CBS Radio Mystery Theater

Watching an old Twilight Zone episode, I heard some background music which jarred loose a memory. The memory being that of driving from Bryan TX to Lake Charles LA in the evening, somewhere between Conroe and Orange TX and hearing the CBS Radio Mystery Theater on the AM radio.

At night, over that stretch of state highway 105 and IH35, it is radio no man's land. Except on one trip I tuned in the show on some distant station not knowing what it was. The signal faded in for about 3 or 4 minutes, and then static and noise would creep in for a minute or so (hopefully during the commercials) and then the cycle repeated. Everyone else in the car was a bit irritated at the coming and going of the reception but I stuck with it. Blame for my affection of radio can now be laid at the feet of this radio show.

I don't remember that show, or much of the others I might have heard on other nights later. The draw to them must be the sci-fi, Twilight Zone -light nature of the stories, the sound effects, dialogue, and E.G. Marshall putting in his two bits introducing the acts and pointing out the chilling irony of the proceedings. It was fun for an hour or so.

Recently I located a website that has mp3 files of some of the shows - not nearly all 1399 episodes but a decent collection. The first few sound like they were taped right off the air. News casts from the top of the hour are included - news of Nixon and Watergate, sports reports with ABA basketball scores. Budweiser "when you say Bud, you've said it all" ads, Special K cereal, and PSAs from the broadcast are left in. Its a mini time capsule. They also had that late night sound of AM radio - the station is tuned in, but there is another station or a whistle or light static bleeding over the reception, threatening to wash out the dialogue so you have to listen closely.

Another I listened to had Kim Hunter voicing one of the main characters. She portrayed one of my favorite movie characters - Zira, the chimpanzee scientist who helped Charlton Heston in Planet Of The Apes - one of my favorite all time movies.

Not all the episodes are radio gold. Probably most are just average fare, maybe laughable. I don't mind too much. Its fun - a good memory.

Four Years of blog

First post published this month four years ago. One of my first posts was about my mazda biting the dirt on 3/7/5. I almost did too. Gas price on that day was $1.89 per the big gas sign on the interstate. I now work across the street from that station and see that gas price sign everyday. It rang the bell at $3.99 - I don't think it crossed over the $4.

I still remember that wreck clearly. I felt like I escaped two crashes that morning. I have lost the photos an insurance sales agent took for me. He worked for the company that insured my house and took the pictures for me.

Converter box coupon!

Yahoo! Got my coupon in the mail today for my analog to digital converter box. Government bailing me out - finally.

DVD Diplomacy

Nothing has made me laugh out loud lately as much as Obama's gaffe in giving dvd's to England's Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The kicker of course to the whole story is that the dvd's won't play in England because they are the wrong format for their players. HAR HAR!

The coinage of the phrase "DVD Diplomacy" is spot on. Well done to the first to say it and I will echo as often as possible. It will be difficult to outdo this bit of incompetent bungling, but I am sure Obama and his sidekick Biden have something up their sleeves.

Michelle Obama does her part (from the same link):

Not to be out done in tastelessness by her husband, Michelle got into the act, too. Mrs. Brown came bearing two outfits for the Obama girls from Topshop, one of Britain’s trendiest and expensive women’s wear retail outlets.

In return, Michelle apparently had a staffer run down to the White House gift shop and grab two toy Marine One helicopter models for the Brown’s boys.

Class all the way, huh?

All Texas Ranger on steroids team

Bob Sturm has this quoted for the All Texas Ranger team on steroids:

The disturbing list of Rangers who have been caught in the web of PED according to Sherrington …

CF Gary Matthews Jr. Mitchell Report
C Pudge Rodriguez Teammate allegation
SS Alex Rodriguez Media report
RF Juan Gonzalez Teammate allegation
1B Rafael Palmeiro Tested positive
3B Ken Caminiti Acknowledged
DH David Segui Acknowledged
2B Randy Velarde Mitchell Report
LF Chad Allen Mitchell Report

I put Jose Canseco in LF, I think, over Chad Allen…

Pretty disappointing to see Pudge on that list.

Reality check

Razor takes us on a reality check. I wasn't that shocked about A-Rod. He was a Texas Ranger afterall, and was one when known steroid users Juan Gonzalez and Raphael Palmeiro were on the bench with him.

I'll throw computer animated TV shows on the pile Razor has started. Doesn't mean I don't enjoy them any less tho.

Simpsons Season 4

I have been making my way through my Simpsons dvd's. I started at Season 1 Disk 1 Episode 1 and have progressed episode by episode, sometimes rather slowly, to Season 4 Disk 4. I have got to say it doesn't get much better than Disk 3 of Season 4.

Here are the episodes:

Homer's Triple Bypass

Marge vs. the Monorail

Selma's Choice

Brother From the Same Planet

I Love Lisa

Duffless

The weaker one in the bunch is "Brother From The Same Planet", but Homer redeems himself by naming constellations for his little brother Pepe ("Well, that one's Jerry, the cowboy. And that big dipper-looking thing is Alan, the cowboy")

And Principal Skinner has a toupee?? From the blackboard of "Brother ..." "The Principal's toupee is not a frisbee"

So - In the picture above, any characters you cannot name?

Year Of The Ox

Tomorrow is the Chinese New Year and it will be the Year Of The Ox. Nearby, Austin has a shopping center - The Chinatown Center - which has scheduled its big party for next weekend January 31, 2009 and February 1, 2009.

You would have thought they would check to make sure the Super Bowl wasn't a conflict.

Annually there are huge crowds, parades, food, and music at this soiree. Sunday night will have some grand fireworks. Since its close to the house we see the display at night from a distance but this year we'll head on over to see what's going on both during the day and at night. Unless I forget.

Year of the Ox. Likenesses of John Entwistle or Paul Bunyon's Babe are encouraged.

Meant to be

As I learned from this past Sunday's NY Times crossword ...

OBAMA is in

GODBLESSAMERICA

Like it was meant to be.

Happy Birthday, Kasey

She turns 9 years old today. Getting a bit grizzled, a bit salt and peppery. A good dog though.

Further than you think

How far might you push someone else's grocery cart before you discovered it wasn't yours?

The "Wizard Of Id" gets it right

Coincidence? I think not.

Late night Christmas Eve, I was driving to our church to pick up Tory. I had my mp3 player plugged in and set on random play. As I was about to exit the freeway, Carry On Wayward Son came on. Merging onto the access road I saw the light up ahead was already red, of course, and so I stopped behind a car already waiting. Then I looked at the license plate of that car and saw it was from Kansas.

Crossword constructor starts a blog

Brendan Emmitt Quigley has begun a blog on crossword puzzles and construction of them. His puzzles are usually fun to work on and are full of modern references. Good insights into his process of putting puzzles together. There is a pledge to post at least 3 puzzles a week, and in pdf so as to make them easy to print.

Snow In Austin

I need to record this somewhere. Snow fell here in Austin on 12/9/8. Late in the evening around 11 PM after a bit of sleeting, flakes of snow began blowing all around the house. A bit wet, and it didn't accumulate whatsoever, except maybe on the roof of the house and cars. But it sure did look nice and peaceful, especially being illuminated by the Christmas lights on the house.

Krackers the cat escaped into the backyard, and ran under the nearby bushes getting fairly muddy. Samantha had to retrieve him.

I can't remember any snow here in Austin this time of year over the past 24 years.

The Bailout

Spencer Tracey is the Congress. Sid Caesar, Jonathan Winters, Mickey Rooney, et al, are the auto industry, big banking, etc wanting the big cash. The big cash in the briefcase belongs to the American taxpayer of course, taken from them but that's a different analogy. The suitcase busting open and the cash being scattered into the wind is the accountability of the bureaucrats in this whole bailout mess. Finally, I liken the firetruck's attempt at the rescue to what's needed eventually get the economy back on sound footing - a few unpleasant things will have to happen and fail, but then the hospilization and curing begins. No pain, no gain.

PS How'd they get away with Rochester landing in Abe Lincoln's lap? And that's Sterling Holloway as the fireman who ascends the ladder. The briefcase full of cash is a great MacGuffin.

Long sleeves

Long sleeved shirts. Who can tolerate them? The cuffs always seem to be getting damp in some way and then feel uncomfortable.

Movie Buzz

Dinner table talk provided the following questions last night. What movies:
A. Might you never watch again and be happy about it?
B. Watch any time it comes on? Not that they are great, but that you'd watch.

There are simply too many A's to list. Any of the Tolkien movies make the list, even tho we own them.

I would watch Raiders Of The Lost Ark and The Last Crusade, Jaws, Dr Strangelove, Planet Of The Apes (with Heston of course), and Yellow Submarine, without fail. Others on the edge - 7 Faces Of Dr Lao, Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder), Young Frankenstein, Sean Connery's movies as James Bond, and Rope (cool Hitchcock flick).

There is probably a lot more I couldn't turn away from.

Fred Thompson explains it

Nice going Fred. I wish he or someone had been a little louder when all the bailout mess began.

He may be the only one.

Neil Young Archives

The long fabled archives may finally be ready. $432 bucks for Blue Ray!! I am a fan, but not that big of a fan.

Thanksgiving Turkey Means Breaking A Few Eggs

What a "shock"! If you are going to eat turkey for Thanksgiving, you have to kill a few turkeys. Sarah Palin is interviewed in front of some turkey-farmer preparing a few birds for shipping and hilarity ensues.



My grandfather, who ran a dairy farm for years, raised calves for beef as well. One calf my brothers and I played with when we were kids and affectionately named Bruno. However, one dinner during a visit to my grandparents house my grandfather asked us if we recognized Bruno as he was being served for dinner. Forks collectively dropped and hit plates.

Limerick Day 14

I was enjoying some popcorn last night
When in the middle of one of my bites
A small piece of kernel
Caused problems eternal
Getting wedged between my pearly whites.

Limerick Day 13

This morning I awoke at 6:01
And considered going out and taking a run
My heart wasn't in it
Slept 50 more minutes
Jogging has never seemed that much fun.

Neil Young - Happy Birthday

Neil at his best.