I know I don’t need to tell anyone here that Måneskin’s Zitti E Buoni won Eurovision 2021. But as the blargh’s junior Eurovision correspondent, I feel obliged to include excerpts from all the performances.
LOTR But With Low-Budget FX & Soviet Mood Music
The geniuses at Leningrad Television put out this masterpiece in 1991, a full ten years before Peter Jackson.
Cue up Gandalf’s eagle escape and elaboration at the Council of Elrond:
The above includes the entire first half of this 1 hr 50 minute extravaganza. More Fellowship of The Ring excitement here.
ANOTHER Marvel Movie?
Scorsese is gonna be pissed.
Primal Is Excellent
It’s the latest from Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack, Star Wars: The Clone Wars).
Our Precious Bodily Fluids
Is fluoride making us idiots? Was General Jack D. Ripper right after all?
Probably not. Lots of limitations on the most recent study, including long-term vs episodic fluoride exposure, controlling for lead exposure, noisy data, and a couple of individuals with extremely low IQ’s that may have thrown the entire data set. Also, previous studies indicated problems only at extremely high fluoride exposures – much higher than typical water fluoridation.
But don’t let that prevent us from getting a good panic on!
Comrade Simpsons
This is, um, not sure what to think about this…
Another Fucking Watch
This time I fell for the Vostok Amphibia, a ridiculously affordable Russian diver. Watch the video for a little history – it’s fascinating stuff. There seem to be hundreds of styles to choose from on this site. Here’s mine.
Oh! For you trivia-obsessed bastards, this is the watch that Steve Zissou’s crew wore in Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, only it was this dial …
Get Out Your Geiger Counters
Chernobyl started this week on HBO. I’ve always been fascinated by this disaster, and the abandonment of Pripyat. The first episode was fantastic, I thought. Who’s watching with me?
Pure Evil
Dimitri Shostakovich wrote this (2nd movement, Symphony #10) as a musical portrait of Stalin, who had harrassed him directly and indirectly throughout his career. This is pure malevolence, published after Stalin was safely dead. While Uncle Joe was alive, DS was mostly confined to putting out government approved, “socalist realist” garbage, while keeping much of his “real” work private. Occasionally he could put one over on the Soviets and follow the letter of their requirements while mocking them. One cool thing is that in the finale of this same symphony, he has a theme based on his initials, DSCH, vie for dominance against the Stalin theme from this movement. DSCH wins. Artistic revenge at its finest. “He who laughs last, laughs longest.”
The conductor seems a little too into his hair, and I’m not sure why he appears to be grinning during this grim business. But you’ve gotta give him credit, his musicians are playing the hell out of this. He made his reputation whipping these young Venezuelans into a respectable unit. He’s since gone on to greener pastures in LA.