• Christopher’s post on the U.S. Citizenship Test contains links to the test Qs and As which recent immigrants need to memorize to gain citizenship. Look over the 142 questions to figure out how much elementary school history you’ve retained.
• Scrubbles.net reader Chandy sent me The Final Take, an interesting All Movie Guide commentary on how John Cusack’s performances in Say Anything and High Fidelity reflect the romantic state of today’s man. Thanks, Chandy!
• My review of Sondre Lerche’s album Phantom Punch is posted at So Much Silence. The comparison with Phoenix’s It’s Never Been Like That (which I had just loaded into iTunes a few weeks ago) is completely apt.
• Sixteen months after redesigning this weblog, I’ve finally updated the corresponding favicon to match my little self portrait on the front page. The only thing that bugs me is that the icon still looks like gobbledygook in Bloglines — and mine’s the only one with that special “screwed up” look. Anybody know why that is so?
• Finally, head over to the Web Goddess Oscar Contest for a chance at winning a trio of Kris’s fabulous sock monkeys!

5:35 PM | Comments (5)

In a completely different vein, my review of the self titled third album from The Autumn Defense has been posted at So Much Silence. I requested it on a whim — since I thought this sort of pleasantly mellow, yuppieish music would be good for the aborted magazine column’s readership. But it’s an excellent CD that’s been on heavy rotation ’round here.

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For several weeks I’ve been getting emails from the makers of something called Supermarket of the Stars, a series of short comedy bits with Illeana Douglas playing an actress who is forced to take a menial grocery store job. Illeana is one of those people who can do no wrong, especially since her turn in Grace of My Heart as a singer-songwriter closely modeled on Carole King. Love her. I finally checked out the fifth and final chapter, just uploaded at YouTube. These are cute and funny, leisurely paced and somewhat reminiscent of Christopher Guest’s films (it helps that that wonderful Guest regular Jane Lynch has a supporting role here). Apparently the show isn’t that new at all and the whole thing’s really a big marketing ploy, but that’s okay.

I also got an email from Marty Weil, who operates the simply titled ephemera weblog. Coincidentally, I’ve had this one bookmarked for several weeks now. Weil interviews ephemera collectors and dealers here, along with sharing plenty of weird old printed crap. Just what I love!

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Onward to the candidates. We love our governor, Janet Napolitano, and voted for her to continue on for another term. Yeah, she’s likely a big dyke who needs to come out of the closet, but I’m hoping a more secure second term will encourage her to join the family. The other candidates were also no-brainers. Normally I vote from my head and not my gut, weighing the individual candidates’ merits and not toeing the party line. Not so this year. I voted straight Democrat, and hopefully others across the U.S. who are infuriated with the Republicans feel the same way. The Brady Bunch said it best: “When it’s time to change you’ve got to rearrange.” So true.

5:37 PM | Comments (4)

That out of the way, I want to write about some of the neater retro-weblogs seen lately. I found Waffle Whiffer Zone via Bubblegum Fink. WWZ posts on semi-forgotten advertising characters of the past, such as Pizza Hut Pete. He recently did a writeup on Big Yella, who adorned boxes of Kellogg’s Corn Pops in the late ’70s in between Generic Cowboy and Poppy Porcupine (An aside on Poppy, surely one of the stranger cereal mascots ever: we were watching Mysterious Skin, and I was gratified that the film, partially set in 1983, showed a Corn Pops box with the porcupine. A little detail, I know, but little details really count.) Through WWZ I found Tiki Ranch, another worthwhile retro-themed weblog. Finally, there’s Swapatorium — which has been around for awhile, but oddly I never came across it until performing a Google search for Jim Palmer’s old Jockey underwear ads a few weeks ago (don’t ask). The resulting entry epitomizes what they do: explore forgotton junk of the past with witty commentary. Perfect!

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• 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!

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• TV Squad: Remembering Toonheads. Sad fact — Cartoon Network no longer has Looney Tunes, Merrie Melodies, or anything pre-Scooby Doo on its schedule. Cartoon Alley on TCM is a good alternative, but they’ve been in repeats since January (new episodes resume in September).
• New York magazine: In Defense of Star Jones Reynolds. Hmm, even during her fat years she was pretty freaky. The upside to all this is how “star jones” has taken hold as a verb, i.e. “I heard that she star jonesed the catering and gown at her lavish wedding.”
• Interviews with super-cool bloggers Eye of the Goof and Exclamation Mark. Congratulations to both!
• IFC will be premiering a new documentary this Sunday, Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema. Looks promising.
• 1,500 of Your Favorite ’80s Videos, via William at Robot Action Boy. I heartily recommend the two awesomely awesome Electric Dreams clips — Philip Oakey’s “Together In Electric Dreams” and “The Duel” by Giorgio Moroder.

12:11 PM | Comments (4)

P.S. I didn’t leave Old Navy empty handed that day, having purchased a comfy bright yellow tee with blue accent stitching (very Greg Brady) and one of those darn cotton polos: a plain powder blue number with flying birds on the back.

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