dimland radio 12-30-17 show notes

Legitimate Complainer Or Lazy Ass

Up there in Canadaland, a fellow living in a corner house has been putting up with snow plows leaving piles of snow across the front of his driveway for the four years now.

 

Um, yeah. That's what happens in winter. Homeowners usually then grab a shovel and clear it away. That's what this fellow's neighbors appear to have done in the news report at this link. But the man is upset with the city and, from what I can gather, he wants the city to clear the pile away. The problem with the report is that we don't get enough information. We don't hear from the neighbors, so we don't learn how much snow was left in front of their driveways.

It's hard to know for sure if the man has a legitimate complaint or if he's just a lazy ass.

 

A Reason I Don't Care For Musicals

 

There are a few reasons why I generally don't care for musicals. You can blame most of them on my pedantry, but the other day I became aware of another reason: The musical numbers can slow down the pace of a movie. I realized that when I watched the movie that is my recommendation. Not a ringing recommendation, but it's all right.

 

A Little Mad Men Talk

 
I finished watching the AMC series Mad Men this past week. (It's streaming on Netflix.) I'm not sure how much I liked the show, but I didn't hate it. It's well written and acted. The characters are complex and complicated. Some are likeable even if they are assholes. I lost count of all the times I called the main character Don Draper an asshole. It was a lot.

 

Settle Down

 
So, some video of a blob in the sky was released and the UFOers are all atwitter. And there's some related news about a government program that investigated anomalous sightings of objects in the sky to assess potential threats to national security. But, really, that's not much to get excited about.

 

Seven Not Really Banned Words

 
"Vulnerable," "entitlement," "diversity," "transgender," "fetus," "evidence-based," and "science-based" are words that haven't exactly been banned by the Centers for Disease Control. But their use is being discouraged if funding from a conservative congress is to be garnered for science projects. It is troubling, but it's not a ban.

 

Pedantic Moment: Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981) & The Fly (1986)

 
I get a bit pedantic about two movies:

 

My pedantry about Raiders was inspired by the very funny Dana Gould and was, so I was told, supported by the very unfunny Big Bang Theory. I'm sure you know the movie, so think about it: Was Indy really necessary in keeping the Ark out of the hands of the Nazis?

 

Then I dug into The Fly and its very inaccurate portrayal of science. But, really, my pedantry was aimed at the disappointment Jeff Goldblum's character feels when he has to admit, early on, that his teleportation device came only transport inanimate objects.

 

Um. That would still change the world and make him tremendously famous and wealthy.

Top Three Cool Things Of The Week

Here are the Top Three Cool Things from this week.

 

3) Sea smoke. It's a weather phenomenon that can occur over large bodies of water when the conditions are right. It's a massive fog bank. I first heard of it this past week.

 

Duluth News Tribune

2) This undoubtedly freaked out the chemtrail conspiracy people, but the rest of us were impressed by the awesomeness of the contrail that followed a SpaceX rocket launch just a few days ago.

1) It was Christmas. Yes, I'm an atheist. I still think Christmas is pretty cool.

 

Movie Recommendation: Scrooge (1970)

 

Cinema Center Films

 

It's not my favorite version, but there's a certain fascination about it. It's musical, which makes it a little challenging for me, but a couple songs are OK. It stars Albert Finney as Scrooge and features Alec Guiness as Jacob Marley's ghost. And there's a scene in hell. That's always cool.

 

You can watch the entire film here.

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus 
First ad break bumpers: 'C'est Comme Ca' by Les Rita Mitsouko & 'Only You' by Yaz

Second ad break bumpers: 'Let's Get Married' by Celibate Rifles & 'Dear John' by Au Pairs

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.

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 12-16-17 show notes

Slowly I Turn

I started the show by talking about vaudeville, the old time variety shows held in theaters across America. Vaudeville was the precursor to shows such as The Carol Burnett Show, The Donny & Marie Show, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, etc. There would be singing acts, jugglers, acrobats, one act plays, and comedy routines.

 

One such comedy routine involves the phrase, "Slowly I turn..." It's a sketch about a jilted lover who gets violent whenever he hears a certain word or phrase and he beats up an innocent stranger.

 

The Three Stooges do a version called Niagara Falls.

 

Well, I've picked up the phrase "slowly I turn" and I use it whenever I think I'm done doing tasks for the day, but one more thing has to get done.

 

A Refresher On Homeopathy

 

 

The comic strip above demonstrates that homeopathic medicine has nothing in it. The kid could eat a hundred bottles off those pills and still be fine.

 

I shared the image on Facebook and a friend took umbrage with it. I think they may have been equating homeopathy with herbal medicine. I explained the if a remedy has been prepared using the methods of homeopathy, diluting the solution to the extreme, the chances of there being a molecule of the active ingredient is zero. Homeopaths believe the water used in making the solution "remembers' the active ingredient and forgets everything else that had been in it.

 

It's magic, not medicine.

 

There are a couple videos demonstrating the homeopathic method using vodka and bleach.

 

Some On The Left Are Slut-Shaming

 
I take those few people on the Left of the political spectrum who seem to think it's OK to slut shame Melania Trump and Leeann Tweeden to task. A small segment of folks on the Left have been sharing images from those two women's modelling past. The images are sexy, nude or semi-nude, and, somehow, that means Melania only married our child president for his money and the Tweeden is somehow ineligible to make accusations of sexual harassment or assault.

 

Really? Aren't we supposed to believe the victims?

 

Pedantic Moment: Mad Men And Go Fish

 
In a scene from season four of Mad Men, a child psychiatrist and a child are playing Go Fish. I noticed that neither of them was playing the game properly.

Top Three Cool Things Of The Week

Here are the Top Three Cool Things from this week.

 

3) My wonderful wife got the in-laws' old couch off the porch, so now we have room to...

 

2) ...put up the Christmas tree. This is the second year of me putting the tree on the porch. I thought I wouldn't be able to this year, but my Honey Bunny came through. And...

 

1) She has also been going through her parents stuff. She found a copy of Sports Illustrated dated November 4, 1991. Why is that cool? Just take a gander at the cover.

 

 

Movie Recommendation: The Senator Was Indiscreet (1947)

Universal Pictures

This was recommended by one of the Minnesota Skeptics. It's interesting and amusing political comedy, but there's a very racially insensitive scene involving Native Americans in the first ten minutes. Very cringe inducing.

 

William Powell, best known for his role as Nick Charles in The Thin Man film series, plays a not-too-bright Senator who just might be President soon. He keeps a diary with some very damning information that could ruin several political careers, including his own, if the contents were ever made public. As the title notes, the Senator is not very discreet with the diary and it goes missing.

 

There is a notable cameo that fans of The Thin Man films will appreciate.

 

You can watch the entire film here.

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus 
First ad break bumpers: 'Achin' To Be' by The Replacements & 'Mea Culpa' by Brian Eno & David Byrne

Second ad break bumpers: 'Mescal Dance' by Red Lorry Yellow Lorry & 'I Don't Know Why You Don't Want Me' by Rosanne Cash

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.

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.