“Back To The Future” I & II Comparison.

Cinematic trivia utterly fascinates me. It’s mostly what I use the internet for and this little nugget from “Back To The Future: Part II” always impressed me:

“Claudia Wells (Jennifer in “Back To The Future“) was unable to reprise her role as she had stopped acting because her mother had been diagnosed with cancer. Elisabeth Shue was then cast as Jennifer, and all the closing shots of “Back To The Future” were re-shot for the beginning of this film.”

“Back To The Future” and “Back To The Future: Part II” were shot roughly 4 years apart and Michael J. Fox visibly aged a little.

Folks, we didn’t have Youtube while I was growing up but I’m glad we do now because…

You May Also Be Interested In…
* “Back To The Future” Concept Art
* “The Godfather”: Robert DeNiro’s Audition Tape
* On The Set: The Movie Filming Locations Channel

‘The Ginger-Snap Cream’ By Alan Cook.

This story is called: “The Ginger-Snap Cream” and it’s completely true.

When I was 8 years old, I tried a biscuit called ‘The Ginger-Snap Cream’ for the first time and I LOVED THEM and later on that same night, when my Mum and Dad were sleeping, I tip-toed down into the kitchen and I stole the ENTIRE packet of biscuits because I wanted them all to be mine.

I crept back up the stairs in the dark and hid the stolen ginger-snap creams under my pilow and over the next couple of days, I was pleased that nobody had noticed the missing biscuits.

One day, I came home from school to be confronted by my Mum and Dad who were holding up the now almost empty packet of ginger-snap creams and straight away, I broke and confessed EVERYTHING!

They told me that I was greedy and that I should be ashamed of myself. And friends, they were quite right.

When Sunday came, I went into the ‘confessional box’ at chapel and confessed my secret thieveing greedy shame to the local priest who told me that Jesus and God were very disappointed in me and that the only way out of it was for me to say 25 ‘Hail Mary’ prayers, an ‘Our Father’ AND a ‘Glory Be’.

I thought the sentence was a bit harsh but I said every last one of those prayers anyway.

TO THIS VERY DAY, I feel greedy whenever I eat even the smallest amount of food and I also have a problem eating infront of people.

THE END.

Alan Cook. (Age 30).

You May Also Be Interested In…
* There’s Yer Dinner!
* A Sinister Tennant
* My Tragic Fridge: An Update

The Soundtrack To My Life. 20/08/2011.

Well, I’ve slowly been moving out of my flat for the past couple of days now and here are some of the records that have kept me from going mad…

Pokey LaFarge & The South City Three – “Live At The Newport Folk Festival 2010”:

Robert Crumb And His Cheap Suit Serenaders’ selt titled Debut Album (1974):

Leadbelly: “Easy Rider” (3-Disc Compilation):

Big Mama Thornton: “The Original Hound Dog” (1990):

The “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” soundtrack by Jack Nitzsche (1975):

Almost 2 years have gone by since I wandered into The Strathclyde Suite in The Royal Concert Hall and saw Pokey LaFarge & The South City Three play one of the best gigs I’ve ever seen and they are STILL one of my favourite bands right now.
Still!
I got a hold of their performance at last year’s Newport Folk Festival and it’s just as good as their studio work.
I listen to these guys a lot and the Newport performance put me right in the mood for some more oldies…

Robert Crumb And His Cheap Suit Serenaders.
– Now there’s a fucking band!
Robert Crumb is of course, THEE Robert Crumb; the World famous (and notorious) underground cartoonist and illustrator. If you think his drawings are the works of a genius, you should check out this debut album because it fits perfectly with his artwork and him and his band will take you right back to the 1920’s.
Back to when music was good and inspired and played with heart.
Back before it was cheap and disposable like most of it is now.

I’ve been playing that Leadbelly compilation up there quite a lot recently too because I don’t know how he gets his 12-string guitar to sound exactly like it does and I want to find out. I’m pretty sure it’s because he tunes real low and hits his guitar rather than plays it.

Big Mama Thorton’s version of  “Hound Dog” will always be better than Presley’s for me but this particular album has a song on it which I love just as much. It’s called “Big Mama” and I love it because it starts off like this:
“WELL…THEY CALL ME ‘BIG MAMA”BECAUSE I WEIGH 300 POUNDS!”
Big Mama Thornton is how I imagine the Woman at the top of those legs in the Tom & Jerry Cartoons to be!

I’m not moving house very far. In fact I’m moving next door to myself but that’s besides the point because moving can still drive you crazy and sometimes it’s better if you just go with it and Jack Nitzsche’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” soundtrack will take you all the way to crazy and back.
I love that soundtrack more than the six invisible penguins who helped me move my things out of the flat.
Cheers boys!

Time to lie down for a few days.
Good morning.

George & The Charlie Chaplin Time Traveller.

I’m sorry to go over old news here but I completely missed all coverage of this story back in October 2010.

From BBC News:

Has Belfast film-maker found time travel evidence?

A Belfast film-maker has posted a video on the internet showing what he says could be evidence of time travelling.

George Clarke from east Belfast has been puzzled for more than a year by a scene in a film which appears to show a woman talking on a mobile phone.

The unusual thing is that the movie was made by Charlie Chaplin in 1928 – long before mobile phones were invented.

In the eight days since George posted the clip on Youtube – more than 1.5m people have viewed the video online.

Even the US talk show host Jay Leno created his own spoof version.

George was checking the extras on a Chaplin DVD box-set and began watching a clip of the 1928 Hollywood premiere of The Circus.

“As I sat back to watch it I realised in the first 30 seconds there’s A lady strolling by with her hand up to her ear which looked quite familiar in today’s society.

“So I wound it back and watched it again, zoomed it in and slowed it down and got other people in to check it out.

“Everybody had the same reaction – it looks like she’s talking on a mobile phone.”

He has since showed the clip to a number of people, including the audience of a Belfast film festival.

He said no-one has been able to provide an explanation.

Since posting it on Youtube it has had more that 1.5m views and provoked 10,000 comments.

“A mystery like this one, bottom line I don’t think we’re ever going to find out,” George said.

“My initial reaction was that’s a mobile phone, they weren’t around then, my only explanation – and I’m pretty open-minded about the sci-fi element of things – it was kind of like wow that’s somebody that’s went back in time.”

End Of Article.

What the hell is George on about?
What the hell are you on about George?

“A mystery like this one, bottom line I don’t think we’re ever going to find out”.

George.
Georgie!
Here’s what’s happend George.
Here’s what you’ve done:
You’ve been watching the extras on your Chaplin DVD and you’ve seen this:

You’ve paused it and zoomed right in George…

You’ve immediately jumped to the conclusion that:
(a) “That’s a mobile phone!”
(b) “That must be a TIME TRAVELLER!”

Then what you’ve done George is – You’ve went to the internet, the papers and the T.V telling everyone about the time traveller you’ve noticed.

Wanna know what my first thoughts were Georgie?

“There’s someone scratching their ear”.
My second thought was:
“Hearing aids were around in the 1920’s, maybe it’s a hearing aid”.

My third thought was:
“LOOK AT THE FUCKIN’ SIZE OF THAT ZEBRA!”

Case Closed Georgie.

“Everything Ages Fast”: Faux Vintage Tech Ads.

What if some of the most famous online services were launched in 1959?