Showing posts with label popular culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label popular culture. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 22, 2026

Recent Cell Ads

I haven't time to explore these films yet. I am always looking for new materials. I will need to look into these titles soon.

Do you remember the Thunderbirds? The Thunderbirds seem to be having some sort a revival. Here to get you started is an audio book.

"Jose Cuervo is the world's oldest and best-selling tequila, produced at the historic La RojeƱa distillery in Jalisco, Mexico. This specimen is a beautiful decanter created for some production mills stone in production.

Plants verses zombies are miniatures manufactured with conflict in mind. They seem to be having a revival.

Sunday, April 12, 2026

Blinding Ignorance

"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. 'O' wretched mortals, open your eyes!."

Leonardo da Vinci 1



AI Overview

1This quote is contributed to Leonardo da Vinci and is often found in his notebooks, reflecting his frustrations with human ignorance and inaction. It is a call to use observation, science, and intellect to overcome biases and superficial understanding.

Key Contextual Points:

Source: The phrase appears in Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks, specifically referencing the tendency for human ignorance to lead to poor decisions, often cited in discussions of the artist's scientific and philosophical thought.

Interpretation: It is a plea for critical thinking and observation, encouraging people to look beyond surface-level reality to see the true nature of things.

Theatricality: The phrase "O! Wretched mortals" is noted as a passionate, almost despairing cry from Leonardo regarding the prevalence of human folly.

Broader Thought: It connects to his broader philosophies that experience and study (theory) are essential, rather than relying on unthinking practice, as seen in his collected thoughts on Goodreads.

1 The quote emphasizes the importance of gaining knowledge through observation and intellectual effort rather than staying in the dark.

Thursday, July 3, 2025

Tolkin's Definition of Fairies

"Fairies are supernatural beings of diminutive size, in popular belief supposed to possess magical powers and to have great influences for good or evel over the affairs of man."

J.R.R. Tolkien, Tales from the Perilous Realm, On Fairy Stories.

Friday, March 28, 2025

Another Old Book Ad - Frank Yerdy

From the back pages of my yellowing 1961 copy of Bruce Catton's A Stillness at Appomattox, an old ad for Frank Yerby's books. I haven't had time to research Frank's work yet, but his book entitled The Vixens is intriguing.

Monday, February 24, 2025

The Star Wars & Hot Wheels X-34 Landspeeder


The X-34 landspeeder first appeared in Star Wars IV, A New Hope and was purported to have been manufactured by the SoroSuub Corporatio. Specific information about the X-34 can be found here.

The Hot Wheels Star Wars X-34 Landspeeder is one of Hot Wheel HW Screen Time line of play vehicles. This line of vehicles is inspired by popular culture in its movies, TV shows, and video games.



Tuesday, February 18, 2025

Fear and Loathing in Los Vegas


“We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a saltshaker half-full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers… Also, a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether, and two dozen amyls. Not that we needed all that for the trip, but once you get locked into a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can.” Raoul Duke

Fear and Loathing in Los Vegas was required reading way back at the University. Although I haven't ever gotten that ripped, It is one view of the drug cultur films that spurred a lot of us on.

“History is hard to know, because of all the hired bullshit, but even without being sure of “history” it seems entirely reasonable to think that every now and then the energy of a whole generation comes to a head in a long fine flash, for reasons that nobody really understands at the time—and which never explain, in retrospect, what actually happened.”

“Maybe it meant something. Maybe not, in the long run, but no explanation, no mix of words or music or memories can touch that sense of knowing that you were there and alive in that corner of time and the world. Whatever it meant.”


Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Friday, November 8, 2024

Wednesday, September 25, 2024

Ghost Busters Frozen Empire

Interesting poem.

Antics of the Mini Stay Puft Marshmallow Men having just hijacked a tractor and trailer.

Great addition to the Ghost Busters franchise.

Sunday, September 15, 2024

A Figure from Popular Culture?

This figure stands approximately 90mm tall. It is cast from a sturdy PVC like plastic and with an articulate head, arms, legs, and tail. This figure like the others of this mini-series was lost and found. Although I have seen these figures before somewhere out in popular culture, I do not have the foggiest idea where that might have been. Any help will be greatly appreciated.



Visual search ->

Saturday, December 24, 2022

Merry Christmas

Wishing you all a merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year. See you all in a few days.

Saturday, November 5, 2022

Two New Hot Wheels Vehicles for 2022

Hot Wheels Screen Time Armadillo: HCT14

Hot Wheels Screen Time vehicles are inspired by movies, TV shows, and video games in our popular culture.

"The Armadillo is a type of transport spacecraft shown in the movie Lightyear. It is used to transport Buzz Lightyear and his exploration crew in the movie."

"Set off on an epic space adventure and fight Zurg in this Armadillo spaceship! With huge jet engines, wheels and a drop-down deck, help Buzz and friends escape perilous space battles and save the day."

As found on card

Hot Wheels Fast Foodie Carbonator: HCV52

"Specialty: Shaped like a soda bottle with a huge rear wing and a turbine engine, this hot rod was made to "pop" your top."

Thursday, June 22, 2017

The Walking Dead Hospital Doors Scene

This highly detailed model includes 112 pieces and represents the AMC Walking Dead Hospital Doors “Don’t Open, Dead Inside” scene. There is also a articulated Rick Grimes in a hospital gown figure. The model kit is manufactured by Mc Farlane.

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Simpson’s Comic Book Guy Character

Jeff Albertson otherwise known as the Comic Book Guy is a recurring character in the Simpsons. In the Simpson series Jeff Albertson is the proprietor of The Android's Dungeon & Baseball Card Shop, a “stereotypical middle-aged comic-book collector”.

I was looking for Homer and Bartman figures and although I did not find either of the former I was surprised to find yet another Simpsons character being offered at this location. Like the other figures this figure is cast from PVC. The Comic Book Guy stands 2.75 inches tall.

Saturday, November 26, 2016

The Three Simpson Gal's

From left to right: Lisa, Marge, and Maggie

I have looked in all the local Dollar Tree stores in my area for the other two miniatures from this set, that is Bart and Homer, but have not been able to find these two.

The three that I have been lucky to obtain are Marge, Lisa, and Maggie. Marge stands three and half inches, Lisa two and a quarter inches and Maggie approximately one and quarter inches tall. The figures are fashioned from PVC, are painted well, and have some substance to them.

“Since its debut on December 17, 1989, 603 episodes of The Simpsons have been broadcast. Its 28th season began on September 25, 2016. It is the longest-running American sitcom and the longest-running American animated program.”

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Disney’s Nautilus Submarine

It has been a while since I made my last post on Captain Nemo’s Nautilus Submarine. Over the holidays I watched Disney’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea for the sole purpose of taking some screenshots of the Nautilus. Back in March of 2014 I made a post on the Nautilus where I mentioned how Disney’s rendition of the Nautilus seems to be the most popular version purported in popular culture.

Here are a few of the screen shots of the Nautilus.

Disney’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

Disney’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

Disney’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

Disney’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

Disney’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

Disney’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

Thursday, February 6, 2014

The Most Incredible Fantasy Maps You've Ever Seen

I am making another post on maps. I believe that I have referenced this site once before. io9 features many interesting articles. “The Most Incredible Fantasy Maps You've Ever Seen” page features some of the most incredible fantasy maps from popular culture, games, books (including another map of middle earth.), and the cinema.

Some of the maps listed here are:

  • The Land of Oz
  • Map of The Lands Beyond from The Phantom Tollbooth
  • World of Greyhawk from Dungeons and Dragons
  • Myst
  • Alternate Europe and Middle East, from the Kushiel series by Jaqueline Carey

There are many other maps listed here.

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Battleship

This image has been reduced, the game fits on a 8-1/2 x 11" page with game rules on the bottom of the page

My father and I used to play Battleship quite often. "You've sunk my battleship". Dad being the brilliant strategist that he was often won, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to play again. I know longer have this game and it wouldn’t be something I would consider purchasing today, however I did come upon a Print and Play version of this game that might be fun to play from time to time when find myself with nothing else to do. The game does take two to play and I found two versions of this pen and paper game that can be downloaded for free.

Monday, October 14, 2013

Odds and Ends-Mysterious Islands

While searching for “Mysterious Islands” I have come upon these instances of Mysterious Islands. Here is a short list of those resources.

Ships of the Mysterious Islands

Ships of the Mysterious Islands is a Role Playing Game, and although the RPG has very little in common with the Whizkids game of the same name this RPG could add some interesting concepts and give a player some ideas on how to expand the Ships of the Mysterious Islands game.

Top 10 Mysterious Islands in Fiction

The Top 10 Mysterious Islands in Fiction site offers ten examples of Mysterious Islands that have been mentioned in popular culture.

The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne (epub)

The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne is a must read for those Mysterious Island aficionados.

10 Mysterious Tidal Islands around the World

A tidal island is a piece of land that is connected to the mainland and can be reached by foot at low tide, however are either total submerged or are cut off from the main land at high tide.

Friday, April 12, 2013

10 Sci-fi Futures that Could Come True

Some of the science fiction futures listed in the Top 10 Sci-Fi Futures may be more possible than others, but all ten of these possible futures, taken from popular culture, give us a glimpse into what may come to pass. I am guessing, we are probably in store for some type of dystopian outcome. Many of the listed futures lean toward the dystopian.

Monday, April 1, 2013

14 Super Submarines That Took Science Fiction under the Sea

Although Jules Verne wasn't the only one to write about the fabulous submarine, he does get the credit for writing two novels that featured submarines. As the title implies, here are fourteen submarines that took us under the sea. The fourteen submarines from popular culture are mentioned in comic books, novels, movies, and sitcoms.

Here is a list of the fourteen submarines that are mentioned in the article:

  1. The HMS Sword from Facing the Flag by Jules Verne
  2. The Nautilus from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
  3. The Iron Fish from the British comic The Beano
  4. The USOS Seaview and the Flying Sub from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
  5. The Hydronaut from Around the World Under the Sea
  6. Proteus and Voyager from Fantastic Voyage
  7. Supercar from Supercar
  8. Stingray from Stingray
  9. Thunderbird 4 from Thunderbirds
  10. Skydiver from UFO
  11. P-1 from Marine Boy
  12. The Leif Erikson from The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson
  13. The Red October from The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy
  14. The seaQuest DSV 4600 from seaQuest

The list will give me fodder for future research and reading.

Can you add to this list?