Trivial Tuesday

In the late 19th and early 20th century there was an uprising in China by a group known as the Righteous Harmony Society who objected to foreign influence. By what English name is this uprising commonly known?

Brain Clutter

Do you ever think back to shows that you watched when you were a kid and wonder what you were thinking to make you watch them? The subject of Welcome to Pooh Corner came up recently, and I had to start doing some looking around to find the intro song. Of course I found it, because what is the internet for if not for grainy videos of bad TV shows from your childhood. In fact, I found another video I needed to share with you as well. Before I get to that, here is the video for Welcome to Pooh Corner. I loved this show as a kid and sadly I still remembered most of the words to the song, and still imitate Piglet's "What a, what a, what a mess." I'd say that my brain could be better used for storage of more important things, but if I pushed this out, I'd only fill it with more useless junk anyway.





Ok, here's the second video. I remember that this show used to come on after Welcome to Pooh Corner, and I still remembered the song for this one too. Other than the song and that the Orangutan is named QT, I don't really remember much. Does anyone else remember watching Dumbo's Circus?





While I'm on the "does anyone else remember this" subject, do any of you who did watch Welcome to Pooh Corner remember the "Too Smart for Strangers" special? The idea of Winnie the Pooh talking about people touching you inappropriately is actually pretty disturbing, now that I think back on it.

Web's Worst Comic vol. 2: Charades

Apologies for the size, I can't get Blogger to let me make it larger. Click to see full size.

Trivial Tuesday

In the 1980's, no artist was as successful or as much of a cultural phenomenon as Michael Jackson. Whether wearing a single glove or performing his signature dance, the moonwalk, Jackson was sure to spark imitators. The moonwalk debuted in 1983 at the Motown 25 concert during a performance of what Michael Jackson hit?

Congratulations to Invisible Lizard who remembered that it was Billie Jean. Coincidentally, I saw a show on VH1 this weekend (i.e. after posting the question and after it was answered) where they mentioned the very first moonwalk.

Pieces of Eight

So, I was tagged with this meme and have been having a hard time with it. I'm supposed to tell you 8 random things about me, and then tag eight of you to do the same. Easy, right? Yeah, like I can come up with 8 things that might be interesting about me that I'm willing to tell you, but haven't told you yet. (Actually, have I done this meme already? I feel like I have at some point.)

1. I'm currently very disappointed that I missed seeing the Sci-Fi original movie Ice Spiders. I saw commercials for it, and had intended to watch or record it, but forgot all about it until it was too late.

2. I've actually thought a lot about quitting this blog or at least taking a break from it. In fact, I even wrote a post 3 months ago about taking a break, but I never posted it.

3. I love the new version of Doctor Who and am anxiously awaiting the beginning of Season 3 next month. (For those of us in the US, that is. I realize that Season 3 will be finished in the UK before I get to see the premiere.)

4. While a decent case could be made for Tiger Woods, I believe that the most dominant (in his own sport) single athlete in the world today is Takeru Kobayashi, yet recently someone broke his most famous world record. Finally, the guy is getting some competition. So if you don't think I'll be watching and blogging when they go head to head on July 4th, you are greatly mistaken.

5. I could spend hours at a time on Wikipedia, starting with one thing that I want to look up, and then just moving to article after article linked in the text.

6. I am slightly (and embarrassingly) addicted to the new Southern Style Chicken Sandwich at McDonalds. I realize that this a a horrible thing to admit, but there it is.

7. I'm having a hard time with this one. I've already filled out #8, but I can't think of what to have for the next to last one. I've come up with a few, but then I keep deciding that they are better as a full post instead. Ok, here it is: I like to quote lyrics from a song in normal conversation whenever possible and act as if nothing is unusual. You can do this with movie or television quotes as well, but since lyrics are so out of context when they are parted from music, it takes a while for people to realize what I'm doing. This works best if you can make them fit the context (at least at first) of the conversation (ex. "Her parents were not there for her. They just pretty much ignored her when she was growing up." "So, daddy didn't pay attention...to the fact that mommy didn't care?") But it also works for confusing people with completely random fake conversations. ("How was your day?" "I hurt myself today." "Oh no, how?" "To see if I still feel." "What? Are you ok?" "I focus on the pain, the only thing that's real." "What are you talking about? Oh. You're doing it again, aren't you?")

8. Since Pluto was downgraded from planet to "dwarf planet named after Mickey's dog", I've been wondering how to change the song I learned in elementary school that helped me remember the order of the planets in our solar system. You remember "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizza-pies" (or Pies or Pizzas, depending on the version) don't you? Well, it can't just end at the educated mother serving nine. There has to be something. The best I'm come up with so far is "...Just Served Us Naan," but I'm not sure that naan is exactly accessible enough to make it useful rather than confusing to elementary school kids. "Nachos", maybe?

Ok, now to tag eight of you. The problem here is that if I were to tag eight people, I'd have to tag all of you that read this blog and then find a couple of random people to bring the total up. So, I guess you can all consider yourselves tagged (if you want, or just ignore it if you don't).

Sad News

The man who first taught a generation (or more) of children that science can be fun (especially when you blow stuff up) is gone. Don Herbert, better known as Mr. Wizard, passed away yesterday.

Through his television shows, he made science exciting and accessible to all sorts of children. His influence on pop culture was such that even the sitcom Dinosaurs had its own version of him.

Rest in peace, Mr. Wizard. You were a wonderful educator and entertainer.

Trivial Tuesday

The Sopranos recently ended its run on HBO, angering many fans with its final scene. My question today, however, refers back to earlier seasons. For five seasons, Drea de Matteo portrayed Adriana on The Sopranos. Eventually, her character was written off the show, and de Matteo went on to play in what short lived spin-off from a popular sitcom?

It's Only a Flesh Wound

I've noticed something recently that I really don't get. At restaurants, anyone who is working that also happens to have any sort of visible piercing other than pierced ears always has a band-aid over the piercing. Nose, lip, eyebrow, whatever, there's a band-aid covering it up. What's the purpose of this? Is it supposed to hide this from the customers? It makes it look like much of the staff has horrific facial wounds that won't heal. Now, I don't know about you, but I'd much rather see a tiny silver stud in the side of somone's nose than have to worry about whether their leprosy is spreading back in the kitchen.

The only option I can think of other than simply trying to "hide" the piercing is that someone has decided that they are a health risk. This makes absolutely no sense, since (a) they shouldn't be and (b) if they were, there should be band-aids on the ears of most of the other employees. Does anyone actually know for sure why this is done? (I haven't really looked around enough to know if this is a uniform practice or just at certain places.)

Potato Wave

The Pearl Jam song, Yellow Ledbetter has always been a favorite of mine. From the first time a friend played it for me and said, "You've gotta hear this," I loved it.

Unfortunately, no one has ever quite been sure of the meaning of the song, since a reliable Eddie Vedder to English dictionary has not yet been created. Most attempts to decipher the lyrics have involved reverse engineering what he might have sounded like without the cotton balls in his mouth.

Now, there is finally a definitive version of the lyrics, complete with pictures to accompany the song and lyrics. And it was on YouTube. Who would have guessed?

Separated at Birth? v. 6

I haven't done one of these in a while, mostly because I've been out of ideas (as evidenced by some of the earlier ones...v. 3 specifically comes to mind.). I figured I'd bring it out of storage and take another shot. So, here is today's special hirsute edition of "Separated at Birth?"

I think it's the mustache. Tell me you can't see that walrus doing Liberty Medical ads or saying, "You check your blood sugar and you check it often."

On The Lot: Does Anyone Else See the Irony in Having One's Film Criticized by Michael Bay?

This week, only 5 people screened their films. I'm not sure that I really loved any of the efforts this week, but overall I felt that the two women in this week's group of five did better than the others.

Sam, who made the clever "Replication Theory" last week, started things off a guy dropping a ring into the toilet. The problem is that no matter what happened, I didn't care about him. The whole thing felt like a joke that just wouldn't end. Carrie talks with her hands and struggles to get the words out to praise him. Oh no. I'm agreeing with Michael Bay. Am I on crack or is he actually making sense? Garry Marshall wants Sam to make a film that doesn't make him want to go to the bathroom. Garry, at your age, that's probably your prostate, not his films.

Second was Trevor's film, "Teri" about a guy waiting for his blind date. When it ended I said, "Well, that was kind of cute-ish" immediately followed by Carrie Fischer giving echoing my sentiments. Michael Bay criticizes some of the visuals, flips his hair a few times and poses for the camera. Garry talks about liking Trevor's film from last week and then begins talking about what it was like making films when he was a little boy in Ancient Rome.

Third is Hilary, who has nowhere to go but up from last week's smelly pee film. That film was horrifying, but in a good, funny way. Very well written, but not so wonderfully shot. Carrie praises Hilary's writing, but wants her to work on how she shoots things and not make things so claustrophobic. Michael Bay says it didn't work, and Melissa points out that you can tell he really loves himself just by watching him. Garry praises her writing as well, then says "back up" and accuses her of making a cell phone video.

Fourth is "Dough: The Musical" from Adam. Some of the lyrics were clever and the transition where the baker threw flour was very nice, but I didn't like it at all. Is it just because I'm being overly critical since it's a musical? (Watching it again, it still doesn't do much for me because it's a musical, but there are some really nice visuals in there.) Carrie loves it. Michael Bay asks himself to go backstage and make out. Garry doesn't like that the main actor was looking at the back of the actress's head at the end.

The final film is from Shalini. The pseudo-documentary style and subject aren't what I would pick, but she obviously knows how to shoot things because it looks wonderful. Not only does it look great, but she gets the actor to be just reach out and grab the audience right away. Very well made. Carrie talks about her likes and dislikes in that film. Meanwhile, she seems to be reciting the Gettysburg Address in sign language. Michael Bay (and yes, he must be referred to with both names) likes it, and I begin to have seizures from realizing that I have agreed with him multiple times tonight. Garry says "Incoherent. My sister Penny. Incoherent. Women filmmakers. My sister Penny. Incoherent. Thank you."

As I said at the beginning, I'm not sure I have strong feelings on who I really liked and who I really didn't like. If I had to pick, I'd say that Trevor's film was the weakest (and last week's film doesn't help) and that he should be the one to go home. If I had to guess, however, I'd say that the one going home might end up being Shalini. I guess we'll find out in a week.

Trivial Tuesday

In 2005, the series Doctor Who returned to television with Christopher Eccleston as the ninth Doctor. After only one season, Eccleston left the show and was replaced by David Tennant.

More recently Eccleston was seen (sometimes) in a guest starring role on a US science fiction TV show. What was that show?

The Web's Worst Comic vol. 1: Factory Farming