More than meets the eye!

Yeah, and Saddam is going to turn himself into a big handgun...

But even beyond the fact that he's in the military, HUH?!?! Who would do that?

The artist formerly known as Prince?

Hehe, Point taken.

Prince

I think I've pointed it out here before, but I'll point it out again.

The whole reason that Prince changed his name to that symbol was because he wanted to leave his record label (for, IMO, valid reasons), but the label wouldn't allow him to use the name Prince. He felt very angry about that, since Prince is his given name (Prince Rogers Nelson). (Remember when he shaved the word ``slave'' into his beard? It was related to this.)

In order to leave them, he agreed not to use the name. He instead used an unpronounceable symbol. Since it is unpronounceable, people were still forced to refer to him as Prince, even if subjectively. Once his contract was up with the old record company and he was legally able to use the name Prince again, he changed back, with no one ever having called him anything else, not diluting his ``brand name'', and getting some free publicity on top of it.

IMO, brilliant.

Remember when he shaved the word ``slave'' into his beard?

Must have missed that one... I feel so empty having missed this momentous occasion in world events.

Hmmmm.... at least that makes sense. In fact, a lot of sense. OK. My opinion of him just went up a couple of notches.

My opinion of him just went up a couple of notches.

As did mine, when I learned about it last year. Wish I'd known from the beginning.

Last week, on Penn and Teller's showtime series, they did a funny Prince-symbol gag. So its seems there's still some comedic mileage to be had from that whole thing. Even if we didn't understand his reasons, we at least owe him some gratitude for all the free comedy that came from it.

Oh, I know that's why he did it, but it still is a touch eccentric.

"They razzed me for three months to no end," said Prime. "They really dug into me about it."

"I got a letter from a general at the Pentagon when the name change went through and he says it was great to have the employ of the commander of the Autobots in the National Guard."

being the butt of endless jokes? Priceless
I spose he could have picked worse names, Lamby, Barbie...

What would you call him casually? Hey, Opto, grab us a beer will ya? Maybe you call him 'tim' (optimus)

I'm betting that everyone is calling him "Prime".

I can only imagine him being your superior. Yes SIR Commander Optimus Prime SIR. -giggle- He could have LEAST changed it to one of the cool transformers, like Grimlock or Starscream. But an 18-wheeler? C'mon.

I can only imagine him being your superior. Yes SIR Commander Optimus Prime SIR. -giggle-

I'm still laughing out loud at that one, and it's been a few minutes already. I'm picturing something similar to the "biggus dickus" scene in Life of Brian...

He has a wife you know...

He could have LEAST changed it to one of the cool transformers, like Grimlock or Starscream

Awww, come on! Optimus was the MAN (er..robot). He was like my role model when I was a kid. Starscream, while a cool name, has to be one of the most annoying characters ever. I hated that guy

By the way, I practically cried during the movie when I saw that they killed Optimus Prime. I can only imagine the trauma this guy went through!

*edit*
ps- that wasn't Grimlock you linked, it was Grapple. This is Grimlock.

By the way, I practically cried during the movie when I saw that they killed Optimus Prime.

You know, this ruined the movie for me. I couldn't believe they killed him off so quickly. I don't know why they did that, but I've talked to others recently about this, in fact, who remember this as a traumatic event in their childhood. Even at the time I remember thinking the reason for this must be to try and get us to buy new toys (I never did buy the new toy, and I can't remember his name), but I don't know if that was it or not.

It was so they could use Orson Welles' voice more, I'm sure.