Futurama is coming back!

Enjoy a fun preview.

Wonderful stills

via PCL Linkdump, I found my way to this collection of screencaps from Modesty Blaise (US UK)


From this collection, I found my way to this group of folks who pull screencaps from films. I could spend days looking at these.

Buying the New Yorker 1986 - page 45

Another Hilton ad:

The Turtle Bay Resort is no longer a Hilton Hotel.

The coming attractions are incredible: On October 28, you can enjoy the "Halloween Festivities."

Join us Saturday evening for pumpkin painting, live music, petting zoo, costume contests and, of course, a hay-wagon ride through the HAUNTED GRAVEYARD!

That's what everyone wants to go to Hawaii for.

Then on November 18th:

Battle of the North Shore Shrimp Trucks
The Shrimp Trucks have become as a legendary attraction as the big waves. What started with one white truck has evolved into a competitive industry. The Shrimp Truck Chefs will prepare their best and the public will decide! The Battle of the North Shore Shrimp Trucks, will also feature a variety of fresh Hawaii brewed beers & micro brews.

I'd like to think that the "Battle of the North Shore Shrimp Trucks" was some sort of demolition derby, perhaps with rocket launchers, but hey, catch as catch can.

And take a look at the place from Google Maps. Surfs up!

Buying the New Yorker 1986 - page 44

Not knowing much of anything about golf, I was inclined to think that the 19th hole was something rude. (and that "Arizona style" was even ruder.)

Shame on me - they're talking about the bar.

The Wigwam is still there, but they are downplaying the "bunch of cowboys" vibe and going for a "wealthy pueblo" look.

Digging into the Wigwam's site I discover that they are "the Official Spring Training Resort of The Kansas City Royals." I wasn't sure if that meant that they actually trained there or not, so I looked it up. The Royals train at Surprise Stadium, which is 22 miles away. Here's the satellite view of Surprise Stadium. I like that it ended up on the corner of N. Slugger Way and W. Curveball Lane. What are the chances?


In the course of looking at all of these ads I have learned that many of the vendors take an active interest in what is said about them on the internet. Generally this has taught me that I can, on the one hand, state my opinion, but on the other hand, I should be fair. My taste is not the same as all tastes. There are some things that I personally have no interest in, either aesthetically or from a lifestyle perspective. But I do try to recognise that these folks are doing their best to put out a product that is, to their eyes, excellent.

It is because of this that I look at this ad and think "Dear heavens, Brunschwig & Fils, how many golden retrievers did you have to mug to get the bandannas that were used to upholster that poor innocent chair?"

And then I feel bad.

Buying the New Yorker 1986 - page 43

"Families of all ages."

I'm sure those are both his daughters, and Mom is off shopping somewhere.

Question of the day.

Screenwriter John August fields questions about screenwriting on his blog.

An interested party asks:

What is the best way to get my life story read by someone? I am the son of Dracula.

August responds:

Common sense would suggest you are in fact not Dracula’s son, but rather a nutjob who wants to see his name in print.

But helps the guy out anyway.

Starting to come together

As I mentioned earlier, I was given my official notice last week. My final day in my current position will be November 27, unless I give notice before then. The only sane reason for me to do that would be if I was hired into a new job, which at this point is quite conceivable but I don't want to jinx it.

This past Friday the ceilings on the third floor were finally redone, so the weekend was spent happily unpacking. The happy unpacking is far from finished as I need to upgrade my bookshelves to models that don't look like they will collapse at any moment.

Still, I've found some things that are fun, some things that are strange, and some things that are both. I'll soon be having a big session with the scanner.

In the meantime, the grapes that I planted last summer have borne fruit:



That photo represents roughly half of this year's crop.

Here's Bob and Stan examining the other half:

Buying the New Yorker 1986 - page 42

Contrary to the image in the ad, The Charles Hotel is not located in the middle of the Mass Ave Bridge. It's just up the road a bit here. (If you look over to find the bridge on the map, you'll see that it is technically called the Harvard Bridge. Notice that there are bridges closer to Harvard. Notice also that Massachusetts Avenue is the road that actually goes across it. The guys who invented Boston just loved messing with people's heads.) Twenty years on, the hotel is pretty much as advertised here. The logo is the same, the Le Pli spa and salon is still there.

I like that they are admitting that they have some slight room for improvement. My suggestion - actually move the hotel so that it really is on the Mass Ave Bridge! That would be so neat!

This ad for The Shores reminds me to put a little perspective to this leg of the journey. In an nutshell, the mid-eighties were a fine time to go build something that reeked of money. And then it was suddenly, to coin a phrase, not so much. The Shores is still there, and, after twenty years, there are still unbuilt lots for sale. Here's one. It's going for $2,395,000. If someone reading this clicks through and decides to go buy the place, I dibs a point from the commission.

Meanwhile, Hugh Newell Jacobsen is still designing houses, go to his website and have a look. Some of the examples pictured might even be located in The Shores. There is a slight problem, however. This is his bio from his website. This is the page on the website run by the American Embassy in Paris that details the history of their buildings. Now take another look at the first sentence of his quote.

Let's just say I'm not seeing those dots being connected. But I'm sure that sooner or later someone will be along to help.

Let's lighten up the mood

Things are getting a bit heavy-hearted around here, so here's some Bonzo Dog Band (I'm told that it's guaranteed to brighten up your day... if it's gray).

Buying the New Yorker 1986 - page 41

So the question arises:



Who the heck is Dr. Murf Klauber?

Turns out that he's the guy who built the place. And he still runs it today. And to answer the follow-up question: He's an orthodontist.

The Colony is best known as a tennis resort and as a footnote to history: George W. Bush stayed there on the night of September 10th, 2001.

Buying the New Yorker 1986 - page 38

This is before all those tax difficulties.

Buying the New Yorker 1986 - page 36-37

Here's a new layout - the ad straddles the bottom of two pages. And notice the compare and contrast thing in the two sides:


It occurs to me that there is a compromise: Build a golf course along a fjord! That would be quite cool.

Quick update rundown thing

It's Talk Like a Pirate Day:

Yes. Yes it is.

I am surprised how happy this makes me:

The Sugarcubes are getting back together

I'm even more happy:

The Bonzo Dog Band is touring!

And yet I'm Jealous:

Dave from Cool Blue Shed has tickets.

How's the migration going?

Done. And the labels are set too.

And the other blogs?

Citizen is now all migrated. I'm getting ready to have some fun with both. Stay tuned.

The Comic Strip thing is over now, right?

Not quite. There's still a disc full of extras.

And what's next when you're done?

I have some ideas. I'll decide which one I do first soon.

But I have to say that this is absolutely great:

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

How's that work going on in your house?

They're coming in to do the ceilings Thursday and Friday. Then comes the unpacking.

Hey, weren't you getting laid off?

Yep. Word has it I get my notice tomorrow.

The Comic Strip, Part 43 - Some will sell their dreams for small desires or lose the race to rats

"Sex Actually" - December 28, 2005

One of the strange byproducts of the 1970's was a stage play that had the title "No Sex Please, We're British." This is one of those delightful romps that please audiences and annoy critics. In America at least, it is one of those standards that community theatres pull out when they want to raise money, so much so that the title is very easily recognisable.

Long time readers will have some idea that I've been a resident of these internets for quite a while, and that my tastes will frequently lead me to fora that are focused on British culture.

Somewhat intermittently, a conversation will veer into an exchange that hits these points:

1. British participant mentions sex
2. American participant make play on phrase "No Sex Please, We're British."
3. British participant completely misses reference and is offended that Americans seem to think that Brits are incapable of sex.
4. American responds with strange post, because they can't figure out if the British participant thinks Americans believe that Brits reproduce asexually or if the British participant continuing the joke.
   

Perhaps in a future post I'll address the "What's the Queen been doing?"/"Why do you think I know the Queen?" misunderstanding.

Anyway.

The Comic Strip returns with the story of a young couple who moves to the suburbs and discovers strange goings on.


It becomes obvious quite quickly that the strange goings on involve sex. On the one hand, there's lots of it. On the other hand, well, it's really dull.


In earlier episodes, I've wondered about constituted shock value. In this episode, I know. There's nothing shocking here. Nothing cutting edge. Nothing to make any waves. The naughty sex stuff in this episode consists of people skipping about in their skivvies making "grr grr" noises.

What used to be an outlet for rebellion is now a jolly holiday event, like some old pop singer wheeled out to sing old favorites and perhaps one new song that sounds like his old stuff. Nice to see it still kicking, pity it's become so damned gutless.

Buying the New Yorker 1986 - page 35

Tomorrow's sky was pretty dang trippy.

Grumman has merged with Northrup the create the creatively named Northrup Grumman. Their website describes themselves as "an enterprise that covers the entire battlespace spectrum, from undersea to outer space and into cyberspace." In other words, they make cool things that we average folks will only see in those periodicals that are in the big rack at Borders between Photography and Martial Arts.

So why advertise? Same reason they have a website now - their homepage has a prominent display of their stock price in a constantly updating loop.

I like the mysteries that are easy to solve

Last night's episode of The Simpsons had a guest appearence from The White Stripes that was just odd enough that I figured it had to be a goof on one of their videos.

They were goofing on this one, directed by Michael Gondry:



Here's a clip of the Simpsons version:

Be the first on your block

To have these folks install a spiffy hidden (or not so hidden - the glass floor/trapdoor is quite cool) wine cellar into your floor.


Wow them at your next get-together when you have to shoo everyone out of the way, hoist the coffee table, roll the carpet up, and triumphantly step down into your recessed wine hideout for a couple more bottles. And then your pal, Drunken Larry, will curiously lean over for a good look and fall in on top of you.

Good times.

You can also use it to change into Batman. Should you be so inclined.

The Comic Strip, Interlude - Let's take it from the top.

First off, a recent addition to the Wikipedia page for The Comic Strip contends that the map that the original intro is dropping a bomb on is centered around the town of Shaftesbury in North Dorset. So here is the equivalent in Google Maps.

Now. The most recent broadcast episode of The Comic Strip Presents begins with the same cartoon opening has been in use since the Supergrass film:


But now we see the bomb continue and actually hit a building on the idealized Tolkien-like town green.


The cricket players, once static, are now moving around, continuing to play as a little red car appears and drives around the square.


And we cut to a real life shot of a particularly close recreation of the same image we've been watching bombs being dropped on since 1986.


It's like the resolution to a twenty-year old punchline!

Buying the New Yorker 1986 - page 16

Let's all fight the urge to be uncharitable.



O.K.

This is a typical mid-eighties woman's power suit.

The model is superimposed (this is before they invented Photoshop, kids) over a picture of the Capitol Building, which is what the ad infers the look is inspired by. So what elements of "the look" comes from the building? (I could say that her hairstyle was inspired by the dome, but I promised to fight the urge to be uncharitable.)

The best influence I can see is the crossbars on the front columns matching the pattern of the suit. Interesting things, those crossbars. I point you to this image of the Capitol Building on Wikipedia. They are gone.

Now the question that I am not sure I have the resources to answer: What is the deal with those crossbars? Were they a design element that was removed? Were they somehow added pre-Photoshop to the image, or was that really what the front of the Capitol looked like circa 1986? And if so, why?

Buying the New Yorker 1986 - page 15

Here is a true product of the Eighties. PEOPLExpress was founded in 1981 and by the time this ad ran was pretty well on its last legs. It started as an economy liner (apparently you could get on the plane at Newark and pay for the non-stop to Gatwick in your seat. The airline was an initial success, expanded too fast, and collapsed. The quickest summation comes from wikipedia, which notes:

Homer Simpson mentions People Express in episode 9F21 of The Simpsons while recalling events of the 1980's, "...People Express introduced a generation of hicks to plane travel".

You can find this ad on a page called "Airchive.com," which offers this comment:

PE offered first class on its European and Trans-con 747 flights. For an airline that charged extra for coffee and checked luggage, this offering of a premium cabin was an odd shift from the strategy that caused it such success in the beginning.

This time the thing that's keeping me from being snarky is that this is just so damn pathetic.

Anniversaries

A year ago today I was on vacation.

This was my third time in the UK after what Americans are inclined to refer to as 9/11, but my first time to be there on the day itself.

On my previous visits, when talking with people that I might meet in pubs or so forth, the subject of 9/11 came up gingerly, and I tried as best I could to change the subject equally gingerly. I had met one person who had been on the second plane very briefly once, and I knew a number of people who had lost family and friends.

A year ago today, the subject was New Orleans.

Katrina hit a few days before we left on vacation, and it was about the day we left that we were starting to understand the amount of devastation that had happened. Throughout our vacation, wherever we went, the questions came -- "Are you from there?" No. "Is this normal?" No - and this led into a discussion of how hurricanes are named. Finally, there was "What on Earth is going on there?"

We didn't know. All we saw was what was on the news, same as everyone else.

Of course, news like this makes you think. What if my house was destroyed? What if I lost all my possessions? I've accumulated a lot of dumb junk. When someone asks me if I have a goal in life, my answer is "to own a gigantic building and fill it to the rafters with goofy crap." (When my wife hears me say this, she says "We have that.") If this happened to me -- if it was all taken away -- fine. So be it. I would burn the lot of it to a crisp in the driveway to save a life. It's not worth it.

So a year ago today, I was shunting around Oxfordshire with some friends that we were visiting. and one of the places we stopped was a place called Snowshill. Snowshill is an enormous manor house owned by a fellow named Charles Paget Wade.

Wade amassed his collection from 1900 until 1951, when he gave it with the Manor to the National Trust. His desire was that people could learn to appreciate and love good craftsmanship from the objects he had collected.

There are 22,000 items, plus a 2000 piece costume collection. Wade believed that every object was invested with the spirit of the craftsman and the age in which it was created. He raised even everyday functional objects like butter stamps, cow bells and locks to the status traditionally given to paintings and sculpture.

So the visitor to Snowshill can view clocks, bicycles, automatons, children's toys and even 26 suits of Samurai armour. Wade loved colour and, after collecting many examples of early English craftsmanship, he began to look to the Middle and Far East for objects using a bright and imaginative colours.

This was inspiring. It was marvellous. And it made me think - if it makes me happy to accumulate goofy crap, then that's what I do. If it goes away, I already know I'm cool with it.

Five years ago today, I had a batch of sparkling wine that I was making, just ready for the bottling. I bottled it soon after, and it has seen holidays, weddings and birthdays (and the occasional average day that just needed a bit of a boost). It was excellent stuff, if I do say so myself. There's one last big bottle waiting for a reason to open it, what, I don't know yet. But when I do, it will be opened.

That's what we call hope. And life.

That's the thing about life. You can take all my stuff away. You can kick me in the head. You can blow me to bits. But life goes on, friends. No stopping it. Life goes on.

Cheers!

More store

I have an Amazon.uk "a-Store" set up now. The things on it will most likely seem a little odd, as it reflects both my eclectic interests and is comprised mostly of things that are not in release in America.

Boatspotting

Another one to file under "why on Earth do I find this fascinating?"

If you go to this Norwegian language news site and click on the link titled "Skipstraffik," a window will pop up that gives real time GPS tracking of all of the ships along a section of Norway's coast. I think watching the little icons chugging around the fjords is somehow quite soothing.

I think I might really need a vacation.

Buying the New Yorker 1986 - page 13

The French have a word for color: "Couleur."

(The Norwegians have a word for color: "Farg.")

Stendhal was the pen-name of Marie-Henri Beyle (January 23, 1783 – March 23, 1842). You can read what seems to be his most well known novel here (or go buy it (US UK)). Apparently, when Stendhal was travelling in Italy and visited Florence for the first time, his reaction was so severe that a medical syndrome was named after it. According to Wikipedia, Stenhal's Syndrome is:

a psychosomatic illness that causes rapid heartbeat, dizziness, confusion and even hallucinations when an individual is exposed to art, usually when the art is particularly 'beautiful' or a large amount of art is in a single place. The term can also be used to describe a similar reaction to a surfeit of choice in other circumstances, e.g. when shopping.

So if you are inclined to start hyperventilating when you walk into Bloomingdale's, this is the lipstick for you.

Buying the New Yorker 1986 - page 11

This ad looks like it came out of the 1940s. Sort of a comfy granny retro. The website looks more like an upscale swingles party in the middle of an X-Men flick.

I've been doing this long enough to notice two trends, which I will now share with you.

1) Alcoholic beverage producing companies love the hell out of flash animation.

2) When you go to a website for an alcoholic beverage producing company, it will ask for your age. As they rarely actually sell their alcoholic products (but frequently things like shirts and compilation CDs), this makes very little sense.

I have no idea what this stuff tastes like, but if you go to the "History" page in the flash extravaganza, you will see that it is a complicated brew of raspberries and honey soaked in cognac (amongst other things), filtered, fortified, steeped with more honey and herbs, extracted, distilled and aged. If that's any help to you.

I see from the recipe section that it can help you whomp up a tasty goat cheese salad. The style section shows you how to make a margarita that is a color that no margarita should ever be. You can also purchase little bottles that, once you've used the contents to make a martini or molten lava cake, will look quite spiffy on your Christmas tree (the proceeds go to fight ALS, so you can lift your head high when Curt Schilling drops by your annual Christmas Eve Puce Margarita Party).

Buying the New Yorker 1986 - page 7

Let's see what fun facts I can dig up for this.

• The Company Store is still going strong, only five years till their centennial!
• Of the 24 different varieties of mattress pads that they now offer, none of them is made from merino wool. (At least it is not specified in the ad copy)
  
• This is not a knock against merino sheep - you can purchase merino wool blankets.
• While the merino is the most common variety of sheep in the world, it is uncommon in the UK as the relative humidity causes the merino wool to rot.
• The marino is generally not considered good for eating, although attempts are being made to breed a more palatable version. Two examples are the South African Mutton Merino and the Merinofleischschaf.
• I am not certain what department in The University of Wisconsin one would go to for research into mattress pads. They do a fair amount of research into cattle bedding. It is unlikely that they tested the sleepability of their mattress pads using cattle, rather than human subjects, but I hope they did, just because the idea of it cracks me up.
• The term "Company Store" refers to the now illegal practice of either paying one's employees in goods rather than currency, or placing them in a situation where the only place that one's employees can purchase staples is in a store owned and operated by the employee itself. As the advertiser was founded in 1911, I suppose that we can presume that the name does not refer to the practice. I am also reasonably certain that everyone who works there is sick to death of people calling up and singing "Sixteen Tons" at them.
  

The Comic Strip, Part 42 - Once in every lifetime comes a love like this.

"Four Men in a Plane" - January 4, 2000

The lead-in for The Comic Strip Presents in America was always The Young Ones. I suppose that it is inevitable refer to one when talking about the other, but for Americans of a certain vintage, they are like bookends. (The Young Ones is still on BBCAmerica, while apart from the brief video release of the two Bad News episodes, The Comic Strip has disappeared.)

Watching the two back to back could be a surreal experience - depending on how many people were hanging out, and how much attention was being paid, there could be quite intense arguments as to which actor was which ("that can't possibly be the guy who plays Vyvyan"). The biggest arguments came when someone was positive that one of the actors in a Comic Strip episode was played by Christopher Ryan. None ever was, but most of the time the character that was causing the confusion was played by Peter Richardson. I find from the Wikipedia article on The Young Ones that Richardson was originally cast as Mike.

This sort of makes sense. Christopher Ryan frequently seemed like he was completely lost in the part. I wonder what Richardson could have done with the part, and what effect it would have had on the show. I think it would have been more of a unit, rather than a group of three and detached "Mike, the cool one."

Something like, well, this:


These are nominally the same characters as the ones from "Four Men in a Car," but look at them. All the way through this we've seen that the four of them can play just about any type. Just look at how close they are to what you might imagine Vyvyan, Rick, Neil and Mike might be like twenty-ish years out from college.

Of course, this episode looks nothing like The Young Ones. It is stark, brutal, widescreen film. No dancing vegetables or interjections from the ska band du jour, just the four of them squabbling and backstabbing as always. But now the mayhem has consequences, and the slapstick leaves wounds. Something everyone learns as they grow older.

The Comic Strip, Part 41 - Take the world in a love embrace

"Four Men in a Car" - April 12, 1998

After a decade slumming around the BBC, The Comic Strip returns to Channel Four with the core cast (Adrian Edmondson, Rik Mayall, Peter Richardson, Nigel Planer, Dawn French, and Jennifer Saunders) and an episode directed by Richardson and written by Richardson and Pete Richens. Seven of the first thirteen broadcast episodes of The Comic Strip had all six in the cast and eight had Richardson and Richens on hand for writing or directing duties.

It's like going to a high school reunion!



Of course, for many people, high school was like Lord of the Flies.

This episode is nothing but a showcase for these actors to play the sort of character that they have all been playing at this point for close to three decades. A car carrying four go-go salesmen breaks down on the way to a training conference, and all hell breaks loose. And then two women show up to provide redemption.

If this were indeed the last ever episode. If they had all come together at the wrap party and said that this would be the end, the last one that they would do, then this would be absolutely perfect.

But the DVD menu says otherwise, and so it ends slightly less so.

Things I get up to

A few more changes:

1. I've added a section called "Things I get up to." This will include all the different sites that I will have a presence on. The Wordpress version of this blog will go away once I am done migrating all my old posts here.
2. I've got site feeds from my two sister sites in the sidebar. Citizen of the Universe is my Doctor Who blog - I'm halfway done migrating the old pre-beta posts from that. Ants in Your Plants of 1941 is where I'm going to be starting another project that I decided would be best served in a separate blog as well.
3. Also in "Things I get up to" is my Amazon Store. Right now (it's a beta too! I am just a big beta-testing junkie!) I can only put up nine items at a time, so I threw up the first nine things I could think of, and will rotate things in as I mention them (or think of them). I can also set one up in Amazon.co.uk, but I am in no hurry.
   
4. Labels. I understand they are working on getting them more stable. We'll see what happens.