Year: 2007

Alma Mater Angst

Westfield State CollegeFirst, good news about my alma mater, Westfield State College. Well, maybe not good news, but at least it’s interesting news. There’s talk of putting in an access road between Route 20 and Western Avenue. I think that’s a good idea, having myself gone up and down the only existing link, Lloyd’s Hill Road, many times. It’s certainly a proposal that’s worth some serious study. Click the thumbnail picture to see an aerial view, with my guess where the proposed road would be. I should point out the land behind WSC going down to Rt. 20 is a very steep hill.

And now, onto other WSC news. It’s my sad duty to report that once again the semi-professionals who are in charge of the place screwed something up…

Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Westfield State College mistakenly welcomes rejected students
Continue reading Alma Mater Angst

Killer Killed Bees

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/APR07/HiveCollapse.flv 400 300]© PBS

What’s killing the bee hives? Bee colony collapse is a serious problem, if you haven’t heard about it. I recorded the last few minutes of a 10-minute report on the PBS News Hour. The complete audio of the report is below.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/APR07/Bees.mp3]

A report on the bee problem that was presented to Congress last week is at this link in PDF. [Link Here]

He Yam What He Yam

At last! The DVD set I have always wanted, even before DVD’s when I wanted it on LD, will soon become a reality. The Complete Popeye The Sailor.

Going waaaay back, to my earliest memories, ages 4-7, there were two things on TV that I absolutely loved watching. Superman and Popeye. It’s a visceral connection that I feel yet to this day — The Adventures of Superman with George Reeves, and the Popeye cartoons done by the Max Fleischer studio in the 1930’s.

I’ve posted a couple of items about Superman, here and here, but for more background on Popeye I recommend a visit to an excellent tribute site. [Link Here] Note: You’ll need Internet Explorer and the Real plug-in to watch the cartoons. A slightly different take on Popeye is here on DogRat.com. But — d’oh! — the YouTube video I linked to has been pulled. Any wonder why I post my own videos?

I’ve consciously avoided all Popeye releases until now, knowing that eventually the legal hassles associated with the property would be settled, clearing the way for a box set video release. This is super-duper news. Mike Dobbs [Link] is only person I can think of who must be looking forward to this more than myself.

Shameless, Thy Name Is Shatner

OK, OKLAHOMA gave you enough happiness. Now it’s time to be weirded out.

For decades, in hushed whispers at Star Trek conventions there were rumors uttered of something so utterly bizarre, so totally strange, that few believed its existence. For it was too offbeat, even for William Shatner, who has had so much to live down in his life — embarrassments, gaffs, bad toupees, awful attempts at singing matched only by Leonard Nimoy, the suspicious drowning of a wife… and more.
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/APR07/IncubusPreview.flv 400 300]

And yet … and yet … there was something so undeniably irresistible about it. A movie. A horror movie that Shatner made before Trek. A movie spoken entirely in Esperanto. A movie called Incubus!

I’d forgotten all about Incubus long ago, so thanks go to my friend Tom for pointing out that it’s been released on DVD.