FlaSoxxJim

QUOTE (Tex @ Nov 24, 2009 -> 10:12 PM) ELO made my list, and I understand the polish sentiment, for me it was the polish I liked with them, that I would dislike in others. No idea why. Yeah, it comes down to individual tastes. Queen's hyper-production seems to fit the group, whereas it just irks me when I listen to ELO. Jeff Lynne's heavy-handed production is also basically what keeps me from thinking of George Harrison's Cloud 9 or the Wilburys albums will stand the test of time and the production totally gets in the way of the music. A lot of Full Moon fever is like that as well, although Mike Campbell sort of reined Lynne and Petty in a bit on that one.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Nov 24, 2009 -> 10:03 PM) What is the obsession with bacon over the last year or so? From what I remember it's been around forever. Must be some hipster thing like PBR. Whoever has only been into bacon for the last year is a total Bacon Bandwagon Jumper. I've had a love affair with bacon since I was like two years old. I pity you poor Vegans. Boca Bacon just ain't gonna' cut it.

QUOTE (knightni @ Nov 24, 2009 -> 09:58 PM) The Theremin looks fun too. Yeah, the theramin is totally old-school, Sci-fi sound effect brilliance. It's also the source of the "ooohhh wheeeh oooohh oooooh weee" outro riff on the Beach Boys Good Vibrations.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Nov 24, 2009 -> 07:45 PM) Give the bacon vokda a whirl and send it my way. You'd probably go all Bingy Smurf and drink the whole bottle and, as good as it tastes going down, it will taste that bad and worse coming up the next day.

QUOTE (SHIPPS @ Nov 24, 2009 -> 08:18 PM) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUnhET6e2Zs Yeah, the Eigenharp is a pretty wild device. I wonder what one of those things would set you back.

QUOTE (longshot7 @ Nov 24, 2009 -> 07:33 PM) To break it down: Film runs 24 frames per second. Video does not however. In Europe and the US, the standard is different. Video in the US runs 30 frames per second. This is commonly referred to as the NTSC standard. In Europe (and elsewhere), Video runs 25 frames a second. This is referred to as the PAL standard. For a long time, filmmakers in the US who chose to shoot video would rent PAL systems to utilize the 25 fps look, which many felt looked closer to film than 30 fps. Nowadays with the advent of HD and many cameras that shoot native 24 fps, this is not as widespread. Region coding has nothing to do with frame rate. Region coding was invented so that studios could control what regions of the world had access to different titles at different times, so that they could roll a film in to theatres in Japan, and not have to compete wth people buying dvds of the same film from Amazon, hurting the box office. Laserdiscs were not region coded and this is what my friends and I would do, usually with foreign films that had been released in the States. You can buy Region-Free DVD Players online. I have two, and they play dvds from any country. They also weren't expensive. FYI. Yeah, well. . . , NTSC is actually 29.97 fps, and not 30. So There!! The old-school A/V guys always joke about the quality of broadcast NTSC, and they say it stands for "Never The Same Color".

QUOTE (BigEdWalsh @ Nov 24, 2009 -> 05:57 PM) I don't dispute Queen's greatness. They were just too polished for my liking. That was always my beef with ELO so I can understand the sentiment.

Queen was one-of-a-kind, and there has never been a band with production standards as high as them imo. They barely missed out on my top 20, but their relatively high showing on the Soxtalk list is entirely warranted. I think they got too commercial sounding by the time The Game was released, and I definitely think they peaked with their earlier work, but one of the greatest and most original groups ever.

I will never shop on Black Friday if I live to be 1,000 years old.

Voyage of the HMS Beagle was the expedition that forever changed the scientific world view.

Right you are. I was very happy we were spared this season.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 24, 2009 -> 01:26 PM) Obviously I've heard of "U of M" before, and I've heard of a guy named Wanless before, but I have no idea what "Hal U of M Wanless" means. pffft, I meant "Hal Wanless from U of M" but muffed it. He let me know my house would be beachfront property in about 50 years.

QUOTE (Middle Buffalo @ Nov 24, 2009 -> 02:00 PM) Frank Zappa listened to and didn't like Journey. You are probably right about that.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 24, 2009 -> 08:51 AM) I think people have moved on from Simpson's references... What's next, Newhart jokes? Lo and Behold. . . SS2k5 has made egg salad out of alphabet order again.

QUOTE (Kid Gleason @ Nov 24, 2009 -> 08:37 AM) Guitar Kid Rocks! I've heard the songs he posted here a while back.

Kang and Kodos still have the peoples' hearts and minds.

I'd give them a whirl. I've been very intrigued reading about bacon-infused vodka and bourbon and I've been intending on making a couple of batches to see how they mix up in savory cocktails. I bet they're pretty durn good.

QUOTE (knightni @ Nov 24, 2009 -> 05:10 AM) Right you are, Ni. . . half-way anyway (actually 1/3 right). There is one more big musician who woodshedded with Frank before starting up Little Feat, and one of slightly lesser stature. You got the game though. Please submit a questio if you care too, since your brain is now bursting with Zappa factoids. In the meantime, here's another one: Connect FZ with Journey.

Yeah, just taste-tested the hot buttered rum with El Dorado rum, and it is totally a winter holiday in a mug!

QUOTE (The Beast @ Nov 24, 2009 -> 12:17 AM) You better do a little number and sing with all your might because if she knows you aren't a christian, she's going to castrate you. Mamm' I, err. . . . ain't tonight?

Hey Felix (and everybody else, natch), I don't know if you are as stuned as I am that FZ not only made the cut, but made his way into the top 20. Just shows the weight two #1 votes have I guess. Anyway, I think we need to bask in the moment with a little FZ trivia. How about a Zappa Connections game, where someone throws out a non-Zappa entity (band, artist, composer, etc.), and then the other player(s??) have to come up with the connection? Honestly, most of them probably won't be too hard unless there are several degrees of separation, but it should still be fun. I'll start off with a softball question: Connect, if you can, FZ with the band Little Feat.

If you find yourself walking in Memphis, remember that Muriel plays piano every Friday at the Hollywood.

I meant to ask you if you had any opinion of Hal U of M's Wanless, Balta. I saw him present a seminar last week to a standing room crowd at my institute and I was pretty impressed.

Gawsh, I should read what I've typed before posting.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 23, 2009 -> 11:33 PM) Can't just do something simple like making sense can you? Eh, Pants knows whence I come.