dimland radio 10-27-12 show notes

Cold Open: Ode To October And The Great Pumpkin

This was a slightly edited replay of a cold open I did last year.  I'm thinking this might become an October tradition.  It chronicles a few of the things I like about October, especially 'It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown', but I did forget one important October event...

The World Series

How I forgot to include the World Series in my ode to October, I don't know.  Well, I rectified that by talking about this year's Fall Classic.  It don't look good for the Detroit Tigers.  They are three games down to the San Fransisco Giants.  I talked about Pablo Sandoval's achievement of hitting three home runs in one game in the World Series.  A feat that has only been done four times before in the history of the series.  Babe Ruth (he did it twice!), Reggie Jackson, and Albert Puljols have done it.  And now they can add "Panda" to the record books.

Our Star Blazers!

My son and I have been watching the animated series Star Blazers on YouTube and I gave my thoughts on the show.  It's silly fun and its regard for science is nonexistent.  They think that Mars is THOUSANDS of light years away from Earth!  Um, not exactly, but who cares?  Just go with it.

Learn about our Star Blazers here.

Stuck In The 80s Podcast Come To An End?

For seven years, Steve Spears has been producing a podcast and blog dedicated to his favorite decade, the 1980s, called Stuck In The 80s.  Along with his irreverent and very funny cohost, Sean Daly, he would bring us news and interviews and general talk about the pop culture of that decade.  There were other cohosts over the run of the show, but Sean Daly's zaniness was a perfect fit for Steve Spears' more subdued persona.  It was very entertaining.

That's right.  Was.  They just did their last show.  Steve Spears is taking on a new job and will not be able to produce the show as he had been doing.  He was making the show through his former place of work.  He promised he will try to continue doing the podcast in some form, but we'll see.  The blog will continue for at least the next three months.

The final (?) show featured call-ins by long time SIT80s fans and a couple recorded messages (one by a Dr. Dim, ever heard of him?) and lots of memories of the show.  There are 270 plus episodes to listen to on iTunes, so if you haven't heard it there's lots of fun awaiting you.

The 10 Mill Is Probably Safe

There's a new "reality" show on the horizon.  Another one?  Yep, just what we need, right?
 

Spike TV will be producing another show documenting the attempt to prove Bigfoot really exists.  The contestant who offers "irrefutable evidence" the proves the elusive creature does romp around the woods of just about every state in America will be awarded $10 million dollars.

Given that people have been searching for the cryptid for decades and the areas where it might be are shrinking and the fact that everyone carries a camera with them everywhere they go and no bigfoot has yet been found, I'd say Spike TV's $10 million is safe.

Read Ben Radford's take here.

Movie Recommendations: Young Frankenstein (1974)

20th Century Fox

The last really excellent comedy by Mel Brooks.  It's very funny.  Co-written with the movie's star, Gene Wilder, this classic comedy borrows from 'Frankenstein', 'Bride of Frankenstein', and 'Son of Frankenstein'.  All three of those films featured the great Boris Karloff as the monster.  As I said, 'Young Frankenstein' is terrifically funny and entertaining. 

Music heard on the show (Whenever Possible, I Will Link To The Song)...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus

First ad break bumpers: 'Ivo' by The Cocteau Twins & 'Ghosts' by The Jam
Second ad break bumpers: 'Date With A Vampyre' by The Screaming Tribesmen & 'Antonin Artaud' by Bauhaus
Closing song: 'Angler's Treble Hook' by $5 Fiddle

That's it! See you next Saturday night for Dimland Radio 11 Central, midnight Eastern on www.ztalkradio.com you can also download my show from the z talk show archives page. You can email your questions and comments to drdim@dimland.com

You can also go to my CafePress store and buy stuff with my artwork on it and have me do a portrait for you if you like. Find out more here and here.

dimland radio 10-20-12 show notes

The Ewoks Defeat The Empire

Ok, so the Detroit Tigers aren't exactly Ewoks, but they did defeat the Hated Yankees by sweeping them right out of the American League Championship Series.  So, the evil empire will not win yet another World Series.

How to Look Like A Dork

This is Amy's.  I'm pretty proud of this one.

Amy and I went to see comic Doug Benson do some stand-up earlier in the day.  Doug loves movies, which is also the name of one of his podcasts, and he likes to play the Leonard Maltin game.  That's a movie guessing game that audience members can participate in by bringing a name tag.  I made name tags for Amy and me.

We didn't get picked, but after the show we went to say hello to Doug and like a dork I showed him our name tags.  I don't know why I did that.  What a dork!

Here's mine.  Jim Bandits!  Clever, eh?

 

Broun V Darwin

Last week I talked about Rep. Paul Broun and his aversion to science, despite his being a medical doctor and on the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.  I know, right?!  Well, in this follow up I told how there is a move to get voters to write in Charles Darwin as opposition to the head-up-his-backside incumbent.  That's an awesome response to this man's desire to have us all return to the Dark Age.

Neurosurgeon Dreamed He Went To Heaven

Dr. Eben Alexander believes that while he was in a coma he went to heaven.  Well, he might believe it, but it's more likely that it was his brain providing vivid imagery as the doctor slipped in and out of his meningitis induced coma.  It's puzzling that Dr. Alexander doesn't recognize this possibility seeing as how he is a neurosurgeon.

Well, neurologist, skeptic, blogger, and half a million other things Dr. Steven Novella gives his take on this claim here and Sam Harris also chimes in here.

Science Scores Another Win

Ok, science isn't flawless, it doesn't have all the answers (unlike religion), but it does chalk up wins at a far greater rate than prayer and wishful thinking.  And it's recently scored another victory.  A fellow literally blew off most of his face in a shotgun accident and, through medical science, he now has his face back.  That's awesome!  Let's see Zeus do that!

Movie Recommendations: The Exorcist (1973)

Warner Bros.

This is a good scary, creepy movie.  It's based on a "true" story, which is probably a load of BS, but the film is very intense.  A commercial for the second release (Hollywood would do a re-release of a popular movie back in those days) scared the crap out of me when I was about 10.  That was just a commercial!  What would the entire film do?  Well, it entertained.

Music heard on the show (Whenever Possible, I Will Link To The Song)...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus

First ad break bumpers: 'Never Follow' by Naked Raygun & 'A Pagan Place' by The Waterboys
Second ad break bumpers: 'Certain Things Are Likely' by KTP & 'Watching The Clothes' by The Pretenders
Closing song: 'Angler's Treble Hook' by $5 Fiddle

That's it! See you next Saturday night for Dimland Radio 11 Central, midnight Eastern on www.ztalkradio.com you can also download my show from the z talk show archives page. You can email your questions and comments to drdim@dimland.com

You can also go to my CafePress store and buy stuff with my artwork on it and have me do a portrait for you if you like. Find out more here and here.

dimland radio 10-13-12 show notes

Old Man Fitzsimons Sounds Off

I guess I showed my age when I started off the show complaining about how crappy today's music is.  I mean, everything in my day was great.  Well, it wasn't really, but it wasn't all auto tuned the way stuff is today.  And don't go saying the technology wasn't available then, I know that!  You kids just don't know what real music is!  Why in my day... Come to think of it there was a lot of crap then, too.

I also talked about the change in the music industry.  About how in the past singles were king, then in about 1968 album sales took the lead.  Today we're back to singles generating the sales, because it's more about the downloads than about the art of an album's worth of music.

I also mentioned a website on which you can check out the hits by each week through the decades.

And somewhere in this beginning segment I talked about that Funny American Video show and Bob Saget.  Saget on that show wasn't painfully unfunny, but elsewhere he is painfully hilarious.  If you only know him from the video show and that sit-com about houses, here's a very revealing clip from The Aristocrats.  This is how funny he can be and sick, too.  NSFW! 

Pete Townshend

Just days ago I received Pete Townshend's no anticipated autobiography, 'Who I Am.'  I took that opportunity to talk about my love of him and The Who and about how I became an huge fan.  I also talked about his song 'Slit Skirts' and how I needed to get older to really appreciate where he was coming from when he wrote it.  That's one of the awesome things about his music, it will wait for you to catch up.

I also threw in the story behind this iconic (iconic) moment from the Smothers Brothers' show.

Mirror, Mirror

A couple of my Hmong neighbors have mirrors facing out of their window and outside next to their front door.  I wondered why, so I asked a co-worker who happens to also be Hmong and he explained it was something they did to ward off evil spirits.

 

I tried to find more information online about this when I stumbled upon this site.  It's all about the far from science (and reality) practice know as Feng Shui.  The claim is that putting a mirror facing out the window can deflect "sucky" neighbors.  Oh, really?
 

Scroll down to the comments and you'll see a brief pearl of clarity from a certain Dr. Dim.  Good name.

Penn & Teller did a pretty good expose of the nonsense that is Feng Shui.  You can catch that full episode here.

Movie Recommendations: Alien (1979)

 

 

In space, no one can hear you realize how good this movie is.  The tension built by filmmaker, Ridley Scott, is masterful.  The film confirms that less is more when it comes to building suspense.  When the alien is hidden, lurking, barely seen you just get so worked up with anticipation.  It's great! 

Music heard on the show (Whenever Possible, I Will Link To The Song)...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus

First ad break bumpers: 'Face Dances Part Two' & 'Rough Boys' by Pete Townshend
Second ad break bumpers: 'Brilliant Blues' & 'Let Me Love Open The Door' by Pete Townshend
Closing song: 'Angler's Treble Hook' by $5 Fiddle

That's it! See you next Saturday night for Dimland Radio 11 Central, midnight Eastern on www.ztalkradio.com you can also download my show from the z talk show archives page. You can email your questions and comments to drdim@dimland.com

You can also go to my CafePress store and buy stuff with my artwork on it and have me do a portrait for you if you like. Find out more here and here.

dimland radio 10-6-12 show notes

Vote For A Cardboard Box!

An item I spotted on my Facebook has, once again, given me a reason not to vote Republican.  Georgia Representative Paul Broun thinks that evolution is a lie "from the pit hell."  Ugh!  And this guy is on the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.  We're through the looking glass everybody!

People of Georgia, if a cardboard box is running against this guy, VOTE FOR IT!

Read all about it here.

Baseball!

It's the post-season!  The most wonderful time of the year.

I reviewed some aspects of the season.  The Twins sucked, the Washington Nationals didn't, the one game Wild Card playoffs, a Triple Crown winner, 2009 game 163 between the Twins and the Tigers, and a bunch of other stuff.

Pedantic Moment!

I never use the LOL when in chat or in IM or anywhere.  Except here, but I have to because I'm talking about it.  Look at that!  A pedantic moment while describing a pedantic moment.  How meta!  (Ok, settle down!)  I pointed out how it bugs me when people misuse it.

Science Rocks!

Science-based medicine made it possible to grow an ear and replace the one lost by a patient who had an aggressive form of skin cancer.  Sorry to all you religious types, but science achieved this, not prayer, not wishful thinking, not magic, not energy healing, not blah, blah, blah.

Read all about it ear.  See what I did?  That's a pun!  Or something.

More "Cart Before The Horse" Thinking

I don't think the tape over the mouth puts across the idea as they think it does, but in the field of paranormal "investigation" thinking isn't exactly what these groups are known for.  Oh, I'm such a stinker!

Not having actually established the existence of ghosts, some paranormal "investigators" think it's wrong to deliberately provoke them.  Some less caring groups will try to anger the spirits in order to scare (pun) up some evidence.  It really isn't evidence, it's just more anomalies, which is not proof of anything, but, perhaps, of the gullibility of the "investigators."

Movie Recommendations: Sherlock (2010 & 2012)

Yes, yes, I realize it's a television series, but damn is it good!  Brought to us by some of the minds behind the current 'Doctor Who' series, this is a fascinating reimagining of the classic Conan Doyle detective.  The detective and his co-investigator, Dr. John Watson, are brought up-to-date in today's world.  The six episodes over two seasons are loosely based on the original stories, which makes it fun for Holmes fans to figure out the parallels.

It's good stuff and you can stream it on the Netflix! 

Music heard on the show (Whenever Possible, I Will Link To The Song)...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus

First ad break bumpers: 'New World Man' by Rush & 'Should I Stay Or Should I Go?' by The Clash
Second ad break bumpers: 'Public Highway' by Luxuria & 'Blue Bell Knoll' by The Cocteau Twins
Closing song: 'Angler's Treble Hook' by $5 Fiddle

That's it! See you next Saturday night for Dimland Radio 11 Central, midnight Eastern on www.ztalkradio.com you can also download my show from the z talk show archives page. You can email your questions and comments to drdim@dimland.com

You can also go to my CafePress store and buy stuff with my artwork on it and have me do a portrait for you if you like. Find out more here and here.

30 years ago today...

It was thirty years ago today, Sgt. Pepper taught...No, wait that was twenty years and that's a different band.  I'll start over.

It was thirty years ago today that I saw The Who in concert for the very first time.  Back in August of 2008, I wrote up my memories of that show as part of a series of blogs about my concert going experiences.

In commemoration of the anniversary and in acknowledgement of it being Rocktober, I'm reposting that blog here (with a couple minor adjustments, I just can't resist)...

The Who w/T-Bone Burnett
10/2/82 St. Paul Civic Center w/John & Eric Ticket Price: Unknown

This was a life changing concert for me. I know that sounds dramatic, but it is true. Seeing this show got me big into The Who and that lead me to punk rock which lead me to even more and varied styles of music. At the time I was listening to mostly crap. Journey, Styx, Foreigner, Boston, yuck! (Although, I must admit a soft spot for some of that crap to this day.)

I wasn’t much of a Who fan at the time. I knew who they were, knew a few of their songs. I knew Pete Townshend had some solo stuff out. The Who’s new single ‘Athena’ was getting some airplay, so I was aware of that song. I thought they were ok and that was all.

In fact, I hadn’t planned on going to the show at all. I was even in downtown St. Paul right next to the St. Paul Civic Center (now the Xcel Center, home of the Minnesota Wild) that afternoon. I had been at a comic book shop getting my monthly comic book fix and had just hopped on the bus to head home, when I was accosted by a pothead who worked at the same restaurant at which I was employed.

Pothead: “Hey, Man! Are you going to The Who concert tonight?”

Me: “No.”

Pothead: “Oh! Man!”

Me: “Sorry.”

Well, I got home and my mom told me to call John right away. I did. It turned out John had bought three tickets to the show, but he hadn’t anyone to go with. He did finally find one friend (Eric) to go and I would make it three if I wanted. And I did.

I called the restaurant I was working at and told them I might be a little late for my shift that night. I was working the graveyard shift and I did end up being only about 10 or 20 minutes late. No big deal.  This was The Who’s North American Farewell tour and I was glad to risk being a little late for work to see them, because they’d never tour again. Riiight.  (Turned out that that night would be the last night I worked at that restaurant.  But that's another story.)

This was also the tour that saw The Clash opening some of the shows, but not this one. We got T-Bone Burnett. We had no idea who he was or what he was doing. He did a guitar solo consisting of him plucking one note at one part of the stage and then walking to another part and pluck another note. It was a baffling guitar solo.

John and I have talked about how we regretted not getting The Clash as the opening act, but, if we had seen Burnett after we’d begun exploring and appreciating new kinds of music, we might have enjoyed his act more. In doing some research for this blog I found that it was likely Mick Ronson (who had played with David Bowie during the Ziggy Stardust days) was with Burnett’s band at the time. I may have seen a rock legend that night and didn’t even know it.

Speaking of legends, there was a headlining act, the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band in the world, The Who. As I said, this was to be their last North American tour and they were promoting their latest album, ‘It’s Hard’. Not a perfect album, it’s no ‘Quadrophenia’ or ‘Who’s Next’ and it does lack the maniac Keith Moon, but it’s not as bad as the critics were making it out to be.

I attended the first night of a two night concert stop in St. Paul. And it was loud! It may be the loudest show I’ve ever seen or, certainly, one of the loudest. Both shows were sold out, packed with boisterous Who fans and I got caught up in it. I found myself shouting and whistling as loud as I could. Cheering for Pete in particular. I’m not sure why, but a connection to Pete Townshend was formed that night and it has never been broken.

I wondered if they would play any of his solo material. They didn’t. It was a Who concert after all. They also didn’t play ‘Athena’, their minor hit at the time. They did, however, feature four or so other songs off ‘It’s Hard’. They played the great song ‘Eminence Front’ and I was surprised to see Roger playing guitar on that and other songs. Something he hadn’t done since he took over lead vocals back in the days when they were The Detours.

Their light show featured three sets of spotlights. One set on either side of the stage and one at the back of the main floor. Aimed straight up, they would twirl around and open and close, casting bright white beams of light to the heavens (well, the ceiling of the Civic Center anyway).

Another fun feature of the show was the glow sticks that were sold to the fans. People starting tossing the green glowing objects over the audience’s heads. They looked pretty cool as they sailed over us. Even better was when some fans realized that if they used a lighter (a must have item at concerts) to melt a hole in the plastic container and then throw it high above the crowd, the glowing liquid would sprinkle out. This made for an awesome effect.

John remembers a very lame attempt by me to throw one of the melted glow sticks, spilling the liquid on myself and him. I don’t recall that, but that’s what John remembers.

The Who concert weekend was a pretty big event judging by the excited talk at school that following Monday. It was truly a major event in my life. I was transformed into a monster Who fan. I bought all their albums and bought and read books about them. I was all about The Who and Pete Townshend.

I’ve mellowed some, but not much.  Love Live Rock!.