Thursday, April 27, 2006

HAL's father, part II

I'm going to try to get good digital images of the flexi-disc notes. Since I don't have a scanner, I might photograph each column separately to make the letters large enough to read. Which always helps. If I use a tripod, the images should be blow-up-able without detail loss.

I know it can be done, as I once took a tripod shot of a sheet music cover and was able to magnify a single letter to the point that the texture of the ink and paper were on display. Blew my mind....

Anyway, here we see the 1961 date:













And here's a closer view of the "punched" card pictured on front. Interesting (see right side): "Military Manufacturing Information Dept." Maybe that's a clue to the kind of publication this came from? I.e., a military periodical, maybe?














"Tear out and play" says the upper r.h. corner, so it was definitely included in a periodical. I asked the dealer, but she had no idea where it came from. Dang it. Not a phone book, I'm sure.

Spookiest of all, and I swear this is true--I also purchased this 1990 CD, unaware of its historical connection to the flexi-disc. I'm not making this up!
















What are the odds that this CD would have been part of the same purchase? Obviously, extraterrestrial forces guided my actions in the store.

Very, very strange. Also odd is that CBS Records would have put out an MGM soundtrack, but it's O.K. by me. I paid $4 for it, by the way. I forgot to ask if they had any monoliths sitting around....

Liner notes coming up, hopefully.


Lee

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

... and Boxnet is... Yes, you guessed it right: Boxnet is down. Just when I'm up & about. Won't let me hear a single note or word of synthesized speech.
I'll try again later!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the extra information.


Andrew

Cornslaw industries said...

so this is what people do with a degree in PopC. lol.

-Colin
PhD Student in ACS at BGSU (with a concentration in media and popular culture)
ironicmoustache.blogspot.com

Lee Hartsfeld said...

Colin,

Thanks a lot! ( <: Actually, prior to this gig, I spent 17 years adjusting Medicare claims. I was dealing semi-directly with the masses, vice mass media. Something like that.

(That was meant to sound clever. I tried.)

When I tell people my degree is in Popular Culture, they say 1) "What's that?" or 2) (Puzzled) "Oh."

Worst of all: "Oh, you watched TV and stuff."

Lee