Big poison mystery the other night. Wife, leaving for tennis, called me on the phone and said the garage smelled like spray paint. I said I’d been outside earlier and noted a waft of butane, or something like it, perhaps more like paint thinner. She asked me to check it out and not burn down the house.
"Well, it's more likely it would explode," I said. Anyway, I'd go down and have a sniff.
I went downstairs. It did, indeed, smell like spray paint - and it was a strong odor, quite intense. Checked the storage closet; it had the smell. The garage was thick with it. I looked for any signs of spillage. No. Well. Let us google.
WHY DOES MY HOUSE SUDDENLY SMELL LIKE SPRAY PAINT
And the answer, as you might expect, was Lupus. Well, no, but the first answer was a medical piece about sudden olfactory hallucinations. Then there were unhelpful Reddit threads about HVAC systems and coolant leaks and burnt motors and the like.
I checked the CO and GAS LEAK monitoring devices; working tip-top. So I called the Giant Swede, he being in HVAC, and being an engineer, might know something about the aroma.
A series of questions ruled out any interior sources, whereupon he said it was probably coming from outside. Really? But what? He asked if the neighbors were doing any construction.
Er - yes, as a matter of fact. Big garage project. As I said this I left the garage and went outside, where the smell was more intense. I went to the middle of the street, and could still smell it. I went up the block to the next-door neighbor’s, and whew: very intense. So that was it.
When my wife returned from tennis I filled her in on the situation, and she said "oh right, I saw some guys out front spraying something today.”
Ah. Well. Yes, that would be it.New driveway and sidewalk, probably some sort of sealant, I said, suddenly a chemical sage, wise in these matter.
I can only wonder how it vexed poor Birch’s nose. He’d had a bad day, having inadvertently consumed a small portion of a jalapeño, which made him eat about six pounds of grass to be later horked up on the good rug.
That was Friday night.
Later: I’m watching football, and this ad comes on. The music makes me sit up.
I go to the YouTube page, where someone asks what the song is. The answer is “The Equalizer,” by Sam Spence.
One of the hallmarks of Spence's music is its intangible familiarity. Two film score enthusiasts have pointed out the similarity of his more popular themes to several contemporary film scores; one has criticized them of "get[ting] too close to their obvious film inspiration”. They have lauded some of his compositions as "cool homage[s]”, while describing others as "barely disguised" “knock-offs”
When did he write it? Because, I mean, dude, c’mon
Come on
Or, don't, because you want to look better than the guest!
We had "worst movies by great directors" a while ago. About mediocre movies by worst directors?
Lyle Talbot! Hardest-working man in showbiz.
Wikipedia:
In reflecting on his career during a 1984 interview with the Los Angeles Times, he stated, "'It's really simple, I never turned down a job, not one...ever.'" Such universal acceptance of acting offers led to his performing in, as Talbot himself described them in the same Times interview, "'some real stinkers’". Those films include three by Ed Wood that are now distinguished in American cinematic history for their extraordinarily low production values. Talbot also worked with the Three Stooges in Gold Raiders (1951).
And Steve Reeves! Hey, this could be one of those “forgotten noirs” people discover and make a big deal about. Lost classic! Unjustly ignored.
Hey, this could be one of those “forgotten noirs” people discover and make a big deal about. Lost classic! Unjustly ignored.
Whoa:
Hoyt? Hoyl KURTAIN?
He was the composer of many of the Hanna-Barbera cartoons' popular theme songs, including The Flintstones until 1981, Top Cat, The Jetsons, Jonny Quest, Super Friends, Josie and the Pussycats, The Smurfs, and The New Scooby-Doo Movies and all its spinoffs until 1986. Beginning in 1960, Curtin also composed many of the stock tunes used as incidental music in the various Hanna-Barbera series, along with the jingle heard underneath Hanna-Barbera's closing logo in 1979.
The man who did the Jetsons theme? Yes. And so much more.
Well, let’s settle in for an unappreciated example of the pleasures of a B-movie, and -
Oh
Hah: the imdb page says "The music of the film was composed by Hoyt Curtin and previously used in the film Mesa of Lost Women (1953). The repetitious and nearly continuous soundtrack makes use of a flamenco guitar and a piano, with their sounds combined in what seems to be a free jazz composition."
It does make for a rather surreal and otherworldly aspect, especially since everything is shot at night, but it also makes the film unique. As in, continuously unbearable.
It's just not good.
As in, you're surprised anyone watched it to the end, because there is no compelling reason to watch it at all.
Now two ways to chip in!
That'll do: off on another week of stuff, and I hope you enjoy it.
