Saturday, May 22, 2004
Good to know?
I'm watching Mona Lisa Smile, which takes place in the 50s, and Julia Roberts just used the phrase "good to know." I am itching to find out whether that really is, as I suspect, an anachronism, but I checked the Dictionary of American Slang back in to the library this week. Drat.
(Oh, and BTW, don't bother renting this movie. It's slow, boring, and predictable. I rented it primarily for the costumes, but they're not great either.)
I'm watching Mona Lisa Smile, which takes place in the 50s, and Julia Roberts just used the phrase "good to know." I am itching to find out whether that really is, as I suspect, an anachronism, but I checked the Dictionary of American Slang back in to the library this week. Drat.
(Oh, and BTW, don't bother renting this movie. It's slow, boring, and predictable. I rented it primarily for the costumes, but they're not great either.)
No way to win friends and influence people
When I was young (and sometimes not even so young), my mother's favorite thing to say when I was misbehaving was "That's no way to win friends and influence people!" That phrase has been in my head a lot this week for various reasons, so I decided to pull out my old copy of How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Norman Vincent Peale, and find out what is a way to win friends and influence people. Some excerpts:
When I was young (and sometimes not even so young), my mother's favorite thing to say when I was misbehaving was "That's no way to win friends and influence people!" That phrase has been in my head a lot this week for various reasons, so I decided to pull out my old copy of How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Norman Vincent Peale, and find out what is a way to win friends and influence people. Some excerpts:
THE BIG SECRET OF DEALING WITH PEOPLEPeale goes on to say that the big thing that everyone wants is to feel important. In fact, he says, "It is this desire which lures many boys into becoming gangsters and gunmen. 'The average young criminal of today,' says E. P. Mulrooney, former Police Commissioner of New York, 'is filled with ego, and his first request after arrest is for those lurid newspapers that make him out a hero. The disagreeable prospect of taking a 'hot squat' in the electric chair seems remote, so long as he can gloat over his likeness sharing space with pictures of Babe Ruth, LaGuardia, Einstein, Lindbergh, Toscanini, or Roosevelt.'"
There is only one way under high Heaven to get anybody to do anything. Did you ever stop to think of that? Yes, just one way. And that is by making the other person want to do it.
SIX WAYS TO MAKE PEOPLE LIKE YOUThis does have a nice refreshing feel to it, doesn't it? Everywhere you go everyone's always talking about themselves. I do it too, of course. I'm doing it right now! Oh well.
(I'm just going to list them here; each one is a chapter, but he sums them up at the end)
- Become genuinely interested in other people.
- Smile.
- Remember that a man's name is to him the sweetest and most important sound in the English language. [I wonder: is that where people picked up that annoying technique of saying your name in every sentence? I get really sick of that.]
- Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
- Talk in terms of the other man's interests.
- Make the other person feel important--and do it sincerely.
IN A NUTSHELL: TWELVE WAYS OF WINNING PEOPLE TO YOUR WAY OF THINKINGThat's all for today; I need to go clean the house. Tomorrow: Nine Ways to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment.
- The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
- Show respect for the other man's opinions. Never tell a man he is wrong.
- If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
- Begin in a friendly way.
- Get the other person saying "yes, yes" immediately.
- Let the other man do a great deal of the talking.
- Let the other man feel that the idea is his.
- Try honestly to see things from the other person's point of view.
- Be sympathetic with the other person's ideas and desires.
- Appeal to the nobler motives.
- Dramatize your ideas.
- Throw down a challenge.
Friday, May 21, 2004
It's Phantasmagoric
Aha! Here it is: The Phantasmagoria.
UPDATE: I've now watched this about 10 times and it keeps getting better. I just noticed the pattern of the bricks on the ground is the pattern of the bricks at Bell's. If there was just an "I got my hickey on the HIMALAYA!" bumper sticker...
Aha! Here it is: The Phantasmagoria.
UPDATE: I've now watched this about 10 times and it keeps getting better. I just noticed the pattern of the bricks on the ground is the pattern of the bricks at Bell's. If there was just an "I got my hickey on the HIMALAYA!" bumper sticker...
Fun. Secret fun.
Great retro stuff at Secret Fun Spot. I'm still looking for that Phantasmagoria animation, but even without it, I'd know this guy grew up in Tulsa because I clicked on "Star Wars Fakes" and found... most of the toy aisle of Skagg's at 51st and Harvard, circa 1977-78. It's all there. The Space Sword. The little wind-up robot with the blue plastic dome that looked just like R2D2. The Loki action figure (although to be fair, Space Academy was not a Star Wars fake). If somewhere on the site he had glow-in-the-dark ghost finger puppets and water games, I'd know for sure.
Great retro stuff at Secret Fun Spot. I'm still looking for that Phantasmagoria animation, but even without it, I'd know this guy grew up in Tulsa because I clicked on "Star Wars Fakes" and found... most of the toy aisle of Skagg's at 51st and Harvard, circa 1977-78. It's all there. The Space Sword. The little wind-up robot with the blue plastic dome that looked just like R2D2. The Loki action figure (although to be fair, Space Academy was not a Star Wars fake). If somewhere on the site he had glow-in-the-dark ghost finger puppets and water games, I'd know for sure.
Vintage TV
Just now, on a whim, I did a Google search on the phrase "I will tune in to All Night Live." And I found what I was looking for: Uncle Ed Muscari.
In the early days of basic cable, you used to get local stations from other places in the country (as distinguished from cable networks, if there are any VR readers under 35). Every night during the summer of 1981 I stayed up late, drank some kind of citrusy Kool-Aid and ate pretzels, played solitaire on the floor of my mother's living room, and watched Uncle Ed.
First, you took the pledge:
I miss that kind of cable. Hell, I miss that kind of television. Local programming, cheap sets, hosts with strange little routines...
And hey, since it's Friday night and I'm watching Star Trek (well, DS9), I'm also reminded of the Plenty Scary Movie (for a real treat, be sure to watch the video of the trailer... courtesy of Uncle Zeb!). Every Friday night, fourth grade through, oh, about seventh, when I started going to Skate World on Friday nights, I would stay up and watch Trek (TOS: that's The Original Series, for non-Trek types) at 10:30, then the Plenty Scary Movie at 11:30. It was even more fun if a friend was spending the night.
At some point the Plenty Scary Movie went away. I was in high school by then, playing in the marching band every Friday night in the fall, going to Rocky Horror during the rest of the year (that's right: my friends and I went every week. Every. Week. It wasn't on television, it wasn't even on tape. You learned the lines by spending three bucks to see it at the theater every weekend at the midnight movie, not from a book or a web site or in some kind of stupid Pop-Up Video knockoff).
It took me years to notice that there was no more Plenty Scary Movie. It was the same with local channels on cable; they were just gone one day, and I didn't notice until I had to buy 200 channels to get five worth watching.
And BTW, if in some strange and interesting universe the blogosphere and the afterlife intersect, I hope that my friend John can read this and know that growing up would have been pretty damn boring without him to introduce me to Rocky Horror, Gilda Live, Evita, OKon, Dr. Who, Twin Peaks, Cooper and Paulette, Monty Python, Douglas Adams, the Bandiemobile, Divine, Bob's Pig Shop, and Hot Spots of Oklahoma--and a lot of other similar stuff that keeps coming back to me. If only I could hit rewind, I'd go back a couple of weeks and tell him myself.
Just now, on a whim, I did a Google search on the phrase "I will tune in to All Night Live." And I found what I was looking for: Uncle Ed Muscari.
In the early days of basic cable, you used to get local stations from other places in the country (as distinguished from cable networks, if there are any VR readers under 35). Every night during the summer of 1981 I stayed up late, drank some kind of citrusy Kool-Aid and ate pretzels, played solitaire on the floor of my mother's living room, and watched Uncle Ed.
First, you took the pledge:
I promise every night at elevenAnd then: WKRP (back before the music was replaced), followed by Twilight Zone. At some point I remember that Topper showed, and then there was a movie.
I will tune in to All Night Live.
A faithful viewer I will always be
I ain't handin' you no jive.
I miss that kind of cable. Hell, I miss that kind of television. Local programming, cheap sets, hosts with strange little routines...
And hey, since it's Friday night and I'm watching Star Trek (well, DS9), I'm also reminded of the Plenty Scary Movie (for a real treat, be sure to watch the video of the trailer... courtesy of Uncle Zeb!). Every Friday night, fourth grade through, oh, about seventh, when I started going to Skate World on Friday nights, I would stay up and watch Trek (TOS: that's The Original Series, for non-Trek types) at 10:30, then the Plenty Scary Movie at 11:30. It was even more fun if a friend was spending the night.
At some point the Plenty Scary Movie went away. I was in high school by then, playing in the marching band every Friday night in the fall, going to Rocky Horror during the rest of the year (that's right: my friends and I went every week. Every. Week. It wasn't on television, it wasn't even on tape. You learned the lines by spending three bucks to see it at the theater every weekend at the midnight movie, not from a book or a web site or in some kind of stupid Pop-Up Video knockoff).
It took me years to notice that there was no more Plenty Scary Movie. It was the same with local channels on cable; they were just gone one day, and I didn't notice until I had to buy 200 channels to get five worth watching.
And BTW, if in some strange and interesting universe the blogosphere and the afterlife intersect, I hope that my friend John can read this and know that growing up would have been pretty damn boring without him to introduce me to Rocky Horror, Gilda Live, Evita, OKon, Dr. Who, Twin Peaks, Cooper and Paulette, Monty Python, Douglas Adams, the Bandiemobile, Divine, Bob's Pig Shop, and Hot Spots of Oklahoma--and a lot of other similar stuff that keeps coming back to me. If only I could hit rewind, I'd go back a couple of weeks and tell him myself.
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
I gotcher retro outlet covers.
Looking for retro-looking, modern (but not necessarily up to code in your area) electrical supplies and lighting? Try Rejuvenations.
Looking for retro-looking, modern (but not necessarily up to code in your area) electrical supplies and lighting? Try Rejuvenations.
Monday, May 17, 2004
Dorm life
Here's a circa 1955 rulebook for life in the women's dorm at the University [of? Now it's "at" but it might have been "of" then] Buffalo. From the great new student life site from the University archives at UB.
Here's a circa 1955 rulebook for life in the women's dorm at the University [of? Now it's "at" but it might have been "of" then] Buffalo. From the great new student life site from the University archives at UB.