dimland radio 11-9-19 show notes

A Dimland Radio Pedantic Moment: "These Walls Are Sheathed With Lead."
 

This moment is something I noticed the most recent time I watched the haunted house classic The Legend of Hell House (1973). I watch this movie most Octobers as part of my Halloween month horror movie viewing tradition. Something occurred to me this latest viewing.

My talking about the this pedantic moment meant I had to do quite a bit of spoiling of the movie. I tried not to give everything away.

It has to do with a secret room, electromagnetic radiation, and lead lined walls.

Emeric Belasco in his special room.

Bullshit Defending Bullshit
 

There's a discussion between two of the characters in Hell House. One is Ms Tanner. She's a psychic and she gets upset at Dr. Barrett's skeptical attitude toward her claims. She goes off on a little diatribe and uses the Bible to bolster her argument.

"Yeah, well. The Bible is bullshit, too, Ms Tanner."

No, Dr. Barrett didn't say that. I did.

An Item For The Gullible

 

Your cell phone will not hurt your naughty bits. This product is merely an attempt to extract money from the gullible. Just go with Fruit of the Loom or Hanes and stop worrying about cell phones and your junk.

Bride Of Frankenstein Is Not A Horror Film

It is often said that Bride Of Frankenstein (1935) is a sequel that is better than the original - Frankenstein (1931). Weeeeellll, maybe. If you like camp.

I prefer my horror movies to be horror and not camp. Bride just doesn't work for me. And the biggest reason it doesn't is Una O'Conner as Minnie.

The camp starts right of the bat with a ludicrously acted prologue meant to catch the audience up on or remind them what had happened in the first film. Then the new story begins. The camp takes a little break when the monster (Boris Karloff) is introduced. The monster is understandably upset and he lashes out at a couple peasants. There is promise that the film could become a monster's revenge against Frankenstein and the people of the village, but as soon as Minnie encounters the monster all pretenses of horror are dropped.

Watch the clip and note the change in the musical score as the scene goes from horror to camp. And watch the way Minnie reacts to seeing the monster had survived the fire. Her reaction is so cartoonish you will wonder if the movie is a comedy.

There are some interesting characters and nice cinematography, but there ain't no horror. Just lots and lots of camp.

However, Neil Gaiman loves Bride, so there's that. 

Cool Thing: Old Hollywood Trickery

How did they do those shots? Were those performers really putting their lives at risk? Didn't anyone hear the phrase "safety first"?

Well, there was some trickery involved and it's very clever and cool.
 

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus 
First ad break bumpers: 'Delirious' by Prince & 'Since You're Gone' by The Cars

Second ad break bumpers: 'All That I Wanted' by Belfegore & 'Love Is A Stranger' by Eurythmics

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

Please subscribe on iTunes! Just search for Dimland Radio in the podcast section. And if you could leave a good rating and a positive review it would be awesome.

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dimland radio 10-2-10 show notes

It is the kick off of Halloween Awareness Month at Dimland Radio...

Cold open: sock talk

I opened the show with the scintillating tale of my struggle with purchasing some new socks.

October 2, 1982

The world's greatest rock band: The Who

This show happened on the same date as my first time seeing The Who in concert. 28 years later, of course. I talked about my memories of that day and of the concert and band that changed my life.

You can read my blog giving more details here (scroll down).

Ken Burns' Baseball the 10th Inning

I gave some of my impressions on the recently aired documentary about the greatest game ever devised by man. Ken Burns knows how to make himself a good documentary. If you missed it, I'm sure PBS will run it again soon. Probably next pledge time, which should be happening any day now.

Learn more here.

It's Not True

On the left! In the back! Behind the curtain! A g-g-g-ghost!

No, not a ghost. It's a cardboard cutout of Ted Danson.

The untrue item this time? I'll tell you what's not true! It's the "ghost" of a little boy that can be seen in one scene in the movie '3 Men and a Baby'. It's not a ghost. It's a cardboard cutout image of Ted Danson wearing a tux and a top hat.

You can read more about it at Snopes.com and watch Captain Disillusion explain it here.

Chris Brown's Meet the Skeptics podcast

I mentioned it last week, but I wanted to get into it a little more this week, so I did. My skeptical friend, Chris Brown, has a podcast that he just started in which he interviews skeptics. It's called 'Meet the Skeptics'. His first interview was with James Randi! (Chris! You stinker!) And, even more importantly, in my mind anyway, soon he will be interviewing ME for his podcast! I'll keep you posted as to when I'll be on, because, if you are anything like I am, you can't get enough of me.

You can find Chris' blog here and 'Meet the Skeptics' can be found on iTunes or here.

Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff

Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula ('Dracula' 1931)

Boris Karloff as the Monster ('Frankenstein' 1931)

I really like those old Universal horror movies. I talked a bit about 'Dracula' (1931) and 'Frankenstein' (1931) and about the stars of those movies, Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff. I compared the two actors and how their careers went. I also told the story of how Lugosi got the part of Dracula in the horror parody 'Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein', a part you would think was a shoe-in for him but Universal didn't want him.

You couldn't go wrong by putting 'Dracula' and 'Frankenstein' in your DVD collection.

Movie recommendation

This has been a long time favorite of mine. It's the haunted house film from 1973 called 'Legend of Hell House'. Hell House is the Mount Everest of haunted houses according to Dr. Barrett, the somewhat skeptical scientist sent to investigate the house and determine if there is life after death.

This movie is an excellent example of the less is more principle. The special effects are spare, but the atmosphere heavy with fear and more than a bit of eroticism. It's perfect for the season!

Put in your Netflix queue now.

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ahead' by Wire
First ad break bumpers: 'It's Hard' & 'Did You Steal My Money' by The Who
Second ad break bumpers: 'Athena' & 'The Quiet One' by The Who
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