...or so implies Google: their flying saucer logo-of-the-day leads to a search on that phrase. That this occurrence is itself unexplained is presumably part of the point, although Illuminati buffs will no doubt be eager to point out the significance of the number 5* in their mythos.

Today is also kosaginolegion 's birthday. I do not regard this combination of facts as a non sequitur.

*And, having checked my tag list, I note that I happen to have 17 entries (although this will be my 18th) and 23 tags--still other significant Illuminati numbers.  Damn.

YouTube is a merry media mosh pit for the worst and the best (and the most mediocre) of what happens when human imagination is presented with audiovisual technology, an arena, and no editor.  Unsurprisingly, it's a showcase for Sturgeon's Law, but also for bits of retrieved memory and works of brilliance that make sifting through the dorky karaoke and home movies more than worth the annoyance.

This animated AMV for Vaughn Monroe's rendition of "Ghost Riders in the Sky", the work of one Pukipu, is one that I've come to regard as the definitive video for the song in question; the stiff, minimal, and primitive flavor of the animation somehow seems perfectly of a piece with the period setting, and its repetitiveness serves the incantatory nature of the song. More than that, it struck me somehow as having an unassailable rightness; the imagery was somehow hauntingly reminiscent of a memory I was at a loss to place.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xsfw9CEQITA

A discussion of favorite childhood TV commercials over on dungeonwriter 's blog helped supply the missing piece of the puzzle; this haunting PSA from the late 60's (the narrative Voice of Impending Doom is variously suspected of being either James Earl Jones or Thurl "Tony the Tiger" Ravenscroft) was the stuff of nightmares to a lot of people in the late Baby Boom/early Gen-X age bracket :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWm6PUGpfVU

Pukipu (if their userinfo is accurate) is Brazilian, and too young to remember the ad, making it an unlikely influence; nonetheless, I find the resemblance striking.

...namely, ratmmjess . (Gratuitous Literary Fun Fact: you share your birthday with Neville Longbottom, the Spare to the Prophecy from the Harry Potter books.) (1)

(To others who may be reading, this seems like a suitable point at which to note that Jess's second massive pop-cultural Junior Woodchucks' Guide, The Encyclopedia of Pulp Heroes, is in search of a publisher.  MonkeyBrain Books, publisher of its predecessor, The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana (2), is apparently very much a mom-and-pop operation and a labor of love, and one of its operators is now devoting his time chiefly to his own writing career; Jess explains the situation further here: ratmmjess.livejournal.com/217198.html


I myself have no particular clout in publishing circles, but perhaps the blogosphere and the Six Degrees of Connection may bring this to the ears of friends of friends.)

(1) As well as Henry Ford, Laurence Fishburne, and Der Gubernator.

(2) Which volume is highly regarded by those lucky enough to have snagged a copy, and commands impressive prices on Amazon and Ebay; any publisher caring to reprint that book as well ( perhaps as a trade paperback?) would find a ready readership.


(Soon following, when I have the time to unleash a Teal Deer Stampede, will be a list of the things I've read thanks to your influence.)

...To

dr_hermes , International Man of Mondo Media!

 

(I seem to recall the date from a prior edition of your user info; if I'm mistaken, or if you'd prefer that your birthday go unmentioned, please correct me.)

...Which means that two cultures are celebrating what I hope will be the first of many happy birthdays to Henry Ian Nevins. (Not coincidentally,  today marks the conclusion to what I suspect has been the longest year in

ratmmjess 's life.)

 

I can't claim to possess a parent's (much less a baby's) eye, but here are some possible video pacifiers:

Hamtaro AMV to the Hamsterdance (warning for graphic kawaii content): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwSBwOmOkso

Algorithm March, solo and with ninja: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84wDrNg7foQ

The Nairobi Trio (graphic gorilla and weirditude content): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoLTFQsFswM

During the course of a Fanficrant (community.livejournal.com/fanficrants/8042596.html) concerning anachronisms committed by younger writers of Watchmen fic, I happened to remark offhandedly that "(1970 and 1985, from the standpoint of the turn-of-the millennium generation) both fall within the Like So Before I Was Born Era, along with Shakespeare, tyrannosaurs, and zeppelins."

Be careful what you say in the earshot of fans: okelay   then demanded a fic involving all three.

xvmorganalefayv , (after exacting a promise of future pie) thereupon complied:  feeduswithlies.livejournal.com/2973.html 

(One of the icons I'm going to have to get drawn up and installed, along with the Teal Deer, is an ox pulling a delivery cart full of Plot Bunny Chow.)

(A tip of the fluffy pink-plumed chapeau to  tiferet for the heads-up.)

Today is an occasion for bloggers to honor a founding mother of a technology that would offer all sorts of disenfranchised people rooms (and podiums) of their own...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Lovelace

...and, by extension, women in technology in general. 

Whereupon I wave to  kosaginolegion , whose patient tutelage introduced me to what has become the dominant medium of the 21st century, who's taken a special interest in the Countess for a variety of  reasons eventually to be revealed, and who, no doubt, would like everyone within earshot to know that computer 3-D graphic technology is an artistic tool, dammit, not a freakin' Easy Button.

...says ratmmjess, who is at once flattered and taken aback to be honored in this peculiar fashion:

        ratmmjess.livejournal.com/208383.html

Of course, it could be argued that a man who annotates The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, writes the equivalent of The Junior Woodchucks' Guide to Victorian Genre Fiction, and celebrates things like Six-Gun Gorilla and Zeppelin Stories is bound to attract the sort of fandom he deserves (and no--I'm not the perpetrator.)
 

A black President;
Digital television; 
Now, where's my jetpack?

Ganked and adapted from ratmmjess  :

To the Paternal Unit (U.S. Navy, Korean War era):  Thank you.

To the Babbit's Paternal Unit: (U.S. Army, Vietnam War): Thank you.

To my landlord (U.S. Navy, WWII): Thank you.

To William Tenn, ne' Phil Klass (U.S. Army, WWII): Thank you.

...Well, I didn't.

In a scenario that someone out there needs to enact in an MMORPG and post on Youtube, somehedgehog portrays the 2008 U.S. Presidential campaign as a Dungeons and Dragons game: 

somehedgehog.livejournal.com/245807.html

In keeping with her fundamentalist Christian beliefs, GOP Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin has received a blessing against witchcraft from the Kenyan minister Thomas Muthee (the specific reference occurs at about 1:45):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwkb9_zB2Pg

A possibility that neither Governor Palin nor the Reverend Muthee seems to have anticipated: would this spiritual protection also nullify supportive witchcraft by Palin sympathizers?  (See "The Pagan Temple"'s comment in the thread below.)

http://www.neopagan.net/blog/?p=218#comments

(My long-held suspicion is that the "Go figure" demographic, whether it be on the Red, Blue, Green, or Tie-Dye sides of the Force, is persistently underestimated.)

Happy birthday to kosaginolegion  , who, undeterred by the 1:00 AM angsting spells,  the glycemic funks,  and the occasions on which I demonstrate signs of having been raised by basement-dwelling wolves,  has been returning for periodic bouts of my company since 1988.

Why?  I suspect her answer might be, "That's a secret."

( This 2008 Beijing Olympic promo )</div>  premiered about a month ago on BBC television.

(And I can't be the only one to have thought of this character when Li Ning flew up to run a lap around the IMAX against the stylized cloud backdrop.)

Courtesy of kosaginolegion , who no doubt expected me to rise to the bait:


1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.
5) Underscore any items that you loved.
6) Use an X to mark any items that you can't eat for medical or religious reasons.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

This golden combination of circumstances has finally occurred:

Cityscape's Fourth of July weekend fireworks display...

...taking place on the Third of July, which is also a weeknight...

...on which University of Dayton's Roesch Library, all seven stories of it, happens to be open until 11 P.M.

Courtesy of kosaginolegion :

The Big Read thinks the average adult has only read six of the top 100 books they've printed below.

Bold the titles you've read; underline the ones you loved; italicize the ones you plan to read; strike out the ones you hated or have no intention of ever reading.