Archive for the ‘oddities’ Category

An oddity that the under 30 set might not realize…

Posted: June 9, 2010 by datechguy in fun, oddities
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I was channel surfing a couple of days ago and on RTV (retro tv) They has the pilot episode of the old Daniel Boone TV series staring Fess Parker.

Aside from being politically incorrect in many ways there is something that anyone my age or older would have not found odd.

An attack on the fort is launched by British and Indians to keep the colonists from advancing into Kentucky and building a new fort (which would eventually become Boonesborough). If you look at the scenes of the attack the majority of them come from the first rate movie Drums Along the Mohawk from 1939 staring Henry Fonda that I’ve mentioned before.

For decades this was very common, particularly in TV shows (F-Troop, McHales Navy, et/al) for various action scenes or crowd scenes to be recycled from previous movies. In an age before VCR’s, DVD’s, Blue Ray and live streaming it wasn’t all that noticed.

Those days however it is rarely done. One quick example. The movie Amistad has one small scene at the end showing a moment of the US Civil War. It didn’t get even a minute of screen time but I didn’t recognize any movie it came from and suspect a 2nd unit crew spent a day making that shot for that. Why? Because it they took a shot from say Glory a million movie fans would have recognized it like a shot and razzzed them about it.

Does this matter at all? Not really, it makes me feel like the old wizened retired artillery colonel who recognizes the horse holders but it’s an anachronism that will someday be unrecognized.

Old Habits die hard

Posted: June 8, 2010 by datechguy in oddities
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Last night was kinda busy for me as I had a Knights of Columbus and a Madonna Della Cava meeting scheduled at the same time. (The feast is on the August 15th). We finished at the Knights just in time for me to catch the tail end of the meeting concerning the festival.

After the meeting one of the members that I was close to expressed utter shock that #1 I liked Sarah Palin and #2 I was a republican. It is something I’ve run into on occasion although less these days as more and more people are on the net and are exposed to different points of view.

This is what happens when you try to paint people who don’t have the “approved” set of beliefs a particular way. It leads to such an insulated situation that when you see the reality, it comes as a shock and a half.

It also illustrates to me how history bends over time. She remembers the democratic party of her youth, she remembers the days when democratic were not ashamed of believing Catholics, when Unions actually made a difference in the lives of workers. Those days in my opinion, are gone.

It took me 12 years for my presidential vote to go from Democratic (Mondale) to republican (Dole) and a further 6 years before I changed my registration. It took more than half a century for my mother to be weaned from a party that thinks she is a racist/bigot/homophobe hick and has taken her for granted for years. It may take my friend another 20 years to see what I’m seeing or maybe she will never agree with me on politics at all.

Either way that’s ok, but I doubt she will ever be able to keep that same world view of republicans again.

I know the segment is “News you can’t use”

Posted: June 7, 2010 by datechguy in media, oddities
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but is there a reason why Elton John shouldn’t sing for Rush?

By that argument no conservative should ever go to a movie that a liberal is in, no conservative should go to a comedy show that a liberal has, I’m not allowed to enjoy Paul McCartney even though he is one of the greatest singers since Sinatra.

If you want us Balkanized by opinion we can do that but it’s a bad idea.

Update: Stacy talked on the same subject.

And the Hymers keep fighting

Posted: June 6, 2010 by datechguy in oddities
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The Hymes clan continues to give Little Miss Attila a whole lot of attention.

Even through another member of Baptist Tabernacle, that is initiating contact, which is in general the fastest way to get me to blog about the Hymerses. (The other two things that will get me to do it are when I get heart-wrenching stories from former cultists that I’m given permission to publish [with names redacted, natch], or when Dr. R.L. Hymers gets media coverage.)

She links to and comments on the response of the “church” but shows the difference between the pair.

When one side in a dispute is willing to link to both sides and let people make up their own mind while the other runs to the FBI, tell me who is more confident in their beliefs?

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