The Man Who Invented 800 Toys

 

Adam Ragusea - How I Became the Mariah Carey Christmas Chord Guy

 Or: The Problem with Clickbait and the Tyranny of Twitter...

Strangely, I have a feint recollection that I saw that article and who would've known that years later I would be watching the same guy for cooking videos.

Irish People Try Christmas Cocktails

 

 I'm not big into any particular alcohol but these look great.

Viewing Tape Data

 

Japanese Snack Reviews #1

 Alternating between Korean and Japanese reviews. Let's go...

1.

Translated Name: Unknown

Additional Text: The back says "Kuppy Ramune," does that mean "Cup Ramen?"

Review:

You can probably tell from the "window" in the picture that these are sugar discs very similar to Smarties. They come in orange, strawberry and lemon. They're basically like Smarties, generally, but there is a surprise. They dissolve in your mouth almost instantly, it's very strange. The flavor is like Smarties but they're lighter, more powdery and effervescent. For what they are, they're good.

2.

Translated Name: Cola Gummies

Review:

As the name suggests, it's a classic cola-flavored gummy candy. If you want something available in the west that's similar, get Haribo Gummi Candy Happy-Cola. And I like both a lot, although I kind of overdosed a little on the Haribo Gummis so I don't really eat them anymore. This Japanese version is coated with a thick layer of sugar, as you can see. Good stuff.

3.

Translated Name: Tasty - Cheese

Review:

Here's a unique one. First off, the next 3 are all different variants of the "Tasty" brand. "Tastys" are like giant cheese puffs, the size and shape of a cigar. They look like this:

Doesn't look too appetizing but they are good. It looks like a giant cheese puff and it tastes like a cheese puff (though with slightly less cheesy flavor). There is also a hole through the middle so that it's hollow for some reason. An interesting experience and pretty good.

4.

Translated Name: Tasty - Grilled Chicken Flavor

Review:

I think this is the most interesting one of the group. This is continuing the Tasty series, it's like a long cheese puff, as above, but it's chicken flavor. Except, it isn't chicken as we would guess "chicken flavor" to be. A more helpful name might be "BBQ Chicken" - it's a sweet, barbecue sauce flavor that's really interesting and really does resemble grilled chicken in some way. Pretty weird, quite good, I think, very unusual.

5.

Translated Name: Tasty - Shrimp Flavor

Review:

So, again, same form and general taste as the other "Tastys"... But "shrimp" flavor. Well, this is the Japanese snack I was afraid of - and with good reason. Now, I like shrimp okay. I love shrimp cocktail but I think that's mostly loving the cocktail sauce more that the shrimp. But the weird thing about this is that it doesn't taste anything like shrimp, as far as I can tell. To me, it tastes like a strong mustard taste... and I like mustard too but - maybe I'm overreacting here - but I didn't like it and I felt a little sick after eating it. Not recommended unless for a dare.

So there we are. Ending on a sour note but there were some generally good snacks here. The next review will be back to Korea.

New York 1911 Footage Updated

A while back I found a youtube video/channel where they corrected the framerate of old footage to be correct. I thought I posted it here on this blog but I don't see it now.

Now there's a new version where they also colorize and upscale to 4K using neural networks. Here is New York 1911 but if you like it, there are many more available including Paris 1890 and Japan 1913-1915.

The funny thing about old film, that I only realize now in retrospect, is the speedup and the hinkey-jinkey movement of all the people makes them seem somehow unreal. And this effect subliminally has pervaded all old timey footage of all historical figures I've ever seen.

 Now that the motion is correct, suddenly these are real people doing real things, living real lives. This is the closest thing we have to time travel and it's amazing how close it is. We are seeing the light that bounced off of real objects exactly as it did if we were standing there in 1911. And on top of everything, all the people we're looking at are dead.

O Solo Mio

 

Korean Snack Reviews #1

As promised, this is Part #1 of my reviews of Japanese and Korean snacks. I don't know what to say here, so let's begin...

1.

Translated Name: The Best!

Review:

Given the fact that these are orange on the wrapper and that they're Korean, this one made me a little nervous. I kind of assumed they would be flavored like crab or shrimp or some other seafood. To my surprise and delight, they're actually light brown, not orange and they taste like cinnamon cereal. They're like Cinnamon Toast Crunch if you toned them waaay down and made them slightly bland. If I recall correctly, they taste almost exactly like Apple Cinnamon Cheerios (do they still make those? Yes!). In fact they taste so much like Apple Cinnamon Cheerios that I was going to theorize that they were made of oat. But that's when I realized that the ingredients are actually printed in English and they say Wheat. A lesson in hubris for me.

Still, pretty good, off to a good start. I wouldn't travel thousands of miles to eat them but not bad for sure.

2.

 

 

Translated Name: Nuneddine (nonsense word, or possibly Italian).

Review:

 

The first thing to note is that the wrapper says "Italian Snack". So it's an Italian snack but this review is for Korean snacks so I'm trapped. Checkmate from the Koreans on this one.

 

This is a very light, very airy, crispy croissant-like thing. It's like a Danish without the fruit. On top of the crunchy cookie is a very thin layer of sugary frosting-like material. It tastes like a croissant, but it almost tastes like nothing, it's so airy. Not bad but not good, just neutral.

3.

 

 

Translated Name: Cookie

Additional Text: Biscuit, Peanut Sand

Review:

 

This is two cookies sandwiching a layer of cream - looks like a vanilla Oreo, basically. I was very intrigued by the promise of "peanut sand". Have you ever had peanut sand? I think if you ground up peanuts really, really fine until the grains were like grains of sand, it might be a product people would buy. Americans are obsessed with peanut butter so this is an untapped market.

In this case, "peanut sand" actually means "peanut sandwich". These are pretty great, they taste like Nutter Butters if you took the flavor way down until it was subtle. People in other countries like to complain that American foods are always loaded with sugar. So far, I'm starting to see what they mean. Eating these Korean foods the word "subtle" keeps cropping up over and over. The standards of the countries are definitely different.

Definitely like these but a recommendation is pointless so long as Nutter Butters are available.

4.

Translated Name: Orion

Additional Text: Fresh Berry

Review:

 

It's two light, fluffy cakes sandwiching a layer of cream. As noted on the label, the cream tastes like a mixture of berries but it's very light and subtle (again). I'll tell you what they taste like, they taste like the Mixed Berry Nutri-Grain Breakfast Bars. Pretty good, not bad, nothing special. As always, the flavor that's there is good but it's not much flavor.

5.

 

Translated Name: Something... Choco Chip.

Review:

 

These appear to be soft chocolate cookies with chocolate chips in them. They look like this:

 

We now come to one of the great obstacles in my reviews. For dietary reasons, I am not able to eat chocolate so any snack that contains chocolate can't be reviewed by me. It looks like this is especially a problem for the Japanese snacks as a great percentage of those appear to be chocolate. In the case when obviously chocolate snacks are encountered, I'll put them aside until I can get someone else to try them but in this particular case, I didn't know what it was until after I opened it.

All I can say is they look and smell phenomenal. As someone who hasn't had chocolate in too long, I'm probably biased. But, I am blindly giving them my highest review because I can only assume they're amazing.

... And that's all for Korean Reviews #1. Thanks to my friend Nate for translating.

Zodiac 340 Cipher Broken

 

Article.

Late Night - Chuck Yeager

 

 First man to break the sound barrier, Chuck Yeager, interviewed on Letterman. Chuck recently passed away at the age of 97.

The McRib is Back

Ever since I saw the video "Deconstructing the McRib" on youtube, I've been on a quest to try one. That was 2013 or more probably 2014. I had never had one previously and for years failed to find one afterwards.

Throughout the years, I've at times monitored the McRib map and even found and ordered a McRib on GrubHub once - but they said they were out. I've also tried a few competing knockoff rib sandwiches.

But all that has changed today, there was an ad on DoorDash and the order succeeded. It's like Charlie Bucket finding the Golden Ticket up in here.

So the verdict: it tastes exactly as I expected. Like, I said, I've tried a few knockoffs and it turns out those were very close and so it was pretty much what I expected. It's good and I might get one again but for McDonald's, I prefer the cheeseburger.

Japanese and Korean Snacks: Prologue

 

My family recently gave me two boxes of foreign snacks as a gift. The box on the left is snacks from Japan and the box on the right are Korean. It's going to take a long time to get through it and I can think of nothing better to do than to review them on a blog.

I have someone lined up willing to help me translate and I'm going to try to review the food beyond my usual "it was good". It's probably all going to be too onerous, become a waste of time and ultimately fail so stay tuned!

Eat Prilosec

 

The Lost Version of Planes, Trains and Automobiles

 There really aren't many Thanksgiving movies. As a major holiday, it's really underrepresented in movies.

When I think of Thanksgiving in movies, the main one that comes to mind is "Avalon". This one doesn't really translate though because, even though Thanksgiving plays a major part in the movie, it's more of a July 4th movie.

The main one most people think of is "Planes, Trains and Automobiles". It's considered a classic. But it's interesting to learn that another, completely different movie could be made from the footage that John Hughes intended to be included.

Late Show - Kenny Sheehan

It wasn't long ago, I shared a Late Show piece where they got Kenny Sheehan on various other TV shows.

It seems Kenny recently passed away and Don Giller has posted a compilation of every Kenny Sheehan appearance. For the purposes of this blog post, I ask you to skip to 4:59 to watch "The Ballad of Kenny Sheehan".

So Kenny gave the brick to Pat Farmer

Kenny transported the brick to Pat Farmer

He raised the brick from the ground and handed it to Pat Farmer

Kenny passed the brick to Pat Farmer

Kenny transferred the brick to Pat Farmer

Kenny Sheehan conveyed the brick to Pat Farmer

Nobody ever forgot the day that Kenny gave the brick to Pat Farmer

Kenny passed the brick to Pat Farmer

Adam Ragusea - What is Wagyu Beef?

  

I've had Wagyu A5 beef and I've given it away as a gift to others. I mention this because this affects my ability to get honest feedback - people want to be polite about gifts no matter what. So my data is not objective but my sense is that perhaps they didn't enjoy it as much as the hype train should suggest. As the video points out, we Americans ate it as a steak and it's so fatty that this is perhaps too much of a good thing. One person echoed what the video says in the way he started to feel too full and a little sick. 

As for me, I really liked it. I describe it as beef bacon. I was really hungry at the time and ate a full steak with no problem. But it was such an unusual experience, I don't know how to compare it to other steaks. I mean, it was definitely the best steak I've ever had but, again due to the fattiness, I wonder if other steaks would win in the long run.

A future test of this possibility will be to try Wagyu A4 next. A5 is the most expensive, most marbled and A4 is one step below that.

The D.B. Cooper Case Solved?

 I don't know anything about the website or the evidence but I found this article claiming to have solved the D.B. Cooper Case to be a fascinating read.

Conan's Talk Show is Ending

 Variety is reporting that "Conan" will end in June of 2021. He will also start a weekly "variety series" on HBO Max.

It's such a gradual decline that it's hard to react too strongly at any stage. I thought the "Tonight Show" era was good but not quite as good as "Late Night". I thought the "Conan" show was not quite as good as the "Tonight Show". Then the "Conan" show became a short show with a podcast and I stopped really paying attention. 

Now he'll be on a premium service which I'm not willing to pay for, especially given the lack of detail about what kind of show it will be.

Well, I wish him good luck.

President Trump Explains Pokemon

 

I have to say, I know almost nothing about Pokemon but Professor Oak should be going away for a long time.

Raccoons

 Was watching Youtube at a friend's house and a suggested video came up that didn't seem to make sense. 

Why is this? How is this? How much money is this guy spending on hot dogs? We sat there in rapt amazement, transported back to a time when "the internet" could still surprise us.

And this guy has made a channel of it - there's a constant stream of new videos with dates, as a sort of vlog.

Game Grumps - Watching Sonic Animations

 

Hallmark DIY Crafts

Nichole was utterly betrayed and I feel nothing.

Homestar Runner - Halloween 2020

Homestar Runner is still releasing Halloween Specials every year. It's still charming and fun.

Late Show - Kenny Sheehan on TV Shows

 

Happy St. Crispin's Day

 

Late Night - Mr. T Interview

 A while back I posted:

As noted previously, the best Conan bit of all-time is "Dudez A-Plenti" but only slightly less well known is the greatest Conan interview of all-time. That would belong to the Mr. T interview he did which, I believe, was the impetus for this segment. They realized there was gold and mined it.

I recorded the Mr. T interview and it was by far the most watched video I'd uploaded to youtube at the time that it was removed for copyright. Here's hoping Team Coco remembers and shares the official version because that thing is just the best.

Well something strange has happened. Although the official Conan channel has not uploaded the interview, it seems my version has be UN-deleted - through no effort of mine and without any notice from anyone...

If you've never seen it, here it is:

 Meanwhile, the video that replaced Mr. T as my most watched video (John Cleese on Letterman) has gone over 1 Million views. If that meant anything, it would really be something.

Actors with Famous Parents

 Not covered: Lou Walken, Bob Genghis Kahn or Thomas the Cable Guy.

The David Lynch Weather Report - 10/17/20

 

Animaniacs Is Returning

 

Animaniacs is being re-booted by Hulu. I was such a huge Animaniacs fan back in the day, not sure I really care much about a comeback. I also don't have Hulu, so there's that. I wish them well though and if it's really good, I'll check it out.

 New episodes start November 20.

What is the Value of a Dollar?

 One of the things you're supposed to be taught when you're a kid is "the value of a dollar". I've never I've technically learned that in that the value of a dollar seems to always be changing. But I've learned the lesson, in essence, since I'm pretty cheap.

So my cheap self is shopping Amazon for "Northanger Abbey" by Jane Austen. The second result that comes up costs $1 and looks like this...

But the FIRST result that comes up is FREE and looks like this...

 So now I guess my cheapness has run up against my sense of reason and vanity. Is it worth one dollar to not have a book with a cheap Dime Store Romance Novel cover in my library - for my sense of self, no never have to explain what this book is, to let reason prevail? Or is the cover a book unimportant and free is free?

A third option is to just grab the free version from Project Gutenberg they went with this cover:

I mean... it's better. But what were they thinking? That's a Math book from 1986. Jane Austen wrote Romances in the Victorian era, her works are considered classics, it just makes no sense.

FATMAN Official Trailer

Uhhh...

 

 Well...

What If Eric Johnson Played the Stairway Solo?

Rick Beato asks, "What would happen if other guitarists played the 'Stairway to Heaven' solo?"

What a coincidence - I just posted Eric Johnson on Friday and then this is literally uploaded today. Funny.

Eric Johnson - Cliffs of Dover

 Just a little music for Friday.

This is so rare, it might even be the only instance of it that I know of. A rock star in 1988 is arrayed in "rock star" style and somehow he still looks completely cool when viewing in 2020. That never happens; I'm so impressed. I mean, the music is the most impressive thing, I guess, but man...

A small side note about me and my musical taste. I generally find instrumentals boring and I generally find "Guitar God" songs boring as well. For whatever reason, a million notes per second does nothing for me, somehow I have the paradoxical reaction of being bored by it. But this is one of the few exceptions where I really enjoy the song and am completely into it. I find general rules in music are useful but they're never hard and fast rules. Wherever I find a rule, I find at least one exception.

$4 Pancake Vs. $88 Pancake

 I want, I want and I need, I need.

Treasure Island is a Terrible Kid's Movie

I remember one day in elementary school, they gathered perhaps the entire school together into the gymnasium and showed us "Treasure Island" (1950) using the old projector and screen. I have no idea why, I would love to know. Do school faculties just decide one day that they don't feel like teaching so let's just watch a movie? My best guess is it might have been weather. I'm not sure but I think it was raining all day so they cancelled all recess or something. Is that possible? Don't know.

Regardless of the cause, it's always been quite a distinct memory for me and what I remember is this: it seemed to last forever. It was just a single movie and, I suppose, was just a single day but the movie was able to alter the nature of time and space and fit an eternity into just one afternoon. It went on and on and on, it was relentless; not only would it not end, it seemed to have no beginning or middle such that I could estimate how far along we were. 30 years later, I decided to watch it again to give it a re-evaluation. My first observation: in objective terms, the running time is 1 hour, 36 minutes. 

Having re-watched it, I absolutely understand the problem I had as a kid. It's a terrible kid's movie. And I don't think it's bad for kids because it has alcohol or murder or guns, or even that it shows a child shooting a man in the face. I think all that's great. It's a terrible kid's movie because it's unintelligible.

Perhaps audiences in the fifties were different but the makers of the movie seem to have made no attempt to update the dialogue for modern audiences. I made a note of a few lines. Imagine a child following this:

"You'll get plenty of cut and rip when the times comes, but until I gives the signal, lay to."

Now, I'm an adult an I can use the context to piece together what's meant here but kid-me had no chance. How about this line:

"I imagine I'll have to strike my colors. That comes hard from a master mariner to a ship's yonker like you, Jim."

It's a movie about sailors and pirates so some mariner lingo is going to be inevitable but come on. It's the rule of threes, so how about this:

"Picked up Hawke's old helmsman, we did, and a bosun what pipes man-o'-war fashion."

My word. Compounding the dialogue is that the lines are delivered with some thick English accents and recorded on equipment from the fifties and when I saw it, it was probably played on a loudspeaker in an auditorium. At one point a character is giving instruction to the main character with his dying breaths. He seems to say "And don't beach and I'll go bears". Listening to it again, it might be "And don't go peach and I'll go pears." It's about fruit? Turning on the closed captions, the real text is "And don't peach and I'll go shares." Oh, I see, I never had a chance to begin with. Neat.

Not to belabor the point, but it is the crux of my point that I have a good sound system, I have the closed captions on, I'm an adult - I've read and enjoyed "Pride and Prejudice" - and I can't understand "Treasure Island." And this is for kids?

All that aside, even if I don't understand it, it's technically an old classic and so I wondered what the stars of it went on to do later.

The main character is a child star, Bobby Driscoll, and he looked kind of familiar to me. I bet he went on to be an adult in some movies I've seen. Well, he was a child star in Disney movies but when he developed a bad acne problem, his contract was terminated and he couldn't find work. He later developed a drug problem and hung out with Andy Warhol. "On March 30, 1968, two playing children found his dead body in an abandoned East Village tenement. Believed to be an unclaimed and homeless person, he was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave on Hart Island, where he remains."

Hmm. Well, how about Long John Silver? Robert Newton created a character so iconic that he altered the perception of pirates forever. Every actor and every person you hear doing a "pirate voice" is really just doing an imitation of Robert Newton. He's a legendary actor, what roles did he go on to? Newton was an alcoholic and had trouble finding work when he became increasingly unreliable. "He died at age 50 of alcohol-related causes although the official report was a heart attack."

Alright, I'm done.

Preston and Steve - Ugly Lady

 

Experiments into the Nature of Reality

In Descartes' "Meditations on First Philosophy", he attempts to construct a system of Reality by identifying those things that one can know for sure, and then having established the "foundation", hopefully working outwards. One of his arguments (with himself) is how do you know that reality isn't just a dream. How do you know you're not dreaming right now?

Can we devise a simple test of determining dream from reality?

The Test of Feeling

 My intuition tells me that one can tell dream from reality by some sort of feeling. It can't be defined exactly, but reality feels real and dreams are, well, dreamlike. Therein lies the root of this post, because I have run that test and run it repeatedly and never been correct.

I have, very occasionally, in the past, had a euphoric dream where something happens to me that is so good that it is almost literally unbelievable. And almost as often as this happens, my pessimism, even in the dream, will kick in and I will think to myself, "This is a little too good to be true, am I dreaming right now?" And so I do whatever one does to make this determination: I think, I consider, I look at the world around me, I try to determine whether I am currently awake. Looking deep down, examining my thoughts/mind to the deepest levels I can, I absolutely HAVE to conclude that I'm really awake. Every single time, it's been the same and I've always been wrong. As much as we might assume dreams feel differently, they don't in any way that I know of.

The Test of Waking

One test might be: you transition into reality by waking up but in dreams there is no waking up, therefore you can tell them apart. The problem with this is that I've had dreams where I've woken up within the dream. In fact, there was one time where I woke up from a dream, was still dreaming, and then woke up from that dream and was still dreaming. I was two levels deep and "woke up" three times before I was really awake.

 The Test of Continuity

Another test might be that when you are in reality, you may remember your dream, but in your dream you won't remember reality. This is pretty similar to the Test of Waking - it amounts to having the transition in one but not the other. You might combine them both and say that since you are aware of your dream in reality and not aware of your awakened life in your dream, the awakened life is more real as much as the highest reality encompasses the lesser realities.

The problem with this test is people, like myself, who usually don't remember their dreams. If the test of reality is being aware of dreams, then you must conclude reality isn't real when you don't. This test is also defeated on the other side by the "dream within a dream" problem.

As a speculation, I've never tried to remember yesterday from within a dream, but I imagine this test would also fail in that if you tried to remember yesterday in a dream, your mind would come up with a false yesterday.

The Test of "Screens"

This is more an idea than any concrete test. Lots of people find that in their dreams, there are never "screens" - smartphones, laptops, computers, television. Or, when there are, they don't work properly. It's apparently very rare to properly look at a screen and see a correct visual image in a dream. I find this generally holds true for me, I've had dreams of screens but they usually are not working as I would like and I get frustrated. 

I have had at least one experience where I've used a smartphone in a dream and everything worked fine, so this is not a perfect test. I suppose it at least is the best idea so far, as long as you judge by percentages.

The Test of Perfect Predictions

This final idea is the most tenuous of all and, for all I know, only applies to me. I find in dreams a strange phenomenon that whenever I come up with an idea or predict something, I am right 100% of the time (as far as I can remember).

Say for instance, I hear a low rumble coming from behind a hill. If I think "I wonder if that's a snowmobile", it will turn out to be a snowmobile. Or if I meet someone and theorize that they're a banker, if I find out what they do, they will turn out to be a banker. It seems to me that the mechanism of guessing and the mechanism of dreaming may be locked together in some fundamental way that doesn't allow differentiation.

So perhaps making a prediction and finding it to be wrong is proof that you're awake. Even if this were correct, it would be better to have a test for whether you're dreaming - I guess if you make a correct guess, you have to keep guessing. It's another probabilistic test.

 The Test of Whatever They Do in Inception

 No idea.

Conclusion

The weird thing about all of this conjecture is that there was one time I correctly realized within a dream that it was a dream. But it was only once and I don't know how it was done. I once had a dream when I was a kid that on the bureau next to my bed was a Bat Phone. I was a big fan of the 1960s Adam West Batman and I loved that red phone that lit up when someone was calling. In the dream, I had one and then I thought (again, the pessimism) "Wait a minute, do I really have a Bat phone? No, I don't. This must all be a dream." That was the only time in my life I can remember realizing a dream was a dream. I don't know how it happened and I think I woke up shortly after.

Game Grumps - Today is Football

 

Late Night - Rick Ocasek Scandal

 I don't know if this is a classic Conan bit, I don't know if it's even above average, but I still think of it often and I was glad to finally see it online.

I wonder if this inspired the "Celebrity Secrets" segment that I believe started later on.

Worf Saves the Day

 

Conan - Renovating Jordan Schlansky's Office

It's sad that Conan has devolved to the point that even a Jordan Schlansky segment feels false and forced. But there are still some highlights that make it worthwhile.

 

It's so contradictory how Jordan wants people to think that he's erudite, composed, an intellectual, that he has it all together and yet he keeps his office messy and piled high with garbage like a hoarder. What an enigma.

Star Trek: The Captain's Summit

 For the Trekkies. Riker, Picard, Spock and Kirk sit down to discuss Star Trek.

Steamed Hams But It's Take On Me

 

Half in the Bag - Bill and Ted Face the Music

 Still trying to decide if I want to buy this movie for streaming. $25 is pretty non-triumphant.

 

Sullivan Ballou's Letter

 Read a letter by Civil War soldier, Sullivan Ballou to his wife as he departed for battle. Ballou would die a week later at the Battle of Bull Run.

Re:View - Bill and Ted

 Mike and Jay break down the two "Bill and Ted" movies. So many explained references.

What Is Iodized Salt?

 

Blur - Out of Time

I was absolutely obsessed with this song for a while. I think it was 2009 or 2010 or 2011. I would just play it over and over and would never get tired of hearing it. But I don't think I ever posted it here. It seems appropriate again. 

The semi-weird thing is: I don't much like any other Blur song. For some reason this one just really hits me in a completely singular way.

Half in the Bag - Money Plane?

 I mean... Money Plane?

The Fake Phone Ring in Movies

 And honestly, is there a more important issue right now?

Film and the Moon Landing

We might very well have a theme here, but probably not. Just these two I think.

Approaching the idea of a moon landing hoax from a very unique angle. A knowledgeable filmmaker talks about the practicality of filming a faked moon landing.

This isn't meant to be interpreted as conclusive. I do find it persuasive, however.

Computer Graphics and the Moon Landing

 I found this interesting.

As I understand it, graphics card manufacturer NVidia wanted to show off their new graphics rendering so they simulated, to the finest detail, the conditions of the moon landing in order to determine whether the official photos are suspicious.

Mythbusters did a smaller/cheaper version of this experiment and you can find that here.

Do Hershey's Bars Taste Like Vomit?

Blogspot has overhauled the entire system and I have a feeling the formatting of this post will be vomit. Let's see....

I haven't had any chocolate in 1 or 2 years and I have urges...

Before that I had a strange relationship with this whole issue. I grew up loving Hershey's. Then I encountered people who said it tasted awful and I re-assessed my view. From that moment on, I started liking Hershey's less. Am I a victim of peer pressure or did I fail to question my own axioms until one day "the scales fell from my eyes"? Or is something else at work? Hard to say now.

And if my opinion of Hershey's has fallen, what kind of chocolate(s) do I consider to be superior? I would love to be able to do a chocolate taste test and get down to some facts.

JonTron - Steven Seagal

Why Sprinklers Be Like That

They do be like that sometimes.

Late Show - Regis Philbin on the Marquee

I've watched Regis Philbin countless times on TV and always enjoyed him. That said, I was trying to think of a write up to memorialize him here and haven't come up with anything. He was just a funny, likable TV presence.

This clip is cute because Regis was always trying to get to hang out with Letterman and be friends. It's nice to know it worked at least once.



"Remember Jack Paar took a hike?"

William Shatner Responds

Captain Kirk has responded to RLM's latest video here.

I have to say, I predicted it, pretty much. I said:

Captain Kirk seems to have a habit of seeing the first few seconds of a video, taking it literally, stopping it before it gets good and coming away with the worst take possible. In this video, they start out with moronic Star Trak mistakes before they get to anything substantive.

And he absolutely did that very thing.

The relevant part of the response:

I honestly haven’t watched it but someone sent me ‘the most important part of the video’ as a clip to watch because “Mike is crying because he is so upset.” (Note: I honestly don’t know if this is even in their video or if it’s from some other video of theirs but it is the two of them)

Also:

So what they are doing is using the fanbase they have cultivated into a mob of trolls to get eyeballs on their monetized videos without a care for anyone and nobody has heard of these guys but if all of their videos are getting hundred of thousands of views then they are laughing all the way to the bank!

The one thing I couldn't predict was that there would be a giant medium post "article". And another baffling thing is where Shatner gets the idea that Red Letter Media is connected to Breitbart. Bill creates so many misunderstandings, he should be on "Three's Company".

He wants to complain about online "toxicity" and "harassment"... what is it when you make unfounded accusations in writing? Every principle must apply equally to everyone. He thinks Red Letter Media incited their fans to go after him, what does he think his own fans are going to do in response to this "article"? Is this the dumbest online controversy of all-time? Isn't Social Media awesome?

RLM - A Twitter Beef with William Shatner

Red Letter Media are feuding with William Shatner on Twitter and they explain it in this video.

Actually, I shouldn't say "feuding" - it's more accurate to say that Big Star William Shatner is bullying Everyman Mike Stoklasa.


[Oh nice, it's that thing where blogspot doesn't allow embedding again.]

The two leading theories on this are that Shatner is either an "out of it" old man and doesn't understand what he's saying or that he's a troll who's doing it on purpose. Having watched this video, I think both are completely valid and can't decide. I think I lean slightly toward him not knowing what's going on.

Here's the meta of this video that I enjoy... Captain Kirk seems to have a habit of seeing the first few seconds of a video, taking it literally, stopping it before it gets good and coming away with the worst take possible. In this video, they start out with moronic Star Trak mistakes before they get to anything substantive. Seems like we're on a collision course with wackiness!

A Brief History of Ice

The Fake Chef

A guy fools local news shows into thinking he's a real chef with a real book and gets on the air.

Neil Armstrong Interview

Famously, after walking on the Moon, Neil Armstrong basically became a hermit and retired from all public life. I mean, he still led a normal life - he was a college professor, for example and I wish I had taken that class - but I don't think ever in my life have I ever seen him on TV or in an interview.

So when I saw this modern interview... on youtube, no less... after he's already died, it seemed unreal to me. I watched this interview half convinced that it was a hoax. I haven't seen any photos of Neil Armstrong post-1969 so how can you tell?

Anyways, there's no new information in this interview, I post it simply because its very existence is amazing.

The Far Side

Today "Far Side" cartoonist Gary Larson released 3 new comics for the first time in 25 years. You can see them here.

Ray Manzarek - Riders on the Storm

Ray Manzarek was the keyboardist for The Doors. Here he talks about the making of "Riders on the Storm".



He refers to being in the studio with a bassist but on tour, The Doors had no bassist - Ray would play the bass part with his left hand. On nights when Jim Morrison was incapacitated or arrested or otherwise unable to perform, Ray Manzarek would take over the vocals. So there you have one guy playing the bass part with one hand, playing the melody with the other and singing.

I find there's a certain set of songs - a certain collection of keyboard parts in popular music that I just find hypnotizing and feel like I could listen to them forever. It might be a blog post. This is one of those keyboard parts. The falling "rain" scale thing is as evocative to me as anything in music. I've been trying to figure out why but have not. If you think about it, it has nothing to do with rain at all. But it just so plainly evokes rain for some reason.

Part of the keyboard melody sounds like the original sample used in Beck's "Where It's At" but in actuality there is no connection (as far as I know).

In honor of a full day of constant rain.

What is Baking Soda? Baking Powder?

Happy Independence Day

It just so happens that leading up to July 4th, the book I've been reading is "1776" by David McCullough. I actually started reading it without knowing what it's about. I was so amazed by "John Adams" that I bought "1776" sight unseen. That caused a slight problem later on.

It turns out that, whereas "John Adams" gives insight into the Revolutionary War from the perspective of the Continental Congress and diplomacy with Great Britain, "1776" is specifically about the war itself. George Washington, General Howe, the Battle of Long Island, strategy, the soldiers, cannons, it's all here. As fascinating as the subject of John Adams is, the war is even more fascinating and I was delighted and enthralled.

There was just one problem with going in blind that dawned on me slowly as I got further and further and realized how much attention was put into each detail... I kept looking at how far I was into the book and thinking "there's a long way to go here and not many pages to do it". It turns out the book is about the war ONLY DURING the year 1776, not a history of the entire war. I came into it only knowing the title but I should have paid more attention to it. 1776... I get it.

As much as I would have loved an entire history of the war, it still remains that the book is fantastic. If you only read one thing for Independence Day, I recommend "1776". And if you don't read that, read "John Adams". And if you don't read "John Adams" watch the series "John Adams" and if you don't watch the whole series, just watch the second episode. And if you don't watch the second episode, I don't know, I think I'm out.

"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." - Samuel Adams

Rad Deleted Scenes - Epilogue

I thought I'd make just one more post about this since I'm sure everyone other than me is tired of it.

About 20 years ago me and a friend bonded over our mutual love of "Rad".

"I know 'Rad', he gets the Murray from the store!", I confidently told him.
"What? That's not in the movie."

And he was right, it wasn't in the movie. But I felt sure that there was something going on - surely I hadn't just made up a movie scene in my mind. There must be multiple versions. The version I rented from the video store must have had scenes that other VHSs didn't. Years later I started buying up tapes, trying to find another one like the one I had seen.

It didn't take too long before I was investing more money in Rad VHSs than I hoped to. I'm a pretty cheap guy and it's not a cheap habit, for anyone. The next phase was contacting Rad VHS sellers on eBay and simply asking them if the copy they were selling had extra scenes. I told them I'd pay more if it did, but this also was fruitless. Many, many messages to many, many people and no one had a special copy like the one of my youth.

The recent news proves that my memory was real, the scene was real and I was not crazy. So I have that. But it does raise another question. If my local video store's copy of Rad had a deleted scene and no other similar copy seems to exist... where did it come from? How?

Well someone on facebook might have a clue:

Is it a coincidence that this took place in the Philadelphia area and that's where I am too?

So the video store recorded a movie off of TV and offered it for rental? Keep in mind, this is before the widespread use of home printers so they can't just make a professional cover and put a VHS in it and pass it off as the real thing. I guess my best theory is that they had a real copy, someone didn't return it and they replaced it with a bootleg.

The funny thing about this idea, if it is what happened, is that my friend had watched his VHS so much he even memorized the movie advertisements before the movie and I... I don't remember any ads before the movie.

What Makes This Song Great? - Black

He's right about that piano. I never noticed how there was a guitar in this that sounded exactly like "Yellow Ledbetter". It's like they're ripping off themselves.

The Reason Why Switches are Clicky

Rad - The Deleted Scenes

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is finished. The end has come. The fifth and last Golden Ticket has just been found right here in Paraguay. The Rad deleted scenes have surfaced on The Facebook.

Many thanks to Corey Kearns of facebook who writes:
"Hi guys, these are the cut scenes from the movie. I recorded this in 1989 from Canadian cable. These scenes are not in the American release. Sorry for the quality but this tape is almost worn through from me watching it so much lol, LETS WALK THIS SUCKER"

And many thanks to Victor for sharing the link.

It feels like the end of an era. I can't believe it's over. Not only did we get the deleted scenes back but I HAVE CONFIRMED THAT THERE WAS THE MURRAY FROM THE STORE. I hope to ruminate on that in a future post.

I would venture to say historians will be examining and picking apart every detail of these scenes for decades. But here are a few initial observations:

• Every actor in these scenes appears to be an alien or android. Is this how the rest of the movie appears to people who haven't seen it a million times?
• Luke's parents appear to be his grandparents. Did they skip a generation?
• Luke's dinner scene with his "parents" mirrors the scene in Star Wars where Luke has dinner with his aunt and uncle on Tatooine. In fact it's very similar. Is it coincidence? Luke/Luke!
• More character development for Amy. She likes WHAM and Duran Duran and she has a waterbed. Whoah.
• When your parent confronts you in your room and you storm out, where do you go?
• Imdb describes the third scene as "An unnamed boy storms out of his house late at night." The unnamed boy looks so familiar, I thought I could name him, is it possible it's the guy who says "how about a hand for our rad dude?"... It could be the character Harold or Miles but I can't figure out which one is which.
• Bart Taylor doesn't know how to act drunk. The filmmakers were perhaps unsure of the effectiveness themselves and perhaps just decided to have actor just announce that he's "smashed". We can't compare to the script because that's been taken down though we know this scene is in the script in some form.
• The couple who announce that he's smashed is interesting - Rick and Katie. It looks like the guy from the beginning who's listing off colleges he's applying to is with Katie, Cru's fantasy. Is this coupling seen anywhere else?
• Blob is standing in the back of the drunk scene. What is he doing?
• There could have been an alternate timeline where Sgt. Smith arrests Bart for public drunkenness and Cru wins Helltrack because Bart's still stuck in jail. But events would change further because without Bart in the race, the Reynolds Twins would try to win themselves instead of taking Cru out. Perhaps in this alternate timeline Cru loses.
• Sgt. Smith charges Bart $1.05 but I'd like to think it's not for his sundae, it's the cost of not getting arrested - freedom costs a buck-o-five.
• Did Bart lose Helltrack because he was hungover? Did Bart almost win Helltrack whilst hungover?
• Mr. Pratt has the mannerisms of some sort of bicycle priest. He seems to say "Go now, my child... and ride in peace."
• Cru receives the bike of his dreams and his reaction is as if someone just died. Shouldn't this be a happy moment?
• Unrelated to the deleted scenes.... but I just noticed that an actress is credited as "Katie's Friend" but no one is credited as "Katie".

Again, it's not much, just my initial thoughts.

Best of the Worst - Bad Movie Scavenger Hunt

One of my favorite bad movie tropes is that period in the 80s when computers were depicted as performing magic. This episode has one of the best (several of the best) examples of that that I've ever seen.

JonTron - Getting Your Boating License

Revisiting John Adams

I recently decided to re-watch the HBO series "John Adams" and read the book on which the series is based ("John Adams" by David McCullough). I don't remember which I decided first and which second. But having done so, there is a slight re-evaluation in my esteem of the series.

"John Adams" is one of the finest books I've ever read. A large part of what makes it so enthralling is the persons of John and Abigail Adams. They are Salt of the Earth people, superior in intellect, superior in morals, yet friendly and down to earth folk with great senses of humor.

For Episodes 1, 2, 3 and 7 of the series, they effectively communicate some sense of this. But 4-6 take a strange turn. There is no doubt that John Adams was an emotional man, prone to outbursts and negative thoughts but, perhaps for dramatic effect, these qualities are exaggerated (to mind) to an unacceptable degree to the point that he's made out to be an ass. In particular Episode 5, there are Dutch angles and arguments with everyone as he rants and/or raves that it becomes a cartoon. I watch Episode 5 and I don't know why we care about this man or what happens to him. I suggest a Christmas Special of the series where he could be telling people "bah humbug" and slamming the door on charities.

The book notes that Adams was vain, too emotional, too spontaneous, too unthinking. No one told the series that these criticisms come from John Adams himself, not the people around him. Are they not aware that a person can be their own worst critic, and often are? In fact, I'd say the more self-critical a person is of their own flaws, the less likely those flaws are to be seen by others.

If the first great advantage of the series is to give historical figures three-dimensional weight and character, the second is to imbue the history books with the emotion and intensity of current events. This is another thing that the series does well but takes too far. There is a scene in Episode 1 where Samuel Adams takes John to see an American protest where a man is stripped naked and tarred. Samuel Adams looks at it with the relish of a vampire while John Adams is justifiably appalled. This scene never happened. It is put in to communicate their differing views on peaceful protest vs lawlessness - yes, Samuel Adams was much more enthusiastic about protests and Adams much more worried about law and order - but Samuel Adams was not a sadistic sociopath hungry for violence, as far as history records.

Again Episode 5 is the worst in this too. Adams lived in difficult and stressful times, his presidency was hard, it was turbulent. But, I venture it wasn't a descent into Hell, as that episode portrays. The goal is to take the events from the philosophical heavens and plant them solidly in the soil, but they've skipped that sphere and gone below the earth, creating events as though they took place where the fire is not quenched and their worm never dies.

There is a scene in Episode 7 that is so ironic I have to believe it is intentional. John Adams (aged 90) is brought in to review a new painting of the signing of the Declaration. It's the painting used for the back of the $2 Bill. Adams, reviewing the painting, completely eviscerates and berates the painter to the point of inhumanity. Again, this is not what actually happened. The series is portraying Adams as a jerk, for reasons only they know.

But here's the thing... In this scene the fictional Adams's criticism is that "it is very bad" history. The painting arranges all the signers together and in a semi-circle so that all their faces are recognizable. All the signers were never all together in the same room to sign. The painter essentially argues that even if the piece is not factually accurate, artistic license is necessary to nonetheless capture the greater truth. Adams responds, "Do not let our posterity be deluded with fictions under the guise of poetical or graphical licenses... I consider the true history of the American Revolution as lost forever."

Just as the painter needed to take license in order to neatly portray the entire truth, the series "John Adams" takes huge leaps of artistic license in order to shape a 650 page book into a compelling 7 episodes. Conversations that actually took place in letters are, in the series, face-to-face; secret differences of opinion are stated openly; different times and events are combined into one. All of these shortcuts are, to me, completely acceptable. But the people who made the series decided to portray Adams as decrying artistic licenses - and therefore their own series - as bad history and worthless. As I say, I have to assume this much is intentionally tongue in cheek. But the double irony is that the very speech in which he does it is not just artistic license but made up whole cloth. The series wants to declare itself not just worthless in its finest moments, but also less than worthless in its nadirs? I can't fathom what they intend.

All of this is not to say that "John Adams" is a bad series. I still consider it one of the greats. Episode 2 is one of the greatest pieces of television ever made. Episode 1 is fierce and most excellent. Episode 7 is a sublime meditation on the nature of existence. The rest of the series is still very compelling. No, my re-evaluation serves merely to take it from "Perfect" to "Imperfect" but not much further.

Is Brown a Color?

According to QI (1:46), in ancient Greece, Brown (Bronze) was the ONLY color. But now, according to this, it might not be a color at all. I don't know what to believe.

Re:View - Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

The Ending of Dinosaurs

The Jim Henson show "Dinosaurs" had a last episode that was apparently a bit of a downer. I always find it funny when lighthearted situation comedies decide to go dark. And this show had a demographic that was decidedly young. Here's how it went:



I get the feeling like behind the surface events of the show, there's some sort of intended inner message or "moral" they're trying to ram through. I don't know what it could be though.

Boxed Cake vs. Scratch Cake

An interesting video about the reasons boxed cake tastes different from cake made from scratch and the science behind it.

The Rad Blu-Ray and Deleted Scenes (Update)

Although my Rad Blu-Ray has not yet shipped, the word is in from my friend Vic... The Blu-Ray does NOT contain any deleted scenes. Yet another defeat.

For context.
Context #2.

Rad Script Anomolies #10-#6.
Rad Script Anomolies #5-#1.

Building the Perfect Squirrel-Proof Bird Feeder

Revisiting the Walker Texas Ranger Lever

I've been revisiting the Walker Texas Ranger Lever recently and here are the fruits of my search.





Although many people seem to disagree, the one clip in this "episode" is my personal all-time favorite:

Space Heater Nonsense

Found this interesting. A video about how heaters for small rooms and heaters for large rooms are really just the same and why energy efficiency in a heater does not matter at all.

It Runs in the Family / My Summer Story

It Runs in the Family / My Summer Story (1994)

 

There are a few things requiring explanation before this last installment of exploring "A Christmas Story" sequels. The first confusing thing about this movie is the title. No one can agree what the title is; it switched, different sources label it differently. I'll use "My Summer Story" since that's what Netflix uses. The second confusing thing is the continuity. This movie takes place only a short time after "A Christmas Story" which means that although it's technically "A Christmas Story 3" it takes place before #2. This is because, though made in 1994, it was originally supposed to be the direct sequel to "A Christmas Story" with all the original cast reprising their roles. But that didn't happen and by the time it was made a decade later, only Ralphie's teacher, Miss Shields reprises her role.

I mentioned that a large part of the success of the previous sequel (a huge part) was Jean Shepherd's involvement. This movie not only gets Jean Shepherd but employed the director of "A Christmas Story" Bob Clark as well. And so, to my shock, this movie turns out to be the best, most faithful "A Christmas Story" sequel and quite good. I couldn't believe it.

It's still true that no sequel compares to the original - there's no way to recapture the magic - but, with lowered expectations, this movie is good enough. I think it was hurt partly by the casting of Charles Grodin as the dad. This is the era where, when Charles Grodin is involved in a family movie, you're expecting "Beethoven" levels of quality. The poster and subject matter also don't help - it looks like it's going to be another "Dennis the Menace" or "Problem Child" and nobody wants that.

But the mother is played by Mary Steenburgen, who's excellent, and Ralphie and his brother are  played by Kieran and Christian Culkin, who are very good. The star of the movie is clearly Jean Shepherd both in terms of his writing and narration (which seemed a little excessive in this installment). The wacky psychosis of his family and the "tall tales" of his youth are so enjoyable.

A Topiary Trailer

Genius indie filmmaker Shane Carruth, creator of "Primer" and "Upstream Color" has been unable to find a studio to make his epic "A Topiary." But he's created a mock trailer and released it online.

Late Night - Robert Goulet

Goulet!


Aww, another of my uploaded videos gets an official release. This one is kind of unexpected since it was kind of a bit within a bit. But they just cut out the context and ran with it.

It's a little Lover Boy, come on!

Half in the Bag - Neil Breen's 5 Film Retrospective

Aaaaand, listen... Breen's got a new one.

The 8-Bit Guy - How Speech Synthesizers Work

I've been into more technical videos like this one lately. I have to admit, I've always wondered how toys like - what's the name of it?-- how toys like "The Cow Goes Moo" worked. Fascinating.




Man, that Speak & Spell was so futuristic looking.

Late Night - Conan Plays the Blues

JonTron - Kid Nation Part 2

Bird Nonsense

I've been having a really rough week and in the midst of my stress and frustration, I have a bird constantly pecking at my window.

I'm trying to concentrate, trying to get things done and some member of the animal kingdom is just going KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK. I can understand birds are dumb enough that they don't understand the concept of glass - it causes a significant number of deaths, as birds fly head-first into them - but this is no accident. Pecking seems to imply they know the window is there. Pecking repeatedly seems to imply they understand what they're doing.

I can go to the window and it will run off. But that lasts for a few minutes and they're back. What could they be getting out of this? What biological advantage could this possibly gain? Maybe it's not the same bird each time, but that suggests a constant line of birds, all waiting their turn to wrap on my window and piss me off.

To google we go and suddenly I'm not alone:

Ok, we made the top suggestion. Here's what google says:

Wow, finally some good news. Let's dig deeper, I want to hear about that...

This webpage says:

"When resting, a bird sees its own reflection in the glass, perceiving a rival bird. And that means it’s time to defend their territory."

Stupid birds. Ok, how do I stop this...

"If you’re looking for a magic solution, there isn’t one. If nothing else, make kind choices. The problem is human-made and the birds are just doing what comes naturally to them."

Oh sure, take their side, Melissa. I'd expect nothing less from the toxic masculinity infested internet. They then suggest things you can do to help. Suggestion #2 is: "Keep Your Curtains Closed". It seems to me that that has no possibility of helping. Firstly, because my curtains are closed. Secondly, wouldn't the bird just see another bird with a curtain behind them?

What eats birds? Should I buy a snake?

Game Grumps - Wheel of Fortune Part 1

Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss (1988)

Strange name but "Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss" is actually the sequel to "A Christmas Story" it's the actual #2, you might say, even though that name is taken.

Whereas "A Christmas Story 2" was clearly just a cheap cash grab, this does actually feel like a real movie - it feels like a real sequel even though the first is a classic and this is not.

First off, Jean Shepherd was actually involved in this one, reprising his role as the Narrator and as writer. That's 90% of it. Secondly, there are actual actors here doing believable work. You can think of these characters as real people. You got Jerry O'Connell as Ralphie (remember Jerry O'Connell?), the dad is played by Doogie Howser's dad and the mom is the girl from "Mama's Family". Oh man, "Mama's Family". That's a post in itself.

The impact of these actor is a really big factor and a stark contrast with "ACS2". The Jean Shepherd/slice of life style means the entire movie hinges on believing that this is a real family. On the one side of the spectrum, you have "ACS2" with cartoon cut out characters and on the other side is "ACS1" where I refuse to believe that those people were not a real family. This one works because it's closer to the latter. There is a point in the movie where the mother is yelling upstairs to get everyone out of bed and as she yells her voice goes up into annoying screeching territory and it perfectly captures that feeling. Likewise the annoying younger brother is actually annoying and, similarly, reminds you of growing up and knowing kids like that.

The plot is simple: the first half of the movie is the family anticipating their upcoming Summer vacation, the second half of the movie is them driving to Michigan for their Summer vacation. That's it. I was surprised as I was watching it that there wasn't really a central plot, exactly, just a series of episodes but Shepherd's style is to write about life and that's life. The road trip where there is no central plot but consists of simply a series of things go wrong is pretty much the same idea as "National Lampoon's Vacation".

It's funny that this movie and "A Christmas Story 2" both start with Ralphie being years older and both have plots that revolve around him getting his first job. The fact that ACS2 flirts with the Teen Comedy genre and this movie keeps him respectable - focusing just on how tortuous the job is - is a telling contrast.

This was a made-for-tv movie, made by Disney (and PBS) and there are parts where it shows. I mentioned the good story and actors but some of the direction is pretty rough. It also drags on a bit towards the end. Let's face it, it can't compare with an absolute classic and even if it could, Summer vacation as a concept can't compete with the magic of Christmas.