Author: DOuG pRATt

Itching for Ichiban

Tom Hanks is out of his Colonel Tom Parker persona, and he’s returning to the DJ mic at Boss Radio 66, Saturday at noon ET. You may have heard that Hanks is a typewriter enthusiast and collector. Here’s a typed note he sent to Boss Radio 66 before it declared its independence.

I don’t know what the dispute was at WFMU that led to Rock ‘n’ Soul Ichiban leaving the station, but I used to work in the radio biz, so I know how it goes. Whatever the trouble was, Hanks is no longer just a fan of the Ichiban Sound, he’s part of it.

More Reasons to Cancel Cable

On Monday, Better Call Saul starts its final 6-episode run on AMC.

Having zero interest in sports channels — a primary driver of cable rates — or cable news, once Saul is over that’s one less thing to keep me hanging onto FiOS TV. And now there’s another reason to let go of cable, because Adult Swim has canceled Joe Pera’s show.

This leaves Turner Classic Movies as cable’s only hold on me, because a cable subscription is required for the Watch TCM streaming service. My last Verizon FiOS contract expired about 18 months ago. For the same price I’ve been paying, if I renew for two years my Internet speed would kick up to 1 Gbps from “only” 100 Mbps. That’s tempting but I’m not doing that, at least not yet. HBO Max has a “TCM Hub,” and that has me wondering if it’s pointing the way to Watch TCM becoming available without cable.

As I’ve said before, it’s ironic that the cable service providers are also the Internet service providers. The cable half of the business saw too late that the Internet side of the business was taking over. They failed to adapt the long-established centralized billing model for premium channels to accommodate streaming channels.

Picture from the final scene in the last episode of Joe Pera Talks With You

Sounds Like

The New Yorker traveled to Disney-owned Skywalker Ranch to learn about the craft of Foley artists who create sound effects.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/07/04/the-weird-analog-delights-of-foley-sound-effects

The New Yorker’s channel on YouTube doesn’t have an accompanying video, but this one can serve the purpose. These Foley specialists work for Disney competitor Warner Brothers.

Let’s not neglect the visual sound effects seen in comic books!

Fantastic Four Annual #4, 1966, page 12

What does a natural gas explosion sound like?

ibid, page 13, panel 1