Radio has been important to me. I decided to track it.

RANCHO BERNARDO, CA, 1976-1981: Things are different now - at least Radio Disney exists - but in the late 1970s, radio definitely didn't cater to kids, and while I was aware of music, I wasn't finding it on the radio. Though the 45s era was waning, I did listen to them - plus LPs, like The ( Read more... )

Context changes. Sometimes it goes away. I remember watching this...

Click to view

...and wondering what people were really laughing at when they saw the title "THRUST," because that laugh seems too big to me. I wasn't even alive when that first aired in 1972, and I certainly wasn't a BBC TV viewer (unless there's a past life I don't know about...). My best ( Read more... )

It's possible that an elephant in the room exists only because you built it ( Read more... )

Headline, 11:01 a.m.: EARTHQUAKE STRIKES BOUNCY CASTLE MANUFACTURERS CONVENTION, NO ONE HURT

Headline, 12:52 p.m.: BIRDS THWART REVIVAL SCREENING OF "SNAKES ON A PLANE"

Headline, 1:46 p.m.: LENNY BRUCE CONFIRMED RETURNED FROM DEAD; ANNOUNCES "I AM NOT AFRAID"

Headline, 1:58 p.m.: HURRICANE ACHIEVES SENTIENCE, LISTENS TO ITSELF CHURN

Headline, 2 ( Read more... )

So I learned future Mythbuster minion Grant Imahara, when he worked for ILM in the 1990s, helped build the NSEA Protector from Galaxy Quest. Imahara then said on Twitter, " Ha, thanks for all the Mirror Universe/Evil Grant references! Yeah, I tried facial hair for a while. It uh, didn't work out."

Mirror Universe Star Trek. Still one of the coolest ( Read more... )

Got it. We all need ways to feel better. To deal with the frustrations and difficulties of life. To show that we're doing our best not to be beaten down by them. To experience joy. To re-capture that childlike joie de vivre without wondering if any kid was ever able to say "joie de vivre." (I wasn't. I was a serious kid. Plus with speech ( Read more... )

Regional fast food places don't usually get to do movie tie-ins. Cheap plastic toys, cheap plastic food (zing!), those go to the McDs and BKs and Wendys and Subways and Carl's Jr./Hardees of the world, not the Burgervilles, the In-N-Outs, the Steak 'n Shakes, the once-mighty (and still missed by three-thousand-miles-away me) Roy Rogerses*. White ( Read more... )

Finally, I truly may be tired of this current convention in movie trailers: how in every other shot or so the image fades to black, followed by a quick!cut to another image. It makes it seem like you're seeing more than you've really seen, by making you think Wait, what did I see? The ad-makers hope you then think It must've been awesome! I must go ( Read more... )

"I sweat whiskey. Lick me for proof."

There's plenty in E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial I didn't remember, or only remembered very selectively. It took me years to register that Elliott's family was dealing with a separation: even now, divorce has rarely hit me closely. My folks have been married since 1968. In 1982, my 8-year-old mind probably just thought They're in Southern California ( Read more... )