequent trips to the bike trail and bathroom scale. For the extra $4. it would've been worth going to amazon. You said it was in stock, Deep Discount!

Happy Halloween!

Flash off for Pumpkins on The Wall.

There was a heavier focus on Halloween and all things macabre this year at MZ HQ. For Starters, lot's of scary movies, including my new favorite "Count Yorga, Vampire" aka "The Many Loves of Count Yorga."



Yorga is classic gothic 70's vampire shtick. Star Robert Quarry can go from smooth to creepy in a flash, and I like how there is no need to explain his presence amongst the swinging So Cal hipster scene he decides to exploit. There is no explanation for any of this, really. It's some of the most ridiculous stuff I've seen in years, but sufficiently ghoulish. I can't comment on the Actors double chin in the sequel, since along with watching scary movies I've also been eating too much candy.



This year I was blessed with of those rare opportunities to enhance two young peoples lives in untold ways, forever. My nephew and niece had never heard of "Devils' Night" and, apparently, neither have some of the more recent transplants to the greater Pittsburgh Metro Area, so I will summarize; Devil's Night occurs the night before Halloween, or in some cases the night before trick or treating, and basically involves various levels of harassing ones neighbors, usually for not passing out candy the year before. Kids around this region are encouraged to engage in this behavior on this annual occasion. Naturally, my 8 year old nephew and 6 year old niece loved the idea, so I started them of with "Tic Tacking" aka ringing the door bell and running, and gradually worked them up to throwing a rock through a kitchen window. What a great tradition, terrorizing the neighborhood!



Passing out candy was more fun this year due to a seasonal itunes playlist, and most importantly, colored lights. Colored lights can transform a space and should be employed at every legitimate occasion. This year I used the lighting color to enhance my costume. I enhanced my awareness by drinking several beers and eating entirely too much candy. Not enough kids do this anymore. We used to have to line up at every house and then return home to unload the 10lb pillow case from our FIRST trip. The good thing about fewer kids trick or treating is more candy for me.





I wish I had my camera! I stumbled upon a new cornstalk maze. Not a very large maze, but fun, and always a little bit creepy thanks to that Stephen King movie.



"That pumpkin is weird. Hey, what's that sound?"

"Something Wicked This Way Comes"

We are in the middle of a Disney 80's Live-Action revival of sorts. "Tron Legacy" is fast upon us, and a "The Black Hole" remake is said to be in the works. Various companies are actively producing toys, comics, and video games related to these titles, and a host of internet commentary abounds. The love is well deserved, yet for all this appreciation for these oddball "Dark" classics there is a distinct lack of awareness for the third great Disney Live-Action feature from this era, the awesome, near masterpiece 1983 film "Something Wicked This Way Comes."



"Something Wicked This Way Comes" is one of the films that almost broke the House of Mouse. Expensive and fraught with production problems, it would sadly be lumped in with The Black Culdron as an example of what Disney would NOT be doing again(good luck, Guillermo.) But then the company launched it's paid cable service, The Disney Channel, and SWTWC found it's audience. I remember watching this film over and over as a kid, never tiring of the bizarre situation the two boys come to find themselves in as a dark carnival appears in the middle of Autumn, inciting rash behavior with grave consequence among the towns folk.

This is a creepy flick. Not necessarily scary, but very atmospheric and effective. Basically a coming of age story that is steeped in the macabre, SWTWC makes up for it slow narrative by featuring an ongoing situation in which children are at peril. The production is full scale, with Jason Robarbs and Jonathan Pryce chewing up Ray Bradbury's script, while taking turns delivering great archetypal characterizations. All throughout the film I was checking out the Dust Witch, and I'm reading the credits and see she's played by and I'm like, WTF!?


Still don't love the 80's? I give you Pam Grier in a Disney Film.

That, and Several ghoulish visual effects set pieces, hundreds of Tarantulas, a dwarf, plus some awesome, once-state-of-the-art/ laughable composite imagery sequences vault this potentially so-so endeavour into the realm of "Horror Classic." Not in a crap your pants/ scar your children sort of way, but rather, in a "that was charming, oops, now I have to go down to the basement for laundry" kind of way. A scary movie that is intended mainly for kids, yet with the passage of time it becomes even more effective for adults. Tinged with the horror of regret, SWTWC makes it mark by being one of the most subtle genre films of the decade in terms of story, as portrayed by the most opulent production considerations of its era. It truly is worthy of it's Tron/ Black Hole lineage, even as it heads off in it's own unique direction.

M1 1:1 scale Godzilla 1989 vinyl recast bust

Here is the the great vinyl kit recast from the actual prop used in the film "Godzilla Vs. Biollante," built and finished by Dean Dimersky. These were produced by M1 in the late 90's.









It's definitely 1:1 scale, but that's in terms of the suitmation. Otherwise this thing would be as big as a house! I'm sure there's company out there working on that project. Better start making room in your collection.

Paul McCartney Destroys Console Energy Center

Is this guy something, or what?

Even at the ripe old age of 68, Paul McCartney continues to prove that he is the world's greatest living entertainer. You see, when you're the world's greatest living entertainer it's not enough to continue to write and record inventive pop songs decades after a lesser artist's relevance would cease to be in question. No, this calls for something more, and in this old fart's case it means ripping up a live show with a style and finesse that belies his years and shames other would-be superstars. Anyone who witnessed either of Sir Paul's two sold out shows at the new Console Energy Center in Pittsburgh is surely now suffering from a serious case of Perma-Grin, or otherwise going through a type of withdrawal.



The set list is ridiculous. Solo, Wings, and, of course, plenty of Beatles tunes were performed with the type of vim and vigor that makes one seriously consider the vegetarian lifestyle the man continues to push. The band took several breaks while Paul remained on stage alone with a guitar, a ukulele, or on piano, and who can blame them since three hours is a long time to be doing anything (unless your Paul McCartney playing live, that is.) My mother commented that she never saw him so much as take a drink of water.



There were two obviously highly orchestrated but nonetheless thoroughly enjoyable encores, including a a wildly imaginative WETA meets Peter Max style animated sequence. There is no way a fan could witness his performance and come out feeling like he/she was let down. At $250.00 a pop for half-decent seats, it's a remarkable feat to leave an audience satisfied, while still adhering to the first rule of show business.



In discussing the event after the fact, it occurred to me that the major strength demonstrated by the legendary performer is his ability to take a huge stage presentation in front of a gazillion people and make it feel intimate. On the one hand, each and every one of his fans already has his/her own personal relationship with Sir Paul, whether he knows that person exists or not. He understands this and is very respectful of it, and it comes through as he performs, as he relates a little anecdote, even as stakes out his next position on the stage. On the other hand this is also a guy who isn't afraid to put his opinion out in the forefront and get vaguely political, whether it concerns meat, Obama, or a killer rendition of "Blackbird." Even waving the Union Jack in front of a bunch of Republicans (I guess in PA the Dems also have that "Front Row" kind of money)is a little nuts when you think about the current state of politics in the USA, but here is this wrinkly old Limey doing just that, and you have to hand it to him. It seriously reduces the epic scale of the production by getting inside your head, regardless of your own personal stance. Not many performers can accomplish this without ruining their careers, but in Paul's case what are you going to do about it? Seriously?


Live...


...And Let Die!

Finally, and apart from the stellar performance and production, apart from a sparkling new facility that has yet to be defiled by Flyers fans, there is the all-encompassing nature of Paul McCartney's audience. It's the truest and greatest achievement any artist could ever hope for. The unification of seniors and young people, families, dating couples, classic rockers, indie rockers, preppies, yuppies, burnouts, freaks is astounding. All of these wildly different personality types dancing and singing along with each and every song is something you don't get to see every day and in our increasingly fragmented pop culture it becomes a sort of emotional experience. For a few hours, nobody is cooler, or smarter, or better off than anyone else in the room. For that short time it's a politics of Beatlemania, with everyone sharing in our agreement of, and love for one of the men who have brought so much joy to the world for so long.


All photos by Carol L. Appleby

I tease the man about his age, but he is timeless, and his live performance is something that should not be missed. I am grateful to have experienced it with my mom and her best friend, Janet, two first wave Beatlemaniacs, all of us seeing our hero for the first time. It's never too late, but don't put it off any longer.

SDCC still blows excepts for this one thing...

I can't believe anybody cares about the Comic Con. Well into the 21st century, bloated celebrity panels and gimmicky promotional items now officially suck. It's like the place has everything but comics. No thanks.

At least this time there was one actual surprise, and that was the revealing of the new monster design for Legendary Pictures forthcoming remake of Godzilla. Well, we don't know if it's a remake or what, but it's a new Godzilla, and it looks more like what we expected the last time a U.S. studio attempted such a thing.



The big square is the gimmicky crap that I don't like; you can put it in front of a web cam when you're on some page and it makes the thing look like it's breathing fire or something, but not really. It didn't look too effective in the demo, and probably just detracts from the concept art itself. Gimmicks.

As far as Goji him/herself goes, sure, why not. It's a little GMK, a little Millenium, and most likely the intial forays into the actual look of the finished product, but it's all very encouraging. Legendary promised fans something more like an actual Godzilla movie, and this is the first evidence to suggest they understand just exactly what that is.

Last year was the TR2N demo real, I guess this is it for this year, since I've been aware of everything else for months. SDCC isn't getting any better. Bring me back the Jubilee Con!

Frolf Ligonier

Timberlink Golf Course in Ligonier, PA gets into SW PA's Disc Golf game with it's unique 18 hole (basket?) experience.



I recently frolfed the course and took some pictures. It's a fun course depending on your level of experience, and in this case the "word" experience goes beyond mere game play. I've been frolfing for a decade, and I've played some challenging courses which Timberlink is not, but I had enough fun to consider hitting the place up again before the end of the season.



The course winds it's way around the timeless Timberlink par 3 golf course, playing in the rough. Distances range from 70 to 210 feet, so you know it's not a long course, however the targets are often positioned in challenging locations, and the course is so well maintained that you would need to be seriously "out of it" to be able to lose a disc. Very little undergrowth.





One of the things you should know before going to Timberlink is that it is a privately owned business and therefore charges a green fee of eight dollars. Seems like a lot of money when that same amount can haul four people up to Moraine State Park, until you consider they allow opened containers and have cup holders on the Golf Carts.



Cart rental is probably the main reason to play this course. It's not something a person is used to while frolfing, and adds a level of challenge to the concentration aspect of the game. It can be seriously distracting to drive around in a golf car when you're not used to it because those things are fun. Its an extra $14 for the rental, but it makes the outing feel like more of an occasion.

The only real complaint one could have about the course concerns the targets themselves. I guess I'm not a big fan of the Designer Pro, finding the action to be too far removed from the Mach 3 found in just about every other course I have played thus far. Plus these things could use some new chains. Smacking these rusty dogs with a speedy disc doesn't produce the same satisfying crash that we're used to, in fact it's probably closer to a thud. Any heat leading into the basket will end up only scratching the finish on the disc.



Despite this minor complaint Timberlink frolf ends up being a nice outing, especially when you incorporate other nearby attractions, such as Linn Run State Park, or Ligonier Beach.

Great VHS Box Art pt.3 "Another State of Mind"

So, right about when I decided to feature VHS covers here on this blog some other guy comes out with a book doing the same thing, and it gets mixed reviews, and I get discouraged 'cuz I thought I had an original idea... then came the Intellivision project and summer. Anyhow, I knew I'd get back into it again when I found a good one, and Dude's book got dissed for not including so many great covers like this one, so as you can see, I just had post pics from the VHS box cover for the great punk rock doucmentary film "Another State of Mind"



That's an impossibly young Mike Ness sitting on the bumper of the same beat up school bus featured in the film, and a logo that screams Ralph Steadman. The whole thing could be designed by the guy, who knows? This is going back to 1983, when it would be possible for Steadman to still be working more commercially. Whoever it was, this image represents the classic hardcore punk graphic style, with stark black and white contrasts offset by (in this case, two) swatches of muted, primal color. The effect is an intensity level that is through the roof, even though the subject is in repose. It's so simple and effective, and it works every time. I can't be a dick and not post the back cover for you.



If you're an aging punk rock fan like myself, the film is like a time machine back to the early eighties. It's also a compelling story featuring some great performances and interviews, a ton of optimism, and a sadly unique philosophy on life. This hasn't resurfaced on DVD to my knowledge, so buy whatever format you can find it on.

Beer2-D2... The Future is NOW

This year's annual Kirby Derby in Raleigh, NC brought Star Wars fans a surprise as Beer2-D2 "rolled out the barrel" and treated fans and friends alike to delicious, and complimentary, Carolina Summer Wheat Ale.



The theme of the event this time out was "Kirby to the Future," so why make mobile kegerator in the likeness of a character from "A long time ago...?" As co-creator Tom Dowd puts it "R2-D2 is from a long time ago, Beer2-D2 is the future."



Dowd explains how the idea went from loving goof to full fledged Star Wars nerd scheme to get free beer. As the project neared completion he emailed The Carolina Brewing Co. with the subject line "Outreach" and asked if they would donate a barrel. They did, plus four more and some shirts. Success!


Doug Peterson, Beer2-D2, and Tom Dowd. These Star Wars fans "...are my kind of scum. Fearless and inventive."

There is no telling where and when Beer2-D2 will be called into action next!

Snapping Turtle

Cheyldra serpentina, the Common Snapping Turtle, as found in the Mid-Atlantic region. I was able to politely cajole this critter until it became irritated enough to get out from the middle of the road. He/ she was heading for the high ground either due to heavy rains or egg laying.

Most people never see one of these, and when they do, they take a photo like this...


That's fine, but you really don't get the sense urgency that was present while standing in the middle of the road. Now ol' MZ is some kind of woodsman or something, and this is not his first encounter with a snapper, so naturally he's going to photograph this turtle the Marvel way...




See how dynamic and engaging the second turtle is compared to the first? Aren't you rooting for this turtle to get the fuck out of the way already? The thing was approximately 15inches longs and rather nimble once it got going. A yuppie yelled at me to pick it up and carry it off the road, however there is no safe way to handle one of these without cruelty, so I declined. It crawled into the brush and disappeared.

"Lost" season finale confirms worst fears

Seriously? If you don't think the shows creators are full of shit, then why does the show end only after Jack unclogs the toilet?

At least Jimmy Kimmel was able to bring us this:

R.I.P Ronnie James Dio 1942-2010

Ronnie James Dio, an originator of the genre of music known as "Heavy Metal", and one the greatest rock vocalists of all time has died at the ripe old age of sixty eight. I finally got to see RJD a few years back, and this new(to me)info regarding his age really comes as a shock. The guy was still belting it out as recently as a year ago touring with the Sabbath spin-off Heaven and Hell, still "reaching the high notes." Now Ronnie is gone.

As a prepubescent in the early eighties, the imagery of the band Dio could not possibly have been more alluring, but listening to the bombastic guitars and Ronnie's incredible vocal delivery for the first time was an experience that cannot be duplicated. Usually straight forward enough songs about teenage alienation got dressed up as tales of wizards and dragons, mysterious strangers, or run-ins with spooks, weirdness, and evil doers in general. In fact, no one sang the word "Evil" better than Ronnie and he knew it, and so he sang it over and over, and over. Ronnie kept the high camp value going into his elaborate stage presentation, and is famous for using the "Devil Horn Salute" most prominently (actually his Grandmother's old trick for reversing hexes- Thanks Ronnie!)As a young man coming of age in the early part of the Reagan years, no one individual could be more rightly accused of creating the socially maladroit currently writing this blog than Ronnie James Dio.

Naturally, I grew out of Dio by my late teens, as the coolness Dio pervaded could only truly be understood by pimply faced virgins. Dio would would fall out of favor like all the rest of the hair bands, and eventually become something as a joke for adhering to strict Metal tradition. I was amazed to learn that Dio, like all the great metal bands, had been recording through the 90's and even into this decade, but I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise. By the time he appeared in Tenacious D's Pick of Destiny, there was no doubt that Ronnie was in on the joke, and when I finally got to see him play live and hear how good he still was it become clear that he probably had the most to laugh about. It was like he couldn't age and for a minute his golden pipes allowed me to feel that youthful optimism that I didn't know I had back then or even today. His abilities were such that I had to renounce my cynicism and embrace the goofy elf one more time, and I was looking forward to seeing another performance soon.

It wasn't meant to be, so I'll take what memories I have, crank up some "Holy Diver" and make a Devil Horn Salute in honor of the man on the silver mountain.

This is what it's like to grow old, just watching your heroes die.

Mattel Electronics Sci-Fi Box Art

Hand painted production art circa 1978-82






and you know you're getting psyched for the new movie!

RIP Carl Macek 1951-2010

If you don't know who Carl Macek is, you can check out the wiki on your own. Here, in the meantime, is the official press release.

If you were a kid back in the early eighties and liked "Japanimation" then you have Mr. Macek to thank. If you like Anime at all it would not have been possible without the success of shows like ROBOTECH, no matter what your opinion of the program itself is. Sure, Macross is better, but under the circumstances the man was quite successful in developing a continuity across three distinctly different shows, resulting in a sweeping story the likes of which had not been scene during after school programming since Starblazers.

I got to meet Carl at a ROBOTECH convention in '85. It was one of those Creation Cons, the same people who promoted the traveling Star Trek conventions of that era, so it was a decent sized affair with guests and a killer dealers room. Some time between ogling model kits and anime books I went to see Mr. Macek give a presentation which included footage of the upcoming (not really) ROBOTECH movie. He spoke and took questions, and was generally a busy, but decent enough fellow with the public. If it wasn't for that guy so many people wouldn't get to enjoy their hobby of hording neat knick-knacks based on beloved (and localized) Japanese characters they sit in front of a screen watching for hours without end.

I imagine in real life Macek pulled a dick move or two, which would explain the amount of contempt so much of the fan community has for him. Anyone who's been into J-pop for a few decades is aware of the level of animosity directed towards the man, yet so much of it has always been fan boy posturing. It's okay if you get how the original Macross is a masterpiece of entertainment. It's not okay to bash Macek because he tweaked it enough to create an entirely new market for anime in the western hemisphere. I'm pretty sure he didn't personally screw over so many of twenty-somethings who love to slag him on the internet bulletin boards. I'll never know what this guy did wrong, but I know what he did right.

Lots of fascinating stuff in the press release that I didn't know about the man. The video is great, too. No matter what kind of person he was in private, he was the guy that made an entire, currently desperate, industry possible. Thank you Carl Macek for the thrilling adventures.

New Dirty Pair manga in Japan

The Lovely Angels, Kei and Yuri are back, appearing in the pages of Monthy Comic Ryu. Let the chaos, destruction, and cheesecake ensue!



As an early supporter of anime, I can't describe what a relief it is to see these two icons return. By now the animated adventures of The Dirty Pair are widely known but disregarded by the contemporary anime fan, seeming clunky and dated. The reality however is that these two characters pushed the media's limits early on, with swashbuckling sci-fi tales laced with violence and sexuality. As an 80's preteen absorbed with ROBOTECH and Voltron, The Dirty Pair served as a proper white rabbit leading to years of discovery via VHS tape trading networks like the CFO.



Apart from a Joji Manabe Doujinshi I once flipped through, the Pair never quite looked this sleazy, which is understandable given the current state of the anime industry. Frankly, I can't understand what took so long for this series to happen. Kei,in particular, looks to have received the biggest makeover. It might not be "wolf hair", but at least it's not Dirty Pair Flash.

I predict that this incarnation will be successful enough for the inevitable anime adaptation, and then this and every previous generation of anime fan will know the madcap glory of The Dirty Pair!