Saturday

Walk this Plank, Talk this Plank

Predator Press

[LOBO]

Two days ago, I totaled my first car.

See, here in Illinois it's like 70 degrees, and for January that's pretty damn freakishly weird.

But last September you were telling me I was a fool ejecting hair spray into the sky for hours on end. Remember? And you scoffed mercilessly as I planted those palm trees in a nice line up the driveway.

Well who's eating coconuts now, bitch?

So yeah. Eight inches of snow melted, and then it rained. It was explained to me later that the ground is still somewhat frozen, so the water really doesn't have anyplace to go. Water, it turns out, is a lot like teenagers: if it doesn't have anything to do, it looks for trouble. It comes home late. It makes excuses for not doing chores.

It wants to borrow the car.

So there I am just driving around this cool new lake that used to be a Super Kmart and something glinty caught my eye. -And not just any shiny object, mind you: this thing glittered and glowed like nothing I had ever seen before. My heart raced. What is this magnificent Thing? I asked myself. Maybe it's a fabulous gem. Or perhaps some lost Holy relic! I simply must have it.

It called and cooed to me in a sing-song melody:

"LOBO come get me,
and I'll make all your dreams come true.
Your friends will be so jealous!
Have I told you what a handsome bastard you are?"

Helplessly beguiled, I drove closer and faster ... only to find this magnificent and enchanting object to be four inches of exposed decorative chrome edging on the top of a completely submerged Aerosmith tour bus.

And as the water inched up waist deep in my own car, I realized the truth: my Japanese piece of crap was riddled with boyancy issues never once mentioned in Consumer Reports, and I had been wooed to my watery grave by siren song.


***

It was Steven Tyler himself who dove in and pulled me out, and after dragging me to the roof of the bus he tried to resuscitate me with CPR. Waking up with Steven Tyler kissing me was exactly as bad as I'd previously imagined it: while he had fresh, minty breath, I could not escape the mute horror of locking lips with perhaps billions of groupies and cheerleaders. I was almost certainly going to get a cold sore.

"Dude," says Brad Whitford. "Why did you do that? We were waving you off! We've been stranded here for three days."

It was then I decided to make my move. I immediately kicked Joe Perry in the neck, and then shoved Steven right into the waiting mouth of one of the circling alligators. Then diving past Brad, I gripped the exposed decorative chrome corner of the tour bus and unsuccessfully tried to wrest it free until we were rescued by the Coast Guard.


***

So here it is two days later, and everyone is mad at me. Me! After six used car lots LadyTerri is starting to fray at the edges a little too, and her anger redoubled when she got that weird cold sore. Without hesitation, she continues to barrage me with little nuggets of wisdom, like "What the fuck were you thinking?" and "How the hell did you get a Driver's License in the first place?"

I, conversely, have managed to stay upbeat. I will not be defeated by the simple total loss of a vehicle ... humans got along fine for dozens of years without cars, and this is no different!

Determined to go soak up some nice weather and sunshine, I put on my thong and rollerblades and decided to cruise around and do some exploration of the flooded and changing terrain. Maybe find some ice cream, you know? There's a bar about a mile away that always has a bunch of motorcycles in front of it, and all those guys taking time out of their busy schedules driving around and beating people up must mean that place has kickass ice cream. Maybe I'll regale 'em with the tale of how I just met Aerosmith!

I'll bring my boom box too: my copy of A Thousand Different Ways by Clay Aiken came in the mail two weeks ago, and I still haven't had a chance to check it out.

Doesn't ice cream sound good right now?



Wednesday

Dear John.com

Predator Press

[LOBO]

Having received the Cult of Qelqoth Anti-Award, everything is clear to me now.

Many of you have been reading other blogs. Hell, some of the worst of you offenders have been writing them! There are now more blogs out there than body parts on the field the year those lepers went to the Superbowl.

I am shocked and appalled at this discovery.

I thought we had something special.

Well consider this you blog floozies: Will those other blogs tuck you in at night after a bedtime story? Or hold your head in the sink while you are puking MargaRitas and Chex Party Mix? Will they provide numerous accounts in excruciating detail of the Stock Market Crash of 2014, and how it will subsequently lead to World War VI and VIII? Mark my words: Even as Al Gore's fourth head wails the battle cry, "Tonight we dine in temperatures suitable to sustain life!" I will personally be far from the battlefield safely documenting it from his office, occasionally shuffling random papers on his desk and doing obscene things to his paperweight Cheney skull.

And you know what? You're not as clever as you think you are either. One night when you said you were just browsing eBay and Wikipedia, I knew something was up so I hired a private detective to hide in your closet. Don't believe me? He hasn't transmitted anything since October, so I figure he is probably the skeleton with a webcam immediately behind the gray overcoat. Go ahead and look. I’ll wait. See? There you are. Try not to be in so much of a hurry next time you shave ... you get better results.

SO after all we've been through, this is the thanks I get? Why don’t you just rip my heart out, roll it around in salted glass and thumbtacks and then flush it down a non-hygenic sulfuric acid toilet?

Don't say anything. Just go.

And no, I am not crying.

I've just got something in my eye.


Monday

The Phantom Membership

Predator Press

[LOBO]


Episode IVXIv.2

The Empire Strikes Out


President Bush called General Petraeus.

"You want me to bomb a city in the continental US?" asks Petraeus incredulously.

"And how," says Bush.

"And not one in New Jersey?"

"Nope. Pianosa, Illinois."

"Why sir?"

"It's our secret weapon to get the Republicans back in office, disguised as part of a new strategy in our War on Terror. Who's going to screw with us if we're so crazy we'll nuke ourselves?"

"Good point sir."

Cycling through his monitors, Bush finds his guy. "General!" he says excited. "That guy right there. Sector 754XA5."

"You mean the guy sleeping in his car at Cardinal Fitness?"

"No one will miss a loser like that." Bush squints at the screen. "Ugh ... from the looks of it, we'll be doin that poor bastard a favor."

"Still, what with nuclear fallout and all, I would suggest something a little more suitable to the scale of the threat."

"Like a giant robot crocodile?"

"No sir. Like a surgical strike. A platoon of tanks maybe."

"Oh god no. Have you seen the price of gas lately? I like the 'Giant Robot Crocodile' idea better."

"Yes, well-"

"It'll come up out of Lake Michigan, and seek out Terror with X-Ray vision, and smash it with the Tail of Liberty. Bam! Bam!"

"Well, while I understand your enthusiasm--"

"BOOM!"

"--I would still go with the tanks."

"General, this is the dawn of the Twentieth Centurion. Unless they hover, tanks are boring."

"We don't have a giant robot crocodile sir. The Liberals scuttled the budget in 2005."

Bush sighed audibly into the phone. "Just how many damn schools do I have to build before I get a giant robot crocodile that fights Terror?"

There's a long pause. "I don't know sir," the General finally answered.

"Why can't we nuke it again?"

"Because it's American soil sir."

"Is it New Jersey?"

"No sir. It's Pianosa, Illinois. Look," says Petraeus, exasperated. "We could put streamers and sparklers on the tanks. Then it would look cool as we bomb that prick into the Mesozoic."

"Like a parade!"

"Yes sir. A really loud and pissed-off parade."

"All right General," says Bush. "Make it so."


***


The 99th Battalion left Decatur Illinois at precisely 3:17am, and stopped to refuel in Bloomington, Schaumburg, Danville and Arlington Heights before anyone realized that they had no idea where Pianosa was.

This single blunder took up 18% of the entire annual military budget.

Due to this -and the Vast Liberal Conspiracy- the Terror-Fighting Robot Crocodile Project would never get off the ground.


Sunday

BLOG WARS

Predator Press

[LOBO]



Episode IVXIv.1b

A New Dope


On day six, I woke with a screaming headache.

Wincing, I pull open the curtains. The sun immediately sears itself into my brain.

I scream.

LadyTerri, phone pressed to her ear, rushes in. "What the hell happened?"

Holding the back of my head, I whine. "I don't know. I'm thinking maybe we should lay off my Jedi training for a while."

"You mean the training where you have to try to dodge me as I try to hit you with a frying pan?" She switches the phone to the other ear.

"The helmet helps. But with the blast shield down, I can't even see." Rubbing my throbbing temples, I look at her. "Who's on the phone?"

"I'm on the phone with the doctor for the results of your physical."

"My what?"

She dismisses me with her hand. "Yes Doctor I. M. Nyarlathotep? He's fine for the fitness training?"

What the hell?

"Yes sir. I'm glad you all got a good laugh too," she continues. Pressing a button, she sets the phone on the table. Looking at me with some resignation she says, "Well, you're all set."

"Please elaborate," I says.

"For the fitness training program. You got approved."

Desperately, I searched my deeply-receded memory. The last thing I remember is going to church yesterday. I decided that my Chi needed some cleansing before I engage in the Holy War that is to come, and for a mere $1000 donation, the Catholic Church rushed me to the top of the list: I was issued a cross and four gallons of holy water almost immediately.

Peeking out the window a little more carefully, I survey the landscape. I see playing children and unkicked puppies. There are no panzer tanks in the driveway.

We must still be winning

"What happened after church?" I ask cautiously.

"Before or after you drank four gallons worth of Holy Daiquiris?"

"After," I reply, slowly putting things together.

"I'm not really sure. You swore a slurry oath to exact revenge upon someone and avenge something ... I don't know. Then you got frustrated because the police, fire department and newspapers kept hanging up on you."

... Traitors.

"And then you took off and signed up for a Premium membership at Cardinal Fitness."

"I thought he was offering mass!" I protest.

"Your trainer is supposed to give you an orientation in fifteen minutes."

"My trainer? Oh Jesus Christ. Please tell me you're joking. Honey, I've worked a long time to get this fantastic physique. I'm not gonna go ruin all that by going to a gym."

"You gave him a $500 retainer."

I scream again.


***


My "trainer", it turns out, is none other than Jimmy Orlando.

"Hey, don't you work for me?" I says sitting at his immaculate desk.

"Your payroll checks never cleared," he replies coolly.

"Well you never worked!"

He slides a paper under my nose. "LOBO, look. Just sign the goddamn waiver so we can get this over with."

"Fine," I sneer. Determined to not show any pain, I struggle against the weight of the pen and nonchalantly draw an 'X'. "How long is the tour?" I says, huffing slightly.

"About 45 minutes."

"You people are fucking monsters," I says. "We'll have to break this into two or three sessions. You do have cots, right?"

"No, Jar Jar" he grins.

"Well, can I have my steroids now please?"


Saturday

Does Not Get Along Well With Others

Predator Press

[LOBO]


In the Beginning

good always overpowered the evil

of all man's sins. But in time, the nations grew weak and ...


[... Wait. That's the wrong preamble. Here goes:]


Episode IVXI

The galaxy is in turmoil.

Some bunch of guys are pissed at a

bunch of other guys, and we'll write some excuse for

it in a subsequent prequel; please buy the merchandise in the meantime.


***


Yeah today, I was possitively brimming with story ideas.

I mean, on the one hand I got America's Princess Britney Spears havin another meltdown. And on another, I learned that we have a potential President named Mitt Romney ... and say what you will about politics and crap, but 'Romney' sounds like the name of a guy that can get shit done. I can see the headlines now: "Romney Wastes Purse-Snatcher with Steel Girder", or "Mitt Saves Kittens from Fire".

But no. Instead I gotta address a social and professional faux-pau committed against Predator Press that just might destroy the fabric of space and time as we know it.


***


Now, when we bloggers submit our blogs for review, there's a tacit sort of unwritten translation that means, "Hey, I'm inviting you to wax enthusiastically about my stuff," right?

Well Humor-Blogs.com just missed that boat entirely; not only did they not include the word "genius" at least three times --the industry standard-- but they didn't even say it once.

I know! Can you believe it? In fact, they said stuff like "Just not my cup of tea. Clean site, good graphics, but too far out even for me. There's some funny things in there, but the whole psycho-punk stuff just weirds me out and I wanna hurl everytime I see it. Just the thought of it makes me vomit dangerous colorful projectiles."

[I added that red text, but I think it captured the mood better than that plain old period.]

One reviewer really struck home, however. He [or she] said: "The blog itself is very plain. Uninteresting looking ... without the pictures the black text on white background reads a little sterile"

This reviewer is the only one I've asked the ninja assassins to spare; I mean it's entirely possible that Predator Press needs some sprucing up, right? Deeply committed to rectifying this optical blogging atrocity, I've been sifting around the internet to find a new background.

I've narrowed it down to:



I like this one, but it reminds me
too much of flapjacks and blood.


This one's kinda cuddly ...

... but this one is my current fave.

[Vote Romney!]


Friday

LadyTerri Gets Romantic Tattoo

Predator Press

[LOBO]

My supposedly identical tat says "Pred~ta~rPros.cam".

... evidently the police wouldn't let them pusses finish because of all the prolonged writhing, howling and screaming.


Wednesday

Ask LOBO

Predator Press

[LOBO]

People are always asking me, "LOBO, how is it you live in this lavish palace, drive powerful, exotic cars and fight off supermodels left and right ... but we never see you doin nothing but blog?"

Well, I'm glad you asked me that.

See, hiddin under my desk is a secret, state-of-the-art ankle-building right-sided isometric micro-blogger gymnasium, specially designed by Bowflex.

You know those kickass ankles on page 4 of the GNC pamphlet?

That's me.

Admittedly, they hadda use some CGI to make both my ankles look identical: there's simply no way for one mortal human to be able to bulk up on both like that ... honest to God I took every steroid I could get. I could get 'em pretty big, but I couldn't keep that whole 'vein' thing workin.

Without steroids, my ankles were as boring as some pale cotton candy-scarfing dork walking around the beach boardwalk getting sand kicked in his face, lugging around smooth, ladylike La-Z-Boy recliners with feet. Now I can't even get to the boardwalk and beat that lilly-assed poser into paste: I got sectionals with veins, bitch! Booyah!

But what did abusing steroids get me ultimately? One Sunday, I ended up kicking a football that ripped a guy totally in half. Boy was my face red when I hadda explain to some kid that his dad's upper torso would have to be lowered from the goalpost by several firemen for a proper burial.

Let this be a lesson to all you Little-Leaguers: sure taking steroids can get your picture in a lot of cool magazines ... but the downside is you will have to go to a lot of boring meetings with pricey, unhappy lawyers discussing them.

Still, if you think the powerful and exotic cars are cool, my crutches get ESPN and can text message.