Tell me about references in older media lost on modern audiences

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whoscookinbacon: Apr 4, 2011

I had one recently running errands in my car while listening to the nearby college radio....

The DJ was going through the upcoming songs, and mentioned a song about to be played that was what most folks would call a b-side. "it's weird," the DJ added, "they make a single and then there, are, like *more* songs on it? Why do they do that?"

I managed to handle the next big curve without crashing, but it's weighed heavily on me.

# ? Dec 14, 2022 04:04

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# ? Apr 26, 2024 08:11

GoutPatrol: Oct 17, 2009; *Stupid Babby*

BalloonFish posted:

And human nature being what it always is, right from the start of practical international travel in the 19th century people have liked to collect labels as a record of where they've been, what hotels they stayed at and which ships and trains they've travelled on.

In EU countries where they got rid of the border crossing visa checks, you can go to a tourist office and they will give you a stamp. Also works for San Marino, Andorra, and other Euro microstates.

# ? Dec 14, 2022 05:16

Earwicker: Jan 6, 2003

Bucnasti posted:

I remember driving up the California coast as a kid and seeing all the cars coming towards us with "Trees of Mystery", "Mystery Spot" and "Seal Caverns" placards on their front bumpers.

"Mystery Spot" bumper stickers are still quite common in the central coast and parts of norcal. too bad the actual mystery spot in question is so underwhelming lol

# ? Dec 14, 2022 18:47

Kevin DuBrow: Apr 21, 2012; The uruk-hai defender has logged on.

whoscookinbacon posted:

I had one recently running errands in my car while listening to the nearby college radio....

The DJ was going through the upcoming songs, and mentioned a song about to be played that was what most folks would call a b-side. "it's weird," the DJ added, "they make a single and then there, are, like *more* songs on it? Why do they do that?"

I managed to handle the next big curve without crashing, but it's weighed heavily on me.

On the other hand I've seen non-vinyl releases get b-sides in recent years.

# ? Dec 15, 2022 01:55

Alhazred: Feb 16, 2011

Xiahou Dun posted:

Look at all these words that don�t mean anything anymore.

We had those in Norway too. I remember all the hassle with finding a VHS tape, typing in the code and hoping that the VHS tape didn't run out space. Now I just click a button on my remote.

# ? Dec 15, 2022 09:26

stev: Jan 22, 2013; Please be excited.

Kevin DuBrow posted:

On the other hand I've seen non-vinyl releases get b-sides in recent years.

Yeah these days b-side just means "we have another track that we want to put out but it won't be on the album".

# ? Dec 31, 2022 18:44

Bruceski: Aug 21, 2007; The tools of a hero mean nothing without a solid core.

Cemetry Gator posted:

To be fair, computers were fairly complicated for a long time. Remember the blue screen of death? You would get some super technical error message that meant something to somebody, but not the end user.

It also didn't help that older computers had less guardrails in them, so it was easier to do really stupid things like wipe out so essential files. And there were horror stories abound, like some games where is you uninstalled them, they could destroy your windows install (I think Myth 2 would wipe your hard drive if you installed it anywhere but the default location).

My father was very technically proficient within his area of knowledge, but extremely anxious and reluctant to figure things out by trial-and error even when the UI looked obvious. Only a few years before he died we realized the reason was because he learned to use computers at a national laboratory and similar facilities in the 70s. Bajillion-dollar supercomputers using some other guy's handmade code, you don't poke anything you don't know because it actually MIGHT break everything.

# ? Dec 31, 2022 19:12

Lord Hydronium: Sep 25, 2007; Non, je ne regrette rien

I was watching Alfred Hitchcock's Sabotage the other day, and it's an important plot point that a character can't bring film canisters onto a street car (because they're highly flammable). While the reason is briefly explained, it seems to be treated by the movie as fairly common knowledge at the time (1936).

Quentin Tarantino would later use a clip from that movie in Inglourious Basterds to explain how old film used to be very flammable:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb7a4ylaJxI

# ? Dec 31, 2022 19:57

precision: May 7, 2006; by VideoGames

whoscookinbacon posted:

I had one recently running errands in my car while listening to the nearby college radio....

The DJ was going through the upcoming songs, and mentioned a song about to be played that was what most folks would call a b-side. "it's weird," the DJ added, "they make a single and then there, are, like *more* songs on it? Why do they do that?"

I managed to handle the next big curve without crashing, but it's weighed heavily on me.

This, but the entire concept of a bonus track

# ? Dec 31, 2022 21:38

My Lovely Horse: Aug 21, 2010

Lord Hydronium posted:

I was watching Alfred Hitchcock's Sabotage the other day, and it's an important plot point that a character can't bring film canisters onto a street car (because they're highly flammable). While the reason is briefly explained, it seems to be treated by the movie as fairly common knowledge at the time (1936).

Quentin Tarantino would later use a clip from that movie in Inglourious Basterds to explain how old film used to be very flammable:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb7a4ylaJxI

I visited a film archive once and for all intents and purposes it was a high explosives storage facility. They had one wall of the main archives intentionally built weaker, with a large yard and a big old blast wall outside of it, so in case everything does go up one day.

The thing about these old nitrocellulose films is, they deteriorate and become unstable. In the 30s they were flammable, but today, all bets are off.

# ? Dec 31, 2022 23:36

Arsenic Lupin: Apr 12, 2012; This particularly rapid💨 unintelligible 😖patter💁 isn't generally heard🧏‍♂️, and if it is🤔, it doesn't matter💁.

Lord Hydronium posted:

I was watching Alfred Hitchcock's Sabotage the other day, and it's an important plot point that a character can't bring film canisters onto a street car (because they're highly flammable). While the reason is briefly explained, it seems to be treated by the movie as fairly common knowledge at the time (1936).

Sure was. There were hardcore fire laws in place for projection booths; some theaters had a sink and toilet in the projection booth to make sure the projectionist never left while a film was running. Today, if you find an old reel of nitrite film, you do not open the can and immediately get in touch with a film-preservation org.

All the details.

# ? Jan 1, 2023 00:02

Platystemon: Feb 13, 2012; BREADS

The film just wants to be nitrogen gas, and you won�t let it. :smithcloud:

# ? Jan 1, 2023 00:45

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# ? Apr 26, 2024 08:11

Bucnasti: Aug 14, 2012; I'll Fetch My Sarcasm Robes

Arsenic Lupin posted:

Sure was. There were hardcore fire laws in place for projection booths; some theaters had a sink and toilet in the projection booth to make sure the projectionist never left while a film was running. Today, if you find an old reel of nitrite film, you do not open the can and immediately get in touch with a film-preservation org.

All the details.

That's a plot point in the b-movie Night of the Comet. One of the character survives the deadly/mutatey comet radiation because she was sleeping inside a projection booth in an old movie theater that had thick metal fire-walls.

# ? Jan 1, 2023 02:01

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tell me about references in older media lost on modern audiences

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