BB 10/06/15

Good morning Phoenix – it’s time for Trivia Tuesday. Today, we’re highlighting trivia about aviation – a subject near and dear to Kade's mate, Alexandra.

• Although aviation history and development can be credited to way before the Wright brothers, they are given credit for inventing and building the world’s first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight. This historical event happened on December 17, 1903.

• Airbus developers have their eyes set for the future, including some out of this world designs such as a see through plane where passengers can have an almost 360 degree view of what’s around them as they fly.

• A new Gulfstream G550 is priced at $59.9 million US Dollars and is considered as the most expensive private jet to date. British billionaire Sir Philip Green is one of the proud owners of the G550.

• Official records point to the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird as the world’s fastest, manned jet aircraft. It can travel with a speed of 2,194 mph or 3,530 km/h. The record was set on July 28, 1976 near Beale Air Force Base, California, with Eldon W. Joersz and George T. Morgan Jr. as pilots.

• Airports in the US alone cater to about 29,000 domestic and international flights each day (The Huffington Post). The cost and safety of aviation make it one of the most in-demand services of today.

• The US airline industry makes approximately $170 billion dollars in revenue each year. The industry is composed of 600 companies and the top 10, including American, Delta, and United Continental compose more than 75 percent of industry revenue.

• Under most circumstances it is prohibited to carry mercury on board a flight. This restriction is because a very small amount of mercury can cause serious damage to aluminum and most airplanes are made of aluminum. Airplanes exposed to mercury are quarantined for further observation.

• In 1987, American Airlines eliminated one olive from each salad in served in first class which saved them $40,000.

Have a fangtastic day!

<3 Brock V"""V

BB 10/05/15

Good morning Phoenix! It’s time for Movie Monday. I’m highlighting scary movies from now till Halloween.

Today’s selection is a classic. The one, the only original – Psycho, starring Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins. The 1960 black and white version. When you absolutely, positively, want to be scared, accept no substitute. Shower before you watch it. Otherwise, you will swear off showers.

Plot:

• Phoenix office worker Marion Crane is fed up with the way life has treated her. She has to meet her lover Sam in lunch breaks and they cannot get married because Sam has to give most of his money away in alimony. One Friday Marion is trusted to bank $40,000 by her employer. Seeing the opportunity to take the money and start a new life, Marion leaves town and heads towards Sam's California store. Tired after the long drive and caught in a storm, she gets off the main highway and pulls into The Bates Motel. The motel is managed by a quiet young man called Norman who seems to be dominated by his mother.

Trivia:

• Although Janet Leigh was not bothered by the filming of the famous shower scene, seeing it on film profoundly moved her. She later remarked that it made her realize how vulnerable a woman was in a shower. To the end of her life, she always took baths.

• First American film ever to show a toilet flushing on screen.

• On set, Alfred Hitchcock would always refer to Anthony Perkins as "Master Bates".

• In the opening scene, Marion Crane is wearing a white bra because Alfred Hitchcock wanted to show her as being "angelic". After she has taken the money, the following scene has her in a black bra because now she has done something wrong and evil. Similarly, before she steals the money, she has a white purse; after she's stolen the money, her purse is black.

• Marion's white 1957 Ford sedan is the same car (owned by Universal) that the Cleaver family drove on Leave It to Beaver (1957).

Goofs:

• As Marion falls out of the shower, her hair is soaking wet. But in the famous still shot of her lying on the floor, her hair is relatively dry.

• Janet Leigh's body double is obvious when Norman is pulling Marion from the tub onto the shower curtain; the dead woman has painted toenails while Janet had clear nails during the stabbing shots.

• When Marion first gets out of her car and meets the salesman at the used car dealership, a crewmember is reflected in the car door. Part way through the shot, he suddenly crouches down.

• Marion is in her apartment changing her clothes after stealing the money; as the camera dollies toward the money lying on the bed, a shadow of the camera or member of the crew briefly appears on the bedspread in the lower-right portion of the frame.

• When Lila and Sam are walking from their motel room to the office, the reflection of a crew member can be seen in the window between rooms 1 and 2.

Enjoy and have a fangtastic day friends and fiends!

<3 Brock V"""V

BB 10/04/15

Good morning Phoenix – it’s Sunday, a day to rest, relax, and prepare for the coming week ahead.

Keeping in the spirit (no pun intended) of Halloween, here’s a quick and easy Jack O Lantern cake that can be put together quite easily, and will wow your family and friends.

Just bake two bundt cakes – spice flavor cakes work nicely. Cut a thin slice from bottom of each and stack to create a pumpkin shape that can be frosted with Pillsbury orange icing. The stem is made from an ice cream cone (put a wadded up ball of foil in the depression of the bundt cake to hold the cone up), the eyes from Oreos, and the mouth from fondant. Easy!

Go here for the recipe: Jack-O-Lantern Cake

Have a fangtastic day everyone!

<3  Brock V"""V