Welcome F.O.S. Babies
Let’s take up some space to announce two new arrivals for F.O.S. (Friends Of Scrubbles), shall we? I met Eric and Beth when they worked at The Arizona Republic, he in Editorial Features and she in Editorial Online, while I plugged away in Marketing. What struck me about them is that they were super-cool and, oddly, super-nice (newspaper Editorial people would just as soon eat their own feces than talk to Marketing folks, but I digress). We kept in touch when they moved to San Francisco, and now I’m proud that they count among my extended Viz family. Their first child, a girl named Tigerlily, was born on August 9th. I imagine that little Tigerlily already has several cool toys from the Giant Robot store in her nursery.
The other F.O.S. baby belongs to my pal Brad in Worchester (you might recognize his many pithy comments here, signed “Mass Bradley”). A few years ago out of the blue, Brad sent me an overly enthusiastic email basically saying “congratulate me, I just quit smoking!” After deducing that this gentleman was not a looney or a spammer, I emailed back — and we’ve had a long, enjoyable correspondence since. Brad’s little boy Henry came into this world just this morning. Henry’s a preemie and the labor process was intense, but it looks like baby and mom are both doing great. Happy day!
Gruesome Twosome: Secondhand Boogie Edition
Marlena Shaw: “Touch Me in the Morning”
LP: Take a Bite, 1980 | BUY
Ralph Carter: “When You’re Young and In Love”
LP: Young and In Love, 1975
Last month we caught Broadway Damage, a strained gay romantic comedy which only succeeded on the “gay” part. In its defense, the film did have a nice soundtrack — of which I’m sharing two cuts here. Both happen to be danceable remakes of earlier songs. Jazz singer Marlena Shaw took lots of flak for succumbing to the disco bug, but her commanding prescence on “Touch Me In The Morning” revealed that she carried much more authority than the typical dance dolly. Producer-songwriter Van McCoy teamed up with Good Times star Ralph Carter by dusting off and discofying an earlier hit of his, Ruby & The Romantics’ “When You’re Young and In Love” (the tune had also scored with the Marvelettes’ 1967 cover). Though Carter was only a preteen at the time, he’d had a couple of Broadway musicals on his resume and belts out the number as if trying to reach the folks in the cheap seats. Definitely a good match of song and singer.
Idle Emmy Thoughts
Another year, another Emmy awards. I still can’t wrap my brain around the fact that other awards shows get nominated for awards. Especially when one winner was the director of that very Emmys telecast, doing his acceptance speech from the control booth. A very meta moment.
Something else to think about: Barry Manilow has two Emmys; Hugh Laurie has zero. Huh?
All This and BBQ
After reading Tiki Central’s forum discussion on the Tahitian Terrace, I sorely wish my family had gone there before it closed. Many fondly remember Disneyland’s extinct restaurant with entertainment from Pacific Islander dancers and fire-eaters, apparently. Rare pieces from the eatery are displayed including a vintage ’60s employee manual (via Robot Action Boy and Eye of the Goof).
Breck or Blecch?
The task of assembling a Housewife Ads of the ’70s flickr set is ending up a tougher job than I imagined. So far I just have hair care products and toys, with more to follow. These ads are proving difficult to scan, with every wrinkle and dot pattern magnified tenfold on the finished files. It’s as if, starting Jan. 1 1970, the collective publishers of Good Housekeeping, Woman’s Day, Family Circle and McCall’s decided to print everything using the crappiest paper and cheapest inks they could find. I admit this stuff has limited appeal, but it’s fun to come across things like 5¢ off coupons for Hamburger Helper — so enjoy.
Swanky Banking
One of our favorite things about living in Phoenix is the daring and unusal midcentury architecture. We’re not Palm Springs with neat-o googie buildings on every corner, but occasionally Christopher and I will marvel at a gem hidden among the neighborhoods and uptown areas. Among the nicest were the banks commissioned by Valley National Bank in the ’60s. ModernPhoenix.net has compiled a series of pages showcasing some of these buildings. Not old enough to be protected under Historic designation, many of these structures have changed hands and fallen into disrepair. The Tempe location, an awe-inspiring geodesic dome, may be destroyed by evil owners ASU very soon.
There are a lot of these buildings peppered throughout the Valley, and they all stand out in some way. Even the less showy location we use for our banking (NE corner of 7th Avenue and Thomas for you locals) has this understatedly elegant, desert version of International Style. Most locals don’t appreciate it, but we do. We also enjoy using the Christown location with its mural depicting various historial forms of money. The 44th Street and Camelback location might be the coolest of them all, having a sort of “Frank Lloyd Wright on crack” look. Hopefully it and the others will stay standing for many years to come.
Heap Big Gobble Gobble Man
The CBC did an interesting article yesterday speculating on why the gaming industry has never topped the success of Pac Man 25 years ago. Some historical tidbits in the article, although they missed the one where they had to change the name from the original Puck Man (to discourage would-be vandals). “Puck Man Fever”? Don’t think so.
Here Today, Gone Tome-orrow
Here’s a heads-up for fans of Taschen’s All-American Ads books. I’ve acquired most of these hefty collections of vintage ads over the past year, having just got the ’40s volume a couple of weeks ago. It’s great as usual, with lots of pages of beautiful illustrations. If you’re thinking about getting that particular one, better move fast — Taschen marked the book “sold out” in their latest catalog and no longer lists it on their website. Since the ’40s and ’50s were the two earliest volumes published (in 2002), that might possibly mean that Taschen is taking All American Ads of the 40s out of print. Looks like you can still buy it at Amazon here, but for how long?
P.S. Pardon me for that awful entry title!
Huh? Something GOOD on Network TV?
In a unique partnership, NBC and Netflix are offering its customers a preview DVD containing two pilot episodes from the new fall season — including Aaron Sorkin’s heavily anticipated Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Me and Christopher decided to check it out last night. Halfway through watching, C. turned to me and said “Let’s record this show instead of Lost this season.” I said “Yeah!” We don’t invest a lot of time in current network TV shows (especially hour-long dramas), but this particular one hooked us in an instant — it’s that good. In a nutshell it’s The West Wing transplanted to the the behind the scenes doings at a fictional Saturday Night Live-type show. Matter of fact, a lot of the fun derives from the SNL comparisons. The entire plot rolls into action when a harried Loren Michaels-esque producer delivers a spontaneous speech on live TV about how his once-edgy show (and TV in general) has gone into the toilet. Amen, brother. Terrific writing, terrific cast.
Read Christopher’s take here.
The Villagers Have Stormed the Castle
Jim Hill Media delivers daily news on the Walt Disney company with an accent on the vintage — or at least it used to, apparently. I don’t read that site on a regular basis. But based on the flurry of comments on this post, I wouldn’t want to bump into a mob of angry ex-Jim Hill Media readers in a dark alley. Jeepers.
Plastic Dreams
I want to go back in time and attend a Tupperware party. Here’s the next best thing — Tupper Diva boasts a neat-o collection of memorabilia such as ads, brochures and perky postcards (”See you at my Tupperware Party!”). Dig through the website for the PBS’s great doc Tupperware! for more. They’re fantastic, made ‘o plastic.
Lesley & The Lesleyettes
Kicky! Lesley Gore pursues an inattentive bookworm in “Wonder Boy”. This clip contains the two hallmarks of vintage ’60s Scopitones: gorgeously saturated color and dancing girl panty shots. For more on Scopitones, listen to Jennifer Sharpe’s NPR story (via Bedazzled!).
Effluvia for the Masses
Random jottings on a Thursday afternoon:
- I’m late on this one, but Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 4 cartoons and bonus features were announced on Cartoon Brew. Give Warner Bros. props for devoting an entire disc to Frank Tashlin (yay!) … and another disc for Speedy Gonzales (boo-ring). Oh well. I still need to get Vol. 3 — maybe I’m still scared off by that set’s bizarre cover art.
- Here’s a pair of lists I can really get behind: 10 Best and Worst Sci-Fi TV Show Openings (via Hit Or Miss). Actually, the Bionic Woman credits were kinda cool.
- Chuck Klosterman of Esquire on The Snakes on a Plane phenomenon. For some reason, my email address was placed on the SOAP publicity mailing list. Those people are workin’ it. Anyway, Klosterman makes some very astute, depressignly true observations on the newspaper biz in there.
- Joel Stein’s hilarious Elmo Is an Evildoer column addresses the frustrations of many an old-school Sesame Street fan. Like, how did a baby-talking, annoying simpleton of a muppet end up with so much screen time? And why doesn’t the red menace have his own show, preferably at 3 a.m.?
- Also good for a laugh: Entertainment Weekly’s Project Runway recap. Don’t read if you haven’t seen last night’s episode!
My Big Fat Link Log
One thing I don’t miss from maintaining the old (pre-10/05) scrubbles.net: updating the blogroll was a pain in the butt. URLs change, people abandon their weblogs, or they simply don’t publish compelling content anymore. This time I’m just going to list the other weblogs I enjoy on a semi-regular basis as of right now, and link to this post on the scrubbles front page. That way I don’t have to worry about updating anything. Some are old favorites, some I just discovered in the last month or so. Whew.
1947project |
A Joshua Tree In Every Pot |
A Sampler of Things |
All Kinds of Stuff |
ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Project Blog |
A.V. Club Blogs |
Awful Plastic Surgery |
Bedazzled! |
Bibi’s Box |
The Blackwing Diaries |
Bill Crider’s Pop Culture Magazine |
Boing Boing |
Bob Sassone |
Book Covers Blog |
Bonnie Blog |
Booksteve’s Library |
Bostworld |
Bradlands Must See HTTP:// |
Bubblegum Fink |
Cardhouse |
Cartoon Brew |
Cartoon Modern |
Chris’ MediaLog |
Coudal Partners |
Crack Skull Bob |
davekehr.com |
Delicado |
Design Observer |
The Disney Blog |
Disney History |
Drawn! |
Drew’s Blog-O-Rama |
Dynagirl |
EPCOT Central |
Eye of the Goof |
Fimoculous |
FLOG! |
Folded Space |
Friday Fishwrap |
Fun All Around |
Ghost In The Machine |
gmtPlus9 |
greg.org |
GreenCine Daily |
Hacking NetFlix |
Hit or Miss |
i like |
In Black And White |
Irregular Orbit |
Jinjur |
Johnny A Go Go |
Just Ask Christopher |
Kottke |
Lileks The Bleat |
Listen Missy |
Little Yellow Different |
Lots of Co. |
Mimi Smartypants |
Mindjack Film |
Mr. Irresponsible’s Bad Advice |
News From Me |
News of the Dead |
NewsDesigner.com |
The Other Andrew |
Other Stream |
Patrick’s Journal |
PCL LinkDump |
Pop Culture Gadabout |
Pop Culture Junk Mail |
Posterwire |
Quiddity |
RaShOmoN |
ReadyMade Blog |
Re-Imagineering |
Robot Action Boy |
Robot Johnny |
Ryan Arrowsmith |
Self-Styled Siren |
Sharpeworld |
Snarky Malarkey |
Something Old, Nothing New |
Sore Eyes |
things magazine |
Thrilling Days of Yesteryear |
Tim Lucas Video WatchBlog |
Tim O Thompson |
The Tin Man |
Tiny Pineapple |
Today’s Inspiration |
Tom the Dog’s You Know What I Like? |
TV Tattle |
Ultrasparky |
UnBeige |
Veer: The Skinny |
Vince Keenan |
VoxTrott |
Ward-O-Matic |
waxy.org |
Web Goddess |
What Do I Know |
The Whine Colored Sea
Gruesome Twosome: Brazilian Hot Wax Edition
Quarteto Forma: “Rua Cheia”
Odeon Brazil single, c.1970 | BUY
Dóris Monteiro: “É Isso Aí”
LP: Dóris, 1971 | BUY
Late summer puts me in a mood for funky old Brazilian music, like the two songs here. Quarteto Forma was a breezy boy-girl vocal group which at their best recalled a Brazilian Fifth Dimension. Drink in their lovely harmonies on the Marcos Valle composition “Rua Cheia”. Dóris Monteiro’s sexy, full-bodied voice has graced many records over a long career. I’m particularly fond of “É Isso Aí” since it uses that instrument that sounds like a straw moving through a cup cover (what the heck is that called?). Thanks to Ion for the Quarteto Forma.
