Monday, March 18, 2013

Chant du Départ Official Stuff

Found this on the web. Decided to inflict it upon you.
Sorry...
Earlier today I was at a complete loss as to what to post about. As I worked at my real job I would, occasionally, head on out to the Web and gaze upon the offerings of others. Many were good and wise. Many were tongue-in-cheek. A couple were even a bit snarky. Your usual collection of writings running the gamut between the sublime and the ridiculous. All entertaining, none of which made me sit up and say, "Why, there's a topic I could run with. That sounds interesting. Hmm, what would be my take on that?"

Nope, nothing.


Nada.

Bupkis.

Until I stumbled upon this. I've been reading Kevin Underhill's blog for a while, it's humorous and sometimes enlightening. At any rate, Mr. Underhill was talking about "Official State Crap". I was amused, then...

...it struck me, the blog could have "Official Crap". Like, you know, Guinness, the Official Irish Dry Stout of the Chant du Départ. Or more informally, the "Official CdD Stout". Not to be confused with...

"Ermie", The Official CdD Stoat
So here we go, a partial list of the Official What-Sis of the Chant du Départ. (I say partial because there is absolutely no doubt in mind that this list will be added to. Heck, I may even create an entire page to hold this list!)

Official CdD Bird: The Red-Tailed Hawk (Buteo Jamaicensis).

Official CdD Horse: The Clydesdale (Bigus Horsus).

Official CdD Tree: The Sugar Maple (Acer Saccharum).

Official CdD Automobile: The Honda Element (Hondus Elementus).

Official CdD Poet Laureate: For now, that would be me. Self-appointed, I know. But it is my blog after all.

Official CdD Aircraft: McDonnell-Douglas F-4D Phantom II.

Official CdD Nut: Again, that would be me. I can be very nutty. And again, it is my blog.

Official CdD Marine Mammal: R. Lee Ermey. Well, he is a Marine and he is a mammal.
DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT, CUPCAKE!!!
Official CdD Fossil: Ah, I guess that would be me again. I even have a belt inscribed "FOSSIL". I thought the kids were making some kind of statement about me. But the Nuke assured me it was actually a brand name. I am scared to actually check her story out online.

Official 
CdD Outdoor Musical Drama: "The Incident at Looney's Tavern" (I actually stole this from the State of Alabama. Just because I really like the name. Normally though, I abhor musicals. They just seem, I don't know, unnatural.)

Official 
CdD Non-Alcoholic Beverage: Dunkin' Donuts Iced Coffee. I drink enough of this to float an LCS (Littoral Combat Ship). Oh wait a minute, do those actually, ya know, float?

Official 
CdD Non-Caffeinated Beverage: Caffeine Free Diet Coke. (Don't ask, it's somewhat embarrassing.)

Official 
CdD Theme Music: This -
Oh yeah, I went there...

Official CdD Snack Food: Pringles. (Damn it! I'm addicted to them, don't make me give them up! Arrgghhhh!)
Okay, I'm all better now, let's continue.

Official CdD Armored Fighting Vehicle: The PanzerKampfWagen V "Panther"

Hey, I wanted to have an official tank. Okay?

Official CdD State: Confusion. (Like you didn't see that coming.)

I think I'll leave it at that. Seems like a good list. I'm sure that if I really worked at it I could come up with more. But there's that whole "work" thing.

*Shudder*

No thanks!

UPDATE:

My old school chum Greg has nominated a comic strip to be the "Official, etc. etc." of the blog. Nominations are now closed. Therefore...


Know ye by these presents...

Official Announcement of...
The Official CdD Comic Strip:
Pearls Before Swine

(Check the sidebar, there's a link)

17 comments:

  1. I've been reading Kevin Underhill almost from the time I started blogging.
    He seldom disappoints.
    Sometime I find myself wanting to comment over there.
    He proved just how smart he is by not having a comment form.

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    1. Hhhmm, I hadn't noticed that he didn't have a comment form. The man is smart, isn't he?

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  2. I REALLY like your theme music. That reminded me o' this from a couple o' years back. The comments to that post are interesting.

    I also like the whole ideer of this post, in general. I might do sumthin' like this. Or I might not, coz it really looks like work Sorta. Kinda.

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    1. That was an excellent post (in the link, naturellement). "Ride of the Valkyries", excellent theme music, your's wasn't bad either!

      It was a bit like work putting this together. But I'm thinking of a recurring thing here, when I see stuff I really like, I'll make it the "Official CdD blah-blah-blah". I may get some mileage out of this. Or not. Time will tell.

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  3. MAN 'O MAN does that F-4 pic get this old F-4 driver's juices flowing! This 68-yr-old fossil is almost dumb enough to think that, like riding a bicycle, I could slip right back into the cockpit, throw the switches, and AVIATE once more as in days of yore!! LOL.

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    1. It gets me going every time I see pictures of this particular Phantom. I worked on this aircraft on Okinawa, when it belonged to the 18th TFW at Kadena and then again when I was stationed at Kunsan when 7463 had returned "home" to the 8th TFW, the Wolf Pack. The jet is shown above in the colors of the Triple Nickel TFS in Thailand, back in the day. But I'll bet you knew that already.

      Currently 7463 is on static display at the Academy. There are worse fates for an old war horse than static displays, so this isn't too bad.

      (I'll bet YOU could still AVIATE, VX. But your G-tolerance is prolly not what it used to be.)

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  4. PS: Noticed the great cammo job on the Panther--the Germans' were/are ALWAYS better at it than we are--mainly because we've never fought a war w.o. air superiority, so don't pay that much attention to it as we have never thought it that truly vital..

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    1. IIRC that's a late war cammo scheme. And you're right about the Germans' in this regard. Though it is not mentioned in "polite company" the modern Bundeswehr cammo is based on WWII Waffen SS cammo, which was highly effective.

      I say "modern", I should specify that it's what the Germans were wearing when I was stationed in Germany, literally at the end of the 20th Century. I checked Google, apparently they're still wearing it. They call it "Flecktarn". (German noun for camouflage is Tarnung.)

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  5. PPS: Every time I see the word Stoat--let alone see a pic--I can't help but think of The Wind in the Willows and Toad of Toad Hall and that epic battle he had to forcibly evict (with the aid of Badger, et al )the stoats and the ferrets when they occupied Toad Hall by force, lol

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    1. Heh.

      Now I'm going to have to re-read that. It's been a LONG time.

      Delete
  6. PPPS: Re; the movie Patton FWIW/FYI I attended the London premiere of the movie, but arriving late, the only seats left were the VERY FRONT ROW CENTER, Normally I like mid-way back, but for the opening scene, sitting at the very feet of Patton (as it were) starring upwards at the towering figure presented to my vantage point front-row center was the perfect place to be to receive the full effect of the speech--simply an overpowering experience that would have not been so effective if I had been seated further back looking straight on as from a distance rather than craning my neck looking up like one of the troops. Of ALL the opening scenes in the history of film, what a lucky happenstance that I ended up on the front row to get the full effect of the Patton speech!

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    1. Come to think of it, that would be a great place to sit. The General WAS larger than life.

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  7. Official CdD Funny Paper Comic? (For those like me who still read the newspaper)... I would nominate "Pearls Before Swine', the Rat does and says things to rude inconsiderate people that I wish I could do ...sometimes...as well as Guard Duck & his Gopher Grenade Brigade

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    1. You actually get a real-live, printed on paper, actual newspaper. Somehow that is cool. So very, I don't know, retro.

      As to "Pearls Before Swine", if you check the sidebar (that thingee ALL the way to the right) you'll see that the cartoonist's blog is now listed (that would be Stephan Pastis).

      Also there's a link to a site which carries the comic. By the way, I spent 15 minutes reading back to the beginning of March. I would've gone further, then I realized that I WAS in the middle of answering your comment.

      So yes, CdD now has an Official Comic Strip. Well played Greg, well played.

      Oh, did you know "I can't believe it. This article says that eleven percent of Americans believe Elvis is still alive."

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    2. See the update to this post.

      (D'ya think maybe I made too big a deal about this?)

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    3. Absolutely not!....I have posted a few of these on a fridge in back of our shop...most of the kids that work here read the comic, chuckle politely, look at me sorrowfully and walk off muttering. I think they are just so overwhelmed with the humor...one of my favorites involves the Rat waiting impatiently in a line at a burger joint located on top floor of a building. He finally reaches the cashier -almost-when the guy in front of him starts hemming and hawing, Rat's doing a slow burn until cashier asks the guy 'would he like it here or to go'?. At that point Rat grabs the slowpoke, tosses him off the roof and tells the cashier 'Make his to go!'.....probably no hope for me at my age.

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    4. Awesome. Thanks for introducing more humor into my life. Can never have enough of THAT!

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Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

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