About Hank

I am H.M. Talbot, chief driveller, intrepid journalist and poet laureate of fantasticdrivel.com. You can call me Hank. I am a pseudonym.

change is good

Aside

fantasticdrivel.com has a new look! I’m working on migrating some of the old content to the new format so it displays correctly. For now, some stuff might look a little funky . . .

triple feature

I’m not sure if they still do it, but a local radio station used to run a bit called “My Three Songs.” Listeners would submit three-song sets with some kind of theme.

If they ever did a similar bit with movies, I already know what my set would be:

  • Iron Man
  • The Iron Lady
  • Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Between movies, they could play Alanis Morissette’s “Ironic.”

meet john milton

John Milton
(1608-1674)

My last post provided some history and insight regarding the perennial plight of the churchgoing child in the summertime: Vacation Bible School. I remember complaining about losing a week of my summer to VBS, but it was not until recently that I gained a little perspective on the issue. I never had to suffer like the poor children of Hopedale, Illinois, in 1894. On the other hand, I was never treated to the kind of fun, fancy, professionally-produced VBS experience enjoyed by kids in 2011. To learn more about both ends of this spectrum, check out my last post.

This series will address the wildly popular 2011 VBS kit “Pandamania.”

Eventually.

Before we go there, we need to cover a bit of history. That history starts with John Milton.

Continue reading

pandamania: vbs from hell

Summer means lots of things to lots of people. For thousands of kids across the United States (and around the world), one of those things is VBS.

If you had the “priviledge” of attending Vacation Bible School (or, VBS for short) as a child, you know what I’m talking about. If not, you might not be familiar with the whole VBS thing. Allow me to explain.


the conspiracy

I don’t remember how old I was when I first went to Vacation Bible School, but I do remember that it didn’t take me long to figure out what was really going on: a conspiracy against kids having fun in the summertime . . . Continue reading

where has all the drivel gone?

Fear not, my friends; the drivel has not run dry.

It’s flow, however, has temporarily abated.

2010 was a great year for fantasticdrivel.com, and 2011 will be even better. I know the fantasy football season was probably a bit tiresome for some of y’all. Believe me, it was tiresome for the pathetic Mothers of Grendel as well. If you haven’t, I do encourage you to check out the Liga retrospective posts—particularly the tlachiqueros and the sandbox paladins. I feel that those two posts are among the finest drivel to ever [dis]grace the blogosphere.

Bond 23. James Bond 23.

Like James Bond, fantastic drivel WILL return. Unlike James Bond, fantastic drivel should be returning sometime in March 2011. You’ll have to wait until November 2012 for Bond 23.

I know some folks thought the Quantum of Solace title was a little too sophisticated, but personally I think “Bond 23” is something of an overcorrection.

I am currently working on finishing a book. That’s right. A book. Although it’s not in any way like the stuff I share with y’all on fantasticdrivel.com, I’m pretty excited about it. Maybe I’ll post more about it later. For now, however, it’s that book that is receiving all the time and energy with which I would otherwise drivel.

I’ll keep you posted.