Here’s another very obscure Throwback Thursday post about broadcast television in the New York metropolitan area — this was the intro the ABC 4:30 movie. People commenting here at its Youtube entry remember it from the 1970’s … I thought I remembered it from the very early 1980’s as well. But I could be mistaken.
One commenter said that, as a young child, he thought that the image of the spinning camera-man looked like “a mechanical frog monster.” I thought that as a kid too!
I still realize that my habit of photographing the ground at my feet will seem weird to a lot of people. But sometimes the patterns that you can find there are interesting — especially when confined within the contours of a viewfinder.
Besides, half the fun is finding battle environments where I would have loved to deploy my “G.I. Joes” when I was nine. Oh, to be a boy again.
(And bear in mind I did my laundry a day ago.)
1) Yesterday’s wet socks.
2) I dropped candy in there? Can candy go bad?
3) Surreptitious raccoon habitat.
4) The existential decay from all my dead dreams.
5) Because Mark Zuckerberg is monetizing this somehow.
6) Dragons.
7) I unknowingly share it with an invisible gangrened lumberjack.
8) Tucker Carlson’s dead goddam soul.
9) THERE IS NO CLOSET. (The Matrix has me.)
10) Polonium.
11) The ghost of a wet dog that died in a fit of depression long, long ago.
12) The writers for “The Walking Dead” stashed their latest script in there.
And obviously it’s undergone some cropping and filtering. It might just make a nice book jacket.
And no one can capture a skink, I think …
(Trust me. I tried. I’m not above scampering around on the sidewalk like an excited eight-year-old when I spot one of these glittery things. New Yorkers, skinks are fast. They’re the little blue-tailed cheetahs of the lizard world.)
… no evil shall escape my sight!
Let those who worship evil’s might
beware my power–Green Lantern’s light!”
Pictured is one flippin’ AWESOME 40th birthday present!! (And thank you again to the amazing pal who got it for me.) To quote Guy Gardner, “I could kick ol’ Goldface’s butt with this!” (C’mon … you all know I am Hal Jordan guy and not a … Guy guy.” Even if that Ice was always a lot cuter than Carol Ferris.)
46th. It was my 46th birthday. No matter how many times I type that, I’ll never get used to it.
This will probably be a pretty obscure Throwback Thursday post, but the segment below should be recognized by people who grew up in the New York metropolitan area in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. It’s none other than the intro for WOR-TV Channel 9’s “Million Dollar Movie.” (That music you hear is a particularly brassy rendition of Max Steiner’s “Tara’s Theme” from 1939’s “Gone With the Wind.”)
If you were in the New York area at that time, it ought to bring back memories of the old days of broadcast television. (It’s actually surprising how much nostalgia people online report at seeing this 44-second clip. And it’s amazing what you can find on the Internet.) A few commenters note sardonically that the clip makes Manhattan look like a nighttime paradise — while The Big Apple in the 1970’s was not always an easy place to be. (The city if far cleaner and safer today.)
Some of the comments I read were befuddling. There is one blogger who wrote that he remembers this intro from as far back as the 1950’s. (Had they really used it for more than two decades?) And a populous minority of commenters remember being unsettled by the clip. (They describe it as ominous, and the music as creepy, which mystifies the rest of us who remember “Million Dollar Movie.”)
This intro had an indelible effect on me. While it recalls monster movies like “King Kong” (1939) and “Godzilla” (1954) for a lot of others, it will always remind me of my father watching war films and cowboy movies on his days off — along with the occasional Charles Bronson flick. “The Great Escape” (1963), “A Bridge Too Far” (1977) and “Shane” (1953) all spring to mind.
When I was in the first or second grade, I habitually enhanced my Dad’s enjoyment of the “Million Dollar Movie” by peppering him endlessly with questions about whatever was playing — even if I had only wandered into the room for a few minutes. “Why did they call it ‘a bridge too far?'” “Why did they fight World War II?” “The British and French were good guys in the war, right?” “Why did the cowboy drop his gun on purpose?” “Why did the guy fake his death?” (Bear in mind, folks, this was broadcast television — long before the days of Netflix and DVD’s.)
If any kid did that to me when I was watching my favorite movies, I’d go nuts — even if I had a pause button. My father was a saint.
“Barack Obama your an Ass clown. Sit down and shut up!! You [expletive] traitor!!!” — seen on a Trump supporter’s wall.
I have four thoughts:
1) He may be an ass clown, but I’ll bet he knows the difference between “your” and “you’re.”
2) You can tell he’s a traitor because he uses full sentences. THAT’S THE CODE THAT THE LIBERAL INTELLECTUALS USE.
3) Snowflake.
4) Wouldn’t it be amazing if he could run against Trump in 2020 and defeat him? (Yes, I realize the Constitution prohibits it.) Imagine the mileage we could get out of the inevitable “Black is the new orange” joke.
I have a counter-protest idea for conservatives who are angry with Colin Kaepernick.
Just bring your American flag to a Neil Young concert and wave it all night long.
In other words, flag before the Neil.
It’s my first meme! What do you think?
If you are unaware of the implied joke here, this is indeed referencing the new and controversial Nike ads featuring Colin Kaepernick.
Eric Robert Nolan, Author 