My life as a shameless exploiter of the proletariat


So, I've discovered eBay. But in a good way. You see, eBay is the Great Satan of online auctions. This is a good thing if you're immoral and wish to unload some crapola that you wouldn't use for packing material, much less anything else. Case in point, a few of the 'Record of Lodoss Wars' VHS tapes that I'd bought before DVD came into mass usage. Or, at least, MY usage anyway. Some of them I got the dubbed version of, because it was cheaper. And damn, does that dub ever suck. But hey, people on eBay will buy anything, I thought.

The trick for selling on eBay seems to be as follows:

Few people can resist a bargain. And as always, people will spend more time trying to avoid work than they'd do actually doing it in the first place. And they'll fight each other for the right to take your crapola. One must love the net.

By this same token, never buy anything on eBay if you're fiercely competitive. You'll find yourself in a bidding war with some fat, lazy bastard from Omaha who has nothing better to do with his reams of cash than blow them on some trinket you're also taken with. You'll be left venting cash like a disemboweled whale as you battle for the right to take someone's crapola for twenty times what it's worth.

That's your lesson for today. Only sell. Never buy.

Dragonball Z Update: Well, let's see. Goku wakes up from his nap and prepares himself for battle, which consists mostly of brushing his teeth and picking out one of his dozens of completely identical outfits. Being manly is such a time-saver.

Meanwhile, Frieza orders the Ginyu Force into battle to retrieve Vegeta alive and obliterate his new human allies. Oh, and get those pesky Dragonballs, too. The Ginyu Force sets out to do so, but not before they've done some more posing, posturing, dancing around, and pepping themselves up like a bunch of insane cheerleaders. Frieza once again just stares in shock.

Vegeta, Krillan and Gohan hurry towards the stash of Dragonballs, sensing the Ginyu Force in hot pursuit. They arrive... and Krillan holds out on Vegeta, refusing to hand over the last Dragonball. They surl at each other for a moment, but before they can come to blows, the Ginyu arrive, landing between the heroes and the remaining Dragonballs. Vegeta realizes all is lost, and hurls his Dragonball away in defiance, only to have one of the Ginyu out-run, catch, and retrieve it almost too fast for any of them to track. Vegeta tells Krillan to destroy the final Dragonball to prevent its capture, but one of the Ginyu (a little toadlike guy) demonstrates his power... the ability to freeze an instant in time... and takes the Dragonball from Krillan easily.

The little toadlike guy seems to have a past with Vegeta, and they were rivals for Frieza's favor back when Vegeta was still a henchman. He really, really wants to kick Vegeta's butt.

The Ginyu laugh at the three, and spend most of the episode fighting over who gets to beat up Our Heroes. Eventually it comes down to a heated Rock-Paper-Scissors match, which, to the toadlike guy's infinite annoyance, he loses, and one of his beefier Ginyu allies gets the right to beat up Vegeta. Gohan remarks that the Ginyu are a bunch of complete goofballs. The Ginyu Leader retrieves the seven Dragonballs and heads off to Frieza... Gohan moves to stop him, but Vegeta cautions against it. Not only would Gohan certainly fail, but it would expend power better used against the guys they're fighting now. Vegeta may be a villain, but he continues to work with Our Heroes, dispensing the rest of his information on the Ginyu to them and coaching them a bit on how they ought to go about fighting. An old truism comes to mind - Vegeta's plans will no doubt work, but he'll probably still come out ahead.

Done posing, at last, the Ginyu move in. The toadlike guy won the right to pummel the two Earthers, but they power up, leap into the air, and start blasting downwards at him.

Next Episode: Whup-ass!

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