From geekology, Two Russian scientists claim that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a particle accelerator in Switzerland, may be the world's first time machine. They're in the process of trying to recreate a miniature Big Bang. They're not sure exactly what will happen, but my guess is destroy the planet somehow. The first particle smash goes down in May, and they believe it may create a rip in the fabric of time, making time travel possible. I don't know about all that, but one time I did an experiment where I collided a subatomic toot with the particles of my jeans, creating a rip in the fabric of Levi's. But there wasn't any time traveling afterwards, just a stench and a pair of smoldering pants.
[JPX] asks, where have I seen this before? Oh yeah,
First I'd watch the final Beatles concert, then I'd go visit baby Hitler
46 comments:
That sequence of photos is so funny I can't stop laughing.
"There, Lord Vader, you see? She can be reasonable. You may fire when ready."
"What—?"
"You're far too trusting. Dantooine is too remote to make an effective demonstration. But don't worry; we shall deal with your rebel friends soon enough."
"No...!"
"Commence primary ignition."
"JO-JO WAS A MAN WHO THOUGHT HE WAS A LONER...BUT HE KNEW IT WOULDN'T LAST...JO-JO LEFT HIS HOME IN TUCSON ARIZONA FOR SOME CALIFORNIA GRASS...GET BACK! GET BACK! GET BACK TO WHERE YOU ONCE BELONGED..."
Now I have "Get Back" stuck in my head.
which is a good thing.
Nice job on the dialogue!
It's like "The Knights who say 'Ni'" (where the joke is the way the 'victims' recoil as if saying 'Ni' were harmful in some way):
The Empire has a devastating new weapon: upon its being fired, the Beatles play four songs on the roof of Abbey Road Studios on January 30th 1969!
That would be better than the Ewok celebration!
Have you ever seen Let it Be? I've never seen it, although a lot of it is on the excellent Beatles documentary that came out a while ago. I can't even find a bootleg of this film, I wonder what the hold-up is?
"Jub-jub... Jub-jub." "Jub-jub."
You know what's especially annoying about that Ewok crap? It's that they're actually trying to make it make sense. During the early scenes, where Carrie Fisher is ad-libbing with the first Ewok ("Cut it out!" "Look, it's a hat" etc.) and later, when they've got Luke and Han tied to branches for the world's longest unfunny scene, it's established that the Ewoks say "Jub-jub" meaning "good" or "This is good." So of course, when the entire Galactic Empire falls, the Ewoks have a little song for the occasion, in which they sing (translated from the Ewok): "Good...good! Good! [This is] good."
Honestly, sometimes I think Sith is better than Jedi because of crap like this.
Oh I absolutely believe Sith is better than Jedi. I love Jedi but I can't get past the Ewoks the same way I can't get past the Gungans.
Sith is jub jub.
Thanks, now I have that stuck in my head instead of Get Back.
I have seen it. The hold-up is that they won't release it; they don't want us to see it. Why? I'll give you one guess and it starts with "Y."
Damnit! It's a fascinating film because they accidentally caught the breakup of The Beatles, right? Is she holding it up because she comes off badly? God, I hope she dies before Paul so all this nonsense will cease. How awful it must be for Paul and Ringo to have to deal with her when her only connection to the band was being someone's wife.
Allow me to elaborate: The film shows the Beatles bitterly arguing, and is a particularly unflattering view of Yoko (who sits next to John the whole time, gazing stupidly at him the way she does in the "Imagine" video, later).
It makes them look bad, in other words. Otherwise there'd be the usual solemn, expensive "Fortieth Anniversary Golden Commemorative Blu-Ray Extended Collector's Special Edition" and all.
I love imagining a parallel universe where these things go the other direction. Lavish commemorative box-sets of The Star Wars Christmas Special! And, in Berlin, statues of Hitler! Streets named after Stalin in Moscow! (Okay, they did that, but then they changed their minds.)
Here's a clip: Paul sings "Let it Be."
Go get a sweater, because you'll get major chills, it's so good. I'm not even kidding.
That's what I suspected! I wonder if she is able to look at that film now and realize what a shit-head she was. I want to see a deleted scene where Paul hauls off and smacks her yelling, "Get the fuck out of here!" and John, coming to his senses, seconds the motion with a threat to smack her again is she doesn't leave immediately.
Meanwhile Heather Mills turned down an offer of $110 million from Paul stating that she wants more. Okay, now my heart is racing with rage.
I'd pick up a commemorative Star Wars Holiday Special just to have the Boba Fett cartoon!
Ugh, of course my work is blocking it from me! Did you see the 2003 Beatles Anthology? That'll give you chills over and over again.
The whole movie's on YouTube, in nine parts!
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Yeah; I LOVE Anthology. All three double-disc sets and all the video. Pure gold.
Awesome, thanks, man! I'm going to watch it this weekend, sweet!
Man, now I'm in the mood to listen to The Beatles. JSP and I often rank all their albums. I think we both put Sgt. Peppers and Magical Mystery Tour at the top. What's your favorite?
Interesting question. I like to think of it as comparable to Woody Allen's career:
Allen made "Annie Hall," his creative breakthrough. Brilliant; fun; heartbreaking; in color; put him on the map. Academy Awards for best screenplay, actress, director; nominated for picture." Then, Allen made "Manhattan." Black-and-white; dazzling; spellbindingly good; in fact, a superior work of art. But if you had to pick one for the time capsule, it would be "Annie Hall."
The Beatles made "Sgt. Pepper's" their creative breakthrough. Brilliant; fun; heartbreaking; beautiful color sleeve. Then, they made "The Beatles" (the "White Album") Dazzling; spellbindingly good; in fact, a superior work of art. Black-and-white sleeve. But if you had to pick one for the time capsule, it would be "Sgt. Pepper's."
I've always felt that within the double record White Album that there is 1 perfect album but a number of the tracks could be tossed. The good tracks, though [shiver].
Regarding Woody Allen, just last night Whirlygirl (who is systematically going through all of Woody Allen's films)and I discussed our favorite. She picked Manhattan and I picked Annie Hall. I probably have a bias towards Annie Hall because it's my parents' favorite film and it played often in our home when I was growing up.
Lots of people make that "pare it down to one disc" argument about "The Beatles." I emphatically disagree. You need the 80-minute exhaustive kaleidoscopic effect. It's part of the album's power: every kind of song is there, and the narrative flow from "Back in the U.S.S.R." straight through to "Good Night" is amazing.
There are also people who skip "Revolution 9," which is exactly like watching 2001: A Space Odyssey" and skipping the "Star Gate" sequence.
You need all four sides, exactly as they are.
I'm eagerly awaiting JSP to wake up and turn on his computer so he can add to this discussion. JSP's mother-in-law saw the Beatles in concert!
I wouldn't want to mess with their artistic vision, but I just don't dig all the tracks on the White Album as a whole. Don't get me wrong, some of their best tunes ever come from this album, but still I find myself skippping over certain songs such as "Honey Pie" Disk 1 plays almost perfectly for me but Disk 2 has some problems (IMHO). Of course, this is like arguing about Monet's Water Lillies or Houses of Parliament, it's all good.
Disc: 1
1. Back in the U.S.S.R.
2. Dear Prudence
3. Glass Onion
4. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
5. Wild Honey Pie
6. Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
7. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
8. Happiness Is a Warm Gun
9. Martha My Dear
10. I'm So Tired
11. Blackbird
12. Piggies
13. Rocky Raccoon
14. Don't Pass Me By
15. Why Don't We Do It in the Road?
16. I Will
17. Julia
Disc: 2
1. Birthday
2. Yer Blues
3. Mother Nature's Son
4. Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey
5. Sexy Sadie
6. Helter Skelter
7. Long, Long, Long
8. Revolution 1 - The Beatles, Nicky Hopkins
9. Honey Pie
10. Savoy Truffle
11. Cry Baby Cry
12. Revolution 9
13. Good Night
But "Honey Pie" is important because it's McCartney's first "one man band" song (Paul on every track), and as such it's the beginning of an explosively creative trend for him. His first solo album ("McCartney," 1970) has Paul on every track, recorded totally on his farm. (Linda sings backup vocals here and there.) And it all goes back to "Honey Pie" (and "Why Don't We Do it in the Road," with McCartney's sharp drumming). So there.
I can't think of a single track on disc 2 I would remove. Scanning over the list just confirms that.
Don't forget the "hidden" join track after "Cry Baby Cry": McCartney's ditty (or "diddy") that goes "Can you take me back where I come from/Can you take me home?" Right before the lonely piano that starts Revolution 9.
And those guitars at the beginning of "Me and My Monkey" tear through the speakers like machetes! Not to mention Paul's bass mimicry of George's guitar at the beginning of "Birthday" or the harmonics at the end of "Long, Long, Long."
Damn, I left my IPOD at home, which has all the Beatles albums on it. I need to listen to the White Album again to remind myself of the tracks I'm not so fond of.
My iPhone has the complete Beatles on it!
(Along with, currently, Beowulf, I Am Legend, The Godfather and Star Wars.)
Jesus Christ I need to get an iPhone! Would you recommend it?
Excellent! Beatles discussion! I really need to bite the bullet and buy Please Please Me because it's the only album of theirs I don't own.
Regarding the White Album, I've always lumped it in the overrated category and much prefer Revolver, Rubber Soul and Magical Mystery Tour (the album, not the loathseome movie). But when I glanced down the track list a minute ago I felt shame. Sexy Sadie and Long, Long, Long are just beautiful. Still, I could do without Back in the USSR (too Beach Boysy for my blood). And Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da never did much for me, (not that I ever did anything for it..)
I was thrilled to discover Beatles For Sale last year because I didn't expect to hear great Beatles songs I hadn't heard before. I absolutely love No Reply and What You're Doing.
Jordan, is that McCartney album worth picking up? I've always kept a safe distance from most of his solo material.
Sgt. Peppers is the best of the best though, the whole album is pure magic. Anyone else notice the irritating trend in recent years to rewrite history and name Revolver as their masterpiece?
1) "Back in the U.S.S.R." is a deliberate Beach Boys satire. Remember that the two bands were considered to be "in competition" at the time (following "Pet Sounds" and "Sgt. Pepper.") But the subversive cold-war twist puts you "through the looking glass" immediately. Plus, as Sgt. Pepper begins with the crowd and the orchestra, White Album begins almost hallucinogenically with the scream of the jet engines. Like Gravity's Rainbow: "A screaming comes across the sky."
2) I reiterate that the White Album (in my opinion) is as tuned and balanced as a Japanese Bonzai garden; I can't even think about messing with it. But maybe that's just me.
3) McCartney's '70s solo output is, in my opinion, a treasure trove. Albums like "Band On The Run," "Ram," "London Town" and "Wings at the Speed of Sound" are constantly playing at my house.
4) The iPhone is doubleplusgood.
5) Hey, JSP, what'd you think of "The Naked Time?"
Plus, "Back in the U.S.S.R" has that sublime crossfade from the jet engines at the end to the acoustic arpeggios (based on a guitar chord chart) of Lennon's song about Mia Farrow's sister, "Dear Prudence."
Trying to get me to see any flaws in the White Album is pretty much a lost cause.
Additionally, you know what's a great Beatles album? "Help!" I've recently discovered just how good that one is.
"...as tuned and balanced as a Japanese Bonzai garden." That's the best analogy I think I've ever heard!
For the rest of the day I'm listening to nothing but the Beatles, beginning with the White Album.
Thanks, the 70's McCartney music will be my next objective. To be honest, the only post Beatles album that's ever blown me away is All Things Must Pass.
I love Lennon's Starting Over (without the Yoko tracks, of course).
Paul can still write a good tune. I love "Vanilla Sky".
JSP commented on "The Naked Time" on the "Trek update" thread.
(*ahem*) "The Naked Time"
Gotcha. Sorry...
you boys all know if mccartney tours again to drop everything and go see him live no matter what.
The question is will he tour again? After AC's glowing review of his last tour I'm ready to drop some serious coin for tickets.
By the way, Radiohead just announced a North American tour but as of yet there are no dates listed for either coast. Lousy Texas...
YES! Radiohead tour. Oh boy. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE that new album.
So then I figured - why not make it 39 comments?
Yeah, I've been careful not to overplay In Rainbows but I'd rank it their best since Kid A. There's something so dream-like, slow motion and serene about the overall sound and mood.
Would you really pick the Let it Be gig if you could only go to one Beatles show? They only played a handful of tunes and only from that album.
I wasted the last 20 minutes trying to find the set list for their last official concert in 1966to no avail.
Only if I could be up there on the roof with them!
No, I would go to Shea Stadium, the Hollywood Bowl, the MBE Royal Command Performance or the Ed Sullivan debut.
None of their sets were particularly long. It was very difficult for them, since the technology of the day wasn't built to handle stadiums full of continuously screaming teenagers.
That's the problem, people who attended those concerts will say that they couldn't hear anything. I'd rather be on the roof listening to them jam, even for 1 song.
Yeah.
45!
Holy cats! I can't believe you guys! What a great discussion.
I often like to say "It turns out the monkey was hiding something" but nobody ever gets it.
I agree with Jordan that I wouldn't want to change the White Album one bit (and I really like Back in the U.S.S.R.); listening to the whole thing is like listening to The Wall in one sitting (if you'll forgive the comparison). A singular experience.
However, for plain old listening back to front, Magical Mystery Tour is my personal fave. I just love every song on there. Even with Sgt. Peppers, I sometimes find myself skipping over Good Morning when I'm not in the mood.
Post a Comment