Author: DOuG pRATt

Stupid !@@!$@#$##$%^ idiots!

Verizon FiOS workers are on strike. I don’t know if one of them screwed up the TV schedule, or if TCM’s information was wrong, but I set the DVR to record an old, rare movie for somebody — something that isn’t available on video — and it recorded only the first hour of it! AAUGH!! I am so sick and fu*king tired of damned stupid mistakes like this. If we are now supposed to be recording based on program data and not time, THEN THE DATA HAS TO BE !@#$%^&* CORRECT!!!!!! Or, if the running time is in doubt, as was the case here apparently, at least record too much, and not too little. I am REALLY PIS*ED OFF about this!

Follow-up: Tonight, the FiOS DVR listed G-Men from 1935 as the movie at 8, but the original 1932 Scarface was shown. The entry on TCM’s web site was correct. Somebody, somewhere, is screwing up.

In living color

RCA CEO David Sarnoff was a ruthless businessman. His great insight and accomplishment was seeing the potential of broadcasting as an entertainment medium and making network radio and television a reality. But Sarnoff didn’t hesitate to steal technology, as he did from Philo T. Farnsworth, and he crushed the great inventor Edwin Armstrong, who had been a close friend.

Having said that, RCA’s engineers did an exemplary job of creating the all-electronic NTSC color television system that was backwards-compatible with existing black & white sets. It was Ampex, however, that introduced b&w video tape recording in 1956. Two years later, RCA modified an Ampex deck so it could record in color, and the amazing results are in this video. If only this technology had been available during WWII, we would have an entirely different historical perception of the era.

Information on the restoration of this historic recording is at this link.

Some Brussels sprouts

What a coincidence that this year two major movies — Smurfs and Tintin — are based on Belgian cartoon characters. Brussels is going green (and, uh, brown) by bringing back horses to the city’s streets…

…and Kristel Verbeke looks into experiments to increase the intelligence of apes (what could go wrong?)…

http://youtu.be/Ub1i9YFf764

…while Josje teaches girls how to dance the K3 way.

http://youtu.be/Cad7TI0P4fE

The psychecology of ’68

In 1968 America exploded politically, between the war in Vietnam, the assassinations of MLK and RFK, and the riots at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, all of which ultimately led to the election of Richard Nixon. It was a difficult year for me personally, between the second half of 7th grade sucking, family problems, and having to move. Also, I went from thinking about girls to thinking about girls, girls, and girls.

A HUGE bright spot for me in 1968 was the premiere of Laugh-In, a TV show that I enjoyed with great, even painful, intensity. And, as always, reading comic books and listening to the radio helped to get me through my troubles. 1968 was the year sandwiched between the Summer of Love, with the Monterey Pop Music Festival, and Woodstock. It was looking like a light year for Beatles singles, until Hey Jude dominated the charts for weeks, but there were plenty of other songs I loved hearing that year. Here are my top 5, in no particular order. One of them is the Troggs song I already featured.

http://youtu.be/S8-knbCtXdQ

http://youtu.be/nWxm5YRmzEU