Hey, guess what? I don't have to listen to Joe anymore! Because I got laid off! More details when I get my new laptop I'm supposed to be getting with my retirement money, whenever it finally gets here. The money, not the computer. Well, both, I guess. But one thing at a time here. posted by John at 6:46 PM
Most of you have never heard of Warren G. Skye. To be honest, I never really knew exactly who he was, either. I guess I thought he was one of those quasi-celebrities whose fifteen minutes of fame were up before I was even born, like etiquette guru Annie Cavanagh. He could have also been a politician, possibly British; I just didn't know.
I feel bad now for not giving poor Warren much thought. Did he have a family? What's he been up to lately? It never crossed my mind. Really, the only time I ever thought about him at all was every once in a while when I heard his name on the radio. But no more.
Today, in a Shamaylanian twist, I found out there is no Warren G. Skye. Or, if there was, the Cars never mentioned him in Bye Bye Love, off their eponymous 1978 debut album. I'm still a bit too shaken up to accept that he's gone. All this time, I thought it was:
It's Warren G. Skye...
Oh wait, is it some other guy?
But it turns out the actual line is:
It’s an orangy sky
Always it’s some other guy
Orangy sky? What the hell does that mean? At least mine made sense. A part of me died today.
So long, Warren. Or should I say bye bye love? No, so long is sufficient.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009 Rise From Your Grave And Sell My Tie-ins!
I saw a McDonald's commercial over the weekend involving a Monsters Vs. Aliens tie-in featuring Grimace! He didn't have a speaking part, but by God, he's alive!
In honor of this momentous occasion--and because I don't want to write about how we got to the IMAX at Jordan's Furniture at noon to get tickets for the 3 o'clock show, only to discover that every show was sold out until seven so spent all day in Framingham--here's another one of these things...
With Steve's offer of a new co-host opening apparently still standing, struggling comedian Chip Newton sees his chance for a new career. But what will become of Fred?
Yes, I was looking back over the weekend and realized after over three years, I still had not found any evidence of this thing ever existing. So I tried again, I even made the rounds of movie forums hoping someone would have known what I was referring to. Only this time, I tried to remember a bit more. "Fireworks" and "firecrackers" weren't getting me anywhere. What else could you call them? Then I tried "rocket." And the greatest thing happened.
I found this. An animated short called The Remarkable Rocket (1975), narrated by David Niven. Based on a short story by Oscar Wilde. I had a few details mixed up. It turns out it's not about the little runt that everyone else makes fun of--in fact the main character is a pompous jerk--although there are squibs in the story. And it certainly doesn't take place during an Independence Day celebration. And perhaps most importantly, something I should have mentioned when I first posed the question, they aren't so much rockets with faces as they are disembodied cylindrical heads with coned attached to the top.
Well, I think I'm running out of childhood things to find that people didn't believe existed. I'm sure I can think of something else eventually, but I'm going to savor this discovery for a while. This one was driving me nuts.
Anyway, this being St. Patrick's Day and all, why don't you check out Irishman Oscar Wilde's original short story, and as you're reading it in your best stately British David Niven voice, picture the characters as horrifying disembodied cylindrical heads with cones attached to the top.
