LikeTelevision Blog

Happy Birthday Spock!!!

2011-03-26T15:34:00.001-04:00

Today Leonard Nimoy celebrates his 80th birthday - so I guess that Vulcan, Live Well and Prosper stuff has some truth to it. Anyway, since way back in the day, I have always been a BIG fan of Leonard Nimoy. And LikeTelevision is thrilled to offer a few very choice - pre-Spock Leonard Nimoy video clips. But first, an aside.

Back in the prehistoric days of streaming internet video, LikeTelevision was invited to NYC for a special soiree at Rockefeller Plaza, (yep, home of 30 Rock)... to the amazing Rainbow Room high up in the sky. It was for a special launch hosted by Real Networks of Seattle, and we were one of the guests, all publishers of content for Real's launch of a new internet feature on the RealPlayer called Take 5. Each day, the player would suggest some nifty content to check out. Back then, there was no flash, no html 5, no one used Windows mediaplayer, and there was minimal use of Apple's Quicktime because there was no bandwidth for such huge files. Remember... most folks had just 56k of bandwidth.

So why I am I sharing this history? Because, Leonard Nimoy was also there as a content publisher, and during the lunch of rubber chicken, I actually sat next to Leonard Nimoy. And got to see Annie Lennox sing and Dave Stewart play acoustic guitar, from like 25 feet away. I got to see Jon Stewart, and actually confirm for myself what Dick Clark really looked like in person. I even met Rick Moranis in the elevator, and told him people tell me I look like you Rick. (His reply? People tell me I look like you all the time too, and we hugged like long lost brothers. Holy Ghostbusters!).

But I digress. Check out these 2 cool video clips of the great Leonard Nimoy in celebration of his 80th birthday. And Mr. Nimoy, I am so glad you got to Live long and prosper. Couldn't have happened to a more interesting fellow. Happy Birthday Mr. Nimoy.

LikeTelevision Watch Movies and TV Shows

Oscar Nod in Six Categories?

2011-02-22T14:54:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite movies at LikeTelevision is My Man Godfrey, starring Carole Lombard and William Powell. The film was nominated for six Oscars - including Best Actor (William Powell), Best Actress (Carole Lombard), Best Supporting Actress (Alice Brady), Best Supporting Actor (Mishca Auer), Best Director (Gregory LaCava), and Best Writing (Eric Hatch, Morrie Ryskind). And I think the performance by Eugene Pallette was also worthy of a Best Supporting Actor as Mr. Bullock.

Also of interest, a few years before the film was made, Carole Lombard and William Powell were husband and wife in the real world. The studio wanted another actress to play the scatter-brained Irene Bullock, but Powell insisted the role be offered to Carole Lombard. In any event, it is easy to see the deep affection they had for each other and it is indeed quite endearing. And so is the film - I bet you will enjoy it. Check it out if you have not seen it, or perhaps if it has been a while since you've seen. It is a great treat and always leaves you with a good feeling as many great movies do.

Valentine's Day Movies, Cartoons and TV Shows

2011-02-14T12:18:00.000-05:00

We decided to make a short list of some fun video content for Valentine's Day, all about the wonderful and sometimes dodgy subject of love. First - here's a few movies for Valentine's Day. In the happy & romantic department, try My Man Godfrey starring Carole Lombard and William Powell, who were at one time married in real life, but when they made this film we no longer a couple. Great film, you can easily tell they had great admiration for each other. Another fun romantic love story is Frank Capra's Meet John Doe, starring Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper. And our third, happy romantic film is Made For Each Other, starring Jimmy Stewart and Carole Lombard.

If you are looking for a satirical film about love, look no further! We have two wonderful movies in this category. Jean Renoir's Rules of The Game is not only funny, it is also at hard hard to swallow, so biting is the sarcasm. Another classic in this vein, is Ingmar Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night. Really wonderful and funny too.

Next up - TV Shows! We suggest a few Mayberry classics, A Wife For Andy, Mountain Wedding, and Rivals, where Opie (Ron Howard) finds his first love. If you want a country and western love story, check out these 2 Bonanza episodes - Courtship, and the classic, Dark Star, where little Joe falls for a Gypsy girl. And by all means, check out a few Burns and Allen episodes, one of the greatest comedy duos of all time, who were also happily married and very much in love with each other.

A few cartoon selections - Bride and Gloom, A Date to Skate, and Nearlyweds with Popeye and Olive Oyl. We also enjoyed Cupid Gets His Man, Scrappily Married, Peter Sellers in Birds, Bees and Storks.

Winterize Thyself with Hockey Laughs

2011-01-25T15:41:00.000-05:00

Long before the days of High Definition cameras for professionals, let alone consumers - there was a format called Hi-8. In its day, it was thought to be of decent quality and best of all, much easier to just go somewhere and shoot something fun. And so, back in the day we decided to write, shoot and broadcast a few comedy shorts with a hockey theme.

The first in the series was an informative yet silly piece on the Zamboni Ice Machine, only it was not a real Zamboni, the machine was a wanna be ice scrapper called an Olympia. The video was shot at the local rink in south Charlotte, North Carolina - which is anything but a hockey mecca. You can watch that video here.

The next comedy sketch in the series was about a hockey team's dentist - title Dr. Barre. Okay, now we are talking as the piece ventures into and explores the zone of weird. Or as Hunter Thompson used to say, the weird turn pro. Watch that here.

And then we went back to the rink to film a short called The Penalty Box, which sort of explains the lighter side of the rules of hockey. Complete with lots of cheap shots, cross checks, and high sticks aimed at causing injuries. You can watch that here.

And finally - the weirdest comedy short of all - At Home with Antoine, which tells the story of a retired hockey player who seems to have been checked and body slammed once or twice too often. It seems he thinks himself to be the poet laureate of the NHL, a new position granted by the commissioner of hockey himself. Think Alistair Cooke meets Andy Kaufman, this puppy is out there. If you think you can handle it, you can watch it here.

Jennifer Connelly in Creepers

2011-01-14T17:29:00.000-05:00

The other day Jennifer Connelly was on Letterman, saying she was very nauseated in the first few months of her pregnancy. It seems morning sickness does not care if you are a famous actress and is an equal opportunity deployer. HA!

Well, many years ago, in 1985 to be precise Jennifer Connelly starred in a classic Dario Argento horror film called Phenomena (also released under another name, Creepers). And if you are afraid of bugs, or they make you skeamish - then this movie might make you nauseous, because she plays an odd girl, that has a special love and control over all kinds of bugs, who are her dear friends. YIKES! And Argento does not disappoint with a bunch of wonderful bug scenes, worthy of Jaws levels of scariness. Also stars Donald Pleasence, best known as they Doctor in the Halloween series of films. In case you missed it, we are featuring this movie again - check it out!

Christmas TV Specials & Movies

2010-12-09T12:17:00.004-05:00

Though I am no fan of cold weather, or the winter months in general - Christmas is always a fun time of year. It is a time of hope and also renewal. It is a time and pause and to try and make sure all of us are doing our best to spread peace on Earth, and manifest this in one's effort to show Good Will Towards all.

For the Christmas season, we offer a bunch of terrific Christmas related video content, just search for Christmas to see most. But here are some of our all-time favorites. The original Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is always a lot of fun. And there are also a few Beverly Hillbillies episodes too, my favorites are Christmas at the Clampetts and Home for Christmas. But my favorite Christmas TV special has got to be Dragnet's Big Little Jesus. Someone has made off with the baby Jesus from the church;s nativity scene, and Joe Friday has less than 24 hours to find it before the Christmas morning mass.

For movies, by all means check out the camp classic, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. Another good film with a Christmas theme is a Frank Capra classic called Meet John Doe. If you enjoyed Capra's It's a Wonderful Life, you will enjoy this film.

Here's a few final staff picks to keep you busy when it's too cold to go outside. The Little Rascals' Tough Winter, Snow Foolin', Christmas Comes but Once a Year, Caste in Bronze, Jack Frost, and a Howdy Doody Christmas.

Happy Thanksgiving, TV Specials & Cartoons

2010-11-24T12:46:00.001-05:00

Thanksgiving is always a fun holiday. And yes, I think it is a good idea to stop and be thankful for whatever you have to be thankful for, in good times and difficult times even more so. It is easy to get too focused with things that are not perfect, challenging or downright difficult. But even then there is always something to be thankful for. In any event - we wish you all a joyful and happy thanksgiving.

Here's a few fun thanksgiving holiday related videos to watch. First, one of my favorites is from the Beverly Hillbillies, titled Turkey Day from 1962. It has just about everything you might want from a TV special for Thanksgiving - family, a turkey, pilgrims, Indians (native americans, but back then they were called Indians, which no one I can remember ever seemed to mind), and even a Rhinoceros. Huh? Well you will have to watch to understand.

Another fun Thanksgiving related classic is a cartoon from Tex Avery called Jerky Turkey. Made in the 1940s during World War II, it a feast of double entendres, silly visual jokes, politically incorrect asides and wicked puns. You know, like many of the old cartoons - a rich plate of satire for children and adults.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Royal Wedding

2010-11-13T15:41:00.001-05:00

If I were to believe every thing I read at the checkout aisle of the grocery store, I would guess we are in for another Royal Wedding. And I thought to myself, hey - it sure has been a while since we had a really good set of regal nuptials, so I guess it might just be a big deal. When I was younger, I was amazed at all the "big deal" status when Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer tied the knot. Honestly, in the USA the affair was as big as the World Cup and the Super Bowl combined. If you were too young to remember, or so old that you forgot - here's a little newsreel video of the Royals wedding ceremony. Whether or not Prince William does get married or not, who knows? But I suspect the wedding will be a huge deal, if only because he might one day be King William, but mostly, because he is the son of Lady Di.

Well - thirty years before that marriage, there was a very popular movie called Royal Wedding. It was an old school movie musical, which still had about 10 or 15 years left of gas before the genre pretty much died out altogether. It offered the movie tagline - that it was MGM's gayest technicolor musical, which you can see in the tweaked movie poster below. And as I look at current times, obviously a lot has changed. MGM, the movie side, not the casino and hotel business, filed for bankruptcy last week and back then, being the gayest was not at all what that means today. The movie was directed by the legendary Stanley Donen and starred Fred Astaire, Jane Powell, Peter Lawford, Keenan Wynn, and Sarah Churchill. Yes inquiring minds - she was related to Sir Winston Churchill. She was his daughter, and probably still is. HA!

In any event, it seemed like a wonderful time to encourage you to revisit this film. Besides being a really solid example of the Hollywood musical genre, it features some really terrific scenes. My favorite is later in the film (a few minutes into Part six. click the playlist icon in the lower right corner, and jump to part six if you want to see this amazing scene) when Fred Astaire does a jaw dropping dance around the room, on the walls and even on the ceiling. A special room that all the furniture glued down and could rotate was used to create this amazing effect.

If you have a strong broadband connection - check out the movie in the player offered below. (MP4 files, encoded at much higher data rates than the flash version offered here). Hope you enjoy the show, and we will look for you at the upcoming Royal Wedding. What? you were not invited? Oh well, too bad. I imagine it will be a little stuffy anyway.

Quentin Tarantino

2010-09-09T12:23:00.000-04:00

After watching a bunch of Quentin Tarantino movies, it was easy to see what a huge fan he was of the rich history of film. I also guessed that he has a lot of fans who missed all the cool references and hat tips he gave to directors of days gone by.

In Kill Bill, both one and two - he honors so many of the great Japanese film makers of the 1950s and 1960s. Yes, of course there are short segments in most of his films which recall the work of Akira Kurosawa, and Kill Bill is no exception. Go and watch Yojimbo, Seven Samurai and Throne of Blood and you will see what I mean. But, did you notice in the final scene of Kill Bill 1, how the fight scene recalled Hiroshi Inagaki's final fight scene in Samurai III, Duel at Ganyru Island. And also, for good measure - a nod to Masaki Kobayashi's Kwaidan, Women of the Snow. Trust me, if you are familiar with some of these Japanese film classics, the Kill Bill series will be much more fun to watch.

Or take another Tarantino film, Inglorious Bastards. Do you remember the part about how film used to be made of nitrate and was highly combustible? And then there was a shot of a little boy carrying some films, and a policeman not allowing him on the bus? Well - guess what. That scene came from a terrific and very suspenseful movie from the great Sir Alfred Hitchcock called Sabotage. And that scene with little Stevie carrying the film, which was rigged to be a bomb was so good. Awesome good. In the Tarantino movie, the shot lasted about 10 seconds, but if you had the benefit of having already seen Sabotage, that whole episode added immensely to the beauty of the Tarantino film. And if you have never seen a Leni Riefenstahl film, you would not appreciate the ambiguity of what a great director she was, and also - how creepy to be doing this high art for the Nazis of World War II Germany.

The bottom line with any Quentin Tarantino movie - the more you know and appreciate film history, the more enjoyable it will be to experience a Tarantino film.

Johnny Carson Great Gift

2010-08-12T05:35:00.000-04:00

Johnny Carson died in January 2005, but even after he died, he continues to be one of the nicest most generous fellows in all of Hollywood. In case you missed the news - he contributed over 150 million dollars to his foundation, the John W. Carson Foundation, which is known for its annual gifts to a wide variety of charities - including the education of children. Lots of people do not understand how foundations work - basically it is a huge chunk of invested assets that are required by law to give away at least 5% of their assets every year. So, if the directors of the foundation do a good job of investing, and say for example they are able to earn 10% on the foundation's assets - the foundation can give more and more money to charity every year - in perpetuity if they continue to invest it well. Oddly enough, Albert Einstein once said man's greatest invention was the power of compounding interest - and indeed, if you follow this example of making 10% compounded on the assets, and giving away 5% - it does not take that long to double the money of the foundations assets, and in turn, double the amount of annual giving. How long? well - about 15 years.

Okay - enough of the math games.... Johnny Carson of the Tonight Show - TV Comedy at the highest levels of humor. here's Johnny.

A few of my favorites - if time is short. Clip 1 - Clip 2 - Clip 3

To Kill a Mockingbird turns 50!

2010-07-11T18:25:00.000-04:00

Fifty years ago, on July 11, 1960 Harper Lee published the most acclaimed American novel - To Kill a Mockingbird (move over Melville, though Mobie Dick is probably a better book. Personally - I would vote for something by Samuel Clemmons, aka Mark Twain... but I digress). While perhaps not the greatest book ever written in America, it is required reading in most high schools across the USA. And indeed, it is a great book. And a few years later in 1962, a great movie was made about the novel, featuring Gregory Peck as Atticus Fitch, Robert Duvall as Boo Radley and William Windam as the very creepy attorney who tried to railroad the innocent black man, Tom Robinson, played by Brock Peters.

So - it is a great time to check out a wonderful movie you probably haven't watched in a long time. One of my favorite parts of the film is the amazing soundtrack by Elmer Bernstein. You can watch right here at LikeTelevision - free. No need to pony up anything more than your time. Enjoy the show. To Kill a Mockingbird.

Skydiving - version 5.0

2010-06-03T15:10:00.000-04:00

Yee Haw - For those who have never experienced it, skydiving is a great way to spend a slow day in early days of June. This was my fifth tandem skyjumping try - perhaps the last tandem jump before I venture out and go for it on my own. The process to go for it on your own is different from location to location - where I skydive @ Skydive Carolina - you can read all the details at their web site. It involves a series of jumps, on the first solo, you have two instructors with you the whole time to make sure you pull the ripcord at the proper altitude, and you pretty much have to make a decent landing after getting a bunch of instructions on how one should go about doing this. Anyway - for my fifth tandem jump, I wanted to simulate as much of that as possible with an instructor attached to me the whole time, ummmm - just in case. The steering to the landing zone was no problem, but I still came in a little hard and fast and need to be more cognizant of the flare at the end. If you are looking for a soft and mellow landing, you have to fully extend and pull down hard to de-power the parachute before landing.

In any event - it was a great time. I included the video below in case you're interested. Skydive Carolina is in the middle of a cool festival that lasts all week - with jumpers from all over the place, and tents with vendors selling techno gear, parachutes, vitamin water was free - and the best part - the people. Truth is - people who jump out of airplanes - are really interesting people as you might imagine. I hope to get out there again sometime over the weekend just to take it all in. What a great time !!!

Igor Sikorsky was one Cool Cat

2010-05-24T15:24:00.000-04:00

Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky was born on May 25, 1889 in Kiev Russia. He was one major cool man and was a huge innovator in the world of aviation - in both helicopter technology and fixed-wing aircraft, in some ways maybe even more important than the Wright Brothers. He emigrated to the USA on March 11, 1919. You can catch a short video with Sikorsky here.

Wikipedia has a very good article to learn more about his life. Another very cool aviation film to watch if you like airplanes and aviation history is called Conquest of the Air, with Lawrence Olivier.

Also of note - Sikorsky was a man of great faith. Hey, you'd have to be to invent a working helicopter. Let me close my brief tribute to Sikorsky with a quote:

Our concerns sink into insignificance when compared with the eternal value of human personality - a potential child of God which is destined to triumph over lie, pain, and death. No one can take this sublime meaning of life away from us, and this is the one thing that matters.

Lena Horne Sang like an Angel

2010-05-10T12:22:00.001-04:00

This morning I was greeted by the sad news that the great Lena Horne died yesterday, May 9, 2010 at the age of 92 in New York City. She was born in Brooklyn on June 30, 1917 and was aclaimed not only for her talent, but also for her role as an active member of the civil rights movement.

In reading over her obituaries, so much ink is given to her role in breaking barriers in the olden days of entertainment - and she certainly did a great deal. I recalled Halle Berry giving Lena Horne credit when she won the Oscar in 2001. And I am happy to give Lena Horne HUGE credit for all the hardships she endured in those days. Part of what made Lena Horne amazing was her tireless work for justice and equal rights. But I grew up as a child in the 1960s and anyone with an education was pretty aware that racism was just stupid. Yes, I know pockets of racism remain, but it is far removed from my universe. My problem is with racists, not people with a different skin color or culture than me.

What I will always remember about Lena was how she could sing a song. I will never ever forgot - WOW, Lena Horne could sing like an angel. So, allow me to write about how great a singer she was. About how her heart just overflowed and burst on every note. She was THAT good.

I heard her perform as a young boy at a place called Melody Top in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Melody Top was a giant tent at a place called the Schlitz Pavillion. The sound system was very good for its day and because it was a huge tent, and a singer could sing without all the room reflections creating a gargle of echos that made it difficult to hear. And as a young kid of maybe 9 or 10 - I was able to just listen to her sing without all the back story of racial tensions, breaking barriers, and civil rights. As I think back about it - how lucky I was to have this opportunity. And even though four decades have passed, I still get goosebumps remembering that day. This little boy was convinced she was an angel, and that this is what angels must sound like when they sing. No doubt about it - Lena Horne sang like an angel.

Anyway - give yourself that same blessing. Just close your eyes, and listen to Lena Horne sing.You can wring your hands about all the troubles in the world in just a few short minutes. Go into a world of childlike wonder - and ask yourself, I wonder if this is what angels sound like? Rest in peace Lena Horne. And may God bless you and keep you safe.

Audrey Hepburn Rocks!

2010-05-04T11:52:00.000-04:00

On May 4. 1929 - Audrey Kathleen Ruston, a.k.a. Audrey Hepburn, was born in Ixelles, Belgium. She spent her childhood growing up in Nazi occupied Arnhem, Netherlands during World War II where she learned to be a little ballerina (and you thought her graceful movements just came naturally). When she was 21, she moved to London to continue her ballet training and also got some work as a model. In a few short years, she moved to New York and got the lead role in the Broadway show Gigi in 1951.And two years later in 1953, she was starring with Gregory Peck in one of her best films, Roman Holiday. During her film career, she worked with many other stars including Humphrey Bogart, Rex Harrison, Cary Grant, Gary Cooper, William Holden, Fred Astaire, Peter O'Toole, George Peppard, and Albert Finney.

One of my favorite Audrey Hepburn movies is Charade, where she plays a woman who gets tangled in a crazy web of international intrigue and falls in love with a man (Cary Grant) who loves her, but is also not very truthful to her because of his job as a secret agent of sorts. The film also stars Walter Matthau, James Coburn, and George Kennedy, The film is directed by the great Stanley Donen, with a killer musical score by Henry Mancini.

Classic Tax Videos - Granny vs. The Revenue Man

2010-04-14T15:19:00.001-04:00

Time to repeat an olde post - that is always new each year at this time.
You asked for it, here we go again with some higher taxes! To mitigate the horror, we've provided some TV comedy classics about the tax man. First place goes to Granny, who is ready to shoot the revenue man since he might also wanna mess with her still by the cement pond that makes her Spring Tonic. The episode is called Jed Pays His Taxes. Now imagine the I.R.S. has a worst nightmare, what would that person be like. Well look no further - I think Grace Allen would win this prize. Check out 2 hilarious episodes where Gracie's spacey intellect get the best of The Tax Man and the Property Tax Assessor.

You might also want to check out the Frank Random preview of My Man Godfrey, where Eugene Pallette laments that his family spends 50% of his income while the federal government wants 60% for taxes. One final tax video concerns Al Capone, who went to jail for tax evasion.

Ooops, we forgot to mention this yesterday - but April 14th is the day the Titanic sunk after it hit an iceberg. Make sure you check out the One Step Beyond episode about the Titanic called the Night of April 14th. We offer that episode with 2 other episodes as a DVD iso download to subscribers or a la carte. But no worries TV fans, the Flash and Real streams are free to watch.

Cool Baseball Videos

2010-04-07T18:06:00.000-04:00

Yipee - it's Baseball season again! Time for some beer, brats and baseball - but wait! - oh no, the Brewers lost the opener. I think it will be okay, there are many many games left to enjoy. So, to celebrate the Baseball season, we thought we'd offer our top picks in the search for baseball videos.

The favorite seems to be The Clampetts meet the Dodgers with Leo Durocher of the LA Dodgers, followed closely by the Jackie Robinson movie. Not to be missed, an early live tv performance by Paul Newman in Bang the Drum slowly. Plus - Max Patkin the clown prince of baseball, and an old shaving commercial with Pee Wee Reese, Don Zimmer and Roy Campenella. Want more baseball video? Try here.

Holy Week 2010 - Joy to all

2010-03-30T17:16:00.003-04:00

We wish all our Jewish friends a Happy Passover, and hoping all Catholics have a productive and prayer filled Holy Week as the season of Lent comes to an end. And Happy Easter to all. Basically - We wish everyone a wonderful and joyous holiday, and for those in the northern hemisphere, may you delight in the sights and smells of spring. For our southern hemisphere friends, I hope your leaves changing colors are especially beautiful.

In case I forgot anybody, ummmm, like some of those living on the equator, - we wish you the very best too.

Happy President's Day

2010-02-15T12:44:00.011-05:00

Woo woo - break out the bubbly because it's President's Day. OK - so President's Day is a total non-holiday where typically - whoa, cool - no work today but in all honesty, we would do well to remember the two guys today's holiday honors - Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. George W. (no, no, no, not Dubya), the first US Prez, was a great president and we should be thankful he devoted a great part of his life to giving his talents to found this great country. But, unlike most politicians today - I am just thrilled he set a great precedent, and did not wish to become King George. By the time the war was over, all he wanted to do was to retire and chill at Mt. Vernon. So far, we have yet to have a president who was hard to kick the heck out, though FDR did his best to push the envelope of term limits - he actually did the USA a favor, because soon there was a new law - just two terms and buh bye.

And how can you not like Abraham Lincoln? OK - I am sure there are a bunch of you knuckleheads out there, but at least concede he kept the country together. Yes, we have all heard recently that he suspended Habeas Corpus, and that was bad.... very bad, probably worse than when Seinfeld told Babu to change the theme of his restaurant to specialize in Pakistani food. But give old Honest Abe some props - slavery did indeed put a huge wound on the words in our US Constitution and Bill of Rights. Can you say - hypocrisy?

Anyway - for me, these are two of my favorite presidents. I regret we do not have any decent video on Abe Lincoln... but we do have a really cool George Washington tale from sci-fi bizarro land. Yep, no kidding. Check out this classic One Step Beyond episode - Night in Decision. Another interesting George Washington short video clip worth watching comes from a super trailer made by LikeTelevision's resident maestro, Frank Random.

or watch the whole movie. McLintock - starring John Wayne as George Washington McLintock.

India Gains Independence - Made an I.P.A.

2010-01-26T16:27:00.006-05:00

It was 60 years ago today, on January 26, 1950 that Indian finally gained its independence from Great Britain. Two Indian heroes were mostly responsible for the country's freedom - Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. Their weapon of choice - passive resistance. Though they were promised independence by British Prime Minister Atlee in 1945, those stubborn Brits were downright slow to let go... I mean 5 years is a long time mates. Here's a video with some historic footage of the landmark event in India's history.

So - to honor this historic day - I decided to bottle a batch of some home brew, an India Pale Ale to be exact - which had been fermenting in a lovely state of what is called wort. Zymergy (the art of fermentation), Moshing - or making home brew is my new hobby. One of these days I will make a video about it as it is loads of fun and downright delicious if you know what you like in brewskis and are patient. Since this I.P.A. was a strong batch - meaning a bunch of alcohol content by volume, it is best to let it ferment in this wort state for at least 2 weeks. After that - it is time to bottle it - which entails adding 3/4 teaspoon of sugar into each 12 oz. bottle, pouring in the wort and capping it. Give it a good shake, and let it sit for about 10 days to get the beer nice and carbonated. The yeast is still active and it will ferment the sugar, letting off gas which has no place to go except into the beer to give it that nice fizz and a solid head when you pour it. After this - it is two months of lagering - which just means you put it into the fridge and try not to drink it because it is still immature. Well, I am immature too - and as of yet - I cannot wait the whole time and try a few before they are totally ready - but waiting does make the beer a ton smoother, so you really want to. Knowing my weakness - I have brewed several batches so far - with fun names to boot. Fat Man in a Bathtub Stout, St Arnold's Schwartz a Negre, Squirrelly's Nut Brown Ale, Fat Ass Bass, and most recently - Jenny's Juicy Juice, which is my favorite to date, already half gone and less than a month of lagering. Yikes! So - in an effort to stay ahead of the game, I also began a new keg of wort - I am calling Crazy Mixed Up Kid - because I am using a Pilsner Hopped Malt Extract combined with an Amber Unhopped Malt Extract and Gr Spalt Grand Hops and some Galcier Hops, with a cup and a 1/4 of brown sugar. This batch will be ready around planting time in the garden.

If you are interested in a how to make beer video, just drop me a line at info-at-liketelevision-dot-com. Cheers! And especially to all my friends from India - Cheers!

Newspapers back in the day

2010-01-17T18:06:00.004-05:00

Many years ago - newspapers were the primary source of information for most Americans. The industry grew for decades - and believe it or not, there was a time when most big cities had 2 thriving newspapers, usually broken down political lines. Which is why a bunch were named the Democrat or the Republican, with a prefix of the city in question. First radio, and then TV began to eat away at their monopoly for supplying information. And today - with the onset of the internet, you can pretty much get the news just the way you like and have only the narrowest point of view, a blog where only you are the reader for instance. ahaha. All kidding aside - there still are a lot of good newspapers out there, but it is no secret they are struggling with all the competition for providing information.

But back in the day - say the 1930s and 1940s - newspapers were the only game in town. They owned the information and were paid very well to tell the information in a way that was honest and fair, and struggle to keep clean amidst a world that had many rich people wanting to present in a way favorable to their business or power related projects. A few of my favorites are His Girl Friday, starring Cary Grant and Rosiland Russell and Meet John Doe starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. You can also check out a lot of newspaper related stories, whether it is Clark Kent, alias Superman working at The Daily Planet or Frederic March and Janet Gaynor in A Star is Born. But don't stop checking out the history there - just do a search for Newspaper - and you will find a ton of newspaper related content. Oh - here's one more favorite - from an old TV show called One Step Beyond. The episode is called Where Are They? and it begins in an old newspaper office in Chico California with reporters covering a very odd story - of rocks falling out of the sky. Cool episode indeed.

Tonight Show Videos

2010-01-14T15:03:00.006-05:00

When I was a kid the Tonight Show was a really big deal. In the early days it was hosted by Jack Parr, and when it was time for him to move on - a new unknown named Johnny Carson was chosen to host the show. Everybody thought he would fail and would be replaced by somebody as known and famous as Jack Parr, but Carson took the show to a totally new level of comedy and entertainment.

Anyway - we have a ton of the classic moments from The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson - prepared in a fast paced montage of best of moments. One of the best known is the series of blooper sexual innuendo classics - featuring Jane Fonda's line about Pet My Pussy, and Johnny's offer to trim Raquel Welch's hedges, etc etc. No - the Arnold Palmer clip about how he allegedly said his wife kisses his ball before every tee shot is not included. And a further urban legend says that this clip will never see the light of day, as lawyers are lined up to keep that Tiger deep in the woods forever. But according to Snopes, that urban legend never even happened.

But Johnny was the master of the live clip. Don't believe me - watch this one below with Ed Ames throwing a hatchet on live TV. It does not get better than this.

Johnny also introduced a ton of great comedians to huge nation wide audience - from Rosanne Barr, George Carlin, Bill Maher, to Gary Shandling and a really young Drew Barrymore, who pulled out her baby retainer and plopped it on Johnny's desk.

And the video below featuring Sam Kinison is a just too funny. With Carson at the helm of the Tonight Show, it was always on the cutting edge of comedy. Watch them all!

So, today's current spat with the Tonight Show featuring Jay Leno in one corner with Conan O'Brien in the other - with NBC's Jeff Zucker being the one most likely to get the axe - is not so much about the Tonight Show as it is about the bickering. After Johnny left - and cable began to grow new channels every month, the Tonight Show was really never the same. Johnny Carson was the Tonight Show. If you could put him back on the show - all the networks would be in the bidding and it would go for an astronomical price. I bet Leno, Conan, and Zucker would even agree this was true.

Sherlock Holmes Movies

2010-01-04T15:43:00.007-05:00

The other day, my girls suggested that I would enjoy the new Sherlock Holmes movie starring Robert Downey jr. as the great detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle many years ago. Even as a kid, I loved Sherlock Holmes and my favorite Sherlock was always Basil Rathbone, though I did enjoy Jeremy Brett in the PBS series a while back as well. He was probably closer to the literary character than Rathbone - but for me, Brett was just a bit too arrogant - while Rathbone had that just right aura of self-importance. And Nigel Bruce was just the most delightful Doctor Watson - the perfect blend of intelligent doctor, and blind as a bat buffoon who always made Sherlock Holmes seem even more astute in his observations. Anyway - I hope to take the advice of my girls and check out the new film. I have always been a fan of Robert Downey jr - who judging by the stories in the news, he would make a wonderful Sherlock.

But - if you are like me, you still have a huge spot in your heart for the old B&W Sherlock Holmes movies starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. And here at LikeTelevision - we have a bunch of the best Sherlock Holmes movies from that era. One of my favorites is called Secret Weapon, where Sherlock is fighting the Nazis to save a very secret weapon developed by a foreign scientist behind enemy lines. Sherlock must figure out a way to bring the hi-tech bomb sight back to the allies without it being discovered by those nasty Gestapo types in leather trench coats. And of course, the evil Professor Moriarty has allied himself with those nasty Nazi types.

Another Moriarty classic is called The Women in Green. Here Sherlock must not only match wits with the evil genius Moriarty, but also stay cool while being wooed and charmed by a beautiful woman, played by Hilary Brook. And of course, she's a no good stooge working for the evil Moriarty. I wonder if this is where the whole Batman / Cat Woman love weirdness all started. Ahhh... Julie Newmar... but I digress.

PLUS... More classic Sherlock Holmes movies starring Basil Rathbone - Dressed To Kill and Terror By Night. There's a few more Sherlock related videos to - including one starring Popeye the sailor man in Private Eye Popeye, and another cartoon with Mutt and Jeff.

Crazy Brids Come Home

2009-11-18T16:10:00.003-05:00

In case you didn't know - I just love birds. And being a man of passion, when I say I love birds - that means to normal people, I am a bird freak. No kidding. Every day, rain or shine - I go out with a few buckets of all kinds of food, and fill up feeders, scatter some on the ground, replace suet, and even get peanuts and some weird stuff too - cause I just love birds. These little critters bring me so much joy - and by far, they are the best weathermen in the world. (better than Grady Norton or George Carlin, the Hippy Dippy Weatherman). Early in the year, I knew something crazy was up because of the birds, and indeed - it snowed a few inches the next day. Compared to these bird brains, Al Gore knows next to nothing about climate, which is perhaps an inconvenient truth, but true all the same.

So - I thought I would highlight a few of my favorite bird related video clips at LikeTelevision. Bill and Coo is a really bizarre and entertaining movie - starring birds! I mean it is just plain silly. And speaking of bird related comedy - Johnny Carson has a TV classic video with the rooster as a special guest. Speaking of roosters - there's Foghorn Leghorn(sorry, no video for this), or check out this cartoon classic with Herman and Henry. And in case you didn't think birds were political animals - well think again! Watch this WWII classic called the Ducktators. And while we are into cartoons - Talking Magpies introduces the great comedy duo of Heckle and Jeckle. And what about Woody Woodpecker? And a search for Crow has a ton of good stuff too.

This summer - I tried and tried to have a bird eat from my hand. No, not a caged bird - I could never have a bird in a cage, like I said, i Love birds. I wanted a wild bird in the hand, coming to feed on the tons of seed provided every year. While I never achieved my goal this summer - I got so close. There was a family of brown capped nuthatches that would shimmy down a 4x4 pole, and come within and inch of my hand, and then think better of it. It must have happened 50 times - but no luck in actually getting a peanut from my hand. The closest I got was once or twice - one of them would graze my hand as it flew away. Well, the cat made this a lot harder... but sometime soon, I just know it is gonna happen. Or at least I hope so.

Muhammad Ali and the Smothers Brothers

2009-10-22T15:57:00.003-04:00

I just finished watching an interesting clip of Penn Jillette talking about how he was screamed at by Tommy Smothers for going on some stupid news show. Not sure which one, I think it was Glenn Beck on Fox News, but who cares. Let's face it, it does not matter which side of the fence you are on today, you can just flip through the cable channels and have no trouble finding something that is annoying to you. Thank goodness there are so many channels. Just use your remote control - you do not even have to get up.

Anyway - I remembered a really funny clip when the Smothers Brothers were on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and thought it was worth highlighting. Also featured in this short clip is Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, way before he ever got into grilling burgers or chicken. Hope you enjoy it - check out the Smothers Brothers doing a really funny little ditty about what their Daddy's do for a living.

October 13th - Happy Birthday Grandma

2009-10-13T09:01:00.006-04:00

On October 13, 1902, my grandmother was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She was the child of what they used to call, a girl in trouble - meaning Grandma was born out of wedlock, and the father had decided to disappear after having relations with the young teenage girl. And so, because times were much different a century ago, this poor frightened kid had her child and my Grandmother was immediately put up for adoption. Though she never met her mom, I was told she believed she was of Scandinavian decent, probably Finnish. Today I feel blessed to have enjoyed so many wonderful times with my grandmother - she was an amazing woman who went on to do great things. Her biggest gift to the world was not the Ape House at the Milwaukee County Zoo, or the countless donations to charity. In truth, her biggest gift was that she poured out the love in her heart on everyone she met in a way that could only be described as reckless abandon. It didn't matter if you were the fancy pants CEO or the humble maid, or the guy on the Harley Davidson riding in big parade every summer in Milwaukee - she loved them all. And with all of her heart too.

So in honor of this great lady, Frank Random and I created a special video for her on her 100th birthday, which was back in 2002. Having seen it a million times before (video editing, writing the narration, re-purposing the music etc does take a lot of time and effort you know), I decided to just look out at the crowd as they took it in for the first time. The room was filled with over 100 people easy, and I have never seen so many people well up with tears. You see, when you love people like Grandma did over the course of her 100 years of living well, people have no choice to love you in return. God bless you Grandma. I love you too.

Sharon Tate as Janet Trego

2009-09-25T12:46:00.008-04:00

Back when I was a kid growing up in Milwaukee, I loved to watch the Beverly Hillbillies. As a Wisconsin yokel, one could easily relate to the Tennessee hillbillies who were all too often taken as rubes by the hoitey toity of Beverly Hills, California. In truth, all too often, Jed Clampett (Buddy Ebsen) was as wise as old King Solomon. The show was a huge hit, in spite of the supercilious critics who loved to hate the show.

Well, as a young boy (age 6-8 years old) - I loved the episodes with Miss Jane's assistant Janet Trego, played by Sharon Tate. She was really pretty and had a wonderful innocence about her that I found especially appealing. I was way too young to understand all the sexual innuendo jokes and I was a big fan of her white rain helmet hair, a style worn by many of the young women and mothers of the day. And though I did not really know what it meant, I always thought she was really cool. I had no idea who Roman Polanski was or anything, I was just a kid.

And I will never forget the news one day (August 9, 1969) - when I learned that a lady named Sharon Tate, the actress who played Janet Trego on the show, was murdered. And worse - she was very pregnant when it happened, so her soon to be born baby was also killed in the murder. It is hard to describe how awful such things are in the mind of a young boy, but I remember it to this day. And I was a huge fan of The Beatles too, but for a long time, The White album, filled with songs like Helter Skelter and Little Piggies gave me the creeps for several years. Till I was a teenager - and had grown as creepy as the society I lived in. (for a sample of the times, check out Angels as Hard as They Come, Maybe I'll Come home in the Spring, or Born to Win) - Lots of people thought the "new age" of the 1960s with free love (see Harrad Experiment) and all the new way of thinking was really cool, but as a young kid, I am awful glad my parents were squares.

Anyway - Susan Atkins, the woman who killed Sharon Tate died today of cancer. She was 61. That is all the ink she is going to get from me today. Personally, I would rather remember Sharon Tate, and how I thought she was really pretty when I just a seven year old kid. Nothing nasty like so much of today's world. I just thought she was really pretty, and as one often does at that age, I imagined she was also quite a nice person. Of course I never knew her, but I am happy to remember her today.

William Bonney - Billy The Kid

2009-09-09T15:35:00.005-04:00

William Henry Bonney, better known as Billy the Kid was born in New York and as a young boy, moved out west with his family, which was more dysfunctional than most. The history on this man, who died at the young age of 21 is so difficult to unravel because most of what is known about him comes from the sheriff, Pat Garrett who killed him. Garrett's book, The Authentic Life of Billy, the Kid was published after Garrett shot Billy with four other guys after Billy escaped his first arrest by Garrett by killing four guys on the break-out. Garrett completely sensationalized the young gunslinger punk and made him out to be a legend, when in fact he was much closer to a nobody, than a somebody in the Wild Wild West. He was more likely from the Mild, Mild West.

And then there's that weird picture which a actually a mirror image of the young outlaw. (here's an even bigger photo of Billy the Kid, who knew there was a color version available?)

Hollywood, as is often the case, made history even weirder. The first big movie about Billy the Kid was a result of Howard Hughes having the hots for Jane Russell. She started in the film, The Outlaw as a sympathetic young girl who was in love with Billy. In an effort to boost publicity, Hughes aircraft engineered a special cantilevered bra for Ms. Russel's ample bosom and provided promo 8x10 glossies of Jane Russell to the newspapers with more cleavage than all the Leave it Beaver episodes combined. She wore one of those floppy peasant girl blouses that have come back in and out of style since time began. As you might expect - the press was outraged, and huge lines formed outside theaters for a simply dreadful movie - just the kind we often like to feature at LikeTelevision. The movie just begs for a mystery science theater treatment.

Wanna get weirder? Well how about Billy the Kid versus Dracula? Huh? yes, John Carradine as Dracula no less. And the film even features Mrs. Olsen, of Folgers coffee fame as a concerned mother - who makes no java for anyone. As I recall, she does die near the mountain grown area, where the flavor of coffee beans is richest. And while the authorities searched for Juan Valdez, the real killer was of course, Carradine. Got it?

September 1, 1939 - WWII Begins

2009-09-01T11:15:00.003-04:00

On September 1, 1939 - World War II begins as Germany invades Poland. Hard to believe it was only 70 years ago, when the 2nd war to end all wars did not end all wars after all. I mean, my dad is older than that, and I don't consider him to be that old - so in truth, it is not really that long ago after all. As a simple search for WII reveals - there's a lot of movies, tv shows and even cartoons related to World War Two, so we thought it best to highlight some of the best content to watch and save some precious time for our cherished viewers.

For movies - we recommend Roberto Rossellini's Open City, Escape From Sobibor, Forbidden Games and Orson Welles' The Third Man. There are also a bunch of WWII movie documentaries that are quite good but we thought it best to create another short list as there are a bunch to sift through. The top three would probably include - The Battle of Britain, December 7, 1941 and The Battle of Midway, with War Comes to America and The Secret Life of Adolph Hitler as honorable mentions.

In the TV Shows related to World War II, our top picks include - 3 episodes of One Step Beyond, Dream, Emergency Only and Prisoner.

In the cartoon category - we'd like to suggest, Scrap Happy Daffy, The Ductators and Superman in Eleventh Hour. In all honesty - there are a ton of war related cartoons, too many great ones to even list. But allow us to add a few more choice toons to check out. Boom Boom, Superman's Japoteurs (incorrect PC, big time) and Superman's Destruction Inc. Even though it is pre WWII, check out this Popeye classics, I'm in the Army Now. Okay - that should keep you busy for a while. And don't forget to Buy US Bonds.

Facebook - Days of The Primordial Ooze

2009-08-21T12:36:00.003-04:00

Whoa - I was able to impress my kids. As any parent knows, or shall I say, a parent who is more interested in being a good parent than a good friend to their children, this is rare air. And for about 5-10 seconds, the duration of their being impressed, I took a deep breath and held it in as long as I could. ahhhhhhh. Exhale.

Here's what impressed them. I told them, girls - your dad was on Facebook over a decade before the founder was born. Incredulous, no way Daddy. Yes... Way! I was able to pull some information from the Wikipedia entry on Mark Zuckerberg, and as we all know - Wikipedia is just like the internet. It is all true (haha). Then I highlighted this part of his bio:

The idea for Facebook came from his days at Phillips Exeter Academy which, like most colleges and prep schools, had a long-standing tradition of publishing an annual student directory with headshot photos of all students, faculty and staff known as the "Facebook".

The truth is, when this old dinosaur went to school at PEA, the Exeter address book was a somewhat new idea. Printing costs had come down, and the concept of an in school address book became a reasonable idea. Thanks to my buddy Whit from Dunbar, I saw this primordial homepage of Facebook from 1974-75 (pic). Back then, we called this - a cover, not a homepage, but that is just semantics. And much to my surprise, whoa - my brother was on the homepage of facebook! And in case you were wondering, my blessed little offspring of nematodes - back then computers looked like this. The year I was born, Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce invented a really fancy thing called an integrated circuit. Noyce founded Intel - which was a new company in 1968. Here's a one minute video history lesson of modern computers- I am certain will leave you laughing, especially that super nifty GPS Garmin wanna be thing in the car.

And once again, thanks to my buddy Whit - I was able to prove my claim, that I was on Facebook well over a decade before the founder Mark Zuckerberg was born. I mean, even to kids today - a picture is worth over a thousand words. Sorry about the focus, but Whit just snapped a quick photo with his cell and uploaded to Facebook using an application in his phone. So my dear, sweet, precious children - I am getting old, and still have every intention of living long enough to be a burden to you... but I ain't THAT olde... yet.

Hurricane Season History

2009-08-20T10:54:00.003-04:00

Even with all the modern updates, we still get slammed by hurricanes from time to time. But it was not that long ago, when there was no warning system at all. The beach could be filled with tourists or locals, the weather gets a little overcast and folks would go about their business as if nothing was out of the ordinary. And then - WHAM. Out of nowhere, a category 4 or category 5 hurricane would blow in and lead to not only massive destruction of property, but also many many thousands casualties.

And, you can thank a guy named Grady Norton, a weather guy pioneer from Miami who worked to create many of the safety features we take for granted today.

Check out this cool episode of a show called Man Behind the Badge for a half hour TV dramatization of Grady Norton and the way they used to try and predict Hurricanes. Pretty interesting, we have come a long way over the last 60 years.

In this show, Grady Norton is played by an actor named Milburn Stone.

In the real world, Grady Norton looked like much more of a mild mannered science nerd.

And here we are in late August 2009. Hurricane Bill has just been upgraded to a category 4. Hmmm, something tells me that old Marvelettes song might come into play. You remember the song - Don't mess with Bill. Here's the latest Bill updates from the National Hurricane Center at NOAA.

Back to Olde School Special

2009-08-19T13:16:00.003-04:00

As a child born in the 1950s, I have been having this weird deja-vu experience, wondering to myself if I am in some kind of time warp or something. Growing up as a kid in the 1960s made the whole "revolution thing" kinda weird. I was very young, and actually was innocent too - which is nothing remarkable for children below the age of ten. So people doing drugs, experimenting with free love, and all the peace, love beautiful experience was at best, admirable yet quirky and at worst, gross and creepy. (see Born to Win Trailer for further clarification). And as I listen to people talk on TV about current politics - sorry - but it all has a familiar ring to it. Nice in theory, but people are still those pesky human creatures in spite of the best altruistic intentions. (Despotism or Democracy? provides an interesting angle on this).

To further clarify the point I am trying to make - check out a few movies from back in the 1970s that in retrospect seem downright idiotic. First up - The Harrad Experiment, featuring Tippi Hedron and Don Johnson, the film was all about free love and the desire to express our sexuality without the hassles of marriage - which really just made "us possessive and jealous in our expressions of love". Yeah - just fine thinking - unless you are a child of divorce. From that perspective, it just seems like you have self-absorbed parents who should have been more concerned about the kids "needs" than their own. It gets weird. Don Johnson is a student at Harrad College, where the kids are schooled in free love. Don wants to have sexual relations with a teacher, Tippi Hedron - who undresses herself to try and scare him away. Like I said - weird. Want weirder? In the real world - years later, Don Johnson would marry Melanie Griffith - who was Tippi Hedron's daughter. And don't fret about difficulty at holiday gatherings. They got divorced.

Now before you start thinking I am some kind of Joe Friday, you know, a square who works for "the man" type - rest assured I went through the teenage experience with unbridled passion for hippies, peace, love and all kinds of anti-capitalist ideology. At Duke, I took classes in Socialism and Communism, thinking it was a potential answer to the problems of the world. Jimi Hendrix was my favorite musician, I had an oversized libido (see Guido's Libido) like everyone else, and I might very well have tried a few pharmaceuticals that were not prescribed by my attending physician.

You see, from my befuddled perspective - both sides have a point, but it does no good when nobody is listening. For example - sexuality is a wonderful blessing and gift, and I love children - but is it right that I am subjected to old people in bathtubs musing about hooking up while trying to watch tv with my young daughter. Sorry - make it go away - please. And how could you do that do an Elvis movie about Vegas? Stop it.

And for those who have no recourse but to call people who disagree with them racists - go check out a few movie blasts from the past. The Klansman, is a really creepy, annoying, contrived, preachy film reduced to silliness. And then the real world makes it even weirder. The film features a scene where Linda Evans is raped by O.J. Simpson, who later tries to escape while holding a knife to Richard Burton's throat. The getaway car? - oh my, would you believe it is a Ford Bronco. I believe Martin Luther King's dream (see some MLK video snippets from the I Have a dream speech) - and the Bob Marley song, War - where he wished for a day when the color of a man's skin was of no more significance than the color of his eyes. And I like this dream, and I share in Dr. King's hope that is becomes reality. But calling people racist because they disagree with another man's views who has a different skin color - belittles the indelible images in my brain, of defenseless Black people getting slammed by blasting water from firehouses in a peaceful protest. It cheapens the courage of Rosa Parks, it makes light of a hard and long battle fought by your grandparents and their grandparents before them.

And war is wrong and terrible. (Grand Illusion, Forbidden Games, search for War) No two ways around it. Yet sometimes - a good man must fight to defend the rights of his family and children. Don't buy that? Watch Escape From Sobibor and convince yourself that good men should do nothing. It is not so easy as black and white.

In conclusion - I wish we would spend more time listening to another person's views, rather than shouting louder with this week's talking points. In most cases - both sides have valid things to say, that are heartfelt and true. And as Flannery O'Connor once said - The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.

And if this is way too serious - let me say, fine with me. I would rather laugh watching some early George Carlin doing the Hippy Dippy Weatherman.

Maximilian Kolbe - August 14th

2009-08-14T12:51:00.005-04:00

Each year on August 14 - there's a celebration and memorial of a wonderful man you probably never even heard of. His name was Maximilian Kolbe and he was a Catholic priest in Poland during World War II. During the war, Catholic priests were marked for death by the nazis, and Max was no exception to this rule. But Max was exceptionally wicked as far as any nazi was concerned. His crimes also included trying to harbor Jews and to try and get them out safely. But that is not why he is honored today.

He lived a very good life as a priest - a Franciscan, ordained in Rome, and did much more in his life - but he is honored not so much for his life, but for his heroic death. The nazis sent him to Auschwitz, and someone tried to escape. The punishment for this included not only death for the prisoner trying to escape, but the nazis decided that someone else must be killed as well - just to make the point that escaping was not a good idea. When a father of several children was selected to be killed and tortured for the escape - Fr. Max Kolbe asked to be killed and tortured in his place, telling the guards - he had no family - so please take me instead. And he was brutally tortured, and finally died from the torture. And Fr. Kolbe knew what was coming, yet he still chose to volunteer his life for the young father of several children.

The Catholic church at first was a bit perplexed as to whether or not to honor Max Kolbe as a martyr - because he volunteered to die. But, in the end he was designated as a martyr, specifically, a martyr of charity. Years later, when the church was planning to beatify Kolbe as a saint - the father whose life was spared many years before - spent most of his life's savings to attend the ceremony.

To honor Max Kolbe today - we thought we'd suggest a powerful movie in the movie library you might have missed. Escape from Sobibor, starring Alan Arkin, Rutger Hauer, and Joana Pacula - tells the story of the most successful escape from a concentration camp in Poland during World War II. Yep - another great story you probably never heard about. If time allows - check it out, it is a great film, and an even better story.

Beer Summit - The Conference at Malta

2009-07-30T15:10:00.010-04:00

Time for a beer summit of our own at LikeTelevision - yep, it looks like the time is right - it just turned beer thirty. And today we have an incredible cast of characters joining us today. PLUS this lovely portrait taken by an olde artist at a beer session with a dog - be careful not to tip the Cold Nukie lil fella!

Our dear chum - W.C. Fields starts off the tap with - A Fatal Glass of Beer. Now, no worries as Mr. Fields has been dead for some time now. Not sure - I think Mae West might have devoured him a few decades back after she objected to being called a chickadee.

And sorry folks - ain't no way we are going with a Budweiser. Not gonna happen - sheesh, it is made outta rice and this is a beer summit, not a Saki Session with Sushi. And we are not really that interested in Blue Moon or a Red Stripe either, though we have always been big fans of Jamaica, especially the Sunsplash Music Festival in late summer in honor of Bob Marley. For our taste - we prefer a cool Newcastle, a Bass Ale and if we want something light - few brewskis top the PBR, or Pabst Blue Ribbon to the uninitiated.

But - lest we forget, we are olde school here - so let's get some top picks from back in the day. Well - Colt 45 (Skydiving) or Colt 45 (Surfing) has got to be way up near the top. Besides having some awesome commercials, it tasted pretty good and believe it or not, we were in a band that had a slight twist on the name. The band was called Cult 45 - and was known for the ridiculous album cover (Will design web pages for beer). The top radio cuts off the vinyl were Popemobile and Turn Me on Dead Man. Now before you get your opus dei cilice all tangled up in your panties, another name in NASCAR for new tires is Virgin Rubber and we are from the south, where people actually like shrimp with grits.... so Chill Ace. You will have to listen to Popemobile to understand what the heck I am talking about.

And to wrap it up - one of our favorite beer commercials from back in the sweet days of gentle women happy to go get us guys a beer while we relaxed in the hammock --- ahhh. Was it so long ago. I do miss the days when women were actually less ambitious and obnoxious as men - but that was then and this is now. Remember back with this Carling Black Label beer classic.

Old School Horror Movies

2009-07-24T12:26:00.002-04:00

Back when I was a kid, we'd watch scary movies at the local theater or on Shock Theater, which came on every Saturday at 2 PM. This was a great way to spend some time. Sure, most of the movies were pretty schlock-y, and not really that scary - but that was part of the fun. Back then, two of the greats in the horror movie genre were Vincent Price and Roger Corman. And sometimes, the two collaborated and this combination was almost always a treat for the avid fan. We decided to highlight one of the best for the upcoming weekend - but first, we thought we should offer a few older classics you might have missed.

If you have never seem The Last Man on Earth or Theater of Blood, you are missing two of Vincent Price's best films. Please, take the time and see the horror master at the peak of his long and storied career. Another film also seems timely - given all the yammering about health care reform. Check out Shock, for a view of old school health care horror stories. HA!

As for Roger Corman, you really have to check out Little Shop of Horrors and Bucket of Blood, both of which offer fun stories and also a great snapshot of the era when they were filmed. Bucket of Blood is especially fun, with the beatnik poet lounge where people are all pretentious about their art. LikeTelevision offers many more Roger Corman films too. Personally, I am a big fan of all his work. He was the master of making a film with almost money to do so.

And now for the weekend featured film - Tales of Terror. A cool old school horror classic featuring a collaboration of Roger Corman working with Vincent Price, serving up three short stories from the master of scary prose, Edgar Allen Poe. No, you are going to loads of severed limbs or have your senses assaulted by bloody body parts. This old school scary, which asks you to have a little imagination. Think you can handle it? I hope so. Enjoy the show.

Man on the Moon Videos

2009-07-20T13:56:00.003-04:00

I remember July 20, 1969 quite well. I was nine years old at the time, and was woken up in the middle of the night by my dad to watch something historic. I had no idea what historic meant, but I was old enough to understand that some men landing on the moon was pretty amazing. The TV picture was really grainy, even for the TVs of the day which were quite prehistoric compared to today's models. Heck, we often used tin foil on the rabbit ears (the antennae) to try and get better reception. We watched it on a big RCA color tv and it was the only tv in the house that worked well. HA - times sure have changed huh? Check out the newsreel video of the moon landing and imagine for a minute what that day was like for kids all over the world.

To mark this historic day - we thought you might enjoy a few classic movies and tv shows related to the moon, space travel, and aliens. First up - check out the classic serial, Radar Men From the Moon starring Clayton Moore, best known for his role as the Lone Ranger. In this serial, he plays a thug for the evil radar men from the moon. It is really funny, but in the day, it was actually supposed to be scary. Another classic on space travel is The First Spaceship to Venus. Again, this is funny, though it was not supposed to be. Speaking of Venus, check out this music video from the great Unknown Hinson called Venus Bound. Want more - no problem. Check out Planet Outlaws, starring Buster Crabb and Killer from Space is awesome! It stars Peter Graves and a bunch of aliens with ping pong ball eyes. If you are looking for something a little more modern, we would suggest Brother from Another Planet and a Peter Jackson alien classic called Bad Taste.

And from the classic tv channel - please check out the Burns and Allen episode titled Space Patrol Girls. FUNNY STUFF! There's also a few Flash Gordon tv shows to review, our top pick is Akim the Terrible. If you enjoy all things weird as much as we do - check out this old cheerios V-8 tv commercial offering a free spaceship game with your box of cherios. And oh yeah, have a V-8 with that too. and speaking of tv commercials - yep, there was an astronaut doll for young boys named Major Matt Mason. And let's not forget Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.

There is so much space related video at LikeTelevision, honestly there's not enough time to write about all of it - just search for space and you will busy for hours. Or search for moon. And when that gets old, try a search for aliens for even more movies and tv shows from the great beyond.

Baseball Back in the Day

2009-07-14T11:55:00.003-04:00

As the baseball season takes a mid-season break for the All-Star game, we thought it would be fun to highlight some great baseball related video content from back in the day. You know, those glorious days before steroids, multimillion dollar contracts and those pesky agents, the era when baseball really was our National Pastime. The bygone days of Lou Gehrig, and Babe Ruth, and Joe Dimaggio and cheap seats. So break out your weber grill, soak a few brats in beer, and enjoy the big show.

If you are looking for drama, meaning cool stories that are very enjoyable but not funny, then watch a free online movie like The Jackie Robinson Story, Paul Newman in Bang the Drum Slowly, and The Lou Gehrig Story. Also an interesting movie, though not really about baseball per se is The Marilyn Monroe Story - which features some interesting footage of The Yankee Clipper, Jolting Joe Dimaggio. And here's a short news clip about the day when Joe Dimaggio married Marilyn Monroe.

If humor is more what you are looking for - check out the Clampetts vs. The Dodgers. Leo Durocher of the L.A. Dodgers plays himself, and he's very impressed with Jethro's throwing arm. Hidden in the You Asked for It video archive is an episode featuring Max Patkin, the clown prince of baseball. Though you might not have heard of him, back in the day - Max was a legend. LikeTelevision's video library also offers a few choice baseball related TV commercials - 1) Baseball & Razor Blades, features some big stars from days gone by selling razors. Baseball greats like Pee Reese, Roy Campenella and yes, even Don Zimmer as a young guy - way before the day a few years back when he got slammed to the ground as an old guy by Pedro Martinez in the American League Championship game in 2003. 2) A 1960s Coke commercial featuring the great Willie Mays taking a big chug of Coke. Yeah - back in the days when Coke was just a soft drink.

Need more baseball video content? Just search for Baseball. So - if the All-Star Game tonight gets boring, by all means come by and watch some classic content from the glory days of Baseball.

Happy Birthday Nikola Tesla

2009-07-10T12:45:00.002-04:00

July 10, 1856 - Nikola Tesla was born in Vojna Krajina, which is now part of Croatia. Tesla was probably the greatest inventor, scientist and electrical engineer of his day, if not of all time, though because he was a decent, honest and eccentric fellow, I regret most people hardly even know of him. But you can thank Tesla every time you plug something into your wall socket, turn on a radio, and use a little electricity. You can learn more about his life at the Tesla Society, Wikipedia, or of course, Google. Yeah - you know Tesla has coils, but did you know Tesla also has a cool car named after him? Or, that LikeTelevision named their first server after Tesla?

To honor our hero today on his birthday - we thought we'd highlight some cool videos that were inspired by Nikola Tesla's genius. First - check out a few classic Superman episodes - Electronic Earthquake and Magnetic Telescope. Both these terrific cartoons feature some mondo electronic gear inspired by Tesla's ideas. For a vintage look at some Tesla Coils - you can check out Fritz Lang's Metropolis, or the hilarious old serial called the Lost City.

If you asked most people in the US - who gave us electricity?, most would answer Thomas Edison. In truth - Edison almost killed it for all of us. Of course it took a lot of people to make it happen, but if you had to credit just one guy, that man would most surely be - Nikola Tesla. Happy Birthday Mr. Tesla!!

Happy Birthday Helen Keller

2009-06-26T10:43:00.005-04:00

On June 27, 1880 Helen Keller was born as a normal kid in Alabama - but due to an illness at 19 months, that was probably either scarlet fever or meningitis, she was left without the ability to see or to hear, and yet she lived one of the most amazing lives in the course of human history. As a young child, she was befriended by Martha Washington the 6 year old daughter of the family cook , who was crucial in the journey of Helen's life that allowed her to transcend the darkness of being blind, deaf, and unable to speak. We all know the name of Anne Sullivan, but no one seems to remember this lovely six year old child - so I will mention her name again - Martha Washington. As is often the case, people forget how important kids can be to others in life and it is never too early to start being a good person. Martha's friendship with Helen helped her to create a very simple sign language that allowed her to communicate with her family, and it seems pretty obvious that this played a vital role in Helen's life in years to come.

Helen's parents worked hard to do all they could to help Helen - searching for the right doctors, a visit to Alexander Graham Bell who was working with deaf children, and finally at age seven, Anne Sullivan came to the Keller house to help Helen learn how to communicate. Anne Sullivan, a young 20 year old who was also visually impaired, worked hard to teach Helen how to communicate by spelling words with her hand - simple formations that represented each letter of the alphabet. The big breakthrough came was Helen was able to spell the word - water, which was brilliantly portrayed in the movie - The Miracle Worker, starring Anne Bancroft as Anne Sullivan and Patty Duke as Helen.

Helen would go on to be the first blind deaf person to earn a college. She attended Radcliffe, which at the time was the "girl" sister school of Harvard. Many many more accomplishments were in store for Helen in her life, some of which are chronicled in the newsreel footage below. (from This day in History - June 1, the day Helen Keller died in 1968).

But for me, her life's story is really the amazing part - in addition to some of the wonderful quotes she had regarding life. She was a very wise woman, having learned a great deal early in life, about how to live. I will leave you with just a few of my Helen Keller quotes. Think about these, next time you consider being such a fool, as to offer a Helen Keller joke. The joke is on you if your heart becomes so cold.

Life is an exciting business, and most exciting when it is lived for others. Helen Keller

Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light. Helen Keller

Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold. Helen Keller

It is a terrible thing to see and have no vision. Helen Keller

Many more terrific Helen Keller quotes can be found here. Better still - check out Helen Keller's book - The Story of My Life - online at Project Gutenberg.

June Weddings Video Archive

2009-06-16T15:22:00.005-04:00

Well - it's June again, and June is the month jam packed full of weddings. I will be out for the rest of the week in New York for a super duper, mondo NY wedding. So, in honor of this celebration of love - let me put offer a few suggestions of our best wedding related video content. Royal Wedding with Fred Astaire, Jane Powell and Peter Lawford is a classic - it's the movie where Fred dances on the walls and the ceiling, created in a special room that could rotate slightly with the best dancer of all time. And who could forget - Mountain Wedding, with Ernest T. Bass, Barney Fife dressed in a bride outfit and some killer jug band bluegrass with the Dillards. Need more? Check out the Woody Allen special for a vintage wedding musical classic, and if animation is your bag, look no further than Popeye in Bride and Gloom. PLUS some archive footage of Princess Grace Kelly at her wedding, Prince Charles and Lady Di, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor and much more. Just search for wedding and watch till your eyes get tired.

D-Day Remebered

2009-06-06T16:17:00.003-04:00

While most of our users are pretty young, some of them are old enough to remember June 6, 1941 with the proper respect and the cost of the freedom we enjoy today. It is a price measured in blood and tears. I encourage our younger users to give up 60 seconds - and to watch this short video clip remembering the sacrifices of D-Day. LikeTelevision would like to thank you for what you went through. We give you respect and honor your place in history. With a humble heart, and great admiration - thanks.

Quai Chang & Koko

2009-06-05T13:32:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was an especially tough day - as the world lost David Carradine and Koko Taylor, no relation to sheriff Andy Taylor. When i was a young wild man in my late teens, I had the chance to see Koko Taylor in a small bar in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, playing with a terrific back-up band called The Blues Machine. I remember the show like it was yesterday, and anyone who had the chance to see Koko Taylor perform live knows exactly why. She sang with such a passion it was unforgettable. Life changing, somebody get my jaw off the floor, WOW !!! Honestly, I never even knew people had that kind of passion within them until I saw Koko Taylor perform. She came on at 11pm and played ON FIRE - for over 4 hours. She was sweating like an Alabama work crew in 100 degree weather, and she was just one person. Honestly - sweat was literally flying off of her into the crowd, and not only did you not mind, you felt blessed by Holy Water. WOW !!! It was beyond anything Rod Serling of Twilight Zone could even imagine. She sang her brains out, and her heart out, and every cell of her body just screamed... YEAH! How do like that! If there was any doubt that Rock 'n Roll heaven has a hell of band... doubt no more.

And when I was a kid, I will always remember waiting all day Wednesday for Kung Fu to come on. There were so many amazing episodes - my favorites included the one where the the bad guy wanted a gold chalice from the poor Catholic church and attacked grasshopper with some massive chains. And the one with a 18 or 19 year old Don Johnson as an American Indian was also very memorable. I think my favorite was the episode featuring a very young Jodie Foster whose name was Alethia, which Quai Chang told her meant truth. One of those - perception is reality things going on, and she had to tell the truth. And her truth was based on her angle of vision, where it sure looked like grasshopper shot a guy. Anyway, it was very sad to hear of his death and worse, the circumstances surrounding his death. If you are a David Carradine fan - check out this bizarre 1970s classic preachy movie called Maybe I'll Come in the Spring, and learn why the hippy dippy generation was such a load of crappola. Like peace, love and wow man, I got no money - let me steal some tacos (watch it, it'll make sense). But, that said - well the George Carlin as the Hippy Dippy Weatherman was awesome! We also offer a bunch of movies with David Carradine's famous thesbian father - John Carradine.

Sara Takes a Dive

2009-06-02T20:19:00.007-04:00

On Sunday - May 31st, my dear friend Sara and I felt compelled to jump out of a plane with no parachute. Yes - we obviously survived, this is Wednesday after all. For me, this was my third trip to Skydive Carolina(1-800-SKYDIVE) and once again, B.B. King was nowhere to be found - the thrill is NOT gone. (for a trip down memory lane, see Jump 1.0 and Jump 2.0)

At some point - I will add this video to the video database, but right now we are slammed like a pizza delivery kid on Friday night. Soon come, as they say in Jamaica.

Lawrence of Arabia Motorcycle Crash, May 18, 1935

2009-05-19T10:41:00.004-04:00

On May 19, 1935, T.E. Lawrence, an avid biker who favored Brough Superior bikes, died in a motorcycle accident near his cottage in Dorset. He was just 46 years old, and he died as he swerved to avoid hitting 2 boys on bicycles, lost control and went over the handlebars. Check out this newsreel, with some brief footage of T.E. Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia. (ed. note - oddly enough, I was also in a bad motorcycle accident as a 46 year old, trying to avoid a young kid who was making an illegal left turn on a side street into oncoming traffic... me :~) And thankfully, I didn't die, but it was really close. And years before that, I wrote a song called funky motorcycle(mp3 download) produced by Frank Random in my garage circa 1995.)

If you'd like to learn more about T.E. Lawrence, check out wikipedia's extensive entry, or better still, read one of his books, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom. This book was edited by his friend, George Bernard Shaw. And David Lean's movie, Lawrence of Arabia is a great film, sorry - an amazing film, one of the best but not the best source to learn about the man.

Also of note today, May 19 - a young girl named Janet Gaynor cleaned up on the first Oscar night, winning three Academy Awards in one evening, for her role in A Star is Born.

LikeTelevision Embed Movies and TV Shows

New Frank Sinatra Movie

2009-05-14T10:05:00.002-04:00

How cool! Martin Scorsese is planning on directing a new movie about one of Hollywood's greatest stars - Frank Sinatra. And in a rare twist - it seems this film has gotten the okay from the Sinatra Estate as Tina Sinatra, Frank's youngest daughter (not to be confused with Nancy, these boots were made for Walking, Sinatra) will be an executive producer on the project. Now - who will play old blue eyes? hmmm. Tough shoes to fill there buddy.

So - why not get ready for the new movie by checking out some timeless classics starring Frank Sinatra. My personal favorite is The Man with the Golden Arm starring Kim Novak and Eleanor Parker. In addition to a killer sound track by Elmer Bernstein, you get Arnold Stang in a classic role as Frankie Machine's sidekick. Another awesome Sinatra movie is Suddenly - where Frank plays a would be assassin looking to kill the President in a quiet little town called Suddenly. Great film! Need more? got it. Check out a TV special starring Frank Sinatra, Joey Bishop, Sammy Davis jr. and others saying hello to Elvis Presley as he returns home from the US army, sponsored by Timex, the watches that can take a licking and keep on ticking in ye olde John Cameron Swayze days. Also recommended highly - Till the Clouds Roll By, a movie tribute to the great composer Jerome Kern that features a ton of amazing artists including Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, and Lena Horne.

And there's more video clips too in addition to the Frank Sinatra movies. Just search for Frank Sinatra and check it out if you are a Sinatra fan like we are.

Slaughterhouse 5

2009-05-01T10:28:00.003-04:00

Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse 5 is one of my favorite movies, and one of those rare movies that actually does a pretty decent job of doing justice to a great book. And considering what a big Vonnegut fan I am, and always have been - that's saying something. Let's face it - this is one really weird story, with time tripping travels, aliens, and life choices that happen the same way, like a an old vinyl album that keeps playing the great music you never grow tired of. I think I have seen this movie maybe 5 or 6 times, and you know what... i am really looking forward o watching it again.

Michael Sacks plays the lead character Billy Pilgrim, a guy who is as normal and non hollywood as it gets. He played a new more roles in movies, but for the most part, he will always be remembered as Billy Pilgrim, and he does an amazing job in the role. There are a few noteworthy actors including Holly Near who plays Barbara Pilgrim and Valerie Perrine as Montana Wildhack, but for the most part - there are no great stars in this movie, which actually makes it better because you are not distracted by their star quality. These are just normal folks stuck in an extraordinary story. Being an old coot - I always have a laugh about Eugene Roche who plays Edgar Derby. You see, as a kid - Eugene Roche was a recurring character on a bunch of commercials, most memorable for me as the guy on the Ajax Cleanser commercials. So, in his case - I was a little distracted. ahaha.

But if you a fan of weird movies like me, in the same vein as The Big Lebowski, or Slingblade, or Best in Show - you will just love Slaughterhouse 5. The film is directed by George Roy Hill, and the Vonnegut novel was adapted into a screenplay by Stephen Geller. Enough of the blah, blah blah... go watch the movie.

April 20th, 1979 - Jimmy Carter, the Rabbit , & Nuclear Sub U.S.S. Jimmy Carter

2009-04-20T10:19:00.000-04:00

Each year as April 20th rolls by, I have a lot on my mind. Lots of weird stuff happened on this day - Hitler was born, my mom was born, Columbine - ok, sorry mom, I am wrong to group your sweet maternal nature with infamy - haha, but for me, the weirdest thing that happened on April 20th, took place in 1979 in a creepy swamp with a former US president, Jimmy Carter, our only president who is on record as saying he saw a U.F.O. Huh? - here's the official report - I am not saying whether it was true or not, heck - lots of aliens are crossing our borders every day from what I hear in the news.

You see, what took place on April 20th, 1979 doesn't involve aliens - but a rare killer rabbit variety, and the time travel of a nuclear submarine - the U.S.S. Jimmy Carter. It was some sort of ***Leporine Conspiracy Theory! (see below for more "ine" type of words). You see, we never really got the whole story, but a picture is worth a 1000 words, though photoshop has done a lot to reduce that to maybe, a few hundred.

the link above, and this one here is a bigger version of the original snapshot taken by Anne Ominous in 1979.

Notice the lilliputian size of the sailors on the bridge of the sub, and how the official story from the Carter library, and this one here - leaves out the important facts surrounding the case, as bizarre as seeing a U.F.O. in an official report, and then going on to become President. Eye Popping. or Poopeyeing perhaps.

When I first blogged about this story in 2005 - I actually found some of these killer rabbits in my garden on April 20th. And in more synchronous weirdness, my mom - who was born on April 20th, always tried to raise the little bunnies she found in her garden. We would get an eyedropper, some carot juice and feed the little guys till they got bigger. Then the rabbits would be released at Doctor's Park in Milwaukee, in hopes of them finding a nice home away from mom's flowers. Later I wondered... if one of there grew up to be THE killer rabbit that attacked our President on April 20th, 1979. Being pretty conservative, I knew it would have made my mom happy if this were the case. Come on now - no one was hurt.

Anyway... in 2005, LikeTelevision declared that from here on out April 20th would forever be remembered as our National Rabbit Day. Here’s some media clips you might wanna watch to celebrate our Leporine Laugh Fest. Giant Jack Rabbit - Granny thinks a kangeroo is a Texas sized rabbit - and she wants to have it for dinner (vittles - which in this case, is Hillbilly for Hasenpfeffer). Check out Betty in Blunderland - as Betty Boop chases the White Rabbit in a whacko Wonderland fantasy. (huh - go ask Alice, I think she’ll know). Or if you want politically incorrect Hasenpfeffer - whew - here ya go. At most times, we keep this cartoon hidden, as it is really offensive - but for this blog post, it has been resurrected from the dead. (if toads are your thing, check this). Speaking of politically incorrect - part three of Jean Renoir’s Rules of the Game offers a brutal old school Europe rabbit hunt. The film - created by the famous painter’s son (Auguste Renoir is the painter… Jean Renoir, director) is all about LOVE - and it is not about rabbits, though they have some bit parts. (and their parts are blown to bits too). And of course - there is more stuff to watch for National Rabbit Day - but make sure you check out Doggone Tired, a Tex Avery classic cartoon you might have missed.

***For those not well versed in the *.ine type animal stuff.... here's a few to whet your whistle.
feline | cat
canine | dog
equine | horse
bovine | cow
porcine | pig
ovine | sheep
avian | bird
ursine | bear
lupine | wolf
murine | mouse
vulpine | fox
aquiline | eagle
anserine | goose
asinine | ass
cervine | deer
elephantine | elephant
leoline | lion
leporine | rabbit
limacine | slug
pavonine | peacock
phocine | seal
serpentine | serpent (i always think of Alan Arkin as Shelly Korpett, D.D.S from The In-Laws whenever i hear that word - Serpentine!).

Coming up next... some killer music!

Tax Related Videos At LikeTelevision

2009-04-15T17:11:00.002-04:00

Here's an older post... that works as well today as last year around the same time. Wooo eeee! Check out some TV comedy classics about the tax man. First place goes to Granny, who is ready to shoot the revenue man since he might also wanna mess with her still by the cement pond that makes her Spring Tonic. The episode is called Jed Pays His Taxes. Now imagine the I.R.S. has a worst nightmare, what would that person be like. Well look no further - I think Grace Allen would win this prize. Check out 2 hilarious episodes where Gracie's spacey intellect get the best of The Tax Man and the Property Tax Assessor.

You might also want to check out the Frank Random preview of My Man Godfrey, where Eugene Pallette laments that his family spends 50% of his income while the federal government want 60% for taxes. One final tax video concerns Al Capone, who went to jail for tax evasion.

Ooops, we forgot to mention this yesterday - but April 14th is the day the Titanic sunk after it hit an iceberg. Make sure you check out the One Step Beyond episode about the Titanic called the Night of April 14th. We offer that episode with 2 other episodes as a DVD iso download to subscribers or a la carte

Original The Fast and The Furious

2009-04-06T16:11:00.006-04:00

Back in the day, the auto industry made some amazing cars. Gasoline cost about a dime a gallon, and no one much cared about the price of gas - the focus was on style, muscle and speed. So let's go back to the glory days of auto racing for a moment when cars were a good deal, and better still - they were really, really fast with monster sized engines.

America began its love affair with cars in the 1950s - and the original version of The Fast and The Furious is a car lover's dream come true. The film starred a rugged John Ireland as Frank Webster, a fugitive on the run from the police for a crime he didn't commit. In fact he was framed and had to go under cover as a guy named Bill Myers, looking for a ride in an automobile race that would get him past the police blockade. His femme fatale was Connie Adair, played by Dorothy Malone. Back then, way before Danika Patrick became an Indy driver - well, the boys just didn't allow the girls to race. Connie Adair had a great car, but due to her female restriction she needed a driver, and Bill Myers arrived to come to the rescue. He was a truck driving fugitive, but man could he go fast. He just cruises in the trials and Connie decides to give Bill a chance.

And of course, this being the movies, she falls in love with him. Lots of steamy kisses and passionate embraces, coupled with the roar of cars with 8, and sometimes even 12 cylinders. Most of the cars in the film have become collectible vintage speedsters, some with price tags over a million dollars, because they looked really cool and better still, the cars went really fast. So just set aside your worries about carbon footprints, and marvel at the raw power and speeds of these early automobile treasures. A very enjoyable film on many levels - check out the original The Fast and the Furious.

First Day of Spring

2009-03-20T11:44:00.002-04:00

HOORAY - March 21 +/- a day marks the time when the sun’s direct rays move into the northern hemisphere (which is where we hang out) and as such, marks the first day of spring. Like a Vernal Equinox, 'eh? Since LikeTelevision is from North Carolina - we always take this opportunity to watch Granny’s Spring Tonic, where Granny cooks up the seasons first batch of “shine” - what we call moonshine round here. Peaches, strawberries, plums or other fruits are floating in a super sweet brown liquid stored in a ball jar. Now before the folks at ATF get all riled up and bring Janet Reno out of retirement with her flame thrower - it is all gone. A very good year too. I think Granny is hitting the jug a little quick as the shine tastes best about 2 years after it is brewed. And since we live near Mooresville, the true home of Nascar and moonshine running drivers from days gone by - yep, we do have a clue.

More spring related content, Maybe I’ll Come Home in the Spring, featuring Sally Field as a washed up hippie who decides to come home after the commune style of life wears thin. See David Carradine as real turkey and Jackie Cooper is the tough but loving father, well kind of. He is also a bit older from early Hollywood days with the Little Rascals (see Bear Shooters for a sample).

Another fun cartoon - is To Spring, where some crazy elves use all kinds of colors to paint the landscape. And who could forget the Raggedy Ann classic, Suddenly It’s Spring. Finally - check out Betty Boop doing a bit of spring cleaning.

Bud the Cowboy

2009-03-19T10:21:00.002-04:00

I got the following story in an email and thought it was actually funny enough to read and pass on. It is called Bud the Cowboy.

A cowboy named Bud was overseeing his herd in a remote mountainous pasture in California when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced toward him out of a cloud of dust. The driver, a young man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, RayBan sunglasses and YSL tie, leaned out the window and asked the cowboy, "If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, Will you give me a calf?"

Bud looks at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers, "Sure, Why not?"

The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer, connects it to his Cingular RAZR V3 cell phone, and surfs to a NASA page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra high resolution photo.

The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg, Germany. Within seconds, he receives an email on his Palm Pilot that the image has been processed and the data stored.. He then accesses a MYSQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with email on his Blackberry and, after a few minutes, receives a response.

Finally, he prints out a full-color, 150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet printer, turns to the cowboy and says, "You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves."

"That's right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves," says Bud.

He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on with amusement as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car.

Then the Bud says to the young man, "Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?"

The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, "Okay, why not?"

"You're a Congressman for the U.S. Government", says Bud.

"Wow! That's correct," says the yuppie, "but how did you guess that?"

"No guessing required." answered the cowboy. "You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You used millions of dollars worth of equipment trying to show me how much smarter than me you are; and you don't know a thing about how working people make a living - or about cows, for that matter. This is a herd of sheep.

Now give me back my dog.

Skooter Goes to Black Mountain

2009-03-13T15:56:00.002-04:00

Skooter is back home again from Asheville and Black Mountain on his journey for Lent, to do some video mixing for a live music performance from Buzz from Ohio, with his buddy Chris. Produced by Dr Barre, audio engineer Frank Random, and special thanks to Jake working camera, light director, & audio second. Hey, he's young and still has the energy and umm, colorful language too. What's not to like? He works very hard.

Check out the new picture album for Asheville too. Not only a bunch of new photos from the road, but a bunch of code dialed in thanks to Brad, our resident code yoda.

Robot Sweatshop Podcast: "Watchmen" Movie Review & Discussion

2009-03-09T18:05:00.004-04:00

Hi folks,

In addition to my pop culture ramblings here at Like Television, I also host a pop culture themed podcast called Robot Sweatshop. Since we've had some discussions and posts here about movies and comics, I thought I'd let you know about our newest episode, which may be of interest.

Co-host Chris Bacolo, special guest Jen Giarratana, and myself sit down for a discussion on Watchmen, the film and the comic, minutes after seeing the movie for the first time. I've read the comic twice; Chris finished reading it literally just before seeing the film; and Jen has never seen or read even a panel of it.

Three points of view. But are there three different verdicts on the film? Listen and find out.

Here are some handy links, if you're interested:

Download this episode

Discuss this episode

Subscribe at iTunes

Scooter is Alabama Bound

2009-03-04T10:15:00.005-05:00

Check out the Scooter's journey during Lent. Today... Alabama Bound. You can track him as he rolls down the highway, just send a request to track at lentjourney@gmail.com and wait for a bit fro Scooter to approve you. After approval, go to google.com and click the igoogle link in the upper right corner of the page to see a map, with Scooter updates as he heads down the road.

You can also read about the trip at:
http://www.lentenjourney.com. Happy Trails.

Cinematic Titanic Live in Boston

2009-03-01T22:09:00.003-05:00

Our love of all things Mystery Science Theater 3000 on this site is well documented, and that love definitely includes Cinematic Titanic, MST3K creator Joel Hodgson's new B-movie riffing venture. For Cinematic Titanic, Joel gathered several MST3K vets, including Trace Beaulieu (Crow, Dr. Forrester), Frank Conniff (TV's Frank), Mary Jo Pehl (Pearl Forrester), and J. Elvis Weinstein (the original Tom Servo). It's been great to have them back, wits as sharp, biting and hilarious as ever.

Cinematic Titanic visited Boston on February 20th and 21st as part of a live riffing mini-tour; we deemed this Too Awesome To Miss, and made the trek from Brooklyn for the Saturday show. The movie being riffed, as we learned right before it began, was a '70s Kung Fu-sploitation wonder called The Dynamite Brothers. It was racist and nonsensical and features a scene where one dude handcuffed to another manages to somehow take his shirt off. 'Nuff said.

I was curious as to how it would feel to see movie riffing done before an audience -- after all, MST3K and Cinematic Titanic are relatively quiet shows -- and whether or not it would really work.

But I need not have worried; in short, it was hilarious and an overall awesome experience. The theater was packed (I'm guessing it was sold out), and the audience was among the warmest I've ever seen. We were laughing at the riffs and at the movie itself; best of all, we got to meet the whole cast after the show, all of whom were insanely nice and took time to chat, take pictures, and sign autographs. Photo report below -- but in case you were wondering -- Cinematic Titanic live scores an easy A.

The Somerville Theatre marquee. This was a beautiful, old fashioned theater with a very warm look and feel. It was just the type of place we were hoping it would be in our pre-show, overly-excited, geeky discussions.

Inside the lobby a few minutes before showtime. The place was packed.

Comedian David "Gruber" Allen -- you might know him as the guidance counselor from Freaks and Geeks -- warms up the crowd. Dave's not a member of the Cinematic Titanic crew, but has appeared in some episodes, and was awesome.

J. Elvis Weinstein took the stage, armed with a bass, and performed a routine with Dave about a radio station that only plays the catchiest moments of songs for our short-attention span culture. The name of the station? K-ADD, of course!

Next up, Frank Conniff -- who I think is possibly one of the funniest people alive -- greets the crowd.

Joel received the biggest ovation, and even brought with him an invention exchange: a small sampler that only plays "Happy Together," torn out of a Valentine's Day card. When played by one's zipper, it creates a "party in your pants." Genius. The Mads could never top that one!

The lights go down before the Cinematic Titanic crew does what they do best.

At the end of the show, the cast bowed to a standing ovation. But they weren't done! For an encore, they performed "a best of Cinematic Titanic" to clips of the show's funniest moments, with scenes taken from every Cinematic Titanic episode. Even watching them out of context, it was very, very funny.

The line forms, which I'm all but sure included the entire #$@%ing audience, for the post-show meet-and-greet. (It actually moved at a pretty decent clip, and everyone was really friendly.)

The aforementioned line keeps going.

We finally make it to meet-and-greet area, catch a glimpse of the cast...

...and are psyched.

Me and the great Trace Beaulieu. Trace was really, really nice, and took time to actually ask me about my shirt. Are all Minnesotans this cool? (We're not used to things like "eye contact" and "friendly conversation" here in Brooklyn.)

Joel and Frank with a very happy fan. The end!

New York Comic Con 2009: Photo Report!

2009-02-16T22:48:00.004-05:00

New York Comic Con, a very fun yet maddeningly crowded pop culture gathering, took place at the Javits Center last week, from February 6-8. The show was filled with comic book publishers, video game companies, artists, writers, memorabilia dealers, bad food and fans (many of which were dressed up as their favorite characters, as these are some of the only days of the year that you can dress like a superhero, game character, or whatever and get away with it in public...though I do think I spotted a furry, which is never, ever okay).

We here at Like Television (and some friends) made it out to the Con, and brought back these photos as official documentation of the weirdness and fun for future generations. (Unfortunately, my camera is in its twilight years and had trouble focusing in some of the photos below. Sorry 'bout that.) Enjoy!

Oh, New York Comic Con crowds. What are we going to do with you?

Here's a view of the crowd from Hobbit Height (i.e. my view).

This awesome statue of He-Man -- I mean, Faker (he got me!) -- greeted attendees at the show floor entrance.

This is a shot of the convention floor on Friday, the most sane day of the show, where one can actually walk around comfortably.

Snake Eyeseseses!

A bunch of fans pose for a picture with an attendee who dressed up as a Huge Nerd.

Playmates had a great booth set up for the 25th anniversary "Shellabration" of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which included an original, playable arcade cabinet of the great Turtles In Time game.

The aforementioned TMNT booth.

The aforementioned TMNT booth with Chris.

Atari pulled out all the stops in promotion of their upcoming Ghostbusters game, including this awesome Slimer ice sculpture.

Even Ghostbusters had to wait in line to play the game! (Side note: there were a ton of people dressed up as Ghostbusters this year.)

Mattel's "MattyCollector" panel, where they unveiled new Ghostbusters, He-Man, and DC action figures. The two dudes on the left are half of the super-talented Four Horsemen, sculptors of many of Mattel's great action figure lines.

Mattel revealed Hordak -- my favorite He-Man villain -- as the latest entry in their Masters of the Universe Classics line at the MattyCollector panel.

Ghostbuster Ray Stantz as an action figure! I will own this.

Slimer returns. Hopefully Ecto-Cooler Hi-C is not too far behind!

Prototypes of the 6-inch Ghostbusters figures.

We came. We saw. We kicked its ass!

Chris and Caroline frighten the dude in yellow with their enthusiasm for panel discussions.

The new X-Force team in Superhero Squad form. Very cool!

The new line of toys from the Wolverine and the X-Men animated series. These look terrific.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine toys. I'm lukewarm on these.

Now this is dedication. This fan is dressed up in a Wolverine costume designed by Alex Ross, which only appeared once in Wizard Magazine.

Gamers got to try out the new "Ready 2 Rumble" for Wii. Was it fun? I have no idea.

The creators of the excellent indie comics, The Sentinels and Neverminds.

Green Lantern (John Stewart) -- complete with green contacts! -- and me, Super PizzaBagel.

This photo was a victim of my camera's blurriness, but I had to include it here. This girl really looked like Chun Li (of "Street Fighter") come to life.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator Peter Laird. Kneel before Laird!

Longtime TMNT artist Jim Lawson draws for a fan.

Club Namco was one of my favorite dealers at the show. All retro Pac-Man stuff -- how could you go wrong?

Wonder Woman poses for the camera.

I have the power. The end!

A Tale of Two Worms

2009-02-14T15:17:00.003-05:00

The Tale of Two Worms

Once upon a time there were two worms, one was named Daryl and the other was named Kerry. The names, like the worms were not gender specific. Worms are hermaphrodites, meaning they contain both sex organs. When they mate, worms lie next to each other, and fertilize each other. Each leaves pregnant. The story is told this way, so no one would ever think their gender is better than the other. In their humility, so low to the ground, that was an easy lesson for the worms to understand.

Daryl and Kerry were very different worms. Daryl began each day at 4 am, and went out of its hole to the ground above looking for food. I know, worms don't do this, it is a story. Get over it. Anyway, Daryl woke each day at 4 am, and went to sleep each day at 4 pm. Meanwhile, Kerry woke up each day at 11 am and went to bed at at 11 pm.

When Daryl and Kerry first fell in love, they were fascinated by the insights they learned about the world from each other. Both of them felt complete, gaining so much from the other worm, and also feeling good about themselves as the things they shared about the world generated a profound interest in the other worm. They listened to each, and were fascinated by what the other worm knew of life. It wasn't long before they grew madly in love each other. Each of them felt like the other worm was the most amazing worm in the world. They were very happy.

And then one day, Daryl was looking to share something with Kerry, and felt like he had a profound insight, so he was eager to share it. He told Kerry that world was getting warmer. Of course Daryl felt this way, because it was what he knew from his life. Most days, it kept getting hotter and hotter, and at 4 pm, he was hot & tied and went to sleep. But Daryl's insight was not profound to Kerry at all. From her viewpoint - the world was getting colder every day. Each night when she went to bed, she was shivering because it was getting colder & colder, and she went to sleep with a chill in her wriggly little worm body.

Now Daryl had shared this insight, because he thought it was important. His feelings about himself had grown so big from Kerry's interest, he began to think he was very wise sage. Even though he was still just a worm. And the same thing happened to Kerry. At first, Kerry gently told Daryl that she thought his observation was incorrect. And she explained why. Then, She also began to question how Daryl could be so wrong... and Daryl did the same thing as he listened to Kerry. Each of them began to grow so wise of their own opinion, they began to dislike each other. It wasn't long before each of them felt like the other was an idiot. And yes, sadly, it wasn't long before they were no longer in love with each other.

As time passed, and seasons changed from spring to summer and fall to winter, each of the worms went through a period where the world was proving them right. And then wrong. And they'd say... just wait it will get hotter, or colder. And for a time they were right, and then wrong. Silly worms.

And that made both of them sad, but also angry. They stayed this way for a time, until they both realized, they lost something much more precious than what they felt about the climate trends. They had lost what each of them cared about most. No one knows whether it was Kerry or Daryl who first decided to forget their own opinion and really listen to the other worm, but one of the two worms made the first move. And said I am sorry. I don't care about the climate as much as i care for you. Forgive me and tell more about why you feel the way you do. I wasn't listening well at all, and got all caught up in my own experiences and views. I am so sorry. i love you.

Well the other worm at first didn't know what to do. But initially, they were flattered, and explained in earnest their views. They thought they had won the argument. But it wasn't long, before they saw the other worm seemed happier than themselves, and decided that being right wasn't all that great. They now wanted to get their love back, and that hadn't happened yet. It wasn't long before they felt badly enough to get humbled. And after that, they apologized, and said how terrible they were feeling, and asked for forgiveness. They realized they were wrong to care about the hot or cold issues, when it got in the way of their love, which was much more precious.

It took some time to heal the wounds they gave to each other, but not so long that it was impossible. As they listened, more eager to understand than to promote their own view, they learned that wisdom began with the words - I don't know. After many days spent listening with love in their hearts, they soon learned about day and night... and the seasons of the year. And over time, they shared this story with all the little Daryls and Kerrys that were created in this great love they had for each other. And their knowledge of the world grew in lock step with their growing love. Eventually, they learned that something outside of themselves had helped them on their journey. The learned the greatest lesson of all. They learned about God, and they learned to love Him, and thank Him (Her), for the gift of love. And they knew in their hearts, that God was love.

To their surprise, they also were no longer worms. They were people. And oh, how deeply they loved each other, and how profoundly they thanked God each day for this wonderful gift. Indeed, their joy was now complete.

Friday the 13th Cartoon

2009-02-13T12:33:00.002-05:00

Popeye has his hands full on Friday the 13th, as Bluto tries to spoil a date with Olive, using every superstitious trick in the book. Lots of fun, thank Goodness for spinach, even when it gets stuck between your teeth.

you can go to Popeye's Friday the 13th page to watch the cartoon in a larger video window, or just view it below.

LikeTelevision Cartoons, Movies and TV Shows

Enigma Ciphering Machines From Yesterday

2009-01-30T10:20:00.003-05:00

I found myself ciphering, working on a project to restore the audio from a few 1/4 inch tapes from the 1960s and two 78 rpm records from 1949. Unfortunately, there was not a handy, dandy Sony TC 580 (pic, pic 2). Long ago, tape machines offered 3 speeds - 1 7/8, 3 3/4, and 7 1/2 ips, or inches per second, meaning that's how far the tape would move across the head per second. The higher the ips, the better the quality. Top end machines also offered bi-directional recording and playback - which means, when the tape got filled up on the right take-up reel, you could play or record again on the same tape - in reverse direction. Well, while trying to de-cipher these tapes, all i had was a uni-directional Fostex mastering 2 track machine. Totally the wrong gear, especially since a lot of it was recorded at 3 3/4 ips. (The Fostex offered 7 1/2 and 15 ips. and just one direction). Was all lost? If we had to do this for an archive, we would have needed to get the right machine, but this job was just for fun. Quality control was not as much as an issue as being frugal in tough times. So - we used the Fostex. Most everything was played at double speed, and recorded digitally in an a/v workstation. Some of it was also, backwards and at double speed. Knowing that the speed is 2x, we know the amount of pitch shift needed to fix it. The answer is 12 semitones, or an octave. Think of a keyboard, there are twelve notes if you include the black and white keys. Each step is a semitone. It was a snap to pitch shift the material 12 semitones, and reverse it if you recorded it in reverse. Then the hard work of audio restoration began.

The same problem - wrong equipment, was there for the 78 rpm record project. All we had was a turntable with a top speed of 45 rpm. So - we played it at 45 rpm, and recorded the slow sounding blur into the a/v workstation. The question is, how many semitones do we need to increase it to correct for the slow 45 rpm speed??? The answer is pretty easy, but don't look yet if you want to cipher it yourself Jethro.

Think about it this way, and the answer is just too easy. If we had to adjust it to 90 rpm, meaning that is the proper speed of the record, we would just move it 12 semitones. So 90 rpm (2x speed) would equal 12 semitones. And so, 78 rpm / 90 rpm = x / 12 semitones. x = 10.4 semitones. And just to check out math, we know we must increase the playback rate by 1.733333333..etc times. (78 / 45). if 2x speed = 12 semitones, x speed = 6 semitones. And guess what, 1.733333 times 6 = 10.4 semitones. Woo Woo.

Just for kicks, I thought I'd include a sample. Here's a short snippet recorded off the tape, called chipmunks.mp3 - huh? what's that? Well, it is way too fast and backwards too. The original was recorded at a 3 3/4 (or 1 7/8 not sure) ips speed, and played at 7 1/2 ips which was recorded. Reverse the sample, and lower the pitch and you get this.

Newspaper Heyday Movies

2009-01-27T08:42:00.002-05:00

We live in interesting times, and how we receive our information has changed in some respects, but in a lot of ways, nothing changes. It is different today, because TV, and to lesser extent radio, have without a doubt, supplanted the newspaper as the way We The People, get our information. It was not always so. (yes, we agree the internet killed the newspaper too, but the internet just piled on and hastened the newspaper's decline from glory).

About 50-75 years ago, newspapers were king. Most cities had 2 newspapers - one for one political side, and one for the other. It was a constant battle with high stakes - as more papers being sold, usually meant more votes, and the winner gets power that comes from controlling the use of the taxpayers money. The tide changed over the seasons, but the public was always being played, by one side with an agenda, or the other side with an agenda. News wasn't really news, it was mostly spin, like red meat they fed your own philosophical beliefs, and the sound bytes you liked became your talking points. Whether you watch MSNBC or Fox - the same game is being played today. If you don't believe this, check out this Frank Random re-mix, Depotism or Democracy. It's is edited for irony and universal uneasiness.

So, we thought there were some good lessons out there, in a bunch of very good newspaper heyday movies. Most folks would put Howard Hawks' His Girl Friday, starring Cary Grant and Rosiland Russell at the top of the list, but my vote goes to Frank Capra's Meet John Doe. The film offers wide open deceptive journalism, political intrigue, and the little guy, John Doe, getting put through the meat grinder. Barbara Stanwyck stars as the ambitious reporter, who compromises her ethics so she won't lose her job at the paper. Gary Cooper is brilliant as Mr. everybody, John Doe, a former baseball pitcher that injured his throwing arm. Next on the list - Nothing Sacred with Carole Lombard, Frederic March, and Billy Barty. Our final pick for newspaper related media is from a One Step Beyond episode called Where Are They? Here's the idea - what does a newspaper do, when the REAL story is just too bizarre to print for your readers? That's a good question - what would you do as a reporter?

My Favorite Junk of 2008

2009-01-17T17:57:00.000-05:00

I know I may be a little bit late on the whole end-of-year "Best of" list bandwagon, but I come from the school of Do Something Whenever. So here it is: My Favorite Junk of 2008. Note that I'm not calling it a "Best of" list, because I just didn't get around to experiencing enough movies, videogames, music or comics to really proclaim something the absolute cat's meow. But I do have my favorites. And away we go:

MUSIC
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
It's nice to hear some melody, harmonies, and engaging singing again, isn't it? This album is the definition of timelessness, as it blends folk with Beach Boys harmonies and sounds like a lost gem. This is a startlingly good debut, and lead singer/songwriter Robin Pecknold is definitely a great talent. I don't know how many times I've listed to "White Winter Hymnal."

The Fireman - Electric Arguments
I'm a little biased here because I love Paul McCartney's entire body of work; I've always felt that his highs and lows are equally fascinating, because his curiosity for music theory and his virtuoso playing are always interesting. Anyway, forget the lows. Ever since 1997's excellent Flaming Pie, McCartney has been on a creative tear, with 2005's Chaos and Creation in the Backyard featuring some of the best songs of his career. And while his new Fireman album (made with producer Youth) isn't quite a masterpiece, it's a return to the McCartney who could make some weird, loud stuff. (Remember, it was Paul who put the otherworldly tape loops on "Tomorrow Never Knows.") Whether on the incredible rocker "Nothing Too Much Just Out of Sight" or the folksy, Ram-esque "Two Magpies," this record is more interesting and daring than most of today's bands are capable.

Raphael Saadiq - The Way I See It
This was the biggest surprise of the year. Raphael Saadiq, formerly of Tony! Toni! Toné!, has turned out what I think is a real classic R&B album; not in the garbage 1990s R&B sense, but real R&B, meaning The Temptations, Smokey Robinson, and The Drifters. Sure, it's retro in the vein of Amy Winehouse, but lyrically, musically, and production-wise, it's a knockout. Each song on this album would be a Top 10 hit in a fairer world. Listen to it and remember why you love Motown.

MOVIES
Wall-e
From character design to story, this is, somehow, Pixar's best film to date, and gets my vote for best children's film of all-time. Absolutely magical from start to finish, mixing a heartwarming love story with a startlingly strong anti-corporate message, this is a movie that will last forever.

The Dark Knight
So much has been said about The Dark Knight that I almost feel guilty about showering even more praise on it, but that would be a disservice to it. Never mind lumping it in the "comic book movie" category; this is top-rate, artful film-making, dressed up with superheroes. Yeah, the whole bombs-on-the-boats thing at the end is a little weak compared to what came before, and Christopher Nolan's disjointed style can be confusing, but don't let that spoil everything this film accomplished. Heath Ledger turns in a performance that we'll talk about for the rest of our lives; the film asks some tough moral questions and doesn't give us easy answers; and it's tragic, something most blockbusters don't even try.

Tropic Thunder
I've always been a fan of Ben Stiller -- including The Cable Guy, which I'm convinced will someday be hailed as the work of brilliance it is! -- and Tropic Thunder is possibly the best work of his career. It simultaneously lampoons and salutes the more inane aspects of Hollywood and acting, and the whole cast is hilarious throughout. Of course, Robert Downey Jr. deserves an Oscar nod.

COMICS
Batman: RIP
Grant Morrison's run on Batman was a little hit-or-miss for me, but I thought Batman: RIP redeemed the entire run. Spooky, weird, and endlessly captivating, Morrison reminds us why we love this guy so much, and why we'll miss him.

All-Star Superman
Yep, another Grant Morrison book, but this one was never, ever hit-or-miss. All-Star Superman, now finished after 12 amazing issues, is the best Superman story of all-time, and don't let anyone tell you different. Morrison takes everything about Superman, mixes it up a little, and gives it back to us in new, exciting ways. Everything about it -- especially the climax, featuring a super-powered Lex Luthor and a Superman who never gives up -- will make you feel like a kid again, as you find yourself in awe of the best superhero there is once again.

Demo
I don't remember this coming out in single issues, but I spotted the trade in a Borders one day, and it was just calling for me to use my gift card on it. And I'm glad I did. This collection of stories about con-artists, losers, and relationships will break your heart. It actually gets better once Brian Wood drops the superheroics from the mix, but overall, this is some of the best sequential storytelling I've come across in a long time.

VIDEOGAMES
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
The reason I bought a PS3, and it was worth it. The graphics are stunning and the story is a fitting end to the saga of Solid Snake, who is still badass in his old age. There is some typically weird Japanese stuff, such as Snake gripping the privates of a statue while evading capture, but altogether, this is a great Metal Gear game. It makes some great advances -- a stellar first-person view, the ability fire weapons while lying on your back, etc. -- and is just the right length. Things get bigger and bigger, and the story more and more interesting, until it all ends with an awesome fistfight. Apparently there's a Metal Gear Solid 5 on the way, but how can it ever match this, without Solid Snake and/or creator Hideo Kojima?

Grand Theft Auto 4
I'll come right out and say it: I did not finish this game. But I played enough of it to realize that this was something special. From the fully realized recreation of New York (Brooklyn in the hizzie) to the smart, funny script, this lived up to the hype. Oh, and it's insanely fun.

Mario Kart Wii
Mario Kart Wii received some negative reviews, and I really don't get it. Nintendo added motorcycles (!), online (!), Mii support (!) and more classic tracks (!) from past Mario Kart games. Really, what's not to like? It controls perfectly with the Wiimote and nunchuk (forget the pack-in steering wheel), and the courses are just as imaginative as ever. I love this game, and still play it.

Fine Corinthian Leather Ricardo Montalban

2009-01-16T11:36:00.002-05:00

Hollywood icon Ricardo Montalban died January 14th at the age of 88. If you are between the ages of 45 or over, you probably remember Ricardo Montalban as Mister Rourke on Fantasy Island or from the Chrysler commercials. Everyone did their best to say Corinthian Leather as slick as Ricardo did. Come on, admit it... you said it. Fine Corinthian Leather! Anyway, Ricardo Montalban was born in Mexico City on Nov. 25, 1920 and became one of Hollywoods first Latino actors. Also a advocate for future Latino actors and actresses. He played a lot of ethnic roles - Spaniards, Japanese, Blacks, Aliens, and even American Indians on more than one occasion. Check out the classic episode, Day of Reckoning from Bonanza, where Ricardo Montalban plays an Indian brave. For more information about who those other guest stars are on Bonanza, check this old post for the answers.

a little music please

2008-12-26T09:53:00.002-05:00

Thank goodness, folks are finally getting into how cool Pandora is. Created by musician wonks, Pandora is an internet radio station that learns what kinda music you like. Here's a little sample of Pandora at work.

I recently downloaded a little music, so I put together a playlist of mp3 files via amazon. I checked out their new service offering drm free mp3 downloads and it was easy, and yes Virginia, you really did get drm free mp3 files, which were easy to upload to your iPod if you wanted to you. Anyway, here's some music for you.

Amazon.com Widgets

Christmas Videos

2008-12-24T14:07:00.002-05:00

Our post from last year on Christmas movies and tv specials can be found here. Let's not forget, Christmas Comes but Once a Year or a bunch of other Christmas cartoons. Just check out the top 10 picks Christmas list. And by all means, a very Merry Christmas and our best wishes for you and your friends and family.

New Stuff to Watch

2008-12-12T11:24:00.003-05:00

Got a few new episodes of The Office to check out. Not sure if I have a favorite yet. All good. In the music section, we added a few Terry Garland videos and should also have a new Everlast music video for you later today (Here it is). For movies - check out John Carpenter's The Thing or a delightfully bizarre film, Coffee and Cigarettes. Got more on the way too. Busy busy busy.

NOTLD Released 40 Years Ago

2008-12-05T10:41:00.004-05:00

On December 5, 1968 - The Night of The Living Dead was released in theaters. The Night of The Living Dead was the work of director George Romero, Duane Jones who starred as Ben, Judith O'Dea as Barbra, Keith Wayne as Tom, and Karl Hardman as Harry Cooper. The low budget classic did pretty well in the theaters and remains a terrific film 40 years later. You can watch the Zombie classic, Night of the Living Dead for free, or better still - we offer a high quality DVD iso download for just $10. Easy as pie to make your own DVD.

Enjoy a brewski today - 75 years ago, on December 5, 1933 Prohibition ended. Wow, it is hard to think of a time when it was illegal to have a beer or a glass of wine or, oh my - a vodka tonic, a cosmo or a a little Sambuca in your expresso. But I think it really happened. And it ended 75 years ago today. To honor this event - here's a few links related to the subject of alcohol. Beer, Wine, Alcohol, drunk, drinking, moonshine, or moon shine. Staff picks - Aunt Bea's Medicine Man - the episode where Aunt Bea gets tiddly, a little lit, tipsy, etc etc. Also - Granny's Spring Tonic, where Granny makes her first spring batch of hooch from the still at the cement pond. Plus - Drinking & Eating PSA, too weird to explain... and the Terry Garland song, The Bible and Jim Beam. Cheers, prohibition ended today 75 years ago - December 5, 1933.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-26T11:04:00.003-05:00

We would like to wish each and every one of you a Happy Thanksgiving. We hope that you take some time out from the celebration to reflect on all your countless blessings. Think about the big stuff, and the little things. Be thankful. And you will find happiness comes with gratitude.

LikeTelevision has lots of fun stuff to watch with a Thanksgiving theme. Check out a few holiday classics with Granny and Jed. Turkey Day is really funny. For more must see LikeTelevision, watch this wonderful Tex Avery cartoon, Jerky Turkey. If you want more, just search for Thanksgiving.

Skydiving 2.0 & Terry Garland

2008-11-22T11:33:00.002-05:00

You might remember from last year, when I jumped out of a plane and went skydiving for the first time. Well, the place where I jumped gives you the chance to get 50% off your next jump if you get another dive ticket the day you jump. BUT - you have to use it within a year. Well, I had about 10 days left until my jump ticket was null and void, so of course - I had to jump again. Here you go - Skydiving, version 2.0. In case you were wondering - I got another 50% off deal, so I have a little less than a year to jump again. ver. 3.0.

Tomorrow, Terry Garland will be swinging by the studio on Sunday morning to do a quick video shoot before heading down the road again. You might remember Terry from last year, or oh my - from 10 years ago too. We'll post the new stuff as soon as we can.

Free The Air Waves - We Won!

2008-11-11T11:05:00.003-05:00

In August we discussed an opportunity for the "people" - it looked like a ton of bandwidth was going to be freed up with the change to digital tv broadcasts. And a group led by google asked if the government would allow this bandwidth to be used by the public. Kind of like open source bandwidth.
(see the original story).

Anyway - the issue was voted on November 4th, 2008 - and guess what people, we won! WOW! I can't believe this happened, because this bandwidth has the potential to offer amazing services to the masses. One day, I could imagine a world with free, super high bandwidth wi-fi, everywhere. Just stick your uplink into a USB on your laptop. Ding. Check out google founder Larry Page's comments on the google blog.

New Music & Ten Years After

2008-11-08T14:42:00.004-05:00

Over the next few weeks, we will be entertaining some interesting musical guests at the studio. The Pink Spiders are coming to Charlotte on Wed. November 12 to play at the Alley Cat on College St. Just another stop in a long tour all over the place. We're looking forward to meeting the Pink Spiders for the first time. Check out their new video Gimme Chemicals, from their latest CD, Sweat it Out on Geffen Records.

And after that, on Nov. 23, slide guitar, blues wizard Terry Garland is dropping in. Tens years ago - tomorrow, November 9, 1998, Terry Garland played some wicked slide guitar for us live in the studio. This was the first time I met him, though I had heard some of his music on CD. What a thrill! And now, 10 years later, again COOL! Is life fun or what?

Moby Dick & Wuthering Heights

2008-11-03T16:35:00.002-05:00

There are a lot of decent film adaptations of literary works at LikeTelevision, such as To Kill A Mockingbird, A Farewell to Arms, The Most Dangerous Game, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, The Scarlet Pimpernel and Cyrano de Bergerac - to name but i few. I hope to add a search phrase widget to work with the database to assist in pulling out this information. More on this in another post.

And here's a few more movie adaptation of great books - first, Herman Melville's Moby Dick starring Gregory Peck as Captain Ahab.

Another terrific gem is Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights starring Laurence Olivier, Merle Oberon, and David Niven.

Dudley Moore & Peter Cook

2008-10-30T14:27:00.001-04:00

A little Halloween fun for all - check out this 1960s classic, Bedazzled starring Dudley Moore as a cook at a greasy spoon, and Peter Cook as Satan. Plus, Rachel Welch, who stars as one of the deadly sins, Lust.

Free Horror Movie Classics

2008-10-28T15:09:00.004-04:00

Let's turn it up a bit, shall we? A Top 10 list, NO! We'll go one better, 200% better in the top 10 horror movie calculations. - yes, a Top 5 list, in this case, The Best 5 Silent Horror Movies. Not only do we provide a list, we also have the entire films to watch online for free. Let them drum roll begin, or better still how about an a J.S. Bach Toccata and Fugue in D minor. Okay, here goes.

5) Hunchback of Notre Dame(1923). The Victor Hugo classic was released in 1923 and starred Lon Chaney as Quasimodo. Plus, a killer preview by LikeTelevision's own, Frank Random.

4) Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde(1920). Based on another classic literary work, in this case Robert Louis Stevenson's story called The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Plus - this could be John Barrymore's greatest performance. Really amazing acting, a must for all wanna be thesbians.

3) Nosferatu(1922) - Okay folks, this 1922 F.W. Murnau film is really creepy. Based on Bram Stoker's epic novel Dracula, Max Schrek is amazingly frightening as the Vampire Nosferatu. In a fit of insanity, Frank Random worked like a maniac to put a new soundtrack on it. Have fun.

2) The Phantom of the Opera (1925). Lon Chaney is brilliant in his role as the music genius named Erik, who gets disfigured and becomes the Phantom of the Opera.

1) The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari(1921) starring Werner Krauss as Dr. Caligari. Nothing is more frightening than one's mind - wondering what is real and fantasy, and wandering between the lines of sanity and madness. The Mother of all horror films - Check out Das Cabinet Des Dr. Caligari. Or watch Frank Random's preview for a taste.

LikeTelevision's ScreamFest 2008

2008-10-27T11:26:00.005-04:00

As if the political season and the financial markets aren't scary enough... it is once again time for the LikeTelevision Streaming Screaming Halloween, also known as ScreamFest, now in it's ninth year!!! We have been adding lots of fun stuff in the Horror department and hope to include another classic later this week, though lately we have been swamped with real world horrors - like the phone just won't stop ringing. I am really getting annoyed by all the solicitations and Robo calls, and remembered this gem from ages past, that is so deeply hidden, i could barely find it. But thanks to google... it can now be resurrected. Basically, a clever fella created a loop, and when he got a sales type call, he'd put them on hold, and then send them to a recording. Check it out... a telemarketer's worst nightmare. You know, i feel sorry for the guy, imagining him just trying to make a living, pictures of his kids on the desk... and then he gets tricked into the looped recording.

But let's get back to stuff that is entertaining scary. Here's a top 10 list of you favorite horror titles on the site. If you are more selective, just search for Vampires, or Witches. Another great title is Frank Random's bizarre soundtrack for the original Dracula film, Nosferatu.

We'll be offering more halloween themed video content all week... so come back to the blog and check out LikeTelevision at it's creepiest, where movie quotes like - have a little fire scarecrow... can only be doused with Holy Water.

Recommended Halloween Viewing: John Carpenter's "The Thing"

2008-10-24T12:30:00.007-04:00

Hey everyone. Firstly, introductions. You're probably wondering who I am and what I'm doing here (and rightfully so). My name's Dan; in a nutshell, I'm your average dude from New York who grew up in the 80s, and thus has a (unhealthy) love for all things pop culture. As such, I'll be contributing posts every now and then concerning movies, television and the like. Thanks very much to the fine folks of Like Television for giving me a podium from which to speak, and allowing me to make something of my otherwise useless geek knowledge. Since Halloween is coming, I figured now would be a good time to talk about my favorite horror flick and kind-of forgotten gem: John Carpenter's The Thing.

(editor's note 11/25/08. You can now watch The Thing at our site.)

The Thing (1982) is technically a remake of 1951's The Thing From Another World. I say "technically" because it actually shares very little with the original film -- especially when it comes to creature design and gore -- and is more faithful to the 1938 short story "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell, Jr. that the '50s flick is based on. Without giving away too many details about the plot, the long-short of it is that a grotesque, deadly alien makes its way to a remote research outpost in Antarctica. The alien, however, can take the form of anything with which it comes into contact, from humans to animals, and the outpost's crew of scientists (led by a very beardy Kurt Russell) slowly begin to grow paranoid, tense, and downright distrustful of each other, as one or more of them could be the alien in hiding.

In many ways, The Thing is very reminiscent of Ridley Scott's seminal Alien, except I think it's actually better. Sure, both films have a similar premise: a ragtag crew in an isolated environment face off against a seemingly indestructible creature. But whereas Alien got its scares by a tall dude in a costume creeping in the shadows, Carpenter puts the danger right out in the open. This thing could be anywhere; it could be anyone; it could strike at any moment. The movie isn't even that dark -- whereas Alien and most horror films use the dark and space to build tension and fear, Carpenter's film is set in the middle of a bright, white, icy nothingness. True, The Thing's alien is frightening to see (we'll get to that in a minute), but Carpenter doesn't rely on it to make his movie work. No, Carpenter uses his alien's shapeshifting ability to create a sense of danger and impending doom that gives the film its power. The characters don't trust each other, they're in a vast snow-covered wasteland, and there is no escape. That's where the real scares of The Thing come from. That being said, when seen in its true form, the creature itself is pretty damn scary.

There's no perfect way to articulate what the monster looks like here, because it (brilliantly) does not have a singular form. Once revealed and forced out of hiding behind a human or animal facade, this alien is not a guy in a monster suit, nor is it a weightless, soulless piece of CGI animation. Rather, it is an amorphous being that can grow to the size of a room, or can detach itself, limb from limb, to make an escape. Tentacles flail, teeth gnarl from different places all over its body, and its size changes. And it's thanks to Rob Bottin, the special effects master whose work in The Thing is nothing short of genius; particularly amazing is "the head-spider" scene, which I won't spoil by discussing any further. If any film could show that good puppetry and makeup can trump modern CGI any day of the week, it's The Thing. There's a horrifying, tangible quality to the monster in The Thing and the way all the characters interact with it, which is largely due to the fact that it looks so good and is actually there. If this had been a CGI-fest, the movie would be much less effective. (Thankfully, Carpenter has not followed George Lucas's atrocious "Star Wars Special Edition" route and added awful digital effects to this or any of his films.)

To my mind, The Thing is John Carpenter's last truly great film. I love They Live and Big Trouble in Little China, but in both of those, Carpenter seems to just be trying a little too hard, whether with the action or the humor. In The Thing, everything really works: the tone, the effects, the dialogue, and the acting (Kurt Russell, as usual, is fantastic). I can't recommend it enough. A great film that only gets better, and for me, it's the best work of a master filmmaker.

(For those of you who have seen and enjoyed The Thing, I'd also recommend checking out Dark Horse Comics' The Thing From Another World comics. They take place right after the end of The Thing, and are surprisingly true to the spirit of the film. Apparently, Carpenter himself loved them. The comics are currently out-of-print, but they can usually be found on ebay for decent prices.)

Clips from Big Trouble in Little China

2008-10-24T10:43:00.000-04:00

Thought you folks might enjoy a few clips from Big Trouble.

Brad Spivey Gets Older

2008-10-21T15:42:00.003-04:00

Today marks the birthday of the one and only Brad Spivey - noted html author, actor and star wars freak. I am not sure how old he is, but I do know... he is old enough to know a few things, and has in fact proven more than once, that he is indeed capable in his server query language works of global importance. Who is Brad Spivey, well sit down partner, and check out this page - Urinal Screen, showcasing his skills as one of the first internet thesbians. If you want more Spivey, check out Zim Zum - he is interviewed by Dodge Benson in episode six. But what Spivey is best known for... well, he's the techno maestro who build the database and backend that holds all those videos on the LikeTelevision web site. So, on behalf of the 30 million plus campers who enjoy the site - Happy Birthday dude!

Coming Soon - ScreamFest 2008

2008-10-20T13:45:00.002-04:00

That's right ladies and gentlemen, it is that time of the year again - October, time for the annual LikeTelevision ScreamFest. And how much fun, we launch the 2008 ScreamFest on Bela Lugosi's 124th birthday. (Béla Ferenc Dezsõ Blaskó, a.k.a. Bela Lugosi was born October 20, 1884 in Romania.) So by all means - check out a few Bela Lugosi movies today if you like. My favorite is called White Zombie, made in 1932 - this is the mother of all Zombie movies... in fact, this 1932 movie is the first zombie movie ever. It happened so long ago - that the black people in the film are afraid of their own shadows... ahhhhhh, and filled with all kinds of fearful voodoo mojo silliness. BOO!... ahhhhhhhh. Eyes opened VERY wide. ahhhhhhh. Anyway... the irony of where we are today, with a black well educated gentleman running for president offers quite a sharp contrast to Hollywood's embarrassing racial stereotype portrayal from 1932. Nuff said. I am treading too close to politics.. and well, Screw politics... personally, I abhor all this passionate yammering he said, they said, you lied, quasimodo died... whatever. Thank God for baseball and the world series. You see, politicians, like most of us, are all wise till they open their mouths. But i digress... Popeye for President. I am with the Spinach Party. Come to think of it, politics could be the scariest part of this halloween season. Enjoy the ScreamFest - we'll be posting new stuff, so check back at the blog for updates.

St. Teresa of Avila

2008-10-15T11:25:00.006-04:00

October 15th, St. Teresa of Avila's feast day, where thousands, perhaps even millions of people pause to remember this wonderful woman. She lived in the 16th century, and during her life as a Carmelite nun, she was so in love with God, she received mystical experiences. When she was deep in prayer, tales of her ability to levitate and even fly continue to this day. And oh my, she was a very funny woman, with a mountain of spunk. Her comment here is a good example -

About the injunction of the Apostle Paul that women should keep silent in church? Don't go by one text only.

Another story involves her falling in a puddle and getting her bright white nun formal outfit covered in mud. She scolded God,

if that's the way you treat your friends, no wonder you have so few of them.

St Teresa of Avila is also the subject of some amazing works of art. There's a mountain of major works of art featuring her, but let me point you to two of the best. First Peter Paul Rubens painting, Teresa of Avila. The painting features an older St. Teresa with a book and a feather pen in her hand. The feather pen references her writings, including an autobiography that she was forced to pen by her church authorities. As such, St. Teresa was compelled to write down and share her mystical experiences, just do it Tess. And wow, what experiences she had. Her three best books are must reading if you have an interest in spiritual mysticism. Check out The Interior Castle, The Way of Perfection and Teresa of Avila, autobiography.

Which brings us to the other amazing piece of art about St. Teresa of Avila. Gianlorenzo Bernini's masterpiece - The Ecstasy of St. Teresa of Avila. Bernini draws upon the writings in her autobiography to use as inspiration for his sculpture in marble.

Beside me on the left appeared an angel in bodily form . . . He was not tall but short, and very beautiful; and his face was so aflame that he appeared to be one of the highest ranks of angels, who seem to be all on fire . . . In his hands I saw a great golden spear, and at the iron tip there appeared to be a point of fire. This he plunged into my heart several times so that it penetrated my entrails. When he pulled it out I felt that he took them with it, and left me utterly consumed by the great love of God. The pain was so severe that it made me utter several moans. The sweetness caused by this intense pain is so extreme that one can not possibly wish it to cease, nor is one's soul content with anything but God. This is not a physical but a spiritual pain, though the body has some share in it -- even a considerable share.[from Teresa of Avila, Autobiography, Chapter 29]

This amazing sculpture, (~ sculpt-sure?) can be viewed at Santa Maria della Vittoria, in Rome, Italy. When viewed after reflecting on her writing, & reading the words that inspired Bernini to create this massive work (11 1/2 feet high) in stone makes a powerful work even stronger. The face Bernini gives St. Teresa in this work just oozes profound joy, rapture, both sensual and spiritual, and in a word - Ecstasy.

Time to Jump, again

2008-10-10T14:39:00.002-04:00

Well it's October again, and that means it is once that time of year when I plan to jump out of an airplane. Last year in October, i sky jumped for the very first time. And yes, certainly I suspect it will be even more fun than it was last year. It goes down on Sunday morning at around 11:11 am. After going to seven o'clock mass of course.

Dressed to Kill Basil & Angie

2008-10-10T14:13:00.002-04:00

The first version of Dressed to Kill starred Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as his trustworthy friend, Dr. Watson. They are searching for clues in enigmatic music boxes in order to find some missing currency plates. It would undermine the financial structure if these plates got out. In 1980, Brian DePalma came out with a new movie called Dressed to Kill, starring Michael Caine and Angie Dickinson. This is a very scary movie. You have been warned.

Biwa Diddy

2008-10-08T16:06:00.003-04:00

Strange times indeed. We still have a few more tweaks before we launch the 9th annual Screamfest, but we thought we would give you something to whet your whistle. With all the recent financial turmoil, we thought we should get a little perspective, of how hard life can be for some. For instance, at the beginning scene of Hoichi the Earless, we are thrust into an ancient sea battle of Japanese clans. One gets anihilated... not graphic or anything, but sad all the same. If you go to the Hoichi page, scroll down and look closely - you will see a hidden link to a master stroke of genius from Frank Random. Yes folks, that's a crazy mixed up mix of Jose and Hoichi, soing some street biwa diddy. Hoichi the Earless is part of a 4 part film, called Kwaidan, which roughly translates as Weird Tales.

Politics, Old School

2008-09-30T14:08:00.002-04:00

While today's annoying rancor might seem somehow new or different, a quick look at some older political films, tv and media clips give a slightly different picture. Why, ye olde school politics was just as nasty and dirty as it is today. I mean, who knew? For example, if you think the media messing in politics is something new, check out Frank Capra's Meet John Doe, starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. The corrupt newspaper creates a folk hero named John Doe, and in a flash - the political parties are both looking to use this guy for their own ends. A great story and let's hope our current limbo in the divided we fall hole we find ourselves in.... ends up like a happy Frank Capra movie. Hey, one can hope. Another classic tale, Angel on My Shoulder with Paul Muni, not only has some shady political stooges - why it even has the general of the Axis of Evil, Satan himself trying to inject himself onto the political landscape. Claude Rains does a terrific job at playing Lucifer, though i doubt he is as diabolical as he would be if they ever redid this film. It is a great movie and totally worth the time and effort. Co-stars Anne Baxter too.

And if all the political yelling gets too loud, please check out presidential graft at its finest in Popeye for President. It seems the race is tied, with only one vote left - Olive Oyl. Watch Bluto and Popeye promise her everything under the sun to win her vote. Why they'd even sell out the country it seems. And sure, Popeye is running on the Spinach Party ticket, so that would make him the green candidate.

Plus, there's a lot of clips related to historical politics - with such notable characters as Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Churchill, and Hindenburg to name but a few. Just search for politic and see what comes up. (a bunch of them are also for politically incorrect... like Amos and Andy, but most are related to the world of political intrigue. Happy viewing, and don't forget to vote. Unless you are voting for the other guy.

Paul Newman Dies

2008-09-27T16:45:00.003-04:00

Paul Newman died today, September 27,2008 at the age of 83 after a battle with cancer. He was born on January 26, 1925 in Shaker Heights, Ohio. He was known for a great combination of being handsome, with steely blue eyes - and for being a great actor who starred in countless different roles and interesting characters. He was certainly one of the best actors in Hollywood for decades.

To honor Paul Newman's life and all he added to the history of film, tv and theater, we suggest you check out Bang the Drum Slowly, with a terrific Paul Newman live tv performance as Henry Wiggin, an ace major league pitcher. It also stars Albert Salmi as catcher Bruce Pearson and George Peppard as Piney Woods. We really liked this sad baseball story and the acting and live element made it exciting to watch.

Here's a few more short video clips that either feature Paul Newman, or have his name mentioned in the text description.

My hat's off to Paul Newman. I had a great deal of admiration for him, not only as a good actor, but also for his efforts to be a good man. He was quiet about it too. Which was refreshing and gracious of Mr. Newman. May God bless you and keep you safe.

Charlotte is gas free

2008-09-25T14:44:00.003-04:00

Today, Charlotte NC is a real mess. For some reason, i suspect a lot has to do with the recent hurricane hitting Texas, we have a very limited supply of gas. The trouble started brewing last night, when supplies were already low, and a TV station put out the word, advising folks who have a half tank, to NOT fill up. And they broadcast a list of who was still selling gas. So here we are on Thursday, and a little problem turned into a bigger one, and we have gas lines and are only allowed to buy $20 worth of gas. Premium, Plus or regular - you get what you can. It took me over an hour to finally get to my spot in line where i finally was allowed to put in $20. (and my gas light was on - yikes). Remember ye olde 1970s. OPEN, & the oil embargo? I do, seemed just like yesterday, and today was a re-run.

And with all the recent financial turmoil, we get to see who loses their cool when times get tough. Perhpas Frank Random's re-mix of Duck and Cover (called Duck and Die) will give folks the incentive to pick up a little more trash around the homestead.

Oprah at the EMMYs

2008-09-22T16:02:00.002-04:00

At the EMMYs last night, Oprah began the ceremony by saying, "Nothing connects us quite like television." Wow. Cool Oprah, I never knew you were such a big fan of the site. We're honored and wish you the best. Don't believe me? Check out the LA Times or the New York Times. I agree Oprah -

Nothing connects us quite like television.

Hockey Moms and Patriotic Taxes

2008-09-19T11:46:00.004-04:00

IN 1997, we created a silly character called Antoine DuFleur, who was the enforcer on a pro hockey team. The enforcer is the guy who is a dirty player who creams the other teams best players, often with cheap shots, like cross-checking or an errant elbow. Anyway, over the course of Antoine's career, he was slammed so many times by the opposing team, he kind of lost his head. And started becoming very effeminate, and was later called the Paisley checker, for his outrageous outfits. And it got worse, when he retired, he became the Poet Laureate of the NHL - a position he felt was sanctioned by the commissioner, but in fact was a creation of his own mushy brain. Anyway... we thought he might actually be one of the first - Hockey Moms... so somehow, this made the clip timely. Check it out - it is really really weird, and pretty dang funny too. Go Antoine DuFleur - with a reading of his amazing poem, Goosey Goosey.

Also of interest, is some background of my family's history. A long time ago (January 1954), my grandfather, Babba and his company, Stearns Magnetic was sued by the commissioner of the I.R.S. It seems he and his dad, the only shareholders of the small Wisconsin manufacturing company, had a special dividend that spun off a patent he had to the shareholders. They valued the dividend fairly, and paid the tax on the gain. BUT... it seems, due to the war, this proved to be a very shrewd move, and allowed him and his father to keep a lot more money after taxes, than if he had done nothing. Oddly enough at the time, it was deemed that it was patriotic to pay more taxes, and this was basically the argument of the IRS (and Joe Biden too I guess). That my Grandfather and his dad should be paying more in taxes, and that the special dividend, though perfectly legal and above board, resulted in a lower tax bill - and this was just wrong. Here's the case at the 7th District court (i think it went to the 10th district court ultimately). In any event, the outcome of the case changed the tax mentality of the people, and in many ways, helped to create the tax advisor industry, which seeks to structure your affairs in a way to minimize taxation. (like deducting your mortgage for instance). The outcome basically stated - it is not a crime to structure your financial affairs in a way that reduces your tax burden, as long as you us legal ways to reduce your tax bill. Thanks Babba! By the way, he also shared with me, that if he had lost, he would have been wiped out, and in fact spent a ton of money to attorneys to win the case.

Peter Sellers Birthday

2008-09-08T11:25:00.002-04:00

Happy Birthday to Peter Sellers! Born today in England, on Setember 8, 1925 (Richard Henry Sellers), Cheers to Peter Sellers. He was one of the greats - a terrific actor who was also funny. and lovable, in the way Buster Keaton was lovable. Check out a Peter Sellers movie or short film today if you like. One of my favorites. Happy Birthday Peter Sellers.

Kenji, Not Benji

2008-08-25T10:25:00.002-04:00

While some clever folks are aware of Akira Kurosawa, (even barenaked ladies for that matter **), one of Japan's greatest film directors, and some might even be aware of Hiroshi Inagaki, or maybe even Masaki Kobayashi, not many folks in the western world have a clue about Kenji Mizoguchi is, so let's try and fix that. Yesterday - August 24, is the anniversary of his death. He died in 1956, back when Chevy made the coolest cars on the planet, not the Japanese. Sorry for the twisted irony, let's get back on topic. Kenji came from very humble beginnings. OK, he was really poor, unlike some most of his peers, he really had to work like a dog to even get a chance to make a film. I admire that kind of tenacity and the understanding and love of the poor is beautifully on display in a terrific Mizoguchi film called Ugetsu. Or as it is sometimes called, Ugetsu - the Tales of a Pale and Mysterious Moon after the Rain. Now what the origami does that mean? I am not going to try and unravel all the sublime pretense of Japanese flower arrangement, you Ikebana furniture Feng Shui - just do me a favor and watch the movie Ugetsu. It is really cool and it is worth your time.

** Barenaked Ladies, Week Song - Like Kurosawa I make mad films Okay I dont make films...

Seems Like Old Times

2008-08-20T10:50:00.002-04:00

Well, just 40 years ago today - August 20, 1968 - the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia to do what it could to squelch democracy. Wow, seems like old times huh, with the recent activities in Georgia. Oddly enough, Stalin was from Georgia, but I am not sure he was a fan of the Braves, since they were in Milwaukee at the time (or was it Boston... hmmm). In any event, check out this old newreel of the 1968 invasion, and cheer for the people's response - which was to tell them to get the heck outta Prague. Time for a Pilsner Urquell.

We hope to update the database shortly to include one of our favorite movies - Night of the Hunter starring Robert Mitchum and Shelley Winters. Till then, you can watch it on the blog below. Like his role in Cape Fear, Robert Mitchum can be really really creepy. Don't you think? Check it out.

Free the Air Waves

2008-08-19T09:41:00.002-04:00

Today we ran across a site called freetheairwaves.com, sponsored by google, that was trying to do something that will perhaps be impossible, but hey - it is worth a shot anyway. Why impossible? Well in case you grew up in the dark - the corporate powers that be... control the world. Yes - money does make the world go round, and it goes around with a little cha-ching as it crosses zero. Big Dog will be fed, and we will pay our little monthly stipend to keep big dog happy. In this case, the big dog is all the big ISPs, telcos and cable companies selling you internet service. And Google of course has a self interest in all this, but oh my - they are up front about it. A nice change. Thank you. The air waves in question are known as white space - which are the broadcast bands between stations on an analog TV. You know - imagine you have no cable and are using an antennae (been there, done that). In Charlotte NC, there's a channel 3, and a channel 9 for instance. And no channel between 3 and 9... just the fuzz. Google is trying to have the US Gov't free up the white space so people can get free broadband, which is especially needed in the rural places not served by big dog. Also, you get a cool video with a girl named Minnie who does her best to explain it all to us non propeller heads. So if we end up getting broadband for free - can we thank Minnie the Moocher?

The whole situation reminded me of the great Nicola Tesla, who created the little convenience that brings electricity into our homes and businesses, called alternating current, or AC if you like. Edison, which all kids think is the big cheese was a slacker compared to Tesla, who was seen as pretty whacko in his day, but over time his work has had profound effects on modern society. Anyway - Tesla sold his AC idea to Westinghouse, which beat out Edison's DC (direct current) and the modern electrical grid soon became a reality. But too bad for Tesla, the market crash decimated Westinghouse, who told Tesla they couldn't pay his royalties. And what did Nicola do? He gave us AC anyway and died nearly penniless. So next time you turn on and power up... give Mr. Tesla a nod of thanks.

Max Kolby - August 14

2008-08-15T14:12:00.003-04:00

Max Kolbe died on August 14, 1941. Max lived a very good life, but he is remembered mostly for the heroic nature of how he died. He was a Catholic priest sent to Auschwitz by the Nazis for trying to secretly hide several thousand Jews. Being a Catholic priest was reason enough to get sent to the camps - so Max's "crime" was even more severe. A Catholic priest trying to harbor Jews made him a huge target. A double whammy as far as the Nazis were concerned.

A prisoner had escaped from his cell block and so, someone had to be punished. A prisoner was randomly chosen to die by starvation for this transgression. Max said - take me instead. Unlike the man who was selected, Max had no family. His story is quite remarkable and by all means, learn more about Maximilian Kolbe.

In honor of Max Kolbe, we recommend two movies. First - Escape from Sobibor starring Alan Arkin and Rutger Hauer. Sobibor was a concentration camp in Poland and unfortunately, not enough people have ever heard of what transpired there. It is an amazing movie about one of the greatest prisoner escapes in WWII. Just watch it. It's an A+ film of a heroic story, just like Max Kolbe's life. Second - we suggest Roberto Rossellini's Open City, which is another powerful World War II story, this time set in Rome. In this movie, Aldo Fabrizi plays a heroic Catholic priest. It also stars Anna Magnani.

Bedazzled, Part Two

2008-08-06T10:44:00.003-04:00

A while back, we provided a short commentary on the film Bedazzled, starring Dudley Moore, Peter Cook, and Raquel Welch but felt it was worth providing a little information on this movie because it is quite entertaining, and also a film most folks have never seen. In 1966, Raquel Welch became very famous from the success in the cult classic, One Million Years BC, and she was also terrific in Fantastic Voyage, (where they shrink some people to inject them into a body to perform a delicate operation on an important diplomat. That films also stars Stephen Boyd, Donald Pleasance, and Edmond O'Brien, but i digress). Anyway in 1967, she played one of the seven deadly sins, (yep, Lust :~), and well, she was built for this role.

I have always been a HUGE fan of British humor, and Bedazzled is just dripping irony and biting sarcastic social commentary. While it is very funny and light, it is also very thought provoking, especially the part where Peter Cook, as Satan explains that he is doing God's will, by being Satan, since God needs a devil to tempt people so they can have the tests in life that build character.

Bedazzled was directed by the legendary Stanley Donen, whose credits include Charade, The Pajama Game, Singing in the Rain, and Royal Wedding. Donen also direct Indiscreet (Ingrid Bergman, Cary Grant) and Funny Face (Audrey Hepburn, Fred Astaire). So what are you waiting for? Go check out Bedazzled and see for yourself if it a great movie. I think it is.

We're Talking Baseball

2008-07-15T15:46:00.002-04:00

In the unlikely event that tonight's MLB All-Star game is a blowout or just boring, check out some of these highly entertaining baseball video clips in the LikeTelevision library. My personal favorites include the Jackie Robinson Story, Bang the Drum Slowly, starring Paul Newman, and The Clampetts Meet the Dodgers, where Jethro Bodine gets a tryout with Leo Durocher of the Los Angeles Dodgers. And for all of you New York Yankees fans, check out this vintage video clip, The Lou Gehrig Story, which includes the Iron Horse's legendary farewell speech to all the Yankee fans at Yankee Stadium. ("I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth...")

Metropolis, Ready for Download

2008-07-07T10:40:00.002-04:00

We took a break last week from our job of preparing the studio for a new musical offering. (We hope to be doing some live video shoots of some promising bands on the "chitlin circuit", which goes from Atlanta to Washington, DC). And for your downloading pleasure, we re-encoded a Fritz Lang classic titled Metropolis. This 1927 silent is listed as one of the best movies of all-time by most movie pundits. On IMDB, it is listed as #74 for instance, and carries a respectable 8.4 rating. The movie is all about the scary new technology of the early 1900s, and how electricity and factory automation were going to ruin the world. It is techno-phobia at its finest, and is an interesting film when looked at from today's current hysteria, global warming. (When i was a kid, it was going to get really cold after a nuclear winter. And now we are slated to burn in hell as we get warmer). In any event, the lesson seems to be that all the gloom and doom dire predictions are rarely all they are cracked up to be. Yes, I understand we all should lower our carbon footprint, and i enjoy riding a motorcycle, so I like to think I am doing my part to save on the precious gas droplets, by getting close to 55 miles per gallon. But I digress - check out Metropolis and if you are a member, or want the movie a la carte, go download it. The new MPEG files look great!

If you need more Metropolis related videos, check out Superman as he finds some bad guys at the Metropolis munitions plant.