Otokichi

Submitted for your approval: Moan Family Puppets! Seriously, "Tenchmoan" has dug up a little-known battle in Europe between Philips and Grundig over tape cassettes in the early 1960's. Would the musicians (Grundig, Telefunken, Deutsch Grammophon) prevail in the markerplace over The Dictator (Philips)? In addition, the puppets are back! A YouTube copyright strike has been brought against "the old geezer." How will the sometime YouTube video maker fare against the Mighty YouTube Monster? Tune in for details.;)

Submitted for your approval, something a lover says when things are FUBAR. Aidan James sings! And he's got other musicians to play along in the Hawaii Theater.;)

Usually, I find something that "Techmoan" has unearthed some unusual/unheralded/justly forgotten tech. This time, I saw this video by Post Modern Jukebox, and I figured that Music is more interesting than Tech. Submitted for your approval, some Bossa Nova to remind you that Summer awaits...

Winter has been defeated, and Spring is trying to arrive. So here's a blast from the past, courtesy of Philip J. Fry. A spirited performance at Children In Need Rocks the 80s. Here comes the sun...

Submitted for your approval, almost 30 minutes with "Mr. Rogers," kids, and a gathering of parents. When "discipline" comes up in the family, were you sent to you room? Were you spanked when you "misbehaved"? Mr. Rogers and a several family members talk about "because I say so!" to "I'm disappointed in you" approaches to parenthood and self-discipline.

Submitted for your approval, a tale of an Indentured Servant in Colonial America. When the phrase "Indentured Servant" comes up, I picture a minor child serving a master in the 17th or 18th century American colonies. This tale is somewhat different, as a family of evicted Irish tenant farmers sign Indenture papers and end up in Philadelphia for sale to the highest bidder. If you have an ancestor who was an Indentured Servant, this tale will open your eyes to the "Pre-Steerage" Irish before the Irish Potato Famine. Warning: The "Onion cutters" are ready for even the most stalwart descendant.

Submitted for your approval, electronic appliances for "the little people." A box arrives in the mail which is smaller than usual, in it are three "must have" items for half-sized people: a radio/cassette players, a phonograph, and a vintage TV. As you activate these items, you find the room you're in getting bigger as you grow smaller: next stop, "The Twilight Zone"! "Techmoan" has discovered a triple threat to your (rapidly diminishing) spare time from Showa electronics, in the form of toys/novelties that can make your Smart Phone less productive and a radio/tape player for short-attention-span folk. Beware, fun ahead!;)

To misquote a long-ago article from either Stereo Review or High Fidelity, "does your favorite LP sound like it was recorded at a pistol firing tournament?" If so, it's time to clean the "microdust" off your record. "Techmoan" tried a Gel, pressure washer, the kitchen sink, and "spray & rub" to clean a superfine- and regular-groove LP with...Oh, that's a "Spoiler," isn't it? Check it out for yourself, if your LP collection has gotten "too dirty for general audiences." Sorry, no puppets...again.

Two men meet on a train headed for the U.S./Mexico border. One owns a dog and appears to be a decent, ordinary fellow. The other is a financier fleeing Scotland Yard for embezzling company funds. Thus begins a story full of twists and turns, as gray as real life. Who's the "good guy"? Who's the "bad guy"? Does the dog, Dolores know best? Check out this fine 1957 GB Film Noir tale...

Submitted for your approval, here's a lively love song from Anuhea inviting a lover to "put your head on my shoulders." It's a little something to start off the weekend and March 1st.;)

For those whom the crack of rifle fire is it's own kind of music, here's a rare collaboration between two YouTube "Gun Channels." I ran across the C&Rsenal site during their crossover with The Great War channel, with Othais and Mae's focus on the firearms of World War I. Curiousity about (somewhat) more modern firearms led me to "Forgotten Weapons," with Ian McCollum. With a very interesting piano theme to accompany the (occasional) rattle of 100 year-old-weapons-of-mass-frustration, have a look at what Pierrot Le Fou, Tommy Atkins, Alvin York, and Paul Bauer tried to use on the Western Front. What does "Gun Girl" Mae have to do with this? She's about the size and mass of the average World War I soldier...and her grin gets bigger along with the guns!

Touring YouTube, I came across a German film about Baron Manfred Von Richtofen...in English! Submitted for your approval, a 2008 movie about World War I Germany's "Red Baron" that is "soapy" on the ground, but has dynamite flying sequences. (In this case, "The Blue Max" good, with a number of "departures from History" found in other war movies.) "Prussians don't complain."

Submitted for your approval, a companion for your Smart Watch. I found this bit of Tech unnecessary, but if you have one of those not-quite-Dick-Tracy-Radio/TV wristwatches, this LED status display watch band is Hipster Cool. Excuse me, Techmoan's enthusiasm for this thing escapes me, so I'm off to YouTube in search of Something Completely Different before I fall asleep.

Submitted for you approval, a very down to earth TV host from the 1960's to early 2000, who has yet to be matched. (PBS' animated "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood" is the current iteration.) By the time Mr. Rogers arrived on the local public TV station, I was a know-it-all-into-myself-smug high school teen. My mother, a second grade teacher, used to watch this in the afternoon, which is where I came across his talk on Death. It began with a Guppy lying on the bottom of the fish tank, progressed to an "Is it still alive/can it be brought back to life?" segment, and ended, not with the Guppy flushed down the toilet or given to the cat, but the kind of funeral service held for a beloved family member. He had a profound respect for all things living, from children to aquarium fish. This short introduction revealed what he was all about, and I hope that Tom Hanks realizes the giant-size shoes he has to fill in the upcoming movie.

There has been much written about the "Aloha Spirit" and what it means to the people of Hawai'i. Tavana spells it out in song "as more than a feeling."