My Iddiette friend Kristin McCracken shared this on Facebook, regarding today's top story:
Me? I'm not going to pass judgement until I see the Lifetime movie.....BCnU!
Singer/songwriter Andrew Gold has passed away at the age of 59 from a heart attack. He's best known for his 1977 hit "Lonely Boy", but for Toobworld purposes, perhaps his biggest achievement was penning this classic theme song:
But the case could also be made for this theme song as well:
Here's Andrew Gold on 'The Midnight Special' performing "Lonely Boy". I always loved the repeated hook in this sad song......
Finally, as a member of the Idiot's Delight Digest, an online group celebrating deejay Vin Scelsa and free-form radio, for the last sixteen years at least, I've been introduced to a lot of music I might not otherwise have heard.And I can thank Steve Cohen, of the lofty Cohen brothers for first turning me on (dead man) to this song, in which Andrew Gold and friends reveled in their love of the psychedelic era:
Rest in peace, Andrew Gold. Good night and may God bless.......
Big thanks to J.r. Klink for digging up this chestnut. As a big fan of everybody in this clip from Dean Martin's show, I had a big grin on my face when I first saw it......
BCnU!
I remember watching "Nocturnal Transmissions" from U68 back around 1982, when MTV wasn't on the Manhattan cable system yet. It was grainy and on a black & white set in my bedroom, but it opened up a whole new, yet very transitory, world of TV music.When I finally got the chance to see MTV, I actually preferred the low-rent flavor of U68.Thanks to my friend Scully, here's a collection of station IDs by mostly famous personalities for U68.....
BCnU!
With the passing of Jeff Conaway yesterday, I wanted to pay tribute to his three best known Toobworld characters with a selection of videos.First up, Bobby Wheeler of 'Taxi', who wanted so badly to make it as an actor......
I'd like to think that at some point in his career, his path crossed that of Joey Tribbiani, perhaps he even mentored him along the way......Then we leave Earth Prime-Time and head to the far side of the Sun, where the planet Mondas used to be. It's the Toobworld Concept conceit that many of the shows that have been Earth-like, but couldn't possibly be set on Earth Prime-Time, were instead located on Mondas - before the rise of the Cybermen and the planet hurtled out of its orbit. This would include shows like 'Beastmaster', 'Game Of Thrones', and 'Wizards & Warriors' in which Conaway played the heroic lead, Prince Erik Greystone......
And finally, I couldn't find a decent video showcasing him as the security officer Zack Allen on board 'Babylon 5'. But I did find this fan tribute to the series, giving it an elegiac send-off. And at the end, Conaway's character shares in the good-byes......
As someone posted on Facebook, it's a shame that the demons won in the end.......
During the latest episode of 'The Mentalist', Patrick Jane and the CBI team investigated the murder of the first violinist for a symphony orchestra in northern California. The same piece of classical music was used throughout the episode and it was finally performed at the end by Jane (on cello) and some of the orchestra members in a smooth jazz version.I knew the song only from its use in PDQ Bach's "Unbegun Symphony" but never knew the original source. So I turned to fellow Iddiot (Iddiette?) Ruth Singleton, no slouch in the symphony orchestra department to help me identify the piece.And she came through quickly with the info I was looking for!
I'll never remember the name of the piece; I'll have to be satisfied with just remembering it was Tchaikovsky.....As a thank you, I'd like to give Ruth's orchestra a little plug. She's a member of the New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra and they'll be performing at Symphony Space in NYC on Thursday June 2 at 8 PM.The Symphony Space is on Broadway at 95th Street. If you're interested in tickets ($20.00, $14.00 for seniors and students), the box office number is 212-864-5400. Or you can reach them online at http://www.symphonyspace.org/ .This will be the NASO's 35th anniversary gala and here's the line-up for the upcoming show:BRAHMS Symphony No. 3GRIEG Peer Gynt Suite No. 2GRIEG In the Hall of the Mountain KingBIZET Carmen Suite No. 2I'm pretty sure I'll be there.....Thank you, Ruth!
BCnU!
I'm featured in an ad for a great website, whose link you'll find to the left, Team Toobworld!BCnU!
One of my Facebook friends sought my help in tracking down a pretty obscure (It's obscure if I never heard of it!) TV series or an episode from an anthology series. Since her description didn't ring my chimes, I decided to turn to Team Toobworld for help. Here's what she could offer:Back in either the late 70's or very early 80's when after-school-specials were big, I saw something that I want to get my hands on. I am not sure if it was an after-school-special per se, but it was on after school.It was about a boy that could do out-of-body experiences. At one point he went into the body of a wolf and saw and smelled what the wolf could see. I don't remember anything else abou it though.The show did a great job of showing that the wolf could hardly see the boy standing there even though he was wearing a checkered shirt. I have searched before and not had any luck. I looked in the after-school-special sets but it is not there as far as I can tell (although I haven't look at any recent sets)Your mission, should you decide to take it, is to find a copy of that scene in the woods with the boy and the wolf, good luck.I get the feeling that finding the scene would be next to impossible, save by bit torrents or bootlegs, but if anybody could help me track down what show this might have come from, it would be a big help![She says it was a one-shot story, so I guess that excludes 'Lucan' from 1977-78........]
Thanks!
Nothing I enjoy more than stumbling across some televisiological discourse......
This one comes courtesy of "The High Council Of Time Lords" group on Facebook:
Bob:
Speculation: In the unaired Doctor Who pilot, Susan Foreman says, “I was born in the 49th century”. The line was changed to “born in another time” in the broadcast pilot “An Unearthly Child”. Arguably, for anyone who's ever wondered what the original Doctor's “present” time was, this would suggest it was somewhere in the neighborhood ...of the AD 4800s. Three possible objections to this reasoning come to mind.
One: Since the original pilot was replaced by a revised pilot, the dialog in the original may not be “canon”. Two: The in-continuity mutability of time may mean the original Doctor's “present” is not a fixed point. Three: The effect on the ...Doctor's personal history from the universe's reboot in “The Big Bang” and his subsequent “recovery” from the other side of the Time Field remains uncertain. Edward 'Oh':
Annnnnnnnnnnnnd they may have meant Gallifrey's 49th century :) Colin P:
And, they may only have been visiting the 49th century. Gazz:
Four: at the time of the original pilot, the had absolutely no idea 'Doctor Who' would still be going strong in 2011 :P
Edward 'Oh':
Or if they did, they were wondering how they were going to keep Billy reanimated! Gazz(?):
Absolutely
Bob:
Possible, Mr. E. Although given that Susan was speaking to her human teachers on 20th century Earth, I would assume her "49th century" reference would have been the corresponding era based on the Gregorian calendar. Edward 'Oh':
I know, hence the daft smiley thing. Mind you, it would be just as worth a go as telling them she was from THEIR 49th century. My teachers never believed ME! Simon Th:
[I] Have had the 'Is it canon?' argument so many times and can catagorically state that the 49th century line is NOT canon. In order for it to be canonical, it has to be included in a broadcast episode. Deleted scenes, novelisations, etc don't count.
Original novels, comics, audio dramas, etc each have their own separate continuity but, while each of them is bound by what happens in the TV series, the TV series does not have to pay any attention to what has happened in any other media. Trish:
Heck Simon, sometimes they don't pay attention to what has happened in the series just preceding it! haha
Edward 'Oh':
Very true there, Trish... the series often veers from its own cannon. At best it can claim to be a small handgun ;)
Colin P:
It's the effects of time travel rather than canonical inconsistencies. Apparently. Ana R:
When I saw it on You Tube Susan said "49th century." Too bad all the awesome "1" episodes got taken down! :( Bob:
Debates about "canon" are kind of surreal anyway: "THIS fiction is the REAL fiction. That OTHER fiction is fake fiction." Simon Th:
It's a case of semantics. Canon is defined as a body of work. With 'Doctor Who', the original work is the TV series, anything else is an incorrect use of the word. (Can you tell I was brought up by an English teacher?).
The TV series, as it has on a number of occasions, is perfectly able to contradict itself. I try not to think about these instances as it frequently brings on headaches. But if a throw-away line in the Christmas special contradicts every single New Adventure, then, for the purposes of 'Doctor Who' continuity, the television episode takes precedence.
Don't get me wrong, there can be some fantastic stories in the, for want of a better expression, expanded universe. I grew up on the New Adventures and actually prefer some of them to a number of stories in the original run. But, unless they are directly referenced in the TV series, they are not canonical. David W. R:
My understanding has always been that Gallifrey stood 'outside' of time. Which can be a fairly mind-boggling concept. For instance: the Great Time War apparently occurred in a linear fashion, and yet throughout different points in time somehow. I can't grasp it, but I'm not sure anyone's really meant to!
Gazz:Post-Time War events can contradict pre-Time War events, and still be right. As RTD said, the Time War was like a big reset button. Ana R:
IT'S ALL WIBBLY WOBBLY TIMEY WIMEY! OH LOVE RTD! :) David W. R:
And we all love big red reset buttons! It's such a rare concept in modern sci-fi!! ; ). But of course, once reset, someone's bound to come along eventually and reset the previous reset...
Gazz:And that's already happened, with the Cracks in Time. And the next head writer will hit it again, then the next and so on......
Simon Th:
But can you have an anti-reset button, something that resets things to how they were before the reset button was pressed the previous time? ;) David W. R:
Hmm. Well there's a thought, and an obvious one you'd think. But I've yet to see anyone use that anti-reset in anything. Problem is: there's a few good ideas that always have come since, and no one wants to lose those new ideas.
Gazz:Anything is possible in the world of scfi, some one may just hit the anti-reset button...... one day
And finally I chimed in..... Toby O'B:
I'm with the "Only TV Is Canon" crowd, but then my particular line of interest is the overall TV Universe. Some movies and online content has been absorbed into the "Toobworld" concept, but it can only be the fictional realms of visual media. As Simon pointed out, each of those other sources have their own fictional universes. It's a lot like the realms to be found in the "Incompleat Enchanter" stories by Pratt and deCamp.....
I'm sure the dialogue will continue!{Trish and Gazz, and I think Bob as well, are administrators for the Facebook site.}
BCnU!
One of my Facebook friends, J.r. Klink, has been a great source for inspiration when it comes to Video Weekend lately. But now he's shared a link to a collection of great police blotter reports from around the country.
This particular one caught my eye: 
You see, in Toobworld, food is alive. Chicken carcasses dance; sandwiches urge you to drink orange juice rather than eating them; and plump juicy raisins sing their hearts out in bowls of raisin bran. 
So a chicken pot pie running down the street wouldn't seem that unlikely... if it wasn't for the fact that this happened in the Trueniverse! O'Bviously the TV Universe is bleeding into our own world!
Remember - as Sgt. Esterhaus would have told you, let's be careful out there.
The next chicken pot pie might have your name on it......
BCnU!
My Iddiette friend Kristin McCracken shared this on Facebook, regarding today's top story:
