In honor of video stores and cinemas and cinephiles, and wandering the aisles in search of something or someone. . . Dan Wilson–singer/songwriter/guitarist–did an AMA on Reddit a while back and had this to say in response to someone mentioning … Continue reading The Night Thread’s Gone to the Movies (11/30)
This month on Exoplanets, yet another world with a claim to primacy — Dimidium, or 51 Pegasi b — is the first other world discovered in orbit of a main sequence star. That star, 51 Pegasi, is located about fifty … Continue reading Day Thread of Exoplanet: Dimidium (11/28)
There’s something charming about local commercials. What they lack in big-budget polish they often make up in personable, folksy charm. And then every once in a while, something comes along that can’t be simply be categorized with news anchor skits … Continue reading The Day Thread Gets Wild About Anchorage (11/22)
Glo Worm is friend. These toys appeared in the 1980s and have persisted with some design change along the way. (It’s worth noting that past models may have been unhealthy to play with given the materials used.) There were also … Continue reading The Glo Worm Night Thread Gets Cozy (11/19)
I’m not qualified to speak technically about carbon nanotubes, but they seem super rad. Basically, one of them is like an atom-thick sheet of carbon wrapped in a tube. Single-walled versions are “about 100,000 times smaller than the width of … Continue reading Night Thread of Carbon Nanotubes (11/12)
Last week in Tolerable Discussions, I asked what color people most associate with the month of November, and among the many responses, one stood out: you guessed it, burnt umber. The greatest thing about burnt umber is how visceral the … Continue reading Day Thread of Burnt Umber (11/09)
This past year, there has been a lot of buzz in the basketball world centered on Victor Wembanyama, the 7’4″ rookie for the San Antonio Spurs. Unlike most ultra-tall players, “Wemby” is tremendously agile and well-coordinated. He passes, he moves … Continue reading Night Thread of Ralph Sampson (11/08)
“Denise” is a song and the lead single from Fountains of Wayne’s second album, Utopia Parkway. Interesting note on the forked-headstock guitars that they’re playing in the video, which are Vaccaro models with aluminum (instead of mostly-wood) necks. Unusual and … Continue reading Day Thread of Denise (10/17)
Though it only appears onscreen for maybe thirty seconds, plus a number of in-cockpit shots of Batman, the Batskiboat makes quite an impression in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns as it jets through the sewers of Gotham City towards a confrontation … Continue reading Night Thread of the Batskiboat (10/15)
It’s one of those fun dates on which the month and day are the same number, and what’s more, this one’s homophonous with multiple fictional characters. Of them, we’re going with Tin-Tin, from Gerry Anderson’s marionette-based Thunderbirds. Her dad, Kyrano, … Continue reading Day Thread of Tin-Tin (10/10)
As mentioned in a header last month, the exoplanet Tadmor enjoys the distinction of being the first world outside our Solar System to be detected, but it was not the first to be confirmed real. That honor belongs to a … Continue reading Day Thread of Exoplanet: Draugr (09/09)
Groove with the first exoplanet to be detected out there. Continue reading Day Thread of Gamma Cephei Ab (08/21)
This is a space for discussing your favorite movie trailers. Continue reading Favorite Movie Trailers
Not having been able to pull together a Mellotron theme that seemed to fit this slot, I thought that it would be fun to ring out … Continue reading June 30 Night Thread of Mara Jade
There are several varieties of insect which may be referred to as “June bugs” or “June beetles.” Merriam-Webster points to the scarab beetle subfamily melolonthinae1 in particular but I decided to focus on a species from outside that group, Cotinis … Continue reading Junebug Day Thread (June 1, 2023)
♫ Before the fall, when they still just called him Paul, when he’d never even met a Harkonnen… ♫ Okay, so I realize that the moment has passed for Steely Dan, and that Dune is at an ebb though it … Continue reading The Steely Dune Day Thread
On this day in 1955, the creature we now know as Kermit the Frog made his first appearance on Jim Henson’s TV program Sam and Friends. (Sam is the vaguely human character with his hand on Henson’s shoulder, below.) Kermit’s … Continue reading Muppet Origins: Kermit Day Thread (5/9/23)
Pick a given calendar date, and one will find many topical, scheduled celebrations. As it happens, April 30 is both National Bubble Tea Day and National … Continue reading The Oatmeal Bubble Night Thread
You know that one time at the store about twenty-five years ago when you thought that you saw a bottled beverage that resembled a miniature lava lamp? You weren’t dreaming — that was Orbitz. Orbitz was produced by the Clearly … Continue reading Defy Gravity With the Orbitz Day Thread
Mount Susitna — called Dghelishla or “Little Mountain” in the Dena’ina language — is a large, glacially-created rock formation located to the west of Anchorage, Alaska. Its colloquial name is “The Sleeping Lady” in reference to its appearance being thought … Continue reading Sunset With the Sleeping Lady Night Thread
The musician wren is native to South America and is famous for its call-and-response singing, which is considered to be very musical. Here is a very … Continue reading Musician Wren’s Day Thread
