Archive for November, 2005
Maybe She Knows
November 30th, 2005Cha Cha Charming interviews songwriting legend Ellie Greenwich In addition to being the queen of classic and obscure Girl Group singles (”Be My Baby” etc), she sang backup on Blondie’s “Dreaming”. Didn’t know that.
Also: the San Francisco Chronicicle says goodbye to CDs and lists some alluring alternatives to the old plastic shinies. Personally, I’m just […]
Whatever Happened To Illustration?
November 29th, 2005For my birthday last month, my parents bought me a copy of the 1920s volume in Taschen’s sumptuous All American Ads series. Paging through this hefty book, I’m amazed at all the gorgeous color illustration and hand-lettered typography that was utilized on a regular basis back then. Probably 90% of the ads collected use the […]
Shoulder-Padded TV
November 27th, 2005Could I be the only one psyched about the Knots Landing Reunion coming up this Friday on CBS? This coincides nicely with news of the soaper’s first season DVD set, planned for an unconfirmed release in January (TV Shows On DVD has the artwork). I could just imagine someone watching it all in one sitting, […]
Passed By
November 25th, 2005Christopher keeps pestering me: “When are you going to write about Pasadena?” Well, how about now.
The Soapnet channel is about halfway through running this series, which originally had a perplexingly short run on the Fox network in 2001. I’m getting a Desperate Housewives/Twin Peaks-vibe from this twisted family soap opera, beautifully scripted by Mike White […]
Gobble, Gobble
November 23rd, 2005This Thanksgiving, we need to bow our heads and take time to remember the woman who invented Stove Top Stuffing. By the way, the Cornbread Stove Top with chopped apple pieces? Excellent. Thanks for the link, Brad.
Gruesome Twosome: Limeys Only Edition
November 23rd, 2005Split Enz: “Six Months In A Leaky Boat”
LP: Time and Tide, 1982 | BUY
Reparata & The Delrons: “Captain Of Your Ship”
Mala Records single, 1968 | BUY
Two psychedelic odes to sea travel and the vagaries of love. The Split Enz track captures them in their usual overlooked brilliance, while Reparata & the Delrons’ (huge in the […]
A Reader in Phoenix Writes
November 22nd, 2005This is the neatest thing: in their June 15th, 1940 issue, The New Yorker published a colorful two-page map of the 1940 New York Worlds Fair. I came across this paging through The Complete New Yorker (for some reason, the map is not listed in the software’s search engine). I mean, look:
Isn’t that the greatest? […]
More Retro Videogames at Flickr
November 21st, 2005Someone has assembled a large Flickr pool of retro videogame magazine pages that was inspired by my Videogame Ads of 1982 set. I think I owned this very issue of Electronic Games magazine.
7 More Wonders of the World
November 20th, 2005This week only, we’re having a blowout sale on vintage View-Master reels at eBay. Most date from the late ’40s/early ’50s and have travel destinations, fairy tales, or TV/movies as their subject. They’re old, they’re cool, they’re going to the thrift store if someone doesn’t buy them!
Can’t Live Without My Radio
November 18th, 2005Every morning when I do my bathroon stuff, I used to turn on the Music Choice radio stations carried on DirecTV and have them play in the background. There was something comforting about this routine, wall to wall music channels tidily lined up in their own genres, seemingly programmed by robots. It had to end, […]
Defiantly Modern
November 17th, 2005Biomorphic shapes and beautiful colors galore from Alvin Lustig (1915-1955), via Veer.com. Lustig’s designs are very simple and “of their time” in the best way possible. The variety of things he accomplished across such a brief career is amazing.
Bottom of the Pops
November 15th, 2005Just finished a mix devoted to songs that placed on Billboard’s “Bubbling Under The Hot 100″ chart between 1966 and 1981. Quite a fun disc to assemble, with samplings from New Wave, Soul, Country, ’60s Pop and Disco. On a similar note — Pitchfork’s Worst Record Covers (via MetaFilter). Good for a few laughs; contains […]
Silent Sunday
November 14th, 2005I used to complain about the lack of revival film showings in the area where I live. Not anymore. Recently, a group of local film lovers decided to do a series of silent movie presentations with live organ accompaniment. The films have been shown at The Orpheum, a beautifully restored 1920s movie palace in downtown […]
Videogame Ads of 1982 at Flickr
November 13th, 2005Out of pure nostalgia, I bought a pile of old Games magazines on eBay. I went through the mags, scanned the videogame ads, and posted them on Flickr for your enjoyment. I almost forgot how many weird, obsolete systems there were. Anyhow, enjoy.
The Great Depression
November 11th, 2005Print magazine’s regional design annual is out this month — without my Subversive Cross Stitch buttons. I thought they might have a decent chance of getting in there, but no. I’ve always had a problem with these annuals, anyhow. It claims to be an even-handed survey of U.S. design as divided by geographical region, yet […]
