I found myself feeling overwhelmed at work so I stopped for a few moments, stepped away from my work computer, and watched a video on YouTube. The video is a film from 1946, and it’s an “infomercial” of the time, showing us the wonders of the brand new 1946 Westinghouse Electric Range. Be sure to look for the Wicked Witch of the West.
J.P.
Borderline.
When I worked in radio in the 1990s and 2000s, I’d occasionally re-edit popular tracks to mix them up a little bit. I usually did this using four-track reel-to-reels, mixing it down to a two track reel-to-reel, and then cutting the tape with a razor blade and taping it back together. It was very rudimentary and I could only do one or two mix downs before the whole thing started sounding muddy. Then, in the late 1990s, a program called “Cool Edit” came along and made this whole process digital, and subsequently much easier to accomplish. Cool Edit is now known as Adobe Audition.
The first track I edited in Cool Edit was Madonna’s hit single from 1984, “Borderline”. I took elements from the extended 12-inch single and rearranged them to “punch up” the track into a radio edit, since the 12-inch single was too long (and actually too boring for radio consumption) to play in regular radio rotation. Madonna also occasionally had the habit of never “shutting up” during her early singles, sometimes making it tricky to beat mix in and out of her tracks during an instrumental break, because there was no instrumental break. “Into The Groove” is an example of this. Ironically, I replaced some of the 12-inch single instrumentation with more lyrics in my re-edit.
So, here’s “Borderline (DJ SuperCub Cub Sliced Re-Edit)”. I didn’t embellish the track with modern beats or instrumentation, it’s simply a re-arrangement.
A New Day For You.
I mentioned a couple of days ago that I was enjoying music by Basia from the late 1980s and early 1990s again. From 1987, here she is with “A New Day For You”. I noticed on Wikipedia it didn’t reach the U.S. Top 40. I remember it being more popular than that.
Edit: it turns out this was the second video clip and recorded for American audiences. While it only reached #53 on the Hot 100, the track did reach #5 on the Adult Contemporary charts.
Retro.
Yesterday we went for a ride to the area southeast of Phoenix to check out some of the towns, villages, and cities in the area. Our path took us through Arizona City, which isn’t as big as one would think, but charming in its own way, nonetheless.
My husband found us a diner in the small city. We like eating at locally owned diners when we’re traveling, so we stopped at the Flashback Diner. It was definitely a flashback. A small building with eight tables inside, it was dead quiet and everyone looked at us when we walked in. We made our way to a table for two and the friendly waitress came over with menus and we went through the typical diner experience. The food was very good.
When it was time to pay the bill, I gave her my debit card and was surprised to see what she brought back for the tip and signature.
I haven’t signed one of these forms in a very, very long time. The hacker in me was immediately concerned about my debit card number being imprinted on this form, but they didn’t do that, instead just writing the last four digits on the form so they could reference their computer records when their printer was working again.
The old school credit card slip definitely added to the flashbacks of the Flashback Diner.
Caturday.
Some days Truman just wants to stretch out in the middle of the floor for a cat nap.
His loudest purrs occur when he’s in his old cat bed.
Prime Time TV. Again?
Singer Basia released the track “Prime Time TV” back in the late 1980s. A commentary on what was fed to society on television back then, perhaps Basia should release a new version based on the Internet.
Is it a window?
Is it a mirror?
Is it just for entertainment and for pleasure?
So when it’s over we’re back to people
Just to prove that human touch can have no equal
A Proposition.
How about we do this… no elected official can hold multiple social media accounts. They use their official, recorded account or none at all.
Let’s get every spewed piece of vial on the official U.S, government record.
Make it a law.
Revisionism.
I guess I never anticipated this hot, new trend sweeping the nation. Not only are entertainment outlets no longer pretending to strive for accuracy when portraying period pieces, there’s this new fad of the GOP doing everything they can to never teach accurate historical facts again.
I can guarantee the writers of “I Love Lucy” never used the word ‘literally’ in a 21st century way when discussing an episode script with Lucille Ball, but there it was, peppered all over that recent Amazon Prime movie. “Bridgerton” takes wild liberties with language and activities, and now this new “A League of Their Own” series has women dropping f-bombs in public every ten second and lesbians making out in the streets of Rockford.
Look, I know the f-bonb and lesbians existed in the 1940s. But I’m also pretty sure neither were celebrated with this wild “queer rage” being shoved into this period piece. Heck, I don’t even remember these things being shared with such wild abandonment in the mid 1980s.
I guess I have a certain expectation that if I’m watching a television show set in the 1940s I’m not going to hear Janis Joplin singing a track while same sex couples dance.
And as far a the GOP and their idiocy, it does have to make one wonder, if they’re so eager to rewrite history to make the United States all white and perfect, what makes them think the Bible is completely accurate in its storytelling?
Maybe Jesus was a woman or something.
Gone?
Apparently someone made off with the FedEx truck between Carson, Cal. and Phoenix, Ariz. It’s been making that drive since Friday. It’s a six hour drive. All I can imagine is the driver running amok and speeding across the desert, eager to get away from his mundane employment, in an absconded FedEx truck.
Beta, Part 1.
I gave in and installed the latest public beta of iOS 16 on my iPhone 13 Pro. It has a lot of goodies baked in this upcoming release. I really like the looks of the new lock screen and the things you can do with photos, but the interface seems a little clunky.
As a good beta tester, I have submitted feedback to Apple.
More to come on my discoveries as I, erm, discover them.
