He was eccentric enough to believe that there might be a CNN left at the end of the world, whenever that might be. You can read more about the story behind this video at Jalopnik.
And let's start with what could happen. In the 1980s we were concerned about a nuclear war with the Soviets and thankfully that never came to pass. Though somehow I think that humanity might survive that horrible event, although who's to say how many nuclear exchanges might end the world as we know it.
Regardless the planned video to be the last thing that aired on Earth at the end of the world is a military band playing "Nearer My God To Thee"
Either way hopefully I won't see the end of the world in my life time. As for CNN well with the changing cable news business and the fact that they've been bleeding viewers within the past decade thanks to their biased political coverage, I doubt CNN will last to play this rather creepy video.
[VIDEO] The interesting story of how Steve Jobs, the late legendary Apple founder and CEO, handled the leak of an prototype electronic device which ultimately became the iPhone 4. Jobs didn't have great respect for tech bloggers and I'm sure it was a bit of a humiliation for this device to get leaked.
At about the 40 minute mark you find out how serious this story became - consider this a trigger warning.
[VIDEO] I really liked this video. As you see Erik Van Conover say basically they don't make 'em like they used to.
Basically a huge mansion or really two row houses combined into one, which was at one point used as offices for a financial company that merged into Bank of America. Treasures like this exists in many cities and this one was largely untouched.
If only I had just about $50 million and then some to make it habitable. Could anyone replicated it today?
Hopefully something like this won't be seen on McMansion Hell...
[VIDEO] 368 Broadway in Manhattan is home to Casey Neistat. He is one of many creative people who's resided here in this building's history. It was home to fashion designers, filmmakers, printers, etc from the time it was built.
It's history is even interesting the architect wasn't even an Ivy League educated architect, he - John B. Snook - learned how to design buildings on his own. And when you think about it, if Snook essentially was DIY that marks the creative style of Casey Neistat.
I consider myself a Neistat fan - how many times have I stated this - and he didn't go to some fancy film school he was self taught. Even twenty years I ago I didn't appreciate that with computers digital filmmaking or digital videomaking was more accessible to every day folks.
Of course it's not just that it seems this so-called Diane Fink School of Filmmaking had it's own style and some of those pupils have been successful in Hollywood. While the creatives in Hollywood in my mind is limited, one easy name that comes to mind in recent memory is Greta Gerwig who comes from this school and has her blockbuster hit with Barbie.
Again DIY - do it yourself - if you're creative and want to share it with the world don't ask permission. Just do it and make your mark. I like this theme.
[VIDEO] This interview was uploaded to YouTube in June 2019. Frank Cullotta was an associate of Chicago mob caporegime Tony Spilotro and was very involved in the criminal activity occurring in Las Vegas. That was until a botched robbery and fearing Spilotro would kill him led Cullotta to turn informant.
Cullotta speaks of his life how he met Spilotro, surely he speaks of his involvement in the film Casino. And his life after leaving the criminal underworld. His interview with Patrick Ben David was very interesting.
[VIDEO] I have a very dubious history with foreign languages, however, I did find this almost half-hour long video very interesting. The history of Latin the language of the Roman Empire and whether or not the language is still around today.
I feel as if the world would be better off today if college students actually learned some of the classical languages such as Latin or Greek. Of course also learn a modern language also such as Chinese or Spanish for example.
Some to think of it some English words are based on Latin and of course some European Romance Languages are based on Latin. As far as Romance Languages think Spanish, Italian, French, or Portuguese for example.
I finally saw The King's Man on HBOMax and I really liked it. Of course seeing the feedback especially noted on wikipedia it wasn't that great. The cool thing about this film is how it utilized some real historical events as part of the story.
We see that various events of World War One was influenced by this group known as the Flock. They wanted to pit the British, Russian and German empires against each other. And they started with the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire then. And the events of that unfortunate event was nailed perfectly.
Did you know that the reigning monarchs of Britain, Russia and Germany were first cousins? That was an important part of the story although the reviews I saw noted the personality differences. British King George V was a lot more reasoned, Kaiser Wilhelm II was very aggressive, and the ill-fated Czar Nicholas II was portrayed as weak as he fell under the spell of Rasputin who was yet another member of the flock. One part of The Flock's goal was to take Russia out of the war and isolate the British Empire to insure its defeat.
I also liked certain other aspects of what happened during the four years of war from 1914 to 1918. For example the Zimmermann Telegram was a real thing which was intended to encourage Mexico to go to war against the USA. And it was also correct that then President Woodrow Wilson was not very quick to join the war. Of course one deviation from history involved another member of The Flock the Mata Hari.
From what I do remember Mata Hari was executed in France for espionage. From what I can tell she never quite made it to the US to seduce and blackmail President Wilson to keep America out of WW1. However that was another important plot of The Flock which was foiled once the the first iteration of The Kingsman led by the Duke of Oxford was able to recover film footage of Mata Hari in the Oval Office of the White House seducing President Wilson.
This isn't exactly a war movie but we do see the devastation of WW1. We also see the loss of the Duke of Oxford's son who was shot being mistaken for a German spy. We see him as a concerned father who wants to keep his son out of the war. And then we see his son become the inspiration for creating The Kingsman spy agency.
And another nice touch as President Wilson debates the Zimmerman Telegram at the White House he asks for a Statesman on the rocks. In the Kingsman sequel The Golden Circle, Statesman is a bourbon whiskey distillery which also doubles as an independent spy agency. Just as the Kingsman is a tailor shop that also doubles as a spy agency.
So a few nice touches that keep this movie in the Kingsman film universe and I see opportunities for a sequel. Who's to say that whatever is left of The Flock doesn't turn around and provoke the 2nd World War? We see Adolf Hitler at the end and once Czar Nicholas and his family is executed, Russia is then under the control of Vladimir Lenin who we also see in this movie once Rasputin fails in his mission.
I can't wait to see if The King's Man will have a sequel. If you haven't seem it check out this trailer. [VIDEO]
The classic Chicago mob boss is getting recognition for his historical impact. He died 75 years ago, actually he died on January 25, 1947. The story goes that his mind was going bad due to syphilis. Aside from his rather outlaw reputation as a violent gangster he also had a side which was great for public relations.
Either way former mobster Michael Franzese did a video about highlighting primarily the good and does cover a lot of the bad. What he notes that in spite of being in the life Capone was a dedicated family man and was so until his untimely demise at the age of 48. [VIDEO]
And how about a local story. Believe it or not the gang that Capone was at the top of during the Roaring 20s actually still exists. Perhaps not what it was 100 years ago having been decimated by the legalization of some aspects of gambling also by aggressive federal prosecutions. The reporter you see here Chuck Goudie of the ABC affiliate in Chicago discussing what we call the Chicago Outfit and Al Capone's legacy he himself has done significant reporting on the Chicago mob. [VIDEO]
One could find this fascinating, however, remember one thing crime doesn't pay. You may have money, prestige, respect, fear or even women, however, it's still a violent lifestyle. And one concern ought to be not who might be coming for you, it should be whether or not you might spend a lifetime behind bars. Something to think about when we look at these crime figures.
[VIDEO] I saw the film Casino over the holidays. It's a Martin Scorsese picture which basically is about the story surrounding the skim of Las Vegas casino's.
In this movie, a man by the name of Sam "Ace" Rothstein arrived on the scene to take control of the Tangiers Casino. The mob put some money behind this casino as illustrated during the course of this movie. After seemingly being concerned about his role or having a license Rothstein who's known as a bookmaker that specializes in betting, takes to his role in the casino with vigor.
Of course there would be no mob movie with members of the Mafia. We get treated to the criminal exploits of Nicky Santoro who was sent by the Midwestern Mafia crime syndicates to Las Vegas to look over their interests. He quickly forms a gang specializing in burglary, the like to cut holes in the targets of the burglaries. In real life as this film's basis this gang was known as the Hole in the Wall Gang.
Anyway the train wreck begins when Rothstein marries a beautiful hustler named Ginger McKenna. He woos her with money, however, it seems she has issues that money just won't be able to solve. We see the marriage of Rothstein and Ginger unravel as we head towards the end of the movie.
Then we see Santoro meet his demise as his counterpart does in real life. We see the life that Rothstein enjoyed also unravel as he is denied his license so he can run the fictional Tangiers due to his own ties to organized crime. And worse still he becomes the subject of a very explosive assassination attempt.
The mobsters who were profiting from the casino skim in Las Vegas well they go under the scrutiny of federal authorities. We find out that Las Vegas has become more of a family friend town which is no longer funded by the illicit activities of gangsters. Rothstein survives living in a home in California back to what he does best being an odds maker for sports betting.
I enjoy this movie because in real life a lot of the characters with Rothstein and Santoro were actually Chicago based. I learned that one of the consultants for this movie was a Chicago gangster - though not a "made man" - named Frank Cullotta who you might have seen in a few brief scenes in the movie as a mafia hitman. His character was represented by Frank Vincent - Mr. "Go get your shine box".
There are no specifics as far as which cities were involved with the skim. We know that this is primarily a Midwestern operation. Kansas City, Missouri is mentioned the most in this film though in real life Chicago and Milwaukee were noted as part of the casino skim in Las Vegas.
So basically the lights of Las Vegas is the most appealing part of this movie. Seeing a man grow into his role of running a casino being given the non-descript title of food and beverage manager. Then it all falls apart from the bedroom to the casino to even falling apart in front of the gaming commission. One scene was inspired by Lefty Frank Rosenthal (Ace Rothstein) and his confrontation of future U.S. Senator Harry Reid. And from the fallout with the mafia to ultimately a very explosive attempt on Rothstein's life just shows us the web that was tangled.
I can't wait for my next visit to Vegas which doesn't have as much organized crime influence as it might have in the 1970s. It's probably more family friendly relatively speaking, and if I wanted a blueberry muffin I hope chefs in casino kitchens use enough blueberries in each muffin. I probably won't be gambling, however, it would be cool to at least visit The Stardust which was one of the casinos that Lefty Rosenthal was charged with running at the behest of the Midwestern crime syndicates.
Beyond that it was great to finally see this movie again after so many years....
[VIDEO] I've been binge watching the many informative material of one Mr. Beat who is a legit social studies teacher sharing his knowledge to a YouTube audience. And just on Xmas eve I binged watched two mob movies such as GoodFellas & Casino. I tweeted about both when I was watching those films. Mr. Beat talks about the Italian-American mafia and how they became so big here in America.
[VIDEO] I was a huge fan of David Letterman and it seemed he did take plenty of shots at his former corporate overlords over the NBC network, that company was General Electric GE. Of course times have changed NBC is now owned by Comcast - the good folks who provide the public with telecommunications services from internet, phone, to TV. Now they own a TV network actually a broadcasting company.
However back in 1986 Letterman decided to make a gag of it. Go down to GE HQ and deliver a fruit basket, and almost everyone there was very cold and distant claiming he didn't have authorization. It was great TV and sometimes I wish today's late nite hosts were that daring as Letterman was in his prime.
To be fair this is not something every late nite host should be doing. On Late Nite with David Letterman it seemed there were things done in such a format that wasn't always done. It's probably one reason why he was so popular for so long. I was late to the game, a bit too young to be watching his antics or at least I recognize this now.
However, how he starts off making fun of the idea of GE buying NBC - well actually lets be more technical. GE was actually buying RCA who owned NBC in 1985 in 2011 Comcast will buy GE's stake in NBC Universal and bought the full stake in 2013. Ahhh don't you love the history of corporate mergers.
Anyway I hope you enjoy this Letterman GE compilation. And if you can offer a few bucks to Don Giller who is providing these many Letterman clips. As much as I dream of making money from YouTube due to the content he's sharing he makes no money off of these clips. As he's stated doing so wouldn't be fair since these clips didn't originate with him.
When I first published this review of Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Roger Ebert hadn't passed away although his longtime partner on TV Gene Siskel had by the time I shared that video. Ebert passed away after a very debilitating illness in 2013 his face unfortunately forever disfigured still had a friendly and approachable personality. They both loved this animated Batman film released in 1993.
Also there's this old long ago newsreel from Paramount News about the life of one Huey Long from Louisiana. He was a populist not much different than a Bernie Sanders or a Donald Trump although ideologically he probably was closer to a Bernie Sanders. He was a very powerful and popular Governor of Louisiana and was elected to the U.S. Senator. He developed a very powerful machine that at the time of his assassination in Louisiana he was still largely in control of.
Do any of you remember The Movie Cabinet? It was a blog I had long stopped publishing back in 2009, I've uploaded the archives here and if you click in the archives hierarchy in the sidebar you will see the first three movies I reviewed there.
What other old movies will you see discussed here. Alas I will keep then as archived from when I posted them originally, however, I promise to share with you all those posts once I've done editing and proofreading them.
A lot of them have missing images or since deleted video previews, etc. Got to work on them a bit.
Either way what I wrote there is what you will also see here at "the Beta"
Well since this was really ahead of my time and only got some inkling of this through the internet, it's great to see the Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling TV get its due especially for wrestling fans through the MidAtlanticGateway.com. You may have seen such wrestlers as Roddy Piper, Ric Flair, and others on this program that aired in the Carolinas.
I feel as if I seen this site before in a different iteration in the past. Either way great to see it's still going strong and you can catch the old episodes of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling on the WWE Network. Although the theme has been overdubbed on the network - doggone corporate concerns over licensing - you can check out the original open to the program [VIDEO]
I do have some sad news from this week, the promoters of the aforementioned Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling a man by the name of Jim Crockett who owned Jim Crockett Promotions passed away during the week. I had just became aware of an interview which one has to purchase that Crockett had with one Conrad Thompson. Certainly it's one of those shoot style interviews and it would be cool to watch a promoter who tried to go toe-to-toe with Vince McMahon during the initial pro-wrestling boom of the 1980s.
However by 1989 or so Crockett had sold JCP to Turner Broadcasting and thus programs such as Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling had been folded into the new entity known as World Championship Wrestling.
[VIDEO] I vaguely remember this as I anticipate this year's Royal Rumble of which overtime Ric Flair participated in his prime. This clip was likely on WWF's Wrestling Challenge where Bobby Heenan shows of the then WCW/NWA World Heavyweight Title or the Big Gold Belt. As a kid starting off watching wrestling I didn't view this as particularly shocking, but I knew the separation between the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling at the time.
The drama is that Flair was going through negotiations with WCW back in 1991. His stature with the company was fading owing whatever was going on with then WCW President Jim Herd. There is a clip out there where Herd strips Flair of the Big Gold Belt, but one problem. Flair wanted his deposit back per some form of stipulation, Herd never gave him his deposit back and according to Flair the Big Gold Belt got sent to the owner of the World Wrestling Federation Vince McMahon.
I wonder if this was controversial. Perhaps if a financial obligation wasn't met then this definitely made since, though certainly it has to be controversial since well this belt represents another wrestling company. I understand that at some point during this gimmick they started using a different title belt and sometimes they actually pixelated it adding to its credibility. The creative folks at WWF made this work and Flair remained with the company for two years before returning to WCW. And Flair had a couple of runs as WWF champion during that run.
I have to add the Alundra Blayze aka Madusa angle, this I don't really remember she came to WCW and threw into a trash can the WWF Women's Championship. That was controversial for sure and Vince McMahon didn't want a repeat of that so that's where the Montreal Screwjob comes into play by 1997. McMahon didn't want Bret Hart to take the WWF championship with him onto WCW TV and especially after he refused to do business with Shawn Michaels.
I think they chose the right promo person with Bobby Heenan to begin selling this angle. And it's sad that all the three men you see in this brief clip are all gone. Starting with Gorilla Monsoon, then Heenan, and then Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart.
[VIDEO] Arn Anderson is a legend in the business and he had his match with Mega Man back in the World Wrestling Federation in the 1980s. Mega Man Magee was noted as a future star however as Anderson noted Magee was limited in his ability as a wrestler. He fizzled out long before I started watching the then WWF.
As Anderson also noted the great match that Magee had with Bret "The Hitman" Hart was noted as a great match although since Magee was limited it was probably The Hitman who carried most of the match. Made sure to make Mega Man look very good which was his role. As it turned out The Hitman would be the next big star in WWE. You can watch this match on the WWE Network.
[VIDEO] This video explores Amtrak's brand identity. I remember the reverse arrow and often tried to recreated it by hand even just drawing lines as opposed to the blocks the logo represents to show my interpretation of Amtrak's logo.
I remember my first trip by train most Amtrak trains were in what they call phase three livery. Seeing that takes me back to the 1980s at least. Of course times change and the Amtrak I rode in the last two decades carries the "travelmark" logo. It's an abstract version of the rails trains are transported.
I really got to do some research on Amtrak uniforms what they had for Amtrak personnel in the 1970s seem very far out. It sees as if they tried to do that reverse arrow on everything including uniforms. Imagine that arrow on your shirt cuff or on the skirts the women wore as part of their uniforms.
I hope you enjoy this presentation by AmtrakGuy365. As you may discover in this video Amtrak and perhaps other businesses continue to move forward and get with the times.
BTW, Amtrak will celebrate 50 years next year. It's unbelievable that it's been that long since the National Passenger Rail Corporation was created to take over passenger rail operations from the railroads. I hope they do what they did after 40 years which is create heritage livery for their locomotives. Perhaps even reactivate those iconic EMD F40PH locomotives. Those are the engines I remember from the 1980s also.
Starting Sept. 29, Los Angeles County residents will be given the opportunity to book a stay at the home in a group of up to two. The five available dates, which will only cost $30 in honor of the show’s 30th anniversary, are Oct. 2, Oct. 5, Oct. 8, Oct. 11 and Oct. 14.
During each one-night stay, guests will have access to the wing of the house where Smith’s character crashed, as well as a poolside lounge area and a dining room. The bedroom includes a basketball net, and there will be turntables to spin classic songs on. Other perks include access to Will’s wardrobe and a virtual welcome by DJ Jazzy Jeff.
Due to COVID-19, those selected must prove residency in L.A. County and be from the same household. The rental will be compliant with CDC rules and follow the enhanced cleaning protocol made by Airbnb as well.
...
And as part of the celebration, Airbnb is making a one-time donation to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Philadelphia. See the Airbnb page for the “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” house here.
Well it was cool until I found out it's available for a limited time and perhaps if I go to LA in the future it wouldn't be available to rent.
[VIDEO] The Concorde aircraft has been out of service since 2003. It was a project of both the French and British governments who wanted to take the lead in manufacturing supersonic airliners. After some issues with noise and potentially environmental issues, this aircraft did begin to make some money.
During the 1980s and 1990s it became the flight of choice for wealthy flyers. It could cost up to $25K to fly across the Atlantic from NYC to London in just about 3 hours time. However, but the time the Concorde was retired what ultimately hurt this aircraft was it's complexity and some safety issues that began developing. One Concorde aircraft crashed which probably hastened - and the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks didn't help either - it's retirement after almost 30 years.
Mustard is a channel I've been following for a few years now, and it looks at a variety of aircraft in history. From helicopters to jet airliners to even military aircraft. I admire the modeling which is mostly CGI, however, the aircraft shown in this video and others are very convincing.
[VIDEO] I missed this from last year. There was an episode of WWE Untold that explored the relauch of ECW as a brand with both RAW and SmackDown. It's akin to what's going on with NXT in the Wednesday nite wars against the emerging All Elite Wrestling.
ECW I only had three short years with the renegade promotion that was on the heels of both WCW and WWE (or WWF). The wrestling I saw was gritty and definitely didn't have the production values of both WCW or WWF. Somehow I admired that quality as the polished I expect from the other two companies.
What I do agree with as I continue to learn more about the impact of ECW is that they were the disruptors. If creatively WCW and WWF was in a rut, ECW was the guide out of it. And they had the fanbase to prove it as they were part of the episodes I saw on TV for those three short years. It will always be in my head how ECW fanatics would chant the three letters of their favorite promotions or pop huge for their favorite performers.
Another think that caught my attention with ECW is the violence. There was truly a form of anarchy in ECW although matches do end when a referee calls a submission or counts a pinfall. Beyond that the match could go all over the building and weapons could be used or even outside interference. The referees were said to wear costumes similar to the apparel of MMA referees. The action I saw as the WWF attitude era was in full swing was something different from the fare I would be treated to during the Monday nite wars.
Of course as happens, I came to the party late. When I discover ECW the ratings domination between WWF and WCW was beginning to turn. The NWO storyline was beginning to fizzle by 1999 and WWF as ascendant with the Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon storyline. And by 2001 WCW would become a WWF property and also ECW was bankrupt.
Then by 2005 ECW would become a WWE property and while fans yearned for its return it was revived. Of course now that it was part of the establishment it became the one thing wrestling fans in the 1990s rebelled against. And that is the story you see in the video above.
I can see where the revival fell short of the original. I can also see that ECW as a third brand that aired on the former Sci-Fi (no SyFy) allowed some future WWE superstars to gain some exposure and get TV time.
If the ECW revival hadn't gotten the attention of advertisers and networks prompting the involvement of Vince McMahon, fans can only wonder the direction of the ECW revival with the leadership of yet another McMahon, Shane McMahon. Oh man another thought just hit me.
What if WWE had been able to properly relaunch the aforementioned WCW as another brand? Ah well for both we'll never know!.
