Arts & Culture

Stream it: 'Reading Rainbow'

Submitted by Chase Erwin, WAFFstaffer

Thursday, May 23rd, 2013, 9:03pm

What can be said about the brilliance of Reading Rainbow, the television show that kept kids interested in books since 1983. Now, on the thirtieth anniversary of the show's premiere on PBS, host LeVar Burton has made it his mission to continue providing the show's positive literacy impact through to the digital age.

A series of 25 classic Rainbow episodes is available for purchase on Amazon, with Prime subscription holders given free access. The episodes span the show's entire original run. My personal favorite of this list, if you're interested, is "The Life Cycle of the Honeybee," with the title book read by Get Smart's Barbara Feldon.

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YouTubery: 'Delicious' drive-in fare

Submitted by Chase Erwin, WAFFstaffer

Wednesday, May 22nd, 2013, 12:36am

Ah, the drive-in movie. Sadly, I never got to experience the magic of going to the drive-in growing up, even though there was one nearby. So, in an attempt to live vicariously through past generations, I punched up the trusty YouTube in order to see what kinds of '50s and '60s drive-in nostalgia I could find.

The clip above is one of many compilations of intermission films, most of which direct patrons to the concession stand, or Refreshment Center, if you like. The food on offer is... well... I'm sure it was food, once.

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#Social101: The miracle of the modified tweet

Submitted by Chase Erwin, WAFFstaffer

Monday, May 20th, 2013, 11:30am

#Social101: The miracle of the modified tweet

I've been on Twitter now for about three years, and even now I come across little tidbits, tips and tricks about the microblogging site that surprise me or astonish me when I learn they've been around forever.

One such item is the 'modified tweet,' or MT. Many of us, myself included, have glossed over an MT notice in a tweet and just assumed it was a mistype. Actually, this is a very useful tool when you want to retweet someone but have to make a major edit to an original tweet and wish to retain credit.

Here are the basics: Nowadays if you want to retweet someone you have a very helpful button underneath the tweet in question, and in other people's timelines you will see a green tab in the corner of the tweet with your screen name beside it, then the original tweet verbatim below it.

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YouTubery: The Commercials of Stan Freberg

Submitted by Chase Erwin, WAFFstaffer

Thursday, May 16th, 2013, 1:46pm

There are very few modern-day commercials I enjoy watching, especially the ones you see on nearly -every- commercial break. I understand that's the nature of the business today. I don't have to like it, but I accept it.

Luckily there's nothing preventing me from putting the TV on mute every once in awhile and looking up commercials from the better era of ads (read that as 'before I was born.') I remembered a great ad I saw on a TV special about, of all things, the greatest commercials of all time. It starred dancer Ann Miller, and was a spectacle for the now defunct Great American Soup company. What grabbed my attention was the final line, after Miller's big, expensive song and dance. Her TV husband embraces her and asks, "Emily, why do you always have to make such a big production out of everything?"

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Stream it: 'Sports Night'

Submitted by Chase Erwin, WAFFstaffer

Monday, May 13th, 2013, 7:53pm

"Sports Night" is the show that got me interested in working at a TV station. I can guarantee you that I was the only eighth-grader in my little Texas middle school that was tuning into this show as religiously as I was. Come to think of it, I was probably the only person in the area watching it; "Sports Night" lasted two seasons before being unceremoniously canceled in 2000.

This is a shame because the concept had legs. Set behind the scenes of a nightly sports news show, "Sports Night" was the television debut for creator and head writer Aaron Sorkin, who would set up similar fly-on-the-wall shows "West Wing," "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," and "The Newsroom."

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YouTubery: Eeyore shops at Publix

Submitted by Chase Erwin, WAFFstaffer

Monday, May 13th, 2013, 2:30pm

We have all made fun of the cheesy training videos we're forced to watch at a new job. I'm sure there are a few here at WAFF, though I haven't had the occasion to view them yet. My last major job at which I had to watch training videos was at the defunct Borders Books. The hostess of one of them ended her video with a Vulcan salute and saying, "Live long and prosper," just as earnestly as she could directly into camera.

I am so glad to live in an age where YouTube can provide me with even worse training film footage. One of the first I was able to dig up was from Publix Supermarkets, made in the early 1980s, my favorite decade.

Beyond the plebian editing, beyond the message being driven home (that saying 'Thank You' is contagious, can you imagine?), the thing that sticks with me about this video is the depressing nature of the 'customer.'

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Stream it: 'You Can't Do That on Television'

Submitted by Chase Erwin, WAFFstaffer

Friday, May 10th, 2013, 8:15pm

Stream it: 'You Can't Do That on Television'

There has been a movement as of late to bring back classic shows from the "first kids' network," Nickelodeon. A major coup came when spinoff channel TeenNick created "The '90s are All That" two years ago, highlighting sporadic reruns of great fare like Rocko's Modern Life and The Secret World of Alex Mack.

However, the one big "get" for Nick nerds like myself has been You Can't Do That on Television. Considered the holy grail by kids of the '80s, You Can't is the program that brought Green Slime to the masses.

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