Campanastan

Monster Movie Made Simple...Just Add Radiation

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Yeah, this was actually a real movie. I saw it. Undoubtedly, the cause of the mutant spider was radiation....

You know how they killed it? They got the 50-Foot Woman to step on it.

FYI: John Agar was one of Shirley Temple's husbands.

Thanks to Eric Fitch for the sign graphic.

"Some things man was not meant to experiment with." -- Unknown, always uttered by someone in a 1950s horror movie

Luke Skywalker's Big-Time Screw Up

From the mind of Randall Munroe (XKCD). Click on the graphic to enlarge.

“You’re all clear, kid! Now let’s blow this thing and go home!” - Han Solo

What Hockey Players REALLY Say on the Handshake Line

Hear what Boston Bruins forward Milan Lucic really said on the handshake line after the Bruins lost their series to the Montreal Canadiens.

 

So what's the fuss? Read here.

"You're playing worse every day and right now you're playing like the middle of next week." - Herb Brooks, 1980 US Olympic hockey coach.

Coal Lobby Warns: Wind Farms May Blow Earth Off Orbit & Solar Panels May Suck Sun Dark!

What a great way to start June! 

Where is T. Boone Pickens when you need him?

Here is the video's link.

 

"I looked at the Grand Canyon and I said, 'Wow, that looks like my job, and it's a national historic site.' " - John Harden, coal mine employee, October 2007

Steven Seagal: Not Only a Great Actor, But Also a Musician to Match!

Who knew? Who cares?

He's 62 today. 

I hear he's about to release a version of Walk Away, Renée. Uh-huh.

Thanks to Alan McKay for enlightening me.  

“I am hoping that I can be known as a great writer and actor some day, rather than a sex symbol.” - Steven Seagal

Leah Learns to Speak Italian - With Her Hands, How Else?

Some of you may consider this to be disparaging towards Italians but my paternal grandparents came from southern Italy (Naples) so it's okay for me to post this video. Besides, how else does an Italian make a point during speech?

Looks like two-year-old Leah is getting the hang of it with her great-grandmother's mentoring. 

 

"The sin which is half-hidden is half-forgiven.' - Sicilian proverb 

Dancing Your PhD Sure Beats Writing Up the Results!

I suppose it beats actually writing up your results! 

The overall winner is shown below. Visit this site to check out winners in the chemistry, physics, social sciences, and the readers' favorite.

My dissertation was titled, Finite-State Models of Transport Phenomena in Hydrologic Systems. Oh, what I could have done with that!

Thanks to Jeanine McGann.

 

“A project not worth doing is not worth doing well.” - Cliff Dochterman

Video: MSU Professor William Penn Trashes Republicans

Michigan State University Professor Wiliam Penn tore the GOP a new one, so to speak, with this classroom rant:

 

Penn is a tenured professor so he probably won't get fired. He has been reassigned pending a 'review of the situation' by Michigan State. 

I'd better watch myself this fall.

"I can't do politically correct very easily. ... I will say what I think, I in no way mean to offend you." - Professor William Penn

TEDx Video: Simon Sinek - How Great Leaders Inspire Action

Ken Reid sent this my way. Here is the link.

 

I don't know about you but I don't care why Apple builds computers or iPhones. I buy them because they do what I need done and do so better than other manufacturers' products.

"Every man has a scheme that will not work." - Unknown

Flow Chart: How Steven Seagal Makes a Movie

From Cracked:

Steven Seagal's success is largely the result of a complex script selection and development process that is best expressed in chart form (by Randall Maynard):

“It doesn't work if the bad guys kill his mother's uncle's friend's neighbor's pet dog. You've got to make the stakes high.” - Steven Seagal

Victor's Secret: Women's Lingerie for Men...Or Not

Hilarious. Here's a link.

 

"I thought all women's lingerie was for men?" - Jimmy Kimmel 

The Best Gun Control Commercial Ever!

From SUPGV.

 

“They must accept responsibility, recognizing that responsibility is not the same as culpability.” - Stephen King

End of an Era: El Paso's ASARCO Stacks Come Down

Although the ASARCO (originally known as 'American Smelting and Refining Company) copper smelter closed in 1999, two of the stacks remained until yesterday, when both came down. The taller of the two was 828 feet; the other was 612 feet. ASARCO decided in 2007 that it was  not worth reopening the smelter after more than 100 years of operation so it was time to dismantle things.

Here's a good story on the smelter's legacy - not all of it good - from the El Paso Times, with more videos and stills.

I recall first seeing these in summer 1970 en route from Virginia to Tucson; I believe there were three at the time. They were hard to miss from Interstate 10 on the west side of El Paso. Impressive!

Nothing like watching big structures coming down!

 

"I and others are sick, especially those who come from the younger generation." - Charlie Rodriguez, 63, former ASARCO worker 

"I was fortunate to have worked at ASARCO." - Miguel Beltran, 85

French Video: Paper Is Not Dead Yet!

Here is a great commercial from France. I suspect Emma will have a real sledgehammer waiting when hubby gets off the crapper.

Thanks to Mary Frances. 

 

"Aussitôt dit, aussitôt fait." - French proverb ('No sooner said than done.')

Rocking the Boat: The Wife of Pi

Found this here.

“To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.” - Yann Martel

Video: The Department of Interior Does Valentine's Day Right

From the Department of Interior. 

Who says the government can't do anything right? 

Thanks to Wayne Wright.

My Valentine - Mary Frances -  is shown to the right. Lake Tahoe, almost as beautiful as she, is in the background. Here is her Valentine's Day limerick:

We've been together one score
Our love 'tis the stuff of such lore
    Mary Frances, so fine
    For thee I do pine
And call out, 'May I love you some more?'

 

"The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing." - Blaise Pascal 

Happy 2013! Now, View This Cute, Depressing, Animated Film: 'Man'

From animator Steve Cutts, via Grist.

 

"Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, then names the streets after them." ~ Bill Vaughn

Our Story in Two Minutes

Well, 2:11. Done by a high-school student; USA-centric.

From Ari Michelsen.

 

"You can either live your life as if nothing is a miracle or as if everything is." - Albert Einstein

Video Letter and Petition to Syria's First Lady Asma al-Assad

Asma's probably too busy shopping to watch this video. And her husband is too busy killing his own people to care.

You can see and sign the petition here.

  

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men or women to do nothing." - apologies to Edmund Burke

Amazing Video: Bald Eagle Swimming With Prey

Amazing video of a bald eagle pursuing and catching a nutria (large aquatic rodent). Quite remarkable.

From Jerry Coyne's blog:

Alert reader James sent me this great video.  Talk about exaptations: when the eagle repeatedly fails to catch a nutria in the water, it drops on top of it, and, floating in the water, swims the damn thing to shore using its wings to paddle. (Eagles obviously don’t have feet adapted for swimming, and the feet are occupied anyway.)

Nutrias (Myocaster coypus), by the way, are also called coypus, and are large aquatic rodents originally native to South America but introduced throughout the world for fur farming.  It’s not clear to me if this one was alive before the eagle started dive-bombing it. 

 

"Don't quack like a duck, soar like an eagle." - Ken Blanchard

Already Gone: Leaving From a Theater Near You - 'Machine Gun Preacher'

NYU DRI voted this the Best Insulting Picture at the Exploiting Africa Academy Awards (EAAA).

Gerard Butler plays a White Messiah with a machine gun.

Too bad Jennifer Aniston's not in the film; she was on a shopping trip.

Here's the trailer:

  

Check out the MGP WWW site and see what you think. Read more about the MGP himself, Sam Childers.

Hey, maybe Childers and Butler can get together and kick some butt to get 1000 Wells for Darfur going!

Reminds me of the Eagles song Already Gone. Why? The film has come and already gone.

Thanks to William Easterly for bringing this to my attention.

"It ([Machine Gun Preacher] comes off like a morally unreliable story in which Gerard Butler saves Africa from itself." - Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune, 29 September 2011 

The Inscrutable 1960s: One Got Fat

I sure don't recall seeing this video!

Thanks to Philip Bump.

Interesting that the children wearing monkey masks get wiped out, while the one without a mask, Orville, escapes unscathed and gets to eat all the food.

Morals:

1) Don't wear monkey masks while riding bikes, lest they obstruct your vision and get you killed.

2) Always carry the food when bicycling with people dressed like monkeys.

WTF???

 

 "But what [...] is it good for?" - Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.

Ever See a Camel Do Dressage? With a Horse, No Less!

I am not an equestrian (the First-Lady-for-Life is) but this is pretty remarkable. 

 

 “I distrust camels, and anyone else who can go a week without a drink.” -- Joe. E. Lewis

Orson Welles' Famous 'Cuckoo Clock' Speech From 'The Third Man'

Last night I was thinking of one of my favorite movies, Carol Reed's The Third Man,and my favorite scene - Orson Welles' (as the nefarious Harry Lime) famous 'Cuckoo Clock' speech in which he lectures Holly Martins (played by Joseph Cotten) aboard the Riesenrad, a giant Ferris wheel in Vienna: 

Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. So long, Holly.

 

Welles inserted those lines into the movie; they were not in Graham Greene's original script. How true are Welles' words? See here.

Fabulous movie!

"Oh, I still do believe in God, old man. I believe in God and mercy and all that. But the dead are happier dead. They don't miss much here, poor devils." -- Harry Lime

Amid the Chaos of Kabul, Skateistan Flourishes

Via Bel Symington: Skateistan: To Live and Skate Kabul. It's a wonderful little documentary about skateboarders and a skatepark in Kabul.

You will need Adobe Flash Player 10 to view the video.

Skateistan: To Live and Skate Kabul
By Orlando von Einsiedel 

Skateistan: To Live And Skate Kabul is a beautifully shot film that follows the lives of a group of young skateboarders in Afghanistan. Operating against the backdrop of war and bleak prospects, the Skateistan charity project is the world’s first co-educational skateboarding school, where a team of international volunteers work with girls and boys between the ages of 5 and 17, an age group largely untouched by other aid programmes. 

 

 

"Ask the truth from a child." -- Afghan proverb

Seth Godin on Why Things Are Broken

Seth Godin's hilarious video on why things are broken, including the seven reasons why things are broken. Sometimes tongue-in-cheek, sometimes not.

Thanks to Jerry Sehlke for sending this my way.

Seth Godin at Gel 2006 from Gel Conference on Vimeo.

"Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got." -- Unknown

Is 'The Last Airbender' Lights Out for M. Night?

Okay. I loved The Sixth Sense. I even enjoyed Signs. But I haven't seen one of M. Night Shyamalan's films since those two and I doubt I'll be seeing his current film, The Last Airbender. For one thing, it's not the kind of film that interests me, and I'm also tired of seeing the tie-ins with World Cup soccer on ESPN. For a while I thought the flick might be a paean to washed-up footballer David Beckham.

But it seems as though M. Night might have a bomb on his hands; here are some of the reviews and more here

Reviews aside, Shyamalan and the studio, Paramount Pictures, are facing charges of racism, since the film is based on a Japanese cartoon that was animated by Nickelodeon. The charaaters were primarily Asian; in the movie, they are mainly white.

And check out the difference between villains and heroes in the cartoon vs. the film:

Funny thing about the casting (thanks to this source for the graphic).

But at least the movie has great dialogue.

"Water teaches us acceptance." -- Admiral Zhao, Aasif Mandvi's character in The Last Airbender

The T.A.M.I. Show DVD - Worth the 46-Year Wait

Two months ago I announced that after years of waiting, the legendary T.A.M.I. Show would be released as a DVD. I was anxious to check it out, because I had heard of the legendary 1964 show lo these many years, and had seen snippets of it, but never the two-hour film.

I received a copy for my birthday and just viewed it in its entirety. I was not disappointed at all - it's a tour de force.

I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of both the audio and video, especially when you realize that this was made from a 46-year-old master. The screaming of the teenage girls sometimes drowns out the performers but I eliminated much of that by fiddling with my audio controls and eschewing the 'theater' and 'stadium' settings.

The performances were, by and large, pretty good. For years I had heard that James Brown blew everyone away and the Rolling Stones (misidentified as being from Liverpool) had the misfortune of closing after him, something they supposedly regretted and which upset Brown. But although Brown definitely lived up to his reputation as the 'hardest-working man in show business' the Stones more than held their own and had the girls screaming as much as Brown did. I don't think the Stones suffered because of that 'misfortune.' Bonus: Keith Richards looks so young and fresh-faced!

The great news is that the Beach Boys are back in the film, after having been removed from many of the older versions under the threat of legal action. 

Marvin Gaye's set was awesome - I especially loved Hitch Hike. 

As I viewed Brown and the Stones perform, I thought that this must have been the worst nighmare for white people (especially parents) in 1964 USA: 1) a black man eliciting screams and tears from white teenage girls; and 2) a bunch of long-haired Brits doing the same. Only an eyelash away from sex!

Some of the performers did not sing the songs in their entirety - maybe just a minute. Chuck Berry could have phoned in his performance. Some complained about the inclusion of groups like Gerry and the Pacemakers and Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, who came as a package. The latter were pretty bland, but Gerry and the lads actually did a decent version of Maybellene with Chuck Berry on stage but not participating. The go-go dancers sometimes were a little much, but remember, this was 1964. The Barbarians were good but did not sing Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl? (not released yet). Jan and Dean were the hosts - okay, nothing great. Their singing was so-so.

Lesley Gore, in her trademark suit and flip hairdo, gave a great rendition of the proto-feminist anthem,You Don't Own Me, then devolved into the petulant It's My Party and the smug Judy's Turn to Cry (all three of which I love).   

It's a good cross-section of mid-1960s rock 'n roll and soul music, before bubble gum, psychedelia, and 'heavier' sounds invaded. Great stuff - I highly recommend it.

"Rock and roll is here to stay, it will never die.
It was meant to be that way, though I don't know why." 
-- Danny and the Juniors, Rock and Roll is Here to Stay, written by David White

Legendary 1964 T.A.M.I. Show Concert Film Finally To Be Released

The legendary 1964 T.A.M.I. Show film will finally be released (as a DVD) on 23 March 2010. Rock fans have been awaiting this day for about 45 years!

James Brown and The Famous Flames (JB stole the show), The Supremes, Jan & Dean, The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones (they closed the show, following JB - big mistake!), The Barbarians, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, Gerry and The Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and The Dakotas, Chuck Berry, Lesley Gore, and Leon Russell. What an eclectic lineup!

Read all about it in USA Today.

"The greatest rock movie you've never seen." -- Steven Van Zandt

"I wish I'd cut back on Chuck Berry and Gerry & the Pacemakers. My least favorite was Billy Kramer & the Dakotas. That was verging on pop, and the movie should have been all R&B and rock." -- Steve Binder, director

Conquered by 'Invictus'

Last night Campanastan's President-for-Life and his wife descended into the masses to see Invictus, Clint Eastwood's film based on John Carlin's book, Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation.

The film tells the story of Nelson Mandela's first years as South Africa's post-apartheid president and his delicate walk between his rapid supporters, many of  whom sought 'R 'n R' - Revenge and Retribution - quite different from Mandela's vision of 'R 'n R' - Reconciliation and Rebuilding - and the white South Africans, whose support he desperately needed.

He decides to use the Springboks, the national rugby team and a symbol of the Afrikaans culture, and their quest to win the World Cup of rugby in 1995 as a mechanism to unite the country. Despite skepticism from his advisers and the rugby team itself, the scheme works, due in large part to Francois Pienaar, the rugby team's captain, who soon realizes that he and his teammates are not just a sports team.

View a trailer.

The title is taken from the Latin word meaning 'unconquered', and the poem that Mandela often  referred to during his 27 years imprisoned on Robben Island.

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
   ---Invictus, by William Ernest Henley

I memorized this poem in high school; I remember the last two lines.

An uplifting movie about two men -- one remembered by all, one forgotten by many - who rose to the occasion.

And why sports are often far more than what they seem.

"If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner. " -- Nelson Mandela

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the AARP

Mary Frances and I just saw the new Indiana Jones film (well, "movie" is a better descriptor).

When I heard Harrison Ford was going to to reprise his role after almost 20 years, my reaction was "Uh-huh. And I can can still do double diamonds at Alpine Meadows."   

I have to admit that it was an entertaining movie, and Ford didn't look so bad for a 65-year-old. Bet he went through the Aleve like M&M's.

But then again, I'm 20 years older, too, so I'm going to cut Ford more slack.

Cate Blanchett was a good villainess. It was amusing to see John Hurt carrying around a skull that was bore a strong resemblance to the Alien's head. Chest pains, John?

I hear Ford wants to make another one, and also continue with his Jack Ryan role, too. Next we'll have Han Solo spinning yarns to his grandchildren at the Old Space Jockeys Home.

Where are my skis?

"It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage." -- Indiana Jones

No End In Sight

The other night I watched Charles Ferguson's No End in Sight, a movie about the Iraq War that focuses on the aftermath of the invasion and how the country fell apart and descended into chaos. It's a remarkable film, considering that it is Ferguson's first. He wrote, directed, and produced it. Here's a link to an April 2007 PBS show about the movie.

Ferguson, who has a PhD in political science from and was a reseracher at MIT, now has his own film company, Representational Pictures.

No End in Sight didn't tell me much I did not already know, because I have read most of the major books dealing with Iraq. But not to be trite, a picture is worth a 1000 words, and that's what you see here.

Much of the film's 100 minutes consists of "talking heads" - interviews with the people responsible for what we now have in Iraq and those who saw what was coming and tried to stop it or change course. Sometimes the film plunges into a "he said, she said" mode, especially when Paul Hughes, a former Army colonel and part of the transition team, and former Coalition Provisional Authority and DoD official Walter B. Slocombe enagage in a little verbal sparring. But that's a great part of the film.

A lot of the familiar faces show up: Barbara Bodine, Jay Garner, L. Paul Bremer, Richard Armitage, George Packer, Ronnie Dumsfeld (smugness and sarcasm intact), et al. But there are also some "fresh faces" as well: Omar Fekeiki,a Washington Post reporter, Marine Lt. Seth Moulton, and the aformentioned Hughes are just three.

Bodine, the former USA ambassador to Yemen, makes a great comment about there being "500 wrong ways to do Iraq" and only "2 or 3 right ways", and that we "were going through all 500".

The film estimates that as of early 2007, the total cost of the war would be about $1.9 trillion - that includes things like all veterans' benefits, lost productivity, etc.

There is a great example of "newspeak": when someone asks an Army officer if there is an insurgency in Iraq, he holds up his hand and says, "There is no insurgency; there is domestic violence." And Ronnie Dumsfeld's great "Stuff happens" quote is in there, too.

It is well worth your time.

"Is this the best America can do?" -- Marine Lt. Seth Moulton, remarking on the chaos in Iraq after the successful invasion.