Sunday, March 31, 2002
Please pardon me while I rant a little. Now, I could understand the popularity of Old Navy. Two of my favorite comfy work shirts are from them. But there are so, so many reasons to hate them. The echo filled, barnlike ambiance of their stores. Their habit of foisting unattractive, randomly picked fashions on an unsuspecting public (Fleece Vests! Drawstring Pants!). The candy-colored, unsettlingly fake look of their commercials probably has Douglas Sirk spinning in his grave. I don't appreciate the way they'll take a formerly cool song and make it fodder for selling capri pants, either. Stop the madness, people!
Saturday, March 30, 2002
My friend Eric sent along an album cover comparison to ponder - Lou Reed, 1978 vs. Lenny Kravitz, 2001.
Thursday, March 28, 2002
Billy Wilder died. What a loss. Wilder gets my vote as the person who has more true classic films attatched to his name than anyone else. To get an idea of the man and his outlook, rent The Big Carnival - as bitter and cynical as anything Hollywood ever produced. Or, better yet, read Ed Sikov's excellent biography On Sunset Boulevard.
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The "Speedy Gonzales Banished from Cartoon Network" story is building momentum - the Looney Tunes News page collected links from a variety of sources.
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Via Blogdex – Roger Ebert takes a stand on music piracy. Good for him.
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Wednesday, March 27, 2002
I Guess - wonderful early effort from Chris Ware (via GMTplus9). I wish more of the old RAW comics were online - like the one that retold The Metamorphosis with the Peanuts gang.
 PopCult's website of the week is Secret Fun Spot. Great place to rediscover childhood junk you forgot you once had (like this, something I loved for about five minutes in 1980) and enjoy the work of Marvin Glass, Michelangelo of plastic toys.
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In the ongoing tussle over copyright laws, Michael Eisner compares himself to Abraham Lincoln (via Metafilter). Oh, please. We're talking the Disney co., which built itself on public domain titles like "Snow White" and "Pinocchio". The same Disney that now deludes us with bottom-line crapola while rewarding its CEOs with millions in bonuses. Read Dave Winer's intelligent rejoinder to Eisner's chest puffery instead.
Tuesday, March 26, 2002
"If the flyer shows the band standing on the railroad tracks, the band is shit." Rules of Thumb, shiny pearls of wisdom brought to you by The West Virginia Surf Report. (thanks, Jeff!)
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The name Score Productions may not be familiar, but their music - heard in the opening credits of countless news programs, soap operas, sports and game shows - sure is. Their own music page is filled with fun samples of their past work (in a crappy format, alas). There's even some funky old wacka-wacka game show themes. Note that their Match Game theme is subtly different from the version heard in endless repeats on the Game Show Network. Maybe I'm the only person in the world who gets excited at the thought of game show theme outtakes, but there ya go.
Monday, March 25, 2002
Road Trip: California 2002! Yes, the website of our last vacation is done. Much of the text is recycled from earlier Scrubbles posts, but enjoy the many photos (the best of which weren't mine but Christopher's).
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Janet of Snarkcake won the Scrubbles Oscar Pool - congratulations! Bill, Chris A. and Ron were tied for second; me and Kris tied for third place. A big "thank you" goes out to everyone who entered. Let's do it again next year.
Anyway. Who cares about last night's ceremony, how did everybody look? As for the too-long show itself, my life is so much richer now that I know Britney thinks Pretty Woman is "cool". What did you think?
Best - Her gown was also the big winner of the night. She was radiant in pink. Her look was gorgeously opulent without going overboard.
Worst - I hope she was researching a role as a hooker in a big screen remake of "Taxi Driver". No amount of grace and poise kept her from looking like a bratwurst swaddled in chiffon.
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Sunday, March 24, 2002
The Hal Morris Museum! Created by Sharpeworld, it's a cache of old promotional pieces by second-rate hypnotists, impressionists, ventriloquists and other "ist" types whom one could picture being the opening act at a sleazy strip club like Mr. Lucky's here in Phoenix. Don't miss the where are they now page.
Friday, March 22, 2002
Kim's got a nifty contest going on - photo manipulate the stylin' JCPenney model (from this site of course) who looks like a young George W. Bush; best one wins a set of Simpsons action figures. Enter today!
Oh man. Boing Boing pointed to the funniest thing I've seen in ages - Tales of Mere Existence. A series of short QuickTime movies where a guy draws autobiographical cartoons, narrating them in a dry, self-deprecating style. This one pretty much sums up the lot of them.
I almost forgot about Forgotten NY until Evan contributed a Metafilter post today which linked to it. Neat site with lots of photos and info about things we usually don't think about - street signs, clocks, lamps. The photo about halfway down this page is strangely poignant in its ordinariness, showing a lovely lamp post located down the street from the Twin Towers. I wonder if it's still there?
Incidentally, Evan also just wrote a good entry in his journal about Walter/Wendy Carlos. And, if anyone wants to buy me Wendy's newly reissued TRON soundtrack off my wish list, go right ahead.
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Thursday, March 21, 2002
Busy today, but I took some time to read this interesting piece - about Speedy Gonzales' virtual disappearance from the Cartoon Network airwaves, and efforts to bring him back. Via Cartoon Research.
Wednesday, March 20, 2002
Fool's Gold, or why the Oscars suck. P.S. Only 5 days left to enter the Scrubbles Oscar Pool!!! Yes, it's a matter of "three explanation point" urgency. Drop me a line if you'd like to sign up.
Is this for real? It looks like a carefully orchestrated publicity stunt. (thanks, Beth!)
Burn, Baby Burn! registration is closed - Chris first posted it on Monday night, and by Wednesday it's ranked #2 on Blogdex. They now have 207 people signed up. Amazing!
Tuesday, March 19, 2002
A basic but informative article on the music trading controversy in the new Village Voice: "Peer-to-peer music trading may never be as big an issue as its opponents fear. If you're downloading illicit MP3s on a significant scale, you probably have (1) a very fast Net connection, (2) not enough money to buy CDs, and (3) lots of time to wrestle with recalcitrant software, hardware, and networks. Which means you're probably a college student. At a certain intersection of disposable income and spare time, it makes much less sense to go through the hassle of downloading an album's worth of songs, burning a CD, and printing artwork than it does to buy the damn thing."
I should respond to all this RIAA crap by contributing an all illegally-downloaded CD to Max and Chris' Burn Baby Burn project. If you have any interest in homemade mix discs, you should sign up, by the way - give out five of your own cd mixes, receive five different mixes. A musical orgy!
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A Memorial to the Bell System has tons of cool old phone stuff to explore. On the advertisements page, check out the ad for a futuristic new thing called touch-tone dialing. There you can also see how the now ubiquitous Trimline was originally marketed as a mod accessory for your go-go lifestyle. In the '70s, you could "Be Choosey" and select some of the most horrendous phone designs ever made - Stowaway, Antique Cradle, Accent, Big Ugly Buttons. Bell's only saving graces during this time were the Sculptura and the Telstar, which looks like something the villian in a Roger Moore 007 movie might use.
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Monday, March 18, 2002
Came across this while searching for photos as part of my job - hot tips on how to be a romance book cover model. I'm just posting this for certain unemployed pals who have the potential to become the next Fabio, that's all.
Lots of great reading at Gael's Alt-log this week. Here's what I gleamed:
- A small story about head lice and parents in serious denial. Brought back memories of 5th grade and itchy scalp.
- A local article about keeper negligence at the Phoenix Zoo in the death of a porcupine. I read this in the print edition of the New Times last week, and it seriously disturbed me. I mean, the poor critter's name was Tinkerbelle, for heaven's sake.
- Entertaining couch stories from the Seattle Weekly's special "Couch Issue". Brings to mind our own continuing search for a new couch. The old one is nice and comfy, but too big and it blocks the front door. It was purchased from Krause's Sofa Factory a long time ago, and I never liked how the red in the plaid back pillows didn't quite match the solid red fabric on the rest of the couch. Actually, the couch pictured with the article is perfect, except the colors don't go with our home decor. Ah, well, the search continues.
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Saturday, March 16, 2002
Lazy Saturday. It's windy and colder than normal outside and I just finished reading a long, long article on Moby.
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Friday, March 15, 2002
Peruse the Daypop Amazon Wish List Top 40 if you're bored and need to kill some time. Data is collected from 674 wish lists - who's I don't know (weblog keepers, perhaps?). The list is dominated by DVD sets that lie just outside the mainstream but still seem pretty safe and boring. Yeah, it must be weblog keepers.
Oscar articles - gotta love them. This critical commentary of past Best Pictures seems unusually snotty, especially for a broadly read publication like the L.A. Times. Until you get to the end: "William Lorton is a freelance filmmaker living in Los Angeles." Oh, that explains it.
I hate this one department on my floor. Supposedly they're the circulation/sales department at our business-oriented tabloid, but mostly they're just obnoxious twits. Especially on Fridays. They cackle endlessly and talk - loudly, over cubicle walls - about things like Titus and the Spiderman movie. Add in a higher than average ratio of annoying voices and you have a little slice of hell. I'll just shut up and turn up the volume on the headphones.
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Thursday, March 14, 2002
 Two things:
1) I am indebted to David at Other Stream for pointing to these articles on Silicon Valley's vintage signage, including one about Bill Griffith's attraction to Doggie Diner.
2) I want this sign. In front of my house.
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"A sensational story of dope and twisted lives!" (similar stuff here)
Wednesday, March 13, 2002
Scrubbles Oscar Pool is still open for anyone to join -- send me a note!
I've been digging the Art of the Mix Image Gallery lately. It displays their newest 25 submitted mix tape/cd covers on one large, slow loading page. Love looking at what other people come up with. I recently received a holiday mix from Jonno, and he used a paper square from a Japanese magazine advertising health products as the disc artwork. The Eurythmics B-sides comp I just got from PJ was handmade with original drawings on the CD. He also used an orange highlight marker and lovely handwriting to decorate the front. Both are really cool, and even though Jonno and PJ are both visually oriented types, artistic ability really has nothing to do with the creation of an effective mix cover.
Why don't I show you some of my own mix covers? No, not another masturbatory, self indulgent post, make him stop!!! At right is a Francoise Hardy twofer designed with two Elle magazine covers swiped from this spiffy page. At left is last summer's mix project, Is There a Stain on Mai Tai? Once I get enough good covers assembled I'd like to assemble a portfolio page out of them.
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"Howard Thompson, a movie reporter for The New York Times who turned to writing one-liner reviews in the newspaper's television section that amused, infuriated and astounded readers for more than 20 years, died on March 10 at his home in Cape Canaveral, Fla. He was 82." My kinda guy!
Tuesday, March 12, 2002
Yiddish Sound Bites details the preservation of forgotten pre-WWII Yiddish radio programs (thanks, Beth). I don't know why, but I find this stuff fascinating. Coming to an NPR outlet near you!
Our First Lesbian President - I'm so happy The Onion is reprinting pages from Our Dumb Century. Amazing how they got the chunky graphic look of a 1945 newspaper exactly right.
Monday, March 11, 2002
Big, big thanks to Bill of Blather for pointing to the new and brilliant Pop Cult, an online pop culture 'zine. Take a gander at some of the article subjects - John K. of Spumco, crappy MTV shows, kitschy/cool old album covers (includes something from my own LP collection, the Eames-era Conversations Regarding the Future of Architecture), the failed attempt at reviving Roller Derby. I might be busy with this one for a while.
Neat: a gallery of every movie-related Time magazine cover. Via BitStream.
On the anniversary of 9-11, two links from Metropolis: the harrowing first person account from an architect who was on the 82nd floor of Tower 1, and some excerpts from the comix anthology World War III.
Sunday, March 10, 2002
The New York Times Magazine has a good article about Coca-Cola and their efforts to regain their declining share of the world's beverage market. I didn't know that Coke has a Director of Hydration. The article spends a chunk of time with Coke's Japan operation, which has the coolest product lineup - Water Salad, Georgia Original (a coffee drink that surprisingly ranks as Coke's biggest seller there) and Qoo, a kids drink.
(BTW, the sad hot dog has nothing to do with anything; I just saw it on Spumco and thought it was cute.)
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Saturday, March 09, 2002
Saturday morning ritual: watching The Real World: Chicago, if only for the dumb look on the face of Abercromie & Fitch-esque roomie Chris. I'm enjoying this season a lot, in spite of itself. Maybe its because the roomies have interesting personalities to go with their perfect bodies and pretty faces. Perhaps this is a good time for my impressions of the earlier RW seasons --
Season 1: New York - Pretty, arrogant boy. Midwestern girl in big city. Black guy doesn't get along.
Season 2: L.A. - Silly wannabe entertainers. Lesbian chick replaces other lesbian chick. Black guy doesn't get along.
Season 3: San Francisco - Roomies hate stupid punk. Roomies like saintly PWA.
Season 4: London - Pretty people in London. (OK, I never saw an ep of this one, and MTV is so embarrased by this season they never repeat it)
Season 5: Miami - Arrogant ex fratboy. Queeny gay dude. Bitch. Roomies fail at jobs and maintaining fish tank.
Season 6: Boston - Cute guy, sexually ambiguous girl. Virgin in big city. Roomies fail at jobs.
Season 7: Seattle - Predictable heteroexual attraction. Flaky Lyme disease girl. Black guy doesn't get along. Roomies fail at jobs.
Season 8: Hawaii - Gorgeous scenery. Prolonged sexual tension between girl and boy. Stupid, drugged-up chick. Black guy doesn't get along.
Season 9: New Orleans - Cute gay guy. Mormon girl in big city. Black guy sings; doesn't get along.
Season 10: New York - Stupid roomies doing stupid things. White girl doesn't get along.
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Groovy Dutch radio commercial for ... something Dutch. From this page of old radio commercials (warning: annoying audio).
Thursday, March 07, 2002
Scroll down the column at left -- the "Reading" and "Listening" sections have been expanded with mini-reviews with each item. I usually read two books at a time (one at work, another at home), but I'm working on three right now. Just as well, since I have about a dozen others in the "must read soon" pile. Along with the 50 or so unread books at home, tucked in shelves alongside the already read ones. So many words, so little time!
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An article for Ayn Rand freak Christopher - about how the Library of Congress wants the rest of a rare annotated Fountainhead manuscript.
I'm still getting used to OSX, but the dock is already an indispensable feature. So much so that, on the OS9 Mac at work, I find myself involuntarily mousing the left side of the screen for a Dock that isn't there.
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Wednesday, March 06, 2002
Great visuals - a poster gallery of every Best Picture winner from 1928-2000. Speaking of which, the Scrubbles Oscar Pool is still open; email me for details!
Tuesday, March 05, 2002
Musical Taste unveils a spiffy new look today. Love the links page.
 Flak magazine weighs in on the new, babied-down Sesame Street. The emphasis on creativity, acceptance and cooperation has been replaced with simpler lessons that teach order, repetition, and recognition. Even worse, they've cut down drastically on the hip, energetic mini-segments that made them famous. Come to think of it, the animated segments I fondly remember involve pinball machines and typewriters - things the average 4 year old wouldn't recognize. It might as well be about a wacky Edison cylinder player, fercrissakes.
For more on the same, check out the Jump the Shark Sesame Street page.
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Monday, March 04, 2002
The Freaky Trigger Focus Group V is finally here. Snarky comments aplenty on last summer's pop music! I participated this time, and was happy to find that my favorite of the polled songs is the group’s fave as well. Check 'em out.
Ride the Titanic Super Slide (via Kris). Since the Titanic themed Las Vegas resort never panned out, it's hopefully the closest we'll ever get to unspeakably tacky exploitation of human tragedy. Watch out for those steerage carcasses at the bottom.
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Can I get a "Yeah!" - an editorial on the Grammys and the bloated patheticness of the music industry. Via Boing Boing.
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Sunday, March 03, 2002
Whee - a comprehensive site on Mary Blair. A Disney artist in the '40s-'60s, she's best known for designing the it's a small world ride. What a shame that she wasn't better utilized by Disney, though. Since her highly stylized concepts were difficult to adapt to animated film, her finest work there remained on paper, not on screen.
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These are cool - Warren McArthur stacking chairs on auction (thanks to Christopher for sharing this). Get 'em while they're hot.
Saturday, March 02, 2002
Trip Journal Friday, February 15 (last day, sorry it's late!) - Woke up groggy. I didn't get as much sleep due to a certain traveling companion's snoring. We got up early and headed to our next stop, the town of Yucca Valley near Joshua Tree National Park. A travelers' warning: the highway around San Bernadino is ugly - a mass of industrial complexes, liquor stores, and tacky "gentlemens club" billboards. And it stinks, too. OK, let me say something nice: they have lovely old eucalyptus trees next to the freeway.
There's one thing I love about driving in Southern California: we're always listening to the L.A. news station KNX, and the tinny, Atari-esque "beep beep" sounds that introduce the traffic reports never fail to make me smile.
 We drove out to Yucca Valley to visit with our friends Steve and Sue in their mountainside home. Lots of great talk about our passion for the work of the local sculptor Howard Pierce. Howard used the area's wildlife as an inspiration for his ceramics (at right, a typical example), and for good reason. I'm always amazed at the variety and number of animals milling about S&S's place, just beyond the patio: squirrels, quail, sparrows, coyotes, vultures, road runners. I live in a desert, too, but there's nowhere near as
much wildlife around Phoenix. This area is kind of like the woodlands in Snow White, but with
desert creatures instead of forest creatures.
After our lunch with Steve and Sue, we filled up on fuel and headed back to Phoenix. The sun was setting and, uh, the only thing more boring than driving a dull patch of highway is driving it at night. We kept ourselves busy with games of "connect the stars". A few hours later, we were back at home, exhausted but happy for all the great stuff we did.
Friday, March 01, 2002
Vintage album cover design in two links: cool and uncool.
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