Tuesday, December 29, 2020

What Happened to Peking Man?

 


Early hominid fossils lost in China in 1941.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/mystery-of-the-lost-peking-man-fossils-solved-166415409/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peking_Man

In 1941, to safeguard them during the war, the Zhoukoudian human fossils—representing at least 40 different individuals—and artefacts were deposited into 2 wooden footlockers and were to be transported by the United States Marine Corps from the Peking Union Medical College to the SS President Harrison which was to dock at Qinhuangdao Port (near the Marine basecamp Camp Holcomb), and eventually arrive at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Unfortunately, the ship was attacked by Japanese warships en route to Qinhuangdao, and ran aground. Though there have been many attempts to locate the crates—including offering large cash rewards—it is unknown what happened to them after they left the college. Marine Richard Bowen recalled finding a box filled with bones while digging a foxhole one night next to some stone barracks in Qinhuangdao, while the city was under siege by the CCP Eighth Route Army who were under fire from Nationalist gunboats (a conflict of the Chinese Civil War). According to Mr. Wang Qingpu who had written a report for the Chinese government on the history of the port, if Bowen's story is accurate, the most probable location of the bones is 39°55′4″N 119°34′0″E underneath roads, a warehouse, or a parking lot.

Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Christmas subjects. Christmas tree at Lafayette Square, horizontal

 


1920. Horydczak, Theodor, photographer. 

https://www.loc.gov/item/2019684965/

Howard the Duck (1986)

 


Duck. 

Playing now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_the_Duck_(film)

https://film.avclub.com/my-year-of-flops-case-file-94-howard-the-duck-1798213267

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/78156/11-far-out-facts-about-howard-duck

G.I. Joe Adventure Team: Search for the Stolen Idol

 


1971.

Xanadu (1980)

 


CBS promo 1984. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xanadu_(film)

Frogger

 


1983 Atari. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frogger

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea


 Promo slide. (Editor's Note screenshot only as that whole Youtube channel got deleted.)

The Great Comet of 1811

 


Napoleon's Comet. Also in War and Peace.

At the midpoint of War and PeaceTolstoy describes the character of Pierre observing this “enormous and brilliant comet [...] which was said to portend all kinds of woes and the end of the world”. The comet was popularly thought to have portended Napoleon’s invasion of Russia (even being referred to as “Napoleon’s Comet”) and the War of 1812, among other events.

 The year 1811 turned out to be particularly fine for wine production, and merchants marketed “Comet Wine” at high prices for many years afterwards. The film Year of the Comet, a 1992 romantic comedy adventure film, is based on this premise and tells the story of the pursuit of a contemporarily discovered bottle of wine from the year of the Great Comet, bottled for Napoleon. The film stars Penelope Ann MillerTim Daly and French film actor Louis Jourdan (his last film before retiring).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Comet_of_1811 


https://darkmattersalot.com/2012/10/05/1811-1816-when-the-earth-had-a-brush-with-the-devil/

https://history.hanover.edu/texts/1811/Web/Topic-Comet.html 

Santa Medley

 


Santa Gifs.

Saturday, December 19, 2020

Throwback Saturday

 

Giant open thread.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_I_Married_an_Axe_Murderer




https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/552779/facts-about-so-i-married-an-axe-murderer-mike-myers


Billion Dollar Brain (1967)

 

Directed by Ken Russell. Len Deighton book. Third Harry Palmer. Michael Caine, Karl Malden, Ed Begley. I have this DVD and I am a fan of the movie. Also have the book. Snowy location work in Finland was very nice. Cinematography by Billy Williams. Oscar Homolka memorably appears here and in Funeral in Berlin as Colonel Stok. Homolka will also be seen tonight on Svengoolie.


Title sequence.

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/billion-dollar-brain-1968


Trailers From Hell.

https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/17451/billion-dollar-brain/#articles-reviews?articleId=201925


https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/18805/billion-dollar-brain/

Fidelity Electronics Chess

 


1979.

https://www.chessprogramming.org/Fidelity_Electronics

https://thegoldenhornblog.blogspot.com/2020/04/chess-in-fiction-and-film.html

Pepsi

 


1984.

Waterspout

 


1896.

https://www.loc.gov/item/2004680215/

Star Trek

 


1982 bumper.

The World According to Carp

 


Carp. 

https://www.mediaite.com/news/why-is-literally-everyone-on-twitter-tweeting-about-carp-and-whose-carp-is-that-whats-happening/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carp


https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/search/index?utf8=%E2%9C%93&keywords=carp#


Star Wars Holiday Special

 


1978 CBS promo. With Flying High.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Holiday_Special

 https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/72863/dark-side-oral-history-star-wars-holiday-special

Friday, December 18, 2020

The Day of the Triffids (1962)

 



Next. In CinemaScope. 





100% Weird promo.

Panoramic view of Tower of London & Tower Bridge

 


c1909. 

https://www.loc.gov/item/2007663151/

Devil Girl from Mars (1954)

 

Next. This is actually the late movie. I know this movie from the robot Gif that was in my robot movie collection. There was and is a print on Vimeo, where I originally watched it. And elsewhere now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil_Girl_from_Mars





Magnavox Odyssey

 


1972.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnavox_Odyssey

Scrooged (1988)

 


I have started to watch this one more often. I had not seen it much. Trading Places was last night.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrooged

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/scrooged-1988

https://thegoldenhornblog.home.blog/2020/12/18/scrooged-1988/

Golden Horn (WordPress) version. Getting harder to find movies to add. About 500 titles now.



The Evil of Frankenstein

 

 

1971 Saturday Night Movie promo.

New York & bridges from Brooklyn


c1913.

https://thegoldenhornblog.blogspot.com/2019/11/build-bridge-out-of-her.html

The panoramic photography series will continue. I had barely even dented it.

https://www.loc.gov/item/2007662379/