A long time ago I posted a video of ABBA’s winning performance at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest. I just spotted a super high quality copy that somebody’s posted. This is where the magic pixie dust sound of ABBA began.
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Iron Man 2 is out, and while watching it in IMAX yesterday I couldn’t help but thinking it’s ironic that we’ve gone from this…
…to this, because by the time I was in high school, reading comic books was decidedly not cool. It’s amazing to me that the Marvel Comics I loved as a kid in the 60’s have become the basis for widely popular and hugely successful major movies.
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The second Iron Man movie has been getting mixed reviews. My capsule comment is there’s an incredibly stupid drunk party fight in the middle, but other than that it’s absolutely terrific, if you can stand the usual mayhem of excessive explosions at the end. Here is the Boston Globe’s take on Iron Man 2. I agree with everything they say, but I don’t take as many points off as they do for the movie’s failings.
P.S. There’s a kicker after the end credits that has me a bit worried about the upcoming introduction of Thor, and how well the character will translate to the semi-reality of the big screen.
My FiOS 25 Mbps service is so reliable that I don’t bother checking the speed much anymore, but when I do I use Speakeasy. Now YouTube is offering its own interesting speed test. Right-click on a YouTube player to try it, or go to this link.
Lately, I’ve taken to channeling YouTube through the player installed on this site, which provides several advantages for me. The videos I create myself need about 750 Kbps to play smoothly, which is no problem for a broadband connection, but pushes a DSL link hard. I am hoping to add a feature that will automatically detect a slower connection and compensate for it.
Alan Taylor, in the Boston Globe, has assembled a collection of photos from the Vietnam War that’s well worth seeing, and contemplating.
With so many disasters of various sorts, natural and man-made, in the news, the general election in the UK isn’t getting much coverage in America. Here’s what’s going on over there.
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Everybody’s favorite diskinetic Parkie, Michael J. Fox, dropped in on Stephen Colbert last night. I’ve always loved the fantasy aspect of Snoopy’s doghouse, with its pool table and Van Gogh original, and I enjoy it when Colbert has the same sort of fun with his desk.
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| The Word – Flight Risk | ||||
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