Hayden Planetarium Letters from 1950

In the old but new to me department, check out these amazing letters solicited by the Hayden Planetarium in 1950 to promote their "Conquest of Space" exhibit.

Here's my favorite:

Why didn't anyone tell me there were dinosaurs living on Venus?

Now That's What I Call A Doctor Who Quote!

Doctor Who mega-fan Blogtor Who has created a trailer for a fake (sadly at the moment) Doctor Who album. It's pretty fantastic.

The good Blogtor's youtube channel has timey-wimey clips, interviews and audio commentary definitely worth checking out. You should follow them on the twitter @blogtorwho.

Snowflame, "It's a hell of a drug"

In 1988 DC Comics introduced probably one of the weirdest super-villans ever. Snowflame, the man whose superpowers were fueled by cocaine. Let's see...

Powers:

1. Superhuman Strength
2. Superhuman Speed
3. Immunity to Pain
4. Pyrokinesis (THEY NEVER TOLD ME COCAINE DID THAT IN HEALTH CLASS!)

Religion: Cocaine worship? Weird. Well, you know what they say*. This odd one comes to you through William Gibson's twitter account, which is always worth a look.

*GiantDorkgasm.com does not endorse or encourage the worship or use of cocaine, especially for any super-villainous purposes.

Harry Potter: Abridged

Harry Potter: Abridged (1-7) Part 1

There is nothing more I can say except go watch this right now, damnit.

Run DMC: Christmas in Hollis vs. Clarence Carter: Backdoor Santa

So here we are. Day after Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, because they all drank too much wine and ate way too much last night. Well I did anyhow. Regardless, in my post gluttony stupor this week let's take a listen to "Christmas In Hollis" by Run-D.M.C. It samples  most prominently from the 1968 song "Backdoor Santa" as well as "Jingle Bells", "Frosty the Snowman" and "Joy to the World".

Maybe I shoulda
sung some Clarence
Carter to Demi :(

Now, you all know the staples. "Frosty"? Yeah, "Jingle Bells" sure, "Joy to the World", yurp. But do you know Clarence Carter's 1968 song "Backdoor Santa"? I bet you don't but you should. And you're gonna soon. But first we're going give the man a little airtime cause between 1968 and 2007 this dude has recorded and released 28 albums. And it's mostly great stuff. On the early album This is Clarence Carter he belts out straight up soul with a strong and yet ragged voice, singing mostly about love and doin' it. Pure makeout material here. My favorite track from what I've listened to so far is the single "Slip Away".


All that said, "Backdoor Santa" doesn't get nearly enough play time on the radio during this time of year. Check it out and make it part of your holiday playlist.



Back to Run-D.M.C. though. "Christmas in Hollis" was released in 1987 off the album A Very Special Christmas (CD/MP3) but oddly reached its peak on the Billboard charts thirteen years later in 2000. There's not a lot of substance here besides the Clarence Carter sample but hey, I'm no Grinch. It's a feel-good song with a goofy-ass video. Check it out:

Hope everyone got some good loot under the tree and gets some rest this week. I should win an award of some kind for not mentioning this song's appearance in Die Hard at all in this post - Fuck. Oh well.

Peace out with merriment and mirth y'all.

Daily Dorkgasm

Merry Christmas! Not one, but TWO nerdy trailers in the same week! I'm losing my shit!

The Dark Knight Rises

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Tumblr Tuesday

This week's tumblr reminds me what so many of my favorite fictional characters have in common.

They all wear the same shoes.

Characters in Converse is a tumblr that, sadly, hasn't been updated in a little while, but seems pretty thorough. It's exactly what it sounds like, so prepare to see feet. Liz Lemon's feet. Ten's feet. Veronica Mars's feet. Pretty much everybody's feet.

Real shoes. Fake people.

Daily Dorkgasm: Holidays

Holidays with Comics Vol. 2

Busta Rhymes: Grinch 2000 vs. Thurl Ravenscroft: You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch

I'm a Redbone Coonhound,
did y'all know that?

It's holiday time here at the MuZack column and that means for the next two weeks we're doing it up holiday style. If you're like me you probably think that Hollywood is off its collective rocker with every creative and inspired batshit-insane, drug-addled remake they plumb from the depths of our childhood memories. So, bearing that in mind you can see why I refused to acknowledge the existence of the remake of the greatest damn Christmas TV/movie production of all time. (No not Die Hard, that's #2 on the list.)

This week we're having a listen to Busta Rhymes' track "Grinch 2000" off of the soundtrack for How the Grinch Raped My Childhood Stole Christmas (2000, starring Jim Carrey) which borrows a lot of music from "You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch". However! First! Because I'm a curmudgeon and want to learn your brain somethin', we're gonna take a peek at some of the talent behind the original 1966 production of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Particularly the deep dark bass voice of a man whose parents badassedly named him Thurl Ravenscroft. (Take note, rappers with weak sauce names.)

I am Seal and I approve
this message

Besides singing "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" (check out a cover by Electric Six here), Thurl was also the voice of Tony the Tiger and even though he never found huge success as a recording artist there are a few cool tracks out there featuring his bassoon-like crooning. My favorite is probably The Headless Horseman, a great Halloween tune for sure. Asleep In the Deep is another that gets my seal of approval. Good on ya Thurl, rest in peace.

Right. So let's get back to How the Grinch Stole Christmas 2000 edition. Meh. Fuck it. Let's just say that this Busta Rhymes/Jim Carrey collaboration was the only good thing to come out of it and be done. Here it is. Take a listen:



Happy holidays y'all. May as well go pick up a copy of How the Grinch Stole Christmas for all of your loved ones.

God I am soooooo much better
than that goof Jim Carrey! Am I rite?

Mugshot Monday

I'm sorry your feelings were hurt, Jennifer.

A reader sent us a sketch of Jennifer Harris and suggested her for our Mugshot Monday column.

Jennifer Harris lives in Iowa. She's 30. She used to be friends with Nikki Rasumssen. She used to say pretty mean stuff about Nikki on Facebook.

Then Nikki unfriended her.

But that wasn't enough for Nikki.

Oh no.

Nikki Rasumssen BLOCKED Jennifer Harris. That's just the ultimate in total evil mean no-good things to do!

So Jennifer Harris felt justified when she BURNED DOWN NIKKI'S HOUSE!

Yup. This week's Mugshot Monday is all about a woman. A woman who burned down someone's house because someone "unfriended" her on Facebook.

Let us all consider this a warning. A warning to not "friend" crazy people in the first place.

Thanks for the suggestion, Stefanie Estes.

Daily Dorkgasm: Holidays

Nothing like a cheerful song to get you into the holiday spirit. Christmas is less than a week away. I'm going crazy looking at all of these mysterious gifts under my tree.

Tumblr Tuesday

I watched some Walking Dead last night, so I need chasers all day today. Fortunately today's tumblr is Animals with Stuffed Animals.

squeeeeeeeeeeeee

Daily Dorkgasm: Holidays

Christmas is all about celebrating something that happened thousands of years ago. Living folks love Christmas for the lights and the trees and the gifts and the general sense of caring about one another.

Only the zombies are old enough to remember the true meaning of Christmas.

BRAINS!!!!!

Click on this one to see the full-size holiday magic.

Walkmen: Fortruss vs. John Williams: Imperial March

Well. It had to happen sooner or later right? We had to get to John Williams. You didn't know when it was coming, but here it is. Now I'm not gonna fuck with you and talk about the Beastie Boys using a teeny tiny sample from the Jaws score in Eggman (around 0:52), even though that may have been a defining song for me during a time when my mind was as young and thirsty as a dehydrated sea sponge. Nah, instead we're doing this shit whole hog! Imperial March, y'all. This oft sampled track from 1980's Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back has spawned some pretty terrible dance remixes, cheesy-screamy-angry-beefy guys yelling about killing other people, but oh no no...that's not for your pretty little ears.

He told me he was moving

For you dear readers, I've done the dirty work. I've sifted through all the trash. I got down into the compactor room of rap music, wrestled a motherfucking diagona without any of my Wookiee friends around (they were all moving today, or so they said), and I fucking won. Because the track Fortruss by Walkmen is the best damn hip hop track you'll hear all month.

This is an oldie but goodie released back in 1998. The flow is super tight and there are samples from ESB all over the place. It's also not just a straight rip like some other tracks that sample the Imperial March. Tempo gets mixed up here and there to interesting effect. Around 1:00 Vader even gets to finish the verse! There are blasters, light sabers, everything you love. Check out some of these lyrics:

Like Anakin Skywalker to Darth Vader

In any confrontation I pull out my light saber

These galactic crusaders facin' a fleet of invaders

My thoughts navigate, as my spirit illustrates

So my foes meet they fate

Then I annihilate, cloak my ship to investigate

Jump into hyperspace, headin' back towards Echo Base

And check out the song below:

There you have it. Go buy Fortruss / The Countdown Theory over at Amazon and get two great tracks complete with their instrumental versions and radio edits (not that you really want the radio edits). Also, may as well grab Blu-Rays of Episodes IV-VI so you can see Han frozen in carbonite in all his HD glory.

Daily Dorkgasm: Holidays

I'm on a bit of a "Community" kick.

CHRISTMAS CLAY!

Watch

Hello, my fellow dorks!!

I maybe dressed up in a costume and did some "acting." Directed/edited by the awesome Hudson Meredith, music by the brilliant Julian Blackmore. Enjoy!

Daily Dorkgasm: Holidays

A collection of Dorkgasm-worthy Christmas trees!