And People Said Dan Quayle Was Stupid

Quayle’s main sins? He was a  was a pretty boy and a Republican. Oh, and he “was widely lambasted for his apparent inability to spell the word potato.”  Because (insert astonished oath here) that matters, people! Yet, for the last four years we’ve had an honest-to-God moron on our hands serving as VP.  Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Joe Biden:

“. . . and then a bear came and ate them all!!!”

“When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, ‘Look, here’s what happened.”  — Joe Biden,  interview with Katie Couric. Sept. 22, 2008

[Except that FDR wasn't president when the stock market crashed in 1929. And FDR used radio, not television, to spread his fertilizer around. TV was still in it's experimental stage at that time.]

“Run run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me — I’m the ice cream man!”

“Stand up, Chuck, let ‘em see ya.” –-Joe Biden, to wheelchair-bound Missouri State Sen. Chuck Graham. Columbia, Missouri,  Sept. 12, 2008

[What can I even say about this? Except: Is he blind, as well as stupid?]

“Thank you come again.”

“You cannot go to a 7-11 or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent…. I’m not joking.” — Joe Biden, C-SPAN. June, 2006

[Oh, if only he was joking. But no, in 2012, Joe the Blunder Kid did it again, “I like to talk to you about your credit card." ]

“Dial one plus the area code, if it’s different from your own!”

“You know, I’m embarrassed. Do you know the Web site number?” – Joe Biden, during an interview on CBS’ “Early Show,” regarding a government-run Website that tracks stimulus spending.  Feb. 25, 2009

[Because our elected officials are so knowledgeable about the world outside of Washington; that's exactly why the government should be in charge of the  Interwebs -- or is it Intertubes -- ah, go ask Al Gore the difference. He invented the thing.]

It is NOT a dunce cap!

Yes, people, he’s a fool.  No, more like a useful idiot:  look how smart Mr. Obama seems by comparison!

Ghost Signs

There are some intriguing, faded, hand-painted signs around here — “ghost signs,” they’re called, as they’re only a thin version of their former, brightly-painted selves. There’s something melancholy and mysterious about them — who painted them, how long were they in business, who frequented those businesses, what happened to all of them since? And guess what: there’s a beautifully sad Zach Selwyn song pertaining to ghost signs. It’s what got me interested in the concept in the first place.

Dolly’s Market.

Storage — of what and for whom?

Hotel Lewis — where did all your visitors go?

A modern ghost / sign of the times.

Here’s the link to Mr. Selwyn’s gorgeous, doleful song, from his album of the same name. It’s about California, but if you’re in the right mood, it can be about anywhere.  Ghost Signs

The Waters of Sabino Canyon

Spent part of  New Year’s weekend hiking Sabino Canyon Dam with my son — great way to start off the New Year. Warm weather, cool water, glorious day. Had Zach Selwyn’s song, “Tucson Afternoon,” going round in my head ever since (“I smell the breeze/through the palo verde trees . . .”).

 Cool white water from snowmelt.

Tannin + minerals + sunlight = beautiful golden cast to shallow water.

Even shallow spots are beautiful.

The young man ponders the wide open sky.

And now, “Tucson Afternoon” –

Happy New Year, Ya’ll.

Music for Halloween, Classic and Otherwise

Here are are my top thirteen Halloween music faves. Okay, they’re not all Halloween-specific, but they fit the mood of the holiday. If you expected a “classic” song that’s not there, keep in mind just because it’s old doesn’t mean it’s a classic — or even that good  (sorry, “Monster Mash,” “Purple People Eater,” and theme songs from both The Munsters and Addams Family — all good and fine, if you’re seven years old).

In alphabetical order:

Ballad for Dead Friends (Dashboard Prophets)
Blue (Angie Hart)
Burn the Pain (Trip Cyclone, Shivers 2: Harvest of Souls)
Cry Little Sister (G Tom Mac; True Blood version)
Desperado (Alice Cooper)
Halloween (Dream Syndicate)
Idiot Prayer (Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds)
Pet Sematary (The Ramones)
Rest in Peace (Spike, Once More with Feeling OST)
The Wrong Side (Abney Park)
Time Warp (Rocky Horror Picture Show OST)
Transylvanian Concubine (Rasputina)
Tubular Bells (Mike Oldfeld)

Six songs that scared me as a child (that I’ve since grown to love):

D.O.A.* (Bloodrock)
House of the Rising Sun (The Animals)
I Am the Walrus (The Beatles)
Sick Things (Alice Cooper)
White Rabbit (Jefferson Airplane)
White Room (Cream)

Zombies + Beatles = I Wanna Eat Your Brain

Surprisingly, “Sympathy for the Devil” (Rolling Stones) didn’t bother me. Go figure. Maybe even as a kid, I didn’t buy their “ooh we’re dabbling with demonic stuff here” schtick.

*Except for this song. Who the hell thought it was a good idea to release this for radio play (circa 1971)?  Frightened me more than anything I’ve ever heard.  Ever.  Still creeps me out. Do not look this song up; it will give you nightmares.

Six old-school faves*:

Danse macabre (Camille Saint-Saens)
Funeral March of a Marionette (Charles-Francois Gounod)
Hungarian Rhapsodies, No. 2 in D minor (Franz Liszt)
In the Hall of the Mountain King (Edvard Grieg)
Teddy Bear’s Picnic (Henry Hall)
Toccata and Fugue in D minor (Johann Sebastian Bach)

*Gee, waddya know, the majority of these I first heard in old Warner Brothers cartoons. And then there’s Raymond Scott’s “Powerhouse” — which isn’t spooky, but is industrial-assemby-line-unstoppable-machine awesome.

Hope you find something above you will enjoy. Happy Haunting!

Happy Halloween

So it’s a bit early.  If I had my way, it’d be Halloween all year round. Last month, my husband and I came home from a night out, and when we opened the patio door, this tarantula walked right in.  Seriously, like it owned the place. We chased it back out to the patio.  It crept over to a potted plant where it met up with a smaller fellah. Mother and son? Giant female and little immature male? Who knows. (Apologies for the blurry pic.) We haven’t seen either one since that night.

Care to dance the tarantella?

Anyway,  hope you all have a safe and happy Halloween!

Ooooo, spooky!

More Old Sci-Fi Movie Posters: Two Creatures and a Crabbe

Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954). Directed by Jack Arnold. German language poster (obviously).  Doesn’t look like he’d be very fast on land. Oh, and we could make all sorts of remarks about his ruby red fish lips, phallic fish head and the dark mouth of his cave, but — this is a PG site, after all.

The Creature Walks Among Us (1956). Directed by John Sherwood. Raising watery hell in San Francisco. Again, a literal fish out of water story (and, again, note those puffy red fish-lips — eeeew). Quick, doc, the needle!

And now,  a fish-man of another spawn:

Flash Gordon (1936).  Starring Larry “Buster” Crabbe. Raised in Hawaii,  Buster was an Olympian swimmer (gold medalist) who starred in everything from B-movies (Tarzan, The Most Dangerous Game, Island of Lost Souls, Buck Rogers, etc., etc.) to myriad television appearances. He worked consistently from 1930 to 1982 (in 114 titles). He died in 1983. He’s my new old movie-star crush.

Buster Crabbe, Pool-boy Extraordinaire.

It’s October: Time for Werewolves

Summer’s done, and Fall has finally come to southern Arizona. Saw a sign in a local used book store pertaining to werewolves and change, and well, I can’t resist:

 

That’s my version. Hope you like.

Some Women of Old-School Sci-Fi Movies

I have several old science-fiction movie posters; here are three featuring strong women — in this case, strong equals evil. Unless the woman is Barbarella. Then she’s not evil, just kinda dumb. Hmm. Attractive women just have to be either intellectually toxic or helplessly naive, don’t they?

Terror from the Year 5000. 1958. Scientist makes time machine, brings back woman from the future. Future woman wants to take healthy men back to her time for procreation. How is this a bad thing? Looks like a woman’s carnal needs are pretty scary to emasculated lab rats. Gotta love the graph paper background — makes it all the more science-y, doesn’t it?

The Wasp Woman. 1959. Cosmetics queen, afraid of growing old, creates youth serum from wasp venom. Because (unlike middle-aged men), middle-aged women are SCARY! Experiments on herself, becomes all waspy when aroused. Fear of women’s sexuality? Gee, ya think? A Roger Corman production.

Barbarella. 1968. Ah, every fanboy’s favorite bubble-headed booby (with apologies to Dr. Smith). So über-sexy she’s always getting abducted, and well, you know the rest. She’s a victim of her own desirability. Poor thing. A Dino De Laurentiis production.

In the Shadows Of

Came across the attractive play of light and shadow on various things while meandering around downtown last weekend.

In the Shadow of Industry
(Southern Arizona Transportation Museum)

In the Shadow of Government
(Tucson City Hall courtyard steps)

In the Shadow of The Grape
(Maynards Market & Kitchen)

Of Style and Goats

As anyone with teenagers in their house knows, Spring is one busy season: Prom, SAT, band concerts, finals, etc.  Got some cool pix from my son’s pre-Prom prep –

Fancy but uncomfortable shoes. Tell me he doesn’t look like a young Paul Weller!  Style Council paging Mister Smooth.

Mirror, mirror, etc., etc.  He is the mob.

So last Saturday our youngster was taking the SAT.  My husband and I wandered around downtown in the meanwhile, and came across lots of interesting things to photograph. Among them, this guitar signed by David Duchovny from his recent movie, “Goats.” The movie was filmed partly in Tucson, hence the guitar in the window of a local music shop (Chicago Music Store).

And a closer look:

Oh, Foxy Mulder.

By the way, the Chicago Music Store is a great place to wander around — if you have time — cluttered with stacks of all sorts of curious and cool  instruments.