Whopper's Bunker - Fifth Anniversary

On September 9th in the year 1000. The King of Norway had his fleet sunk by Svein Forkbeard, Olaf Eiriksson, and Eirik Hakonarson. 11 ships vs. 70. Olaf threw himself into the sea rather than being captured (and then killed). As a result, Norway then became a fief of Denmark and Sweden.

Just as dramatically, 1005 years later, on Friday, September 9th 2005, I created and posted for the first time on this blog. Yes indeed, five years has gone by. My first post was a very simple affair, no pomp, ceremony, dancing girls, cannons or fireworks - just this post really. It was suggested by Mark after he observed my "show notes" for one of the early episodes of 2IGTV. There was enough material to record a 4 1/2 hour show each week but it had to be cut down for the sake of sanity [both Mark's and the listeners] and so I transferred some of those "extra thoughts" here.

First entitled "The Colonel's Eagle" after the insignia of a full-bird colonel, the name of the blog was changed in November 2006 to "Whoppers Bunker" following my temporary demotion and it stuck. It took a good while for me to get my sea-legs when I deployed with the 22nd MAU in '82 and gathering my blogging legs was not much different but took a lot longer. Looking back on some of those early postings would almost be enough to embarrass me, but I've allowed them to remain there as a reminder of how far I've come as a master blogging artist.

I did seem to have a lot more free time back then as opposed to now - well there are more alien threats now than before - and I used to blog about literally anything that came to my attention - well anything non-classified... ...more or less - including the latest news in entertainment as well as military technology and appointments. Admittedly some of my more cringeworthy early posts centered on my love for Ollie North and Tom Sizemore as well as my deep hatred for Micheal Jackson and Paris Hilton.

I broke dozens of hot news stories about upcoming movies, TV and video games but I didn't actually review any movies until December 2005. This was due to the fact that I did most of my movie reviewing on 2IGTV which ran concurrently at the time. Once that show ran it's course my reviews soon became the last word in most peoples decision making process on whether they see a movie or not, or perhaps wait for the DVD.

Did you know that my reviews are actually more authentic than Empire magazine's? Apparently the reviewer does not actually assign a movie it's stars, it's done by staffers! What a fraud!

Some people have asked what I think my best blog posting was and I honestly can't answer. There are some that are very quick affairs but others that take much as they require more research and so they may spend days in draft before being good enough to publish. My favourite posts however are those where a "circle is complete". Completing a circle is one of the tenants of my religion; There is to anything - 1. inception, 2. creation and 3. the final experience, so I think that any blog posts or series of blog postings that complete the circle are most important to me. Writing about them designing and constructing The National Museum of the Marine Corps in April 2003 and then actually visiting the completed complex in Quantico, Virginia 3 years later stands out as probably the prime example but it also includes breaking the news about what I hoped will be a fantastic movie like Iron Man and being able to see my hopes fulfilled and write a review of it 2 1/2 years later.

As great as I am and as much as I love the "sound of me", I'll admit I probably wouldn't have bothered keeping this up for 5 years if it wasn't for the love and support that you, both apathetic casual readers and devoted fanatical fans have shown me since day one. Chief among you:
Mark who said "Make your own Blog!"
Vaughan who calls me several times a month to tell me some famous person is dead and only an obituary written by me will grant them eternal peace.
Sith Master [formerly Sith Apologist] who teaches me to beware of corners, especially dark corners.
Civilian Overseer for whom I'm reminded not to leave a gaping hole in the plot for.
Constance whom has spent hundreds of hours correcting spelling and creating extraordinary examples of sexual innuendo for her commentary.
Former Grunt for being my yes-man.
Bruce Russell the funniest lawyer on the planet.
Cubaboy for being a reprehensible sick fucking foulmouth bastard.
and lastly
Master Guns for being a true nemesis, worthy of a hero of my stature.
Special thanks also to:
The Whitehouse, Declan, Pint Of, Dahar Master, PF, Douglas Castle, Harmon Rabb Jr., Aaron, Darth Harrington, Alro, Barry and what must be hundreds more that unfortunately I can't possibly list here, but thanks to each and everyone that has posted comments or contributed information over the years.

Additionally, I decided that after 5 years it was time for a major redesign to make things a bit more professional looking. I enlisted the services of VerTecX21 who recreated the blog as you see it before you. There are still a few extra bits to be tacked on but they should appear soon enough, so bear with me.

The Bunker will continue.