Otokichi

Welcome to The Audio Museum! Submitted for your entertainment, "Techmoan" has gathered a number of media types that can/cannot be played/seen on various kinds of hardware. Yessir, some of this stuff "belongs in a museum" because of circumstances beyond the control of the music makers. Step into the Audio Wayback machine, (some of it) will be a "sound and light" show!

Here's a notable outtake from "Singin' in the Rain," where Debbie Reynolds sings "Lucky Star." What does this have to do with the 1979 movie, "Alien"? As "Warrant Officer Ripley" is trying to "steam" the Alien out of it's hiding space, this is the song she's singing. (William Shatner style, though.;)

Found after seeing an offhand comment in Indy Neidell's World War II page on YouTube. I've read an article or two on "Stalin's Man in Tokyo," but here's an interesting miniseries about a German World War I veteran, who signed on as a GRU (Soviet Army Intelligence), became certified as a journalist/reporter, joined the Nazi party, and was posted to Tokyo. As a (supposed) Nazi, he operated in and among the Japanese diplomatic and military circles, passing on valuable data to Moscow. His warnings to Stalin about Operation Barbarossa is his one failure, though not as a spy. "James Bond"? Not real;

Here's a convoluted tale about how Philco Ford started to make small 331/3 speed mini records, which could be played on a Japanese mini record player that sported French (!) labelled controls, and may have had something to do with Americam PocketDiscs. Submitted for the budding Sherlock Holmes or "Alice Liddell," here's a 1960's saga that is stranger than fiction. Got your climbing gear and flashlights ready? It's "Indiana Jones" time, in a search for a lost record disk format.

"Facebook"? Oh that old thing. I just use it to link up with (a few) friends and family to pass on news. (It's better than having to read 'family letters" at Christmas time.) OK, what shall we talk about? I've been posting the odd "Techmoan" video from time to time for entertainment purposes. That way, there's music, drama, comedy, and news about "dead end tech." I'll put "Techmoan's" latest tale of a Japanese mini disc on a French-language-labeled, non-standard disk player that may have started as a vending-machine-single-record-enterprise in Washington state in the late 1960's to see where t

Submitted for your approval, a documentary that takes you into a Leper colony in early 1960's Iran. This lively tale is part of Turner Classic Movies' "Women Who Make Film" and the only (free) streamable movie. The subtitles are hard to read and flit by at the speed of speech, but this may change your ideas of what constitutes "beauty."

Salesman: "Step right up folks! Those ION electronics boffins have spared no expense to recreate a 'Retro Style' Boom Box for your next block party! Just $100 will buy you the greatest neighbor-annoyer money can buy!!" "Techmoan" imported a U.S. market "Street Rocker" Boom Box in hopes that he'd get a good buy for the money. Unroll the video and see how far his much-more-than-$100 actually bought. (Spolier alert: Nope!)

Submitted for your enjoyment/puzzlement, a quirky Czech film about two young women who "take old geezers for a ride." Another in Turner Classic Movies' "Women Who Make Film" series. This wildly hedonistic film sprinted by the usually staid/alert censors as it slips between color and black-and-white footage to an original soundtrack usually associated with the likes of Fellini or Vadim. Whee!;)

Submitted for a Sunday evening, a jaunty, uptempo instrumental from two island master players. Just the thing to ease you into Monday.

Submitted for your puzzlement, an absurdist movie that would amuse/confound Rod Serling. A French movie, dubbed into Russian, with English subtitles about a man and his 100% deerskin jacket. It has been described as a mix of comedy, horror, and farce. So, do clothes make the man or do clothes possess the man? As Jordan Peele might say: "Only in the Twilight Zone."

So you've been banned from every horse race track in the state and adjoining venues? The local church/volunteer fire department/community needs money to operate? Combine your need with theirs in a "Race Night!" Is this legal? That depends on local gambling ordinances, but rest assured, there are random endings to each race, just to "keep your bookie straight." Get your matches/pennies/game tokens together, there's gonna be some horse racing tonight!

I've seen YouTube streamers playing various editons of "Red Dead 2," but let's start at the beginning. There's money to be made as a bounty hunter in the "almost tamed" Wild West, so ignore the Sky Pilots and Missionaries. It's Buy/Sell/Trade in the wild frontier.

Submitted for your curiosity, "Antonia," a 1975 tale of life in a small, quirky Dutch village. Another interesting tale in Turner Classic Movies "Women Who Make Film" series. We start near the end and travel back to 1945, shortly after the end of World War II and the liberation of the Nethlands. Shake "Crooked Finger's" hand and howl at the moon with the woman upstairs, where a "newcomer" has lived in the village for 20 years!

Submitted for long-ago "Adult Swim" fans who couldn't get enough of "FLCL." The Pillows played a killer closing number, which went over my head, since I didn't sign up for Japanese (language) school when I was a kid. So, here's an idiomatic English version for those who's Japanese vocabulary is limited to "Hai" and "Sayonara.";) "Star Overhead"

Submitted for your amusement, six episodes of "Science Fiction Theater," a 1950's anthology series about, you guessed it, Science Fiction! Before stumbling on to this limited set of episodes, I searched around for "SFT" on DVD. I eventually found the 2 season DVD set, and was surprised that the first season was filmed in Color! (Our old Zenith was strictly black-anmd-white back then.) So return to the early Cold War years and 1950's Patriarchy, to see what passed for "Science Fiction" back then.;)