Pop Culture from an Alternate Dimension

      Back in March of 2024 I did a post about the tv series Delta House based on National Lampoon's Animal House . John Hughes wrote an episode for the series called "The Shortest Yard", in it you can see that the Faber mascot is a kangaroo. In the movie they were the Faber Mongols, a reference to the no. 2 pencil most of us used in school. Before the 1979 episode and the 1978 movie, National Lampoon put out a parody of a 1960s yearbook in 1973. It was made to look like a real yearbook belonging to Larry Kroger , the same name as the Tom Hulce's character in the movie. In it the school's mascot was a kangaroo, so I used that image to repurpose it for tv world of Faber College.

       A couple of months ago I put together a collection of song titles dealing with time of day. Since for many people it is Daylight Savings Time, I decided it was about time to do another eclectic mix. Make sure to adjust the song titles back one hour tomorrow if you live in an area affected by DST. Enjoy it here:  About Time 2 - YouTube

         "Mockingbird Lane" premiered on NBC in 2012 on October 26. It was developed by Bryan Fuller, who had previously done the darkly comic tv series "Pushing Daisies". A couple of months ago I showed how the original pilot for the original 1960s series had characters that looked different. However, in all the different incarnations Herman Munster has had on television, whether played by Fred Gwynne, John Schuck, Edward Herrmann or Sam McMurray, (even Jeff Daniel Phillips in the Rob Zombie movie) the character has the same look based on Boris Karloff's Frankenstein. In Fuller's version Jerry O'Connell plays Herman and he looks like...well, Jerry O'Connell with a gnarly scar on his neck. Eddie Izzard's version seems to be based on Gary Oldman's Dracula as opposed to Bela Lugosi. The pilot offers a modern, darker twist on the old series. It was ambitious and if the series had been picked up might have sparked to life to the Munsters. MOCKING...

          Here is a collection of songs based on B-movies, it doubles as recommendations of movies to watch this month. The first song is the opening song from Rocky Horror Picture Show  mentions many B-movies, some of the songs I compiled are based on ones mentioned in that song. Blondie's song "The Attack of the Giant Ants" includes dialog and sound effects. The final two songs are the title songs sci-fi B-movies. Listen to my choices here:  Science Fiction Double Feature odes to B-movies - YouTube

       I've posted what 1930s and a 1940s movie bill would look like in a theatre from an alternate Earth so for Halloween season I present a spooky sci-fi presentations for the 1950s. I start with a trailer for Destination Mars! ,  directed by Robert Lowry, who also made the spoof serial Monarch of the Moon . Sand Pirates of the Sahara  was seen in the 2001 Jim Carrey movie The Majestic . The main double bill would be The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra and Alien Trespass . YouTube has the complete movie of Alien Trespass  but only the trailer for TLSoC , however it is worth seeking out (as well as Destination Mars! ) for those who enjoy pastiches of cheesy B-movies. See it all here (plus a bonus surprise):  1950s double feature from an alternate dimension - YouTube

       I did music for time of day, days of the week and months of the year, so it probably comes as no surprise that this week's music is years. I narrowed it down to the twentieth century. Some songs came to me right away; others took some time to decide. I couldn't choose between David Bowie's song of "1984" based on Orwell's book or Van Halen's opening number from the album of the same name, so I skipped it and went for different years instead.  You can hear my choices here:  Reelin' in the Years - YouTube