Hey folks, the sweetie and I bought this Zenith console:

The tone arm is labeled as being a Micro Touch 2G

and it says it is a Genuine Diamond Stylus from Zenith.  Can you help us?  We want to play records and I'm not sure if I need a Cartridge or a Needle or both...  Where do we go, what do we do?  

Be smarter than me please.  

25 Things About Me that you may not know... (yeah, why not)

Apparently I'm supposed to tag people with the idea of making them do it too, but I say - look, we all don't have an infinite amount of time to do these sorts of things, but why not. It's fun.


1. -- I was born on my Grandmother's birthday.

2. -- My mother's funeral service was scheduled for my 21st Birthday, but when I realized that it was to be my 21st Birthday - I canceled the funeral and moved it to the following day, so that for the rest of my life, I wouldn't have my mother's death be tied to birthday. Just felt like it was wrong as hell. BTW - she died in a fire.

3. -- I went to college with the express intention to get a Law degree, graduate, open a Law practice in my maternal Grandfather's law office which I own, then run for Texas Congress from Baylor County and then after much handshaking and a few backroom BJs, President of the United States. Seriously. I had it all mapped out. I took one Film Appreciation class, met a girl. She loved the way I talked about movies. There was hanky panky and I realized... F' politics, I give great movie chat. That was at age 17.

4. -- I am an Eagle Scout. Not only that, but 4th Generation 1st Born Eagle Scout. And yes, I'm extremely proud of that honor - and still wear an Eagle pin on my 3/4s length slicker. If I have a son, I hope he'll get into Scouting, as it is a tradition I hope continues.

5. -- I lost my virginity at 15, over 11 months before my wife was born. Just one of the many odd realizations that I had prior to marrying Patricia, which caused her to shake her head and think I'm a really really sick puppy. Good thing she loves puppies... even old broken ones like me.

6. -- I was the first U.S. Boy to officially visit the Soviet Embassy, where I was representing this Future Leaders Of America group that I was somehow chosen for. I met with the Soviet Ambassador and wound up with a letter recommending a scholarship to MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY, where I planned to major in Film History - as I read that the Soviets had an immense uncatelogued film library at MSU, that I dreamt of working my way through. I was accepted and offered a full scholarship. My mother refused to let me go to THEN COMMUNIST SOVIET UNION... 3 months after I turned down the scholarship - The wall fell and the turning page of history flipped and I was heartbroken that I wasn't there to see it.

7. -- I can operate a tractor, bulldozer, catepillar, bobcat - as well as take apart a lawnmower engine and even built from scratch a trailer that was inspected and approved to haul 1500lb loads.

8. -- I lived on a ranch. Woke up and milked a cow. Hauled hay. Shoveled horse shit, chicken shit, pig shit & goat shit. Road horseback rounding up cattle, as well as helping my mother train cutting horses. My hair was an inch over my ear and I wore 100% western fashions.

9. -- I know, by heart, 7 Barbara Mandrel songs and a number of 1984-1989 Western songs, which I sung duet style on Bus #2 every morning on an hour and 20 minute school bus ride to school.

10. -- Total Band Geek. Played Tenor Saxophone and Trombone. Dreamt of being a part of the Longhorn band and still remember how they marked time.

11. -- I can still play CHARIOTS OF FIRE, MR ROBOTO and the theme to E.T. on piano. Well, pieces of them. I used to be able to play from memory all of Survivor's EYE OF THE TIGER, as I thought it made me seem badass and a stud. I actually never played it for a girl, as once I got to girl impressing age, I realized (I thought) that playing the piano would make me seem gay. (You have to understand, I was in North Texas and many such comments at the time)

12. -- An Elementary School pointillism painting I did of the Riddler stealing the Batmobile was chosen and hung for some time in the Beijing Children's Museum in China.

13. -- I once slept in a grass hut in a Mayan village outside of Palenque, as it was first being cleared for a week - often waking up to a havelina boar named Petunia Pig that liked to nestle with me on the floor of the open air hut.

14. -- After my parents divorced, and I moved to Baylor County... for a short period of time, my mother dated the head of the KKK in Baylor County. Since my best friends were of various ethnic backgrounds, I was, of course, horrified. And having come from the Liberal Utopia of Texas (AUSTIN) - I was bound and determined to end this horrid relationship. I sold the racist bastard the prize 4H Thanksgiving Turkey. Delivered it stuffed with a hundred BLACK CAT Firecrackers lit on his doorstep and watched as it Exploded as he opened his door. Shortly after. He and my mother broke up.

15. -- I own George Pal's Director Chair that he used throughout his years directing and producing. It is embossed leather with Gold encrusted stamped letters in the back - and came with his Script bag, which hung from the chair and held his scripts. I am... a huge George Pal freak.

16. -- I collect Ruby Crystal glassware from the 20s & 30s. I have a significant collection.

17. -- I was a Falconer's assistant. Among the bird's I helped him train and show at the Texas Renaissance Faire outside Magnolia, Texas - were: A Golden Eagle, a raven, a red-tailed falcon and a great horned owl. My most amazing memory was holding that Golden Eagle upon my gloved hand with it's wings beating - easily double my height in width it seemed. The Raven was the most amazing trained bird I worked with.

18. -- Also at the Renaissance Faire, I worked for a couple of years as part of Carol Shannon's Belly Dancing Troupe. From ages 7-9 I worked for a percentage of their tips first in their dressing room, where I thankfully saw much nudity (The seventies were such a great period) - and later helped with the act, where I would bring the sword out to Carol, who would place it upon my head after I knelt down upon a knee. She would then shake her glittery cleavage on either side of my head and crash her finger cymbals musically. She smelled of lavender. I like boobies.

19. -- At Age 9 - 12, I worked with Merlin the Magician at the Texas Renaissance Faire. His real name was Bill Palmer - and I was completely integrated into his act - and dreamt of becoming an actor. I know how many of the most amazing magic tricks are done. And I've never told a soul.

20. -- For a period of time my senior year, I considered becoming a Band Director for a High School, because I really loved band that much... especially working with this really nifty program to design marching band marches with music. I specifically remember working with Mr Driskill on his computer helping to design our march for our performance of TOTO's AFRICA. It was... beautiful.

21. -- In High School, I ran and campaigned for BIGGEST BOOKWORM... and won!

22. -- The first girl I ever loved was the daughter of a Jeweler at the Texas Renaissance Faire, whose father designed Merlin's skull cap and staff in the movie EXCALIBUR. Her name was Ty or TIE or something like that. She made me a Stained Glass window with a flower in it. I still have it. We skinny dipped in the Renn Fest's pond. I wound up with some sort of ear infection, that came back every year for the following 12 years. And as a result I have a slight bit of hearing loss in my left ear.

23. -- I have saved both of my parent's lives on separate occassions. My father was choking to death and was laying on his back turning blue. I was 7 years old. I took my Nerf Rocket Launcher tube and air pump, and stuck the tube down his throat pumping oxygen back into his lungs, until an adult showed up to heimleich the obstruction from his throat. My mother - was my Senior year of high school. She was incredibly inebriated and fell into a swimming pool fully clothed. My sister, a very little girl, came running into the hotel room in Wichita Falls that we were staying in, and told me something was wrong with mom. By the time I got there, she was on the bottom of the pool and had stopped moving. I dove in, pulled her out, administered CPR, for which I'm fully trained (BOY SCOUT) - and brought her back. I carried her back into our room and nursed her back to health. She didn't want to go to the hospital (yes, she was kinda crazy)

24. -- I attended the first screening of GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD - and watched the entire screening sitting upon Ray Bradbury's lap.

25. -- I am an excellent cook.

Hey folks, Harry here...

This is a very very important time. You can still register to vote in the upcoming Fall election. Now - to do that - you need to be a citizen of the United States and be over the age of 18. Personally I wish all of you could vote, period, I think the results would always be better.

However, it's only those over the age of 18 in the United States. As I'm a supporter of Barack Obama - I'm on the campaign's email list and figured I'd provide a link where each of you who are qualified to vote in the upcoming Presidential Election this November... well that you could easily register right now, right here. Vote how you feel, read about both candidates - I'd recommend actually going to their campaign websites and reading their actual platforms, as opposed to just reading hardline op-ed pieces from the right or the left. Actually see which candidate you agree with, not because you consider yourself liberal or conservative... Democrat or Republican, but because you have the capacity to understand the issues, the ability to see which candidate you can align with - regardless of partisan politics. Vote on the issues and the alleged answers that the candidates are putting forth.

But having an opinion means nothing if you're not registered to make it count. So here ya go: CLICK HERE TO REGISTER!

Hey folks, Harry here... You might have just heard that John McCain has chosen the MIRROR, MIRROR evil Tina Fey aka Sarah Palin as his running mate - It seems that McCain has a hard on for former Beauty Queen wannabes - as he married one and has named another as his running mate. Can't really blame him. I imagine we all know what kept McCain going for those 5 1/2 years of torture in Vietnam. Memories of Playboy.

I've been writing about OBAMA and behind him since he spoke here in Austin early in 2007. I remember his Keynote Address at the Kerry Democratic Convention - and I remember thinking... Damn, that guy is sharp!

I honestly get goosebumps thinking about him becoming our next President. Not because of some 'schoolgirl infatuation' - but because we have a young, impossibly charismatic leader that believes in all the same things that I do as a socially minded populist Capra-crat -

The world is right to think - BUT HE CAN'T DO WHAT HE SAYS HE WANTS TO DO BY HIMSELF... because the special interests are evil fucking bastards - but... BUT he won't be by himself. With the organization he's put together - the best and brightest of our generation, our father's generation and beyond... and a Congress that will be controlled by the Democrats when he gets in... Well, we're going to get our hopes and dreams - especially if the Democrats pick up enough seats in the Senate to stop fillabusters.

SO - along with donating another $250 to Obama's campaign - I bought my first Obama shirt. 3xl - because I can wear that! Fucking glory be to my new life... What shirt does Harry Knowles, HEADGEEK of AINT IT COOL NEWS, buy that supports OBAMA?







Well - over at GraphittiDesigns.Com - and was designed, painted and brought to life by... ALEX ROSS!!! Isn't it something?

Hey folks, Harry here - I thought about writing this up on the site, but I figured I'd audition the idea here on my MySpace blog.

McCain kinda is beginning to seriously creep me out. When Barack Obama's team started slaming McCain for not knowing how many houses he owned, I kinda wondered... How out of touch McCain was. I mean, How do you not know that answer? Not only that, but his staff told the reporter McCain had 4 houses - but the real answer was apparently seven, so it isn't just that McCain doesn't know... but his peeps (who should know everything about McCain) didn't know.

Then - last night McCain went on Jay Leno's THE TONIGHT SHOW and to deflect the questioning about his house slip up, did he say - "I don't really dig into my wife's financial dealings, as I'm busy paying attention to the problems of this country and the house I'm going to be living in." - No. He didn't say that. Instead, he goes off on, "I spent 5 1/2 years in a prison cell without -- I didn't have a house. I didn't have a kitchen table. I didn't have a table. I didn't have a chair. I spent those 5 1/2 years... not because I wanted to get a house when I got out."

WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT MEAN?

Is John McCain - Walter Sochak? You know, John Goodman's character from THE BIG LEBOWSKI - whose answer to everything is to get angry about his experience in Vietnam?

This got me to thinking... 5 1/2 years. John McCain was tortured for 5 1/2 years by the evil communists in Vietnam. Now - we don't have a lot of experience with politicians running for high offices who were prisoners of war - but the one experience I have with it is John Frankenheimer's THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962). Now... When Laurence Harvey's RAYMOND SHAW was a Prisoner of War - that wasn't 5 and a half years... and they managed to use evil commie brainwashing techniques to turn him into a Political Assassin.

Now think about this. John McCain was a Prisoner of War for 5 1/2 years. Tortured so badly that he can't raise his arms over his head - and we're seriously considering him for President. And it isn't because he's saying, "I've suffered the horrors of war and as your leader I will do everything in my power to not have this happen to another son or daughter of this great country, so long as I live." - No - he's all about war. And at this moment where he's possibly a couple of months from the highest office in our land... at the very same time that CHINA - the leading Communist Country in the world is ascending to prominence... and our possible Future PRESIDENT was in Commie hands for 5 1/2 years.

What if... what if John McCain was brainwashed by the COMMIES to not press the button, when they attack and destroy the United States? What exactly happened for those 5 1/2 years? What's the long term consequences of 5 1/2 years of torture and abuse - and do we really want someone that went through that to be the person in charge of our country's responsibilities. Especially when he's displaying aggressive war mongering urges. THAT this war was completely unnecessary seems totally lost on him. Now it is all about some misplaced sense of PRIDE - which I thought was a Deadly Sin. I thought.

All I know is if McCain somehow becomes President - we need to make sure that he never sees a RED QUEEN. I'm serious. Things could get fucked up.

In my life I have written in many countries, upon many surfaces and upon my own belly. However, the place I've most commonly written from has been my home. For over Eleven Years I've written for the online world via Ain't It Cool News and in all that time I've never had a proper desk.

Oh sure, I've written from desks in hotel rooms before. I've written from Gene Siskel's desk from Siskel & Ebert's offices before. I've even composed an entry from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's desk. But I have never written from a desk of my very own.

At home - from 1997-2004 I was writing from a common, junky cheap wooden TV tray. I spent some time after one of my accidents writing from a bedside nightstand at an Extended Stay Hotel. Then when Patricia and I found our first house to live in, I spent a year writing from our Living Room Space Age Table. Then, for the last year and a half - it was a black oak TV tray. In recent months, I realized the tray was getting wobbily - and I do have spares here at the house. (Seriously) However, I couldn't organize anything - and one of my Grandmother's antique gold plush chairs was a depository for all the stuff that would ordinarily go into a desk.

About a week ago, I wondered out loud to my sweetums, "Honey, I think I should replace the TV Tray and the Gold Chair with a proper desk."

So Sunday - we went on a quest to find the desk. Now - you may not know this about me, but I love antiques. I love the way the wood glows, I like the aura of its past. I prefer the craftsmanship to bygone eras and ultimately just the class of it all. Oh sure, I've joked for years about how my desk would be a reproduction of the MCP desk/computer/monitor from WarGames - but frankly, it just isn't practical.

We hit two antique malls and one City Wide Garage Sale - and it was the last stop at the Roller Rink Antique Mall where I found my Desk. The desk I wound up with turned out to be the first one I saw there. A lovely 1930's Walnut & Oak handmade desk with seven drawers and two pull out writing slabs.

I was looking for something under a thousand, but that was nice and this one came in at $450. But I wanted to see what else they had.

We continued to search about the Antique Mall - wandering into another area - where suddenly two desks leapt out for consideration. Both in the same price range. The first was one that was solid Oak, made in the late 60s and was very functional. It had a built in shelf along one side. But frankly it had no style to it - and 60's office furniture had begun to become a conduit for soul sucking as the corporate era came into its imposing modern hell.

The second desk was really sweet. It had was white marble topped. The marble was carved and had a "headboard" in an art deco set of lines. Technically it wasn't quite a desk, but a table in the 20s where you'd have a wash basin, some towels and you'd use it to clean up before and after dinners. It had a single small drawer and I could totally see it working out for me. It was nice. However, it wasn't quite practical.

Then as I was going through the middle aisle with my wife, I saw THE DESK. It was magnificent. I asked her to check the price, and this serious look hit her face as she glanced at the tag, shaking her head... "No." This instantly piqued my interest further, so I said, "How Much?" - A slight grin hit her face, "$1900.00" - UGH! Technically, I could afford it, but I just wasn't looking to spend that much on it.

So we went back for a second look at the first Desk, which I had a sneaking suspicion was the one. Upon closer inspection it had the whole 7 drawer thing going for it, including two incredibly deep drawers. I liked the idea of the two pull out writing tablets. I could pull those out to either side of me for my antique command station.

I liked this desk.

When the desk arrived yesterday and I began to set it up - I realized... This is my Desk. This is a piece of furniture that I will spend a great deal of time pondering at, dreaming at, composing at. I'll doodle from it, wrap presents upon it, plan vacations, events and watch films from. This isn't some flimsy piece of pre-fabricated Target purchased cheapness - this is a proper desk, the last piece of equipment that I've kept from myself - I just have this incredible urge to write. To put my energy into this beautiful birthplace of phrases and metaphors. From here on, this is where I write - and I like that... alot.