George Putnam, RIP

TV newscaster George Putnam has died. Read his LOS ANGELES TIMES obituary here.

Putnam was frequently cited as the inspiration for the Ted Baxter character on THE MARY TYLER MOORE show.

Make your own judgment based on the videos below.

Accordion Revival

Be afraid, be very afraid. According to this LA TIMES article, one of the world's weirdest instruments, the accordion, is rising in popularity once again.

Here's a clip of one of the people spearheading the movement.

Obama = Antichrist?!?

Did John McCain and posse really intend to portray Barack Obama as the Antichrist in this recent campaign ad?

Decide for yourself....

Spermula

A science-fiction film about semen vampires titled SPERMULA?!?

Need I say any more to get you to watch the trailer below?

Incredibly, it's totally Safe For Work, and more boring than erotic. But just to show you that the film actually contained more than pompous mystical windbaggery, we reproduce after the jump the NSFW five-page pictorial about the film from Playboy for January 1977. Why did that prestigious magazine devote so much space to this trashy epic? Could it be because they had a hand in bankrolling it? Nah!



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Lez Zepplin

Loyal and perceptive reader Rain Oubliette, commenting on the Space Age Fridge Ladies, mentions that they resemble an all-female Devo cover band, possibly named "Shevo." Well, no such weird group exists, to the best of my knowledge. But we do have the incomparable Lez Zepplin.

Watch them perform in the clip below.

Sexy First Ladies

As anyone who has not been living for the past several years deep in Carlsbad Caverns knows, the great nation of France, upholding its richest traditions, boasts one of the sexiest first ladies around, in the person of Carla Bruni.

But as we are reminded today, in this profile of Vaclav Havel in The New York Times, Czechoslovakia once boasted an equally alluring first lady in the person of Dagmar Veskrnova. (We've been forced to hide Mrs. Havel's photo behind the jump, due to its mildly NSFW nature.)

Now, both Cindy McCain and Michelle Obama are great-looking women, and will certainly grace the White House. But it seems to me that Dagmar Veskrnova's bar-raising status as "an actress almost 20 years [Havel's] junior known for her role as a topless vampire" could only be met here in the USA by someone such as Elvira or Julie Strain.



Since McCain seems arguably the underdog in the race for president, Weird Universe hereby offers this free political advice: ditch Cindy, and pick up either Elvira or Julie.

It would certainly change our votes!

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Drunken Frankenstein’s Monster

Nowadays, Hollywood actors and actresses indulge in as much bad behavior as they ever did, if not more, frequently involving intoxicants of various stripes. But here's a difference from the Golden Age. As drunk or stoned as they get offscreen, they seldom seem to report for work in that condition, and if they do, the resulting footage is never seen by the public. Professionalism on the set is the rule, and the infrequency of live broadcasts adds to the censorship.

But such was not always the case.

James Dean was drunk onscreen in EAST OF EDEN.

Montgomery Clift did a scene drunk in FROM HERE TO ETERNITY.

And then we had the case of Lon Chaney Jr., a fine actor with an alcoholism problem.

When he acted the part of Frankenstein's monster on TV in 1952, he was totally plastered--so much so that he thought the live broadcast was a rehearsal! That's why, when he picks up furniture to smash, he instead gently sets it down, thinking he has to preserve it for the real performance!

Watch the three parts of this show now, if you wish. The first is below, and the other two after the jump.



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The Song-slinging Senator

Yes, that musical genius of the legislature, Orrin Hatch, is at it again. Read about his latest musical composition in this article.

Then visit the site that holds all his marvelous music.

Rhode Island Roller Derby

All things old are new again, and the retro weirdness of yesteryear always resurfaces.

Read about Women's Roller Derby in Rhode Island here.

And then watch this brawl.

Misty Mundae

Lord of the G-strings! Spider-Babe! How could I not have known before now about such a talented science-fiction thespian as Misty Mundae? Only a passing reference from my fellow SF author Nick Mamatas alerted me to her stunning oeuvre. Learn more about her yourself, in a moderately NSFW way, after the jump.

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All original content in posts is Copyright © 2008 by the author of the post, either Alex Boese ("Alex"), Paul Di Filippo ("Paul"), or Chuck Shepherd ("Chuck"). All rights reserved. The banner illustration at the top of this page is Copyright © 2008 by Rick Altergott.