Ebay must-have alert

Are you a fan of the sketch "Low Budget Tales of Cliched Horror" from the Ben Stiller Show (1992)?


Well, here's your chance to own a piece of it:

"This is a pair of latex gloves made for the BEN STILLER SHOW. The show ran from 1992-1993 and was a comedy TV show starring Ben Stiller and Andy Dick. These gloves are a one of a kind pair sculpted and made for Ben Stiller to wear in a skit in the show. There was only one pair made and the mold was destroyed. There will never be another set. They are in used/unaltered condition. Would be a great addition to your TV / Ben Stiller memorabilia. Comes with a certificate of authenticity."

 Starting bid $79.99!

What every adult man needs

A pocket square rack--gives your dresser that 'my bedroom is a department store' look.  Only $65.

I once passed on the opportunity to buy a vintage rooster™ ties store display somewhat like the rack above, but with a plastic rooster head at the top. In a rare moment of practicality, I decided it would be too expensive and difficult to fly it home (I was in Indiana at the time).

Green-o

Isn't this a lovely tie?  It's a mid-sixties Brooks Brothers green paisley number just under 3 inches in width.  I've been on a paisley kick lately, so I've been picking them up cheap on Ebay.  Green is one of the most elusive tie colors, which makes this one extra-interesting.  I haven't bid on this one, since it's above my target price (which is around ten bucks).  For some reason, the seller has categorized it as "1950 50S Rockabilly Skinny", which is not accurate.

Visually, it speaks to me of an era where a guy would naturally wear a tie on ordinary occasions, but wants to show that he's a hip dude, so it's an unusually-colored groovy pattern.  This same guy might also be sporting some modest sideburns to show that he's not uptight (even if he is).  It's a perfect moment in time--attuned to cultural changes, but not fully given in to the slobby excess of the seventies.

Starring Yaphet Kotto as Idi Amin

Over the weekend, I watched (via Netflix streaming) this well-made TV movie from 1977.  I remember hearing about it when it was originally on (5th grade), but didn't see it at the time.  And back then, you only got one chance!  I got interested because the hijacking and rescue was referenced in a circa 1980 British TV series I like, The Sandbaggers.  Raid on Entebbe does what I like a good political/action thriller to do--take its time to set up the story, keep the action grounded in real life, and have a high level of tension.*  Since I knew some details of the real-life story, I knew that it would have a fairly upbeat ending, so it wasn't really an unpleasant experience.  It's also got a great cast, with the great Martin Balsam, one of my favorite B-movie stars, John Saxon, and especially Yaphet Kotto in the choice role of General Idi Amin Dada, who he plays accurately as cuckoo, dangerous, and extremely annoying.  The film has great production values, and by virtue of being made contemporary to the actual event, is chock full of seventies verisimilitude.  It was much better than I expected it to be--highly recommended to those who like that kind of thing.

*The first two of these qualifications are largely lost today, due to the need to keep everything on a video game level of excitement and physical implausibility.  The third qualification (high level of tension) is often killed by movies failing to take some time to breathe and let the audience build up a feeling of dread.