Random thoughts

[AArdvark]

As I age I forget where the conversations are.

Holiday shows on my external hard drive; I was going to put Christmas movies there as well as the yearly specials.

Watched Scrooged for the first time in a few years. If I cut out the last ten minutes and every shot with 'Free South Africa' in it It might be a keeper. I don't mind a good story but keep the agenda out of my eyes.

[Jizaboz]

For some odd reason when I woke up at 8 am (also a little odd in itself) I had the strangest urge to re-watch The Fly (1958) in color. I don't think I'd ever watched the whole thing.

The lab: We've got some neon lights in use for no apparent reason but we also have some other rather compelling set pieces to make up a very believable mad scientists lab. In a basement! Much like comparing the original Frankenstein film to the Hammer film of the same story, the latter just makes you feel a bit "sick" as you envision what's going on along with the tanks of fluid rather than the electric tower table scene.

The "scariest" parts: How the scientist chose to go out is gruesome! It may not be graphically depicted as so but.. yeah, I don't wanna go out like that. Also, the cat. Watching it today I felt like the cat scene was added to make the audience not feel so sorry for the scientist. We were all kind of rooting for Jeff until he started puking on things in the 1980s The Fly. The 1958 one isn't as traumatizing for the youth I guess, but it is still pretty heavy in more ways than one.

The visuals in the scenes in The Fly where the teleportation device is fired up as the scientist and assistant wear cyberpunk goggles are also very satisfying to me for some reason.

There are even deeper thoughts to be had here. The scientist eventually writes on the chalkboard to "kill the fly" despite the fly owning the mini version of his human head. Yet, the head on the fly begs for mercy. Death Stranding / Egyptian religion vibes haha

[AArdvark]

Re: getting squashed in the press

There was a guy at work got his hand caught in a rolling press because he was wearing gloves and wasn't paying attention ( pretty sure he smoked his breakfast on the way to work).

It was pretty gross, let me tell you. He was never going to play the violin again. Doing it intentionally would be a zillion times worse.

There was a Far Side Halloween special yesrs back that had a clip from The Fly. There was an airplane full of insects that were watching it for the in-flight movie

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Heyyyyyyyy if John Hinckley is thinking a lot about the color orange, I say we encourage that and, ya know, let him do his thing.

[AArdvark]

[Tdarcos]

I had the strangest urge to re-watch The Fly (1958) in color. I don't think I'd ever watched the whole thing.

There are even deeper thoughts to be had here. The scientist eventually writes on the chalkboard to "kill the fly" despite the fly owning the mini version of his human head. Yet, the head on the fly begs for mercy. Death Stranding / Egyptian religion vibes haha

I think you're referring to the version with Vincent Price. I did see it all the way through. I was young, probably 8-12, can't say for certain. What got me was the scene where the fly with the human head is trapped in the spider's web, crying out for someone to save him from certain death at the jaws of the spider. The high, reedy cry, "heeeelppp meee!" repeated as the spider inexorably closes on him, until the man kills both of them, smashing them with a rock as a coup de grâce. As I was watching, I said, "I just realized, I'm going to remember this for the rest of my life." The cry of absolute terror, of fear devolving to the core of one's being. I could not have understood why, then, the way I do now, and I never had nightmares, but I still remember it, now, over fifty years.

[pinback]

Did you like the remake?

[Jizaboz]

I had the strangest urge to re-watch The Fly (1958) in color. I don't think I'd ever watched the whole thing.

There are even deeper thoughts to be had here. The scientist eventually writes on the chalkboard to "kill the fly" despite the fly owning the mini version of his human head. Yet, the head on the fly begs for mercy. Death Stranding / Egyptian religion vibes haha

I think you're referring to the version with Vincent Price. I did see it all the way through. I was young, probably 8-12, can't say for certain. What got me was the scene where the fly with the human head is trapped in the spider's web, crying out for someone to save him from certain death at the jaws of the spider. The high, reedy cry, "heeeelppp meee!" repeated as the spider inexorably closes on him, until the man kills both of them, smashing them with a rock as a coup de grâce.

Yup, that’s the one! And yes that scene is crazy haha! It was also my moms favorite part! Man, what a wild movie for being made so long ago.

Did you like the remake?

I did! It was a bit hard to watch at times as a kid because we rented the VHS when it first came out. It’s definitely much more gruesome and it’s easier to feel sorry for Jeff Goldbloom for some reason lol

[Tdarcos]

Did you like the remake?

Jiz already mentioned that's the one that Jeff Goldblum starred in. I have not seen it. Perhaps I should see if it is available on-line.

[pinback]

It, and The Thing, are the best remakes ever made, and probably in the top five sci-fi/horror movies ever made. Both of them render the originals quaint and obsolete.

MANDATORY VIEWING.

[AArdvark]

For laughs I turned on my car's digital speedometer. So why, when I was backing out of the driveway, didn't it show me negative mph? That's not right, I'm calling Henry Ford to complain!

[Tdarcos]

For laughs I turned on my car's digital speedometer. So why, when I was backing out of the driveway, didn't it show me negative mph? That's not right, I'm calling Henry Ford to complain!

I figure you're probably kidding, but the reason they don't allow rolling the odometer backwards by driving in reverse, is that, some disreputable car dealet puts a car's drive wheels up.on jack.stamds, then proceed to run the car at its fastest speed, backward. So, do.this at 100 mph backwards for a couple weeks, and you shave over 32,000 miles off the clock.

Actually, now, thinking about it, that would not be cost effective to do that excrpt on very high-end cars like Bentley, Maserati, Lambo, McLaren, etc. If you could get 10 MPG at 100 MPH in reverse, it's going to cost over 30c a mile, about 9 grand.
.

[pinback]

The odometer has nothing to do with the speedometer, PAUL.

You need to think about what you've done here this morning, and come back with a clearer head and better attitude.

[Jizaboz]

You are both incorrect. The vehicle actually goes faster up to an infinite speed in reverse just like in Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing for PC.

[pinback]

That is very strange. Someone on a Twitch stream I was watching mentioned Big Rigs out of nowhere an hour ago, and now you just posted about it!

It's BIG RIGS FRIDAY!!

[Jizaboz]

It's BIG RIGS FRIDAY!!

Oh wow!

That video is hilarious. I was already laughing at how glitchy it was then when he put the truck in reverse I completely lost it lolol

[Tdarcos]

The odometer has nothing to do with the speedometer, PAUL.

Uh, you want to try that again? The speedometer records vehicular velocity. The odometer, which is a connected part, records vehicular travel. How exactly do you think either is computed? By sensors on the wheels that determine velocity and thus, knowing the speed allows the amount of travel. Both are intrinsically determined together.

You need to think about what you've done here this morning, and come back with a clearer head and better attitude.

I do not think I am the one here with a bad attitude. I understand what is wrong here. 'Vark said the speedometer should run backwards, not the odometer. Well, I misread it, my apologies. I will now answer his original gripe.

So, the correct answer why speedometers don't show reverse speed rate is threefold: (1) the speedometer has no 'negative mph/kph' indicator; (2) people driving in reverse almost always are driving at very low speeds (so they don't hit anything), and are not going back more than usually 50 feet; (3) the driver is facing backward (in order to see where they are going) and could not see the speedometer anyway.

Now, you might say that cars are now having back-up cameras, so the driver doesn't have to turn around. Then the first two reasons apply, (especially #2) that there isn't a negative speed, and the distances involved are so short recording that speed would not serve any useful purpose.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

10 minutes to have your bank website up before it "helpfully" logs you out is not nearly enough time when you are trying to pay bills. What a stupid design decision. I'm at home. Nobodys breaking in here. Why is every IT person associated with banks a stupid fucking shit?

[AArdvark]

I got a squirrel baffle for my bird feeder because I'm sick of getting 1000 photos of squirrels and no birds. It looks like a metal Chinese coolie hat. On the underside, so that the squirrels can read it, I wrote: "F you fat squirrels. Get a job!"

It makes me smile

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

WORK FATTIES