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©1993, 2017 NBCUniversal Media, LLC
I used to enjoy watching Quantum Leap. The only reason I stopped was because the show ended. When I went to Korea in 1993, I missed a bit of the last season. However, as you'll see in a minute, I really didn't miss much.
I'm not saying I no longer like the show, but I'd forgotten how stupid it was at times, particularly there towards the end.
Hulu has the show. I've been watching the episodes from the beginning. There have been a couple that I didn't remember, so I may have missed them along the way. I've still missed one episode. Season 2's "Disco Inferno" isn't available from Hulu. I don't know why. Maybe something to do with the music from the episode and difficulty in getting streaming rights. On the other hand, it's available for streaming through Amazon, so that may not be the reason.
Anyway, I managed to watch 94-96 of the 95-97 episodes. It depends on how you count them. You see, the first episode was a TV movie that was broken into two episodes for reruns and syndication. Season 5 opened with the two hour episode about Lee Harvey Oswald. So, if you count them as two episodes each, there were 97 episodes. If you count each two-hour episode as a single episode, there were 95 episodes. Either way, I've missed one, the aforementioned "Disco Inferno."
Oh, and I'm not even attempting to count the Season 3 two-parter "The Leap Home Parts 1 & 2" as a single episode, since it aired on two separate nights. The episodes aired as separate episodes. Neither am I counting Trilogy as three, or even two, episodes. They had separate o -screen credits, and separate production codes, so I'm counting them as separate episodes. The pilot and Oswald actually double-length episodes that were broken out in reruns and syndication. The other multi-part episodes were not broken apart after airing. They were always as they were.
Anyway, the whole concept of traveling through time has always been fascinating. The show was well written -- for the most part -- and well acted -- for the most part. And, I've enjoyed the episodes. For the most part.
Sure, there's the suspension of disbelief with any science fiction show. But some episodes were just too much. I did enjoy most, though. The pilot, where he leapt into a pilot and broke Mach 3, was an enjoyable episode. The one based on Driving Miss Daisy was good, even though it wasn't based on movie Driving Miss Daisy. The episode "The Color of Truth" first aired on 3 May 1989, and Driving Miss Daisy didn't hit theaters until 15 December 1989. It could have been based on the play, which opened off-Broadway in April 1987 and was on nation tour in 1988. Those episodes were the ones that grabbed me as a fan and didn't let go.
Season 2 was when things first hinted at the things I didn't like. Remember the one where the housekeeper turned out to be a ghost? Yeah, I didn't care for that one. If they hadn't shown her fading out, but had her leave and then had the drowning victim turn out to greatly resemble her, that would have been fine. But, no, they showed her fading out, meaning she was a ghost. I'm willing to accept junk science. I'm not willing to accept ghosts.
The episode "The Boogieman," where Sam inspired a young Stephen King, was another that crossed the line. The evil Al and the evil disappearing goat ruined it for me. The one where he leapt into the chimpanzee? Not a fan. The one where the lady he ran over in the cab was an angel? Too much. Just like the one where he found the mummy in Egypt. Old Ptah-Hotep coming to life and killing the bad guy? Yeah, not a fan of that.
The last season featured Evil Leaper was kinda hokey. It seemed like one of those plotlines that they added to spice up the show. Like when The Time Tunnel added the silver aliens, taking the show away from its time travel roots. Jumping the shark, so to speak. The final season also had the one where Sam's character being taken off by the aliens in the flying saucer. Oh, and the one where the guy ended up actually being a vampire. And the one where Bigfoot helped out.
All that, plus they changed the theme song to an arrangement that seemed better fit for The A-Team, meant that, to me, the final season wasn't that great. I did like the final episode, though, even though it was a bit odd. Al got a happy ending, even if Sam never made it home.
Yeah, I'm complaining a lot about some episodes of the show, but overall, I enjoyed the show. I don't know if it would do for there to be a reboot of the show or bring it back in any way. It was a product of its time, and I enjoyed. Well, most of it. It's over and done. But, with Hulu, I can watch it again any time I want. And, I did. But I'm done now.
By Basil at 12/26/2017 01:30:00 PM 1 comment: Links to this post
The Gospel of Luke, Chapter 2
And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David
To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
By Basil at 12/25/2017 06:00:00 AM No comments: Links to this post
This year, let's have a video instead of simply reading the poem.
[The YouTube]
By Basil at 12/24/2017 10:46:00 PM No comments: Links to this post
How the 2017 College Football Playoffs should be
The college football season has concluded and the playoffs begin. Okay, there's still the Army-Navy game (Go Black Knights) but they play it way too late. But that's another rant for another day.
Division III, Division II, and Division 1-AA playoffs are underway. But Division 1-A regular season and conference title games are now done -- except the aforementioned Army-Navy game -- and we know who the conference champs are and who's in the playoffs. What we don't know yet us who should be in the playoffs. But we're about to fix that.
Here's how the playoffs should work. We've covered this before, regularly since 2006 in fact. But, here's a recap of how the Division 1-A playoffs should be.
There should be a 16-team tournament. The field would be the 10 conference champions, and the six best teams that didn't win a conference. This allows the conference championship to actually mean something. In college football, winning the conference should mean something. Whether it's the Southeastern Conference or the Sun Belt Conference, whether the Big Ten or the Mountain West, winning your conference should be important. Win it, and you're in it. As for really good teams that didn't win their conference, or independents that aren't in a conference, the best of those fill out the field, much like the "Wild Card" teams do in other leagues and other sports.
The 10 conference champions get the top 10 seeds. May people who otherwise like my plan really don't like this. But, it's how the "Wild Card" system works in most leagues. In the NFL, in 2010, the 7-9 Seahawks won their division and, as a result, were a 4th seed and hosted the 5th seed wild card 11-5 Saints. In 2014, the 7-8-1 division champion Panthers were 4th seed and hosted 5th seed wild card 11-5 Cardinals. This goes back to the conference championship being important. You not only get an automatic spot, you get a higher seeding.
The higher seeds host the lower seeds in the first round, which would be played the week after the championship (December 9 this year). The losers of those matchups would be bowl-eligible. These should be eight good teams, and most bowls would love to get those consolation bowls.
The second round would be the weekend before Christmas (December 23 this year). The eight surviving teams would square off, again higher seeds hosting the lower seeds.
The third round has the four remaining teams, who would meet on New Year's Day, much as the current CFP currently does it.
The National Championship would be the following weekend, much as is done currently.
That's a workable plan. There is no perfect plan, but this is the best plan.
This Year's Field of 16
First, let's look at the ten conference champions (Conference, Team, Overall record, CPF or Coaches ranking):
Atlantic Coast Conference: Clemson (12-1) (1)
Big 12 Conference: Oklahoma (12-1) (2)
Southeastern Conference: Georgia (12-1) (3)
Big Ten Conference: Ohio State (11-2) (5)
Pac-12 Conference: Southern California (11-2) (8)
American Athletic Conference: Central Florida (12-0) (12)
Mountain West Conference: Boise State (10-3) (25)
Conference USA: Florida Atlantic (10-3) (28 C)
Mid-American Conference: Toledo (11-1) (29 C)
Sun Belt Conference: Troy (10-2) (30 C) / Arkansas State (7-4) (Unranked)
Note: Troy and Arkansas State are co-champions, and none of the tie-breakers prior to coin-flip apply.
Next, let's look at the six highest-ranked teams that did not win a conference title:
Southeastern Conference: Alabama (11-1) (4)
Big Ten Conference: Wisconsin (12-1) (6)
Southeastern Conference: Auburn (10-3) (7)
Big Ten Conference: Penn State (10-2) (9)
Atlantic Coast Conference: Miami (10-2) (10)
Pac-12 Conference: Washington (10-2) (11)
The First Round Games
Washington at Clemson
Miami at Oklahoma
Penn State at Georgia
Auburn at Ohio State
Wisconsin at Southern California
Alabama at Central Florida
Troy/Arkansas State at Boise State
Toledo at Florida Atlantic
All of these should be good games with the possible exception of the Alabama/Central Florida game. But, UCF is the only undefeated team left standing. And who better to get the chance to prove they deserve a spot other than against Alabama. I didn't plan that matchup, but that's how it worked out. And maybe UCF is really deserving. This would answer that question, wouldn't it?
The SEC and the Big Ten would each have three teams making an appearance. The ACC and Pac-12 would have two. All the other conferences have one.
As always, there will be some who don't like it. They're wrong. This playoff system handles all the concerns. If your team didn't make it, you should have won your conference. Or taken one of the six slots if they didn't. This has the best teams, and makes the conference championships mean something.
It would work.
Labels: College Football, Playoffs
The occasion came up recently where I recalled one of my earliest memories. It came about in a roundabout way, as things often do. Let me tell you what the memory was first, then I'll tell you about how it came about to be thought of recently.
I remember riding in the car, in the back seat, of course, with my mother driving and my father in the passenger seat, and her getting pulled over by a policeman.
Now, my mother didn't often drive if it was both my parents going somewhere. I don't recall thinking anything about it, because I had ridden with her driving many times, but, thinking about it later, she was the only parent in the car. Her driving this time, though, was because my father was ill. I don't recall what happened, but he took ill why we were off visiting family in Liberty County or Bryan County or somewhere. I got family all over southeast Georgia, but this particular visit was to either Liberty or Bryan County.
Anyway, I was in the back seat -- don't remember who else might have been there but nobody stands out -- with my father in the passenger seat, leaning over to his right, trying to rest on the door or window. Maybe he had a pillow, I don't know.
Somewhere along the way, maybe on US-17 or US-82, a policeman pulled us over. I don't remember much about the policeman at all. Maybe he wore brown, which would have made him a deputy sheriff, not a policeman. I'm really not clear, because this was years ago. I don't recall what BS reason he gave for pulling my mother over, but we figured it was because a woman driving with a man slumped over in the passenger seat probably meant an easy arrest for public drunkenness or something. He didn't seem to do anything other than check out the situation, realize there was no money in it, and let us go.
I've never spoken with anyone about that, although I've thought about it many times over the years. Recently, a conversation came up about that situation, and I had my first conversation with others about it.
My Big Sister, who's 5'4", mentioned remembering it, too. And she remembers it pretty much just like I do. We had never talked about it in the decades since it happened. Not avoiding it, just never came up.
Only, it turns out we don't really remember it at all.
You see, my mother was telling us about something that happened in 1955, before I was born. And before my older sister was born. We weren't there. Well, I certainly wasn't. She was still a month or two from making her debut into the world.
It's a really odd feeling to find out that something you remember is something you couldn't remember because not only were you not there, you didn't even exist. Odd indeed.
By Basil at 11/22/2017 10:30:00 AM 2 comments: Links to this post
Georgia Florida
I went to the Georgia-Florida game today. It wasn't the first one I went to. I took my oldest grandson today. It was his first Georgia-Florida game.
My first Georgia-Florida game? 1980. Georgia was undefeated and ranked Number 2 going in to the game. Number 1 Notre Dame tied Georgia Tech that day, meaning with a win, Georgia would be ranked Number 1 for the first time in my life.
I managed to secure tickets to the game and took my girlfriend, her mom, and her brother to the game. And, it was something. They didn't call it The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party for nothing.
Georgia was down 21-20 with just over a minute left. Third and 12 at their own 8. Then a miracle happened.
Here's the whole game if you want to watch it.
Georgia went on to finish undefeated, winning the national championship after beating Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl. I went to that game, too. But that's a story for another day.
Good times. And today was good, because I got to spend it with my grandson at a football game. The score doesn't matter. Being with him, that's what matters.
Labels: College Football
Some time back, I downloaded the Disney Movies Anywhere app to my devices. That means I had it on my iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV. I didn't use it a lot, but I could use it. That's the point.
I liked it because it allowed my to purchase Disney content on one service and play the content on a device that didn't support the service. Let me explain so you can see why this is a big deal.
Device and Service Fragmentation
Note that I'm only focusing on set-top boxes, not phones and tablets, although some of what I'm saying would apply to those devices. There is less fragmentation in mobile devices. However, I generally do not use a mobile device to watch TV.
So, if you buy something on iTunes, you can only play it back on an Apple TV or an iOS device (iPhone, iPad, iPod). You can't play it back on a Roku.
If you buy something on Amazon, you can only play it back on a device that supports the Amazon Video app. That means you can't play it on Apple TV, since there is no Amazon Video app for Apple TV.
If you buy something on VUDU, you can only play it back on a VUDU app. And that meant no Apple TV until they released the updated device two years ago (I've been streaming for almost seven years).
And, if you bought something on Google Play, you could only play it back on a device that supported Google Play. There's still no Google Play app for Apple TV.
Even when the service has an app for all the devices -- something that only VUDU had -- you had to open that particular app to play the content. For example, I bought Forbidden Planet on Amazon because Amazon had it for a good price. That meant I could not watch it on Apple TV, but I could watch it on Roku or Fire TV. But, on Roku, I had to open the Amazon Video app to watch it.
I bought Raiders of the Lost Ark on iTunes, because they had it on sale. That meant I could only watch it on Apple TV, and not on Roku.
I bought Star Trek movies on VUDU. I got them for around $2 each at the time, which was a deal I didn't want to pass up. However, I could only watch them on the VUDU app and that was only on Roku.
So, depending on what I wanted to watch, I would have to switch devices, or apps within the same device. I was not able to have all my content on the same device and in the same app library.
Disc to Digital
Oh, one thing that I really like about VUDU is their feature called Disc to Digital. That's a program that allows me to take a DVD that I had purchased and add it to my digital library. You can find more about it here.
Not everything I own on DVD will convert, but a lot will. It's $2 per movie, or $5 if you want to upgrade to HD (keep in mind that DVDs are not in HD). That's where most of my VUDU content comes from, actually.
Disney Enters The Picture
A little while back, Disney launched an app called Disney Movies Anywhere. That meant I could buy Disney content on a service limited to one device, but watch it on an otherwise unsupported device. For instance, I could buy Cinderella on Amazon Video and watch it on any device, even a device that didn't support Amazon.
This was only true for Disney content, but that was at least better than it had been before. I had purchased Disney content through both Amazon and iTunes, but the Disney Movies Anywhere app let me watch it on any of my devices. I liked that.
Shortly afterwards, it got even better. Disney content purchased through Amazon began showing up in my iTunes library. And Disney content purchased through iTunes began showing up in my Amazon library. It meant that I could simply go to my regular content library on a device and watch any of my Disney content.
The only way it could get better would be if it also worked for other studios.
Now it does. Not all, but there are now more studios supported.
Disney Movies Anywhere becomes Movies Anywhere
The change to the app is more than a name change. Movies Anywhere expands to include more studios.
Movies Anywhere features a wide range of films from Disney, Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., Universal and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. At this time, movies from non-participating studios such as Paramount, Lionsgate, and MGM are not eligible and will not migrate to your Movies Anywhere library. As Movies Anywhere evolves, we will continue to add more content partners.
This means that I now have a lot more of my content in one place. Not everything. Not most, in fact. But a lot.
Under the new Movies Anywhere setup, my content for Disney, Sony, Fox, Universal, and Warner Bros. is now available in my iTunes library and my Amazon library. That's very convenient.
Now, to be sure, not everything gets combined in the libraries. I have several hundred iTunes purchases, but less than half actually are available in Amazon. That's because the studios for those aren't part of the Movies Anywhere service. This is also true of the Disc to Digital service.
Recently, I pulled out 14 DVDs I had purchased and added them to VUDU through Disc to Digital. Only eight of them were added to Movies Anywhere. The other six? Non-participating studios.
So, if you have purchased content from multiple sources, and would like to be able to access the content from a single source, I'd suggest trying Movies Anywhere. The app is free, and after you set it up, the content libraries will merge -- with the caveat being participating studios.
Invisible flying pinch bugs
I mentioned recently about stopping for gas and an unusual encounter at the pump. There were actually two unusual encounters.
When I got out of the car, there was a large bug on the ground. I don't know what it was. It was kinda like a North American Stag Beetle, but it was the color of the concrete, and the mandibles were very wide. Really wide. I could see it, but it didn't stand out. Kinda blended in. Hard to see. So, nothing like a North American Stag Beetle. Except for being a large bug. With huge mandibles.
Well, I stepped over the bug and closed the door, then proceeded to gas up. You already know how that went.
When I finished, got my receipt, pocketed it, and stepped back to the door, I didn't see the large bug. Good. Or, so I thought.
During the next 15 minutes or so, I mulled over if I had done the right thing regarding the praying panhandler. I decided I had. That's when something seemed to fall onto my shirt.
Now, I am sometimes guilty of putting stuff over the visor in the car, but I didn't think I had done that. Still, something seemed to have fallen from the visor. I wondered what it was. It was dark in the car, 4:00-4:30 time frame, and no other traffic on the road. A little bit of light from the dashboard, but that was it. I couldn't really see anything on my shirt, and I wasn't going to take my eyes off the road for any period of time.
I'm in the middle of nowhere, on a four-lane road, 65 MPH, no traffic, and the possibility of deer, as I was very much aware. So, without being able to see it, I grabbed whatever it was that had settled on my shirt.
It grabbed back.
That's not a feeling you want to experience when you're driving 65 MPH in the middle of nowhere on a road with curves and bridges.
I threw whatever it was down. I realized almost immediately, of course, it was that large bug I had encountered at the gas pump. Seems it had made its way into the car either during the time I stepped over it and before I shut the door, or surreptitiously while I re-entered the car. Either way, there was a large bug in the car, somewhere under my feet.
Okay, then. Maybe I'll stop for something to drink or a snack up the road. Breakfast at a McDonald's maybe. I'll locate and extract the large bug at that time. Then, it flew from the floor beneath my feet to the passenger seat where I had laid my jacket.
This simply would not do.
I pulled over into a turn lane. The four-lane was divided by a large grass median -- about three full lanes wide -- and had the occasional turn-round lane on the left where one could pull into it, then make a u-turn when traffic was clear.
I stopped the car, put it in park, put the flashers on in case a vehicle happened by, put my holster on -- I don't wear it when driving but have it at hand -- and exited the vehicle. I walked around to the passenger side, opened the door, picked up the jacket and shook it, looking for the bug.
No bug.
I pulled out my phone, turned the flashlight on, and began looking though the car.
So, I'm standing beside the road around 4:30 in the morning with an invisible flying pinch bug loose in the car. Now, I'm wondering what the trade-in value is on the car.
After a few more minutes, I finally found the large pinch bug on the floor behind the driver's seat. I grabbed a loose Wendy's napkin -- I don't remember ever hitting a Wendy's drive-thru since I got that car, but that's a mystery for another time -- and picked up the bug and tossed it away from the car.
He didn't like that, and came straight back for the car. My foot put an end to the whole sordid affair.
I left the body just laying there, as a warning for other invisible flying pinch bugs. I am not to be trifled with.
By Basil at 10/17/2017 06:00:00 AM 1 comment: Links to this post
Labels: Family, Stuff
Praying at the gas pump
My schedule has me traveling at early morning hours on some days. That means, depending on how well I planned things, I may be getting gas at 4:00 AM some days. I don't like those days.
Last week, I had one of those days. It was a Wednesday morning, it was the 4:00 hour -- that 0400 not 1600 -- and I pulled in to a gas station to get gas. Made sure I had everything in order, got out, and started the process to gas up.
I'm dressed in my standard work attire: dress pants, dress shoes, dress shirt, tie, jacket. My wallet is in my jacket pocket on my left side. Right next to my .380 in its holster. When I pulled in, I checked the lot and the area around the station, which was situation on the corner. It's on the outskirts of town, and there is wooded area nearby, so caution is always advised at off hours. 4:00 AM is an off hour.
Put the credit card in the slot -- first checking for a skimmer, of course -- enter my ZIP code, select the fuel type, and begin the process of gassing up the ride. Now the waiting. And that's when I made my mistake.
I don't carry money in my wallet. I don't carry a lot of cash, but what little I do carry is separate from my wallet. As I waited for the fuel to fill the tank, I put my hand in my pocket. My cash was in disarray. Normally, it's neatly arranged by denomination -- ones on top, followed by fives, tens, and twenties, if I am carrying those bills. All neatly stacked, and all facing the same way. It's easier for me that way. Only, when my hand went into my pocket, the cash wasn't neatly stacked. Nor sure what happened, but that was unacceptable. What I did was more unacceptable.
I pulled the cash out and sorted the few bills I was carrying. Lined them all up -- that was the major issue; some were sideways -- and put the cash back in my pocket. That mistake allowed two things to happen:
I took my eyes off my surroundings
I allowed other eyes to see I was carrying cash
There were other eyes, as I became aware just after putting the rearranged cash back in my pocket.
"Good morning," came the voice.
I turn my head slowly, saw the young man approaching from the road. I nodded my head, "Good morning, sir."
As I turned back to finish pumping the gas, he spoke again. "Do you mind if I pray with you?"
Just in case you're not aware, if someone approaches you at a gas station and asks to pray, he's probably not a traveling evangelist, but rather someone looking for money. Even if he is a traveling evangelist, he's still someone looking for money. I wasn't in the mood for whatever he had going on.
I looked back at him, "You don't need me for you to pray." I turned back to my task, checking to ensure my jacket was open for easy access to my .380, if needed. You never know how someone reacts to something unexpected. I don't think he expected my response.
His path turned from directly approaching me to one of heading to his right, down the road away from the gas station.
"Jesus love you. He loves you." the young man said as he walked away, keeping an eye on me.
Jesus does love me. But I don't think he's too keen on people using His name for panhandling.
Hulu with Live TV
Since I cut the cord in early 2011, I've tried several different ways to get certain content on TV. Sports is what I'm talking about.
I like college football. When I cut the cord in 2011, I waited until after the college bowl season was done. I had purchased a Roku in 2010, but kept cable until after football season because there was no other way to watch the games from home.
Thankfully, that's no longer the case. For sports, I've tried Sling TV ($25/month for package and add-on with all ESPN channels), DirecTV Now ($50/month for package with all ESPN channels), and PlayStation Vue ($45/month for a package with all the English language ESPN channels). Best price is Sling TV for what I want.
Right now I'm trying a different service: Hulu.
Okay, it's the Hulu with Live TV service. That's Hulu, but with Live TV. Which puts Hulu as another service similar to Sling TV, DirecTV Now, and PlayStation Vue.
Hulu is normally $8/month. That's been serving as my "cable service" since 2011. Recently, they added a Live TV service. It's $40/month. Not an additional $40/month, but it works out to an additional $32/month.
On the face of it, it still looks like Sling TV is a better deal because Hulu and Sling TV together totals $33/month ($8/month + $25/month) as opposed to $40/month. But things are never that simple.
All of the live TV services has problems. They're buggy. They will buffer a lot. It's nearly impossible to watch a game on any of those services, in my experience. So, I use the service to authenticate against the ESPN app (or the WatchESPN app, depending on the platform). The ESPN app is much more stable for live streaming than those live TV service apps.
As for what channels these services offer, here's a chart provided by Roku. It has a few flaws, such as the same channel listed twice (ESPN2 vs ESPN 2, TCM vs Turner Classic Movies, etc).
So, for now, it's $7/month more for Hulu with Live TV vs Hulu and Sling TV. But, I get two streams with Hulu Live TV vs Sling TV's 1 stream (unless I want their $40 four-stream service). I also get more app authentications.
For your purposes, is Hulu with Live TV a good deal? I don't know. I will say that it offers support for more apps than Sling TV does. The downside is Apple TV-related. Sling TV supports Single Sign On, while none of the other services support it.
I may keep this one. This is the first service to threaten Sling TV's position as my go-to service for accessing sports.
By Basil at 10/03/2017 06:30:00 PM 2 comments: Links to this post
Labels: Sports, Television
Yes, there's a hurricane coming this way. This one might be trouble.
Of course, I've been through hurricanes before. The last hurricane that came this close, I went to a football game.
I was at that game. Want proof? I'm in this picture.
Wait. Here's a better picture.
[Photo credit: Georgia Southern Athletics]
Did you find me?
I'll probably stay inside for this one.
Satire News Sites Sue ESPN Over Intellectual Property Infringement
ESPN reporter Robert Lee
ATLANTA (AP) -- Several satirical news Websites have file suit in federal court in Atlanta against ESPN alleging the sports network has infringed on their intellectual property. The suit comes days after ESPN announced that the network was removing reporter Robert Lee from the University of Virginia home game on September 2.
Kurt Mueller, COO of The Onion, said that the network's actions are "a clear infringement of The Onion's intellectual property. This should be an open and shut case. After all, when news of Mr. Lee's reassignment was announced, social media exploded with questions asking if it was a post on The Onion." The topic was trending on Facebook and Twitter.
The Onion was joined in the lawsuit by news satire Websites Weekly World News, Babylon Bee, DuffleBlog, and others. Paul Szoldra of DuffleBlog explained, "While we focus on satirical news from the military standpoint, an infringement against mainstream humor is an infringement against us all."
Weekly World News spokesman Bat Boy said "The lawsuit speaks for itself." Babylon Bee's Adam Ford added, "Yeah, what he said."
Labels: fake news, Satire
I received an email from Google last week. I'm not sure what to make of it. Let me first take a minute and give you some idea of how Google and this little blog are intertwined.
The domain name of this blog, basilsblog.com, is registered with Google Domains.
This blog is hosted by Google, via their Blogger platform.
I could register the domain elsewhere, and I could host it somewhere else, but Google's reliability and pricing are hard to beat.
One other thing that isn't directly blog related, but worth noting is that Google also has a Web browser that is quite popular, called Chrome.
Oh, and there's a thing called Google Search Console which offers tools that can be handy in checking out and improving your Website. You don't have to be hosted at Google to use Google Search Console.
Got all that? Good.
Now, that email I got from Google. It's from Google Search Console, actually. It said:
Starting October 2017, Chrome (version 62) will show a "NOT SECURE" warning when users enter text in a form on an HTTP page, and for all HTTP pages in Incognito mode.
The following URLs on your site include text input fields (such as <input type="text"> or <input type="email">) that will trigger the new Chrome warning.
So, I it would be a good idea to enable https on the blog, right? Only...
Warning: HTTPS is currently not available for custom domain blogs.
Which means that, as long as I'm hosted at Google on their Blogger platform, and have my own domain name, I can't enable https.
So, all together, this means that Google is warning me that I don't have https enabled on my Website that they host and don't allow https for Websites like mine.
Catch-22? Maybe. Or maybe I need to move back to another platform and host for this little blog. Which I don't really want to do.
I can hardly wait to see what I decide.
Until recently, I hadn't been to Walt Disney World in two decades. The last trip was one with my daughter and son in the mid-1990s.
When I was younger, a teenager or thereabouts, I had been to Disney World a few times. It was always a big deal and I always enjoyed it.
Of course, back then, they had the tickets (I think they actually called them "coupons") designating different attractions. A ticket, B ticket, up to E ticket. I always spent my E ticket on The Haunted Mansion. Love that attraction.
Note: Here's another link showing different attractions on some of the tickets.
When I took the children in the mid-1990s, that was, I believe, my first experience without the ticket books. That was great in that I didn't have to choose among certain attractions. The downside? Neither did anyone else. That meant the most popular attractions had long lines. That did put a little damper on things, but I focused on making the trip as enjoyable as I could for the children. I'm not sure how successful I was, but they did seem to enjoy it.
When I became a grandparent, I wanted to take the grandchildren to Walt Disney World. There were some catches, though. When the first grandchildren were born, I wasn't living in southeast Georgia where I grew up. The Columbus, Georgia area is a good six hour drive from Walt Disney World. That meant over 12 hours driving on the trip. Two adults, three children, in a single car, for that time and distance? Not comfortable.
Then, the long lines. Yes, Disney had introduced FastPass, but I didn't know much about that. I can be a quick study on some things, but honestly, I didn't do proper research into it. That's changed, as you'll soon see.
Oh, and the cost of driving and eating and hotels, not even counting the price of admission of adults and three grandchildren. All in all, an expensive proposition. And, it was something we never did. But, it was something I wanted to do.
Now, years later, I have more than three grandchildren. And I still wanted to get them to Disney World. Well, the two year old might be a little young to appreciate it. He'd get almost as much fun out of a sprinkler in the yard, but the day is coming soon. However, he has been to Disney World. More on that in a bit.
While I did want to take the grandchildren to Disney World, there were attractions much closer to Columbus than the one in Orlando. Atlanta has Six Flags over Georgia and Stone Mountain Park. We managed to take the grandchildren to each of those a few times. Even bought year passes for each at different times, but ended up not going that often. Work schedules, school schedules, and self-imposed restrictions that I thought were kinda silly (no, I won't elaborate), all contributed to making it not as often as would have been nice.
Still, the occasional trip to Six Flags or Stone Mountain did happen. Six Flags over Georgia and Stone Mountain Park are great places to visit. What they don't have is the "Disney mystique." I mean, you don't hear Super Bowl winners saying "I'm going to Stone Mountain!"
This year, though, I've been to Walt Disney World twice, and am gearing up for a third trip.
I mentioned that my youngest grandson had been to Disney World. His grandmother, my ex-wife, took him. She had also taken my second-youngest grandson, also her grandson, to Disney World. She's taken him more than once. Note: those are the only two grandchildren we share. My other grandchildren are not also her grandchildren.
This year, at the last minute, my daughter asked about our going to Disney World along with her, her son (my grandson), and her mother (my ex-wife). This was like two days before they were scheduled to go. I was open to the idea. Ex-wife and I get along fine. There's not a bunch of tension in the room when we're in the same place. We've had troubles in the past, but I'm not going to dwell on them, and neither is she, it seems. So, I said if I could work it out (that always means funding) we'd be delighted to go.
Actually, it turned out to not be "we." Wife didn't go. That nearly put a damper on things. Ex-wife expressed concern about that, but after talking with my daughter, it came down to my decision, and I went. And I enjoyed it during the time I was there. I didn't stay for the entire time they were there, but did have a blast riding the rides with my grandson. He rode the rides with me most of the time.
Seeing how much fun he was having made me decide to get the other grandchildren to Walt Disney World. Before I left Orlando, I was already setting things in place for a trip with the other five-year-old.
Wife still didn't want to go, so I ended up taking his brother and sister, both 17, a week later. They were great at keeping up with their brother, and had a fun time. Granddaughter in particular really enjoyed it. From my daughter, I had learned how to work the FastPass+ feature using the app for my iPhone, along with another app. That made the visit a lot more enjoyable, as we never waited in line more than 10 minutes for anything. Okay, there was one 20-minute wait for one ride, but only one. Everything else was either FastPass+ or short lines by noting the wait times on the app.
Right now, there's one more grandchild that's still in school (she's also 17) that hasn't been to Disney World. That's being remedied Labor Day weekend. And, this time, I won't be the only adult in the car. Wife is finally going. She went decades ago, before we met, but I don't think she particularly had a good time. Maybe that'll be different this time around. After all, I'm such a delight to be around.
Oh, remember that I mentioned that one granddaughter really enjoyed her trip? Well, she wants to go again. Only, I had to tell her "no." I explained that I wasn't going to take her twice and the others once. And my focus was on getting her cousin there, and that I wasn't going to buy her another ticket just yet. Undaunted, she said she was working and asked what if she bought her own ticket. I told her that, of course, we'd take her along. Which changed my "no" to a "yes." So, she bought her own ticket. This trip will be two adults (Wife and me) and two teenagers (cousins), which will mean the car is as full as it can be, what with luggage and a six hour trip. I am so looking forward to this trip with three of my favorite people.
There are still a grandchild that's in college. I have an idea how to manage getting her to Disney World. And, there's another that's not in college. We've discussed how to deal with that, too. We will work something out.
Anyway, I've been to Disney World twice since last month, and have another trip coming up next month. I'm not sure when I'll get Disney Fever out of my system. Maybe never.
Hating TiVo
I don't really hate TiVo. In fact, I love my TiVo devices and the TiVo service. Sure, they're expensive, but they are top notch devices and the service is outstanding. Let me emphasize again, I love TiVo. But, I also hate it.
The problem isn't the cost. I willingly spent the money for devices and for lifetime service.
I first got a TiVo device back in 2006, and have been a fan through all the years, upgrading as time went on. And, after my pleasure of working with a TiVo Roamio, I was excited when the features of the newer TiVo was announced a couple of years ago. I was ready to upgrade my TiVo Premiere and anxiously awaited the release date.
Then I saw one.
I am not putting something that looks like that in my house. I don't know what kind of crack they were smoking, but I won't get near that thing.
Sure, the specs are great. And, if it looked like something a normal person would have in their house, I would have bought one when it came out.
But, I'm not spending my hard-earned money on something so stupid looking as that.
So, I decided to wait. Surely, they'll make something that a sane human being wouldn't be ashamed to be seen near. But, as the years have passed, there's been no indication that they're going to fix that abomination any time soon.
I've spent a decent amount of money over the years, purchasing a Series2 (that should have been my first indication that their brains were cockeyed when they left out the space between "Series" and "2"), a Series3, multiple Premiere, and a Roamio.
Speaking of Roamio (stupid name, another flag I missed), I have an OTA that is sitting in a box. But, where I want to use it -- that is, where I currently have a Premiere running -- has a cable package. There's no antenna, and the location is far enough away from TV towers that an indoor antenna won't do the job. And I'm not going to go through the time, trouble, and expense of putting up a sufficient tower and antenna. So, there's a Premiere still running there, not a Roamio (which I'd buy if I could find a new one that supported cable card) or a Bolt (which looks stupid as hell).
So, I'm hating on TiVo. The dumbasses at TiVo that came up with the idea of the appearance of the Bolt, and the dumbasses who won't put a decent-looking device out in its place.
I'll just keep my money.
Labels: Television, TiVo
Missing Music
When I got my new(er) car back in February, it had a SirusXM radio that had never been activated. Which means it was still eligible for the complementary three months service thing they do.
I'd had SiriusXM since I got Vlad (the Impala) in late 2007. It was actually XM Radio at the time, before the merger with Sirius Satellite Radio in late 2008. I'd gone through some cutbacks over the next few years, and was preparing to drop XM (it was Sirius XM by then), but one of the reps offered me a really cheap plan just to keep me on. Didn't offer much, none of the 60s on 6 type of channels, but it had Symphony Hall, Classic Rewind, Classic Vinyl, The Bridge, and Laugh USA, so it was enough to keep me entertained while driving. Overall, around 50 channels.
I don't see the plan I have online, so I'm assuming it was a retention plan, keeping me as a customer for $6/month (it just went up to $7/month in June) rather than losing me altogether.
Where was I? Oh. The radio in the new car. Right.
When I retired Vlad and put Abe into service, I contacted Sirius XM about switching service. Because of the plan I had, I couldn't do it online, and had to call them. I intended to simply switch service to the radio in the new car and leave everything as is. Well, that's when the CSR found out that Radio ID has never been used with the three month introductory plan. And, yes, it was still eligible. So, they put that on, and scheduled it to return to the previous plan ($6/month at the time) when it the three months were up.
Well, for three months, I had the big package. All the channels. And that's when I started wandering around the dial. Before that, I had programmed the channels I was used to on the presets. Then I went wandering. The Decades channels were there (you know, 60s on 6, 70s on 7, and so on), along with many others I had heard before. It was nice.
Of course, some channels were gone. 40s on 4 had been replaced by some nonsense on 4. Then, I stumbled across SirisXM 74, 40s Junction. So, 40s on 4 had actually been incorporated into a 40s-style station. I say that because they'd actually play songs from the 50s that were stylistically 40s music. For example, Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White is a 50s song, but it sounds like something from the 40s. It was written in 1950, and was a major world-wide hit for Perez Prado in 1955. They didn't play that on 40s on 4, but did on 50s on 5, even though it sounded like something from 40s on 4. They do play it on 40s Junction.
The point is -- at least, now this is the point -- that I discovered how much I missed the 40s music. I never listened a lot to it, but would listen to some. I spent most of the next three months listening to 40s Junction.
The three months ended, and my subscription to the Sirius Basic plan kicked in again, right in the middle of some song. I toyed with the idea of upgrading my plan, but the cheapskate in me won out. Back to classic rock and classical music.
But, I do miss the 40s music.
I miss it a lot.
Labels: Music, radio
Watching the Un-MSTied versions, Update 1
I mentioned in June that I was watching the un-MSTied versions of the movies shown on Mystery Science Theater 3000. Actually, I had mentioned that in April, but that was in passing. In June, I began focusing on doing that. Still am.
Since the, I've only watched five of the movies I haven't previously seen in un-MSTied form:
The Deadly Bees
Invasion of the Neptune Men
Prince of Space
The She-Creature
Why only five? That's all I could find. I had to subscribe to Netflix DVDs to get those. Yes, I actually did that. And, it leaves me with 45 movies still to go:
Agent for H.A.R.M.
Code Name: Diamond Head
The Dead Talk Back
Devil Doll
Escape 2000 (Escape from the Bronx) (Bronx Warriors 2)
Godzilla vs. Megalon
The Green Slime
Hamlet, Prinz von Dänemark
Invaders from the Deep
Kitten with a Whip
Last of the Wild Horses
The Legend of Dinosaurs
Lost Continent
Master Ninja I
Master Ninja II
Pod People (The Pod People) (The New Extraterrestrials)
Quest of the Delta Knights
Red Zone Cuba (Night Train to Mundo Fine)
Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars
Secret Agent Super Dragon
The Sinister Urge
The Slime People
Soultaker
The Space Children
Space Mutiny (Mutiny In Space)
SST - Death Flight
The Starfighters
Teen-Age Crime Wave
Teen-Age Strangler (Terror in the Night)
The Thing That Couldn't Die
Time Chasers (Tangents)
The Touch of Satan
Village of the Giants
Warrior of the Lost World
Werewolf (Arizona Werewolf)
Wild Rebels
Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II
Women of the Prehistoric Planet (The Prehistoric Planet)
A few are available via Amazon by renting them. Over a dozen are listed on Netflix DVDs, but not in stock. So, I'm gonna ride Netflix DVD until that peters out. Will probably take a while, what with having to wait a couple of days inbetween each mailing. I've found other movies, unrelated to this project, that I'd like to see anyway, so I'm having Netflix send me those until the MST3K-related movies are back in stock.
Labels: Movies, MST3K
Don Henley is now a tired old man
Remember the Don Henley song, "The End of the Innocence?"
Don Henley The End of Innocence by HollieMario
The lyrics at 1:59 refers to President Reagan as "the tired old man that we elected king." Now, while the song was co-written by Don Henley and Bruce Hornsby, and both sang it in concerts, the song and video were released by Henley, so he owns this, as far as I'm concerned.
Now, let's do some math.
From Ronald Reagan's birth to his inauguration was 25,551 days.
From Don Henley's birth to today is 25,551 days.
Don Henley, as of today, July 5, 2017, is now the same age Reagan was when he took office.
I wonder if he considers himself a tired old man. Maybe he should have just stuck to mentioning political references instead of trying to get personal. Because getting personal will always bite you in the ass.
Labels: Music, Politics
Watching the Un-MSTied versions
I mentioned a while back that I was watching the movies that Mystery Science Theater 3000 riffed. The original versions. Without the riffing.
Why am I doing this? Heck, I don't know. Lots of things I do for no good reason. It's what I do.
Anyway, I've actually seen most of the movies. I've got 25 more to go.
Let's do some numbers real quick. There are 213 episodes of MST3K, counting the revival series on Netflix, and the local season on KTMA TV-23 in Minneapolis way back in 1988-89. There's also the movie from the "pilot" episode, which was really just a demo reel, not an actual pilot episode. That brings us up to 214 episodes.
Now, keep in mind that nine of the movies from the KTMA season were later re-done in Season 3 on Comedy Central. That means there are 205 movies to watch. Well, I've watched 155 of them. That means there are exactly 50 more to go. Here they are, in episode order, with alternate titles, or sometimes, original titles, listed along with them.
All of the other movies, the other 155 movies, I've watched. Some I watched before there was an MST3K. I enjoyed some of them. Some, I absolutely hated. Which movies fall into which category is something I'll get into when I'm done watching them all.
Of course, that assumes I'll be able to watch them all. But, I know me. I'll figure out a way. In fact, 17 of these 50 are, or have been, recently available on DVD. The other 33 might be difficult. However, many of those have shown up online, though sometimes just briefly. There are only about four that I've not seen as available online or on DVD, even if briefly. I suspect I'll be able to see them all before the year is out.
I'll keep you posted.
Kudos to Comcast
Up front, let me tell you that I absolutely hate those sorry grawlixes at NBC news. NBC can just cease to exist as far as I'm concerned.
Having said that, I do want to say some nice things about their parent company, Comcast.
Several days back, my mother's home phone went out. She has Comcast's XFINITY Triple Play, with cable TV, Internet service, and home phone provided by them. It's what she wants, it's what she's got.
Only, her home phone went out, and the local office -- people that have always been good to her and seem to want to take care of their customers -- told her that it would be a week and a half before someone could go by and service her account.
I jumped on social media (The Twitter and The Facebook) and let my displeasure be known about their making an 81-year-old widow woman do without a home phone for 10 days. Well, turns out that Comcast reads The Twitter and The Facebook. They reached out and asked for more information. After some communication back and forth, they left word that someone would be by on Sunday. That was last Sunday. And, someone did come by.
Comcast service tech Patrick made the visit on a Sunday afternoon, and, before he left, her home phone was working. He inspected all the lines under the house, in the attic, and outside. He found an issue -- actually, something that was still working but would become an issue in the future -- and got that fixed. She and I were happy with his service.
But that's not all. Let me relate about a family friend from the church, an 81-year-old woman who lives alone. She had DirecTV service that hasn't worked since summer, plus AT&T home phone, Internet (6 Mbps DSL), and cell phone (flip phone) service. They weren't giving her any discounts, despite having four services from AT&T (remember, they own DirecTV). She was paying out a lot of money.
Today, Comcast made their scheduled service installation visit, and hooked up her cable TV, Internet (75 Mbps), and home phone (ported her number). Service tech Eddie came by within the service window, and set to work to make her a happy customer.
He didn't work fast, but he didn't piddle around, either. He went through the steps, verified everything was working at each step, worked to clear up some hiccups along the way -- yes, I was there and watching -- and, when he left, she had everything she was wanting. And, she'll pay less for more. She's happy.
As much as people dump on Comcast -- and I'm sure much of it is deserved -- I think it's proper to say when something goes right. Maybe those people that trash Comcast have legitimate complaints. I'm certain they do. But, what they don't have is Patrick and Eddie serving them. People like Patrick and Eddie make Comcast look good.
Labels: Family, Technology
MST3K: Completing the library?
I wrote before about having a full library of all the video releases of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Shout Factory has continued to release volumes since I originally wrote that.
Volumes XXXVI, XXXVII, and XXXVIII have been released, as well as re-releases of Volumes 2, 3, 4, and 5. And, yes, I have them.
Volume XXXIX would normally be released this summer, based on the schedule Shout Factory has maintained since they took over the releases in late 2008. And they normally announce the next volume when a volume hits the stores.
This time, they didn't.
What they did do was announce that the complete Cinematic Titanic collection would be released in August. That's around the time of the normal MST3K summer volume release (traditionally, late July).
So, why no annoucement? Why Cinematic Titanic instead of a new collection of MST3K? I dunno. But I've never let that stop me.
In case you aren't aware, Cinematic Titanic was Joel Hodgson's project that, like Mystery Science Theater 3000, had a crew riffing on movies. Like RiffTrax -- from Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett, who were Mike, Tom and Professor Bobo, and Crow and Brain Guy on MST3K -- they pretty much were themselves in the riffing. Like MST3K, they used silhouettes over the movie.
Cinematic Titanic ran from 2007 to 2013 with DVDs and live shows. Since it's from MST3K creator Joel Hodgson and featured MST3K stars Trace Beaulieu (Dr. Forrester/Crow), Frank Conniff (TV's Frank), Mary Jo Pehl (Pearl Forrester), and J. Elvis Weinstein (Dr. Erhardt/Tom Servo), it's quite closely related to MST3K. And, it seems that Shout Factory is using the complete CT catalog to fill in for the summer release. At least, that's how I see it.
Anyway, we're not sure if we've reached the end of MST3K releases, or if we're simply close to the end.
As of this writing, there are only 13 national classic episodes that have never been released in any form (that is, Rhino VHS, Rhino DVD, or Shout DVD):
Rocketship X-M
Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster
It Conquered the World
Fire Maidens of Outer Space
Attack of the The Eye Creatures
Girls Town
The Amazing Transparent Man
Terror from the Year 5000
I Was a Teenage Werewolf
There's one other, The Amazing Colossal Man that has never been on DVD, but was released on VHS.
None of these are public domain, so rights have to be negotiated. Only two are likely for release: The Amazing Transparent Man and Quest of the Delta Knights (Source: Travis Hosey).
Shout Factory may never get rights to some of these. I'd personally be fine with them releasing any they could, with inclusion of previously-release solo items padding out to fill a four-pack. For example, Shorts Volume 3 was only on Rhino VHS and as a bonus disc on early issues of The Essentials (Rhino). That would be great to have for fans that didn't get those early or limited editions.
Some of the solo-only episodes would be great, too:
Beginning of the End
Red Zone Cuba
The Wild Wild World of Batwoman
Manos: The Hands of Fate
There are also some that were released on Rhino that have never been released on Shout Factory.
Eegah
I Accuse My Parents
The Crawling Hand
The Hellcats
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
Technically, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians was never a solo release, but part of the aforementioned two-episode The Essentials DVD release along with Manos: The Hands of Fate and, for limited pre-orders, Shorts Volume 3.
I wouldn't mind Volume XXXIX consisting of packaging some of the solo-only releases. For example, a Super Essentials with Manos: The Hands of Fate, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, Shorts Volume 3, and maybe the full versions of Poopie and Poopie II (their bloopers reels) as the fourth disc. The uncut versions of the two films would make great Bonus Disc materials. They'd even make good replacements for the interviews and features that have been staples of the releases.
Volume XL could be one (or two) of the unreleased items for which Shout Factory has or can get rights, padded with Tom Servo's All Time Favorite Host Segments volumes 1-5, The MST Scrapbook, and The Last Dance - Raw (though that would be great to pair with Diabolik, should it ever see the light of day.
Perhaps they could even work out a deal with RiffTrax for some of their public domain movies they riffed to be released.
Now, I firmly believe that if Shout Factory were to release anything other than four previously unreleased episodes, they'd get complaints. Heck, they've received complaints about some of the four-packs of unreleased materials. Some people live to bitch, moan, and complain.
Anyway, I'm not sure if we're on the home stretch, of if we've actually crossed the finish line.
Oh, and I've not even mentioned the KTMA episodes. Word is they exist. I've seen them, or tapes of broadcasts from episode 4 on. They're rough. They're not the quick-paced riffing we're used to, because it was all ad-libbed. Still, there are some gems there. But that's a topic for a whole 'nuther day.
Labels: MST3K, Television, Videos
Saturday Night Fish Fry
What's the oldest rock n roll song you know? When did it come out?
If your answer after 1949, you may want to think again.
Until recently, I wasn't familiar with Louis Jordan's "Saturday Night Fish Fry." But now I am. How I ran across it is ... well, there's a story.
A long time ago, on the SiriusXM radio in the car, I had several of the Decades channels on the presets. 40s on 4, 50s on 5, 60s on 6, 70s on 7, and 80s on 8. I stopped after the 80s because I know what music from the 90s and later sounds like. But the thing that might surprise some is the 40s on 4.
Some of the songs from the 40s are songs that I would listen to as far back as high school. Not many back during my high school days, but some. And as time has gone on, I find more and more from the 40s are songs I'd listen to. I have a few songs from the 40s on my iPhone for occasional listening. Which means my listening might consist of a sampling of Beatles, Pink Floyd, Merle Haggard, The Who, Aerosmith, Glenn Miller, Bob Seger, Joe Walsh, and Nat King Cole.
I was a little disappointed when SiriusXM did a reworking of the channels some time back and 40s on 4 disappeared. Channel 75 Pops disappeared at the same time. I was not a happy camper.
Anyway, the other day, I noticed that right below Channel 74 Met Opera Radio was Channel 73 40s Junction. So, I added that back to my presets, just ahead of 50s on 5.
Now that we're all caught up, I have noticed that when I switch channels because I'd rather hear something else, that when I stop on 40s Junction, I'm not so quick to change to something else. So, I'll drive for some time listening to that.
Well, the other day, right after Glenn Miller (or Benny Goodman, or Artie Shaw, you get the idea) something called "Saturday Night Fish Fry" started playing. I looked over to see if I was still on 40s Junction, or if I had hit the Next button on the steering wheel and moved to 50s on 5.
Nope. Hadn't moved. Was still on 40s Junction, listening to what sounded like a rock n roll song.
Now, I have heard some 50s songs -- songs from as late as 1955, the traditional start of the "rock n roll era" -- on 40s Junction. But, I made a note to look this song up. 1949.
That's rock n roll before there was rock n roll.
If you know of an earlier rock n roll song, let me know.
I like sweet tea. Or, as we call it here in Georgia, tea. The only problem with sweet tea is the Calories. But that's both bad and good.
It's bad, because I don't need to be taking in as many Calories (or kilocalories, properly) as I do. But it's good, because the more Calories something has, the better it tastes. Usually.
Anyway, I like sweet tea.
I like really sweet tea.
Really sweet tea.
Tea so sweet that if it was a little bit thicker, you could pour it over pancakes. That's how sweet I like my tea.
Only, I really do need to lose some weight. Which means I could drink something else, like water, or unsweet tea. But I don't like unsweet tea. I like water, but sometimes you want some flavor in your drink at the table.
So, I thought, I could do unsweet tea and put a sweetener in it. And, the only sweetener I really like -- actually, don't intensely dislike -- is sucralose. The most well-known brand of which is Splenda. Basically, it's sugar with a chlorine atom attached, so you body passes that poison right through. You get the taste, but not the Calories. At least, that's the theory.
The thing is, I don't like the powder, because it never works right. I mean, if you take a little bit of hot water and dissolve the Splenda in that, it's fine when you add it to your drink. Yes, I've experimented with this. But that's not always the easiest way to do it in a restaurant.
Fortunately, there's Splenda Liquid.
It does a pretty good job, and I've used it recently. I carry it around in the pocket of my blazer, so I would order unsweet tea, then pull it out and squirt some of the sweetener in. A little stirring with a straw and it's done. Tastes okay.
Then I went and left it on the table at a Huddle House. Yes, I will eat at a Huddle House. Shut up. Their omelets are pretty good. Anyway, I went back later, but they already threw it away.
Thing is, Splenda liquid is hard to find. At least, around here. In fact, I've only found it in the Walmart store in Perry, Georgia. I'm sure it's in other places, but I don't know what those places are.
Around here, the grocery stores -- and Walmart stores -- carry other stuff. Like Stevia liquid stuff.
It ain't the same thing. And I don't like it. But, it'll do until I get some more Splenda liquid.
Or, I may just decide to stay fat. That's always an option.
My mother visited my daughter in New York the past few days. She's been to New York before, but the weather was horrible, so this was her first opportunity to actually get out and see stuff there.
The Little Princess had a blast showing her grandmother around. Broadway shows. Some famous restaurants. One World Trade Center. Many of the typical tourist things.
Once place they went this past weekend was Ellis Island. While they were there, my daughter sent me a text:
Do you know the name of any ancestor who came to Ellis Island? We are here and can look up names
I knew the answer off the top of my head, but thought it best to actually verify. I called up some ancestry records I had easy access to, and gave her the first part of the answer:
Ellis Island opened in 1892. All 8 of my great grandparents were born in the US prior to that date. ...
I'll check your mother's side.
And, a few minutes later, I confirmed it:
All of your ancestors were in the US prior to the opening of Ellis Island facility.
The Little Princess wasn't fully aware of how long her people have been here. Yes, her ancestors came to the U.S. from other countries. Only, many of them didn't come to the U.S. It didn't become the United States until well after they were settled. Many of them, anyway. There may be some that arrived in the 1790s. Records are skimpy, but I have run across one that appears to have arrived then. And that's the most recent.
That's not to take away from any families that came here during the time Ellis Island was open. But that has been played up so much that she assumed some of her ancestors came to the U.S. then.
They didn't. They were already here, welcoming those immigrants.
Or, knowing my family, giving them a rough time. Probably that.
I became aware of Bob Owens back when he ran the Confederate Yankee blog. His early days, if you will.
I never actually met him, but I did run into his brother in Las Vegas. His brother ran Phin's Blog (now defunct). "Phin" was a huckuva nice guy. But his brother Bob, the "Confederate Yankee," was the big time blog. Or it became big time in short order.
I'm sad I never did have the opportunity to meet him. I think I would have come away the better for it. But, it wasn't to be.
Bob apparently took his own life yesterday.
I don't know the circumstances. I do know that when the pain, whatever the cause, exceeds the clarity of thought, bad things happen.
I'm shocked about what has happened, and I hope the family will be able to recover from this devastating loss. I just wish Bob understood how many miss him.
To absent friends...
Beth Cleaver died yesterday. I'm heartbroken.
I don't know how many of you followed her old blog, "My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy," but it was always a must-read. She dropped it and continued on Facebook for the last several years.
She always spoke her mind, and always cared about her family, her friends, and, of course, her country.
I don't really know what to say. I do know that we need more people like Beth, not fewer.
Cancer sucks.
Gettin' ready for the new MST3K
You knew it was coming back on the 14th, right?
Yep, Mystery Science Theater 3000 is back -- or will be back, really soon. Like a week and a half. Not even that long. On the 14th. So, yeah, soon.
Are you ready? I'm not. But I'm getting ready.
First, I need to subscribe to Netflix. I don't ever watch Netflix, what with Hulu and iTunes and Amazon and TiVo and everything. I had Netflix, but never watched it, so I stopped paying for it. Plus they ticked me off about something, but I don't remember just what. Anyway, I'll need to subscribe to Netflix, since that's where you can watch it.
Also, I thought about watching the old episodes again, but I watch the occasional episode every week anyway, so I'm not doing that. I actually did that before, back in 2011 & 2012. I started at the beginning, with the KTMA episodes. You can't buy them, but you can find them if you look hard enough. Honestly, unless you have those on a bucket list, it's like a pre-season football game. It doesn't really satisfy, but you can see them training and growing and working the kinks out. Some of the host segment are really good, so good they were redone for the national series. If you want to read my reviews of the KTMA episodes, start here.
If you want to start with the official Season One, start here. I watched them in the original airdate order, which is slightly different than most episode lists you see. It only makes a difference in a couple of places but the first season has one of those places.
If you want to just look at the overall review of all the episodes, videos, and what-not, try this link. Use the sidebar to go to particular ones you want. Or, just watch them in order (if you own them or can find them) and see if you think about them like I do.
Anyway, what I've been doing that's MST3K related is finding the original uncut, unedited, un-MSTied versions of the movies and shorts that aired and watching them. Why? I dunno. Maybe to see what the MST3K crew had to go through. Maybe just to say I did. That last one seems more likely, knowing me like I do.
But what about you? What are you doing to get ready for the relaunch of MST3K?
By Basil at 4/05/2017 04:00:00 AM 12 comments: Links to this post
Check your doors when you leave
Got an unusual text from my sister -- the Mean One -- the other night.
Mean Sister (8:54 PM):
Are you in town?
Me (8:54 PM):
Can you come to my house with your gun. I just got back in town, and my front door is open.
That's not a very common request from her ... or from anybody, actually. At least, it's not a request I get very often.
I threw some clothes on, grabbed the gun, got my sister on the phone, and rushed that way.
A room to room search determined no one was there ... or had been there. The front door was locked, but wide open. The conclusion was that she had pulled the locked door to but didn't properly close it, and that it has blown open.
She admitted that she never checks the door when she leaves because she "always keeps the door locked." I tried not to be too much of a jackass, but I did suggest that she change her habits. And, just in case you have ... well, sloppy, to be honest ... habits regarding securing your residence, rethink things.
Always check your doors when you leave. Go to every door, and make sure they're locked. Check your windows regularly. If you ever open them, check them before you leave or before you call it a night.
When you leave out a door and you pull it to, turn the knob to ensure it's locked. Push on the door to ensure it's latched. And, if you have a deadbolt, use it. Sure, it's a pain to do every time you leave. And it takes anywhere from 2 - 6 seconds. Take that extra time. Please.
The problem isn't that my sister didn't do these things and get me out. It's that she wasn't being safe. I'm hoping she changes her habits. I want her to be safe.
You be safe too, okay?
Labels: Family, Security
Handgun advice
I'm looking for advice regarding a first handgun. Yes, it's for me.
Now, I have actually owned a handgun in my life. A handgun. Owned a revolver. Left it with the ex-wife many years ago. She also had a handgun or two -- revolvers -- but she obtained them, I didn't. Except for that one that was left with her, as I mentioned.
Wife (number two) has several. Lots of revolvers, some shotguns, couple of rifles. She either bought them or inherited them. Anyway, she obtained them, not me.
I've never been much of a gun person. That is, never went to the range, never bought handguns (except for that one cheap revolver just to have for home protection). Only fired a handgun once, and that was, gosh, 40 years ago. It was a friend's and I really don't remember why.
Fired a rifle that my father owned. Little .22 that he kept for, oh, I don't know, birds, rattlesnakes, whatever. Only fired it a few times. And, that was well over 40 years ago.
Of course, in the Army, I fired some M16 rifles. Had an M16A1 issued to me briefly (nope, never fired it full auto), then M16A2 rifles for the rest of my time in service. I was an okay shot. Qualified as Sharpshooter but never as Expert.
I've recently fired a few weapons at a local indoor range. I'm not a great shot, but I think I'm decent at close range (7 yards). I'd probably ruin some bad guy's day, or at least, make it not turn out quite as well as he had planned. I've had no handgun training, of course, but I know some weapons basics from the Army and apply those.
Anyway, never owned a lot of firearms. But, I'm wanting to have something for personal protection around the house ... and when out of the house. I'm on the road a lot every week, and I'd just feel better if there was some protection available when I'm in certain places. And, yes, I've applied for a Georgia Firearms Licence, which is required to carry in public outside of home or vehicle, whether concealed or open. Georgia is a "shall issue" state.
But, as you can tell, I'm no expert. So I'm curious as to what would be a good personal carry weapon. Should I go with a 9mm? .380? Something smaller for a first weapon? Or is larger better? Should I forego a semi-automatic and get a revolver?
What would you suggest as a first weapon?
Labels: Guns
Washington's Birthday 2017
I've been posting this -- or posts very much like it -- for over a decade. And I'm gonna keep doing it until everyone gets it right. Because it's important.
What's the problem? Some people call today "Presidents' Day." Those people are wrong. Don't be those people. Today isn't Presidents Day. It's Washington's Birthday. At least, that's the holiday. His real birthday is actually coming up on the 22nd, but today is the federal holiday honoring Washington's Birthday. Check out 5 U.S. Code § 6103.
When George Washington was born, the date was February 11, 1731. You see, the United Kingdom of Great Britain was using the Julian Calendar back then. There is an issue with leap years with the Julian Calendar, so the calendar was always slowly getting more and more inaccurate. Also, in England and the colonies, New Year's Day was on March 25. Go figure.
Anyway, in 1750, the U.K. changed to the Gregorian Calendar and fixed things. New Year's Day was now in January. The calendar dates were adjusted 11 days, which meant that, retroactively, George Washington was born on February 22, 1732. But that was only the first time people screwed around with his birthday.
The federal government did try to do right by Washington in 1879 when they added a fifth national holiday. Washington's Birthday, February 22nd, was added to the list of New Year's Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day as national holidays. Other holidays were added later, until we have the ten we have today.
In 1971, the Uniform Monday Holiday Act went into effect, moving many of the holidays to Mondays instead of the proper or traditional day. Washington's Birthday was one of those. And, just like the government, they made it so it would never be right. The holiday falls on the third Monday in February, which means it can be as early as the 15th, and as late as the 21st. It will never be on the 22nd, which is when it actually is.
Some states used to celebrate Lincoln's Birthday on February 12th. Around half the states have state holidays honoring both Lincoln and Washington today. And, states can do that. Still, the federal holiday is, and has always been Washington's Birthday.
If your state celebrates more than just George Washington today, fine. Honor Lincoln and the other presidents that your state recognizes. But, there is a reason the federal holiday is simply Washington's Birthday. Don't forget to honor the man without whom we might very well not have this great nation.
George Washington. February 22, 1732 - December 14, 1799. First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen.
Labels: History, Holiday
Vlad the Impala
After 178,000 miles, I've retired Vlad, the Impala. And, yes, we actually called it that, because, well, it's funny.
I bought the car new in late 2007, and took care of it as best I could. Serviced it on schedule, tried to be a responsible owner, and I feel pretty good about the miles I put on it. Lately, though, it's begun to have issues.
A year ago, it developed an oil leak, and the dealership did some $2400 worth of work on it. Well, whether or not it was actually worth that much for the work, I can't say. That's what they charged though. But, to keep the car running, I had the repairs done. Well, recently, the oil leak returned. Took it back to the dealer, and they wanted $1800 to fix it, with the work being rework of most of what was done a year ago. Which, to my ignorant mind, wasn't a good thing. I figured if the car took 150,000 miles to get the leak in the first place, it should have been a while before the same leaks reoccurred. Silly me.
There was also some damage to the vehicle over the years. About five years ago, some clown backed into me at a gas station in Peachtree City, GA. He had picked up a waitress from a nearby restaurant, stopped at the store next to the restaurant -- where I was gassing up Vlad -- then backed straight into the car. His insurance wanted to give me some crap, but they never were able to refute that my car was turned off and I was out of the car, fueling it when he backed into me.
Around a year ago, I had an incident on a stretch of highway near Baxley, GA around 4:30 one morning. Slightly foggy. 65 MPH stretch of road. Four lane divided highway. Two deer, one in each northbound lane. Hit the brakes, swerved to the left (I was already in the left lane) and did a 180 in the median. Lots of superficial damage to the bumper from all the growth in the median.
Then, a few weeks later, near Brunswick on that same US highway one night, a large dog, one of two running beside the road, decided he wanted to cross the road instead. I was in the right lane this time, and he met the bumper on the driver side.
I kinda feel I was lucky in both incidents. The deer thing could have gone horribly bad. So could the dog thing, if he had gone under the car, since he was a large dog and the Impala sits pretty low to the ground. I've been in a vehicle where that actually happened, and don't recommend that experience.
Apart from those incidents, I always enjoyed my time in the Impala. It was a comfortable car, and the best car I ever owned. But the fact it was needing major work every year meant it was about that time. That or the dealership does crappy work. Still, 178,000 miles.
A couple of weeks ago, I got a new car. Well, not a new new car, but a newer car. Didn't trade the Impala. They wouldn't have given me anything for a 2008 Impala with 178,000 miles on it and an oil leak. So, I kept Vlad and added Abe to the stable.
I turned Vlad over to my son to oversee selling it. I have all the receipts for services, repair work, tires, and turned all that over to him so he can show the history of the car, along with the details of the current issues. Maybe it'll sell. Maybe it won't.
I'm missing Vlad, but Abe is a nice ride. I hope I can get many miles and many years from Abe. Vlad set a standard that'll be hard to beat.
Satire News Sites Sue ESPN Over Intellectual Prope...


text:
Darius Mannering @ Kano
It's a really important time for us here at LDN Apprentices. We've been delivering our Tech LDN (Formerly Tech City Stars) apprenticeship programme for almost five years, and our 150th apprentice recently completed their Tech LDN (formerly Tech City Stars) apprenticeship. The fact is that so many apprentices completed at a similar time that we thought it only fair to celebrate all of them together!
The first awesome Tech LDN apprentice we're celebrating is Darius Mannering, who is a support agent at Kano Computing. Darius recently completed his IT support and networking apprenticeship with Tech LDN.
We popped into the Kano offices in Moorgate and caught up with Darius to talk about his time with Tech LDN and Kano.
Darius started off by telling us how he took the plunge and started his apprenticeship with LDN Apprenticeships.
"I personally didn't want to go straight into studying something I wasn't sure about and I came into Tech LDN looking for something different.
I had an interest in computing and IT so I thought let's go for it!
It was more about me getting my feet on the ball and seeing if I feel more comfortable working in industry and it worked out really nicely for me. I love it here!
I was considering university, but the apprenticeship guided me in the right direction.
It put me in the mindset of this is something I want to do and something I enjoy doing.
It's been a quick year but it has taught me so much!"
Darius's enthusiasm at interview and his desire to kickstart his career through an apprenticeship was what inspired the team at Kano to hire him.
Bruce Beardall is the customer care team leader and Mathew Keegan is the head of customer care at Kano.
Both cited Darius' attitude as a big inspiration in recruiting him as an apprentice for their tight-knit team.
Mathew recalls making the decision to hire Darius.
"There were a lot of factors. We'd hired apprentices in the past, which meant we knew the value we could get from working with young people.
What really inspired me about Darius was he had a very can-do attitude and was really motivated.
I always try and look for people that have high levels of motivation to join our team because I know they'll put in as much as they're willing to get out."
The feeling was mutual with Bruce, the team leader for the customer care team at Kano.
"We have a policy within the customer care team of looking to encourage new talent and as a part of that, Darius was hired. It's worked out exceptionally well.
The progress Darius has made in a short space of time is a testament to his hard work and endeavour to learn. Not only has he developed his IT skills, but his soft skills have come on in leaps and bounds as well."
It's common for apprentices to start a role with very little working knowledge of the technical skills the role requires. It's the willingness and desire to learn that makes all the difference. Darius is no exception.
"I had a general interest in IT, but I didn't have any of the necessary qualifications.
I played games, built my own computers, learned thing through self-teaching on YouTube. I had an interest and that's all it took for me to give an apprenticeship a shot!"
We asked Darius about the progression of not only his IT skills, but also his personal skills since he started his apprenticeship.
"Because it's my first office environment, I feel like I've connected with a lot of different teams I wasn't aware of previously and I've learned how to fit in to a company like Kano.
I worked in retail before and that was a customer service environment, but when you're in an office it's a whole different thing.
You feel valued, which made me apply my prior customer service knowledge into a workplace and into something I enjoy. It's a great combination for me."
And he's put that combination to great use, working on one of his favourite bits of kit, the Raspberry PI.
"Everything to do with this tiny single board computer called the Raspberry PI. It was completely new to me when I first started here so I was a bit confused about it!
I wasn't sure how to approach it but I've learnt so much.
There are so many capabilities of this tiny computer and that's what Kano teach to children and anyone else interested in technology. That's what I love about Kano."
Darius's development has not gone unnoticed by Mathew either, who since recruiting him, has seen him progress a huge amount in such a short space of time.
"Darius was very shy when he joined but I've definitely seen over the last 12 months he's become a very bright and bubbly member of our team.
The other change I've seen is the level of confidence – he didn't have this when he first joined. He was a bit unsure about this very different career path he was taking and he's really settled into that now, which is fantastic to see."
Working with Darius closely on a daily basis, Bruce has also noticed the improvements in Darius since he started at Kano.
"Darius has gone from a very unsure school leaver to someone who is gaining certainty and self-assurance every day.
He's gone from someone who wasn't quite certain how to interact with people to being someone who has been trusted enough to be sent to our Boston office to train new starters there.
We're very pleased he's staying on with us beyond his apprenticeship!"
So after completing his apprenticeship at Tech LDN, what advice would Darius give to someone who's thinking of starting an apprenticeship?
Don't have second thoughts because at the end of the day, it's only one year and I've learnt so so much just being in this office for a year and I'm sure every other apprentice from Tech City Stars has done the same as well."
Mathew has an equally positive message for businesses thinking of hiring an apprentice.
"The one thing I would say to anyone thinking of taking on an apprentice is do it. And my one piece of advice is not to take one, take two!
This is because when you give someone an instant friend, someone that can share the highs and lows of the apprenticeship and that they can work alongside, it gives them a level of confidence coming in and a level of self-assurance that perhaps can be more difficult with one person.
I'm one of the biggest advocates of the apprenticeship scheme and I say to anyone there's no excuse for you not to be doing it!"
Darius and his awesome team at Kano are a brilliant example of how apprenticeships work for business and for young people. We're thrilled to celebrate their success with this case study.
Congratulations Darius, and thank you to Bruce and Mathew for all of the support they've given to Darius.
If you're thinking of HIRING an apprentice with us, click on the link below to discover more!
If you're thinking of BECOMING an apprentice, click on the link below and find out how!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
In Focus: Dancing Darangen: The Way to the Maranao Epic
ROEL HOANG MANIPON
In the middle of colorful May 2008, the country's premiere cultural institution, the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), bloomed with an innovative and dazzling production of the Maranao epicDarangen, the season opener of its resident ballet company, the Philippine Ballet Theater. The ballet Darangen ni Bantugen had the honor of being the highlight of the annual celebration of the Filipino Heritage Month, which this year took on the Filipino epic as its theme.
Darangen is chanted by the ever decreasing number of elders of the Maranao people, which live around Lake Lanao and is one of the main Muslim groups of Mindanao. This epic was honored in 2005 by its inclusion in the list of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritages of Humanity of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The pre-Islamic epic consists of 17 cycles and a total of 72,000 lines, telling the stories of heroes as well as episodes of Maranao history and tackling the immortal themes of life, death, courtship, politics and love. Moreover, it contains Maranao social values, customary law, ethics and aesthetics –truly "a wealth of knowledge."
Transforming this epic, or parts of it, into ballet proved to be a challenging and intriguing task for Gener Caringal, the company's artistic director and the ballet's choreographer. Darangen ni Bantugen was made more alluring by the stage and costume design of Salvador Bernal, National Artist for Theater Design, with his imposing, geometrical and almost Zen-like stage design complimented by the vibrant and elegant costumes, stylized Mindanaoan dresses. The music of Jesse Lucas, rendered by in-house orchestra and by the musicians of the Philippine Baranggay Folk Dance Troupe, was provocative, punctuated by native instruments like thekulintang.
Caringal chose to focus on the hero Bantugen and the time of his death and resurrection. He shares the stories behind the ballet, reveals his creative process and tells his feelings about dance in general:
How long have you been with the Philippine Ballet Theatre?
From the beginning; 22 years na. I was just a member of the artistic council then. I wasn't really active. And eventually they asked me to choreograph one number. Then I got really involved with PBT. I was elected as chairman of the artistic council. After that, the council appointed me as the artistic director. Then I left and came back, then left and came back again because in our by-laws an artistic director can stay for four years only. I've been with the company for almost 15 years as a director.
How did you come about doing Darangen ni Bantugen?
We decided to use Darangen ni Bantugen because of the Filipino Heritage Festival committee. They wanted me to do a Filipino epic that is related to Darangen because the Filipino Heritage Festival is pushing for UNESCO's recognition. Originally for the festival I was supposed to do Labaw Donggon, another epic from the Visayas, but the Filipino Heritage (committee) wanted me to do Darangen. I was scheduled to do Darangen for September so I just changed my season, and then I put Darangen for May, which coincides with the Filipino Heritage Month.
After that, I chose Darangen ni Bantugen because when I researched and looked for materials I saw that Darangen ni Bantugen is the longest and the oldest darangen in Lake Lanao, the most popular among Maranaos. So I was intrigued. I got lots of books and read about it. Basically from all the books that I read I put them all together, I reconciled, and then I made my own interpretation. So I adapted my libretto from the story of Lourdes Sanchez, which is called "Darangen ni Bantugan," and from the story of E. Arsenio Manuel, the author of the book Myth and Legend.
What were the preparations you made before tackling Darangen?
Well, after researching and really absorbing the story and imagining things, I talked to my composer Jessie Lucas. We had a series of meetings discussing the flow and what kind of music that I preferred for him to do a composition. So I told him I went all the way to the National Library to look for a copy, but they didn't have a copy. So I kept on asking, and then Bambi (Ana Maria) Harper (Filipino Heritage festival director) recommended me to a sister. When I called her up she was in Cebu and she could not help me. So my last resort is to go to the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, and they gave me a copy of the original recording of the Darangen.
So I gave a copy to my composer, and I told him to play around the melodic line and how it is being chanted then develop it into a dance music. And after that I went to Badong (Salvador) Bernal, and crossed my finger for him to say yes. When I sat with him and talked to him about the project, he accepted it. I told him, "Sige naman, Badong, please accept it even konti lang ang budget ko." And he said, "No, no, no. The budget doesn't matter because I like the project." So he accepted my offer, and that was a big, big, big help to me to be inspired. Lalo ako na-inspire.
Then I prepared all the scenes and then I asked Ron Jaynario, who is a senior dancer of the Philippine Ballet Theatre, to be my assistant choreographer because, you know, I know for a fact that I'm going to have a hard time because of time constraints. And also I'm acting as executive so I have to prepare all the necessary arrangements especially the theater, the tickets, the publicity and everything else as executive. And I have to raise funds for the production, aside from the funds that the Filipino Heritage gave me. I have to get some other sources. And so Jaynario said yes. And it was a big help for me because all I did was tell him what I wanted and then he constructed because he's so used to me that he knows what I really wanted. I've been doing ballet for him as a dancer. But now he stopped dancing so I asked him to be my assistant and he said yes. And eventually, with all those things, I'm very happy that everything's coming up into one big production.
Aside from the dancing part they have to act so I had to give them workshop on how to act properly on stage.Grabe! It was a big, big task, and I was excited about it. A full-length ballet is when you do a ballet that covers the whole evening. I and all other choreographers are used to doing choreography for 30 minutes, 45 minutes the longest. And when we do a full-length ballet, it is one hour and 45 minutes dancing choreography. And the last time I did a full-length ballet was in 1998, centennial of the Philippines. I was commissioned to do the story of Andres Bonifacio, and that was the last time I did a full-length ballet. That was why I was so excited about this.
Have you ever transformed other epics into dance before?
Yes, like Labaw Donggon. I did it for the Singapore Asean Festival of the Performing Arts but it was only 45 minutes. A full-length (ballet) also that I did before was called Maharlika. It was an epic about discovering the Philippines, the real establishment of the Philippines, about how the Philippines came about. The name then was not Philippines yet; it was called Maharlika.
How did you interpret an oral epic?
Well, I used it as a basis. For example, the melodic line, which is the real chanting, and then the composer used it as passages for his approach, which I told him to use with modernized Filipino sounds and instruments. It came out very well especially when you synthesize your music together with the chanting—original chants because I have a recording—on top of the modern interpretation.
What did you think of the Darangen epic when you read it?
I listened to the music first. I did not understand it because, you know, it is in the Maranao language. But the passages were the same. Merong mga high notes na maganda. Then when I read the Darangen story, they did a lot of chanting. They chant about Bantugen. They chant about this one or whatever.
I can relate to the story of Bantugen so easily because the story revolves around feelings. Like the king who has a longing for somebody, but Bantugen also is attractive to that woman. I mean, it's very human [in contrast to] other epics na parang unbelievable, although some of the scenes here that I read were sometimes unbelievable, like Bantugen fighting with the sun, riding the sun. But I think that is how they say it to sensationalize the greatness of Bantugan— fighting the rain, beating the earthquakes. Very interesting! An inspiration on how you are going to interpret this in dance. It gives me more push or drive to explore more. And I wanted to do something very different this time but in the medium of classical ballet.
How is this different from your previous projects?
I usually enjoy doing a story ballet because I love to express dancing with meanings unlike with what we call ballet exhibition. 'Yung parang they show you how good they are in dancing technically. But on top of dancing technically, I want them to say something that the audience will understand. So I want it very, very narrative.
With my other ballets like Vinta, when I did Vinta it was only about Vinta, the showing of the technique of the dancers and the influences of Muslim movements. That's what we call exhibition dancing. There's no story in it.
What were the challenges posed by Darangen?
Well, as I've mentioned earlier, the challenges of presenting it on stage were, for example, showing the audience how he travels from one kingdom to the other while encountering different elements. That I had to show, that the elements are there on stage. That was a big challenge. Also a big challenge was to show the greatness of Bantugen and his weaknesses when it comes to women.
How did you compress the epic?
When I read the story of Manuel, he zeroed on the death of Bantugan. So incorporating it with the story of Bantugan from Lourdes Sanchez, I zeroed on the time before he dies and the time after he is resurrected. So'dun lang nag-revolve ang aking story. So nang ma-resurrect na siya, celebration na, and that's the end of my ballet. Because very, very exciting ang death niya, eh. He has to fight all the elements, and then he gets sick. Then the Angel of Death comes down to get his soul. The good friend of Bantugen goes to heaven to get the soul back. That's why ang ganda-ganda.
How did the costumes aid in or hamper the movements of your dancers?
I trusted Badong Bernal, my designer, because he has been designing costumes for so long for dancers. And I know he knows how to do costumes for dancers. So that's why I'm very confident with the costumes that Badong designed.
How did these costumes add meaning to ballet?
Well, the costume design, as I look at it, is a stylization of the original costumes that the Maranaos are using. The line, the silhouette is the same but different ang approach ni Badong, even in terms of colors. And I'm very happy with that.
What parts of the ballet you borrowed from folk dances and from classical ballet?
Well, the medium is very classical and contemporary; it's a mixture. I cannot be purist classical ballet, so it's a mixture of modern, contemporary and classical. That's the basic form. And some of the movements were inspired by a basic Maranao arm movement. The most common name for that movement is—I don't know if it is recognized by the whole of Mindanao—pangalay, a swaying of the arms.
Did you incorporate traditional dances especially from the Maranaos?
I did stylize some but very small like the maiden dance, which is an inspiration from or adaptation of the Maranao dances which they call Asik, the slave dance. 'Yung mga dance of the maidens, dance of the wives of the king, puro arm movements and nuances lang, because this is a story ballet, and I cannot really do a dance of exhibition.
What were your memorable moments with the dancers?
I really enjoyed how the dancers interpreted the dance, and they were so interested. Because they did not know about the epic, I had to sit down with them. And you know, I got a kind of satisfaction when I told them the real story and how I adapted it and how I was inspired to do it in ballet and how I divided it into scenes for ballet. When I'm choreographing, they can follow what I want to do so it is easy for us. And I think they are enjoying, and they like what they are doing.
What do you expect from the audience?
I expect them to appreciate the Darangen. That's number one. The most important thing here is that Filipinos, not necessarily the ones from Mindanao or Luzon or Visayas, have a very, very good material, an epic that we can be proud of and that we can match with India's Ramayana or the Greek mythology. It's very popular. It's being taught sa mga eskwelahan eh. But our Darangen ni Bantugen is a very, very classic story, adventure and odyssey that we Filipinos should really appreciate, learn and absorb.
I'm expecting the people will like it and will ask for more and will want to see more epics in ballet form or dance form, in any form of dance. It could be contemporary, could be more than just a ballet, or it could be a hip-hop type but depicting Filipino epics.
What is dance to you?
I don't want to say outlet, but you know, I really, really love dancing. This is my passion—to choreograph, to teach and to do outreach. I enjoyed myself when I was still dancing, and I want other people, the young ones, to experience that also. That enjoyment that I experienced I cannot explain through words, iba 'yun eh. The feeling when you're on stage, different stages, different countries, different cultures you encounter, and you're showing your own culture. And the kind of satisfaction when I share it with the young ones. Alam mo ngayon live performances or concerts are dying. Everybody wants to see DVD. You can get anything. But live performances are always important because that's where you get the real feeling—when you go and watch a performer.