dimland radio 12-14-13 show notes

Hoisted By My Own Picard

On my Facebook page I shared an entertainment new item that I had spotted on Fox News' online page.  It was the news about the death of Shirley Mitchell, believed to be the last surviving cast member of the classic TV sitcom I Love Lucy.  Well, Fox News got it wrong, because Keith Thibodeaux, who played Little Ricky on the iconic show, is still alive.

I had a little fun at Fox's expense.  But then a FB friend successfully noted that I was showing an unfair bias against Fox News.  I protested, but he expertly used my own words against me.  Hoisted by my own Picard!

"Everybody Got A Gris Gris"

That's how Penn Jillette put it on the Penn & Teller Bullshit episode on recycling.  His point was that a gris gris is something that, no matter how otherwise skeptical he/she might be, a person will still believe despite evidence to the contrary.  So, I talked about some of the dubious products and services that Penn's podcast boss, Adam Carolla, has as sponsors.  Anyway, it appears that Penn's gris gris is Lumosity.

Lumosity sponsors Penn's podcast.  It is an app that provides games meant to exercise your brain.  It claims to improve your memory, thinking, etc.  It sounded henky to me and, from what I can find, the claims have mixed reviews.  It seems to me that most credible research shows it doesn't work.  And here is an interesting article from the New Yorker on the dubious claims of brain training software.

But, Teller swears by it, so...

Snow, Car Pile-ups, Idiots, and Local News

On December 9, in Wisconsin there were two massive car pile-ups (see here and here) on one stretch of highway.  The accidents were caused by snowy conditions and drivers not adjusting their driving to handle such conditions.  I also noted that several of the drivers, once they had been crashed, got out of their vehicles were milling about on the highway.  Uh, folks?  Get out of the road!  Or better yet, stay in your vehicles until emergency crews arrive.

Then I went on a tangent about the mostly unnecessary use by local news stations to have a reporter live on the scene.  Most of the time, the reporter is on the scene long after the event has happened and all they really do is introduce a report that was taped earlier.  Why do they do that?

Dimland Radio's War On Christmas 

 

 "All da rest of dem not real Ahmercans can jest git out!"

Dimland Radio's war on Christmas continues with my refuting a Facebook post put up by an angry Christian responding to a note sent home from his child's teacher.  The teacher was happily announcing there would be a holiday party in class and she asked that $3 be sent in to help pay for the party.

Well, angry, intolerant Christian Dad didn't like the term Holiday Party and seems to think that only Christian holidays should be acknowledged in his and our kids' public schools.  Send all those Hindus, Muslims, Jews, atheists, and others out while we Americans celebrate our American holidays.

What a dick.  I feel sorry for his kid.

Movie Recommendation: The Ladykillers (1955)

Ealing Studios

 

Last week it was the ultra-violent and dark film Dredd, this week I'm recommending the sweet, funny, and gentle caper film, The Ladykillers.  It stars Alec Guiness, who is terrific as the brainy and somewhat nutty leader of an eclectic gang of misfits.  His master plan involves a sweet, kindly widow (Katie Johnson) as the unknowing partner responsible for getting the "lolly" away without raising suspicion.  It also stars a very young Peter Sellers as one of the gang of thieves.

Do I really need to tell you the caper doesn't exactly go as planned?

Music heard on the show...

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

First ad break bumpers: 'It's Your Turn' by The Who & 'Grey Victory' by 10,000 Maniacs
Second ad break bumpers: 'Fall On Me' by REM & 'Bliss' by Urban Guerrillaspenn
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 12-7-13 show notes

A Rant

I started off being annoyed by people who pull over to the curb as you are driving up alongside them and they fling their car door wide open.  People!  Take a quick look behind you before you make that move'  You're gonna lose a car door doing that!

It Snowed, It's Cold, And The Van Made Me Angry

It's winter in Minnesota and we once again ask, "Why do we live here?"  Well, actually, it's not as bad as all that.  But I managed to get charged money for the van we acquired from the in-laws.  I applied the emergency brake before I realized the release handle was no longer there.  Yeesh.

Never Found In The 80s: The Feelies

The only November entry in my Never Found blog series for the Stuck in the 80s blog.  It may have been the only one, but it's a good one.  The Feelies is one of the best indie bands of the 80s.  Go here to read more.

An Open Letter From Not A Scientist

Christine Horner wrote an open letter to Dr. Stephen Hawking.  Christine Horner is not a scientist, go here to confirm that statement, but she is fluent in Newage gobbledygook.

Ignorant About MLK?

Mark Dice, according to conservativevideos.com, is a political prankster and he has posted a video of himself asking nine people if they heard the news that Martin Luther King Jr. had died THAT day in a car accident.  I say nine people, because that's all we are shown on the video.  We don't know how many people Mr. Dice tried to prank before finding the nine.  It may have been several people, it might have been just those nine.  Which do you think is more likely?

One needs to be skeptical of videos such as this one.  It is all in the editing.  Mr. Dice might have talked to 50 people.  41 of whom knew that MLK was long dead, but that wouldn't coincide with the message he wanted to send. 

Dimland Radio's War On Christmas 

In the continuing war on Christmas, I shared a post I spotted on Facebook.  It's a screen capture of a Facebook posting by someone who is upset by seeing Xmas instead of Christmas.  She emphatically states that it should be CHRISTmas, because the holiday is about the birth of Christ.  Period!

But, Richard comments on her post.  He explains the real history of Christmas and advises people to "get along and call it whatever we want and celebrate it however we please."  Kudos, Richard!

Movie Recommendation: Dredd (2012)

Lionsgate

 

Very violent, but from what I understand, far more faithful to the original comic book series than the 1995 Sylvester Stallone film, Judge Dredd.  This may not be everyone's cup of milk, but I found it entertaining.  A dystopian vision of the future.  A future of crime, grime, violence, drugs, a police force that is judge and executioner, in a nuclear wasteland.  What's not to like?

Music heard on the show...

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

First ad break bumpers: 'Almost With You' by The Church & 'Away' by The Feelies
Second ad break bumpers: 'Two Story House' by George Jones & Tammy Waynette & 'Spy World' by Wall Of Voodoo
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 12-8-12 show notes

The Storm Of The Day!

I started the show talking about the weather.  I knew we were going to get some snow, but I was told earlier in the day that the amount of snow would be more than originally predicted.  Batten down the hatches, everyone!
 

Dimland Radio's War On Christmas

Why should Fox News have all the fun?  I jumped into the "War on Christmas" by ranting about the guilt imposed on me by the bell ringers of the Salvation Army at the entrances of the stores I frequent.  And I went on about a car ad campaign featuring a very Santa-like salesman.  The jokes of the ads center around the salesman possibly being the gift-giver himself.  One ad in particular is very funny.  Or it was last year, but this year it was changed a little and the humor was diminished by that change.

 

I also mentioned Penn Jillette's take on the fictitious war.  You can listening to Penn's take here.  And, although I didn't mention it on the show, Jon Stewart has a very spot on take on this whole mountain-out-of-a-molehill business. 

 

JFK, GHWB, and BE

Or maybe it's just some other guy?

There's a conspiracy theory out there that says that President George Herbert Walker Bush had something to do with President John Fitzgerald Kennedy's death.  There's a picture from the day, shortly after the assassination, showing, among others, a man in a grey suit standing by the Texas School Book Depository building.  He does look kind of, sort of, possibly similar to a man that might maybe be GHWB.  But there's another person it might be... Beatle's manager, Brian Epstein!

The image just isn't clear enough to be certain who it is, but I think it's BE!  What was he doing November 22, 1963?  DOES ANYONE REALLY KNOW?

Wanna Feel Old?

'War Games' will turn 30 years-old in 2013.  The classic film is about a couple of teenage kids unwittingly hacking into NORAD's missile launch control computer.  This sets of a series of events that brings the world perilously close to nuclear war.  In those days there was a palpable fear that President Ronald Reagan was going to get us into a nuclear war with the Soviet Union.  It didn't happen.  (Spoiler!)

A couple things about the movie stood out.  One was the amount of advancement our technology has made in those 30 years.  The other was how upset my wife got when the two teenagers remarked about how old some fellow was when he allegedly died.  He was 41 years-old.

A couple weeks ago my wife had turned 41 herself.  Poor Honey Bunny,  you're not old.

Movie Recommendation: Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

 

 

  Twentieth Century Fox

A sweet, quirky, wry, and vulgar family movie by director Wes Anderson.  Anderson's movies are all a bit odd and that's what I like about them.  'Fantastic Mr. Fox' is also odd and I like that.  It's not really vulgar,  The characters, voiced by George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Michael Gambon, and others, use a lot of profanities, but instead of saying the actual word or bleeping it, the characters say, "Cuss".  As in, "What the cuss?" or "You cussed that up."  (I'm not sure those are actual quotes, but that's the general idea.)

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: 'Nobody Told Me' & 'Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)' by John Lennon
Second ad break bumpers: 'Woman' & '(Just Like) Starting Over' by John Lennon
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.