Ernie Anderson Star Trek TNG Promos

Here are some promos I found the other day. Ernie Anderson was a prolific voiceover guy for almost fifty years, but here's a show that I wouldn't have remembered him from - Star Trek TNG.

This video came from a satellite feed and is the first episode of the show. Click the video to see promos and show open by the great Ernie Anderson.

3M Tape Bias Settings

Because, you know, you might forget.  

Let's All Vote!

Hexed by Kohner - A Proto-Tetris?

Found this during a recent move. Kohner put out several versions of Hexed from 1968 to 1974. This edition was bought for 69 cents in a drug store in 1973.


All you do is dump out the pieces, and put them back into the box.
Sometimes you can solve it in a minute, other times it takes several hours.

Here's a solution that's not printed on the box.


Maybe Hexed was an inspiration to the creators of Tetris. Only the lawyers know.

Tip Toe To The Gas Pumps with Tiny Tim

There's been a gas shortage in the Nashville area for the last week, and gas lines not seen since the Carter years. Here's Tiny Tim from 1979, with "Tip Toe To The Gas Pumps". It's not the greatest parody song ever, but it does remind us that government has done nothing to change the situation in 29 years. Click here to listen or to get it now.

Coolest Business Card Ever

Once I met this guy. I asked, "What do you do?" He gave me this card.

Coolest business card EVER. Click to enlarge.

Microsoft for Dummies

Does this mean you're twice as dumb if you use Vista? Just wondering.

Jerry Reed- One of the Good Guys

Jerry Reed was a brilliant player and songwriter, and even a movie actor, but he was also a good guy in my corner of the world, voiceover acting.

Jerry recorded a lot of commercials at my studios over the years, including the Southwest Texas Dodge Dealers, and a lot of syndicated spots for tire dealers. But here are two recordings of his that he did just because someone asked.

Old West Gazette was a daily radio show written and produced by Bob Sanders and sponsored by Greyhound Bus. It ran from 1980 to 1982, and one day we asked Jerry to guest star in an episode. He said yes, and I went to his office to record him. Click here to hear the show.

The other voice actor is David Cobb, legendary WSM announcer who coined the phrase "Music City".

Another time Jerry came in to record a PSA for Murci Homes, an organization for special needs children. He had a prepared script to read dry, but he couldn't get into the rhythm. He picked up an old guitar propped up in the corner of the room, tuned it, and did the whole spot live, picking and talking. Listen here.

Jerry used his movie star status to bring more movie projects to Nashville and Tennessee. He also started a video company, TSC Productions, that produced fishing and outdoor shows. Jerry was a major talent, and a good person. R.I.P.

Red, White, and Green

This isn't a political rant, but an advertising rant: Why does the Democratic Party keep changing the flag colors?

The old red, white and blue got a makeover several Democratic conventions ago for TV. The flag behind the podium was turquoise and salmon. It looked really pastel and horrible on video, where NTSC smeared it all over the screen.

Here's this year's logo for the Democratic National Convention Committee:

It looks off color again, so let's look at it in Photoshop. Click the pic to enlarge.


The darker or true blue should be RGB or Red Green Blue value 0 0 255. Here it is 0 144 214. This means that green has been added to the blue.


The lighter blue is still greened out towards gray. The RGB value is 1 74 142.


Same story for the red. It should read 255 0 0. It is 238 48 34. Again green has been added.


More green on the lighter red. RGB value is 248 163 134.

I don't understand what message this is supposed to be sending. They're trying to co-op the power of the red white and blue American flag, but at the same time change it to make it hip. This sends a message to me that says, "We're American, but cooler than those other Americans."

From an advertising point of view, this is a really elitist message. Stick to the true colors if you want the benefits of the image. This goes double for the upside-down flags.

Most Appropriate Celebrity Endorsement Ever?

This is either the worst celebrity endorsement ever, or the most appropriate. Click on any image to enlarge:


I can see the head of Ham Jerky, Inc. thinking to himself, "Who embodies the concepts of ham and jerky together better than anyone?" Jeff doesn't help himself out with the lame jokes on the back of the package.


Note that the regular ham jerky below is $3.00, and Jeff's is $3.30. Now we know what a celebrity endorsement is worth.

Super Hero Band-Aids

Cover up your boo-boos in superhero style! Seen on Dump Trumpet.

Click here to see the website.

Radio Station License Plates

Here's a collection of license plates from some Nashville radio stations of the 1970s. Click any image to enlarge, and if you have any of these to show, post a link in the comments section.


WLAC -AM was still top 40 when this came out.


WSM-AM was news/talk all day and country at night, including the Grand Ole Opry Saturday nights.


SM95 was WSM-FM, soft pop and west coast rock.


Here's a bonus plate, the Exit/In, Nashville's hip spot for every kind of music in the 70s. Among the acts I saw there were Barefoot Jerry, Harry Chapin, Jan Hammer, and Stanley Turrentine.


If you want to see more souvenirs of Nashville radio in the past, check out the NashRadio group on Yahoo.

Amiga Point of Sale Video Clip

Here's a clip from an Amiga Computer point-of-sale laserdisc from around 1990. The Amiga was one of the best of the early computers, capable of multi-tasking, animation, video editing, and more, all starting in 1985! Click below to watch.

100th Blog Post

You know, I was hoping for a classy 100th post to this blog:


Thanks for the warning. There are some things man was not meant to know.

Martin Mull's "Serial" is on DVD

One of the greatest movies ever is out on DVD, "Serial" from 1980 with Martin Mull, Tuesday Weld, Bill Macy, Sally Kellerman, Peter Bonerz, Tommy Smothers, and Christopher Lee, among others. Here's the original VHS cover, click to enlarge:


Martin is a family guy named Harv in Marin County, California facing all of the trends of the 70s at once: a newly liberated wife, bratty kid, drugs, free love and macrobiotic lifestyles. All of his friends react in different ways, but Harv doesn't really freak out until his daughter is swept up by a religious cult.


That's about all the plot, but the characters are enough to keep anyone interested. Highly recommended, click the link below to buy at amazon.com.

Click here to hear Michael Johnson sing the title song of the movie, "It's A Changing World".

Transistorize Your iPod Video

You might remember one of the earliest entries on this site, "Transistorize Your iPod". Well, I sold the rights to publish it to Make Magazine, and an entire article appeared in Make Magazine Issue 13.


Now they've redone the whole thing as a video! Click below on the window, or if that doesn't work, click here to watch.


Transistorize Your IPod! - More amazing videos are a click away

Again, I think Apple should put this out soon.

Awesome Traeger Grills for Fourth of July

This is the ultimate grill for the Fourth of July. What's more American than cooking your pig in a pig? Or your steer in a steer? Thanks to Traeger Grills, my dreams have come true!

If you missed the earlier post on Animal Fast Food Spokesmen, go look at it first. Then you'll realize that now you can get that animal approval for anything you grill at home.

Click for larger pics.

Here's the Lil' Pig grill from their catalog. These are pellet grills, they plug in and use electric heaters to burn compressed sawdust pellets.

And the Longhorn Steer for your steaks and filets.

I went to my local Traeger dealer to see the Lil' Pig in action.

Looks even better in person.

Curly tail is a nice touch.
Front view.
And the money shot, inside the cooking area. I'm saving up for mine starting now.

Mercury Space Stamps

Here's a sheet of space stamps from the Mercury program in the early 60s. I went to the post office with my dad to buy these on the day of issuance. Everybody else did, too. The stamps aren't worth a lot of money, but they're still cool. Click the image for a wallpaper sized version.

Random Comic Books

Here are some random comics from my collection that caught my eye. Click on any pic to enlarge, and post a comment if you'd like to see inside any of them.

Here are some random comics from my collection that caught my eye. Click on any pic to enlarge, and post a comment if you'd like to see inside any of them.

Incredible Shrinking Old Spice

Here's a shot of the latest shrinkage of the Old Spice deodorant case. Now $1.99 buys you a third less product. I've used Old Spice for a lot of years, and I swear when I started it was 6.25 ounces. Every once in a while they raise the price, then shrink the size, then drop the price back to the old amount. Now they're just shrinking the size and keeping the same price.

C'mon, Procter & Gamble! Give us a break! After all, how many of us Old Spice users are left?

Click the pic for an enlarged version

Apple Store Huntsville Opening

A brand new Apple store opened up May 31 in Huntsville, Alabama, at the Bridge Street Town Center. There are more smart people in Huntsville that just about anywhere, so I went to check out the party. Be sure to click any pic for a larger version.

8:15am. Not much action. Security didn't allow camping out overnight.

Here are the characters you'd expect to see. There were about a hundred hardcore (get it?) Apple fans in line before everyone else showed up.




About a half hour before the opening, the Apple staff ran out and high-fived the waiting crowd. At the store opening, 500 people were waiting in a line that stretched halfway down the open air mall.


The first customer walks in, and the crowd genuflects to the Apple logo.


Here's the end of the line at the store opening, literally a thousand feet from the front door.


The store was busy the whole afternoon, which is when these shots were taken.



Geniuses.


Another successful opening. Enjoy your free T-shirt.