Scan here for more about the history of the ubiquitous barcode.
But of course, this day couldn't go by without a mention of what remains, more than thirty years later, the funniest/most spiteful UPC symbol of all time: the cover of MAD Magazine #198!
(Incidentally, it's a version without the "f" words, like the "Creep" you play in the video game Rock Band.)
Much like my infamous rendition of "Bohemian Rhapsody", this wasn't done while trying to emulate the emotion of the original: it was just for fun (but I might attempt a more "serious"-feeling performance sometime).
Backstreet Buzz is at 234 SW Market Street in Reidsville, North Carolina. Karaoke every Monday night and live local talent performing quite often throughout the week. And the food is excellent!
Hmmm... dunno. Nicolas Cage has already bowed out of this project, on grounds that the villain he was set to play was too "one-dimensional". And Rogen's duds look too much like a cosplay getup.
But here's what I'm really wondering most of all about The Green Hornet movie: will the connection to the Lone Ranger be touched upon?
If so, and if done respectfully, this film could have a great tone to it. And if you're wondering just what the heck I'm talking about, then use your mouse (or your finger if you're using an iPhone) to swipe over the "Inviso-Text" and discover the secret if you want to be potentially spoiled:
BEGIN POTENTIAL SPOILER (highlight to read) Okay, here goes: the Green Hornet is the grand-nephew of the Lone Ranger! Britt Reid's father was Dan Reid, the nephew of John Reid (the Lone Ranger) who often rode with his uncle on adventures throughout the old west. And according to legend, the Green Hornet had the ORIGINAL mask of the Lone Ranger sewn into the brim of his hat, making the Green Hornet the modern-day continuation of John Reid's legacy. Isn't that the awesomest thing?! Now, I defy anyone to tell me that this shouldn't make it into Sony's movie! END POTENTIAL SPOILERCould The Green Hornet be so daring as to include that? I'd gladly buy a ticket for this movie if it were...
In celebration of this momentous occasion, here is the obligatory "Dead Parrot" sketch...
Think I'll pop in Monty Python and the Holy Grail on my DVD player (one of the first DVDs that I ever bought) later tonight :-)
Can you imagine the "Mac vs. PC" ads that Apple is gonna think up for this one? But it's true: Microsoft is releasing a "Steve Ballmer edition" of the Windows 7 operating system, emblazoned with the signature of Microsoft's CEO. There's a catch though: it's only for those who host Windows 7 house parties (uhhh... a house party for the launch of an OS?). Also inside the Windows 7 party kit are: "balloons... Windows 7 tote bags... Windows 7 branded napkins, a puzzle pack, the pieces come together to form a wallpaper image from Windows 7... a pack of Windows 7 playing cards, a color poster" and of course the black box containing Windows 7 itself.Okay, sounds nifty. But it would have been even more awesome if Microsoft also sweetened the deal by throwing in a Steve Ballmer-signed office chair.
(Some have written to me asking if that's a bulletproof vest that Robertson is wearing on his show this evening. Hey, that might be. I've certainly never seen a getup like that worn on live TV before...)
Secondly, does anyone seriously trust any statistics that Robertson and his bunch produce as "evidence"? These people have lied about everything conceivable. Robertson could claim that he's hired Gallup to run a poll, and he still couldn't be believed.
And at the moment Robertson is running that clip that I posted on YouTube a little over a year ago.
It's not just my opinion: Robertson's broadcasts are descending into madness. And that's not the local view either: as far away as Pepperdine University (a Church of Christ-affiliated college, interestingly enough) in California, Johnny Robertson and his cult are being derided and condemned as "slimy, quackish, and frauds".
Now, who are we to believe: students who are paying to attend a Church of Christ school, or "students" that Johnny Robertson is paying to attend his own "Church of Christ school"?
Strange days, friends...
EDIT 1:15 p.m. EST 10/05/2009: Some new information has been put forth regarding what Robertson was harping on about last night in regards to the incident this past Friday night between Robertson's son/follower Micah Robertson and the staff of BTW 21(also in Martinsville). On a forum devoted to Martinsville and Henry County discussion BTW 21's Chad Hall reports that...
"not sure if yall watched Johnny do-right last night but he took an event out of context. His son Miach [sic] follwed us around forever. We couldnt move without him tailing us and not sure why. my guess is to provoke us to do something so they can have a filed day with it, so we obliged. These men are bent to make evil out of a sitation... We were not doing anything wrong and was being tailed for no reason except to cause a response. I guess when your ratings are down you resort to desperate measures."If true, then it doesn't sound like an unwarranted provocation at all. Seems like once again Johnny, Micah and the "Church of Christ" cult went out of their way to instigate something.
It also throws what Johnny Robertson was going on about last night into a whole new light also: he was comparing my attempt to take him at his word outside the WGSR studio in June 2008 with what happened to Micah at the football game over the weekend. Well, I didn't follow Robertson into the studio that night. And as a matter of fact, as my own footage shows, Robertson certainly took it upon himself to exit the studio and come to me prior to his show's live broadcast. If he didn't want that, he should have just stayed inside. Hey, I understood then that he'd bought the airtime for his own show: I wasn't going to violate that by "raiding" his slot. But isn't that what Micah Robertson did at the football game? Chad and his crew paid fair rental for seats at the stadium in order to attend an event on their own time: nobody in that kind of circumstance deserves to be hounded and harassed by anyone... and much less by sociopathic cult members!
But for his new show Serling had something very different in mind. Eschewing traditional drama, Serling chose an anthology format that would not only entertain, but enthrall and tantalize and, at times, utterly haunt the viewer.
So it was that on that evening, millions of viewers crossed over into The Twilight Zone for the first time.
Could this possibly be the greatest television series ever? I mean, it's hard to think of any other show that has been more influential, or had as tremendous an impact on our modern culture.
Awright, so anyone who notes the anniversary of The Twilight Zone is doubtless going to tick off his/her favorite episodes, right? Well, in no particular order some of mine are "A Most Unusual Camera" (the first episode of The Twilight Zone that I ever saw), "The Obsolete Man" (maybe the best episode that Burgess Meredith did for the series), "A Game of Pool" (one of the most solid and powerful single episodes of television ever, in my opinion), "It's a Good Life" (wigs me out every time I watch it), "Once Upon a Time" (a comic entry for the series, starring Buster Keaton), "I Sing the Body Electric" (was there a moral, or did it even really need one?) and "Nick of Time" (a story that, it goes without saying, not only could conceivably happen but has happened in one form or another throughout human history).
So... do y'all have any favorite stories from The Twilight Zone? Comment away!
Here's the clip's description...
July 22 1941. The girl next door is getting married. Anne Frank is leaning out of the window of her house in Amsterdam to get a good look at the bride and groom. It is the only time Anne Frank has ever been captured on film. At the time of her wedding, the bride lived on the second floor at Merwedeplein 39. The Frank family lived at number 37, also on the second floor.This would have been about a year before Anne and her family went into hiding.
Previously I'd noted that I've been late to the game so far as Cartoon Network's Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series goes. I'm now regretting it even more, because today was the first time that I got to see Cad Bane in action.What else can I say? Cad is easily the awesomest new villainous addition to the Star Wars pantheon in too great a long while. Everything about Cad Bane screams bad-a$$: his Clint Eastwood/"spaghetti western"-esque look, his voice (provided by Corey Burton), his proficiency with the blaster (or more than one), his cold-blooded personality... and the fact that he's a reputation for being the most feared bounty hunter in the waning years of the Old Republic. That alone carries lots of street cred in the galaxy far, far away.
And I just found out that there's a Cad Bane action figure floating around. Guess I'll have to be looking for it now... :-)
I've never been to Rio, but have heard a lot of good things about that town over the years. Maybe this'll be a good enough excuse to finally check out the place :-)
How It Should Have Ended is famous across the 'Net for their perversely funny take on well-known movies. This is one of their best yet!
C'mon Google, we expect better from you! Fix this, please :-)
EDIT 09:32 p.m. EST: Taking a looksee around the blogosphere, many users of Blogger are reporting problems with labels. I'm hearing that Google/Blogger implemented some "improvements" and that a restriction on labels is supposed to be one of them. Uhhhh...
If Google is in the business of locating data quickly, then limiting labels for its own blogging service seems an awfully big step in the wrong direction.
So one-tenth of the domestic workforce is... out of work. Doesn't sound like any recovering economy to me. Heck, that sounds an awful lot like depression.
Okay, minus getting to see the mohawk and gold chains of B.A., that looks pretty darned persuasive as a modern-day take on the A-Team guys.
Mike Stimpson is a photographer... and a LEGO maniac. So he combined his love of both and came up with a series of pics replicating some of the most famous images in modern history with LEGO bricks and minfigs (like Stimpson's take on the classic VJ Day kiss in New York City, shown at right). The Daily Beast has more about Stimpson's work along with the photos that inspired them. And if you want to check out the rest of his stuff, click on through to Mike Stimpson's official website.(Thanks to Lee Shelton for the great find!)
From his blog...
Well its official: We have a great Transformers 3 story. The release date is now July 1st 2011. Not 2012.I'm still a bit conflicted over Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Looking forward to catching it again when the DVD streets in a few weeks. I think it was generally a good sequel, maybe better than its reputation, but it was loaded with problems (and Skids and Mudflap continue to honk me off to no end). But if Bay and crew can up the ante on the next movie though, all will be well.Today is Day One. This morning started with an ILM meeting for five hours in San Francisco. Currently I'm flying with writer Ehren Kruger to Rhode Island to talk to Hasbro about new characters.
P.S. Megan Fox, welcome back. I promise no alien robots will harm you in any way during the production of this motion picture. Please consult your Physician when working under my direction because some side effects can occur, such as mild dizziness, intense nausea, suicidal tendencies, depression, minor chest hair growth, random internal hemorrhaging and inability to sleep. As some directors may be hazardous to your health, please consult your Doctor to determine if this is right for you.
Pain and Gain is right after shooting of Trans 3.
That, and bring back Steve Jablonsky to compose the score (but on this blog, that goes without saying :-)
But there is also good news: another group of researchers has developed a new kind of paint that blocks wireless networking radio waves! Just coat those same walls with this stuff, and if the paint lives up to its promise you'll be free to do... whatever (and I don't wanna know either).
I could also see a huge market for this paint among those worried about mind control rays...
