Velveteen is a band from Germany most famous (for certain values of “famous”) for having their album hoaxed as a Death Cab for Cutie album. (Disclaimer: I couldn’t recognize a Death Cab for Cutie song with a gun to my head.) Correction: The band wrote to note they’re the London Velveteen, not the German one. “Poster Boy” is another video whose theme is “War is bad and stuff.” Or alternately, “stock footage from the Vietnam is pretty cheap.”
Shoegazer Sunday: Velveteen’s “Poster Boy”
October 20th, 2013Bum Phillips, RIP
October 18th, 2013Former Houston Oilers football coach Oail Andrew “Bum” Phillips Jr. has died at age 90. It’s pretty much impossible for anyone who didn’t grow up in Houston during the “Luv Ya Blue” era of of the Earl Campbell Oilers to tell you how much Phillips meant to the city. He may be the most beloved NFL coach never to even reach a Superbowl. Bud Adams firing Philips (and then trading Campbell to New Orleans for a sack of doorknobs) was one of the many, many, many things Oilers owner Bud Adams did to earn the enmity of the city he would eventually deprive of the Oilers.
Philips was an ornery cuss, but a classy one, and 100% Texan. He will be missed.
Edited to Add: Oiler player tributes to Bum. “Everybody loved Bum.”
Creepy Online GIFs and Their Origins: The Thing In the Bed
October 18th, 2013Another post for the Halloween season.
I’ve always thought this was one of your creepier online GIFs:
And actually, it’s from a very short horror film called “Bedfellows,” available online:
The guy’s evidently done a whole series of them.
Sweet dreams…
Another Heritage Book Auction Today
October 17th, 2013Heritage Auctions is having another of their signature book auctions today.
It’s mostly non-science fiction offerings, but among the items up for auction:
Mapping the Dimensions of My Bibliomania
October 16th, 2013You’re probably aware that I have a pretty large library. What you might not be aware of is that, by word count, my library is larger in word count than Wikipedia.
According to the calculations today, Wikipedia has “1925 volumes in 10 stacks.” I’d estimate my own library is now somewhere north of 6,000 volumes. And translating from the 10-high shelves shown here to the 8-high helves in my library, that would me to about “P” in my hardback fiction shelves.
So far, my book-buying is outpacing all the monkeys. Now as long as they don’t buy them more typewriters…
Shoegazer Sunday: Ride’s “OX4”
October 13th, 2013Here’s another dose of classic UK Shoegaze band Ride with “OX4.” Hard to understand how this never charted, as it has a perfect, catchy pop melody underpinning it.
It reminds me a little of Brain Eno’s early solo work…
Texas 36, Oklahoma 20
October 12th, 2013Well, no need to torment myself watching the UT/OU game, I thought. No chance the Longhorns win playing the way they have this year, I thought.
The only sure thing about this UT team is that they’ll do the opposite of what I expect them to.
New defensive coordinator Greg Robinson has completely turned that unit around. And Mack Brown just might keep his job.
Maybe You Shouldn’t Read This Post If You’re Depressed
October 7th, 2013Ever now and then you come across something interesting, but you wonder “What the hell do I say about this?”
I was looking for some scary gifs when I came across this. There are a few in the, but it seems to be mostly depressing black and white gifs for suicidal teenage girls.
Like this:
Or this:
Interestingly enough, more than half seem to be of stunningly beautiful actresses from popular culture. And, naturally, there’s a lot of Nine Inch Nails references.
And this is pretty striking:
Anyway, if you find yourself making or posting these gifs, maybe you should read this.
Consider this more an act of reportage than commentary…
The Cheet Sheet for Guillermo Del Toro Simpsons‘ Couch Gag
October 6th, 2013A German film website has gone through and labeled every one of Del Toro’s SF/F/H references from The Simpsons couch gag.
Caveat: I think the video is Brightcove, which I have blocked in my main browser.
Also, unless Del Toro’s script departed radically from the original source material, Cthulhu never actually appeared in At the Mountains of Madness…
(Hat tip: SF Signal.)
Shoegazer Sunday: Starframe’s “Broody Soldier”
October 6th, 2013Here’s another dose of Italy’s Starframes with “Broody Solider,” whose message seems to be that war is bad and stuff.
The video appears to have been done by somebody who watched Tapeheads.