Category: Uncategorized

It’s so hot that they cancelled the horse racing yesterday: “Due to severe heat and humidity that has plagued the entire East coast, Saratoga Race Course has canceled its nine-race program today. In a morning meeting with trainers, jockeys, the track veterinarian, stewards, track superintendent and senior management, a unanimous decision was reached to call off the races.” If you’re from around here, you know what a BFD that is.

97 on Tuesday, down to 96 yesterday, but humid. And the room I type in is the warmest room in the house.

It’s so warm that I’m compelled to provide this link about an even hotter place, a piece I kinda, sorta midwived, as it were.

I suppose I could review the new Johnny Cash album, but I think Nik just about covered it, except for one thing: the second track, God’s Gonna Cut You Down, is a remake of Run On from Moby’s Play album, which in turn is a remix of Run On For A Long Time by Bill Landford and The Landfordaires. I now have three versions of this song, the latter from this album, all quite listenable in different ways.

Oh, are you getting what the Wall Street Journal calls “empty spam”, i.e., e-mail with text from literary works? Most recently, I got parts of Ultima Thule, by Henry Handel Richardson (chapter 5).
***
HOW STRANGE IS RICK SANTORUM? (from Brian)
***
The COST OF WAR here and here. (From Dan).
***
Carbohydrate Addicts’ Official Frequently Asked Questions and Answerson Artificial Sweeteners and Non-Sugar Substitutes (Don’t remember offhand.)
***
My friend Sarah sent a list of bumper stickers, some of which I’ve included:

Blind Faith in Bad Leadership Is Not Patriotism

Religious Fundamentalism – A Threat Abroad, A Treat At Home

Feel Safer Now?

Stop Mad Cowboy Disease

Honor Our Troops; Demand The Truth

Fact: Bush Oil
1999 – $19 / barrel
2006 – $70 / barrel
***
My friends Paul & Mary Liz Stewart sent me a couple items of interest to me. They are among the experts on the Underground Railroad, especially in New York:

As outlined in this news release, a number of African American remains dating from the Colonial period were uncovered in Colonie in a previously unidentified burial ground last year. There were 13 sets of remains. News reports mistakenly identified the remains as having a connection to the French and Indian War. Subsequent investigation yielded that the remains were African Americans from the Colonial or post-colonial period. Examining the remains will yield information about how African Americans lived, and worked in this period. It will also be a chance to examine remains from first and second generation African people in America. At the meeting identified below you will hear about the discovery, the archaeology that took place, some of the bioarchaeology that tells us about the lives of those discovered, and input will be solicited regarding plans for the re-interment of the remains and marking of this burial site. I hope you can attend this important and historic meeting.

Call for Proposals for Workshop and Panel Presentations
Sixth Annual Underground Railroad Conference
“Discovering the Underground Railroad: Uncovering the Voices of Women”
February 23-25, 2007, College of St, Rose, Albany, NY

The front page of this past Monday’s local paper said that the weather here will be as miserably hot and humid as it has been in the rest of the country yesterday and today; it was right. You want great insights? Not here today. Instead, I’ll play that blogger game, “How did people arrive at my site?”

Of the past 100 hits, three of them came from Lefty Brown , two from Chris Black and one each from Fred Hembeck, Scott at Scooter Chronicles and GayProf at Center of Gravitas . Also The Remembering Site has a link that says: “We are pleased to thank the following groups for their help in publicizing The Remembering Site”.

I’m not sure which Lynn Moss the searcher was looking for, but they found Fred Hembeck’s wife.

New Baseball Hall of Famer Effa Manley drew some traffic to
this post this link. Search terms were: Effa Manley sexual (mine was the first hit, as was “effa manley” abe sexual). I also got a hit with “Bertha Ford Brooks”, who was Effa’s mother.

The search “richard powell”albany ny got me this post about family history, probably picking up my father-in-law.

I got two hits for “Bianca de la Garza”; she is the FOX 25 reporter in Boston, and who has some “hot media babe” fans. She interviewed me just before I was on JEOPARDY! That same post was accessed when someone typed in Glenn Kagan, who works on the show.

You can probably guess which recent post came from this search: linda Ronstadt Ann Savoy Adieu False Heart.

Typing in lyrics of dumb and dumber songs- boomshakalaka got one this.

My recent “Al Gore movie” review was accessed when someone typed
radio show about moving or relocating to tennessee

But by far, the post that CONTINUES to generate the most traffic are two:
this one about nearly 3000 Rogers in show business:
Roger Lee Lefkon and roger verbor got those individuals
RUMRILL IVY BALLS got Roger Rumrill, Poison Ivy
roger stein neville brothers got Roger Stein, Roger Neville
baron lieven gevaert got Roger Baron
love is all got roger glover
“The Perpetual Twilight of Gregor Black” got the movie’s editor, Roger Buck
and there were a lot more

The other hot link was the GRAPHIC of a cell phone on this post, and I don’t know why.

Oh, I found this new search engine KartOO, which is “a metasearch engine with visual display interfaces. When you click on OK, KartOO launches the query to a set of search engines, gathers the results, compiles them and represents them in a series of interactive maps through a proprietary algorithm.” I have no idea what that means, but I’m in there.

The funniest thing I discovered, search engine-wise, is that if one types in roger in www.msn.com, this site’s is in the top 10. Most curious.

Here’s the CD I put together for Kelly’ Brown’s music exchange. Naturally, I wouldn’t bother describing it to you if you couldn’t get it too. This time, though, there’s a slight hitch…

Summer Fun-the Barracudas. When I worked at FantaCo, there was a mail order customer in 1987 and 1988 who worked for Rykodisc and would occasionally send me a free disc “in appreciation for all the great mail order service” I provided for him. They were mostly samplers, though I also got King Sunny Ade. Another album I got was Drop Out with Barracudas on ESD Records, which either Ryko was distributing, or he got it in exchange. Cut 8 starts off as a car commercial then leads into this infectious pop tune.
Summertime Blues-Eddie Cochran. Could have picked the Who version, but was seeking something lighter.
Dancing in the Streets-Martha & the Vandellas. I considered Heat Wave, but thought it was too obvious. Besides, these first three tunes are in the same key!
Summer Days-Bob Dylan. I’ve recently noted my joy at listening to “Love and Theft” a week after 9/11.
Summer Breeze-the Isley Brothers. I have the Seals & Crofts version, but I picked this version from a Rhino disc, “Black on White: Great R&B Covers of Rock Classics”.
Independence Day-David Byrne. Now we come to the south of the border segment of the disc. From the “Rei Mommo” album, a cumbia.
Master Blaster (Jammin’)-Stevie Wonder. One of those album where a song is functionally the title song, because the lyrics appear in it, in this case, “hotter than July”.
Montego Bay-Amazulu. I had this friend named Donna who was dying, and she knew her brain would not be functional in a very short while. So she made a list of people who would divvy up her music, her books, her artwork and her other stuff. I was one of the two people who was in charge of the music. One of the albums I kept for myself was “Sun Splashin’: 16 Hot Summer Hits”, from which this song and the next two came.
Coconut-Nilsson. I considered the version by Fred from the B-52’s, but the original suited my mood better.
Hot Fun in the Summertime-Sly & the Family Stone. This is 20 seconds longer than the original. OOH, Lawd!
Too Darn Hot-Erasure. Now we come to the great composers section. From the original “Red, Hot, and Blue” album, music of Cole Porter.
Summertime-Billy Stewart. From “Red, Hot and Gershwin”, one of FOUR versions of this song on the album. This rendition I remember from my youth, mostly for the tongue-rolling. It went to #10 on the Billboard charts in 1966. One of my former officemates HATED this song.
Surf Rider-the Lively Ones. Needed some surf music. From “Pulp Fiction”.
Summer of Love-B-52’s. Goes well with the previous cut.
It’s Summer-Temptations. There was a different, and I think better version of this song on the “Psychedelic Shack” album. This version from the Emperors of Soul box set; I’m guessing it’s originally from the later “Solid Rock” album.
Summerfling-k.d. lang. Pop tune appropriately from the “Invincible Summer” album.
Surf’s Up-the Beach Boys. Of course, I had to end with the Beach Boys, but I thought this would not fit the conventional mode. Beside which, I LOVE the vocals at the end.

Problem is that I’ve been having difficulty making copies. I went to friend Bill’s house and made a half dozen copies. I sent one to Lefty and Kelly, and another to Eddie, but it most of the extra copies, including one for myself, has noise in the background of the latter tracks. I haven’t figured out how to use the burner software on my own computer. So, I WILL get you a copy if you want – e-mail me at my NEW address, Roger.Green@nyssbdc.org, but it may take a while.

But first, this article from Greg Haymes, who, as Sergeant Blotto, helped inaugurate the first episode of MTV with its “I Wanna Be a Lifeguard” video. I seem to recall that at least parts of the Capital District was NOT getting their MTV in the beginning because it was too scandalous, but I can’t find a reference to it. Can anyone from around Albany remember if MTV was being broadcast from the start? Is it true that original VJ Martha Quinn was born in Albany? And is there a correlation between Blotto’s appearance and Quinn? As the saying goes, this inquiring mind wants to know. But isn’t it ironic that the rebroadcast of those “rowdy” MTV videos tomorrow will not be on MTV but on VH-1 Classics?
***
Stolen, as is usually the case, from Lefty

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Well, I AM brilliant. (I jest! I jest!) But I do relate to the conflicted nature, as described. And since I was at the page:

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Oh, my. I saw this movie. Once. Once was enough. I think I talked about it afterwards with the two people I saw it with for longer than the movie ran, and it’s not a short film. I suppose there is a little of the rescuer in me.
***
Lefty takes the advice of his musical gurus, including me.

Tom the Dog has a post called Movies Everybody’s Seen But Me. He, and his many fans, listed their various picks. But I’m a librarian. I need a SYSTEM. So I went to the Wikipedia and found the list of highest-grossing films, unadjusted for inflation.
1 Titanic
$1,845,034,188-YES
2 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
$1,118,888,979 NO. Never read the book, either.
3 Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in the US)
$976,475,550 YES, with my niece, even though I’ve never read any of the books.
4 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
$926,287,400 NO
5 Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
$924,317,558 YES, unfortunately.
6 Shrek 2
$920,665,658 YES
7 Jurassic Park
$914,691,118 YES
8 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
$892,213,036 NO
9 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
$876,688,482 NO
10 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
$871,368,364 YES
11 Finding Nemo
$864,625,978 YES
12 Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
$849,997,605 NO
13 Spider-Man
$821,708,551 YES
14 Independence Day
$816,969,268 NO, and I’m pretty sure it was intentional at the time.
15 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
$792,910,554 YES
16 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
$789,804,554 NO
17 The Lion King
$783,841,776 YES
18 Spider-Man 2
$783,766,341 NO, but I really want to.
19 Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
$775,398,007 YES
20 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
$744,106,957 NO, but my wife did.
21 The Da Vinci Code
$740,961,259 NO
22 The Matrix Reloaded
$738,599,701 NO
23 Forrest Gump
$677,386,686 YES
24 The Sixth Sense
$672,806,292 YES
25 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
$653,913,918 YES
26 Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
$649,398,328 NO
27 Ice Age: The Meltdown
$644,028,218 NO
28 The Incredibles
$631,436,092 YES
29 The Lost World: Jurassic Park
$618,638,999 NO
30 The Passion of the Christ
$611,899,420 NO, intentionally so.
31 War of the Worlds
$591,416,316 NO
32 Men in Black
$589,390,539 YES
33 Armageddon
$553,709,788 NO
34 King Kong
$549,216,896 NO
35 Mission: Impossible II
$545,902,562 NO
36 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
$544,521,411
37 The Day After Tomorrow
$542,771,772 YES
38 Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
$538,375,067 YES
39 Madagascar
$528,367,986 NO
40 Monsters, Inc.
$525,366,597 NO
41 Terminator 2: Judgment Day
$519,843,345 I don’t remember. I saw SOME T movie.
42 Meet the Fockers
$516,533,043 NO
43 Ghost
$505,702,588 YES
44 Aladdin
$504,050,219 YES
45 Troy
$497,409,852 NO
46 Twister
$494,471,524 YES
47 Toy Story 2
$485,015,179 YES
48 Bruce Almighty
$484,572,835 YES
49 Shrek
$484,409,218 YES
50 Saving Private Ryan
$481,840,909 NO

And then, since thsat list tended to skew towards the newer films with higher ticket prices, I also picked the list of highest-grossing films, adjusted for inflation, with the caveat: “Inevitably, a single inflation-adjustment cannot account for global inflationary fluctuations, and it also favors re-released films. Further, it treats all receipts as if they were earned in the initial year of release, which is clearly incorrect.
However, it does provide a more accurate (if estimated) long-term picture of financial success as it ignores current inflationary trends. Every decade since the 1930s is represented, with the exception of the 1950s.”
(If I described the films in the first list, I won’t in the second.)
1 Gone With the Wind (1939)
$2,699,710,936 NO. Keep thinking I ought to.
2 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
$2,425,862,786 YES
3 Titanic (1997)
$2,174,317,554
4 Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
$1,436,811,009
5 Jurassic Park (1993)
$1,202,648,438
6 Bambi (1942)
$1,191,311,757 YES
7 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
$1,175,528,250
8 Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in US) (2001)
$1,058,997,333
9 Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)
$1,054,205,059
10 The Lion King (1994)
$1,000,588,279
11 Independence Day (1996)
$991,657,039
12 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
$985,287,400
13 The Sound of Music (1965)
$978,767,575 Not all the way through, NO.
14 Planet of the Apes (1968)
$977,132,692 YES. In fact, I saw all FIVE Apes films. On the same day. Don’t try that at home.
15 One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)
$966,612,040 YES, and the lead guy in the film is named Roger.
16 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
$945,007,557
17 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
$935,804,406
18 Jaws (1975)
$912,899,628 NO. Initially, it was fear. Now, it’s just inertia.
19 Finding Nemo (2003)
$908,394,209
20 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
$891,719,985
21 Spider-Man (2002)
$877,117,127
22 The Exorcist (1973)
$870,322,714 YES
23 Forrest Gump (1994)
$864,696,421
24 E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
$851,419,200
25 Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)
$848,480,246
26 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
$811,115,427
27 Spider-Man 2 (2004)
$805,131,538
28 The Jungle Book (1967)
$802,223,303 NO
29 The Sixth Sense (1999)
$767,350,777
30 The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
$775,988,356
31 Ghost (1990)
$752,150,867
32 The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
$729,047,539
33 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
$704,795,008
34 Men In Black (1997)
$694,579,105
35 Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)
$693,187,865
36 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
$687,015,694
37 The Sting (1973)
$679,018,919 YES
38 Doctor Zhivago (1965)
$669,977,327 YES
39 The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
$665,181,894
40 The Incredibles (2004)
$648,484,866

Other movies mentioned in Tom’s column:
Buffy the Vampiire Slayer-NO
Poseidon Adventure-YES, but not the recent remake
Clerks-NO, but I will, I will
It’s a Wonderful Life-YES, but not until I met my wife
Goodfellas-NO, not all the way through.
Casablanca-YES
Citizen Kane-Rented it, fell asleep. NO. I’ll try again.
The Wizard of Oz-YES, many times.
Godfather-Yes, but not 2 or 3
Unforgiven-YES
Million Dollar Baby-NO, but it’s high on my list.
Apocalypse Now-NO, not all the way through, though I must have seen at least 2/3 of it.
The Conversation-currently on my DVR, recorded from TCM, as are Raging Bull and Nashville because I never saw any of them, but I will this summer.
Pretty in Pink-NO.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind-YES, both versions.
Monty Python movies- only Life of Brian, and whatever was after that.
Woody Allen movies -MANY of them
Rocky- Yes, also 2 and 4.
Adam Sandler movies- just the good one.
Oh, that’s enough of this.