The so-called “Wilhelm Scream” is, these days, a recorded scream that started in Hollywood and is now heard literally ’round the world.

First used in the 1951 film “Distant Drums,” it has been applied so much as a stock effect that it has its own Cult Following by Hollywood sound designers. It is the most “inside” of inside jokes, if you’re a director, producer or “in the industry.”

From Wikipedia:

The sound is named for Private Wilhelm, a character in The Charge at Feather River, a 1953 western in which the character is shot with an arrow. This was believed to be the third movie to use the sound effect and its first use from the Warner Brothers stock sound library.^[3]

This video should shed some light on the Wilhelm Scream, its application and results. Listen closely: sometimes the sound effect is fleeting (but still present). Homage, indeed:

As you can see from the above video, the Wilhelm Scream has been immured and honored by some of the finest filmmakers of our time, from the 50s to today. A bit more of its history:

Unfortunately, because the Wilhelm Scream was discovered and is no longer quite the total “Inside Joke,” it’s not so much fun anymore for various sound designers.

And now you know: “the rest of the story.”

BZ

P.S.
Thanks to Erotavius for the “heads-up.”

[Thanks to Random Acts of Patriotism for the heads-up.]

From ABCNews.com:

With the approval of the Obama administration, an electric car company that received a $529 million dollar federal government loan guarantee is assembling its first line of cars in Finland, saying it could not find a facility in the United States capable of doing the work.

Vice President Joseph Biden heralded the Energy Department’s $529 million loan to the start-up electric car company called Fisker as a bright new path to thousands of American manufacturing jobs. But two years after the loan was announced, the job of assembling the flashy electric Fisker Karma sports car has been outsourced to Finland.

“There was no contract manufacturer in the U.S. that could actually produce our vehicle,” the car company’s founder and namesake told ABC News. “They don’t exist here.”

Henrik Fisker said the U.S. money so far has been spent on engineering and design work that stayed in the U.S., not on the 500 manufacturing jobs that went to a rural Finnish firm, Valmet Automotive.

“We’re not in the business of failing; we’re in the business of winning. So we make the right decision for the business,” Fisker said. “That’s why we went to Finland.”

[Let’s see; what else does Valmet make? Oh yes, that would be cheap AK-47 knock-offs. Valmet is actually a Finnish state-owned conglomerate.]

So imagine that. A business saying, straight up, it’s “not in the business of failing.”

That’s called “taking the money from the dumb (deleted) and shoving it up his philosophical ass.”

And the price? A “$529 million dollar federal government loan guarantee.” HALF a BILLION dollars. Sound familiar? Solyndra, anyone?

That’s called “the true cost of green jobs,” where infrastructure is lacking, when regulations are overbearing, where unions for unskilled laborers rule all, why taxes are confiscatory.

And, bottom line, that’s called “The Fleecing of the American Taxpayer.”

Predicated upon brain-damaged (but nonetheless clearly entertaining) Vice President Joe Biden saying the company was, quote: “a bright new path to thousands of American manufacturing jobs.”

Repeat: THOUSANDS OF AMERICAN MANUFACTURING JOBS.

Once more, for those of you who just may have tuned in:

PROMISED by VP Joe Biden: THOUSANDS OF AMERICAN MANUFACTURING JOBS.

Removed, however, OFFSHORE to the frozen country of FINLAND.

Do I somehow detect just a tad bit of irony here, perchance?

BZ

Mr Obama’s quite into self-promotion these days, reveling in the violent passing of Muammar Khaddafi (one of 75 different ways of spelling his name) — as though he had something to do with it — and prompting applause at the end of his lackluster (Canadian-manufactured by Prevost) Bus Tour. From the Los Angeles Times:

On Wednesday afternoon, Obama stood at a lectern against a backdrop of firefighters and offered his prescription for solving the persistent jobs crisis: “A fair shot for everybody; a fair share from everybody. That’s the principle that built America.”

The president got a polite reception from the 100 or so people crowded into the station garage. Early in his speech he mentioned his American Jobs Act.

One or two people clapped.

“You can go ahead and clap,” the president said. “Go ahead, nothing wrong with it.”

In the meantime, it may appear that Nancy Pelosi won’t get a Christmas card from Mr Obama this year. From The Hill:

Pelosi’s silent treatment shows breaks with President Obama

By Mike Lillis – 10/20/11 05:30 AM ET

For House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), disagreement with President Obama often takes the form of silence.

While rank-and-file House Democrats have been outspoken in taking the White House to task over issues as diverse as foreclosure prevention, environmental protection and funding the federal government, Pelosi has stayed quiet or shifted her talking points to attacks on the GOP.

And all is not well between Mr Obama and the Demorats:

Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Calif., announced his retirement from Congress this afternoon — and he issued a scathing parting shot at President Obama‘s track record on his way out.

In a statement explaining his decision, Cardoza, a leader of the centrist Blue Dog Coalition, said he was “dismayed” by the administration’s “failure to understand and effectively address the current housing foreclosure crisis.”

Home foreclosures are destroying communities and crushing our economy, and the Administration’s inaction is infuriating,” Cardoza said.

A former chairman of the moderate Blue Dog Caucus, Cardoza also bemoaned the increasing partisanship in Washington, and blamed the media for fueling the ideological divide in the country, not giving enough attention to moderates.

But wait, every bit of news isn’t bad:

Cardoza is the sixth member — all Democrats — to announce plans to retire outright so far. He’s also the third member of the Blue Dog Caucus to head for the exits — joining fellow moderate Reps. Dan Boren, D-Okla., and Mike Ross, D-Ark.

And finally, it is with the greatest sadness that I report Minister Louis Farrakhan seems to be breaking with the First Black President of the United States:

A YouTube video of Minister Louis Farrakhan taking President Obama to task over the war in Afghanistan and the bombing of Libya is making its way around the Web. In the video, Farrakhan admonishes the president for turning into someone else. Farrakhan says, “We voted for our brother Barack, a beautiful human being with a sweet heart, and now he’s an assassin. They turned him into them.”

“They turned him into them.” Right. It’s not Mr Obama’s fault. It’s that nebulous “they.” In Mr Farrakhan’s racist world, “they” are white.

People, you couldn’t write a fiction book this ridiculous and out-of-control.

BZ

A black woman, Patricia McAllister, an employee of the Los Angeles Unified School District states her bigoted mind here:

I think that the Zionist Jews, who are running these big banks and our Federal Reserve, which is not run by the federal government. . .they need to be run out of this country.”

But, of course, because she’s black, she can’t possibly be bigoted, yes?

Further, let’s examine just who somehow manages to “support” the Occupy Wall Street “movement” besides Barack Hussein Obaka:

– The American Nazi Party;
– The Socialist Party USA;
– The Communist Party;
– Hugo Chavez;
– China;

In my time, considering my extremely advanced years, those were called clues. At least to those who had half a brain remaining.

Plus, let’s not forget the obligatory “white male shitting on NYPD car with no arrest made during Occupy Wall Street” photograph:

Because, after all, to have made an arrest behind that would have subjected the officer to a completely dead career. And they knew it.

BZ

HERMAN CAIN: 43%
BARACK OBAMA: 41%

From Rasmussen polling:

2012 Presidential Matchups

Cain 43%, Obama 41%

in Politics

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Monday, October 17, 2011

Whether Herman Cain’s surge in the polls is temporary or has staying power, he’s enjoying a big enough bounce to take a very slight lead over President Obama in a hypothetical 2012 matchup. At the moment, the Georgia businessman is the only Republican with a lead of any kind over Obama, although former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has held a similar advantage several times and is currently trailing the president by just two points.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely U.S. Voters shows Cain attracting 43% support, while Obama earns 41%. Given such a matchup, eight percent (8%) prefer some other candidate, and another eight percent (8%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

The potential quandary of a lifetime:

Conservative black vs Leftist black.

BZ