Television has lots of weird practices. Surely, creating ten episodes of a series and never broadcasting them is pretty weird. Yet that's what happened with the Boris Karloff spooky series titled THE VEIL in 1958.
Here's the first part of one of the episodes, with five remaining segments easily found on YouTube, if this portion appeals.
Today we feature a guest post from that miraculous writer of the fantastical, the great Don Webb.
Take it away, Don!
Many of my generation have discovered (sometimes with the help of a certain herb) that the opening sequence of Wizard of Oz matches up with Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Co-incidence or happenstance? Who can say? Was Pink Floyd under the "influence" of Frank Baum?
Another strange co-incidence has come to light. The lyrics of Gilligan's Island perfectly match up with Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven."
Happenstance? Then riddle me this -- why does Gilligan's Island have exactly the same theme as Jean Paul Sarte's NO EXIT?
Consider:
Each one of the characters represents one of the 7 deadly sins:
- Ginger represents LUST - she wears skimpy outfits, is obsessed with her looks, and is a borderline nymphomaniac.
- Mary Ann represents ENVY - she is jealous of Ginger's beauty.
- The Professor represents PRIDE - he is an annoying know-it-all.
- Mr. Howell represents GREED - no explanation needed.
- Mrs. Howell represents SLOTH - she has never lifted a finger to help with their escape plans.
- The Skipper represents two sins: GLUTTONY - again, no explanation needed and ANGER - he violently hits Gilligan on each show.
- This leaves Gilligan. Gilligan is the person who put them there. He prevents them from leaving by foiling all of their escape plots. Also, it is HIS island. Therefore, Gilligan is SATAN.
Those end-of-the-year tributes to all who died in 2008 seem to be neglecting Maila Nurmi, aka Vampira, who passed away just a year ago. In memory, let's look at two short clips of the lady. She was weird enough, but when you add Liberace into the mix--!
47, as wikipedia notes, is "the natural number following 46 and preceding 48". There are some other interesting things about the number:
There exists a 47 society... which propagates the belief that the number forty-seven occurs in nature with noticeably higher frequency than other natural numbers, that it is the quintessential random number.
The number 47, its reverse of 74, or a multiple of 47 occurs in some way or other in almost every episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation and its spin-offs Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise.
47 is the telephone dialing country code for Norway
I feel bad that my Follies post today was somewhat lame. Therefore, I am making it up to our readers the only way I know how: with some juvenile German "humor."
A 77-year-old man presented with a 1-year history of upper limb rest tremor, rigidity, and bradykinesia. He reported focal dystonia affecting the right thumb over the preceding 7 years, resulting in a constant "thumbs up" gesture reminiscent of the fictional television character Arthur Fonzarelli. Subsequent levodopa therapy reduced his bradykinesia and rigidity, but did not ameliorate the dystonia.
While foot dystonia is a common feature in late Parkinson disease (PD), dystonia may precede the development of PD by several years. Writer's cramp has been described as an early manifestation, with extension of the great toe also noted (the striatal foot).
Paul Di Filippo
Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1.