Last thing you Watched/Read.

[Fat Man]

Yesterday evening (Saturday November 28) from 10:30 PM to 12:00 Midnight, I watched the PBS Channel which was showing . . . . .

The War of the Worlds Live On Stage



It was a stage rendition of Jeff Wayne's musical version of the H.G. Wells novel that took place at London's Wembley Arena.

The War of the Worlds Live On Stage is a musical rock opera version of the movie War Of The Words.

The story is told by a narrator, and they have a full scale orchestra like you would see during a classical music concert, with a conductor waving his little baton and leading the orchestra which had violins, cellos, base violins, harps, drums, trumpets, and woodwind instruments, etc. etc. and also electronic keyboard instruments and electric guitars.

There were performers on stage playing various parts and singing, a soldier in military uniform with a rifle turning about aiming his rifle everywhere, and a huge panoramic screen behind the stage showing scenes of alien ships invading and the destruction of cities. There was even a full-scale mock-up of an alien machine hovering above the stage firing heat beams at the audience and if you were there, you would feel the uncomfortably warm heat from the beams. They even set off some explosions on the stage and there was some smoke. So, you would not only see and hear War Of the Worlds, but you would feel it, and even smell it! You would experience War Of The Worlds with all your senses. It was really intense!

It is a musical science fiction opera. A literate rock approach to a classical music type of performance.

It's been said that the performance would be actually somewhat frightening if you were there live.

Really cool!!!

Yeah, the performance was held at Wembley Arena in London.

About time they found a good use for a sports arena!

Of course, they didn't show the entire production on PBS, but mostly the highlights of the performance.

But in the meantime, here are some You Tube Videos in 10 parts, each video segment is 10 minutes long for a total of 100 minutes. It is well worth watching.

War Of The Worlds Live On Stage 2006 part 1 (The Eve Of The War)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBC7TnjHKGE

War Of The Worlds Live On Stage 2006 part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7v8IkfijSs&NR=1

War Of The Worlds Live On Stage 2006 part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MseFfI-6qCA&NR=1

War Of The Worlds Live On Stage 2006 part 4 (Forever Autumn)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3zjEWHX ... re=related

War Of The Worlds Live On Stage 2006 part 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU43yLeBwFA&NR=1

War Of The Worlds Live On Stage 2006 part 6 (The Red Weed)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SREtqMp ... re=related

War Of The Worlds Live On Stage 2006 part 7
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj4sLjfvYSQ&NR=1

War Of The Worlds Live On Stage 2006 part 8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZk3Y92fUac&NR=1

War Of The Worlds Live On Stage 2006 part 9 (Brave New World)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8NvHxyj ... re=related

War Of The Worlds Live On Stage 2006 part 10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0J7StHR ... re=related

During the PBS programing, they would take some "commercial breaks" not actually commercials but rather, they are trying to raise money to make it possible to show more productions like this one.

PBS use to receive Government funding, but that has stopped since the 1980s during the Reagan administration, so now, PBS has to depend on viewers donating money to PBS. Many people believed back then that PBS has a kind of "left-wing bias promoting the liberal agenda" but I have always seen it as educational programming.

PBS features such programs as NOVA and beck in the 1980s PBS broadcast Carl Sagan's COSMOS, a 13 part series on Astronomy.

Yeah, that's the "liberal agenda" teaching science and evolution that the universe is billions of years old, as opposed to the "?conservative agenda?" teaching that the universe is only 6,000 years old or that the earth is flat!!!???!!!

OK, I'm being sarcastic!

Anyway . . . . .

The live stage production of The War Of The Worlds was performed in the UK back in 2006, and over the past three years it has been shown in countries all over the world, except in the USA . . . until now.

So, last night, for the first time in the USA, it was shown on PBS, the only broadcast network that is willing to carry the show, because other networks has turned it down, and PBS has to beg for money to make the showing of such programming possible.

I never knew of the existence of this live performance, until last night.

Yeah! That's what I hate about being an American citizen!

We have no freedom anymore, and we don't know shit (except how to fold paper footballs) while all over the world everywhere else, people are more hip to what's going on.

I remember when I was a kid, when we only had a black & white TV with rabbit-ears and could only get 3 channels. Back then, the networks would have programming like The Philharmonic Orchestra which my mother and I enjoyed watching on TV. I was 10 years old, and I liked watching The Philharmonic Orchestra, the conductor waving his little baton leading the orchestra, and all those instrument playing. As a kid, I thought classical music was really cool!

And I think combining classical with rock, as is being done now, is also really cool!!!

The two just blend together so well.

So, back then, the 3 main networks, ABC, CBS, and NBC would carry such programming with classical music and stage performances.

Now, we have to go to PBS for that type of programming, and PBS has to beg for money!!!

Ah! But all the sports channels on cable TV are getting lots of money!

HEY HEY USA! HOW MANY MINDS ARE YOU KILLING TODAY???

OK, I'm done ranting now.

Anyway . . . . . you all can click on the You Tube links I have provided.

I hope those videos stay up, because I don't know, but they might be in copyright violation.

So, I have downloaded the videos so I can play them off line using my Real Player, that way, I have copies of the videos on my hard drive.

If you don't have the Mozilla Firefox Browser, then by all means, please do get it, and then you can download some plug-ins that will enable you to download and save You Tube videos to your computer.

In the meantime, just click o the You Tube links I have provided, and enjoy!!!

[Skul]

I hope those videos stay up, because I don't know, but they might be in copyright violation.

They've got ads on the pages with the videos, as well as the uploader's channel, so I don't think there'll be a problem with copyrights.

I don't have time, right now, but I'll be sure to watch it at some point.

[Skul]

Ho-ly crap! I just listened to one of the most epic things ever on YouTube.

The Metal Gear Solid 3 main theme orchestrated!

If you haven't heard the original, listen to this before listening to the orchestrated version:
Original game version (slow build up, then kicks in at 0:46)

The orchestrated version is just awesome! They've got clips from MGS3 and MGS4 interspersed, which is cool:
Eminence Orchestra verison

*Goes and listens to orchestra again*

[Earl]

Fat Man, thank you so much for the youtube video links! This is excellent! I've always loved War of the Worlds ever since I first read it at the age of 14, and I also loved the rock music album when it came out. Again, thanks!

[Fat Man]

This last Sunday evening at 11:00 PM I was watching The National Geographic Channel.

The Skyjacker That Got Away
Modern forensics attempts to crack the four-decade-old mystery of America's only unsolved hijacking.

This was about D B Cooper who hijacked a plane, demanded $200,000 dollars in cash, and a parachute, and when he got the cash and his parachute, he leaped out of the plane into the cold night air.

Nobody knows what ever happened to him. He has never been found. They think he's dead.

But I actually hope he's still alive somewhere.

Yes, he's a criminal and if caught, he deserves to do time.

But, I have to admit, I do admire D B Cooper.

He didn't harm anyone, nobody was injured or harmed in any way, and he has become something of a folk hero. Yeah, I look up to him as a kind of hero, even though he broke the law.

Hey! At least he wasn't a pedophile or a rapist. I believe pedophiles who molest children and rapists should get the death penalty. If you harm children or harm anyone smaller and weaker than you are, then you're scum, and deserve to die.

But, I admire rebels, people who rebel against the establishment. The establish is actually becoming more criminal. Society allows athletes to commit violent crimes and get away with it. The schools allow jocks to bully the other students around. The establishment inflicts injuries on people who are the least able to defend themselves.

Some football player gets a 5 million dollar contract just to chase a ball, then he rapes somebody, but he only gets a slap on the wrist. Not even that. Instead he gets a pat on the back and a brand new car for free.

So, compared to the establishment, and the monkey-boys, D B Cooper was a good guy!

And he only asked for $200,000 dollars.

He only hijacked a plane, and asked for money and a parachute, and took his leave and nobody was hurt in the least. He was even polite to everyone on the plane.

Anyway . . . . .

There are even some songs about D B Cooper.

Todd Snider - D.B. Cooper (Studio Version)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O98qL40EtEg

D B Cooper

D.B Cooper was 43 when we first heard his name
47 miles away from where he fell down to his fame
But he told me that the hardest part wasn't really jumping out of the plane
It was spending the night watching those lights
Shine through the pouring rain

They had a man hunt that next morning like nothing I had ever seen
I was only 8 years old at the time watching on a TV screen
They were saying he was never gonna make it now, now that daylight had set in
But later that night they were shining those lights
Down on the mountain again

Not far away from the City of Roses
They all watched those lights up through the rain
For D.B. Cooper

The cops blocked off all the exit roads and turned loose all of the hounds
They even dragged the river up a couple of times to see if he had drowned
With all those men working overtime they swore they would bring him down
But a parachute and a few hundred dollars
Was all that they ever found

Not far away from the City of Roses
They all watched those lights up through the rain

Now some people say that he died up there somewhere in the rain and the wind
Other people say that he got away but then his girlfriend did him in
The law men say if he is out there someday they're gonna drag him in
As for me, I hope they never see
D.B. Cooper again

Not far away from the City of Roses
A light shined from a house out in the rain
It was D.B. Cooper
Drinking champagne
Drinking champagne

Here's another version of a D B Cooper song.

D.B. Cooper (original song)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lXrc_jkM2M

(Verse 1)
Where the hell is D.B. Cooper?
His plot went down the pooper
Did he fall in the grass?
Did he fall flat on his ass?
He took the money attempted to fly
On the way down did he cry?
Saw his doom at 30,000 feet
Then his face met the concrete

Hiking up the skirt of the flight attendant
Now no-one can be his defendant
Before he jumped he held his parachute
and looked over at the captain and pinched out a toot....
it smelled like fruit.

(Verse 2)
Some stupid kid found the money
Smelled it like a bee smells honey
Walked around and felt like a champ
With cash now useless and damp
A lonely hunter walked down a creek
Stopped a second to take a leak
Saw a sign down by his feet
The kind you see on an airplane seat

Then the search began for the missing hijacker
Descriptions said he was a cracker
With beady eyes and a big forehead
and cheeks so sunken in it looks like he's dead...
let's sleep in his bed.

(Verse 3)
One or two decades went by
Why they closed the case we don't know why
No-one else will do what he's done
It's strange nobody found a gun
Yet, where he is now, nobody knows
You only hear of him on TV shows
These kinds of mysteries can't go wrong
It took me two months to write this song.

D.B. Cooper's buried in a nowhere graveyard
Maybe he's in a vineyard
Gettin' shitfaced off of pinot noir
and loving the attention from the TV
he feels like a star

And another version, but I can't find any lyrics to this one.

DB COOPER JUMP( SONG)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo50ersQINY

[Lewis]

Paranormal Activity, I thought it was quite good.

[Sergey]

Fat Man? You like the animations for Beavis and Butt-Head? But... animation sucks! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYDngZx4 ... re=related

[Polite24]

Fat Man, I read your book review and it did look like a very interesting book and one I'd actually consider reading. Could something like that happen in the future? It's an interesting question, as I was just thinking the other day how almost everything these days is automated and so much communication is on the computer instead of in real life, preventing people from developing true social skills. Maybe it's because I didn't live then but nothing seems as lively as it used to be.

Thank you!

Now we're getting somewhere!

You ask, if something like that could really happen in the future.

Well, if your question is in reference to the level of decadence and shallow-mindedness of people in that future society a thousand years from now, yes, I believe that it could happen, just as depicted in the science fiction novel, NOAH II.

In fact, it's beginning to happen now.

I'm guessing that you're about 18 or 19 years old right now.

When I was that age, I was very intensely aware of the political climate of the times, back in the 1960s and 1970s. When I turned 18, I was afraid that I might get drafted and have to fight in Viet Nam. Back then, an 18 year old did not have the right to vote, but we could get drafted. Another words, 18 was that awkward age. Old enough to kill or die, but not old enough to vote.

My generation, we took to the streets protesting against our involvement in Viet Nam, and we protested to have the voting age lowered from 21 to 18 because we felt that if we were old enough to get drafted and get killed fighting in some stupid war, we should be considered old enough to vote.

By the time an 18 year old was finally allowed to vote, I was 20 years old, so I never got a chance to vote at 18, even though I was among those fighting for our right to vote.

So, my generation, we were very much involved in political issues. Many of us didn't didn't care about sports. We only cared about political issues. We stood up against racism, we protested the war, and many of my generation got clubbed over the head with billy-clubs by the police, so we had to protest against police brutality.

Back in the early 1970s on Kent State Campus, collage students protesting against the war were shot by police, and some even died while protesting the war.

Of course, back then, all the sports fans were safe, and the jocks were allowed to run rough-shod all over the schools and bully the other students around, and if you were a sports fan or a jock, you were considered a patriot, and if you didn't like sports, you were called a Commie!

Back then, we didn't have home computers or PCs. Only the Government, some businesses, the military, and NASA had computers, but in 1972 the first pocket calculators came out, and electronic digital watches. Back then, a computer was rows of large cabinets with circuit boards inside with transistors, resisters, diodes, and capacitors mounted on them, and the cabinets had multi-colored lights flashing, and reel-to-reel memory tapes on them. A typical computer back then would fill and entire room.

And rap was not music. To rap simply meant having a discussion, or rap session.

But I see today's younger people in their late teens and 20s as being rather shallow. In my generation, when we were only in our late teens and early 20s we were already political animals. Back then, politics was a sport.

HEY HEY LBJ! HOW MANY KIDS DID YOU KILL TO DAY???

HELL NO! WE WON'T GO!

Then there was Watergate, and good ol' Tricky Dicky. That was President Richard Nixon.

Yeah, my generation, we were real political animals!

But today's younger generation, so many of you are shallow compared to my generation, especially the sports fans.

Now, even the art of conversation is dead.

But it's not all due to having home computers or the Internet. The Internet is actually a good thing, because we wouldn't be having this discussion if it weren't for the Internet.

No, what I really mean to say is, that the art of conversation is dead, even when going out with friends to eat in a restaurant.

It use to be, after a meal, we sat around drinking coffee, and discussing the social or political issues of the day, or anything of interest, which sometimes did include sports, but we also discussed other issues.

But now, you go into a restaurant, they have a big flat screen TV on with the volume up full blast, and it always has a football game on.

We can no longer sit around the table with friends and hold an intelligent conversation because the TV is blasting too fucking loud. It use to be mostly in bars, but now, it's even happening in family restaurants. Everything is being taken over by sports to the point where the art of conversation is dead.

We can't hold any kind of intelligent conversation.

We have to sit there with our mouths shut and listen to . . . . .

DUH UH HUH! HE THROWED THAT BALL REAL FAR! HE KICKED THAT BALL REAL HARD! HE PLAYS REAL GOOD! DUH HUH HUH HUH!!!

Now, I don't mind people watching a game, but does the volume have to be so fucking loud that friends can't hold an intelligent conversation around the table???

It's another way of controlling us, to take away our freedom, another form of censorship. You see, they don't want people holding conversations and talking among themselves about various issues. It's probably because they're afraid we'll plot against the government, so sports is played really loud, and we all have to shut up and listen to drooling moronic monkey-boys.

Our society is becoming more and more decadent. We are no longer allowed to think for ourselves. We are required to let those in power do all the thinking for us. In another century or so, we will be well on the way to the kind of society as depicted in NOAH II.

So yes, Mr. Polite24, something like the society as depicted in the novel could very well happen.

It's happening now!

Couple points....

Rap wasn't considered music because it really hadn't got off the ground yet. No rap isn't singing, but it isn't talking either. It takes a lot of lyrical ability to make what would be considered a good rap song.

People watch and talk about sports to get their mind off things that are more important and more serious. And because they probably enjoyed playing sports as a kid/young adult, and it's a way to keep the game in their life.

Outside of that, yeah the 60/70's were a crazy time. Things have cooled down quite a bit since then. Bit more relaxed now.

[Sergey]

We need titans to take out these crazy bores, nothing in the jocks power can stop battle titans!

[Katrin]

Yes, I'm sure they'll make all the difference. Look out jocks... PAYBACK TIME. *zap*
[2 seconds later]
*Jock puts fist through computer screen*
Oh crud.

[Katrin]

By the way, the last thing I watched was FOOTBALL. I think spots are starting to grow on me.
oh no... *sports*. Sorry. But first one still applies. Now where's my cream?

[Earl]

To each his (or her) own.

[Lewis]

Avatar, a very good film.

[i_like_1981]

Full Metal Jacket. Stanley Kubrick's war masterpiece from 1987.
A LOT of swearing, shooting and abuse but nonetheless compelling viewing.

Best regards,
i_like_1981

[Lewis]

District 9, thought it was very good.