Amoeblog

Titan

Titan in Fact and Fiction (e.g., Video Games, Computer Games and DVDs)


Titan
Titan was discovered in 1655 by Dutchman Christiaan Huygens. It orbits Saturn. Huygens named it Luna Saturni. When more moons were discovered, it was re-named Saturn II, then IV, then VI, which stuck as the official title, even though there are at least 19 moons in closer orbit of Saturn. It's also been referred to as "Saturn's ordinary satellite," but Titan is anything but ordinary.

   



Titan is the only body in the solar system, aside from Earth, with stable liquid bodies at its surface* and a dense atmosphere. Its landscape is relatively smooth, although there are mountains. As on Earth, the air is primarily composed of Nitrogen. Methane and Ethane clouds produce rain, wind and weather that give it seasons. It also has subsurface oceans*.



naked man eaten by titanic deity  big group of naked guys

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Posted by Eric Brightwell on September 3, 2008 at 11:58pm | Post a Comment

Scarce Stickers

As stickers go, these are a cut above the rest.  I've cataloged odd trends and themes in past blogs, but these stickers actually add quite a bit of value when they're found adhered to the original shrink wrap...





The yellow sticker above is an original promotional tool from the 60's, the green tape was added later to preserve the shrink! Below is a sticker used on pressings from the late 70's, early 80's.




The sticker below is an excellent accompaniment to the jacket design and adds a little prestige to the piece.



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Posted by Mr. Chadwick on April 30, 2008 at 11:20pm | Comments (1)

Li'l Bit #5

In my perusal of this morning's news, I happened upon this in the Guardian UK:

Somewhere out there, either in the skies of California or many miles beyond - floating down the Thames, wafting across the Mississippi, bobbing over the Sargasso sea, - there is a gigantic inflatable pig that belongs to the Pink Floyd frontman. And he wants it back.

Waters' giant pig balloon was last seen on Sunday, during his closing performance at the Coachella festival. As Waters played Pigs (Three Different Ones), the two-storey-tall dirigible was released over the crowd.

Contrary to what you'd think, this is not the first time that a giant pig zeppelin has gotten away from Waters. During photo sessions for Pink Floyd's 1977 album, Animals, a helium-filled pig made a break for it from above Battersea power station. Flights were cancelled as the pig passed near Heathrow Airport, on its way to the dark side of the moon.

But this time, Roger Waters wants the pig back. Coachella organisers are offering a reward of $10,000 and four lifetime tickets should anyone find the blow-up porker. How to get in touch with them? Email lostpig@coachella.com, naturally.


Flying high in the friendly skies - The pig at Coachella

As some of you know, I don't like pigs. I don't like to eat them, I don't like to touch them, and I certainly don't like the idea that some Bunyanesque replication of one is lurking in my sweet United States of America.

I am personally offering a sum of $12 to anyone who can prove that the pig has been destroyed. I don't know if I'll be able to sleep until then...
Posted by Job O Brother on April 30, 2008 at 11:41am | Comments (2)

49 square inches of something again

salvaged by new-millennium-man with cape fluttering in the post Patriot Act air

“This is in no sense a  stunt record. Let the record speak for itself.”

Says that right here on the back. Of course the record starts with the sound of a train, moving from left speaker to right.


“In spite of the high
degree of perfection
reached hitherto in the art of commercial disc recording, especially
since the advent of the long-playing record, the  monaural or one-channel system has certain limitations. The listener is deprived of any real sense of perspective in the sound.”

 


But wait, there is something astonishingly beautiful and perfect about some monaural mixes: and that beauty is called “clarity.”  To my weary, tinnitus-filled ears, the mono mix of the Zombies’ Odessey and Oracle is perfection, even in headphones. There’s separation. The piano, the organ, the harpsichord, the guitars, drums, the vocals, the reverb … it’s all there sounding just about what you would like these things to sound like, without the sugar-coated, frosty-haze of full frequency stereophonic sound creeping into your left and right ears, ping-ponging one at a time!  Another great psyche classic, Pink Floyd’s The Piper at the Gates of Dawn also benefits from a mono mix,  as it was originally released in mono. There is something distracting about the gamesmanship of  “The Piper” stereo mix. That’s right … the gamesmanship.


Coincidentally, (then again, like I’ve written here before,
there are no coincidences …) according to the Pink Floyd
official website, the 40th anniversary edition will be
released on September 4th, 2007, as both a two CD set
and a three CD box set and with both the stereo and mono
versions. Unfortunately The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
has been “newly re-mastered.”

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Posted by Whitmore on September 2, 2007 at 12:15pm | Post a Comment

(In which we now have something completely different.)

There’s few things more annoying than a  Monty Python fan. I should know, I am one.

The first thing I ever saw from this most-famous, British comedy troupe was “The Meaning of Life”, their fourth and final film, released in 1983. I was eight. It was completely inappropriate for a child and I still taunt my older sister for taking me to see it.

Being the baby of the family, I was inevitably stuck with my older sister on dates, so all the films I saw as a child were wrong for my age.

My first film was the whimsical and high-spirited “Reds”, based on real-life American Communist, John Reed, and his affair with a married woman. Tee hee! Next, I remember seeing “Gandhi”, that laugh-a-minute movie that’s warmed the cockles of so many tots. Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” was a memorable evening for me (I was still small enough to hide under my seat); “Mommie Dearest” caused a temporary phobia of wire coat hangers; watching “Sybil” resulted, ironically, in me developing a split personality to handle the memory of seeing it, and imagine my delight at being the only kid in class to say he’d seen “Chariots of Fire”… twice.


Just another childhood cartoon for Job: Pink Floyd's "The Wall"

In my sister’s defense, she did once take me to see a showing of “Bambi” at her college theatre, but the reel broke just after the forest fire that claims Bambi’s Mommy’s life. Whereas the other kids were crying and traumatized by this, I wasn’t phased. After all, what’s one dead deer when I had already witnessed the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre?

But this isn’t therapy and you’re not a psychologist*, so I won’t pursue this tangent.

Posted by Job O Brother on July 4, 2007 at 04:29pm | Comments (3)