The Shibuya crossing in Tokyo is said to be the busiest intersection in the world. At peak times, as many as 2,500 people cross the streets with a single change of a traffic signal, and over 2 million in a single day.
Tokyo’s Shibuya Crossing
Month: July 2021
Planet of the Sharks
I missed this one, it played during Shark Week last summer. Sounds like a bombastic blockbusting blast of blood and mayhem. Short plot blurb, polar ice caps melt and the world is just ocean, due to some aberration, there are no fish for the sharks to eat, they must feed on surface dwellers. Basically Waterworld meets Jaws.
The original Planet of the… Movie. Planet of the Apes!
Another honourable mention Shark Movie:
Chewbacca’s Family Reunion
∼
Chewbacca, a 200-year-old Wookiee. Wookiees are a species of intelligent bipeds from the planet Kashyyyk in the Star Wars universe. Standing at 8 feet tall, Chewbacca is covered with long hair, and wears only a bandolier. His weapon of choice is the Wookiee bowcaster (a crossbow-shaped directed-energy weapon).
Chewbacca’s family had the chance to come together as their paths were crossing for the first time in decades. The most convenient location was Crawford, Texas, as the Wookiee family members would all be travelling within close range of that Texas town. Many members of the family arrived in Crawford on various ships from the far reaches of the galaxy. The family reunion was a great success.
Reunion Photos
Portrait of a group of cousins
Chewie enjoying beverages with Hans Solo’s great-great granddaughter.
Painted portrait of Chewie, the wife and kids, and cat.
Chewie with some family elders.
Cousin Hoolacca arrives at the Crawford spaceport.
Chewing the fat with his step-brother Leroy the Sasquatch.
Chewie throwing out the first pitch at a Crawford Rattlers baseball game.
1960’s Beach Party Movies
Beach party movies were an American subgenre of feature films produced and released between 1963 and 1968, created by American International Pictures (AIP), beginning with their surprise hit, Beach Party in July 1963. With this film, AIP is credited with creating the genre. In addition to the AIP films, several contributions to the genre were produced and released by major and independent studios alike. According to various sources, the genre comprises over 30 films, with the lower-budget AIP films being the most profitable.
Generally comedies, the core elements of the AIP films consisted of a group of teenage and/or college-age characters as heroes; non-parental adult characters as villains and/or comic relief; simple, silly storylines that avoided any sober social consciousness; teen trends and interests (such as dancing, surfing, drag racing, custom cars, etc.); simple romantic arcs, original songs (presented in both the “Musical” genre style and as ”source music”); teen-oriented musical acts (frequently performing as themselves); and a tongue-in-cheek attitude toward the target audience.
The earliest films by AIP, as well as those by other studios, focused on surfing and beach culture. Although the genre is termed “beach party film”, several subsequent films that appeared later in the genre, while keeping most of the core elements mentioned above, do not actually include surfing—or even scenes on a beach.
The complete AIP series
American International Pictures produced a series of twelve films that fall into the genre. With the exception of Sergeant Deadhead, Fireball 500 and Thunder Alley, all were related by recurring characters. For example, much of the cast in Bikini Beach appear in the follow-up Pajama Party, albeit with different names – however, biker Erich von Zipper appears in the film, along with his gang of “Rats,” playing the same characters as in two previous films. In addition, Ski Party would appear unrelated, except that the characters of Todd and Craig also appear in the later Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine, which is also linked to How to Stuff a Wild Bikini by the appearance of Erich von Zipper and Annette Funicello.
The only film not to have an appearance of some kind by either Avalon or Funicello is The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (early promos for the film had announced that the two would appear, but it didn’t happen); Funicello does not appear in Avalon’s Sergeant Deadhead and Avalon does not appear in Funicello’s Thunder Alley.
| Film | Release date | Director | Writer(s) | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beach Party | 7 August 1963 | William Asher | Lou Rusoff, William Asher, Robert Dillon | Les Baxter |
| Bikini Beach | 22 July 1964 | William Asher | William Asher, Robert Dillon, Leo Townsend | Les Baxter |
| Pajama Party | 11 November 1964 | Don Weis | Louis M. Heyward | Les Baxter |
| Beach Blanket Bingo | 14 April 1965 | William Asher | Leo Townsend, Sher Townsend, William Asher | Les Baxter |
| Ski Party | 30 June 1965 | Alan Rafkin | Robert Kaufman | Guy Hemric & Jerry Styner |
| How to Stuff a Wild Bikini | 14 July 1965 | William Asher | William Asher, Leo Townsend | Les Baxter |
| Sergeant Deadhead | 18 August 1965 | Norman Taurog | Louis M. Heyward | Les Baxter |
| Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine | 6 November 1965 | Norman Taurog | James Hartford, Robert Kaufman | Les Baxter |
| Ghost in the Invisible Bikini | 6 April 1966 | Don Weis | Louis M. Heyward, Elwood Ullman | Les Baxter |
| Fireball 500 | 7 June 1966 | William Asher | William Asher, Leo Townsend, Burt Topper | Les Baxter |
| Thunder Alley | 22 March 1967 | Richard Rush | Sy Salkowitz | Mike Curb |
Buster Keaton!
A few offshoot films.
Top 5 World’s Biggest Mining Excavators
1 – Caterpillar 6090 FS Excavator
At an operating weight of an astounding 1,000 tonnes, the 6090 FS is the world’s largest excavator. With twin Cummins QSK60 engines, it boasts and total engine rating of 3360 kW / 4500 HP. When Caterpillar expanded their mining capabilities with a purchase of Bucyrus in 2011, they based the 6090 FS on the Bucyrus RH400, which was originally launched in 1997. It can fill the largest Caterpillar dump truck (the 797) in only four passes based on its 52 m3 bucket with 93.6 tonne payload.
2 – Bucyrus RH 400 Excavator
Originally launched as the Terex RH 400 and rebranded when Bucyrus purchased the Terex mining division in 2010, this model has an operating weight of 980 tonnes. With identical engine capacity to the Caterpillar 6090 RS, it requires six car batteries to simply start the engines. It has previously set the hydraulic mining excavator world record for the ability to move up to 9,900 tonnes of material in a single hour. It previously held the title of world’s largest excavator, prior to the release of the Cat 6090 FS.
3 – Hitachi EX8000-6 Excavator
The largest excavator in the Hitachi fleet, the EX8000-6 offers the versatility of being fitted with either a 43.3 m3 backhoe bucket or a 40 m3 loading shovel. Boasting an operating weight up to 837 tonnes, it can fill the largest Hitachi dump truck (EH4000AC-3) in just five passes. The twin Cummins engines give a combined capacity of 2900 kW / 3888 HP. For perspective Hitachi’s flagship mining excavator the EX1200-6, has an engine capacity one sixth the size of this!
4 – Liebherr R9800 Excavator
With an operating weight up to 810 tonnes, the R9800 from Liebherr comes with the option of either MTU or Cummins diesel engines, or an electric drive version. The electric version is rated up to 2984 kW / 4000 HP. It’s 42 m3 shovel capacity or 47.5 m# backhoe capacity are designed to pair with the Liebherr T 264 or T 284 dump trucks for maximum efficiency.
5 – Komatsu PC8000-11 Excavator
Weighing up to 773 tonnes, this is the largest excavator in the Japanese manufacturers portfolio. Komatsu’s most frequently used model in the Australian/New Zealand market is the PC200-8 and it weighs over 36 times less than this behemoth. Its twin diesel engines give it a rating to 3000 kW / 4020 HP and it has shovel and backhoe capacity of 42 m3 (designed to integrate with trucks between 240 – 400 tonnes).
Trump 2016 Prediction before the Election
This was one of my posts from October 2016.
November 9, 2016, the streets of America erupt with rebellious Trumplodytes
Crystal ball: Hillary Clinton wins the 2016 presidential election by a sliver. Donald Trump immediately says the election was rigged by a combination of the anti-Trump liberal bias media, the Bilderbergers, Goldman Sachs, the NSA, the British Secret Service, the Vatican, the Rosicrucian’s, Bill Maher, Bill Nye the Science Guy, the Mexican embassy in Washington, the producers of Sesame Street and the Illuminati, to name a few. “It was all fixed by bad, awful, terrible, evil people.” Trump trumpeted from his ostentatious gold plated New York City penthouse. He continued, “the NSA, which is in the back pocket of Crooked Hillary, hacked the touch screen voting machines and erased my votes, and put in, she should be in jail, Hillary’s votes!”
Trump’s supporters, colloquially known as the Trumplodytes, they are given this name because they are gullible morons who have disdain for facts and true reality, started to hit the streets and attack the “Establishment Insiders”. The Insiders include any government employee, including law enforcement and the military. It also includes Wall Street manipulators, the evil media, the pharma companies and especially FEMA.
This could get very ugly!
Trumplodytes in a back lane in Denver moving toward a U.S. Postal Service office.
A few Trumplodytes in Fargo, North Dakota stop for a selfie before attacking a U.S. Marine Corps recruiting office.
Trumplodytes moving on after destroying a school division’s bus depot.
Deplorables moving down Wall Street. A lone officer named MacLeod holding back the mob.
It has been reported Trump is preparing to move to a 3 million dollar mansion in the Colorado Rockies and muster up a Trumplodyte army. It has been noted that his first target will be Fort Knox.
Dwarf Cow in Bangladesh Becomes Big Star
A dwarf cow in Bangladesh has become a sensation in the country as thousands of people have flocked to the farm where it lives in order to see the shockingly small creature. The diminutive animal, dubbed ‘Rani,’ was reportedly born approximately two years ago in the community of Charigram and, since that time, has only grown to a mere 20 inches in height and 26 inches in length. The wondrous creature had largely lived a quiet life until a few weeks ago when pictures of the tiny animal were posted to social media in Bangladesh, capturing the imagination of observers and sparking something of a nationwide frenzy.
Soon visitors and media outlets began descending upon the animal’s farm to marvel at the miniature cow that has become a veritable celebrity in the country. “More than 15,000 people have come to see Rani in the past three days alone,” site manager M.A. Hasan Howlader said, “they have come here in droves.” In response to the overwhelming and wholly unexpected reaction to the dwarf cow, the farm has reportedly been forced to hire security for the creature and, according to the Washington Post, now only allows a handful of people access to the animal per day and by appointment only. “Honestly speaking, we are tired,” Howlander revealed while reflecting on the proverbial Rani-mania that has swept over the farm.
The influx of visitors is particularly surprising since Bangladesh is under a lockdown due to the coronavirus and government-operated transportation in the country has been temporarily suspended. Be that as it may, those wishing to see the creature have disregarded the regulations and managed to find their way to the farm. As one might imagine, government officials aren’t exactly thrilled with the craze and have asked the site to dissuade crowds from gathering near the cow. The animal’s owners believe that she may be the world’s smallest bovine, since she is currently four inches shorter than the current record holder, and are awaiting an assessment from Guinness World Records as to whether or not Rani will take the tiny crown.
The MarkoZen Blog 