Hey there. It's raining outside. the music library is on shuffle, and I'm taking a break. Just ready to sort out the coming week's medications, vitamins and assorted supplements. Don't know why I crave any actual food after choking all of this crap down each day.Notice the new YoYo-Dyne banner? Cool isn't it? Adam over at Chowderhead offered to design a banner for the first 25 readers that snapped up his offer. Being adroit at finding all things cheap (see ex-boyfriend) Adam's offer couldn't be passed up.
You can see ALL of the nifty banners he designed at the above link.
For those of you unfamiliar with YoYo-Dyne, here's a quick question.
Have you ever watched Buckaroo Banzai? You know, origin of the oft-used phrase 'no matter where you go, there you are'?
If you're familiar with this 80's fan classic then you're okay. No admission fee for You. But wait! There's another way you can sneak in under the big-top canvas.
Perhaps you've read The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon? You'll see YoYo-Dyne Propulsion Labs show up there for the very first time. Earl Mac Rauch, who wrote the screenplay for Buckaroo, lifted Pynchon's mythical Rockwell/Boeing/Hughes Evil Giant Corporation (because that could never happen right?) for amusement purposes. An in joke for a very small number of fantasy genre readers.
It wasn't until I'd begun tossing around the YoYo-Dyne name in various stories, graphics and conversations that The Crying of Lot 49 became a beloved fixture on my own bookshelf. If you get the chance, read it. Almost a novella, it is not a long read. You'll find a slew of 1960's pop references, all cleverly and amusingly disguised, in The Crying of Lot 49. Pynchon will take you on your own treasure hunt. But this one is mine.
Dammit, another movie entirely
So I started to dig around a bit to see if anyone else had been using and happily abusing the Lectroids and Lord John Whorfin. The latter were all running about the YoYo-Dyne warehouses last I heard, screaming something about Planet 10.
I already knew that the YoYo-Dyne name was unavailable in any url form I wanted. Tried to lock down that baby 15 years ago. Someone I worked with at The WB mentioned that she'd seen a YoYo-Dyne Hair Salon, or Hair Something, in one of the Dakotas. Weird but cool. My own contribution is this blog, and a Facebook page. Listed my employer on FB as YoYo-Dyne Propulsion Systems: Reno Div. Location, Grover's Mill, N.J.
In the infinite wisdom of Mark Zuckerberg it seems that by collecting 25 'Likes' your page is considered a viable location. Believe it has over 85 members now, and perhaps 15 or so are friends of mine. My current position, listed on my personal FB page, is CEO, Writer and Fellowship Chair of Banzai Physics. I have a real employer now, YoYo-Dyne Propulsion Systems, that comes up on the link. It must be true.
Found that there was a reference to YoYo-Dyne Propulsion on an old show called Angel, which was a spin-off of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Seems ABC referenced YoYo-Dyne on a website for a fictional company named PB-Sales. The site was created for the television show Lost.
PB-Sales supposedly owned not only YoYo-Dyne but GeoComtex; a Company owned by Van Stratton from Dr. Who. The site's gone now, but my fangirl neurosis cannot be quelled.
The Doctor is IN
We've gone through enough pointless history on YoYo-Dyne Propulsion systems that my ears have been treated to Madness, Zero7, Ella Fitzgerald, Ben Folds, Wagner and The Format. I'd die without music. It's all that's left. My beautiful concert grand is in Reno, on consignment at a retail music store.
I tried to play one more time before it was dismantled and taken from my home. Still had hands like claws, so even a slow rendition of Scott Joplin's Solace wouldn't come. Now I keep music, books and movies close. Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eight Dimension and John Cale singing Hallelujah, Princess Bride and Gogol Bordello. Tom Woodrell speaks to me while Kings of Leon sing Pyro.
A good friend pointed out that life is a spiderweb. Everything is interconnected. I don't believe we're separated by 6 degrees, but we may be 3 strands from understanding. So that's all I have to share today. Buckaroo Banzai is available on Netflix streaming again.
Even if you don't love the movie the end title sequence is a gem. Never seen anything like it before or since. The only versions of the credits on YouTube are a mess. Eh, get up and haul your ass over to the TV. It's worth 90 minutes of your time to check out Peter Weller, John Lithgow, Jeff Goldblum and a cast of Lectroids in one of my fave little films. At least you'll understand why YoYo-Dyne Propulsion Systems: Reno Division has been invaded by aliens. Time to get back to the pills and my Fresca. The hands are getting better, so cross your fingers. I feel some ragtime creeping into my soul. It really is a banner Sunday.
Laugh while you can Monkeyboy!
~Miss R: Fangirl Geek or Eccentric Human? Poll next week.Owner of an original Buckaroo Movie Poster, Two original BB coffee mugs -still in use and unbroken, a shooting script (photocopy) signed by Earl Mac Rausch (not photocopy), a BB studio promo button and of course memories of the first time I saw this film: in New Jersey with friends on the night it was released. The audience stood and gave the flick a standing ovation. Not something you come across much anymore
