Whimsy: April 2008 Archives
sporcle: Can you name the Counties of Ireland?
One of a massive collection of memory and trivia games, covering geography, sports, religion, history, and entertainment.
Some funny and beautifully drawn comics about flora and fauna: the series "Wild Toronto," "Threat Displays of Non-Threatening Animals," and "Birds Are Gross." (Via Julie R. Neidlinger.)
Do's and don'ts with babies :: Hilarious pics
From Safe Baby Handling Tips by David and Kelly Sopp, a great gift for new parents-to-be from Wry Baby, home of all sorts of funny baby products. (Via Conservative Intelligencer.)
Children's Records and More: Kenner Adventure Time Give-A-Show Record Set
There were 45s that went with the Kenner Give-A-Show Projector cartoons. You can listen to them at the link.
Julie R. Neidlinger: Lone Prairie Art Works: Old prayers from Planet Childhood
A footnote about a visit as an adult to Denver's Casa Bonita: "You can't revisit childhood, and you shouldn't try. Just let it stay sweet in the memory." Actually, you can revisit childhood, but only by seeing it through the eyes of your own children. That's the only way I could tolerate eating at Tulsa's Casa Bonita / Casa Viva.
Amazon.com: Steven Roemerman's review of Pelican Navigator Canoe - 13'6"
Tulsa blogger shares a touching "memory."
davidthompson: Loving the Bomb
The original, odd, very '60s trailer for Dr. Strangelove, Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, plus a link to the continuity script. (Via Ace.)
List of Crayola crayon colors - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A very nice table showing what the colors look like, when the colors were introduced, renamed, and replaced, RGB equivalents, and the equivalents in the 2004 "State Your Color" special edition. (A couple of Crayola memories: During her 2005 visit, Dawn Eden gave my kids "State Your Color" sets, which renamed standard colors for the 50 states -- e.g. "Oklahoma Panhandle Paintbrush" was the state name for "Sunset Orange". And on a family car trip to Florida in 1972, I successfully lobbied for a set of the recently-introduced fluorescent crayons.)
YouTube - Stooges/Karloff Celebrity Charity Baseball Game
Classic '40s newsreel footage: Frank Sinatra captains one team, Jane Russell is the bat girl, Mickey Rooney stretches a bunt into a triple, Boris Karloff (as Frankenstein's Monster) is the home plate umpire, and the original Three Stooges are in the dugout.
news from me: Today's Video Link (Mel Blanc and Jack Benny)
An appearance by the Man of a Million Voices and the world's greatest deadpan comedian on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, January 23, 1974. Benny's in the guest chair, but the focus is on Blanc as he does some of his classic sound effects, like Jack Benny's ancient Maxwell car and the English horse.
Mark Evanier writes: "Benny was... a wonderful audience and utterly unthreatened by someone else getting the laughs or the spotlight. That was one of the reasons his radio and TV programs worked as well as they did.... As long as somebody got a laugh, Benny was fine with it.... There have been a lot of great comedians who wouldn't do that because they thought -- wrongly -- that their career hinged on them being the funny one. And not even the example of Jack Benny would dissuade them from that belief. There have also been some comedians who for emotional reasons couldn't stand still while someone else was funny. But Jack Benny could and did...and no one was more successful. Click and see."
news from me: The Original Home Video
I had one of these! Kenner's Give-A-Show Projector: "What this basically was was a flashlight that looked a little like a projector and which came with little six-frame filmstrips that told stories, mainly featuring licensed cartoon characters." Jon's Random Acts of Geekery has more pictures of Give-A-Show sets and lists of the cartoons in the sets. And here's a double-feature from Jon's most recent "Give-A-Show Fridays" post.
Roadside America: Trunkations: Your James Brown Pose: Make It Funky
"The Arts Council of Augusta, Georgia, has pointed a security camera at their city's James Brown Statue. According to an article in the Augusta Metro Spirit, visitors to the statue are being encouraged to dial a special number on their cell phones, pose, and then the camera will take a photo and post it to the Arts Council web site for the world to see."
Intersections: Mexican Coke vs. Pepsi Retro: Future soft drink war?
Either way, real cane sugar makes all the difference.
The Ebb and Flow of Movies: Box Office Receipts 1986 - 2007 - The New York Times
Fascinating visual and interactive way to browse Hollywood's biggest hits and biggest years over the past two decades.
