S5 ep 5 - "Dragula" by Rob Zombie is heard playing in the background of a dorm party that Carter arrives late to chaperoning. The song had only been out for two months by the time the episode aired, but was already fighting its way up to number 6 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock 100 of 1998
S5 ep4 - An EMT quips “One time I had to respond to a call in the middle of a Metallica concert. Try getting an anaphylactic head banger past 10000 maniacs. Guy dropped some acid, started him Counting Crows."
Later in the same episode, Dean Norris (Hank from Breaking Bad) has a small role as a Bomb Specialist named Clark, and Carter's romantic interest sarcastically mentions slam dancing to The Beastie Boys
S5 ep3 - Carter is an RA in the med student dorms and a student complains to him that his hall mate was playing “`Pumpkins” all night long, referring to the Smashing Pumpkins who were prominent on the Alternative Billboard 100 in 1996, for their album "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness."
Throughout this season, Dr Corday and Dr Romano frequently talk about "Hemo-aid" a blood substitute. Surprisingly, this isn't scifi. From 1989 to 1994, a blood substitute was approved in the US by the FDA for use in limited situations. Donate blood if you can! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_s...
Should be eps 18 and 19, whoops.
Technically, "Good Riddance" (the song's actual name) was written in 1993 and released as a B-side, long before Green Day gained main stream popularity. However, the version used on the show is the one most people are familiar with, released on Green Day's Nimrod, and hitting 11 on the Billboard 100
S4 ep 8 & 9 - Green Day's "Time of Your Life" is sung by Dr Anspaugh's son, Scott, an 8 year old fighting his third round of bone cancer. One episode later, PA Jeanie Boulet sings it at his funeral. Crazy thing about this, the song was only out for a month before this episode aired.
Also, by about this time in watching ER, it becomes very clear that the premise for House is "What if Dr Kerry Weaver and Dr Doug Ross were the same person and also Sherlock Holmes." The cane and limp even comes from Dr Weaver, who also intermittently comments about living with indefinite limb pain.
S4 ep 15, Dr Corday treats and rescues a victim trapped under a collapsed building. An episode of House has a similar premise (Season 6, Episode 22). The difference is in ER the episode barely spends a third of the screen time on this victim, and they live.
S4 ep 13, "Walkin' On the Sun" by Smash Mouth plays in the intro, only 7 months after its release. This song reached number 2 on the US Pop 100 in 1997. It's hard to find a comparable band, but this is like if Turnstile or PinkPantheress got a single into The Pitt
S4 ep 12, "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Tears for Fears plays in the background of a bar while Dr Benton and Dr Corday play darts
S4 ep 7, The picture “Girl with a Pearl Earring” is prominently displayed in the home of Mark Green’s mother: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_wi...
S4 ep 6, A woman appears in the ER with a gas mask, talking about preventing possible viruses abroad (originally aired in 1997)
S3 ep 9, Carol is studying for a physics exam, and asks Dr Doug Ross (George Clooney) "If a red quark is attracted to an anit-red quark, is it a gluon or a meson?" The answer is meson, because quark pairs always appear in colorless combinations. Gluons are the particles mediating the strong force.
Season 3 episode 7, there is a karaoke scene that is extremely reminiscent of the karaoke scene in House season 6 episode 20. The songs are different, Omar Epps is in both shows, but only part of the karaoke in House.
Brief aside, this is incredible, groundbreaking TV. This changed the game in the '90s and I can't imagine what it was like catching it weekly. I don't know why they kept making medical shows after this, but they did, and the other ones are constantly referencing this one.
Starting in ER Season 3, Omar Epps (Dr. Eric Foreman from House) plays Dr. Dennis Gant, a surgical intern working alongside Dr. John Carter, both under the exacting Dr. Peter Benton (played by Eriq La Salle).
ER Season 3 starts on the 4th of July. The Pitt Season 2 also starts on the 4th of July. This is notable because Noah Wyle plays John Carter, med-student-turned-emergency-medicine-resident in ER, and Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinavitch, senior emergency medicine attending in The Pitt.
ER Season 2 Episode 9, Piper Laurie (Catherine Martell from Twin Peaks) plays Doug Ross's mother
ER Season 1 Episode 20, Kimmy Robertson (Lucy from Twin Peaks) plays an astrologist with abdomen pain
I'm particularly proud of this map I made for the conference, using python (basemap, pandas, google sheets, and elbow grease)
A first-of-its-kind emo academic conference is happening in just under a month! I interviewed the organizers to understand how it came to be and what topics will be tackled. You can read the whole article at swimintothesound.com/blog
Thanks to
@swimintosound.bsky.social for editorial support!
Trying to get a local newspaper article from 2013. I paid for subscription for $10. Add $3 to see a single 2013 article--it's a word doc with the text of the article copied. Useless. $13
I called the library from that town. This man finds the article and emails it to me. A 30 second call. $0
Submitting conference abstracts is an example of this:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prophet...
If anyone else has been crashing out about how poorly their iPhone runs after the liquid glass update, iOS 26.2 is out and supposedly fixes the recently introduced crashes and stability issues. Apple is an evil company
health tracking data is numerology for tech bros
my smart watch keeps telling me i'm not getting enough REM sleep.
And it's right.
I have to dream more, and dream bigger.
A person's reach should exceed their grasp, or what is heaven for?
www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43745/...
no but seriously, they ARE gutting a body of water, and you've gotta hear it
open.spotify.com/track/0qQkMM...
To whom it may concern,
This post is to notify you of a new post on my Substack. The contents therein include 1 (one) music ramblings, 2 (two) old posts, and 3 (three) another playlist. The ramblings will continue until morale improves.
Warmest regards,
B. Allmond
open.substack.com/pub/bradenal...