Crazy Eddie's Motie News

Friday, May 8, 2020

Crazy Eddie's Motie News's year on Pinterest for Flashback Friday

Happy Flashback Friday! As I wrote yesterday, I am concluding this series today with the most saved pins from this blog during the blogging year that concluded March 20, 2020. As I did for Alignment charts from the back catalog for Throwback Thursday with music by the Harp Twins, I'm going to launch directly into the retrospective without even attempting to introduce it with new material. Who among my readers really cares whether Pinterest's stock price goes up or the company earns a profit?

The most saved pin during the ninth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News was A Drum Corps Ides of March for an election year with 358 saves on Pinterest. It ranked in the top five most saved pins every single month.

Star Wars Drinks for Star Wars Day was the second most saved pin during the ninth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News with 274 saves on Pinterest. It also ranked in the top five most saved pins every single month.

Easter drinks from Tipsy Bartender ranked third among pins saved with 134 saves between March 21, 2019 and March 20, 2020.

I mentioned that 'Star Wars' alignment charts had a total of 62 saves during the ninth year of the blog in Alignment charts from the back catalog for Throwback Thursday with music by the Harp Twins, writing that it ranked among the five most saved pins during eight of the past 12 months. I can now say it ranks fourth overall for the posting year.

Final night of 2013 Dream Cruise from WXYZ had 55 total saves to rank fifth.

Driving update for June 2017: Pearl plus Tesla worth more than GM or Ford earned 50 saves to become the sixth most saved pin during the blogging year.

Star Wars drinks, drinking game, and music for The Revenge of the Sixth was the seventh most saved pin during the ninth year of this blog with 37.

I gave an honorable mention to 'Pirates of the Caribbean' alignment chart in Alignment charts from the back catalog for Throwback Thursday with music by the Harp Twins, writing "it was the most active on Pinterest during June 2019 with 18 saves. Along with the rest of its saves, it earned 27 total during the ninth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News." I missed counting a month that time, so it ended up tying More on St. Patrick's Day from Tipsy Bartender for eighth during with 30 saves.

Tipsy Bartender drinks for Cinco De Mayo 2017 rounds out the annual top ten with 27 total saves.

Now for the top three pins from entries posted during the ninth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.

Higher oil prices because of attack on Saudi facility plus driving update for Pearl on Talk Like A Pirate Day was the most saved pin from this posting year with 20 total.

Kylo catching up to Anakin - Star Wars baby names for Fathers Day 2019 was the most saved pin from this posting year with six.

100th Anniversary of passage of 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote had 3 saves to rank third among pins from this posting year.

Looking over this baker's dozen of posts and pins, the most popular topics are Tipsy Bartender and Star Wars with four each, followed by Pirates of the Caribbean with three as the pin for Driving update for June 2017: Pearl plus Tesla worth more than GM or Ford features The Black Pearl in a bottle. Those take care of eight of the top ten and ten of the 13 listed, including this years' posts. I think I know what my fellow pinners like!

With that, this series is over and in record time, too. Last year, I finished the retrospective series for the eighth year on June 7, 2019. This year, I managed to do it 30 days earlier. When I wrote "May I be this expeditious next year," I had no idea how fast I could be!

Previous posts in this series.

Previous retrospectives about Pinterest.

Thursday, May 7, 2020

Brad Parscale calls the Trump digital campaign the 'Death Star' in a tweet

When I told my readers to "Stay tuned for the retrospective about this blog on Twitter I promised three times to observe Throwback Thursday," I had just seen that "Death Star" was trending on Twitter. I thought I was done with Star Wars after Star Wars Day and Star Wars drinks and music for the Revenge of the Sixth. Guess not.

The Guardian has one of the articles explaining why "Death Star" trended today on Twitter: Trump's 'juggernaut' re-election bid like the Death Star, campaign boss boasts.

Brad Parscale raises eyebrows with Star Wars comparison

‘In a few days we start pressing FIRE for the first time’

Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign manager raised eyebrows on Thursday by comparing Trump’s re-election efforts to a massive space weapon designed to obliterate peaceful planets.

Brad Parscale, a digital marketing expert turned Trump champion, used Twitter to declare that the Trump re-election campaign had constructed a “Death Star”, a reference to the fictional Star Wars space station capable of destroying planets with a big laser.

“For nearly three years we have been building a juggernaut campaign (Death Star). It is firing on all cylinders. Data, Digital, TV, Political, Surrogates, Coalitions, etc,” Parscale said.

He added, ominously: “In a few days we start pressing FIRE for the first time.”As USA Today reported, "Biden team notes it gets blown up" and "The Star Wars political battle lit up Twitter."

Parscale, who also spent Thursday tweeting out anti-Biden ads, said reporters gave him the idea, and he is happy to oblige.

"I didn’t give our campaign the name, Death Star, the media did," he tweeted in a follow-up. "However, I am happy to use the analogy. The fact is, we haven’t used it yet. Laugh all you want, we will take the win!"

Andrew Feinberg, a reporter for Newsweek responded that Parscale got the source of the name wrong.

No, “the media” did not come up with the “Death Star” name for the Trump 2020 campaign. A “Republican strategist” used it while speaking to @mckaycoppins on background for a story in which @parscale appears prominently.

More tweets corrected Parscale's. Gary Whitta, who co-wrote "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," also tweeted a response: "You do understand that the people who built the Death Star were the bad guys, right? Also they lost." Whitta should know.

Journalist Judd Legum included the following comment in his retweet: "Nicknaming your presidential reelection campaign 'Death Star' in the middle of a pandemic that has already killed 70K+ people is an interesting choice." First, no kidding. Second, the COVID-19 pandemic once again sweeps up all issues into itself.

Finally, Tommy Vietor, a national security spokesman for President Barack Obama, thought there might be a method to Parscale's madness: "Hey maybe Brad Parscale knows how Star Wars ends and he knows that a million WELL ACTUALLY tweets drives up engagement and virality of content." Maybe. That would be the smartest interpretation, which rarely happens with this Adminstration, but it's possible. Either way, I now have a new nickname for Parscale — Grand Moff Brad. It makes for a good match with Darth Trump.

Follow over the jump for the top tweets featuring links to this blog from the ninth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.

Neiman Marcus and J. Crew declare bankruptcy, tales of the Retail Apocalypse

It's been more than a month since I last told a tale of the Retail Apocalypse. Considering all the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, I'm a bit surprised it took this long to have some solid (bad) news to report. That news came this week, including today's report from CBSDFW, Neiman Marcus Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection.

The coronavirus shutdown has hit Neiman Marcus so hard that the 112-year-old storied luxury department store chain is seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

I was expecting this news in April, but it took until today for Neiman Marcus to file. CNBC Television has more on the circumstances that led the Dallas-based luxury retailer to act in Neiman Marcus files for bankruptcy protection.

CNBC's Courtney Reagan reports on retailer Neiman Marcus' decision to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Neiman Marcus was not the first major retail chain to file for Chapter 11 protection because of the pandemic. That dubious honor went to J. Crew, which CNBC reported J. Crew has filed for bankruptcy, here's what's next for the company on May the 4th.

CNBC's Courtney Reagan reports on the fall of J. Crew after the company filed for bankruptcy. She also reports on who else is facing issues.

Neither of these bankruptcies came as a surprise to any close observer of retail, as both chains appeared in a list of "junk retail" in CNBC's Former Saks CEO on the long-term impact of coronavirus on the retail industry from April 20, 2020.

A number of retailers are taking drastic steps after being hit hard by the coronavirus. Neiman Marcus missed a bond payment and, according to Reuters, is preparing to seek bankruptcy protection. Additionally, Nordstrom suspended merchandise orders and Macy's is exploring options to shore up its finances. Steve Sadove, former chairman of Saks Inc. and CEO and now a senior advisor for Mastercard, to discuss what retailers can do to survive the crisis.

In addition to J. Crew and Neiman Marcus, CNBC listed both GameStop and JCPenney, both of which have been on my watch list for a year or more. I would not be surprised if one of them was next.

That's it for the Retail Apocalypse for today. Stay tuned for the retrospective about Twitter this blog on I promised three times to observe Throwback Thursday.

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Star Wars drinks and music for the Revenge of the Sixth

Beware the Revenge of the Sixth, the Dark Side of Star Wars Day! For today's celebration, I'm following up last year's 'Rise of Skywalker,' 'The Mandalorian,' and 'Galaxy's Edge' — New Star Wars for the Revenge of the Sixth through the lens of Star Wars Drinks for Star Wars Day and Star Wars drinks, drinking game, and music for The Revenge of the Sixth by serving the drinks inspired by two of the new Star Wars properties I previewed last year.

The first recipe comes from Tipsy Bartender, the Baby Yoda Cocktail.

This is the way! It's so cute!

Follow over the jump for more cocktails and some music to drink them by.

Tipsy Bartender's Corona recipes for Cinco De Mayo during a pandemic

¡Feliz Cinco De Mayo! For this year's entry, I'm continuing the tradition of posting drink recipes from Tipsy Bartender, which I never really abandoned, even when I wrote about "Coco" at the Saturn Awards two years ago and shared a history lesson about the real reason for Cinco De Mayo last year; both of those have videos about Mexican-themed drinks from Tipsy Bartender, even though they are ostensibly about a different topic. For this year's celebration, I am taking a cue from the coronavirus pandemic to post recipes using, what else, Corona beer.*

I begin with a public service announcement from Skyy and his guest, Corona Beers Don’t Contain Coronavirus!

38% of Americans wouldn't buy Corona "under any circumstances" because of the Coronavirus outbreak.

On the one hand, this message bears repeating. On the other, LOL, what a bunch of covidiots who believe this!

Follow over the jump for the recipes.

'Star Wars' political parodies for Star Wars Day in an election year

Happy Star Wars Day and May the Fourth be with you! For today's cosmic cinematic celebration, I am shifting gears because it's an election year to present a post in the spirit of Darth Vader for President and other entertainment leftovers, Chewbacca arrested as Darth Vader campaigns for Mayor of Odessa, Ukraine, Darth Trump, Obi-Wan Kenobi for President and Darth Vader beats Trump but not Clinton, Darth Trump strikes back as The Farce awakens, Silly candidates, real and fictional, for the fifth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News, and 'Star Wars' attack ads — wow, I've posted a lot of Star Wars political content over the years — I'm sharing Star-Wars-themed political parodies for the 2020 election.*

I begin with a story related to the lawn signs I used for the preview image of this entry, Darth Vader Election Sign 'Appears' In Penetanguishene, Ontario from Huffington Post.

There is a great disturbance in the force of the upcoming Canadian election, according to a parody lawn sign in Ontario.

Reddit user massivecoller was quick to post what appears to be a plastic Darth Vader campaign poster, for the "Your Galactic Empire" party. The sign — which a HuffPost reader identified as being in Penetanguishene, Ont. — also includes the electoral promise of "Together, we can rule the galaxy."

Buzzfeed reported another instance of the Darth Vader lawn sign appearing during the 2015 Canadian election.

That's not the only Star Wars lawn sign that appeared that appeared during the campaign. Yoda had his fans, too.

It's not only in Canada that Darth Vader lawn signs have appeared. News Channel 9 WTVC reported Vote Vader sign shows up at Chattanooga polling place as early voting begins.

As voters in Hamilton County cast their ballots in the November midterm election, one sign is drawing eyes and votes to the Dark Side.

A sign for Star Wars' Darth Vader has been spotted alongside serious campaign signs outside the election commission.

NewsChannel 9 general manager Mike Costa snapped a picture of the pro-Sith sign Thursday afternoon.

The sign's slogan reads "Together, we can rule the galaxy" and includes the Imperial logo, along with the words "Your Galactic Empire."

So far, I haven't seen any reports of Star Wars lawn signs showing up this election cycle, but it's early. I'd bet money they will show up by election day in November.

Follow over the jump for more parody campaign materials with Star Wars themes.

PBS Digital's Storied examines pandemics in literature and entertainment

When I told my readers to "stay tuned for the Sunday entertainment feature" at the end of Marching music for the Kansas Primary, I had only the vaguest idea of what I would write about other than it would have some relationship to the pandemic. Then I saw YouTube recommend How Fictional Pandemics Reflect the Real Thing (Feat. Lindsay Ellis and Dr. Z) on PBS Digital's Storied, the channel shared by Monstrum and It's Lit!* I watched it and decided it would be the subject of today's entry. As I remarked in the footnote to Pandemic effects from and on space, an April asteroid flyby, and NASA at Home for Apophis Day on Monday the 13th, "Behold the power of the YouTube algorithm!"

Although we are currently living through a pandemic that has disrupted our lives and will shape the course of humanity, pandemics have been around since the dawn of civilization, as have stories about fictional pandemics. So now seems like as good a time as any to explore how fictional pandemics have evolved over time, and what they say about their own time.

Long-time readers of my blog will recognize some of the more recent works, as I have written about them. While I've mentioned Edgar Allan Poe only once here, I've referenced his creation, The Red Death, several times, usually in conjuction with Ebola. That's because the Opera Ghost appears in costume as The Red Death in "Phantom of the Opera" and I thought it made for a good personification of the disease.

No Ebola-chan on this blog!

In addition, there are all the references to zombies as pandemic metaphors, something I mentioned first in Discovery News on World War Z: "Who needs a imaginary zombie plague when a very real flu pandemic combined with mass riots against a background of crumbling infrastructure could produce the same response, if not much the same result?" As for other zombie works mentioned, I have an entire entry dedicated to Warm Bodies and a series of posts about "The Walking Dead. As for "I Am Legend," I've mentioned it several times in passing, but only did the book justice in a response to a comment by Infidel753 on Entertainment for the sixth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.

"It's rare that movies do justice to really good science fiction or fantasy books. There have been three movie adaptations of I Am Legend (that I know of) and they made a mess of it each time."
...
As for your gripe about Hollywood screwing up film adaptations of science fiction, I blame that on star power and the executives idea of the kinds of endings that movies need to get box office. The original ending of "I Am Legend" is not one that is a happy one for the original form of humanity, so more palatable ones had to be devised. Also, the past two leads have both been action heroes, Charlton Heston and Will Smith, which may bring in viewers for box office but leads to emphasizing action over thought. In addition, the movie adaptations have made things progressively worse for themselves, as the original work was intended as a scientific explanation for vampires, but ended up becoming the basis for the modern science fiction zombie. Therefore, all the zombie apocalypse tropes became incorporated in the most recent movie version. I suspect that a more faithful adaptation would have to be on television, where the economic and artistic pressures are different. See the SyFy Channel version of "Dune" and Fox's "Wayward Pines" for examples of how that might turn out.

It was about time I recycled those comments into a post.

Finally, while I've mentioned Stephen King on this blog before, usually in the context of either ebola or the Saturn Awards, I don't think I've ever mentioned his pandemic novel "The Stand" here. Other than quipping that if the biological weapon in that book is Captain Trips, then the novel coronavirus is Private Trips, I won't write more about it. Instead, I'm going to conclude my commentary on the above video by sharing the following musical moment that I've had open in a tab for several weeks, just waiting for an opportunity to embed it. Now is that opportunity.

The opening to the mini series The Stand
"I've got a fever, and the only cure is — more cowbell!" Looks like the cowbell got there too late.

Enough horror. Tomorrow is a science fiction holiday, Star Wars Day. May the Fourth be with you!

*Both presenters first appeared on my blog last year, Ellis in PBS Digital's Hot Mess asks if climate fiction can save the planet and Dr. Zarka in Halloween science: Cyclops and other monsters inspired by fossils. I'm glad to have had another opportunity to use one of their videos.

Saturday, May 2, 2020

Marching music for the Kansas Primary

I just began posting about marching music this month with Drum corps maypoles from 1978 for a drum corps May Day. As I promised in Marching music for the Ohio primary on National Superhero Day, The next marching music for a primary election is today, Saturday, May 2, for the Kansas Democratic Primary.

The 2020 Kansas Democratic primary will take place on Saturday, May 2, 2020, and is the sole contest scheduled on that date in the Democratic Party presidential primaries for the 2020 presidential election. The Kansas primary is a closed party-run primary. The state awards 47 delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention, of which 41 are pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the results of the primary.

As I've written for the past month, "since Bernie Sanders dropped out, there is little suspense left in the result...Other than selecting delegates, this election has little meaning. Just the same, enjoy the music while waiting for the results."

As my main interest in marching music is drum corps, I will begin with a corps that hasn't been in Kansas for 30 years and hasn't existed for 26, the Sky Ryders.

I begin with the clip of the most recent show DCI has of the corps, Spotlight: 1988 Sky Ryders.

In 1988, the Drum Corps International World Championships came to Arrowhead Stadium outside Kansas City for the first of two consecutive years. In 12th place, Sky Ryders performed a production based on the soundtrack from "The Sound of Music."

That looks like it was a fun show. So was the previous year's, which DCI uploaded as Download of the Week: October 31 in 1991.

Over the years a lot of corps have played music from "West Side Story," but for many fans, Sky Ryders' 1987 12th place show remains one of the most memorable "WSS" shows ever. It's also quite possibly the most memorable show to ever place in 12th at the DCI World Championships.

DCI has three more clips from 1981-1983, but I'll save them for another time. After all, I'm environmentalist. I don't just recycle, I conserve my resources.

Follow over the jump for videos of two Kansas marching bands from this century.

Drum corps maypoles from 1978 for a drum corps May Day

A Happy drum corps May Day to my readers! Today, I found out that a request I had been making for years had been fulfilled.

As for next year, I can post videos of 2013 Phantom Regiment with their fake trees, upload clips of 1978 Guardsmen and 1978 and 1979 Santa Clara Vanguard for actual drum corps maypoles in motion, or abandon the idea and return to an idea I've been avoiding for four year[s], the socialist meaning of May Day. The first and last ideas have videos, while the middle idea does not. I rather hope someone else uploads them instead, as I'm lazy. Anyone, anyone, Bueller, anyone?
"Ferris Bueller" didn't just take a day off; he took a year off. Here's to hoping that either someone plays the role of "Bueller" or that one of this year's shows takes up the slack.

"Bueller" showed up last year. Before I get to his or her contribution, I'm sharing Drum Corps International's Spotlight: 1978 Guardsmen.

Sorry about the lack of sound. DCI has apparently had copyright issues twice, first with the original show music and then with the supposedly royalty-free music they used for the background. Just the same, this video made for a great preview image!

Now for "Bueller's" contribution. A little more than two weeks after I made my plea last year, High-Stepper uploaded Top 100 Highest Rated DCI Shows #10: Santa Clara Vanguard 1978. It shows the maypole being put away during "If You Believe" instead of the full dance during concert, but at least it's a drum corps maypole in motion.

The following image from the very first drum corps May Day post shows the maypole in action.

Insert joke about them wearing red, playing Soviet-era music (Aram Khachaturian's "Gopak"), and being the vanguard of the [proletariat] here.*
...
*The Vanguard actually was a working-class organization at the time, so the joke is more apt than one might think. The ex-girlfriend I mention here from time to time marched in them from 1977-1979--in fact, she may be in the photo--came from a working-class family and described how most of her fellow corps members shared her background.

That's as close to the "idea I've been avoiding for...year[s], the socialist meaning of May Day" as I wish to come today. Thanks to High-Stepper for helping me not have to go any closer to it this year. Next year may be another story.

Vox and FiveThirtyEight explain voting by mail during a pandemic

Just yesterday, I observed that "It's hard to vote by mail without the USPS." Voting by mail continues to be a major topic as two videos I watched explored the topic this week. One that popped up on my YouTube feed today was Vox's How to vote during a pandemic.

Coronavirus threatens the US election. Voting by mail could save it.
...
On April 7, 2020, as the coronavirus held much of the US under lockdown, the state of Wisconsin held an election. Many other states had already decided to delay their spring elections to protect voters. But in Wisconsin, voters were forced to choose between participating in the election, and their own safety. Wisconsin's decision sparked outrage, but it also highlighted a question that the US really needs to figure out soon: How do you hold an election during a pandemic?

Fortunately, there's actually a simple solution to this one: voting by mail. Tens of millions of Americans already vote this way, and if the rest of the US can prepare their election systems in time for the November election, they could avoid Wisconsin's fate. But time's running out.

Vox presents a very optimistic case, which I'd like to agree with. However, I also watched FiveThirtyEight's Why Switching To A Vote-By-Mail System Is Tougher Than It Seems, which takes a contrary view.

Elections analyst Nathaniel Rakich looks into the difficulties we face if states want to switch to a vote-by-mail system in time for the general elections in November.

While FiveThirtyEight is more skeptical, it agrees with Vox that the switch needs to start now for widespread voting by mail to work by November. I concur with both news sources on that.

That's the pandemic post for today. Stay tuned for a drum corps May Day.

Crazy Eddie's Motie News

Friday, May 8, 2020