how similar are these two songs?

Am I the only one who hears a strong similarity between "I Fought the Law" by the Bobby Fuller Four and "My Baby Loves Me" by Martina McBride? I'm talking lawsuit levels of similarity.

This was prompted by a Youtube video I was watching. It was by WatchMojo, and presented a list of records that were similar enough to other so as to lead to lawsuits. But the first thing that came to my mind was Fuller and McBride.

Anyone?

southwest does boarding right

I flew Southwest Airlines for the first time this weekend*. I am now a fan. Or, at least, I'm a fan of their method for boarding passengers.

In my experience with other airlines, you have an assigned seat (usually picked when you bought your ticket). At the gates, boarding is done in groups. But, there are many people in each group, and within the group, boarding order is pretty much a race to see who can get to the line first. And I use the word "line" somewhat loosely. It's more of a mob. It kind of resembles commuters crowding around the escalator on the subway, except that in the case of the subway, people aren't waiting around for the escalator to open up. At the airport, people start arriving at the gate an hour or more in advance, often before the prior flight has taken off. Once there, many jockey for position, trying to be as close as possible to the door. They try to figure out how close they can get without breaking the rules or being too rude. That's the part of flying that I hate the most. The stressful competition to be the first on. You stand in your spot, thinking it would be wrong to go farther. And then someone who showed up afterwards calmly walks past you and positions himself closer than you are. AAARRRRGGGHHH!

Come on, admit it, you know what I'm talking about.

The fact is, you can avoid all that by simply waiting around and getting on at your leisure. You have your assigned seat, and the plane is going to the same place. So what does it matter? There was a time that it didn't really matter. But in today's age where most airlines charge for checked luggage, most passengers try to avoid checking luggage, so the overhead space for carry-ons is at a premium. If you get on too late and the overhead space is all taken, you have to gate-check your bag. It's not the end of the world, but it can be an inconvenience. And, of course, people are people. And we are just apes defending their own turf.

Now, with Southwest, there are no assigned seats. Instead, you get a number when you check in, and boarding is done by the numbers. For yesterday's flight I was B18. So I got to board after B17 and before B19. Once on, I got to take whatever unclaimed seat I chose. The stakes of boarding are higher, since seats are first-come first-served, but since the order is chosen, the stress is lower. Not just for me, but for others around me. I found it a much more pleasant experience.

Also, I love the snazzy yellow, red and blue hearts.

*And boy, are my arms tired!

on chuck's allergy

Spoiler Alert

There's something that puzzles me about Better Call Saul, which can be seen in the following video:

The necessary background is that Chuck has an apparent sensitivity to electricity and certain frequencies of EM radiation. I say "apparent" because we learned early on that it's psychosomatic.

Anyway, as we see, Chuck believes that batteries cause him pain. I don't understand that part. Even if the battery is charged, there's no flow of electricity without a closed circuit. Seems to me (not that I'm an expert), that wouldn't be problematic.

Are there people who actually have this kind of allergy to electricity? Are they affected by charged batteries that are not in a closed circuit?

the black cat (cinema history class)

Session: Pass the Poe -- Hold the Price, week 4
Movie: The Black Cat (1966)
Directed by Harold Hoffman
As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL

Plot:
A deranged writer is more interested in petting his cat than his wife. When the cat spurns him he kills it, unleashing its thirst for kitty vengeance. Hilarity ensues.

Teeing Up:
Keith let us know that this was an odd adaptation of Poe. Set in modern day Texas, it has been criticized as not being true to the original. But, Keith assured us, it actually is faithful. And writer/director Harold Hoffman was a bit off his rocker.

Reaction:
Keith was right. This was faithful to the Poe classic. At least, as faithful to Poe as you can get while including surf music and car chases.

Snark aside, this went over great. Personally, I loved it. "The Black Cat" is my favorite Poe story (not that I'm an expert on the man's work), and this one actually managed to fit in all the essential elements. I was really wondering how they'd work in that whole brick 'em up in the wall angle, but they managed.

For a film this disturbing, there was remarkably little gore. And that worked to its benefit. When there was blood, it really got you.

Of course, to make a full length feature out of a short story like "The Black Cat," you have to add material, and Hoffman did a nice job, adding cars, monkeys and rock and roll. And a backstory of creepy familial dynamics.

This was the best of Keith's class, as we saw a rare gem that I wouldn't have even heard about otherwise. It was, by far, the best night of this session.

The ratings:

• Joe: 9.9
• Dave: 9
• Sean 3 (on a scale of 1 - 4)
• Scott: 9.5
• Ethan: 9
• Me: 9.7

The Black Cat fails the Bechdel Test.

Extras:
Our warmup this week was a 1971 short interpretation of The Tell-Tale Heart. It was pretty good, though nowhere near in league with the feature. What was truly odd was the fact that it was purposely given the feel of a film from the 19-teens, except for the protagonist, who was dressed in 1971 contemporary clothing and hairstyle. He kind of looked like an extra from a gay porn movie, which made a stark contrast with the Scrooge-looking victim. Lucky for my loyal reader, its available on Youtube:

phantom of the rue morgue (cinema history class)

Session: Pass the Poe -- Hold the Price, week 3
Movie: Phantom of the Rue Morgue (1954)
Directed by Roy Del Ruth
As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL

Plot:
People are dying in Paris. The police know who the killer is. Or do they? Hilarity ensues.

Teeing Up:
This movie -- or atleast the Poe story on which it was based, served as inspiration for Keith's first feature, The Bloody Ape, and he talked at length about the connections. Fun fact: The Bloody Ape began its life as a very different project, called Bigfoot On Campus. Anyway, Keith gave special recognition to Charles Gemora, who played the gorilla. My feeble attempt at humor (something about Jimmy Sodom working with Charles Gemora) went over like a led balloon. Oh well.

Reaction:
I had a hard time getting into this film. I think my problem stems from the fact that it was in 3-D. And I don;t mean the modern impressive 3-D that works really well. I'm talking about the cheesy 1950s-era 3-D that was just distracting. So, wearing the paper 3-D glasses over my regular glasses was a distraction, and I just couldn't get them positioned properly for the effect to work. So instead I had an uncomfortable arrangement and saw a phantom shadow next to the image on the screen.

So, based on that, it's hard for me to really judge the movie on its merits. I will acknowledge that the opening scene with the circus knife-thrower was very well done. The suspense built, and I found myself in rapt attention, wondering if he'll "miss" and hit his assistant.

The ratings:

• Joe: 9.8
• Sean 2 (on a scale of 1 - 4)
• Scott: 6.5
• Ethan: 4
• Me: 4.5

Phantom of the Rue Morgue fails the Bechdel Test.

Extras:
Our warmup this week was a 1979 animated interpretation of The Cask of Amontillado. This was an interestingly low-tech version. The animation consisted of paintings, over which the camera moved. But the paintings were quite good in a disturbing sort of way, and gave life to the production. The audio was a simple reading of the story verbatim. This was my first exposure to this particular Poe story, and experiencing it for the first time in this venue was great. But, what's with him and the whole sealing people up in walls thing?

with asher at the steamworks festival of curiosity

I spent yesterday with Asher at the "Steamworks Festival of Curiosity" in Brooklyn. I'm not quite sure how to describe the festival, except to say that there were several exhibitors with booths set up with materials and/or activities designed to encourage curiosity. Curiosity, afterall, is fundamental to science.

I was a bit surprised at the level of the material. I had been told that this was aimed at high school students. Yet in actuality it seemed as if it had been aimed directly at Asher, and he's 8 years old. Of course, most of the kids there were in the same age range. So I still don;t see how it was an event for teenagers.

Staten Island Makerspace, was there with their "Steam Truck," a box van with various tools and electronic toys. The main displays inside were a 3-D printer and a vintage typewriter. Otside they had a portable laser cutter that they used to burn kids' names into plywood. Asher left with a 3-D printed fidget spinner (sans bearings which I'll have to buy) and, well, a piece of plywood with his name burned into it.

Next to that were two tables that I thought made an interesting juxtaposition. Both tables had a bunch of broken electronic components -- radios, DVD players, etc. One table was run by a man trying to fix the components. The other was run by a man encouraging the kids to take the components apart. Each interested Asher, and I can see how each encourages curiosity about how these things work. But he was definitely more interested in taking things apart. Which I totally get.

But what attracted Asher the most was the table run by artist, Tetteh Tawiah. He had dozens of plastic pentagons that kids could put togethr to form dodecahrons (dodecahedra?) and other shapes, as well as clay for molding. Asher loved spending time with these, and Tetteh was very generous with his explanations and encouragement. I overheard him trying to explain to someone that there is value in the hands on experience.

The turnout was, fortunately for us (though probably dissapointingly for the organizers), well below expectation -- probably due to the threatening weather. But the activities, simple as they were, kept Asher happy for over five hours. I think he was the only kid who was there that long. It seemed that most parents who were there with their kids had other plans on the docket, and had only budgeted a limited amount of time for the event. I hadn't made any other plans for the day, so I could stay with Asher as long as he wanted, which bascially meant until everything had been taken down and the exhibitors were all gone.

It was a good day.

what i don't get about fizzbin

I'm down with Star Trek. And I'm down with fizzbin. Except on Tuesdays.

But there's one thing I don't understand about Captain Kirk's explanation. After dealing two jacks to the gangster he excitedly explains that that's a half-fizzbin already. The gangster guesses that he needs another jack. Kirk says no. That would then be a shralk, resulting in disqualification. OK so far.

But then Kirk deals him another jack and exclaims how lucky he is. That doesn't make sense.

If anyone knows the rules of fizzbin can they explain it to me?

Thanks.

the problem with boardwalk empire

SPOILER ALERT

I've been rewatching Boardwalk Empire. Because Amazon.

Generally speaking, I love it. The characters are interesting. The drama is captivating. On the whole, the writing is superb.

But I do notice one bog flaw.

The writers got into a habit of setting up big conflicts at the end of a season, so there's a cliffhanger or two to keep the audience interested. That's all well and good. But then the next season starts with some time having passed and the conflicts are resolved. There's expository dialogue to let us know how things turned out. But we don't see the resolution or find out the details.

Take, for example, the end of season 3 into the beginning of season 4. At the conclusion of season 3, Nucky gets word to Masseria that they can have a war or peace -- Masseria's choice. Also, Nucky set up Rothstein to get arrested for running a major bootlegging operation for which he will have to face Federal charges. There's lots of intrigue.

But we don't see how it goes down. In the first episode of season 4, Nucky arranges a meeting with Rothstein and Masseria (and their...um...assistants). In that meeting, we learn that somehow Rothstein evaded the charges, while Nucky and Masseria were at war. In the meeting, Nucky makes a patyment to end the war.

But how did Rothstein avoid prosecution? How did the war play out? I want to know.

grammar rage volume i: begging the question

Yeah, I suffer from grammar rage. There are certain abuses of the English language that get under my skin. I'm not sure why. I'm sure that there are ways that I abuse the language and don't know it. And they probably annoy other people. But they don't annoy me. Since I don't know about them. This blogpost is about one such abuse. Begging a question.

I often hear people talk about something begging a question.

"Well, that just begs the question: How did he get all that money?"

"That certainly begs the question: Where does all that garbage go?"

The problem is that they are using the phrase to mean "raises the question." It kind of sounds right, the way they say it, since one can easily see the phrase as a shortened version of "begs for the question to be asked." But it's wrong.

To "beg a question" is to answer a question by restating the premise without actually giving any additional information.

Sometimes one of my kids asks me why I don't find a particular joke funny. If I answer by saying "I just don't see the humor in it," then I'm begging the question.

the fall of the house of usher (cinema history class)

Session: Pass the Poe -- Hold the Price, week 2
Movie: The Fall of the House of Usher (1949)
Directed by Ivan Barnett
As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL

Plot:
A family struggles to avoid falling apart despite a generations-old curse. Hilarity ensues.

Teeing Up:
"Why is this the weirdest film I'm going to show you?" Keith asked rhetorically as part of his introduction. "Because it fucking is." This was an experimental production, with a cast that was almost entirely amateur, and there were strange goings-on and a plot that borrowed heavily from other Poe stories such as "The Tell-Tale Heart." Perhaps the most obvious way it was experimental was that there was only one professional actor -- Gwen Watford -- in the cast. The rest were all amateurs. Keith also warned us that this was a very poor quality copy. Made from a TV print (and probably third (or higher) generation, the sound and picture quality were poor. But this is the best available for this film.

Reaction:
I had a very hard time getting into this one. Mostly because of the poor quality. Others also found it distracting, though it almost seemed as if Joe romanticized it, finding that it brought him back to the days of his childhood, trying to tune in UHF stations from Connecticut. One thing that was interesting is that the fire scenes at the end incorporated actual World War II footage from the blitz. I thought it looked like doll houses. But then, what do I know? To me, the acting seemed passable -- I certainly couldn;t tell that the cast was loaded with amateurs. Others in the class disagreed.

While I couldn't really get into this movie, it was really interesting to see it.

The ratings:

• Joe: 9.4 - 9.5
• Dave:8
• Sean 1 (on a scale of 1 - 4)
• Scott: 3
• Ethan: 5
• Me: 2.5

The Fall of the House of Usher fails the Bechdel Test.

Extras:
Keith warmed us up with two experimental shorts. Il Caso Valdemar was an Italian silent film from 1936. Known as Italy's first gore film, it was an interesting take on "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar." This had a truly amazing (for the time, at least) face-melting climax. The Pit, from 1962 (see highlights video below) was a British experiment. Virtually without sound, it reminded me of "The Empath" (the Star Trek episode) as well as a bunch of other films. It was truly edge-of-your-seat gripping. Films like this become the highlight of taking Keith's class.

notes from a plant sale

Blair and I spent three days this week helping LIDS sell daylilies at the Farmingdale State College plant Sale. A few observations:

• I noticed we're selling a cultivar that happens to have the same name as a coworker of mine. It's not one that I would have bought for myself -- kind of pink and yellow pastel-y. But I bought one for her and potted it up afterwards. At some point in the near future I'll bring it to the office for her.
• It's amazing how many people want perennials that act like annuals (except for the dying part).
• Easiest sale: One women came over, looked at our tent for a minute and then said "I'll take two." Uh, which two? We have a couple dozen different cultivars, and there's a wide variety in characteristics. Bright yellows, bright reds, muted pinks, off whites. Tall, medium, short. Early bloomers, late bloomers, rebloomers. It's like going into a diner and asking the waiter for "food." But she said it didn't matter. She just wants two. The pressure was on. Which two to give her? Maybe this was really the hardest sale. Eventually someone else (thank God!) picked out two for her. Then, after paying, she wanted two more...
• The hamburgers at Farmingdale State were OK. Not great, but edible. Or, as Blair put it, "Crappy, but so what?"
• For the first time, I bought metal stakes with nameplates so I can label plants. At this point, I have a lot of daylilys in my yard that I don't know what they are. I've always figured they're pretty flowers and I don;t need to remember much more. But there are a few I know, which I will label. And I'm labeling the new ones. This marks my descent to the second circle.
• Our spot -- for the Long Island Daylily Society -- was right next to the spot for the Long Island Dahlia Society. I noticed that the latter had their plastic tables clearly labelled (in Sharpie) as belonging to "LIDS." So were ours. Oh, the potential for mayhem.
• There was the customer who gave us a comedy routine. She would read a cultivar name, and follow it up with a joke. "'Third Witch'? Sounds like my sister!" or "'Broken Heart'? Story of My Life!"
• I was discussing colors of the flowers with one of the other members. I mentioned that there are a lot of yellows, and I'm not really into the solid yellow daylilies. He said that studies have shown that men are attracted to red daylilies. I haven't seen the studies, but it rings true for me. I'm a sucker for the reds. The bright reds. Especially if they have some yellow mixed in. The first daylily I bought was "Santa's Little Helper," which is solid red. And my favorite is "Spider Man," which is red and yellow.
• I learned about the existence of risque and ethnically offensive cultivar names. My favorite of
  
  these names is "Crotchless Panties," but the flower doesn't live up to its name. I would have expected to see more pink.
• The days at the sale are fun, though long. And I kept seeing daylilies that I wanted to buy. "'Face The Nation' looks good. What the heck?" Of course, that meant that every day when we got home I was planting in the yard. These were long days...

selling daylilys at planting fields

Spider Man

Blair and I spent both days of the weekend (not the one just ending now, but the last one) at Planting Fields Arboretum. The Arboretum was having its annual Arbor Day festival, and we were volunteering with LIDS to sell daylilies. I remember bringing the kids there for the festivities years ago.

Anyway, each day saw about a dozen LIDS members at our table, selling daylilies that came from LIDS' garden at Planting Fields or from members' gardens.

Point of View

One thing that was amazing was watching Blair selling daylilies. While I can answer (some) questions and conduct a sale, I'm not good at reaching out and getting potential customers interested. Blair, on the other hand, was quite capable. Whenever someone walked by and glanced at our booth, she went into action.

"Do you have a garden?"

If they answered yes and slowed down enough for her to engage them, she suggested that they need daylilies. "They're very hearty perennials, they love sun and water, but otherwise, it's set it and forget it."

It didn't always work, but it certainly helped increase interest and sales. And I suspect that there were some secondary effects. When she got people to come over and look, that probably attracted other people to come over and look.

Alaskan Midnight

For serious questions, Blair called over some of the more-expert members.

In the end, I wasn't really needed -- there were more than enough LIDS members to cover things. But I did buy a bunch of stuff and ended up bringing home a variety of daylilies to plant:

Spiderman (Durio, 1982)
When I saw that we were selling Spider Man, it was all I could do to avoid buying them all up right away. Spider Man is my favorite cultivar. Also, we have one specific clump of Spider Man in our backyard, marking the grave of Asher's first cat, who was named Spiderman. It seemed like a good idea to get some more of the cultivar, to fill things out. But I didn't really feel it was right to buy it up before the sale started. So I waited, and at the end of the day bought all that were left.

Point of View (Roberts-S., 1992)

Majestic Morning

I was attracted to Points of View because looks a lot like Spider Man, but it's taller (the scape height
is listed as 35 inches as compared to Spider Man's 24 inches). And it must have come by its looks honestly; according to the AHS database, Point of View was the result of a cross between Spider Man and Newberry Amaryllis. When there were three left I bought them -- three is enough to start a reasonable clump.
Of course, at the end of the day, when we were packing up and some people came by to see if they could still buy anything (ain't that always the way?), one lady saw the picture of Point of View and wanted it. Blair sold them two of the ones we had bought. So now we only have one. I hope the clump out on the fast side...

Alaskan Midnight (Porter-E., 1991)

Carolina Cranberry

Alaskan Midnight struck me -- based on the photo we had -- as a particularly attractive flower. I'm a sucker for the reds and purples, and this was
somewhere in between. I hope it takes.

Majestic Morning (Salter, 1990)
Majestic Morning isn't really one of my favorites, since I'm not really big on the pastels. Its color

Smith Brothers

description is "salmon pink blend with cream yellow halo above green throat." But there were a bunch of them that went unpurchased at the end of the weekend, and a good clump in one place in the front yard could look good. My one concern about this cultivar is that it's listed as a semi-evergreen. I'm not sure, but I seem to recall hearing somewhere that the semi-evergreens aren't as good with cold weather as the dormants. Of course, these were all taken from local gardens, so I figure they have to be hardy. Don't they?

Carolina Cranberry (Kennedy, 1980)
Another red. I'm not sure how we ended up buying this -- I don't remember buying it. But three of them are now in my yard.

Smith Brothers (Carr, 1982)
Not my favorite -- at least if the picture is an accurate representation. But...

Techny Peach Lace (Reckamp-Klehm, 1988)

Techny Peach Lace

Another one that's not one of my favorites, for the same reason as Majestic Morning. But we bought these, rather than let them go homeless. There is the added bonus that the AHS database lists these as fragrant. So few daylilies are fragrant, so it may be nice to have one that is. Also, with the light color, these might be tasty.

the raven (cinema history class)

Session: Pass the Poe -- Hold the Price, week 1
Movie: The Raven  (1935)
Directed by Lew Landers
As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL

Plot:
A surgeon develops a crush on his patient. He saved her life with near-miraculous surgery. But, as skilled as he is, he is even more evil. Hilarity ensues.

Teeing Up:
Keith introduced this session with an explanation. Her wanted to do a month of movies based on Poe stories, but he didn't want to take the easy way out and show a bunch of the Poe-based movies starring Vincent Price. So instead, he's going to concentrate on lesser-known or experimental or weird movies. How did he put it? "This will be some of the weirdest shit I've ever shown you."

Reaction:
We, the class, enjoyed this. There was a strong story, and it was quite original -- although its connection to the Poe poem of the same name is somewhat tenuous. In fact, there are references to several other Poe works, most notably The Pit and the Pendulum. Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff together was a special treat. I myself have limited exposure to them, but I think I prefer Lugosi -- he's more distinctive. And those haunting eyes... Joe and I both noticed that Ian Wolfe is in this (we both know him as Mr. Atoz and Septimus from Star Trek). Though the listing in the credits was wrong. Keith explained that that kind of thing used to happen a lot. An actor would be cast in one role and then moved to another, but the change wouldn't be reflected in the credits. A few of the guys opted not to rate this because it's so different from what they're used to watching they have no basis for scoring it.

The ratings:

• Joe: 9.8
• Dave:9.5 to 9.7
• Sean no rating
• Scott: no rating
• Ethan: 8 to 9
• Me: 8

The Raven fails the Bechdel Test.

Extras: Because of the short running time of The Raven, Keith also showed us an experimental silent adaptation of The Fall of the House of Usher from 1928. This version had lots of odd visual effects that were cutting edge for the time. It wasn't really a retelling of the Poe classic, but more of an acid trip that evoked the story.