"Apollo 11"

[VIDEO] I saw the documentary Apollo 11 on Friday and it was great to see archival footage and even some modern graphics depict the mission that landed men on the moon. I can't believe it's been 50 years since that historic achievement in human technological history. The greatest engineering and technological challenge had been achieved and the names Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin will forever be part of human history.

It's fascinating to see the trip happen in just about real time, the trip to the moon from launch until lunar orbit was three days for Apollo 11. It was fascinating to see the Saturn V launcher being moved to it's launch pad, it was cool to see the preparations for this historic space voyage, it was amazing to see everyone there for the launch of this mission, and then all the footage in space. It was interesting to see the Apollo spacecraft probably filmed through a telescope of some sort get propelled towards the moon on their three day journey.

I can only imagine that the animations were with the voice overs were made by a public relations officer with NASA who described all the maneuvers the astronauts were expected to make. These maneuvers ensured that the astronauts will make their flight objectives. They get to their destination and they don't veer off course from getting to the moon and returning to earth safely.

I was almost reminded of the movie that was released last year with Ryan Gosling playing the Apollo 11 mission commander, Neil Armstrong - First Man. It's great to see the real story as it was shot back in 1969 shown to the public.

Secrets of #WrestleMania rings

[VIDEO] I didn't have a wrestling post this week so, how about a post from WWE's YouTube channel about WrestleMania rings. It's appropriate because we're slowly but surely approaching next month's WrestleMania extravaganza, the grandest stage of them all.

We visit with Mark Carpenter who's been a longtime ring maker for WWE. I saw WrestleMania III last year and he was the one created those carts for the wrestlers which were made to resemble a wrestling ring. Then they found some other work for him especially for WWE's ring.

He created the rings and then made changes to the steel cages for WWE and now he has a regular job with them. He's the one who created the stage - err the ring - for the performers. You see in this video that he's working on a ring with a heating system that will keep the dynamics of the ring as if it's indoors. See at this year's WrestleMania which will be in at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey,  WWE Superstars will be performing out doors. That means they do need a ring that functions like the superstars are performing indoors and I would imagine the weather of New Jersey in early April won't quite be that warm.

Economic philosophy of Monopoly

I have a small collection of Monopoly board games at home. I used to play them with my cousins, but haven't pulled them out for years.

Never really appreciated the philosophical aspects of the classic boardgame other than it's very important capitalistic overtones. I never knew it has "left-wing" roots and some have termed it as more "Georgist" as it's underlying philosophy.

Regardless until I read the article from the Washington Post which was published back in 2015, I never knew it had a longer history than when the game first became popular during the Great Depression.

To Lizzie Magie, a 30-something single woman working as a stenographer in Washington at the turn of the century, the monopolists who controlled banks, railroads and oil fields seemed almost impossible to challenge.

But, night after night, Magie drew and redrew a board game that she hoped would be a teaching tool for her left-wing political ideals and spark changes that would ease the economic injustices of society. In 1903, she walked into a patent office and applied for a legal claim for her Landlord’s Game, today known to millions as Monopoly.

An impassioned follower of political economist Henry George and his single-tax theory, Magie designed the game to be a “practical demonstration of the present system of land-grabbing with all its usual outcomes and consequences,” she wrote in a 1902 issue of the Single Tax Review.

BTW, it's funny how through social media old articles come alive years after the fact. I thought this was a recent article, but know it's only at least four years old. Interesting

Puppies and model trains

[VIDEO] I've really enjoyed Jim Zimmerlin's videos of his model train collection. It's probably how I discovered his YouTube channel two years ago. I wouldn't be able to make an offer on his G-Scale model trains especially the Amtrak train he has.

Today he's combined videos of model train with German Shepherd puppies. Animal videos seem to gain traction on YouTube. We love seeing pets and their owners interact. We could be talking about dogs or cats or adult or puppies and it seems there's an audience for it.

For Zimmerlin, his vids on his cruises and his model trains got the traction for his channel. However, time will tell if this video combing puppies and a model train will itself go viral.

Enjoy!

"They Shall Not Grow Old"

[VIDEO] Earlier this month I saw the masterpiece that is They Shall Not Grow Old. It's a documentary that features 100 year old footage from the first World Ward - one of two of the most deadly human conflicts fought in the 20th Century.

The beginnings shows men signing up and then being mustered into the armed services of the British Empire and then we get into the true artistic vision of the film. Footage from the battlefield remastered colorized and then set to modern speed as the many soldiers who fought on the western front during that war spoke to us about their experiences.

When I think of silent film often my mind is of people walking around like penguins. How the people move in those early films for my eyes aren't normal motion. Sometimes its the technology of the time also as when cinematographers shoot the moving pictures they're using a hand-cranked camera. Sometimes it might be faster or slower.

The director Peter Jackson - many of you may know him from Lord of the Rings - gives us a featurette at the end of the movie about the process of directing the film. It's absolutely fascinating how much work they did to make this movie. To integrate old interviews with the many soldiers who served on the western front with the century old footage.

It's not an academic look at the war - this is a history film for non-historians. Perhaps someone who saw this movie had relatives who fought in this conflict. My own family had their own connections to the conflict who went to Europe once America declared war on the German Empire. All the same the film allows those old vets who recorded their interviews during the course of the mid 20th century to share their thoughts about the war and why they served and their experiences.

We hear a lot of men say they had a job to do they were professionals and they did it. Some said they had nothing going on at home so they signed up. It wasn't uncommon also to be caught up in patriotic fervor. Some still admitted they were too young to serve but were accepted anyway for service.

What's strikingly familiar with these WW1 vets is that once they got home from the western front, most Brits were ready to turn the page from this conflict. They might have been happy that the vets in their family returned home, but they just seemed to want to forget about the war. I could say it might've been similar to the experience of Vietnam veterans once that conflict drew to a close.

As much as the British citizens were glad that the war was finally over it was all for naught. As history records the harsh treatment of the former German Empire which suffered a change in regime and other economic hardships as a result of a treaty that formally ended the war only lead to another world war. The supposed war to end all wars, didn't do the job unfortunately.

King Kong Bundy R.I.P.

I try not to do too many wrestling posts on this blog although I've failed to truly cover a variety of subjects here including pro-wrestling. Today the world learned that former wrestling star King Kong Bundy passed away. I might vaguely remember him during his second run in the mid 1990s with the World Wrestling Federation. Without a doubt he was a menacing big man who feuded with the Undertaker and Hulk Hogan during this two stints with the WWF.

Now to switch gears over the years, this blog was consider part of "Blogginois" unfortunately the community that has existed in the mid-2000s have somewhat followed by the wayside however I found an Illinois connection to Bundy real name Christopher Alan Pallies. It's courtesy of Mancow's ig page.

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A post shared by mancowmuller (@mancowmuller) on Mar 5, 2019 at 5:59pm PST

So King Kong Bundy has been featured at Illinois' state fair. Pretty cool!

I've always wanted to go to the Illinois state fair, however, it would be more likely to happen if I knew there were some wrestling events there. It doesn't matter much to me if those events included performers from an indy promotion.

Windy City Wrestling is that connected to the former Windy City Pro Wrestling that folded earlier in this century?

With this said, I had been thinking about doing research on any Chicago territory promotions. I've heard of names such as Bob Luce out there with regards to Chicago wrestling. Regardless aside from knowing matches took place at the old Internat'l Amphitheater in the Chicago Stockyards just off Halsted street, there's very little about local wrestling history that I'm sure of.

I don't know if Rich Miller is a pro-wrestling fan, however, I do wonder if he'd get a kick out of this cover from a past state fair.

"Something to Wrestle with" future #RAW

[VIDEO] I've not only enjoyed listening to clips of various editions of the Bruce Prichard & Conrad Thompson podcast on YouTube. It's given me a lot of information as far as what goes on behind the scenes especially since the source material of Prichard's time as Vince McMahon's right hand man.

I've also enjoyed the editions made especially for the WWE Network called Something Else to Wrestle with. And with the news that Prichard is returning to WWE - which I recall is something he didn't expect to ever happen - now we wonder the future of the Something to Wrestle with podcasts.

What you see above is a clip of Prichard and Thompson talking about Prichard's role in WWE. They discuss Prichard's role and the future of the podcast.

And although Thompson is also said to be associated with the start up wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling, I would like to see more editions of the WWE Network's Something Else to Wrestle with.