WEBVTT - From the Vault: A Major Award 0:00:05.840 --> 0:00:08.760 Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind. My name 0:00:08.800 --> 0:00:12.120 is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, and it's Saturday. 0:00:12.200 --> 0:00:15.760 Time for an episode from the vault. This one asks 0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:19.000 the question, can Rob and Joe really make an episode 0:00:19.000 --> 0:00:21.319 of Stuff to Blow Your Mind about the concept of 0:00:21.320 --> 0:00:25.759 a leg lamp? Can they? We did? Yes, this was 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:28.800 I was surprised as anyone, and it turned off that way, 0:00:28.840 --> 0:00:31.040 But yeah we did one. Uh who did this episode 0:00:31.040 --> 0:00:34.800 of major award calling back of course holiday film a 0:00:34.880 --> 0:00:38.959 Christmas story and talking about leg shaped lamps and then 0:00:39.040 --> 0:00:43.519 diving into the deep ancient and occult history of lamps 0:00:43.560 --> 0:00:45.840 and other objects shaped in the likeness of a human 0:00:45.920 --> 0:00:49.479 leg or foot. This is from the holiday season from 0:00:49.600 --> 0:00:52.320 last year. Uh so we hope you enjoy it, either 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:58.000 again or for the first time. Now. Welcome to Stuff 0:00:58.040 --> 0:01:07.280 to Blow Your Mind, a production of My Heart Rate Deo. Hey, 0:01:07.400 --> 0:01:09.720 welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. My name is 0:01:09.840 --> 0:01:13.960 Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. And this is gonna 0:01:14.000 --> 0:01:17.400 be our last core at our last new Core episode 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:20.000 of the year. And what do we have for you here? 0:01:20.040 --> 0:01:23.679 Another holiday episode? And we really didn't know until just 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:26.680 a few days ago exactly what the holiday episode would be. 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:30.520 We were talking about doing an episode on reindeer related stuff, 0:01:30.560 --> 0:01:32.840 and maybe we'll do that next year. We and then 0:01:32.880 --> 0:01:35.119 we were talking about, well, let's let's we've done previous 0:01:35.160 --> 0:01:38.520 episode where we talked about holiday inventions, Christmas inventions and 0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:41.280 so forth, maybe we could do another one of those, 0:01:41.520 --> 0:01:44.520 and um uh, you know, we started looking into some 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:51.360 topics and we wound up focusing entirely upon the holiday 0:01:51.360 --> 0:01:53.760 film A Christmas Story, well not just on the movie, 0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:56.760 on the movie's most sacred prop that's right. And I 0:01:56.760 --> 0:01:58.520 mean for a little bit they we were thinking, well, 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:00.080 look at all the things that are to talk abou 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:03.120 in a Christmas story. We could talk about soap poisoning, 0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:06.360 freezing your tongue to a flagpole, the dangerous posed by 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:11.160 BB guns, how furnaces work. I gotta say, I having 0:02:11.240 --> 0:02:14.359 looked into the medical literature on soap poisoning, first of all, 0:02:14.440 --> 0:02:17.720 it is a real thing. Second, that's some pretty dark territory, 0:02:17.880 --> 0:02:20.359 not not not the most fun way to head into 0:02:20.360 --> 0:02:22.239 the holidays. Well, I mean it's pretty dark in that 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:24.359 Christmas story. You know. There he is he's a he's 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:26.600 a child, and he's blind and his parents feel such 0:02:26.639 --> 0:02:28.800 remorse for having him put that bar of soap in 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:30.560 his mouth. Now, from what I could tell in my 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:33.320 brief investigation, I don't think it's dangerous to put a 0:02:33.320 --> 0:02:35.440 bar of soap in your mouth for a few minutes, 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:38.000 but you definitely don't want to like eat a significant 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:42.840 amount of it, right, So, so so poisoning is a thing. Yes, Okay, 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:45.880 don't don't swallow soap. But like I said, we're not 0:02:45.880 --> 0:02:48.160 We're not focusing on the soap here. We're talking. We're 0:02:48.160 --> 0:02:52.239 gonna be talking about, um, the Old Man's Major Award. 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:55.200 We're gonna be talking about that leg lamp now, Rob. 0:02:55.200 --> 0:02:57.480 I don't know if you've had this experience, but I 0:02:57.520 --> 0:03:01.320 can say most of my exposure to to a Christmas 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:05.040 story the movie comes in the form of a sort 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:09.520 of running, droning background noise that's going on at a 0:03:09.520 --> 0:03:13.000 at a some kind of family house around Christmas while 0:03:13.040 --> 0:03:15.960 it's just playing on an infinite loop on some cable 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:18.520 TV station that that is turned on in a room 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:22.679 I might not even be in very much, But when 0:03:22.720 --> 0:03:26.200 this happens, I noticed that this must have something to 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:28.560 do with like the patterns with which I come and 0:03:28.600 --> 0:03:30.919 go into certain rooms in the house, so that that 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:32.839 would be an interesting thing to study on its own. 0:03:33.160 --> 0:03:36.120 But will pretty frequently have the experience of seeing one 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:39.960 scene in the movie like five times in the same day, 0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:42.600 and it's always the same scene. And for me, it 0:03:42.640 --> 0:03:46.720 has definitely been the scene where the old man is 0:03:46.760 --> 0:03:49.400 in the house and and a big crate arrives and 0:03:49.400 --> 0:03:51.160 it was that we get the lines about it being 0:03:51.200 --> 0:03:54.680 FREGGI lay and he digs through the straw and then 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:58.480 pulls out this glorious leg lamp. Yeah, I have I 0:03:58.480 --> 0:04:01.640 have a similar experience with a Christmas story. Um, it 0:04:01.680 --> 0:04:04.080 would there were so there are. There have been some 0:04:04.120 --> 0:04:08.000 dedicated viewings of it, uh you know, throughout the years. Um, 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:11.080 but most of it it's just it's on TV during Christmas, 0:04:11.120 --> 0:04:13.360 and therefore you watch it or you watch part of it, 0:04:13.680 --> 0:04:15.680 and so when you actually sat down and watch it 0:04:15.680 --> 0:04:17.920 in its entirety, there will be these scenes that you 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:20.800 remember really vividly, and then there are scenes that you 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:22.560 didn't realize we're part of the movie at all. That 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:26.160 sort of thing. I should probably inform everyone what this 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:29.040 movie has. A number of you were probably familiar with it, 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:32.039 some of you were not Uh. This was a three 0:04:32.080 --> 0:04:35.760 holiday film that was based on the writings of Jane Shepherd, 0:04:35.880 --> 0:04:38.520 particularly on the book In God We Trust All Others 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:43.680 Pay Cash. It's one boy's account of childhood holiday dreams, desires, 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:46.880 and fears. It's a fun movie with with some solid 0:04:47.000 --> 0:04:49.280 laughs in it, some some some good heart, but not 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:52.479 to a sappy degree, especially for a holiday film. And 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:54.720 in some ways you could almost think of it as 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:57.680 kind of like a a proto Simpsons, you know, like 0:04:57.720 --> 0:05:01.400 it's it's some of the gags that they get up 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:03.880 to in a Christmas story are the sorts of things 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:05.919 that would happen on The Simpsons later on. But of 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:09.240 course the Simpsons leans more into more into the satire 0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:12.880 and more into like pop cultural references, you know what 0:05:12.920 --> 0:05:14.560 I'm talking about. Like that, you can't you imagine an 0:05:14.560 --> 0:05:17.800 episode where Homer gets some sort of obnoxious award that 0:05:17.839 --> 0:05:19.560 he wants to display at the front of the house. 0:05:20.080 --> 0:05:23.400 Marge doesn't like it, and uh, and maybe something terrible 0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:26.800 ends up happening to the award and he he blames her. Yeah, 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:28.680 now that you say that, I can't imagine that being 0:05:28.680 --> 0:05:31.560 a plotline. Okay, yeah, I mean Ralphie is essentially a 0:05:31.600 --> 0:05:35.600 good boy, uh, whereas Bart is a bad boy. So uh, 0:05:35.800 --> 0:05:38.280 you know we have to take that into account as well. Yeah, 0:05:38.400 --> 0:05:41.279 Bart would not dream of getting a BB gun for Christmas. 0:05:41.320 --> 0:05:43.200 He would just go and I don't know, shoplift to 0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:46.080 be begun or something. Yeah, oh well, I mean I 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:48.800 hope he learned his lesson from that Christmas episodes of 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:51.720 The Simpsons where he did shoplift. Remember, Oh that's right. 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:54.240 Oh I remember that One's actually very sad because his 0:05:54.320 --> 0:05:58.719 mother is very disappointed in him. And yeah, strings, Yeah, 0:05:58.800 --> 0:06:01.080 that's It's a solid episode like that sort of Simpson's 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:04.520 episode reminds me a lot of of of this, though 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:06.960 in a weird way. That Simpsons episode is more serious 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:11.000 than a Christmas story is. Yeah, what is it? He steals? 0:06:11.000 --> 0:06:13.440 It's like a video game. It's like the bone Storm 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:17.120 for whatever. Yeah, it's like essentially like a Mortal Kombat 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:19.800 type game that just seems like the greatest thing ever. 0:06:19.880 --> 0:06:23.760 And they have like the muscled Santa Claus and the commercial. Yeah, 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:26.760 so we're not gonna give a Christmas story the full 0:06:26.800 --> 0:06:29.440 weird house cinema treatment or anything here today. But I 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:31.720 do want to just point out real quickly a few 0:06:31.720 --> 0:06:33.920 of the people involved in it because it's kind of fun. 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:36.679 First of all, I was directed by Bob Clark, who 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:42.200 also directed the notorious holiday proto slasher Black Christmas in four, 0:06:42.839 --> 0:06:44.919 which I have never seen, but it had a It 0:06:44.960 --> 0:06:49.279 had a great cast, including Olivia Hussey, Margo Kidder, Kira 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:51.960 Dulia from two thousand and one of Space Odyssey, and 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:55.840 of course weird how cinema favorite John Saxon. Everybody at 0:06:55.839 --> 0:06:59.400 home do a push up for John Saxon right now. Uh. 0:06:59.440 --> 0:07:03.160 He also directed Death Dream Murder by Decree, which is 0:07:03.200 --> 0:07:07.080 a Sherlock Holmes versus Jack the Rippers story, two Porky's movies, 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:13.640 two Baby Geniuses movies, Porky's and Baby Geniuses. Yeah, yeah, 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:16.960 but still there's some good stuff in there. He passed 0:07:17.000 --> 0:07:19.520 away in two thousand seven, but I think a Christmas 0:07:19.560 --> 0:07:22.440 story is likely to remain his his legacy, Like this 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:24.440 is the one that's gonna really stick. So I guess 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:28.320 Black Christmas also has its place in film history as well. Sure, 0:07:28.840 --> 0:07:30.640 and uh, as far as the cast has well, has 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:34.640 a wonderful cast Christmas story, but the two main characters 0:07:34.640 --> 0:07:37.280 worth pointing out for our purposes. The Old Man has 0:07:37.320 --> 0:07:40.840 played played by the always terrific Darren McGavin. This is 0:07:40.840 --> 0:07:42.760 the guy who played cold Shack the night Stalker. I 0:07:42.760 --> 0:07:45.040 think he was also in the Arnold Swartzenegger film Raw 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:50.240 Deal Okay. And the mom is played by Melinda Dillon, 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:53.160 who was in Harry and the Henderson's as well as 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:57.040 Spontaneous Combustion, which is one of the films that we 0:07:57.120 --> 0:07:59.440 covered on Weird House Cinema this year. Did she play 0:07:59.560 --> 0:08:03.200 like the creepy scientist? She am? I right about that. 0:08:03.640 --> 0:08:05.920 It's really hard to remember. Everybody else just kind of 0:08:07.760 --> 0:08:11.720 grows dim against the burning fire. That is uh, that 0:08:11.880 --> 0:08:15.240 is a Doroff's performance in that. Brad Dorriff is just 0:08:15.320 --> 0:08:17.600 so good. Yeah, I just double checked she she's the 0:08:17.640 --> 0:08:20.440 German scientist. I think at some point Brad Dorroff goes 0:08:20.480 --> 0:08:23.120 to her house and maybe she catches on fire, and 0:08:23.200 --> 0:08:25.800 I don't know, probably that's probably the generally how it goes. Um. 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:27.920 But I don't want to sell her short because Melinda 0:08:27.960 --> 0:08:31.160 Dylan is a great actor as well. She was she 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:33.800 was in Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Absence 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:36.800 of Malice. In that she was nominated for two Academy 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:39.839 Awards and one Tony Award. Okay, but we don't want 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:41.600 to leave anybody out for the like eight people in 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:44.760 the audience who have never seen this movie or even 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:47.880 just seen this sequence in the movie on five times 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:51.160 in the same day on Christmas. But what's the deal 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:53.640 with the major award? Well, it is, as we've been saying, 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:56.280 a major award. It is something he has won for 0:08:56.400 --> 0:09:00.800 his achievements, uh, in a game. And what is the game? Well, 0:09:00.840 --> 0:09:04.480 I think it's like it's like a trivia contest, maybe 0:09:04.480 --> 0:09:08.319 done through the mail from a newspaper. Though I think 0:09:08.320 --> 0:09:12.120 it's worth saying that he actually does not supply most 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:14.480 of the answers on the contest. He has to ask 0:09:14.880 --> 0:09:17.720 Melinda Dillon and she actually knows the answers. Then he 0:09:17.800 --> 0:09:20.000 fills them in and it sends it off or something, 0:09:20.080 --> 0:09:24.160 and apparently wins this trivia contest by answering questions like 0:09:24.200 --> 0:09:26.840 what is the name of the Lone Rangers and nephews Horse. 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:31.000 But later in the film, after he receives his major award, 0:09:31.040 --> 0:09:33.959 when people ask him how what it was for, he says, 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:41.120 it's for mind power. Yeah, so it's it's this wonderful design. 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:43.840 It is a lamp that is shaped like a woman's 0:09:43.920 --> 0:09:47.880 leg wearing a fishnet stocking with the shade resembling a 0:09:47.960 --> 0:09:50.960 kind of mini skirt or short hoop drafts or something. 0:09:51.640 --> 0:09:54.240 And um, as we as we learned in the show, 0:09:54.240 --> 0:09:57.160 it's it's an item of much controversy in the household. 0:09:57.520 --> 0:10:00.360 And um, and it's clear that Mom does not like 0:10:00.480 --> 0:10:02.600 this lamp and certainly does not think it belongs at 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:06.600 the front of the house where neighbors can see it. Uh, 0:10:06.640 --> 0:10:09.360 you know, it's already Uh, it's it's becoming a topic 0:10:09.400 --> 0:10:13.240 of discussion in the neighborhood. And then what happens there 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:17.000 is an accident. Somebody is cleaning too close to the 0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:20.880 lamp and it is accidentally destroyed. Now, I think one 0:10:20.880 --> 0:10:22.960 of the great points of humor in the movie is 0:10:23.040 --> 0:10:26.960 that it is never made clear why a lamp shaped 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:30.680 like a sexy leg is the prize for winning this 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:34.360 newspaper contest, Like that there's no connection there, Like why 0:10:34.360 --> 0:10:36.960 would this be what you get? Uh? And it's just 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:41.320 not explained. Yeah, I mean it doesn't even say anything, um, 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:43.640 you know on the lamp. It's not like the award 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:45.160 is shaped like a lamp. No, this is just a 0:10:45.240 --> 0:10:48.600 lamp that shaped like a leg. Um, but but he is. 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:50.720 He is fond of it. He thinks it is wonderful. 0:10:50.920 --> 0:10:53.920 She does not. It becomes a uh, it becomes a 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:56.880 controversial issue between the two of them. It is destroyed. 0:10:57.240 --> 0:11:00.400 An attempt to rebuild the leg lamp seems pow ssible, 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:02.560 but we'll never know if it was successful. We we 0:11:02.559 --> 0:11:05.480 we we we suspect that it was not. That this 0:11:05.520 --> 0:11:08.800 is something that, once broken can never be repaired. Well. 0:11:08.840 --> 0:11:11.000 I think also there's a little bit of subtlety there, 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:13.200 because when the old man is trying to repair it 0:11:13.280 --> 0:11:15.960 with glue and failing, you sense in him a kind 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:20.679 of a kind of waning enthusiasm, where it may be, 0:11:20.920 --> 0:11:24.679 in fact that he is realizing that his wife was 0:11:24.720 --> 0:11:30.440 correct in thinking that this lamp is rather tacky. Yeah, yeah, 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:35.120 but he didn't want to admit it earlier. Right, So 0:11:35.240 --> 0:11:38.000 this is this lamp. This is a hilarious part of 0:11:38.040 --> 0:11:40.679 the film. This is based on the chapter My Old 0:11:40.720 --> 0:11:43.600 Man and the Siviest Special Award that heralded the birth 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:46.920 of pop art from the nine novel in God We 0:11:46.960 --> 0:11:50.160 Trust All Others pay cash. But it's really taken on 0:11:50.200 --> 0:11:53.720 a life of its own since then, Um, you can 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:58.040 now buy like replicas of the lamp, reproductions of the 0:11:58.040 --> 0:12:01.160 rent lamp in various sizes. You can get Christmas tree 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:03.480 ornaments where the Christmas I mean, you can basically get 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:06.880 Christmas tree ornaments of it, or even Christmas lights of 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:10.359 the lamp. Like the lamp has become like this, um, 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:13.840 this weird symbol all its own. I was. I was 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:19.400 reading about it on read Craiger's blog Inventor's Digest, And 0:12:19.440 --> 0:12:23.240 apparently Shepherd was inspired to create this fictional lamp based 0:12:23.360 --> 0:12:27.640 on knee high soda ads that he remembered seeing a 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:30.880 magazine showing two shapely legs up to the knee. Uh. 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:33.000 He remembered these from from being from when he was 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:36.080 a boy. And then for the film production designer Ruben 0:12:36.160 --> 0:12:38.839 Freed Uh he did the rest. And the lamp is 0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:42.560 apparently protected by two different trademarks. Uh. They've been mass 0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:44.880 produced over the years, and yes you can buy them 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:48.200 today as functional lamps. When this movie came out, you 0:12:48.200 --> 0:12:49.719 can only dream of such a thing. I think they 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:52.560 made like just a handful of these for the film, 0:12:52.600 --> 0:12:56.280 But now it is achievable by anyone. Now, correct me 0:12:56.320 --> 0:12:58.160 if I'm wrong, But I believe I read somewhere that 0:12:58.240 --> 0:13:02.000 the original lamp prop made for the film no longer exists. 0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:05.440 That is what I was reading as well. Yeah, lost 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:07.880 to history like so many great works, like many of 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:12.640 the artworks of the Parthenon, or just think the great antiquities, 0:13:12.679 --> 0:13:17.440 they just fade to time. Well, speaking of antiquities, obviously this, 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:20.400 this can't be where the story begins and ends, right, 0:13:20.480 --> 0:13:22.320 There has to be more of it. There has to 0:13:22.320 --> 0:13:25.680 be more to the lamp that is a leg and 0:13:25.720 --> 0:13:28.160 the leg that is a lamp. By god, if there's 0:13:28.200 --> 0:13:33.280 not more to it, will make more to it. Absolutely. Well, 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:35.319 let's go to the obvious place to discuss all of 0:13:35.360 --> 0:13:36.840 this is to go way back and just talk about 0:13:36.920 --> 0:13:39.520 lamps in general. The lamp and the movie is of 0:13:39.559 --> 0:13:42.840 course an electric lamp with origins in the early nineteenth century. 0:13:42.880 --> 0:13:46.360 But the history of illumination technology goes way back. Obviously, 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:49.920 you can think to our invention episodes on fire technology. 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:53.480 And indeed the most basic form of illumination technology is 0:13:53.520 --> 0:13:56.920 of course a mere torch or a burning brand of 0:13:57.000 --> 0:14:00.720 some sword, or even a very primitive you know, burning stick. 0:14:01.320 --> 0:14:05.240 Uh you know, these wall get it done. But according 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:08.840 to Brian M. Fagan and Garrett G. Fagan um in 0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:12.760 the UH in the seventy grade. Inventions of the ancient world. 0:14:13.320 --> 0:14:16.880 UM wick burning lamps go back at least as far 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:20.360 as the Late Paleolithic period. It's thirty thousands through ten 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:23.360 thousand years ago. All you need is a reservoir of 0:14:23.440 --> 0:14:26.440 fuel and a wick made from plant fiber or even 0:14:26.440 --> 0:14:29.520 something like human hair. And the fuel itself can be 0:14:29.760 --> 0:14:32.480 any number of things. That can be oil, it can 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:35.800 be fat, and sometimes salt was added to oil to 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:39.760 keep it from overheating. Uh. Tons of lamps survived from 0:14:39.760 --> 0:14:42.720 the ancient world as these were, of course widespread and 0:14:42.800 --> 0:14:47.240 extremely useful pieces of technology. Uh. They illuminate your environment. 0:14:47.360 --> 0:14:50.280 They turn uh night time, well not it doesn't turn 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:52.440 nighttime into day, but you know, it provides some of 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:55.120 the illumination that you would have in the daytime in 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:58.400 a nice concentrated form. Yeah. And I think one of 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:01.520 the things that's useful about a lamp or like a candle. 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:04.320 We've talked about this on UH Core episodes of the 0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:09.080 show before, is that they they provide moderate light for 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:12.440 a long period of time. They're constructed so as to 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:17.320 gradually slowly feed the fuel into the flame rather than 0:15:17.400 --> 0:15:20.080 have the fire just burned through the fuel source as 0:15:20.080 --> 0:15:22.280 fast as it possibly can, like it would with you 0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:24.000 know many other things like a you know, a lit 0:15:24.000 --> 0:15:27.960 stick or something. Yeah. So the technology here, the the 0:15:28.000 --> 0:15:30.400 device itself allows you to make the most out of 0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:33.000 your limited fuel. Now real quick, I want to want 0:15:33.000 --> 0:15:36.840 to just mention the Fagans quickly. Um Brian Fagan, of course, 0:15:36.840 --> 0:15:39.520 Brian and Fagan is uh is someone I sade a 0:15:39.520 --> 0:15:43.440 lot on the show um Starters. The That Great Inventions 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:45.600 book is super useful. But he's written a number of 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:48.560 volumes and still has books coming out, including a new 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:53.520 book with Nadia Durrani titled Climate Chaos Lessons on Survival 0:15:53.560 --> 0:15:57.520 from Our Ancestors. Now. The other Fagan, though, Garrett G. Fagan, 0:15:57.880 --> 0:16:00.800 was an Irish American ancient historian, best known for his 0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:04.560 social histories of Roman bathing and the Spectacles of the 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:07.240 Roman Arena. And I could be wrong on this, but 0:16:07.280 --> 0:16:10.040 I do not believe these two Pagans are related at all. 0:16:10.440 --> 0:16:13.040 They just happen to work together in this one chapter, uh, 0:16:13.200 --> 0:16:16.160 in the seventy grade Inventions of the Ancient World that 0:16:16.360 --> 0:16:21.600 deals with illumination technology. Okay, so lamps go very far 0:16:21.640 --> 0:16:26.240 back for into the Paleolithic period, right, and lamp technology 0:16:26.280 --> 0:16:29.880 of this basic sword can be found from throughout Mesopotamia, 0:16:29.960 --> 0:16:33.480 and the shape of the reservoir varies, so you could 0:16:33.520 --> 0:16:36.320 you can use basically found objects as your reservoir. So 0:16:36.400 --> 0:16:39.720 seashells were often used because these were naturally occurring shallow 0:16:39.800 --> 0:16:43.040 bowls with ridges to accommodate a wick at one end. 0:16:43.640 --> 0:16:46.800 But then once you start making artificial reservoirs for your 0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:51.600 oil or your fat, whatever you're burning your fuel, um, 0:16:51.720 --> 0:16:54.240 then you're making them out of pottery or even metal. 0:16:54.440 --> 0:16:57.760 And this allows for all manner of simple and ornate 0:16:57.960 --> 0:17:01.560 lamp designs. And you know where we're going with that, right, Oh, 0:17:01.640 --> 0:17:05.800 of course. Yeah. The obvious question is how many of 0:17:05.840 --> 0:17:09.679 these lamps were shaped like legs? Well, are you going 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:13.280 to tell me? Well, this is a difficult question to answer, Joe. 0:17:14.440 --> 0:17:16.919 Humans have, of course, always love to craft things in 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:20.880 the likeness of animals and or themselves, and animal legs 0:17:20.880 --> 0:17:23.840 and feet have always been a favorite motif. In fact, 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:26.920 uh Fagan includes an image of one in the book. 0:17:27.280 --> 0:17:31.399 It's a first century CE brazier from Pompey with beautiful 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:34.640 like animal feet supporting it and of course, we still 0:17:34.640 --> 0:17:37.879 see this today with you know, tubs anything. It's like 0:17:37.920 --> 0:17:40.280 it's like the human Artistan can't help it. It's like, 0:17:40.600 --> 0:17:45.159 why have put feet upon this device or this prop 0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:47.920 or this piece of furniture? Uh? Could I not make 0:17:47.960 --> 0:17:50.720 those feet like actual feet? Uh? And I guess you 0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:53.200 can even say there's a bit of biomimicry there as well, 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:55.240 like if you're going to support an object with these 0:17:55.760 --> 0:17:59.040 like stumpy pods, uh, well maybe make them look like 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:01.840 a foot. That's true. In fact, you've got me thinking 0:18:01.840 --> 0:18:06.320 about how often the legs of you know, fancier pieces 0:18:06.359 --> 0:18:11.000 of furniture are kind of shaped to be organic or 0:18:11.080 --> 0:18:12.919 flesh like in a way. They might have kind of 0:18:12.960 --> 0:18:15.520 curves on them, similar to a human leg or to 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:19.280 an animal leg, even if they're not explicitly trying to 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:22.200 depict a human or animal leg like with toes and stuff, 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:24.960 right though, of course, there are plenty of explicit depictions 0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:27.199 out there where it's like it's straight up looks like 0:18:27.240 --> 0:18:29.080 the foot of a lion or a goat or what 0:18:29.160 --> 0:18:36.680 have you. Thank you, thank you, thank so. Looking around 0:18:36.680 --> 0:18:39.320 in the history of lamp designs, um, you know, I'm 0:18:39.359 --> 0:18:42.920 sure I missed something interesting, But I've come across two 0:18:42.960 --> 0:18:47.600 different examples of UH from from from Greek and Roman 0:18:47.600 --> 0:18:51.439 traditions that are that are pretty interesting, particularly when dealing 0:18:51.480 --> 0:18:56.920 with the Greek ascos and the Greek alabastron. So an 0:18:56.920 --> 0:19:00.680 ascos is an ancient Greek pottery vessel used to pour 0:19:00.800 --> 0:19:04.080 liquids such as oils, so it is not quite a lamp, 0:19:04.440 --> 0:19:06.919 though it could have been used to store lamp oil 0:19:07.119 --> 0:19:10.040 and could have been used to refill lamps. And many 0:19:10.080 --> 0:19:13.720 of these were decorated and decorational, sometimes in the form 0:19:13.880 --> 0:19:18.400 of animals. And then an alabastron is similar. It's a 0:19:18.400 --> 0:19:22.439 a pottery vessel often used for holding oils or perfumes, 0:19:22.560 --> 0:19:26.200 named for the carved alabaster containers from Egypt that started 0:19:26.240 --> 0:19:29.520 the design key and the key thing here is that 0:19:29.560 --> 0:19:34.119 these are generally elongated, so um they are by their 0:19:34.200 --> 0:19:37.119 very nature and their sort of generic form kind of 0:19:37.200 --> 0:19:40.159 leg shaped. So you'll find both the of these in 0:19:40.560 --> 0:19:44.160 various shapes and forms, and and they're littered throughout museums 0:19:44.160 --> 0:19:47.520 and collections around the world. But I was able to 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:52.679 find some images of for starters, there's a leg shaped 0:19:52.720 --> 0:19:56.880 ascos or alabastron that is or was in the collection 0:19:56.920 --> 0:20:00.639 of the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, though I've had 0:20:00.640 --> 0:20:03.720 trouble finding out any additional information about it. I might 0:20:03.760 --> 0:20:06.480 have to ask anyone out there who has has visited 0:20:06.840 --> 0:20:09.840 the Royal Ontario Museum or or can visit it now, 0:20:10.440 --> 0:20:12.200 to go in and try and get me more answers 0:20:12.200 --> 0:20:15.520 on this. But the image I found is indeed uh 0:20:15.560 --> 0:20:18.360 an alabastron, or it appears to be an alabaster. It's 0:20:18.359 --> 0:20:20.080 hard to figure out what the scale is here. It 0:20:20.200 --> 0:20:24.399 is shaped like a essentially like a naked human leg, 0:20:25.280 --> 0:20:27.720 and it's free standing. It looks like it had it 0:20:27.760 --> 0:20:31.080 maybe has sandals drawn on it um and it was yeah, 0:20:31.280 --> 0:20:34.160 used to hold oil or something. This gives new meaning 0:20:34.240 --> 0:20:36.800 to the the expression that someone who can hold their 0:20:36.840 --> 0:20:40.400 liquor has a quote hollow leg. Yes, this is indeed 0:20:40.680 --> 0:20:43.879 hollow leg. I wonder if that yeah. I didn't even 0:20:43.920 --> 0:20:47.240 think about that that that phrase. Um. Now I was 0:20:47.280 --> 0:20:49.639 able to find more information on another one. There is 0:20:49.720 --> 0:20:53.199 a Greek pottery alabastron in the shape of aggrieved or 0:20:53.320 --> 0:20:58.000 armored leg from Corinth or Rhodes circus six century b 0:20:58.119 --> 0:21:01.199 c E. And it's part or was I'm not sure of. 0:21:01.320 --> 0:21:05.200 The Callos Collection in London included an image of this 0:21:05.400 --> 0:21:08.639 uh for you to look at as well. Joe. So, 0:21:08.640 --> 0:21:12.480 so this is less decorative um and but also is 0:21:12.520 --> 0:21:16.280 not a naked leg. It has armor on it. Yeah, 0:21:16.320 --> 0:21:20.080 this is more like an ancient RoboCop leg. Yeah. And 0:21:20.119 --> 0:21:23.639 the Callos Collection website shares the following quote. The callous 0:21:23.720 --> 0:21:26.720 example above is a very rare and fine alabasterone that 0:21:26.760 --> 0:21:29.040 takes the shape of a leg protected by a grieve, 0:21:29.520 --> 0:21:32.560 dating to the sixth century b c e. It is 0:21:32.600 --> 0:21:36.040 an interesting example of a plastic vase from this period. 0:21:36.359 --> 0:21:39.320 And note the use of the term plastic here. Uh. 0:21:39.320 --> 0:21:42.480 It's not modern plastic obviously. This just means that it's molded, 0:21:42.520 --> 0:21:45.760 and this is derived from the Greek verb plastine, meaning 0:21:45.760 --> 0:21:50.280 to mold. Quote. The grief is outlined in black slip 0:21:50.880 --> 0:21:54.280 and tapers towards the ankle area. The foot emerges beneath 0:21:54.520 --> 0:21:59.000 with carefully insize details for the sandal and toes. Although 0:21:59.040 --> 0:22:03.000 primarily used as a container, the form of this alabastron 0:22:03.080 --> 0:22:06.000