June 8, 2011
Captain EO is a 3-D film starring Michael Jackson and directed by Francis Ford Coppola (who based the name on Eos, the Greek goddess of dawn) that was shown at Disney theme parks from 1986 through the 1990s. The attraction returned in 2010, as a tribute after Jackson’s death. It is regarded as one of the first ‘4-D’ films (4-D being the name given to a 3-D film which incorporates in-theater effects, such as lasers, smoke, etc., frame synced to the film narrative). This innovation was suggested by producer-writer Rusty Lemorande who is, therefore, sometimes referred to as ‘The Father of 4-D.’ These effects resulted in the seventeen-minute film costing an estimated $30 million to produce. At the time, it was the most expensive film ever made on a per-minute basis, averaging out at $1.76 million per minute.
The film’s executive producer was George Lucas, and it was choreographed by Jeffrey Hornaday (who also choreographed ‘Flashdance’ and ‘A Chorus Line’) and Michael Jackson. The score was written by James Horner, and featured two songs (‘We Are Here to Change the World’ and ‘Another Part of Me’), both written and performed by Michael Jackson. The Supreme Leader was played by Anjelica Huston. The movie tells the story of Captain EO (Michael Jackson) and the ragtag crew of his spaceship on a mission to deliver a gift to ‘The Supreme Leader,’ who lives on a world of rotting, twisted metal and steaming vents. Captain EO’s alien crew consists of his small flying sidekick Fuzzball, the double-headed navigator and pilot Idey and Ody, robotic security officer Major Domo, a small robot Minor Domo (who fits like a module into Major Domo), and the clumsy elephant-like shipmate Hooter who always manages to upset the crew’s missions.
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June 8, 2011
A little green blobby planet thing, nicknamed the ‘Cosmic Cutie,’ with no eyes, a tongue and two thin arms, was used on the U.S. editions of the Hitch Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy series of books because of worries that American consumers might not realize that a series of books with different names was a ‘trilogy.’
The author of the books, Douglas Adams was one of many people who disliked the character, and demanded it not appear on new editions of any of his books.
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June 8, 2011
In the first novel and radio series of ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ a group of hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings demand to learn the Ultimate Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything from the supercomputer, Deep Thought, specially built for this purpose. It takes Deep Thought 7½ million years to compute and check the answer, which turns out to be 42. The Ultimate Question itself is unknown.
When asked to produce The Ultimate Question, the computer says that it cannot; however, it can help to design an even more powerful computer, the Earth, that can. The programmers then embark on a further ten-million-year program to discover The Ultimate Question. This new computer will incorporate living beings in the ‘computational matrix,’ with the pan-dimensional creators assuming the form of mice.
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June 8, 2011
Towel Day is celebrated every May 25th as a tribute by fans of the late author Douglas Adams.
On this day, fans carry a towel with them to demonstrate their love for the books and the author, as referred to in Adams’s ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.’ The commemoration was first held in 2001, two weeks after Adams’s death in May of that year.
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June 8, 2011
In ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ series, DON’T PANIC (always upper-case) is a phrase written on the cover of titular ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.’ The novel explains that this was partly because the device ‘looked insanely complicated’ to operate, and partly to keep intergalactic travelers from panicking.
It is said that despite its many glaring (and occasionally fatal) inaccuracies, the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy itself has outsold the Encyclopedia Galactica because it is slightly cheaper, and because it has the words ‘DON’T PANIC’ in large, friendly letters on the cover.
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June 7, 2011
Tecnocumbia [tek-noh-koom-bee-uh] is a style of Cumbia (Latin American folk music) were there is a fusion between electronic sounds generated by electronic musical instruments and traditional instruments. The term ‘tecnocumbia’ was coined in Mexico to describe this type of music, but the style of music was developed throughout South America with different names given to it. In Mexico, it developed as a variant of the Mexican cumbia that started in the early 80s. The style added electronic instruments along with samplers to the Mexican cumbia music. One of the first musical groups with electrical 80’s sounds was Super Show de los Vazkez from Veracruz, formed in 1981. In the early 90s Selena the ‘Tex-mex queen’ had hits in U.S. and Mexico in the tecnocumbia style.
In South America, where the Colombian Cumbia most easily expanded in popularity, different ‘modern’ styles of the original Colombian rhythm were started mainly in the countries of Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia. The Peruvian cumbia, developed in the early 60s, used electric guitars and synthesizers along with the other classical instruments of the Colombian cumbia in order to create a kind of tropical sound. Variations within the Peruvian cumbia added more tropical rhythms along with a more Andean flavor, which eventually resulted in the creation of the Andean cumbia (Commonly called ‘Chicha music’ in Peru).
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June 7, 2011
Cumbia [koom-bee-uh] is a Latin American music style that originated in Colombia’s Caribbean coastal region. Traditional cumbia and its associated dance is considered to be representative of Colombia, along with Vallenato, Bambuco and Pasillo. Cumbia originated in the Caribbean coast of eastern Colombia, but there are also folkloric variants in Panama.
During the mid-20th century, Colombian band leaders such as Pacho Galan and Lucho Bermudez orchestrated this Caribbean folklore and brought it to different parts of Latin America, where it gained particular popularity in Mexico, Argentina, and the Andean region. Cumbia began as a courtship dance practiced among the African slave population that was later mixed with European instruments and musical characteristics. Cumbia is very popular in the Andean region and the Southern Cone and was until the early 1980’s more popular in these regions than the salsa.
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June 7, 2011
Santi White (b. 1976), better known by her stage name Santigold, is an American songwriter, producer, and singer. Her debut album Santogold was released in 2008. The artist got her pseudonym in the 1990s from a friend’s nickname for her. Santigold was the singer of the Philadelphia-based punk rock band Stiffed, whose 2003 album, ‘Sex Sells,’ and 2005 album, ‘Burned Again,’ were produced by Bad Brains bassist Darryl Jenifer. In February 2009, Santogold changed her stage name to Santigold, as a result of infomercial jeweller Santo Gold threatening legal action.
White’s style has been compared often to that of M.I.A. White said of the M.I.A. comparison that they are both ‘women who have similar influences and have worked with some of the same people,’ but that her music is different, adding ‘I can’t think of anybody who would be a better fit of somebody who I’m like… I think what’s accurate about that comparison is that she’s an artist who has loads of different influences… and is putting things together in a way that’s unexpected and genreless.’ Santigold and her friend Amanda Blank have been described as being part of ‘a new crop of young, multicultural, female acts in the wake of M.I.A.’ White also stated her liking for New Wave, stating that ‘My Superman’ is an interpolation of a Siouxsie and the Banshees’ song, ‘Red Light.’
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June 7, 2011
Sylvester James (1947 – 1988), better known as Sylvester, was an American disco and soul singer, and a gay drag performer.
Sylvester was sometimes known as the ‘Queen of Disco,’ although this moniker has also been bestowed on some of the women of the disco era (i.e. Gloria Gaynor, Donna Summer). His most significant works are the songs ‘You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) in 1978 and ‘Do You Wanna Funk’ in 1982.
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June 7, 2011
Hibiscus (real name, George Harris, Jr.) (1949–1982) was one of the leaders of the psychedelic gay liberation theater collective group known as ‘The Cockettes’ in early 1970s San Francisco; in today’s theatrical parlance he would be considered to be a ‘Creative Director.’ George Harris was the young man in the turtleneck sweater in the famous picture of the anti-war protester putting flowers into the gun barrels of the MPs during the October 21, 1967 march on the Pentagon in order to ‘levitate’ it. Later as Hibiscus (whose full beard, vintage dresses, make-up and costume jewelry created a defiant look, even by today’s standards) embraced drag and drugs as paths to spiritual liberation, and attracted a group of like-minded hippies who loved show-tunes, dressing up, showing off and dropping acid, and became The Cockettes.
The Cockettes decked themselves out in drag outfits and glitter for a series of legendary midnight musicals at the Palace Theater in San Francisco’s California North Beach neighborhood. They quickly became a ‘must-see’ for San Francisco’s gay community, with their outlandishly decadent productions like ‘Journey to the Center of Uranus,’ ‘Tinsel Tarts in a Hot Coma,’ and ‘Gone with the Showboat to Oklahoma.’ Two notable Cockettes were the disco diva darling Sylvester and the ‘queen of B-movie filth’ Divine, who sang ‘If there’s a crab on Uranus you know you’ve been loved’ while dressed as a psychedelic crab queen. When the Cockettes wanted to start charging for their shows, Hibiscus left, believing all shows should be free, and formed the ‘Angels of Light.’ Hibiscus died of AIDS in 1982.
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June 6, 2011
The multiplane camera is a special motion picture camera used in the traditional animation process that moves a number of pieces of artwork past the camera at various speeds and at various distances from one another. This creates a three-dimensional effect, although not actually stereoscopic.
Various parts of the artwork layers are left transparent, to allow other layers to be seen behind them. The movements are calculated and photographed frame-by-frame, with the result being an illusion of depth by having several layers of artwork moving at different speeds – the further away from the camera, the slower the speed. The multiplane effect is sometimes referred to as a parallax process.
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June 6, 2011
‘On Melancholy Hill‘ is the third single from British alternative group Gorillaz’ third studio album, ‘Plastic Beach.’ The song was originally written by Damon Albarn during the production time for his other super group project: ‘The Good The Bad and The Queen.’ The single was released in 2010. The music video (directed by Tank Girl co-creator Jaime Hewlett) was released shortly thereafter.
Band member Murdoc Niccals stated the following about ‘On Melancholy Hill, ‘it’s that feeling, that place, that you get in your soul sometimes, like someone’s let your tires down. It’s nice to break up the album with something a little lighter. It’s good to have something that’s a genuine pop moment on every album. And this is one of those.’
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