'Best of TBH Politoons'
Baron Dave Romm
Buffy vs. Munsters
By Baron Dave Romm
Shockwave Radio Theater podcasts
Monsters on tv
I don't watch enough tv. Or something.
While many of my friends went wild over Buffy The Vampire Slayer, I was largely out of step. That range of horror/monster movies doesn't do anything for me, and the tv shows don't do much either. I'd seen the movie, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, which was okay but not enticing enough to check out the tv show. So I waited until the DVDs were out, and have been watching them in sequence, with commentaries and extras. This is the way to go.
I'm currently in the middle of the fourth season. Various of my friends, especially the rabid Buffy fans, kindly did not spoil any of the plot and character development, so I won't either. I'll just say that the best episodes were in the second and third season. If you want to find out what the excitement is all about but don't want to watch seven seasons worth of CDs, start with the second disc of the second season and go through to the end of the third. I may change my mind after seeing the rest of the shows, but for the moment I'll stick with this recommendation.
The Munsters was a pop culture tv show airing 1964-1966, in a country still reeling from the dumbed-down-media effects of the McCarthy Era; in that scared-of-telling-real-stories time when tv execs didn't understand the technical sophistication of a post-Sputnik America and turned down Star Trek to air Lost In Space. In the genre, it's generally considered secondary to The Addams Family, and I agree. Still, it was fun (if you're nine), visually gothic and full of broad humor. I remember the show fondly. It had everything a kid could ask for: Monsters, a loving family, weird relatives, a school that didn't understand the kids and strange neighbors.
As may be apparent, I'm not as much of a Buffy fan as some. I can see why people like it, but it doesn't appeal to me... and I didn't like High School either. In searching around for a analogies, I realized that Buffy wasn't The X-Files with teenage angst (though I'm not a big fan of The X-Files either), it's The Munsters with better dialog and worse lighting. For myself, I came up with the following chart. My Buffy friends looked askance at the comparisons, but I offer them here.
Buffy (through three and a half seasons) vs. Munsters (complete two seasons)
| Category | Buffy | Munsters |
|---|---|---|
| Monsters | Yes | Yes |
| Teenage girl angst | Yes | Yes |
| Special effects | Bad | Chintzy |
| Lighting | Bad | Good |
| Vampires | Yes | Yes |
| Werewolf | Grade School | In A Band |
| Frankenstein's Monsters | No | Yes |
| Cemeteries | Yes | Yes |
| Dialog | California pseudo-hip | Puns |
| Pop references | Yes | No |
| Laugh Track | No | Yes |
| Loving Family | Yes | Yes |
| Kids are social outcasts | Yes | Yes |
| Designer wheels | No | Yes |
| Characters | Develop | Stay the same |
| Theme Song | Bad | Good |
| Goth chics | Faith | Lily |
| Fight scenes | Lots of kicking | Lots of stomping |
| Guest stars | No | Yes |
| DVD Commentaries | Give away spoilers | None |
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia who produces Shockwave Radio Theater, writes in a Live Journal demi-blog, plays with a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E. Podcasts of Shockwave Radio Theater. Permanent archive. More radio programs, interviews and science fiction humor plays can be accessed on the Shockwave Radio audio page.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air.
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Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Robert Mitchum: Charity is good for the soul. Now scientists claim it stimulates areas of brain (jewishworldreview.com)
That good feeling you get by writing a check to your favorite charity could be your brain patting itself on the back.
Michael Moore: An Awesome First Night for "Sicko" (michaelmoore.com)
There's a moment in "Sicko" when the former British MP, Tony Benn, says, "If we have the money to kill people (with war), we've got the money to help people." That line always gets the loudest applause in the theater. It is estimated that, before Bush's War is over, we will have spent two trillion dollars on it. Let me say this: I NEVER want to hear again from ANY politician that we "don't have the money" to fix our schools, to take care of the poor, to provide health care for every American. Clearly, the money IS there when we want to illegally invade another country and then prolong a disastrous occupation.
America's real first family (advocate.com)
This July, the lovable yellow clan hits the big screen in The Simpsons Movie. Will Doig looks at how the cartoon has led the way for our acceptance in American culture-and taught us tolerance in the process.
Jim Ridley: When Mutant Mutton Attack (villagevoice.com)
Ewe better watch out (and other puns): Sheep Eat Flesh in Kiwi Splatter-Comedy.
Deborah Jowitt: On Tap (villagevoice.com)
Savion Glover pounds out a feast of rhythms.
Louis Virtel: Sinead's fire more like a spark on Theology (advocate.com)
Sinead bravely tackles hymns on Theology, but we miss the pope-ripping pop princess of the early '90s.
Interview by Lisa Schneider: 'Christianity Is My Spiritual Home' (beliefnet.com)
Jane Fonda talks about how she is 'riveted' by faith and why she believes feminism is what Jesus taught.
Free Download: "Love and Friendship: Stories About Growing Up," edited by Bruce (lulu.com)
Amber and I began to tease my dad, asking him, "How old are you again? Even we know that you are not supposed to put Silly Putty up your nose!" - from "Silly Putty Wednesday," by Stephanie Gregory
SiCKO - Flint Couple Says Moore Saved Home (youtube.com)
Cartoon: Nicole Hollander, "Sylvia" (womensenews.org)
Hubert's Poetry Corner
THE COCKROACH PRINCE AND OTHER CASUAL MEMORIES
Hot fun in the summertime - NOT!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
We're having a heat wave.
Celebrates 70th With Concert
Nancy Wilson
Nancy Wilson is hardly the retiring type, even though she is trying to spend more time with her grandchildren these days.
Last year, the singer retired from touring, but she continues to record - her last album "Turned to Blue" won the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album earlier this year - and perform selected concert dates.
On Friday night, she found herself sharing the Carnegie Hall stage with many old friends - including three of the top vocalists on the current jazz scene, Nnenna Freelon, Dianne Reeves and Kurt Elling, as well as guest musicians such as violinist Regina Carter - for a concert called "Nancy Wilson's Swinging 70th Birthday Party," a highlight of this year's JVC Jazz Festival.
Pianist Herbie Hancock completely reharmonized Cole Porter's romantic ballad "I Love You" in honor of Wilson. Then he made a little history of his own by playing accompanist to Wilson for the first time as she sang the ballad "Old Folks" - a sentimental reflection on respect for one's elders and their memories - from her latest Grammy-winning CD.
Nancy Wilson
Fans Stage Marathon Reading
Jack Kerouac
Admirers of author Jack Kerouac celebrated the 50th anniversary of "On the Road" with a marathon reading of the novel.
Fans and some close friends of the late author took turns reading his most famous novel aloud at Naropa University in Boulder on Saturday. About 150 people listened to the cover-to-cover reading, which took 12 hours and kicked off the university's inaugural Kerouac Festival.
One of the most popular books ever written by an American, "On the Road" tells the story of Kerouac and a friend he calls Dean Moriarity as they travel the country, including a visit to Denver that the city celebrates with a tour that traces his steps.
Jack Kerouac
Taste Of Berlin
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand has played her first concert in Germany, winning an enthusiastic welcome from some 18,000 fans in Berlin and praising the capital's beauty.
Saturday night's appearance at Berlin's open-air Waldbuehne was part of a European tour that also has taken her to Zurich, Switzerland, and to France for the first time.
She told the audience "I can't believe it took me so long to come here."
Streisand said she definitely got a taste of Berlin, saying "this city is filled with culture, beauty - and desserts."
Barbra Streisand
Opening Dirty Laundry
Heidi Fleiss
Former Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss is diversifying, airing her Dirty Laundry in Nevada as she makes plans for a legal brothel for women.
Dirty Laundry is a 24-hour, coin-operated laundry - 13 washers and 14 dryers - the one-time leader of a high-priced ring of call girls to the stars is opening at a shopping centre in Pahrump, west of Las Vegas.
Fleiss, who has become an avid collector of parrots and macaws since moving to Pahrump, said she decided to open the laundromat after the death of one of her pets, a macaw named Dalton.
Heidi Fleiss
Deathbed Confession
Roswell
Lieutenant Walter Haut was the public relations officer at the base in 1947 and was the man who issued the original and subsequent press releases after the crash on the orders of the base commander, Colonel William Blanchard.
Haut died last year but left a sworn affidavit to be opened only after his death.
Last week, the text was released and asserts that the weather balloon claim was a cover story and that the real object had been recovered by the military and stored in a hangar.
Haut's affidavit talks about a high-level meeting he attended with base commander Col William Blanchard and the Commander of the Eighth Army Air Force, General Roger Ramey.
Roswell
Weekend Tally
Box Office
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Ratatouille," $47.2 million.
2. "Live Free or Die Hard," $33.15 million.
3. "Evan Almighty," $15.1 million.
4. "1408," $10.6 million.
5. "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer," $9 million.
6. "Knocked Up," $7.4 million.
7. "Ocean's Thirteen," $6.05 million.
8. "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," $5 million.
9. "Sicko," $4.5 million.
10. "Evening," $3.5 million.
Box Office
Terracotta Tomb Site Hides Mystery Building
China
The tomb of China's first emperor, guarded for more than 2,000 years by 8,000 terracotta warriors and horses, has yielded up another archaeological secret.
After five years of research, archaeologists have confirmed that a 30-meter-high building is buried in the vast mausoleum of Emperor Qinshihuang near the former capital, Xian, in the northwestern province of Shaanxi, Xinhua news agency said on Sunday.
Archaeologists have been using remote sensing technology since 2002 to study the internal structure of the unexcavated mausoleum.
They concluded that the building, buried above the main tomb, had four surrounding stair-like walls with nine steps each, Xinhua said.
China
Dodo Delights Scientists
Flightless Fred
The remains of a dodo found in a cave beneath bamboo and tea plantations in Mauritius offer the best chance yet to learn about the extinct flightless bird, a scientist said on Friday.
The discovery was made earlier this month in the Mauritian highlands but the location was kept secret until the recovery of the skeleton, nicknamed "Fred", was completed on Friday. Four men guarded the site overnight.
Julian Hume, a palaeontologist at London's Natural History Museum, told Reuters the remains were likely to yield excellent DNA and other vital clues, because they were found intact, in isolation, and in a cave.
It the first discovery of dodo remains away from the coastal regions, suggesting that the bird, extinct since the 17th century, lived all over the Indian Ocean island, he said.
Flightless Fred
Name Offends Malaysian State
Melaka Virus
The state of Melaka is upset that scientists have named a new bat-borne virus after it, news reports said Sunday.
Australian and Malaysian scientists announced last week they had discovered a new virus likely carried by bats that can cause respiratory illness in humans.
They called it the Melaka virus, using the name of the southern state where it was isolated in early 2006 in a human patient.
Chief Minister Ali Rustam said Saturday the state does not want to be associated with the virus and called the name choice "an insult" to Melaka, which is a popular tourist destination because of its historical sites.
Melaka virus
Cheese Carver
Troy Landwehr
A cheese carver has accomplished a task that's a real "Muenster" - or make that a "monster" - in size. Troy Landwehr used his carving tools to turn a 700-pound block of Land O' Lakes cheddar into a replica of Mount Rushmore.
The cheese carver and winemaker was commissioned by Cheez-It snack crackers to make the monumental carving.
He's heading to New York City in coming days to appear on TV and promote the work on Times Square.
The carving eventually will end up in Oklahoma and be cut into cubes to become a snack itself.
Troy Landwehr
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