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December 31, 2011
Squirrel Culture at the University of Michigan
Here are some links about the campus pets at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor - our friends the squirrels.
- Web Entry for Corey's Michigan Squirrel A-Z web 'book'
- Corey's Squirrel Photos on campus
- Student Group at Michigan: The Squirrel Club
- Claim to Fame (or Media coverage) for the Squirrel Club
Posted by cseeman at 10:58 PM | Comments (0)
Year in a Life: Corey's Project 365 for 2011
In two days, I will hit 1300 consecutive days of flickr's Project365. I just love it and as far as hobbies go - it is pretty cool. And with the low ongoing cost associated with digital photography - it is even good for the budget. Best of all, it is a neat way to remember where I was over the course of the year. At my age, it is not always easy to remember.
Here are my shots for 2011:
Here are my photos from 2010:
Happy New Year everyone!
This entry was posted in the following categories: flickr (photos)Posted by cseeman at 04:39 PM | Comments (0)
December 28, 2011
University of Michigan Squirrel A-Z - A Web Picture Book
Over the past few years, I have spent a fair amount of time photographing the campus pets at the University of Michigan. These squirrels are all over campus and are a wonderful distraction.
NOTE: I have already made a few tweaks! - This is version 1.1 (10:45pm on 12/28/11)
Here are all my photos of squirrels at the University of Michigan (there are a lot)
Here are the 26 photos shown below on their flickr pages
Don't have room for this - but it might make for a nice cover:
Here goes...Let me know what you think by sending me email to cseeman@umich.edu or contact me via twitter at @cseeman
A is for America
B is for Berries
C is for Core
D is for Dining
E is for Exhausted
F is for Fighter
G is for Green
H is for Hungry
I is for Ivy
J is for Jump
K is for Knot
L is for Leaves
M is for Mumms
N is for Nuts
O is for Overhead
P is for Pink
Q is for Quick
R is for Running
S is for Snow
T is for Tail
U is for Upright
V is for Velocity
W is for White
X Marks the spot
Y is for Yawning
Z is for ZZZZZ
Posted by cseeman at 09:43 PM | Comments (0)
Bold Venture (Staring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall )
It is pretty amazing to think about the great actors that you hear everyday listening to Greg Bell's Old time radio channel (#82) on Sirius/XM or via the Internet Archive. Tonight, I stumbled across Bold Venture, a program from 1951-1952 that starred Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall
Bold Venture is a pretty cool series. Humphrey Bogart plays Slate Shannon, a boat and hotel owner who caters to travelers, especially Americans, and Lauren Bacall plays Sailor Duval, who was his ward and sidekick. The two are continually meeting up with smugglers and other people operating on the wrong side of the law in pre-comunnist Havana, Cuba. The stories capture the flavor of Cuba and the Caribbean with calypso music and a laid back style. There are stories about sunken treasure, espionage, etc. Maybe it is just because I saw Casablanca yesterday, but I could hear Humphrey Bogart read the phone book.
Here is the link to all the episodes of Bold Venture at the Internet Archive. This is definitely a keeper.
This entry was posted in the following categories: Old Time RadioPosted by cseeman at 08:44 PM | Comments (0)
December 27, 2011
The Librarian - an episode of Frontier Gentleman (with John Dehner)
Not too long ago, Greg Bell's Old time radio channel (#82) on Sirius/XM featured actor John Dehner, who was born on November 23, 1915 and was an actor on many radio programs. The one program that they featured twice during that celebration was Frontier Gentleman, a program that I honestly did not listen too all that often. I am developing a taste for westerns and am trying out Gunsmoke and Dehner's Have Gun, Will Travel. From the program's Internet Archive site, You can see that it was a weekly radio western heard on CBS in 1958 - but it had a twist. The program was presented through the eyes of an outsider, Englishman J. B. Kendall (played by Dehner) who was a correspondent for the London Times. His role was to find the true spirit and flavor of the west and share it with the readers back in England.
And while the programs are excellent - with really strong production values - one episode really caught my eye. From October 5, 1958, the episode was called "The Librarian". As you know from previous posts about Crime Club, that not only am I am librarian, but I am interested in their portrayal in popular culture.
In this episode (which I have not been able to play except for downloading the MP3 file), a widower from out east tries to scare off a settler who is trying to take over her land claim. She was a librarian out east and moved west with her husband. After being swindled by a shady land developer, they found themselves on this plot that they had to develop - or lose. But in working the land, her husband died of exhaustion. The settler trying to take over the lot actually ended up being help by the widower. So it goes to show that librarians are amazingly helpful, even to those who want to take over their plot.
Here is the link to all the episodes of Frontier Gentleman.
This entry was posted in the following categories: Old Time RadioPosted by cseeman at 03:04 PM | Comments (0)
John Stanley as Sherlock Holmes
There have been a number of different actors who brought the great Sherlock Holmes to life over the airways. I have been listening a great deal lately to John Stanley as Sherlock Holmes on the Internet Archive. Like many of the programs, I first heard him on Greg Bell's Old time radio channel (#82) on Sirius/XM.
John Stanley's Sherlock Holmes was a well developed 30 minute program with great production values. Alfred Shirley played Dr. Watson. An episode I heard recently - given the holidays - was "The Adventure of the Christmas Bride." This pair acted together from 1947 to 1948. These scripts were based on the characters, but were original stories.
Other Sherlock Holmes on the Internet Archive Include:
- Basil Rathbone as Holmes
- Tom Conway as Holmes
- John Stanley's second year as Holmes - and Ian Martin & George Splevin at Watson)
- Here are 125 episodes combined into one group.
I will write more about these - but it is nice to have all these collected on one page. I always loved Sherlock Holmes - even with the wartime movies (staring Basil Rathbone) that had him fighting the Nazis....
This entry was posted in the following categories: Old Time RadioPosted by cseeman at 12:19 PM | Comments (0)
December 14, 2011
Blackstone The Magic Detective
The first time I heard Blackstone The Magic Detective on
Greg Bell's Old time radio channel (#82) on Sirius/XM, I was cracking up. They were doing a magic trick and all the actors were dumbfounded!. Kinda like Charlie McCarthy - does something that you need to see really work on radio? Yeah...funny...but it kinda works.
Blackstone the Magic Detective was a 15 minute weekly program on the Mutual Broadcasting program that ran from October 3, 1948 to 1950. So something that starts on my birthday (though a few years later) cannot be all that bad. It ran Sunday afternoons and was a 15 minute radio show.
From the page on the Internet Archive: "The series, starring Ed Jerome as "the world's greatest living magician," was based on real-life magician Harry Blackstone Sr. Storylines usually opened with Blackstone (Jerome) telling his friends John (Ted Osborne) and Rhoda (Fran Carlon) about an experience from his past, and this mystery story was then dramatized in a flashback. At the end, Blackstone challenged the audience to find a solution to the magical mystery. Each show concluded with Blackstone outlining a trick that listeners could perform for the amusement of their friends."
The mystery stories are nice - and brief (in order to get that and the trick in the short timetable). The first episode I heard was from May 8th, 1949 and called "Footsteps in the Night". Heard this on my drive to the Michigan Library Association meeting up in Traverse City. They will never leave you thinking - wow - that is amazing. But there are far worse ways to spend 15 minutes!
This entry was posted in the following categories: Old Time RadioPosted by cseeman at 09:19 AM | Comments (0)