Today is Evoloterra. This is an interesting holiday in that it celebrates "human achievement in general", and its date commemorates the anniversary of the first manned landing on the moon. We have all heard those famous words uttered by Neil Armstrong upon his first descent down onto the lunar surface, and I wouldn't be surprised if it were in the top 5 U.S. quotes of all time (though I read he flubbed it a little bit, and actually meant to include an "a" before "man").
I like the idea of encouraging invention and innovation and putting its pursuit in a good light, without a doubt. Having said that, as I looked around for content on the subject, I came upon a lot of stuff on the "moon landing hoax". Now, I love conspiracy theories and I'd heard of this one before (remember Carl Everett's interviews with Dan Shaughnessy? He didn't believe in dinosaurs either.), and as I dug deeper I found lots of articles and vids on the subject. The vids in particular were captivating, and though many were obviously done in jest, some were seriously trying to present a case where NASA, the U.S. Government, and Stanley Kubrick, among others, conspired to film a sequence in a studio that would convince the people of the U.S. (and the world) that men had landed and were walking on the moon. Some approach the topic in "documentary" form, like one I found on YouTube (in pieces) called "Moon Landing: A Fake or Fact?". Others try to prove the hoax by showing inconsistencies or mistakes in the footage, like being able to "see the wires" in the clip below.
Whether these guys really did land on the moon or not, one thing is true: some of the "human achievements" we can celebrate today are those in the realm of imagination, skepticism and doubt.
Like many other kids who grew up in Boston, I spent a good amount of my high school years roaming around places like Copley, Kenmore, the South End, Harvard Square, and Allston, etc. It is amazing to me how much a part of the city I felt in those days, and much of that I attribute to relatively unimportant things like knowing the ins and outs of the T or being able to rattle off the 5 closest Mortal Kombat machines from any location. More than anything, though, I think it was that I knew and was known by (or at least recognized by) many people in and around town. Red and Pops at Little Stevies, the guys who worked at Captain Nemo's and the Pizza Pad, and even the token taker at Aquarium station who for some reason let us hang around for hours until kicking us out every day for sliding down those long escalators.
And then there was Mr. Butch. I remember him as a tall, lanky, dreadlocked fixture outside the Rat in Kenmore, and though apparently homeless (I think by choice), he stuck out as a kind of celebrity, a man everyone knew. "Hey, Mr. Butch", you'd call, and he'd come right over, grinning, and ask how you were. Maybe he'd crack a joke or say something you didn't understand at all, but you would smile anyway because, for some inexplicable reason, he made you feel like you were old friends.
Mr. Butch unfortunately died in an accident today (July 12) at the age of 56. Below is a short article from boston.com.
(Update 7.13.07 - there's now another, more recent article in the non-breaking-news section)
(Update 7.14.07 - a great Mr. Butch guestbook has been set up and lots of people are sharing their memories. It's amazing how many random people have fond memories of this guy...testament to his persona. He will be missed.)
Mr. Butch, the street icon, dies in a scooter accident
(Mark Wilson/Globe Staff/file)
Mr. Butch, shown above on Harvard Avenue in November, had lived on the streets in Boston for about 30 years.
By Bryan Marquard, Globe Staff
Mr. Butch, the dreadlocked, homeless man who was an icon in Kenmore Square and Allston, was killed today in a scooter accident, friends and family said.
Boston police said there had been a fatal accident just after 7:30 a.m. on Cambridge Street in Allston, but did not release the name of the victim. Mr. Butch's sister, Jeannette Madison of Worcester, said she had been notified of her brother's death.
Mr. Butch's real name was Harold Madison Jr. The 56-year-old had been the subject of YouTube videos [as well as at least one independent film], a MySpace tribute page, and a Wikipedia entry. He was so popular that The Boston Phoenix wrote in April that it was considering changing the criteria for its "Readers' Pick: Neighborhood Character" category because Mr. Butch won so regularly.
"He's been in so many local movies, videos, in the Phoenix -- he's like an icon of the neighborhood," said Erin Scott, manager of New England Comics on Harvard Avenue in Allston.
Mr. Butch had lived on the streets of Boston for about 30 years. In Kenmore Square and his neighborhood in Allston -- areas rife with college students and people who cleave to less traditional approaches to living in Boston -- some saw in Mr. Butch a latter-day Thoreau, a man who chose a life that didn't involve taxes, rent, or office cubicles.
So the All-Star break is upon us (go American League - 11 in a row!), and the Red Sox have a double-digit lead after (just over) half of the season. These three days are referred to by many as the slowest time in sports as not much else is going on, and they subsequently cause many a sports talk show to bring up some of the more peripheral topics as talking points.
How can resist peripheral topics?
TLM and I were at a game a week ago and at several points watched as at various times Wally the Green Monster (the Red Sox mascot) was parading around waving a flag, standing up on top of of the dugouts throwing out t-shirts, or just getting the fans excited in general. This is nothing new, of course, as it's been over 10 years since Wally was introduced to us back in 1997. What did surprise us, however, were a pair of big red velvety socks with arms, legs, hats and batting gloves marching up and down the lines. They were even in on the picture taken with Wally and the kid who threw out the first pitch.
Were these odd-looking creatures also Red Sox mascots, like Wally? Did theyhave a blog, a back-story, several children's books, and small plush versions of themselves for kids of the Nation (and Jerry Remy) to play with? Did they even have names?
The answers to all three questions is yes, they are new "friends of Wally" (though he didn't seem too excited to be with them when we were there), and you can even book "Righty" and "Lefty" for an appearance at your next birthday party if you'd like. One might ask how to tell the difference between the two...well, there is a big (though not very noticeable) "R" and "L" on their respective backs to avoid confusion. To me they looked out of place, though that may be simply because I'm used to Wally and not these two. Then again, maybe it's because the Red Sox management is only letting them out now and then to test the waters, having seen what happens when you formally introduce a new mascot to the Fenway faithful, i.e. Wally's debut.
I was at that first ever "kids opening day" with my father and watched as Wally was introduced with much fanfare, then greeted by an enormous and borderline comical hail of boos and mockeries - truly one of the Fenway moments I'll never forget. For a great recount of the moment, read the first comment on this post at deadspin.com.
What do you think of this new pair of Red Sox symbols? Should they be promoted more or kept in the sock drawer?
Content found on The Neoteric is of no particular genre, topic, or focus, other than it was all at some point, in some way, interesting enough to me to write about.
