McHuston Booksellers

Rare, Collectible, & Otherwise

Author: admin (Page 197 of 220)

Half the Story

October 4, 2010 / / 0 Comments

A kid’ll eat the middle of an Oreo first… Growing up in that ad’s generation (along with “I wish I was an Oscar Meyer weiner” – try to explain THAT one!) may explain why I am watching half a television.

The middle.

Somewhere in the midst of the whole switch to digital and high-def movement I kept watching my trusty Sony. In its day (the day of 90 pound televisions) it was an example of top-of-the-line visual stimulation: big picture, stereo sound, bright colors, freeze frame, picture in picture, popcorn popper.

Now it shows the middle of shows. I was watching a game and a graphic popped up at the left edge, presumably to tell me what I was watching: OX RTS. Being a part-time detective, I deduced that it meant to say Fox Sports. I also tapped into the clues to figure out that the graphic was a comparison of the two teams in different areas, but I could only see the team listed on the right edge of the graphic.

Probably had some great content on the right edge of the hi-def production too. Except I couldn’t see any of it. Honestly, I’m happy for everyone who has hi-def TV’s and get to see the extra twelve inches of wide-angle action. I just don’t understand why the content can’t be located where the rest of us can view it, too.

Or maybe I’m the last human to be watching in reg-def, or low-def, or deaf-def – whatever it is called.

And the commercials! Advertisers paying money to put their message on TV with half the address or phone number lopped off at the edge. Tech-changes. It reminds me of a deejay morning when someone called and asked if I knew the music was only coming out of one speaker. My voice was coming out of both, he said. The music? Just the right speaker.

Turns out, the engineer had tinkered with the technology overnight, and what I was hearing in the control room wasn’t what was going out to the radios. Oopsy. Which reminds me of the power outage (another engineer tinkering), and the fellow who called to ask why I didn’t announce we were off the air, so folks wouldn’t think their radios were broken.

Or my coworker (during another power outage that interrupted a staff viewing of a movie) who quipped, “this will be cool! I’ve never watched TV by candlelight before!”

Maybe I’ll hold a candle up to the edge of the screen, and I can read the rest of the hi-def!

My dilemma, sort of:

Is Your Name Famous?

You bet your sweet bippy!

October 1, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Don’t remember that one? How about “Sock it to me!” or “Look that up in your Funk and Wagnalls!” Catch-phrases from Rowan and Martin’s LAUGH-IN, broadcast back in a time when the word -IN added to another word designated an event. Love-in (scandalous!), Sit-in (protest march), sleep-in (Yoko Ono), be-in (San Francisco Summer of Love 1967).

Laugh-In was a weekly “happening” (another term from that era that denoted a special event, regarded as what historical conservatives might term “trendy”). For some reason the time was especially starved for catch-phrases, and the LAUGH-IN variety show cranked out several. I was young enough then to be impressionable and I thought everything about it was “far-out.” (A term tossed around meaning – popularly fashionable.)

How long is cool – cool?

The other day I saw a You-Tube video (trendy technology) of a 1960’s fashion model, posing around in various outfits. No doubt it was cool back then. Hip. (Hep, as some said.) Up-to-date (cool, from a previous era). Looking at it, I thought the whole thing looked clunky and silly.

What will our posing and hop-hipping (I’m beyond hip-hopping) look like to future observers of popular culture? Will modern dance still be modern? Will hipsters look derisively at baseball caps worn backwards and lingerie worn on the outside? Will Madonna still be in vogue?

I saw myself in a high-school picture and wondered what happened to that hair-hat. In the race between gray and bald, I was initially rooting for gray, but now I’m just happy the competition is still on. I’m happy to be able to look back and recall I knew some people back in the day, who were actually cooler than they realized.

I’m pretty cool, today.

That’s why I’m wearing a light jacket, autumn mornings and all.

LAUGH-IN a new family member:

Is Your Name Famous?

It’s all over…

September 29, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Football season has ended. Quit. Done. No Mo. At least, my weekly predictions in the online contest are over.

I’ve entered the Tulsa World’s Football contest for the past several years, and a couple of times during the contests, I’ve had a pretty high ranking. Never won, but did well enough to have B-list bragging rights.

Right now, I am tied for last place with about 400 others. I know when it’s time to lay down the crystal ball. At least now I can concentrate on OU-Texas Week.

When I first moved to Tulsa, there was even a parade of sorts downtown. (Admittedly small and unofficial.) That was back in the time when the oil companies were really going strong and a couple of executives with allegiences on either side of the Red River made some big splashes supporting their teams. Barbecue followed.

Some things bring out the competitor in us, like driving on Elm Street in Broken Arrow, where motorists are in training for Olympic Tailgating (the car in motion kind). I remember when I couldn’t let the boys beat me at ping pong, since they were already trouncing me at every video game. I figured they’d beat me at table tennis soon enough.

We’ve even got chili cookoffs these days. Competitive brisket smoking. Some are able to combine all of the above in the morning before the college football game. Outside the stadium you’ll find the competition pretty steep among the tailgating, brisket-smoking, parading, ping-ponging videogamers, who’ll end up so distracted they’ll completely miss the game.

That’s my crystal ball’s prediction, anyway.

Competing in the business world:

Is Your Name Famous?

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2025 McHuston Booksellers

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑