Just a couple of individual items/thoughts that weren’t big enough to merit their own separate posts.
– Durexperiment Fundawear – Back in 1979, AT&T used the commercial tagline, “Reach Out and Touch Someone,” for their long distance phone service. The company Durex Australia has taken that thought one step further. They have developed underwear which allows you and your partner to touch each other over the internet. The product is called Fundawear. The “first live trial” of their product is shown here. While remote control sex toys have been around for a long time, this is the first one I’ve seen get space on CNN.
– Oblivion – The Tom Cruise movie, Oblivion, is very pretty, but it is essentially Wall-E meets Blade Runner and the Matrix. It was a meeting of movie plots that just didn’t work for me. It was a visually stunning movie and boring. It had the honor of being the first movie in many years that I did not sit through all of the final credits. When Morgan Freeman can’t save your movie, your movie isn’t worth saving.
– Richie Havens – Mr. Havens passed away on April 22. The news outlets were quick to point out that he was the opening act at the 1969 Woodstock music festival. That means very little to those who aren’t baby boomers. However, last year his song, Freedom, was featured in the movie, Django Unchained and he gained some younger fans as a result. For me, his version of the George Harrison song, Here Comes the Sun, was my “keep it together” song while I was in Vietnam in 1971.
There are many, many musical truths, but here are two you can take to your grave:
1) Only the Beatles could get away with repeating “Na na na na na ,na na na, hey Jude” for 4 minutes on a 7 minute song and;
2) only Richie Havens could get away with a one and half-minute intro before singing his first word in a song that runs 3 minute and 40 second long. Below is vintage Havens (on vinyl) complete with lava lamps from a by-gone era. He and his guitar playing style will be missed.