Shit

Roky has exited to another plane. Dude was cool. I highly recommend the documentary on him. Also doing lots of drugs and listening to his records.

Read it here

John Belushi, Decathlon Champion

A classic!

Marv Albert narrates this commercial in which John Belushi attributes his athletic success as a cigarette-smoking decathlon champion to eating Little Chocolate Donuts for breakfast. [Season 3, 1977]

I Dunno…

I’m not sure about this movie. It’s interesting that they’re focusing on his death, but it looks like they take a lot of license and it might slip into some kind of fantasy / horror angle, so it could be really bad. I stayed in the St. Charles where JT died. Why would you go to New Orleans to get cleaned up?

Smells Like … Vindication

Just one more reason to hate this fey twat. From The Guardian (“Bigmouth strikes again and again: why Morrissey fans feel so betrayed“)

These days, however, Morrissey prefers a different kind of onstage provocation. During a recent performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (and at a number of live shows in New York), the former Smiths singer sported a For Britain badge. For those unfamiliar with it, For Britain is a far-right political party. Even Nigel Farage believes it is made up of “Nazis and racists”.

To see Morrissey embrace the far right so openly was shocking. But was it surprising? Ever since the early 90s, he has flirted with the far right and fascist imagery – wrapping himself up in the union jack, writing a song called The National Front Disco, making inflammatory comments about immigration.

Yet in the last year there has been little doubt about his views. He has claimed Sadiq Khan, London’s first Muslim mayor, “cannot talk properly”, and declared “Even Tesco wouldn’t employ Diane Abbott,” – the Cambridge-educated shadow home secretary and Britain’s most prominent black MP. He has described the media’s treatment of the racist Tommy Robinson as “shocking”. And he has explicitly promoted For Britain on his Morrissey Central website: “There is only one British political party that can safeguard our security.” The party’s leader, Anne Marie Waters, posted a video online thanking Morrissey for his support.

Full story here.

Falling In Love Again, What Am I To Do?

Never wanted to, I can’t help it. I mentioned this one to Renfield the other day, but I feel like it’s worth a post. Behold, the Seiko SLA033J1, a gorgeous reissue limited to 2,500 pieces. (The bastards.) It’s always a bad sign when the company’s own website won’t tell you how much the damn thing costs. But I did a little research, and this watch will set you back about $4,000.00. (EDIT: $4,250.00, to be exact.)

Introduced in 1965, Seiko’s innovative diver’s watch has been chosen by divers and adventurers globally. Seiko’s diving watch has become a global standard as a result over 50 years of innovation. The 1970 launch model, which boasts strong popularity in its history, will be reinstated. It is resurrected by modern state-of-the-art technology and design interpretation.

For comparison, here’s the original, the Seiko 6105-8110 …

And as worn by Martin Sheen in Apocalypse Now

Movement
Caliber Number
8L35

Movement Type
Automatic with manual winding capacity

Accuracy
+15 to -10 seconds per day

Duration
Approx. 50 hours

Exterior
Case Material
Stainless steel (super hard coating) with stainless steel bezel

Glass Material
Dual-curved sapphire

Glass Coating
Anti-reflective coating on inner surface

LumiBrite
Lumibrite on hands and indexs

Band Material
Silicone

Other Details
Water Resistance
200m / 660ft diver’s

Magnetic Reluctance
Equipped

Case Size
Thickness: 13 ㎜
Diameter: 45 ㎜
Length: 49.7 ㎜
Other specifications
Screw case back
Screw-down crown
Serial number engraved on the case back
Unidirectional rotating bezel

Other Features
26 jewels
Date display
Stop second hand function

Adam Savage’s One Day Build

Because I’m done for the day.

One Day Builds are back! Adam takes us through another spaceship model build, this time utilizing his trusty vacuum former, sheet styrene, and years of experience from his special effects modelmaking days. As the spaceship takes shape, Adam introduces several new tools and tips for this kind of modelmaking, and shows the versatility of this kind of build.

Sad News

Farewell To A Legend: Milo Ramone, The Conductor Of The Ramones, Has Passed Away At 83

Born Milo Sebastian Altenhöfen in 1936 in Forest Hills, Queens, Milo Ramone first made a name for himself in the flourishing 1970s NYC punk scene. He was known by musicians all over the city for his signature upbeat conducting tempo and DIY aesthetic, the broken piece of pool stick he used as a baton, the beat up barstool he turned into a music stand, and the wild, unkempt gray hair exploding out from the sides of his balding head. After bouncing from band to band, the middle-aged conductor crossed paths with the Ramones for the first time in 1974—and after seamlessly clicking with the group while filling in for their usual conductor during a legendary show at CBGB, he was officially asked to join the outfit. With the five original Ramones in place, the band was born, ready to set the world ablaze with hit after lightning-fast hit.

Full story here.

I Thought I’d Seen It All

Check out “Twink” miming with The Pretty Things for a bewildered French TV audience.  Ever heard of Twink?  I hadn’t, so I poked around on Google.  Nicknamed after a British hair product, Twink was a mime, drummer, close friend of Syd Barrett, and general scenester of the London psychedelic underground.  He played drums with an early version of T. Rex, with Syd Barret occasionally, on one Pretty Things album, and with the Pink Fairies.  In the early 70’s, he was in Hawkwind with Lemmy.  His band The Rings were on the ground floor of the London punk scene in ’77.  Some refer to their lone single, “I Wanna be Free” as England’s first punk record.  It’s not very good compared to what was about to come from the Damned, Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks, Clash, and Jam.

What led me to this video was my fondness for The Pretty Things,  a very good British r&b band who never made any headway in the U.S.  Their guitarist, Dick Taylor, had been in an early version of the Stones.  Like the Stones, their forays into psychedelia were not always memorable, as you can hear above.   You can hear them at their best here and here.  Their raucous version of Roadrunner is my favorite cover of that song.