Hoax Forum

Unusual book find (NSFW)

2008-07-03T01:43:57-08:00

I was at a local Goodwill thrift store today with a shopping buggy half full of books when a lady who I’ve seen in the store many times came over and commented that I must really love to read. I hear this line so many times, usually from suspicious store managers or the naïve ladies who work the small-town library sales. “Yes, ma’am,” I’ll say, yuk-yuk style, “I-I-I sure do!” Today however I was less disingenuous. I admitted that yes I do love to read but I also have an online bookstore. I said this because, even though I see her often in the Goodwill, I rarely see her in the book section and I didn’t think there would be a conflict of interest. We ended up talking for twenty or thirty minutes about all kinds of things and towards the end of it when we came back around to the subject of books she said that her husband, recently deceased, had a collection that she hadn’t been able to decide what to do with. She must have felt a rapport with me because she said that I should come take a look. She lives only a few miles from the store and we were both pretty much done with our shopping so I ended up following her home...

Link is NSFW due to picture.

Office Book Of pranks / Cubicle Warfare Illustrations

2008-05-05T10:57:10-08:00

A fully illustrated office prank book! With well over 300+ drawings, 101+ pranks...enjoy the illustrations!

Summer Movies

2008-04-16T21:17:26-08:00

I was going to make this thread specific to this one movie, but I figured the conversation will probably evolve. And there are some much-anticipated movies, some must-see movies and some just darn fun-looking movies coming out this summer. But they don’t all need their own thread, so discuss any of the summer movies here.

First up is trailer two for Hellboy 2: the Golden Army. (Trailer one has been out for a while and is a teaser. Trailer two kicks it up a few notches and makes it look even better.)

I enjoyed Hellboy so much. It was a really fun movie. And, having never read the comics/graphic novels, there wasn’t any potential disappointment from preconceived notions for me. And this movie looks like it will be just as good and as much fun. If not more so.

Watchmen

2007-07-26T22:25:02-08:00

The cast for the Watchmen movie has been announced.

For those interested.

The new Indiana Jones movie :-)

2008-05-30T14:52:30-08:00

Saw it with my friends this evening. And highly enjoyed it. Recommended for those who liked the earlier Indy movies too!

You won’t believe the MPAA rating on this movie..

2008-06-09T11:17:32-08:00

Check out why this movie is rated PG-13!

Prince Caspian

2008-05-27T05:20:23-08:00

I saw the new Narnia movie yesterday—I liked it a lot. Warning to long-time Narnia lovers (like me): It’s a LOT different from the book. I thought the changes were mostly necessary and justified, but I expect everybody won’t feel the same. But I enjoyed it. Looking forward to Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which might be my favorite, though it’s hard to pick just one favorite.

There Can Be Only One…

2008-05-20T21:25:30-08:00

Or two...

From the Makers of Toxic Avenger…

2008-05-29T11:37:53-08:00

With all of the bad horror movie fans here I’m sure most of you know The Toxic Avenger.

Well, the studio apparently has a new movie out. And not just out as in straight-to-DVD/video. But actually in theaters. (Though very limited release.)

May I present to you Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead. (One of the trailers is definitely NSFW, but it is clearly marked on the page. I’m not sure I would recommend watching the other one at work, though.)

Whistles On His Way To The Big Fishing Hole In The Sky

2008-05-27T16:59:33-08:00

‘Andy Griffith’ Composer, Whistler Dies

Earle Hagen, 88, Penned Opening Themes for ‘That Girl,’ ‘Dick Van Dyke’

(May 27) - Earle H. Hagen, who co-wrote the jazz classic “Harlem Nocturne” and composed memorable themes for “The Andy Griffith Show,” “I Spy,” “The Mod Squad” and other TV shows, has died. He was 88.

Hagen, who is heard whistling the folksy tune for “The Andy Griffith Show,” died Monday night at his home in Rancho Mirage, his wife, Laura, said Tuesday. He had been in ill health for several months.

During his long musical career, Hagen performed with the top bands of the swing era, composed for movies and television and wrote one of the first textbooks on movie composing.

He and Lionel Newman were nominated for an Academy Award for best music scoring for the 1960 Marilyn Monroe movie “Let’s Make Love.”

For television, he composed original music for more than 3,000 episodes, pilots and TV movies, including theme songs for “That Girl,” “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.”

“He loved it,” his wife said. “The music just flowed from him, and he would take off one hat and put on another and go on to the next show.”

Hagen enjoyed the immediacy of the small screen, he told the American Society of Musicians Arrangers & Composers in 2000.
“It was hard work, with long hours and endless deadlines, but being able to write something one day and hear it a few days later appealed to me,” he said. “Besides, I was addicted to the ultimate narcosis in music, which is the rush you get when you give a downbeat and wonderful players breathe life into the notes you have put on paper.”

Born July 9, 1919, in Chicago, Hagen moved to Los Angeles as a youngster. He began playing the trombone while in junior high school.

“The school actually furnished him with a tuba and his mother made him take it back,” his wife said.

He became so proficient that he graduated early from Hollywood High School and at 16 was touring with big bands. He played trombone with Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey and arranged for and played with Ray Noble’s orchestra.

He and Newman wrote “Harlem Nocturne” for Noble in 1939. It has been covered many times since and served as the theme music for “Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer” television series in 1984.

In 1941, Hagen became a staff musician for CBS but the next year he enlisted in the military.

After the war, he worked as a composer and orchestrator for 20th Century-Fox studios on dozens of movies, including another Monroe classic, “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.”

In the 1950s, he and Herbert Spencer formed an orchestra partnership that also wrote music for television, including scoring the Danny Thomas hit “Make Room for Daddy.”

Later, he worked as musical director for producer Sheldon Leonard, sometimes working on as many of five shows a week.

One of his more notable TV scoring efforts was for the 1960s adventure series “I Spy,” starring Bill Cosby and Robert Culp.

Because the show used exotic locations worldwide, Hagen often included ethnic touches in the incidental music, among them hiring Greek musicians to play for some episodes that took place in Greece. On other locations, he collected ethnic music to mix with Western music back in Hollywood.

After retiring from TV work in 1986, Hagen taught a workshop in film and television scoring.

He also wrote three books on scoring, including 1971’s “Scoring for Films,” one of the earliest textbooks on the subject. His 2002 autobiography was titled “Memoirs of a Famous Composer - Nobody Ever Heard Of.”

Besides his wife, Hagen is survived by his sons, Deane and James, both of Palm Desert; stepchildren Rebecca Roberts, of Irvine, Richard Roberts of Los Angeles and Rachael Roberts of Irvine; and four grandchildren. His first wife, Elouise Hagen, died in 2002 following 59 years of marriage.

There are also videos imbedded in the story for some of his theme songs.