Self Help Radio 032217: Smash

(Original image here.)

Another show in the can.  Was it smashing?  How would I know?  There are actors who never see their finished films - Vincent D'Onifrio on Twitter says he doesn't enjoy it, & only sees them if he's forced to go to a premiere.  As time has gone by, I feel the same way about my radio shows.  My biggest problem right now is that I like to live-tweet the shows, & to do so - since the show is prerecorded - I have to listen to it.

& inevitably I think the show's a mess.  But here's the thing: I don't think I can listen closely enough to decide how to improve it.  In fact, I put it out of my mind.  I basically try to do the best I can while I'm doing the show, & then let it go.  Is that the right way to do it?  I don't know, but as time goes by, it seems like the only way I know how to do it.

With that preamble, here's the smash show.  I didn't enjoy listening to it much (well, I liked all the music & I liked the interviews with the funny people who aren't me) but maybe you'll have a better experience.  It's now available for listening at Self Help Radio on the web & the smashing smash songs I played are below.

(part one)

"Smash" The Baskervilles _Twilight_
"Smashed & Blocked" Terry Tonik _This Is Mod, Vol. 2: More Rarities 1979-1981_
"Smash It To Pieces" Cats On Fire _All Blackshirts To Me_

"Smashed (Live)" Mose Allison _Allison Wonderland: The Mose Allison Anthology_
"Smashing Of The Van" Chumbawumba _English Rebel Songs: 1381-1914_
"Smashing Time" Television Personalities _Smashing Time_
"We Had A Really Smashing Time" The Hangovers _Slow Dirty Tears_

"Smash It Up" The Damned _The Chiswick Story_
"Smash You" The Ramones _Too Tough To Die_
"Vision Smashed" Rejects _Messthetics Greatest Hits: The Sounds Of UK D.I.Y. 1977-1980_
"Smash It In Kick It On" Unisex _A Double Agent Compilation_

"Smash Hit Wonder" The King Of Luxembourg _Royal Bastard_
"Smash Hit" The Dining Room Set _Cafe Bleu_

(part two)

"Fish Cakes" Bauhaus _Mask_
"Smash" Calexico _Garden Ruin_
"Smash Palace" Breathless _Chasing Promises_

"Smash The System" Luke Haines _Smash The System_
"Smash The Beauty Machine" Future Bible Heroes _Eternal Youth_
"Smash Your Heart" Cat Stevens _New Masters_
"Smash This World" Papas Fritas _Papas Fritas_

"Smashed Blocked" John's Children _The Legendary Orgasm Album_
"Windshield Smasher" Black Moth Super Rainbow _Cobra Juicy_
"Smash" Wire _Red Barked Tree_
"Smashed Princess" David J _Urban Urbane_

"Smashed" C/A/T _Endzeit Bunkertracks [Act II]_

Whither Smash?

(Image from this Norwegian website.)

Smash! is apparently a Norwegian junk food candy treat.  Google Translate helped me identify its charm:

Sweet, salty, & airy crazy! Smash! combines the best of two worlds. Salty & airy crispy snacks pieces covered with chocolate providing a unique &exciting dining experience. It would be to eat just one!

Oh I'm sure it would be.  Tonight's Self Help Radio, interestingly enough, is also "sweet, salty, & airy crazy."  Not necessarily in that order.

Why is the theme "smash"?  Who knows?  What I do know is that there are far fewer songs about smashing things than I had originally anticipated.  Plenty for the show, but, I mean, after the ferris wheel show, I was expecting an embarrassment of abundance.

The show, which tonight will be entirely in Norwegian (that's not true) is on from 8-10pm central, 9-11pm eastern on WLXU which is at 93.9 fm in Lexington & online at Lexington community radio dot org everywhere else, even Norway.  & it may be smashing, in one sense or the other.  No promises.

Or, as they say in Norway, Ingen løfter!

Preface To Smash: A Bunch Of Pictures Of Hulk, Smashing

Because I am a huge comic nerd, I can't hear the word "smash" without hearing a word before it, which is "Hulk."  "Hulk smash!" is something the monster hero says with enough regularity that I think of it, & it's often parodied.  Here are a bunch of pictures of the Hulk which, while not always containing images of him smashing, are by some of the artists associated with the character.  Enjoy!

Sources: 1 (by Herb Trimpe); 2 (by Jack Kirby); 3 (by Marie Severin); 4 (by Sal Buscema); 5 (by John Byrne); 6 (by Mike Deodato); & 7 (by Gary Frank)

So Weird & Wonderful

As long as I'm recommending stuff...  I found a weird, amazing "bare-handed speech synthesis" program featured on this website, which links to the actual pink trombone app/web page (which looks exactly like the image above).  But before you go there, here's what it is:

"Pink Trombone by Dood.al visualizes an interactive cross-section of the human vocal tract that users can manipulate to simulate speech & other vocal sounds. The simulator produces different sounds based on where users slide the variable positions of the tongue, lips, & hard & soft palate, which can be altered in real time."

It looks like it's been designed to be used on pad-type devices where you can use both hands - on a computer you just get a mouse arrow - but it's still fun to play with, although when I play with it, it's like I'm Dick Cheney torturing some poor bastard just for fun.

But try it!  It's so crazy strange!

Catz

(Image from the movie's IMDb page.)

The wife & I have been getting out to see movies lately, in addition to watching lots of them from Netflix.  In particular, we've gone twice now to Magnolia At The Modern, the arts film theater in the Modern Art Museum Of Fort Worth.  We've enjoyed going so much that my notoriously cheap wife is thinking of becoming a member of the museum just for the film discounts!

Tonight we saw Kedi, a documentary about the stray cats in Istanbul.  I confess that most of what I know about Istanbul has to do with when it was Constantinople, so seeing the images of a gorgeous city full of fabulous people - who happen to care about cats - made me really want to visit.  But even more so, the cats of the city seemed just amazing.

& look, I like documentaries but I am aware that documentaries about animals are almost always going to be heartbreaking.  But Kedi manages something different.  Without giving anything away - at a glance you can see it's a movie about the feral stray cats of Istanbul & the people who interact with them - I will just say there's nothing but a celebration here.  I did want to perhaps hear something about attempts to spay & neuter, because I know that outdoor cats live far shorter lives than indoor cats* but I didn't let that detract from just eighty glorious minutes of clever filmmaking highlighting animals I truly love, even if these probably don't speak any English.

Which is my way of saying, I recommend it, especially if you're a cat lover.  It's still showing all over the country so maybe you'll get a chance to see it, but it'll be on DVD & streaming soon enough.

Maybe I'll tell you about the other films I've seen in this space one day soon.  Right now, like with Kedi, it's all about the wonderful cats.

* Not to depress you, but here's what it says: "Cats who are kept indoors can reach the ripe old age of 17 or more years, whereas outdoor cats live an average of just two to five years."