April 2008 Archives

The new Harold and Kumar movie, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, is here, and this time the two stoners find themselves accused of terrorism and thrown into Guatanamo Bay. It's a feel-good comedy.

Trust me.

There were at least three good belly laughs before the end of the opening titles, which probably set up some inflated expectations.

For the rest of the movie, some gags worked and some didn't, but there were enough hits (if you get my drift) to keep the show moving.

Their first outing (Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle) was Harold's journey of self-discovery; this time it's Kumar's. If some of the plot twists seem a bit predictable, well, so what, it's all in good fun.

Recommended for anyone who enjoyed the White Castle movie, and for those who haven't seen the original, I recommend you go out and rent the DVD.

The good news first. No humans were hurt and property damage, even including the damage in the park, was minimal.

The bad news: the fire didn't burn all the bamboo.

And we're still waiting word from the wildlife. Hopefully, none of their homes were damaged.

I didn't actually see or smell the fire. I heard it. It sounded like some squirrels were prancing on my roof, so I didn't pay it any attention at first.

But after five or ten minutes, I decided the squirrels had had enough fun, so I went out on the deck to chase them away.

That's when I realized that those sounds were not the prancing of some animals on my roof, but the crackling of a good sized fire that was blazing in the park behind my house.

First thing to do, call 9-1-1. It took a bit of explaining when I said that the fire was actually in the park, not in my house (yet). The dispatcher didn't understand the Hundred Steps, either. But eventually the information was communicated.

Then I grabbed my camcorder.

And called my neighbor, JC.

Then I realized that I better get out my garden hose, because the fire was getting too close to my property. JC manned the hose while I worked the camcorder.

The fire department arrived a few minutes later and had the blaze under control in no time.

I'm still not sure what caused it. A tossed cigarette? Some kids playing with matches? I'm just glad that I was at home. Because if I hadn't been, who knows how long it would have been before someone noticed it.

Still, it would have been nice if the fire had consumed more of that blasted bamboo...

The Dick Van Dyke Show is one of my all-time favorite television programs. Like nearly everyone else, I loved the opening titles.

For season two they shot a total of two different opening title sequences: one where Dick takes a pratfall over the living room ottoman and one where he averts disaster. These were randomly edited into the top of each show.

In season three they added a third sequence where Dick misses the ottoman but nearly trips himself anyway. You can notice that the first two were filmed at the same time (August 14, 1962 after finishing the episode titled "The Two Faces of Rob") because the cast is wearing the same outfits, but in the third sequence they are dressed differently.

Here are all three sequences mixed together.

And here they are again, but slowed down. Notice that even the initial shots of the first two sequences are distinctly different takes.

Hmmm. George Hrab's "Assumption" video has been re-edited.

Excellent!

When I was about ten years old a local television station aired what even at that age I realized was a really weird serial; I caught the last few episodes. Gene Autry was the star and he played a character named Gene Autry who had a ranch and sang on the radio. When he wasn't singing, he somehow got involved with a futuristic underground city, and there were robots and horses and a queen of the underground city and, well, like I said, it was pretty weird.

But I remember enjoying it nonetheless. Hey, I was only ten!

So when I saw that the whole 12-part serial was available in a restored edition on DVD, I sprang for it immediately.

Well, The Phantom Empire is even weirder than what I remembered. Made in 1935, it does feature Gene Autry and all the stuff I remembered. Briefly, Autry is part owner of the Radio Ranch and has a contract to perform a radio show live from the ranch every day at 2pm; if he misses a performance, he will lose the contract and the ranch. Well, that's what he keeps saying.

There are some scientists who discover that there is radium under the ranch, and they plot to have Autry lose the ranch so they can get the radium. (Each episode features short titles at the beginning to synopsize what has gone before. My favorite goes something like this: "Autry survives the crash only to be captured by a vicious party of research scientists." Gotta watch those research scientists!)

Queen Tiki of the underground empire of Murania has a special television that can show her scenes from anywhere in the world, either on the surface or in her kingdom, which is 20,000 feet (or 25,000 feet depending on the episode) below the ground. She decides that she has to have Autry kidnapped and killed to keep the surface people from discovering her underground empire.

OK, I think you get the idea. Lots of holes in the plot. Lots of silly things like the Muranians need air masks to breathe on the surface, but Autry can breathe just fine underground. Murania went underground to survive the last ice age, and they have very advanced technology, and they speak idiomatic English.

Even so, it was great fun to watch the complete serial at long last.

The BBC has the amazing video of the flying penguins.