Shot:
It seemed to me that any civilization that had so far lost its head as to need to include a set of detailed instructions for use in a package of toothpicks, was no longer a civilization in which I could live and stay sane.
—Wonko the Sane, So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
Chaser:
Do not eat soap.
— US Consumer Product Safety Commission (@USCPSC) February 14, 2022
IMDB. Everybody plays up “Ghostbusters”, but he also did “Stripes”, produced “Animal House”…and let’s not forget “Cannibal Girls”. (Never seen it, but it sounds like it could be fun.)
Ian McDonald, co-founder of King Crimson and Foreigner.
(Hattip: Lawrence.)
Lars Eighner. I’m not sure how many people outside of Austin recognize that name. For those long time Austinites, this should be a blast from the past.
Mr. Eighner lost his job and spent three years homeless on the streets of Austin with his dog. He wrote periodically for the “Austin Chronicle”, and eventually published Travels With Lizbeth about that experience. He published two other books after that, but those were less successful.
I’m going to put this last obit behind a jump. I’m noting it because it’s a sad sundae with chopped sad and a sad cherry on top.
Shot:
Chaser:
NYT obit for Douglas Trumbull.
NYT obit for Bob Wall. Includes the Bruce Lee vs. “O’Hara” fight from “Enter the Dragon”.
Luc Montagnier, one of the discoverers of the human immunodeficiency virus.
It’s complicated.
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From this sample Dr. Montagnier’s team spotted the culprit, a retrovirus that had never been seen before. They named it L.A.V., for lymphadenopathy associated virus.
The Pasteur scientists, including Dr. Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, who later shared the Nobel with Dr. Montagnier, reported their landmark finding in the May 20, 1983, issue of the journal Science, concluding that further studies were necessary to prove L.A.V. caused AIDS.
The following year, the laboratory run by the American researcher Dr. Robert Gallo at the National Institutes of Health, published four articles in one issue of Science confirming the link between a retrovirus and AIDS. Dr. Gallo called his virus H.T.L.V.-III. There was some initial confusion as to whether the Montagnier team and the Gallo team had found the same virus or two different ones.
When the two samples were found to have come from the same patient, scientists questioned whether Dr. Gallo had accidentally or deliberately got the virus from the Pasteur Institute.
And what had once been camaraderie between those two leading scientists exploded into a global public feud, spilling out of scientific circles into the mainstream press. Arguments over the true discoverer and patent rights stunned a public that, for the most part, had been shielded from the fierce rivalries, petty jealousies and colossal egos in the research community that can disrupt scientific progress.
There was a lawsuit: an out-of-court settlement was mediated by Jonas Salk.
Dr. Montagnier and Dr. Gallo shared many prestigious awards, among them the 1986 Albert Lasker Medical Research Award, which honored Dr. Montagnier for discovering the virus and Dr. Gallo for linking it to AIDS. And in 2002 they appeared to have resolved their rivalry when they announced that they would work together to develop an AIDS vaccine. Then came the announcement of the 2008 Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology.
Dr. Gallo had long been credited with linking H.I.V. to AIDS, but the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine singled out its discoverers, not him, in awarding half the prize jointly to Dr. Montagnier and Dr. Barré-Sinoussi. (The other half was awarded to Dr. Harald zur Hausen of Germany “for his discovery of human papilloma viruses causing cervical cancer.”)
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Last May, he added fuel to the spread of false information about Covid-19 vaccines by claiming, in a French video, that vaccine programs were an “unacceptable mistake” because, he said, vaccines could cause viral variants.
And in January, in an opinion article in The Wall Street Journal written with the Yale law professor Jed Rubenfeld, he criticized President Biden’s vaccine mandates. The authors said it was “irrational, legally indefensible and contrary to the public interest for the government to mandate vaccines absent any evidence that the vaccines are effective in stopping the spread of the pathogen.”
Douglas Trumbull, noted SFX guy.
Some of his credits:
He also did effects and was an executive producer on “The Starlost“, and did effects for the first movie based on a minor SF TV series from the 1960s.
I can’t find it online now (I tried both DuckDuckGo and Bing) but I have a vivid memory of an advertisement in the late 70s/early 80s, possibly in “Scientific American”, featuring Douglas Trumbull endorsing HP calculators. When the time came, that was a big motivator for me to go the RPN route.
Trigger warning for dog people, but: nature red in tooth and claw.
.380 is not a sufficient caliber for moose.
Also:
I’m sorry, but if your guns are going off because of the sled jostling, you’re doing it wrong, and should go find a qualified gunsmith.
George Crumb, composer.
“Black Angels” (1970), one of Mr. Crumb’s best-known works and a reaction to the Vietnam War, was an early example of his imaginative eclecticism. It is scored for an amplified string quartet and features techniques such as tapping the strings with thimbles. A mournful fragment from Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden” string quartet is interrupted by fierce bow strokes and human shouts.
The grimly claustrophobic music of the first movement, “Threnody I: Night of the Electric Insects,” was deemed sufficiently scary to be used on the soundtrack for the horror film “The Exorcist.”
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Other pieces were equally theatrical and sometimes featured ritualistic elements. A recording of whale songs made by a marine scientist inspired his “Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale)” for electric flute, cello and amplified piano (1971). The performers wear black half-masks; Mr. Crumb also specified that (where possible) the performance take place under blue lighting. He used various extended techniques, like strumming the piano strings with a paper clip, to create eerie sonorities.
Each movement of his orchestral piece “Echoes of Time and the River” (awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1968) features processionals in which small groups of musicians move around the stage in patterns and directions specified in the score — requirements Mr. Crumb later acknowledged were rather impractical.
I don’t want to talk about this story, because maroons.
The only reason I even link is that it reminded me of a book idea I had a while back.
The inspiration for this idea was an article I read, which I can’t find now, about the extreme precautions taken to keep the identities of the celebrities appearing on “The Masked Singer” secret: the signed agreements never reference the show by name, the celebrities are picked up in obscure places (like in front of a 7-11) by unmarked vans and taken to unlabeled warehouses…
…so the basic idea is: celebrity gets invited to appear on a “Masked Singer” like show, goes through all the steps, gets picked up in front of a liquor store in North Hollywood by an unmarked van…
…and it turns out that there is no “Masked Singer” appearance, and the whole thing is an elaborate, carefully staged, kidnapping plot…
…and because the celebrity thought they were appearing on “Masked Singer”, and would blow their shot if they weren’t careful, they kept much of their interactions secret. Therefore the police have very few clues to work with…
I’m thinking of this as a kind of modern take on Westlake’s The Comedy is Finished except with a younger and fitter kidnap victim. Probably someone who, while being a celebrity, has a reputation for being a not-terribly-bright party person: but while being held captive, realizes that they have to reach inside and develop strengths they didn’t know they had in order to get themselves out alive.
Perhaps this person is a B-list celebrity: used to be big, is still recognizable, but now mostly gets one-and-done guest shots on TV shows. Why would kidnappers nab a B-lister? Maybe because they’re not bright. Perhaps they think this person has more money than they really do. Maybe they see it as a political statement inspired by something the celebrity said or did.
This could set up a mildly humorous bit where the FBI is talking to B-lister’s agent. “(X) thought they were going to appear on ‘The Masked Singer’? Seriously?”
Or maybe they are an A-lister, known to be difficult to work with, tending to rely on other people, and not able (or willing) to do anything for themselves. Perhaps they’re starting to alienate important people in the business: they haven’t slipped down to the D-list yet, but if they don’t change their ways…Maybe a hidden drug habit?
By the end of the book, they’re experiencing a career resurgence, thanks to the kidnapping and whatever happens after the kidnapping. Think Rick Dalton, but possibly female?
If you like this idea, I’m putting it out there for the taking. After all, ideas don’t matter: what you do with them does.
I wrote about Tennessee state senator Katrina Robinson’s indictment on theft, embezzlement, and wire fraud charges.
Unfortunately, I missed the results of her trial:
The facts that she was acquitted of 15 charges, and has had two convictions thrown out, do give me some pause. However, they apparently do not give the Tennessee State Senate pause: two is enough.
The Tennessee State Senate voted on Wednesday to remove a senator from office because of her conviction on federal wire fraud charges, the first time the chamber has removed a senator since at least the Civil War.
The senator, Katrina Robinson, 41, who was convicted of wire fraud involving federal grant money, was removed from the legislature after a 27-to-5 vote. The tally fell along party lines, with 27 Republicans voting for expulsion and five Democrats voting against, and split over arguments about whether the Senate should continue to let Ms. Robinson’s court case play out. One Democrat was absent for the vote, said Eddie Weeks, the legislative librarian.
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Ms. Robinson has consistently denied any wrongdoing, said Brandon Puttbrese, a spokesman. In an interview on Wednesday, Ms. Robinson, who is Black, denounced the vote, calling it racist.
“I think the vote today was an attack on the Black vote, Black political power,” she said. “I think it is misogynistic. I think it was racist.”
John C. Koss, headphone innovator.
Mr. Koss and his friend Martin Lange Jr., an engineer, developed a portable stereo phonograph in 1958 that they called a “private listening station.” It had a turntable, speakers and a privacy switch that let users plug headphones into a jack. But most of the headphones available, like those used by telephone operators, shortwave radio users and pilots, were incompatible and not stereophonic.
So they rigged up cardboard cups that contained three-inch speakers and chamois pads from a flight helmet, and they attached them to a headband made of a bent clothes hanger covered with a rubber shower hose.
“And, oh man, whew, it was just bouncing in my ears,” Mr. Koss said in an undated video interview on the Koss Corporation’s website. “It was a great sound. Now the whole thing was there. Anybody that listened to it, it was like the first time you drove in a car or the first time you did anything.”
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Jean-Jacques Beineix, French director. His first movie was “Diva”.
I wanted to see “Diva” when it was theatrically released because: moped chase in a subway. But at the time, this was impossible for me. I don’t recall it ever playing when UT had a film program. But now, it is available in a reasonably priced Kino Lorber blu ray (affiliate link). And I believe it is on the list: if not, it will be shortly.
He also directed “Betty Blue”, which seems to have divided critics. Interestingly, before “Diva”, he worked as a second assistant/second unit director on several films…including “The Day the Clown Cried”.
Sister Janet Mead, Australian nun…and, with all due respect, musical footnote.
Sister Janet’s recording of “The Lord’s Prayer,” which featured her pure solo vocal over a driving drumbeat — she had a three-octave range and perfect pitch — became an instant hit in Australia, Canada and the United States. It soared to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 during Easter time in 1974, and she became one of the few Australian recording artists to have a gold record in the United States.
The record sold more than three million copies worldwide, two million of them to Americans. Nominated for the 1975 Grammy Award for best inspirational performance, it lost to Elvis Presley and his version of “How Great Thou Art.”
Along with Pete Seeger’s “Turn! Turn! Turn!,” famously covered by the Byrds in 1965, “The Lord’s Prayer” is one of the very few popular songs with lyrics taken from the Bible.
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She later described the period of her record’s success as a “horrible time,” largely because of demands by the media.
“It was a fairly big strain because all the time there are interviews and radio talk-backs and TV people coming and film people coming,” she told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Shunning the spotlight, she declined most interview requests and all offers to tour the United States.
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I used to pay a lot of attention to the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship awards (the “genius grant). I don’t pay as much attention these days, because reasons.
However, I did know that Josh Miele, who I have written about before, was one of last year’s recipients.
Here’s a pretty cool profile of Mr. Miele and what he’s doing now. In brief, he’s working for Amazon on accessibility.
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Miele helped the team understand that they needed only to provide useful context, even just a word or two, for a person who is blind or visually impaired to identify the product. The team focused on kitchen and pantry items — things that come in cans, boxes, bottles, and tubes. The goal: Recognize items in Amazon’s vast product catalogue, or if that wasn’t possible, recognize brands and logos that could give the customer enough information to know what they held in their hand.
“If I touch a can of something, I know it’s a can,” Miele explained, “but I don’t know if it’s a can of black beans or pineapple. So, if I’m making chili, and I open a can of pineapple, I’m going to be pretty irritated.”
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I don’t listen to any gun related podcasts on a regular basis these days for reasons. However, I do go out of my way to listen to individual episodes of podcasts if someone brings them to my attention and if I think they’re worthwhile.
In this case, Mike the Musicologist brought to my attention the latest episode of the Texas State Rifle Association’s “2A Ricochet” podcast. This episode features FotB and official trainer to WCD, Karl Rehn.
You can go here for the podcast, or search for it in your favorite podcast client. Or you can watch it on YouTube. Or you can watch it here:
This is about 55 minutes long, and is part one of two. I have listened to all of it, and think it is worth your time if you carry.
The Brian Flores lawsuit against the NFL is mildly interesting, but it is also being well covered in other places, and I don’t know what I can say about the suit itself.
However, there is one aspect of it that I think isn’t getting as much coverage as I’d like:
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I have to wonder: if paying coaches to lose is a common practice, why haven’t we seen more 0-16 (or 0-17) teams? Is there so much “respect for the game” out there that nobody’s willing to take the offer? Even if you’re going to end up with a #1 draft choice?
Edited to add: Well, this is interesting: