21 April 2017

Apocalypse Now



Blessed is the one
Who reads aloud the words of this prophesy
And blessed are those who hear it
And take to heart what is written in it,
Because the time is near.
- Revelation 1:3





I am not in any way religious; however, I can't deny the influence Christianity and the Bible have had on Western society and its pop-culture. Everything from movies and songs, to our language and our slang, is influenced by religious references. I did not grow up with a religious tradition, and as I grew older I increasingly identified with an atheist viewpoint. This lack of religious knowledge from a young age meant that I had a more difficult time reading and interpreting contemporary writing and imagery. This "hole" in my knowledge was ever more apparant once I moved to the U.S.

Last week, I wrote about Easter and Easter egg hunts. I also issued a challenge to find the "Easter eggs" dropped in previous posts. This week is the Revelation ... a disclosure of surprising and previously unknown facts. You might even call it the Apocalypse ... an uncovering, a disclosure, a revelation. This post is apocalyptical. I like the sound of that.

Click on the title to jump to the original blog post.





Steampunk'd

- Punk'd is an American hidden-camera/practical-joke reality TV program that ran on MTV from 2003-2007. The premise was to play practical jokes on celebrities
- the opening lines are from a song called Steampunk Pixie. It was pretty hard to find a song about steampunk and this is the only opening quote that I pulled from the web without any prior knowledge of the topic, title, or lyrics





What Do You Call A Kiwi With One Shorter Leg?

- the title and closing line, "Not even, Bro", are the set-up and punch line of a joke Little Highstead told me
- the opening quotes are from Surfer Girl (1963) by The Beach Boys
- "Barney" ... surfer slang for an inexperienced surfer, or someone who isn't very good at it. Generally derogatory.





Here I Am (Come and Take Me)

- both the title and opening quote are UB40 songs
- "Inconceivable!" A quote from what many of my friends consider the absolute best movie of all time (you know who you are) ... The Princess Bride (1987). I do not think it means what you think it means.
- "location, location, location" the three most important things in real estate





Physician, Heal Thyself

- the title is a biblical reference (Luke 4:23) and is commonly interpreted as an admonishment to attend to one's own shortcomings rather than criticizing the shortcomings of others
- the opening quote is from Garth Brooks' Friends in Low Places; released in 1990 and heard nightly in pretty much every honky-tonk and juke-joint ever since. If it weren't for my friends in low places, I wouldn't have survived to be where I am today
- Duke Kahanamoku (1890-1968) was a Native Hawaiian and 5-time Olympic medalist in swimming. He introduced the world to the Hawaiian sport of surfing.





The Land That Time Forgot

- the title is taken from the first book in the 1918 Caspak trilogy by Edgar Rice Burrows. In the story, a crippled WWI German U-boat discovers a "lost" island where evolution is frozen at various levels. The island is populated by several bands of proto-humans, dinosaurs, and pre-historic fauna. Our trip down the Whanganui River had the very same feel. Ryan said it was like walking through a Dr Seuss book.
- the opening quote is the first verse of the theme song to the 1969 classic American road movie Easy Rider
- "Orcs" are the evil servants of Melkor in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord Of The Rings (1954/55).





Training Docs Down-under

- "Down-under" is a commonly understood reference to Australia, but it also applies to New Zealand
- the opening quote is by Samuel Shem, author of The House of God. Written in 1978, it is a satirical account of medical training at Beth Isreal Deaconess Hospital (Harvard). In many ways, it is brutal and raw, and unfortunately some of the attitudes it exposed continue in much of medical training to this day. This quote does not appear in the novel, but was from a 2012 article he published in The Atlantic
- "May the Force be with you" ... Little H is dressed as Princess Leia. Please don't tell me I have to explain this one





Around New Zealand in 14 Days (Parts 1&2)

- the title is a (loose) reference to the 1873 Jules Verne novel Around The World in Eighty Days
- Part 1 song quote is On The Road Again (1979) by Willie Nelson & Johnny Cash
- Dr Evil is Dr Reavill ... slur the Dr into his last name and you get Dr Evil of Austin Powers fame ... Yeah, Baby!
- the caption under the picture of the gypsy is one of my favourite quotes from Mel Gibson's 1985 movie Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
- "The Warehouse (Yeah!)" ... in local radio adverts, "Yeah!" is sung at the end. If you visited Oahu in the 90's, you might recognize "doo-doo-doo-Alamoana!" It's sort of the same thing.
- Penvensie is the surname of 4 children in C.S. Lewis' 1950's fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia
- Part 2 song quote is Roll On Down The Highway (1974) by Bachman Turner Overdrive





New Wheels and New Opportunities

- the opening quote is from Tom Petty's Refugee (1980) ... for a post about refugees, it was about the only song I could come up with (U2's The Refugee (1983) didn't quite work)
- for the 2nd song quote, I needed something by Taylor Swift since that was the name we gave our car. I thought these lyrics from her 2014 release Shake It Off worked pretty well with the overall theme
- "I think I can! I think I can!" from the children's story The Little Engine That Could
- "She don't mind ... " my favourite quote from John Hughes' Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)





Festivus

- the title is taken from a Seinfeld episode
- the opening quote is from a song called Lanterns by Birds of Tokyo
- "That's all, Folks" ... standard Looney Tunes closing card since the 1930's





What's In A Name?

- the title is a Shakespeare quote from Romeo and Juliet
- the opening quote is from Chumbawamba's 1997 song Tubthumping ... an obvious reference to the (new) name of our car and the band for which it is named
- the first picture is of my good friend Dan Sheehan ... about as Irish a name as one can have, and he sports the glowing white skin to go with it
- "I'm sure she will write a break-up song about me" ... a reference to Taylor Swift's many songs about boys who done her wrong. A quick Google search revealed multiple TS "Break-up Song" lists, including 21 Songs Taylor Swift Has Penned About Her Exes. Twenty-one, are you kidding me?
- "Are you not entertained". A powerful quote from the 2000 movie Gladiator, starring Russell Crowe. My brother complained about my blog posts, stating they are too much like school. He doesn't want to learn anything; he just wants to be entertained. This was a subtle dig.





In The Shadow of Mount Doom

- the original title of this post was An Epic Journey. In The Shadow of Mount Doom was the title for our Whanganui River Journey. Mt Doom is the fictional mountain at the centre of the Lord of The Rings trilogy, and Ngauruhoe was the setting for Mt Doom in the movies. I thought the title better fit the mood of this post rather than the other
- the opening quote is from a Bob Dylan song, 'Cross the Green Mountain. It was written for the soundtrack of a TV miniseries (Gods and Generals). An anti-war ballad, it has no relevance to our journey and no personal connection for any of us, but I like the lyrics and it was the first song that popped into my head when I thought about tramping across a mountain





The Long Walk

- the title is taken from a 1985 Richard Bachman (Stephen King) novel. It tells the story of a group of boys who participate in an annual walk. The walkers must maintain a minimum speed, and if they drop below it, they are shot dead. The last boy walking wins. Raymond Garraty, the story's protagonist, "wins" but goes insane in the process. Growing up in the 80's, I would devour Stephen King novels as soon as they came out, staying up all night to finish "just one more chapter"
- the opening quote is taken from The Proclaimers I'm Gonna' Be and finishes with the lines: But I would walk 500 miles, And I would walk 500 more, Just to be the man who walks 1000 miles to fall down at your door ... a reference to our Long Walk
- "Four out of five trampers agree ... " is a reference to the cheesey 70's and 80's TV adverts that stated "4 out of 5 doctors agree" or "4 out of 5 dentists agree"





Strike a Pose
- the title is taken from Madonna's Vogue (1990)
- the opening quote is from Lady Gaga's Paparazzi (2008)
- "Nevertheless, she persisted!" is an (in)famous rallying cry for the women's movement



In our earliest posts, our style and format weren't as well refined. Easter Eggs are there, but they are fewer and (mostly) less subtle.

Party on, Wayne ... Wayne's World was a 1987 Saturday Night Live skit starring Mike Myers and Dana Carvey. In 1992, it was made into a movie. The skit was essentially a parody of public access television.
Alright, alright, alright ... Matthew McConaughey's unscripted line in Dazed and Confused (1993) that went on to be his catch-phrase. The post ended with a reference to Hurricane Matthew which was bearing down on South Carolina soon after we left.
Hello Dave ... this post was about home automation. From Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), the picture is of the interface for the HAL 9000, a computer charged with running operations on Discovery One. Hal claims to be "foolproof and incapable of error" but things go decidedly wrong.
It's not a toomah ... classic cheesey Arnold Swarzenegger line from Kindergarten Cop (1990)




What's in the box?

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