Archive for September, 2006
We Live Here, Too
September 30th, 2006We Live Here is a new series running on the Fine Living (a.k.a. HGTV for yuppies) channel dealing with out of the way restaurants, bars and activities in certain cities. Out of curiosity, last night we tuned into the installment which profiled my native city of Phoenix, a bizarre experience which Christopher has hilariously detailed […]
Belle of the Beach
September 29th, 2006The L.A. Times has a good story on Marion Davies, specifically the gloriously tacky Santa Monica beach compound that William Randolph Hearst built for her in the ’20s (thanks Christopher!). Although the main buildings in the compound are no longer standing, area residents want to refurbish and reopen the place as a community center. The […]
Magazines? So 20th Century
September 28th, 2006Slate’s Jack Shafer ruminates on what makes a magazine great and selects Chicago-based Stop Smiling as a shining example in a world of dross. I gotta look into that. Although I now get most of my non-book reading done online, there’s an intimacy in holding and paging through a nice, smart mag which is definitely […]
Notes on Freelancing
September 28th, 2006Work-wise, I’ve been having a lot of balls in the air at once lately. And it’s showing up in the lack of updates to this page. Sorry.
Speaking of which, a veteran illustrator provides some great advice in 17 lessons in 17 years of freelancing (via Drawn!). I’ve been doing this for coming on three years […]
Gruesome Twosome: Feelin’ Mellow Edition
September 26th, 2006Lani Hall: “Love Song”
LP: Sun Down Lady, 1972
Nanette Natal: “Knowing You”
LP: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, 1969
Today I’m digging the kind of music that comes across like a cup of warm coffee on a Sunday morning — mellow, yet invigorating. Lani Hall’s “Love Song” was recorded shortly after the singer left Sergio Mendes & Brasil ‘66, and […]
Cow Cow Boogie
September 24th, 2006There’s something fresh and different, yet oddly familiar, about the drawing of grazing cows adorning Safeway’s new milk carton packaging. As soon as I saw them, I told Christopher that somebody at Safeway obviously likes Charles Harper! Compare Harper’s illustration from the 1958 Betty Crocker’s Dinner for Two Cookbook at right with the milk carton […]
Tin Ears
September 21st, 2006There exist few DVDs that I would choose to buy instead of rent; the Walt Disney Treasures count among them. Earlier editions of these sets have gone out of print and now fetch a pretty penny (especially The Complete Goofy, which sells for $75-100 on eBay). Having missed out on the Behind the Scenes at […]
Indestructibles 3
September 19th, 2006What anal-retentives do for fun — every so often I like to go through my iTunes library and take note of examples where I have three or more versions of the same song. These are the “indestructables,” songs that hold up to being done by several different artists. Assembling the latest batch resulted in lots […]
No Way To Hide Your Prying Eyes
September 18th, 2006Slate.com delves into Judging Your Friends By Their Netflix Lists (via Hacking Netflix). Although the article belabors the point about the five-star ratings system, it does touch on the voyeuristic thrill of checking out which DVDs your friends have lined up. I’ve gotten a lot of good ideas off them.
Anyone who’d like to become my […]
Yellowed, Stained, Might Be Worth Something
September 17th, 2006Another phase of my stuff reduction program has begun at eBay. You’ll recall that for the past several months I have been selling off my collection of excess Russel Wright American Modern dinnerware. Disappointingly, most of the pieces sold for 25-50% less than how much I bought them for in the ’90s (and I bought […]
Two Pictures
September 15th, 2006Too, too funny — The Daily Show’s John Hodgman appropriated an old George Plimpton Intellivision ad to promote the paperback edition of his book, The Areas of My Expertise. Whoever designed this did an excellent job, although I have to admit that Hodgman looks kind of stiff next to the suavetude that is Plimpton. On […]
Salute Your Shorts
September 13th, 2006I’m sending my Tivo into overdrive on Turner Classic Movies this Friday — the channel will be broadcasting an entire day of short films with its Behind The Camera: The Shorts Circuit fest. They’ll be showing a few brand new films, but of course I’m going to be checking out the cool vintage stuff (which […]
Gruesome Twosome: Country Cuties Edition
September 13th, 2006Lynn Anderson: “I’ve Been Everywhere”
LP: Uptown Country Girl, 1970 | BUY
Skeeter Davis: “There’s a Fool Born Every Minute”
RCA Victor records single, 1968 | BUY
Hey there y’all : today’s selections come through the courtesy of two of my favorite country singers. For a time it appeared that Lynn Anderson had it all — beauty pageant looks, […]
The Man Who Drew Everything
September 12th, 2006A charming book arrived at the chez scrubbles doorstep a couple of weeks ago — Blackstock’s Collections: The Drawings of an Autistic Savant published by Princeton Architectural Press. The book collects the artwork of one Gregory L. Blackstock, a sixty year old Seattleite who began making his obsessively detailed drawings of multiple items two decades […]
September 11th
September 11th, 2006I slept though the terror attacks of September 11th, 2001. That morning I awoke to find a flustered Aaron Brown speaking on CNN, then an image of a World Trade Center tower with smoke coming out the top. A humungous cloud of smoke erupted from behind the burning tower, and before it could dissapate the […]
