Chanute is located on U.S. Route 169 between Iola and Coffeyville and is definitely worth a detour. While we didn’t have time to stop at the Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum, we drove around downtown, stopped at the The Chanute-Wright Brothers Memorial and unknowingly crossed the default center of Google Earth (for Mac). That would be this painting in the middle of the intersection. If I knew it was significant I would’ve tried to take a better picture.
This seems to be old news, but the news doesn’t always travel fast; I thought it was a catchy tune and a funny video.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rhg1Ngz7y4
Putin The Superhero Banished From Ukrainian Airwaves.*
“Vova”, commonly known as Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, is a superhero according to Ukrainian band Dress Code, who have released a song devoted to the merits of the James Bond-defying, child-saving, universally adored Russian. Banned in Ukraine, the video is causing quite a stir.
The band behind the controversial homage is certainly profiting from its prohibition. Since the song “And Vova Rules” was taken off air for “political reasons”, the illustrated music video has become a huge online hit in both Ukraine and Russia, where, incidentally, it was never shown on TV in the first place. Putin propaganda, a big joke, or a publicity stunt? Whatever it is, the video’s already been viewed over 350,000 times.
The illustrations are pretty self-explanatory, but here are a few of the lyrics: “James Bond isn’t fit to shine his shoes. He’s a superman, he’s adored by the rich, by celebrities, by professors, by village folk and the West. He’ll always be there in your time of need. He’ll always protect you. If necessary he’ll whack bad guys, even in a toilet. Indeed, Vova rules, and, surely, he rules just the way it should be done.”
* the part about being banned is likely B.S. that’s why I am linking to the source.
If you are a female over the age of 6 or a male over 28 and posted an excited review or Transformers 2, your movie-reviewing bona fides are hereby revoked. The only exception is granted to those who were stoned or too upset over Michael Jackson’s death while watching this pile of robot rust.
Two hours worth of repetitive CGI accompanied by non-stop metal clanging noises made me think how little was needed to impress a young viewer just 30-50 years ago. I remember my Dad telling me how during his school years everyone went crazy over the Tarzan movies with Johnny Weissmuller. The old Tarzan movies produced in the 1930s made it to the USSR as war trophies and were shown everywhere for years after WWII (In the following book clip start reading the paragraph starting with “Basically Hollywood…”).
Many injuries resulted from attempting to swing on any hanging rope with one arm while imitating the Tarzan call.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwHWbsvgQUE
Cheesy special effects of the 1930s and even an obvious reusing of the same footage throughout the series didn’t prevent me from enjoying them when I saw Tarzan for the first time in the early 80s.
When I was very young another movie took me and my classmates by a storm. Zorro probably caused more property damage than any movie before it, with a “sign of Zorro” drawn, engraved, chiseled or carved on everything with a surface.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vT1aje5u1Y
Speaking about cheesy special effects, how can one forget “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad“. When I was 8 or 9 the monsters from this movie looked totally real. Not so much anymore.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a77pycC78Q0
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03k8di93r5Q
In the late 70’s a Japanese movie The Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds was the talk of the country, at a time when Jurassic Park wasn’t even a concept. From appetizer to dessert – One town becomes a monster meal – was the tagline.I still distinctly remember a half of a horse falling off the cliff, the other half bitten off by a dinosaur, and I still avoid bloody movies.
Another scary Japanese movie of my childhood was the Sinking of Japan (Tidal Wave) which came out in 1973 and was remade in 2006. Here is a clip of a recent remake.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeJ6Cftc-E8
You can imagine pitiful special effects of 1973 but I still remember it as a terrifying movie years later.
There are plenty of acclaimed and beloved movies with really low-quality special effects, that did not benefit from a more sophisticated remake.
Unfortunately no amount of special effects could benefit Transformers 2.
Recently State of Missouri made an announcement about repealing some old ban on “yellow-tinted imitation butter and the other restrictions imposed on the sale, possession or shipment of substitute sandwich spread that is a different hue”. The question is why would anyone want to eat this crap in the first place. I understand that the law was written for different reasons but I wouldn’t mind them actually enforcing it to get fake products out of our grocery stores. And while they are at it, they might as well get rid of
disgusting turkey bacon
any food that has the word “flavored” in it’s name
products that have ingredients that can’t be explained
things that have artificial coloring (I wonder what their real color is)
fruits and vegetables possessing some unnatural characteristics such as crunchy tomatoes and strawberries
breads that can be compressed to 1/10 of original volume
anything in green packaging, green doesn’t mean healthy, it’s just a color
no-fat sour cream
rename rice- and soy-milk into rice- and soy-juice or whatever; it’s not milk even if it’s white
non-dairy dairy products
artificial powdered coffee creamer, WTF is that made of anyway
cheese in a can and powdered cheese
stop McRib comebacks
I am not a believer in things that are “good for you”, or “locavores”, or “slow foods”, or whatever else is in fashion right now. I do believe that if you want butter, you should eat butter, not some yellow crap in a tub. If you are unable to eat some foods due to health reasons, just enjoy something else, don’t eat fake chemical concoction designed in the lab to fool your senses.
In these times when most of our activities had been replaced by imaginary and virtual things, maybe we should draw the line at fake foods. Homey don’t eat that crap!
UPDATE: How could I forget the scam that is organic food. Thanks, L.L.!
This post should be titled “I have a camera too, you know…”. There are people in this town who are really good at taking pictures, and then there is me. I don’t set an aperture and exposure on my camera, I just push the button. That doesn’t make me any less eager to share my photos. Plus I have better captions.
Recently State of Missouri made an announcement about repealing some old ban on “yellow-tinted imitation butter and the other restrictions imposed on the sale, possession or shipment of substitute sandwich spread that is a different hue”. The question is why would anyone want to eat this crap in the first place. I understand that the law was written for different reasons but I wouldn’t mind them actually enforcing it to get fake products out of our grocery stores. And while they are at it, they might as well get rid of