Archive for August, 2008
Weekly Mishmash: August 24-30
August 31st, 2008Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs (2008). It pains me to say it, but this second direct-to-DVD Futurama movie is a big fat bore. What may have been a semi decent TV episode has been stretched into a feature-length slog, padded out with stupid Family Guy-style gags. Sure, I laughed a few times, but […]
Library Club President
August 28th, 2008I don’t think I’ve giggled so hard as while browsing through Flickr’s Yearbook Yourself photo pool. On another note, I’m impressed with how the mall marketing aspect of Yearbook Yourself is integrated with the site (meaning it’s not nearly as obnoxious as it could’ve been). You can swap genders, too! Here’s how I would look […]
International Man of Mystery
August 27th, 2008Dig the insanely detailed Illustrated Guide to a Life of Mystery poster from the insanely talented illustrator/letterer Ray Fenwick. It’s only twelve bucks, so I might get one for my bedroom.
Big Fat Link Log 3
August 26th, 2008We’re nearing the end August. Do you know what that means? Sticky thighs and melting ice cream? Yeah, that — and it’s also time for an update to the annual list of the weblogs I’ve been reading. It just keeps growing and growing, which is another reason why I prefer to keep this thing on […]
Weekly Mishmash: August 17-23
August 24th, 2008Crime of Passion (1957). This late-period Barbara Stanwyck melodrama looked like a tawdry treat when it popped up on her TCM Summer Under The Stars day. The only thing it taught me, however, was that even the great Miss Stanwyck can act awful in an awful movie. In the film’s first half hour, her character […]
To All the Call Letters I’ve Loved Before
August 21st, 2008This is a post about cool local radio stations that I grew up loving in the ’80s and ’90s. Back then the industry was run by real people who loved music and not some crappy demographic chart cranked out by a computer. In hindsight, we can now see that the Telecommunications Act of 1996 pretty […]
Bees, Bees, Millions of Bees!
August 18th, 2008Memories of a former movie extra who played a girl getting stung to death by bees in The Swarm (via Something Old, Nothing New). Getting scared shitless by Irwin Allen sounds like a blast.
Weekly Mishmash: August 10-16
August 17th, 2008Yasujiro Ozu’s Good Morning (1959). Interesting and subtle film about the goings-on with several families in a Westernized ’50s version of a Japanese suburb. Adults gossip and fret over their impending retirements; children goof off, learn English lessons and throw tantrums over not having a TV set. It’s a movie about nothing, and yet Ozu […]
Weird-O-Vision
August 15th, 2008It looks like artist Bob Hogan shares my fascination with vintage 3-D cartoon ViewMaster reels. Honestly as a child I found these things kind of eerie and cool at the same time, but now as an adult I can appreciate the care and artistry that went into them. And that makes them even cooler. (via […]
Childhood Box of Curiosities on Flickr
August 14th, 2008Recently my parents brought me something from my early years which I hadn’t seen in a long while — a metal handled box with the Berenstain Bears printed on top. The box itself is pretty unassuming, but what was collected inside the box was part of something that occupied a good chunk of my leisure […]
Baddie Hayes
August 11th, 2008R.I.P. to Isaac Hayes. Most know him from South Park or even the theme from Shaft, but personally I think his greatest legacy is in the string of hits and non-hits he wrote and produced with David Porter while at the mighty soul label Stax. Their work with Sam and Dave, Carla Thomas, and her […]
Weekly Mishmash: August 3-9
August 10th, 2008Marvin Gaye — Let’s Get It On. A horndog classic. Amazon had the no-frills download edition of this album recently for $1.99, so of course I had to get it. I can remember having this on an ’80s CD, paired up with What’s Going On. Compared with that one, Let’s Get It On is a […]
Boom Pop, Cool Beans!
August 6th, 2008Jeff Pepper of the wonderful 2719 Hyperion has started a new weblog to explore his interest in vintage pop culture of the non-Disney variety. Boom Pop! adheres closely to the 2719 Hyperion formula, which in this case is a good thing. It’s only ten days old and I already have it in my Bloglines feeds. […]
The Decline and Fall of Playgirl
August 5th, 2008After announcing that it will go web-only in 2009, former Playgirl editor Colleen Kane offers a postmortem of the magazine. This was a fascinating read. Although I’ve only thumbed through one issue of Playgirl, I feel a bit sad that this particular era is ending. Click here for a sampling of centerfolds from the mag’s […]
Weekly Mishmash: July 27-August 2
August 3rd, 2008Crap Shoot: The Documentary (2007). A constantly behatted midwestern guy and his buddy journey to Hollywood and Las Vegas to find out just why current movies are so awful. Speaking of awful … director/writer Kenneth Close obviously fancies himself a Michael Moore type, but the guy has zero charisma and his strained attempts at humor […]
