Category Archives: General

General, Music

This is…interesting

From Cracked.com, 29 Insane Pastimes That Prove History Was Terrifying:

http://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_692_29-insane-pastimes-that-prove-history-was-terrifying_p29/

If your interest isn’t piqued -or, alternatively, grossed out- with the very first entry (blowing tobacco smoke up people’s rectums being thought of as a way to save someone from drowning), then this list isn’t for you! 😉

Secondly (I always find more than one humorous/horrifying list from Cracked.com at a time), check out their second list of 10 Great Songs by The Worst Bands of All Time…

http://www.cracked.com/blog/10-great-songs-by-worst-bands-all-time-part-2/

Now, I can’t quite agree with all their choices.  At least one of the bands/artists presented I find better than they do (though they are hardly a favorite), while others I simply cannot stand to listen to at all.  Of the choices presented, however, there is one that I strongly agree with and that admission…well, its a hard one to make but here it goes: I really, really like Brittney Spears’ song “Toxic”.

Mind you (oh the shame!!) I was never a fan of Ms. Spears’ music even in her heyday and that’s putting it kindly.  Her brand of bubblegum pop, while I can certainly see what many others liked about it, never appealed to me.

So the years pass and Brittney Spears’ star sets a little (OK, perhaps quite a bit) and then, one day, I’m driving along down the road and the radio announcer on a local radio station comes on and states that he’s about to play the latest Brittney Spears song and its called “Toxic.”

Just as I’m about to change the station I hesitate.  Perhaps I was coming close to a red light or perhaps someone driving beside me nearly drifted into my lane…whatever it was that happened, I was forced to focus on the road rather than on changing the radio station and the song starts playing.  And I’m listening to it.

And I’m not changing the channel.

When the song eventually ends, I smile and shake my head.

Not bad.  Not bad at all.

Your mileage, as the saying goes, may certainly vary!

Books/Literature, General, Movies, Music

Blockbuster, RIP

Interesting article by Dana Stevens for Slate magazine regarding the news that the owners of Blockbuster are closing all remaining retail centers, effectively ending the era of the big video rental stores:

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/movies/2013/11/blockbuster_closing_why_even-those_of_us_who_hated_the_chain_will_miss_it.html

When Blockbuster first came along, there were more than a few “Mom & Pop” video stores around renting those pre-historic VHS tapes for film fans to watch.  Those who weren’t around back then don’t remember the way the film market used to be.  Recent movies took forever to be released to the home market and, when they were, they cost a lot to buy.  It wasn’t unheard of to see “new release” films go for as much as $50-85.  Further, that “new” film often took over a year -sometimes much more- before it even reached the home video market.  I distinctly recall the amazed reaction by many when the original Tim Burton directed Batman film was “quickly” released to video.  I can’t recall the exact time it took for the film to be released, but it was perhaps three to six months or so after its theatrical release, a turnaround that was completely unheard of back then but not so much now.

But this was the exception that eventually proved to be the rule.  Again, at the time and given the high price of films, video stores were a necessity.  If you didn’t rent and only bought the films you wanted, you would very quickly go quite broke.  When Blockbuster showed up, the Mom & Pop stores in my area were doomed.  These small stores couldn’t compete against the sheer bulk of material Blockbuster offered.

Even then, one had to be quick as even if Blockbuster had a large number of the latest “new” film available for rent, there were plenty of others trying to get their hands on it as well.

But for me the greatest thing about Blockbuster wasn’t so much the new and desired films, but their vast library of older classic films..  It was thanks to Blockbuster that I became aware of the movies of Stanley Kubrick.  It was also where I discovered Metropolis (the Giorgio Moroder version, which of course lead me to eventually want to see the original, uncut version) and Orpheus, two of my all time favorite films.

I could go on and on…

For all its flaws (and there were many) Blockbuster was a great place for its time.  The first big signs of trouble for the company probably came from the arrival of the DVD and the significant lowering of movie prices.  You could rent a film from Blockbuster for about $5 for three nights, but for another ten dollars or less you could purchase the DVD and own the film outright.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was likely the same as the one that killed music stores (and, sadly, looks to be doing the same to bookstores): computers and the internet.  Not to mention more choices in general.

Why would one go out to a Blockbuster to rent a film when you could Netflix it or stream it or Pay on Demand?  For those far less honest, you could steal a film via downloading it through one of many torrent sites.

So no, I’m not at all surprised Blockbuster has seen its end.  It was expected and, if anything, the only surprise one feels is that it lasted as long as it did.  Yet like Borders, like Circuit City, and like Peaches, I’ll miss her and the era she inhabited.

The world moves on and all that remains are the memories of what once was.

General

Invisibility Cloak…?

Well, not quite, but still, a fascinating way of bending light and making an object “disappear”.  Only problem, of course, is that the object it disappears behind is pretty plainly visible…for now!

The full article, as well as a video example of the cloak can be found here:

http://science.time.com/2013/11/08/watch-scientists-unveil-invisibility-cloak-and-make-a-teddy-bear-disappear/

General

There is one thing smog is quite good at…

…other than, of course, at destroying the environment and your health:

http://www.ibtimes.com/chinas-heavy-smog-blocks-surveillance-camera-view-poses-threat-national-security-1456922

That’s right: Heavy smog is very effective against surveillance cameras, especially in a country (China) that relies on them to watch their citizens.

There’s that, I suppose.

General

Top 20 Dumbest Cars…

…at least according to an article at AOL autos:

http://autos.aol.com/gallery/dumbest-cars-all-time/

Many of the “usual suspects” are present.  I figured the #1 dumbest car was going to either be the Pinto or the Edsel.  Spoiler:  It turned out to be one of them, though the other wasn’t on the list at all!

Back in High School I had a first hand experience with the Pinto as a friend of mine at the time had the vehicle and we drove around with it now and then.  What I remember the most about the car was a) it was ugly as hell in its brown/gold interior and exterior color, b) it wasn’t a comfortable car to sit in, and c) it was really noisy.

At least we shared some good laughs regarding the car…my friend was anything but enamored with his vehicle.

But my favorite “Dumb” car has to be the #14 entry, the infamous 1899 Horsey Horseless.  Words alone can’t describe this idiotic concept so, ladies and gentlemen, the 1899 Horsey Horseless:

Your eyes are not deceiving you.  We have a car with a Horse’s head strapped onto its front.  The theory its creator(s) had, one imagines, is that because some people might be reluctant to switch from their horse drawn buggies and “move up” to automobiles, the manufacturers had to do something to create a sense of familiarity to something new.  So, like training wheels on a bicycle, we have a horse’s head bolted to the front of this car so people take comfort in the fact that…

Hell…it makes no sense at all!!!!

Still fun to look at , though! 😉

General

“Cannonball” record shattered

Interesting article regarding a group of three people who broke the “Cannonball” record for driving (illegally) cross country, from New York to Los Angeles:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/31/us/new-york-los-angeles-cannonball-speed-record/index.html

A small part of me admires the thought put into their escapade, from considering the best time and conditions (weekend, full moon) to the modifications made to their car (extra gas tanks and bedpans so they wouldn’t have to make as many pit stops) to having spotters look out for police (naturally).

It’s a very small part, however.  The part that as a younger person enjoyed the whole “car chase/crash” movie genre that was quite popular from the mid to later half of the 1970’s and into the early 1980’s (it probably died around the time Cannonball Run 2 and Stroker Ace, both Burt Reynolds -ahem- vehicles, flopped).  I loved Ron Howard’s directorial debut, Grand Theft Auto and the mayhem it featured (saw the film recently aaaaaannnd….it doesn’t hold up).  Loved -and still love- the original Smokey and the Bandit.  Loved both The Gumball Rally and Cannonball (1976) though the later film had a pretty brutal climax that really twisted the movie away from being a “comedy”.  As for the first Cannonball Run movie, apart from a couple of chuckles it didn’t do all that much for me.

A larger part of me finds the fantasy versus the reality of what the gentlemen above accomplishing…scary.  In the article, Ed Bolian, one of the trio driving the Mercedes cross country, mention the following:

“Apart from a FedEx truck not checking his mirrors before he tried to merge on top of me, we didn’t really have any issues.”

Oh, really?  The FedEx driver, at least in the quote above, was in the wrong even when you’re traveling at an average rate of 90 mph while at times moving as fast 158 mph (their top speed)?!  Though the quote doesn’t give details of this merging vehicle, one can’t help but wonder just how fast the trio were driving at that time.  If they were doing high speeds (70+), one can hardly blame the FedEx driver for not noticing a car barreling down on him/her.

Regardless, the story worries me more than anything else.  Now that these three have a speed record in this illegal activity that surely put others on the road at risk (not to mention the drivers themselves), how long before others try to break that record?  Will they be as “cautious” and well planned as this trio were, or will they be even more reckless?

And even if they are as cautious as can be, accidents can -and sadly do– happen.

Watching those old car race/crash movies as a kid was fun.  But it was also fantasy.  Even then I knew this wasn’t something that should happen in real life.  Having people driving around this recklessly for such a long distance in the real world makes me more than a little nervous.

General

9000 Year Old Painting of Volcano Linked to Real Eruption…

This is the type of stuff I absolutely love to read about: An ancient painting of an exploding volcano has been linked to a real-life eruption that happened in and around that same time in Turkey:

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/9-000-year-old-painting-volcano-linked-real-eruption-8C11498570

The bottom line is that the painting is about 9000 years old and scientists have been able to determine that the Hasan Dag volcano erupted “8,970 years ago, plus or minus 640 years, according to a new dating technique that analyzes zircon crystals in volcanic rock“.

Which means that the painting was probably made in and around the same time the volcano actually erupted.  Therefore the painting may well be our very distant ancestors making a note of something they personally witnessed!

Fascinating, fascinating stuff!

General

More on the War of the Worlds Broadcast…

Yesterday I linked to an article from Slate magazine that explored the reality of the “panic” created by Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds radio broadcast of 1938 (you can read about that here).

Here’s another interesting article by Michael Roffman for Time magazine concerning the broadcast and its effects on culture.  As with the Salon article, I agree with many of the points Mr. Roffman makes.  Even if the so-called “panic” that supposedly resulted from the broadcast was probably more myth than reality, this does not negate the huge impact the broadcast had on the media, both then and -yes- up to and including today, even if many may not realize this.

Just goes to show, that Orson Welles fellow was pretty damn clever and anticipated many  of the things to come…

http://entertainment.time.com/2013/10/31/the-real-legacy-of-orson-welles-war-of-the-worlds-broadcast/

General

The Myth of the “War of the Worlds” Panic…

1 Comment

I’ve always had this nagging suspicion that the stories of the panic that followed the broadcast of The War of the Worlds for radio by a young, pre-movie stardom Orson Welles and based on the equally famous science fiction novel by H. G. Wells (no relation) were exaggerated.

Granted, all this happened a long time ago -1938 to be exact- and mass media wasn’t quite as overwhelming as today so most of the stories I read furthered the idea that the broadcast did create a panic.  Yet I couldn’t help but think for this to have happened, we had to believe people back then were, bluntly, rubes.  Easily swayed.  Easily fooled.

But let me back up a moment.  The story of the radio broadcast of The War of the World goes like this:  The radio-play was presented as a “newscast” and it was the nature of the serious “reporting” within the play itself that fooled many people into thinking the events unfolding were actually real, that Earth/New Jersey was being invaded by Martians at this very moment.  Naturally, this was what supposedly caused the panic that followed.

Again, the question I (and others of course) asked was exactly how much of this panic was true?

In honor of 75 Anniversary of the transmission, Jefferson Pooley and Michael Socolow offer a fascinating article for Slate.com exploring the myth and reality of what actually happened when Orson Welles and company staged their infamous radio play, and the reality of the “panic” that followed:

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/history/2013/10/orson_welles_war_of_the_worlds-panic_myth_the_infamous_radio_broadcast_did.html

At the risk of ruining a big chunk of the article, the authors state there is scant evidence there was any “massive” panic at all (the article goes as far as saying almost no one was “fooled” into thinking there was a genuine invasion and what panic there was was so minimal as to be “immeasurable”).

Which brings up the more intriguing question: Where did this panic story come from and why?

I found the answer to that one of the more fascinating things in the article and, no, I won’t give it away here.

Give the article a read, it offers a fascinating window into myth making.

General

The things you find on the internet…

…how about a fascinating article by Rebecca Onion for Slate magazine which offers examples and a link to a book of criminal slang from the 19th century?

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2013/10/22/criminal_slang_19th_century_rogue_s-vocabulary_by_george_matsell.html

If this has you interested, check out the link to the full book on 19th century (more specifically circa 1850’s) slang:

http://archive.org/stream/cu31924073798740#page/n0/mode/2up

Some random words I came across in the book:

“Easy” = Killed

“Fork” = A pickpocket

“Frog” = A policeman (interestingly, “Pig” was also used as slang to describe a policeman, and this very insulting term remains used today.  You can find plenty of references to animals and many of them, like “Pig”, remain familiar even today.  “Pigeon”, for example, retains its meaning from the 1850’s, ie a criminal who may engage in a crime and then inform on his partners to the law.  A “Rat” remains a cheat).

“Jilt” = A prostitute who “hugs and kisses a country-man” while her accomplice(s) rob him.

“Pin-Money” = Money received by a married woman for prostituting herself.

“Roper-In” = A man who visits hotels and other places for the purpose of ingratiating himself with persons who have plenty of cash and little prudence…and then luring them to gaming houses, presumably to cheat them out of said cash.

“Shadow” = First class police officer.  Wonder if that was one of the original reasons why the name was chosen for the famous pulp character of the same name?

“Vampire” = A man who lives by extorting money from men and women whom he has seen coming or going out of houses of “assignation”.

This one is really fascinating: “Whip-Jacks” = Men who pretend to be shipwrecked sailors!  I imagine enough people pulled off this trick for this term to merit inclusion in the 1850 book, but I can’t help but wonder why people would pull that particular con in the old days.  In other words, what were they hoping to get for creating this story?  Sympathy?  Ill-gained charity?  Or perhaps lying their way onto cargo ships and a “real” job?

Fascinating, fascinating stuff.