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Loose Note
Mar. 13th, 2016 03:40 pmA couple weeks ago at the Knoxville IPMS meeting, a fellow member was clearing out his closet of old periodicals and some of us got to divvying the pieces among them. When I saw that he had old issues of War Monthly and True War among them, I shamelessly scooped up as much of those as I could.
Both those magazines were influences on me, and perhaps more than I'd care to admit.
War Monthly was the product of the Marshall Cavendish publishing powerhouse, and (I felt) a good value for the combination of artwork, writing and layout work. The articles would get repurposed into volumes, and from there sometimes into whole coffee table books.
True War, on the other hand, was the product of the notorious low-budget tabloid schlockmeister and pornographer Myron Fass at Countrywide Publications. The only color content was on the cover, and the interior was made up mainly of archival or press-release photos and cut-to-the-bone prose. True to form, their presentation on the Battle of Arnhem (for an example) was slimmer in both page count and journalist prowess as the photo spread of Cornelius Ryan's book A BRIDGE TOO FAR! I got a replacement copy of an issue of True War I thought I lost in 1978 and now that I think about it, I think one of my parents could have thrown mine out in disgust.
To make a long story short, I couldn't afford as a kid to subscribe to War Monthly, and even if the option were available my folks probably wouldn't have condoned me subscribing to True War. My main go-to publisher of magazines from then was Challenge Publications (Air Classics, Air Combat, Air Progress, Military Modeler, etc.).
But I'm glad to get back these. And then I found a bunch of online sources for .pdf versions of War Monthly, so one way or another I have all the content from the get-go through to Issue 49. The series lasted much longer than that, but the later ones are very hard to find because they were subscription-only and most went to library collections.
FP
Shady Hills Slalom Remembered
Sep. 30th, 2014 05:09 pmThere was a police standoff in Shady Hills overday, and when I looked up the area it brought to mind the place as it was when I was a college student and a new car driver...
Back then, the north section was a four-mile straight, that didn't enjoy much in the way of police patrolling because it was very sparsely populated in comparison to Hudson or Land O' Lakes. So it attracted a particularly rowdy form of commuter. And I took it because it was much more direct than going west to US19 and taking it all the way through Port Richey, Elfers, and Palm Harbor to Clearwater.
But what made the Shady Hills Road interesting...
The straight ended very abruptly with little warning as a sharp, 90 degree LEFT corner. And then a half-mile later, just after the exit to Crews Lake Park, an equally demanding 90 degree RIGHT corner introduced the driver to the fun part of the course--a winding path through an orange grove, ending with the Golf Course on the left side (allegedly owned by actor Larry Manetti of MAGNUM P.I. and BAA BAA BLACKSHEEP fame), the junkyard on the right side, and the intersection with State Highway 52--which at that time had no traffic light and so the possibility of a jam of backed-up traffic.
Speeders and the occasional overloaded pickups would wipe out at the left-hander. Luckily, there was a larger-than-usual sand shoulder to settle down the errant vehicles. But if you got stuck in there, you were going to be there a while.
It was Hades for a yahoo in a muscle car--but fabulous if you were sly and sneaky in something light and nimble--like a Toyota Tercel. Some idiot would be on my back on the straight, and then couldn't keep up with me through the orange grove. Sometimes it can be fun to make your daily drive a sport, and Shady Hills back then was good for that.
But it isn't like that now. The addition of two public schools in the area means much lower speeds and more cops. The advent of the Suncoast Trail toll highway in the area broke the old path, so now it's more of a slow esse in the transition because of the new overpass/underpass. Most of the orange grove is still there, but it's being eaten away by the growth of the Quail Ridge subdivision, and will probably be gone in a generation or two. Every so often I'll dream of it, or maybe a road like it.
FP
FreeWill: Feeling Robert Plant-ish
Aug. 13th, 2013 12:42 pm"All my life, my heart has yearned for a thing I cannot name." So said French writer André Breton. I suspect that many of us feel the same way, which is kind of depressing. But the good news for you, Sagittarius, is that there will be times in the coming months when you will get as close to naming that mysterious thing as you have ever gotten. On more than a few occasions, you may be able to get a clear glimpse of its true nature. Now and then you might even be fully united with it. One of those moments could come soon.
"Your love is cradled in knowing/Eyes in the mirror, still expecting they'll come/sensing too well when the journey is done/There is no turning back/No/There is no turning back--on the run"--Big Log
Cereal Offenses
Dec. 3rd, 2012 02:45 pmI gave the cereal aisle some very close scrutiny, as I don't often do the food shopping myself and because things have changed since it was that Mum and I would go to the stores together. Anyway, I was about to give up when one of my favorites from my high school and college years, Kellogg's Cracklin' Oat Bran, was shown to be close-out priced at half of retail...or about what we paid every week or so for the store brand cereal I usually eat. So I got a box.
I ate about half a cup of it dry as I awaited this computer booting up. The smell reminds me of the sorghum-delivery vehicle stuff I used to throw in the feed buckets for my sister's horses thirty years ago. I guess I really am born Sagittarius/Year of the Horse.
Back To A Different World
Apr. 10th, 2011 08:57 pmWell, that and the Tsubaraya special effects.
I'm watching this disk in bits & pieces, as this series only had bookended continuity...the only "high" plotline is explained in the very first and very last stories. This means that the majority of the stories are self-contained and can be watched in random order. I'm also watching with the sound off to start; I may go back and rewatch to check out the differences in the soundtracks.
Where to begin...?
Yes, there are embarrassing ways in which this program shows its age--but not too many. Japan was living the future in the early and middle 1960s (and for a good while afterwards); they had good reason to be proud of their technology and to show it off. You can forgive the reel-to-reel magnetic tape and little telescoping antennae everywhere...who knew what was to come? But at the same time you had a dichotomy of both high-future concepts (exploitation of the planets of the Solar System!) versus an all-too-cynical eye on how the real world works (smuggling, pollution, superpower nations with casual regard on the use of atomic weapons, etc.).
There are two kinds of monster on the loose in ULTRAMAN: those spawned by mankind's reckless treatment of the natural world, and those dumped on Earth by space beings who see mankind as a threat and want to beat the human race into submission. It's the job of the Science Patrol--and soon, the big man in silver and red--to fight back and restore peace and order. This formula begat a whole genre unto itself, tokusatsu, which endures still.
Which is available from These People, whose website isn't helpful enough yet.
Leaving aside the internal workings of a car for a moment to concentrate on the styling...if I got the AR Bodies Mustang shell to play with and lay on a chassis, how could I make the result more Capri-esque for my taste? Poking around Wikipedia overnight gave me the answers:
1) Ford Flex headlamp and front turn signal units
2) Mercury Milan grille, or possibly Mercury Mariner grille if that works better
3) Mercury Milan tail lamps, and possibly an adaptation of trunklid geometry to incorporate
4) rear BUBBLE glass ala post-1978 Corvette, Seventies/Eighties/Nineties Camaro/Firebird, Mercury LN7...and of course the Eighties American Capri...to replace the rear windshield/quarter windows arrangement on the Mustang.
For street legality sake, the result would likely need off-the-shelf bumpers. Probably Milan or Marquis units...or even Mercury SUV ones. Depends on what fits.
Wish I had the tools to explore this thought to its fill extent.
Old And Knew
Feb. 16th, 2011 01:58 pm
Since I had time to burn on Friday evening before the Hackerspaces meeting, I took a trip to Clinton to the comics shop there (Q.V. White Lightning Trail Stage Ⅱ) and found the Macross Guide Book. The owner-operator of the store didn't know what it was, so I was able to name my price and $10 was totally fair to him, in his opinion.
This doesn't complete my set. Don't you know there is no such thing as a "complete" set? ;)
FP
Writer's Block: Looney times
Jan. 30th, 2011 02:14 pmThe parts that loved Speed Racer and the parts that loved Battle of the Planets are having a lively quarrel at the moment. I'll wait till they quiet down before I get a firm answer.
* "Another Park, Another Sunday" by the Doobie Brothers (and I don't mind "Black Water" if you can somehow omit the fiddler)
* "Dreamer" by Supertramp
* "Help Me" by Joni Mitchell
* "How Long" by Ace
* "Killer Queen" by Queen
* "Radar Love" by Golden Earring
* "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night" by John Lennon
And there are a few others I've already shared with the Vending Machine of Awesome.
Residual Dreaming
Jan. 15th, 2011 01:47 pmA perverse form of car customization started in Scotland and spread worldwide thanks to a movie, or just a profile on Top Gear. Nostalgists were taking recent models of used cars and externally converting them into Beater lookalikes. Not to replicate specific models from the past, but to recreate the flavor of "good ol' days".
Let's use, as an example, a Mk I Ford Focus, from roughly six or seven years past. We remove the composite bumpers and replace them with squared-section metal ones ala the types from the VW Rabbit. The sleek headlamp arrangement would have to go, replaced with clunky quasi-chrome bezels housing round or square headlamps. The hood would be modified for air scoops and a blacked-out eggcrate grille. Turn signals in front would be in the shape of old rally spotlamps.
Fenders would be flared WAY WAY out to make use of extra-wide wheels and tires. The tires would be roughly the same kind as used on the pimped-out machines you see in America, but no fancy chrome wheels or spinning rims--the wheels themselves would be more utilitarian and likely light truck-based hardware. Loud, noisy exhaust pipes are a must for a machine of this custom as well.
In back, the stock taillamps would be replaced with the square, generic ones designed for use on trailer coaches. Again, the "organic" composite bumper would be replaced with a squared metal one.
Paint scheme would be calculated to evoke an old competition car from the small tracks scene of the previous decades. Bold racing stripes and number graphics, plus dozens of repro sponsor decals, including some from defunct companies, fill out the motif.
Not much is done with the interior, although creature comforts may be tweaked one way or another.
I like the idea but won't do it to Moonshine. Yes, I do love my car pretty much as it is, and don't want to change anything.
FP
