Fabulous Innovations of Yesteryear

From Shorpy tonight, this amazing bridge from Duluth, Minnesota in 1905.

Movie still of the moment: Taxi Driver

Sweet, via Gunslinger.

Meet Rhea Red Helicopter

Why yes, my children did have a hand in naming her! How ever did you guess?

So, after being dogless for nine months, we have finally succumbed and got a new puppy. She’s an inky blot who absorbs all the light, so it took a while before I could get a decent photo of her.

PS. I had forgotten just how wonderful puppies smell. They smell like happiness.

Rum, sodomy and the lash

Frankly, the re-enactments at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard look a little too realistic for my taste.
(The Register via Super Punch.)

24-Second Psycho

Previously, I’ve referenced, in passing, Douglas Gordon’s 24-Hour Psycho, in which the Hitchcock classic was stretched so far out into infinity that it moved in tiny increments, creating a mesmerizing piece of art merely by slowing down something we are all familiar with.

So, I’m delighted to say, here is the opposite: 24-Second Psycho by Chris Bors, an artist commenting on an artist commenting on an artist. And it takes a lot less time to watch.
(via today & tomorrow.)

All quiet on the eastern front

Maybe it’s time for this classic Stranglers track to make a comeback, what with the return of Cold War tensions and whatnot.

I always loved that line, “Only country where the clouds are interesting.” You know, just in case they’re mushroom-shaped.

See you on the moon

Square America, which is a superb site to visit and wander through, is currently featuring a series of pictures taken of TVs during the dawn of the space program. This really takes me back, as I came of age during the space race and I was a total geek for it. My 10-year-old self could cite you chapter and verse on the thrust of the Saturn V rocket and the like.

Anyway, these pictures are totally how I remember watching the Gemini and Apollo programs: grainy images on a black-and-white screen.

Holy Bezier handles!

Illustrator 88! Wow, does this take me back. (Not the pink sweater, though.)

It’s easy to be amused now, but 20 years ago, this actually was pretty groundbreaking stuff. It certainly allowed talent-free hacks such as myself to pass ourselves off as graphic designers.
(pica + pixel via coudal.)

Two funny guys

A couple of posts made me laugh out loud recently, so I thought I’d share the comedy goodness.

First, Glark impetuously decided to register some mildly rude domain names, then ended up having to discuss his choices with a Network Solutions customer rep. Humiliation for him and hilarity for the reader ensued.

Then John Moe recounted this story of how his seven-year-old son got into a feud with some other neighbourhood kids. Angry mobs were never funnier.

It’s a sad day

Just this morning, BadBanana was complaining about how he needed more coffee and a way to tell morning people to get stuffed.

Then this afternoon, we arrived home to find that our perfect coffee delivery system/go away device had been mysteriously broken! What’s more, it appears we can no longer purchase the Barbara Kruger/Museum of Contemporary Art “Don’t Be A Jerk” mugs.

And that sucks. So long, mug. We’re going to miss you.

Image of the moment

We watched Repo Man again recently (and boy, did Alex Cox burn through his goodwill capital at a record pace after that one), and though it ain’t timeless, it’s stood up better than, say, The Blues Brothers, in my opinion.

There are large swaths of it that I had totally forgotten, including the fact that Emilio was once considered cool.
(Image via Ffffound!)

Nailing down the savings

Wow, speaking of celebrities falling on hard times…

This would be even better if it weren’t so patently fake. I mean, at least put on a beard. And “Jesus Chrysler” is too obvious by about a hundred. But otherwise, not bad. Not bad at all.
(Hey, complain to MTLB. I’m just re-blogging here.)

This is just sad

We’re all familiar with celebrities who fall on hard times, or even have a brief cash flow problem, and are obliged to prostitute themselves for some lame-ass product. But that doesn’t make this any less depressing.

I trust that in these, his golden years, his financial house is in better order and he won’t be obliged to shill like this ever again.
(v. YBNBY.)

Hating on Richard Dawkins

Look, I’m not saying that all Christians are intolerant and hate-filled, because clearly, the vast majority are not. But I’m always amazed at people who can twist Christian theology around so badly that they end up with “God hates fags” or, almost hilariously, “I hope you die slowly after being hit by a church van.”
(v. BB.)

Hating on Photoshop

(Photoshop Evolution by Dezignus.com.)

Dear Adobe is a site where users can bitch about flaws in their beloved Photoshop. Because, as insanely wonderful as it is, there are a lot of things about Photoshop that can drive you crazy, especially when they take away features that were already there (like the quick key command for Brightness/Contrast! Ahem!).

Most reviled feature seems to be the software update, which is not only excruciatingly slow but obliges you to quit your browser, so that you can’t even look at porn while you wait.

My favorite beef is “Why does Photoshop cost as much as a pre-owned small car?”
(v. The Morning News.)

Random Shorpy Image of the Night: Dapper

Hat, cane, gloves, monstrous car…this guy has got it goin’ on!

Metallego

When I first saw this referenced on Coudal, I blew it off because I’m not that big on Metallica. Sorry: I admire them; they’re great musicians, too, but I personally never found time to be a fan.

But then Murderface linked to it as well, so I had to go check it out, and it really is well done Lego minifig metal.

Learn to spell, morans

I, like, totally agree with the sentiment. But if you, like, squint at the bottom left corner, you’ll see that they spelled “awareness” wrong, which tends to emphasize the self-righteousness of the campaign.
(v. Denver Egotist.)

At Ho’s tomb

When I saw this picture of John Pilger on Charlie Parker, it was hardly necessary to go to Wikipedia to figure out the man’s politics, even though I’d never heard of him before.

But whatever your beliefs, I think you’ll agree that it’s one hell of a striking picture.

Beautiful bridges

Deputy Dog has a really nice series of unique and beautiful bridges. The Beipanjiang River railway bridge, pictured above, is perhaps the most conventional, but that is one heck of a span.

Forecast: more money will be wasted

Oh man, the new KidRobot Simpsons minifigs are just about the greatest thing I have ever seen. I’m seriously trying to figure out how to justify dropping two hundred bucks on a box of 24.

(In Vancouver, we get our vinyl at Voltage, 28th and Main.)

Epic canvas bags

Just when I was about to say “meh” and move along, it went from being a so-so joke to being pretty damn good.
(v. Lovely Listings.)

Random Shorpy Image of the Night: Red Caboose

Not actually that random, because it appeared today, but what a great picture.
(Shorpy.)

I’m a sucker for Post-It note animation

Way to go, BBDO Argentina.
(v. DE.)

Your medium is dying!

Wow, timely. We were just joking about this at our dying-medium desks last week, but I had forgotten it was tied in to a Democratic debate.

An overly devoted fan

This is a little bit creepy, but also quite amusing.

Maybe I’m a big-city snob, but I’m always amused when I hear about small-market celebrities who have stalkers. But, when you think about it, the small-town stalkers are actually being more realistic by aiming lower. I mean, if I decide that I’m in love with a big-time movie star, and this guy fixates on Warren Dean, the Saskatoon weatherman, which of us is more likely to meet our idol? I think we know the answer…

Wow, I just realized this guy works for the same company as me.
(v. Gawker.)

Welcome to Chicago

In honor of the DNC starting up today in Denver, If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger has a nice set of images from another, more contentious Democratic National Convention, 40 years ago. There are lots of better shots of the chaos outside, as well as some nice ones from inside the convention, but I chose this one because of that sweet Pepsi logo on the billboard in the background. Yes, I am that shallow.

Armagideon Time

They’re going to tear down the house next door tomorrow.

We are totally psyched…

Railyard

I can’t believe I’ve never posted something like this before: Here is the view from my desk at work. I love it.

Holy Crap, Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp

It just goes on and on and on…

Humpin’ Stuffies

It’s been known to happen.
(DE.)

My one picture of the Radiohead concert

It just happened to be at the point where Jesus Christ arrives on the stage. He does that, occasionally. To sing back-up on “Karma Police.” Thom Yorke lets him do it, even though he’s slightly off-key. But still, it’s heavenly. Thanks, Thom.

Oh yeah, thanks to you too, Jesus.

Memo to my kids: don’t get any ideas, twerps

(Advertising is Good for You via Copyranter.)

This just gets better and better

I’m glad to see that not everyone is rolling over and buying into this “Russians evil, Georgians angels” story. Although I have to say that finding myself in agreement with Patrick Buchanan is a bit unsettling.

I’m not a huge foreign-policy expert, but I read enough to know this: Georgia invaded South Ossetia after signing a cease-fire agreement with its rebels and South Ossetians’ desire to be independent of Georgia is at least as legitimate as Georgians’ desire to be independent of Russia.

The hypocrisy of George Bush and Condoleeza Rice in talking about respecting the territorial integrity of nations is breathtaking.

The fact that Randy Scheunemann (whom I’ve referenced before, whaddayaknow) is getting paid to advise the Georgian government and John McCain, and the fact that this whole thing with the Russians allows McCain to talk tough and allegedly look better on foreign policy than Obama is mighty fishy in terms of the timing, too.

I’m not saying Putin and Medvedev come off smelling like roses in this whole affair, but I don’t see how Saakashvili gets a free pass. If you’re not convinced by me, a silly little blogger in Vancouver, at least consider the argument put forward by some dude named Gorbachev in the New York Times. I think he was well-known and respected, once?

(Tangentially, Jetpacks has a sweet piece on why McCain oughta lay off the whole look-at-me-I-was-a-prisoner-of-war thing. Because it only goes so far and he should spend that capital wisely, although he’s probably already blown it.)

Screw you, Brad Trost

Yes, you, Brad Trost, Member of Parliament for Saskatoon-Humboldt, a riding that is 1,677 kilometres from my house. Quit using your MP’s free franking privileges to send me scare mail from your intolerant, culture-hating, troglodyte political party.

“Protecting law-abiding kids and families will always be our number one job.” What a fucking crock. Frankly, I trust the crackheads across the street more than I trust you and your dead-eyed leader.

Leave me alone.

Random Shorpy Image of the Night: Mammon gaining on God

Oh, crap, that’s too small to see. If you click on it, you’ll find that the building on the left is a Ford dealership, and, presumably, the source of all the cars.

Did you ever have that let-down feeling after you have drained a joke of all humor by having to explain it to someone? And it was already a pretty lame observation regarding money and spirituality to begin with?

Yeah, me too.

Inside the cube

Really incredible interactive over at nytimes.com. You can even run it in full-screen mode.

I think the dailies I work for are doing a fair-to-good job of getting with the Internet, but man, the Times is head and shoulders above the rest when it comes to quality interactivity.

Orson Welles approves, angrily

This is supposed to be animated, dagnabit! He’s supposed to be clapping! (Click on it to see what I mean.) I thought I had the animated GIF thing worked out, but something’s not right…

(v. DRB.)

UPDATE: Fixed! Wa-hoo!

“Operation Capture Monkey”

There’s a macaque loose in Harajuku! Help!
(Pink Tentacle via Coudal.)

Superb set of vintage signs

Speaking of BadBanana, today he linked to this amazing Flickr set of 445 vintage signs. I am in awe.

(The sign above was chosen mostly because it is a bad pun in the modern vernacular. Most of the signs in the collection are in really good shape.)

Funniest thing I read today

You made me laugh out loud, BadBanana. Several co-workers, too.

One for the ages

I’ve been fascinated by the Long Now Foundation since it was established in 1996. The idea of creating something that will last thousands and thousands of years in the face of extreme unlikelihood is wonderful.

Today, Kevin Kelly posted about the Long Now’s latest project, the Rosetta Disk, a project to preserve all the world’s languages in a medium that won’t break down, dissolve, fade away or otherwise become obsolete. It’s quite fascinating.

Bhopal, schmopal

Weirdomatic has an interesting collection of what it characterizes as “creepy” vintage ads. A couple of them look like they’re out of Worth1000, but there’s no provenance given.

The one above caught my eye. Obviously, it came out before Union Carbide’s excellent adventures in India, but it’s still kind of ironic.
(v. Coudal.)

Inverkip, Scotland: mothballed power station

If you’re interested in beautiful abandoned oil refineries oil-fired power stations, then this Flickr set is just for you.
(v. suwaoawa.log.)

Random Shorpy Image of the Night: Hood Ornament

I thought I might occasionally upload a classic image from Shorpy, as I am collecting my favourites.

This one, chosen entirely at random, seems rather fitting for a start.

The unbridled spending continues

(Click through for slightly more readable version.)

I’m a big fan of design outfit The Heads of State, so I try to look in and see what they’re doing occasionally, usually when prompted by a reminder from Coudal.

Anyway, a while back, they featured a poster for The Melvins that was not yet on sale, but I totally loved it. Today, reminded of the Melvins in some other context, I remembered to check back, and hurray, it’s finally on sale.

I’m not sure if the white space to the right of the poster is a screw-up in the scanning, or will actually be included in the poster I bought. I’m hoping for the latter. I think it adds an extra degree of authenticity.

Final four, baby!

(Please skip this post if you couldn’t care less about my bizarre fascination with Canadian Idol contestant Earl Stevenson.)


I really, truly wasn’t going to post about my boy Earl this week because I’m sure most of you don’t care. However, his performance Monday was so damn good that I can’t help myself.

My appreciation of any “Idol” show, American, Canadian or otherwise, tends to wane as the the season draws to a close. I’m more interested in the trainwrecks, the bad performances, and the eccentrics, and those do get weeded out as the grand finale approaches and the contestants, and performances become more polished. And I suppose I would have long ago lost interest if snowboarding pothead Earl Stevenson wasn’t still in the game.

Some might say that doing the Joe Cocker version of “With a Little Help From My Friends” is a bit of a cheat, because the back-up singers do a lot of the heavy lifting, especially when it comes to the chorus. However, I think Joe Cocker made it his own, and I think Earl does here, as well.

I said way back when that I didn’t think Earl was going to win this whole deal, but now I’d say his odds are about even to make it to Final Two.

Go, Earl.

The ultimate unboxing

Given what I forked over for my iPhone, I should have got this and then some…
(Joker via MTLB.)

I’m back

Jenelle Schneider/Vancouver Sun

Took the night off from blogging about my boring-ass life to go see Radiohead at Thunderbird Stadium last night. By my own brain-damaged estimate, I have now seen the boys there every second summer for the past five years, so I’m becoming a bit of an expert on this band at that venue.

Last night’s show was great but not fantastic. It was partially due to the weather, which was cold, wet and windy, unlike the previous two times. I mean, an outdoor show in Vancouver is always a roll of the dice no matter what time of year, but dead in the middle of August is usually a pretty safe bet. In ’06, it was a gorgeous warm summer night, with a magnificent purple sunset over the gulf, and planes landing overhead, topped off by a flock of geese flying by. It was a mind-blower of a show.

They were also touring last night to support In Rainbows, which to my ears is a quieter, more contemplative album than Hail to the Thief, which was a tremendously loud concert. To that end, the songs that really rocked out last night were the older ones, particularly The National Anthem and Optimistic.

It’s interesting that songs like that from Kid A and Amnesiac, albums which were originally written off as weird and inconsequential by fans and critics alike, have really stood the test of time. In fact, one of the encore songs, as in ’06, was Everything In Its Right Place, which at first seems the unlikeliest of encore songs, but in concert is extraordinarily powerful.

So, all in all, a great show, although we were soaked to the bone by the time we got back to our car. The light-and-video show, as predicted, was fantastic.

(Also, I may not be a connoisseur, but I am also not a babe in the woods, and I don’t think I’ve ever smelled such a variety of B.C. bud in such rapid succession. There was definitely something of a contact high happening there.)

Next up: one week from tonight, noted Scientologist Mr. Beck Hansen, thankfully at an indoor concert hall, the classic Orpheum, which offers warmth, plush seats, decent parking, and a bar.

Secret hamburger lust

I like this commercial because I thought I knew how it was going to play out, and then it didn’t. I’m simple and easily entertained that way.
(via Denver Egotist, which also has another.)

Burj Dubai nearing top-out

Holy crap. There is no way I ever want to get that high off the ground. That is just stupidly tall.
(v. DRB.)

House disguised as a garbage truck

Okay, you’ll have to go to It’s Lovely! I’ll Take It! to grasp the meaning of my header, but it will be totally worth it.

Maybe it’s just me, but I think Lovely Listings is the most hilarious blog in my feed. Sara makes me laugh out loud, several times a day.

Strange reactions

This is rather morbid but strangely beautiful. Images of copper cans containing created human remains from a psychiatric hospital in Oregon. The cans have started to chemically react with their contents in strange and unsettling ways.

Geoff Manaugh of the always-excellent BLDGBLOG wrote the foreword to Library of Dust by David Maisel, and he goes into a great deal more detail on his site than I do here.
(via Coudal and others.)

Please downgrade your opinion of me

I’m actually excited that Dirty Sexy Money survived the great writers’ strike of ’08. It’s just so insanely over the top in imagining how the über-wealthy live (I’ll rent the Brooklyn Bridge for my birthday party!), and it’s got Donald Sutherland acting like a crazy man as the head of the clan.

Goddamn, I love Donald Sutherland.


I was looking for a M*A*S*H* clip, but this will do.

Hamlet, the Musical

I don’t know why, after all this time, this still hasn’t actually been attempted on Broadway. God knows, successful musicals have been made from less substantial source materials.

Anyway, I was reminded of this clip tonight and it made me nostalgic, because the first time I found this was when I realized how awesome YouTube can be.

Wucan

The type of slow, hard rock purveyed by local heroes Black Mountain isn’t my usual cup of tea, but their latest, In The Future, has been playing in my car stereo for several weeks now, showing once again that there is an exception to every rule. I’ve said before that I like drone-y, repetitive music, so I suppose this fits the bill.

Here’s their latest single, Wucan.

Truth to power

Excellent article about Jon Stewart and The Daily Show in today’s NYT.

The picture, by Michael Nagle, is a work of art in itself.

Promises, promises

The ad builders of Milwaukee have something to tell you… As I’ve said before in regard to something else, you have to laugh or else you’d cry.
(v. Coudal.)

Destroy the pimple upon our planet!

I’m not sure how I missed this great set of volcano shots from Big Picture.

Cut the crap

Gotta love this. After two minutes of obfuscation from this dude (and heaven only knows what the matter at hand actually is), some anonymous voice cuts in and summarizes his point for him.
(v. MTLB.)

I, for one, salute our new Imperial overlords

It’ll probably be all over the tubes by tomorrow, but this is the first I’ve seen of it, and it’s quite well done.
(v. Denver Egotist.)

Hurray!

I’ve figured out how to upload animated GIFs! Not that I intend to - jeez, those things can be irritating! But it’s always bothered me that I couldn’t, and now I can…

The work-around is a bit of a hassle the first time, but it’s easy once you’ve done it once or twice…
(image via Ffffound!)

Good news for Albarn fans

If you’re like me and can’t get enough of Damon Albarn, whether it’s with Blur, Mali Music, Gorillaz, or The Good The Bad and the Queen, then you’ll be delighted to know that he and Gorillaz co-conspirator Jamie Hewlett have a new opera(!) called Monkey: Journey to the West.


The soundtrack comes out Monday in the UK (and on-line?) and in September in the United States. The three tracks that are available for listening sound pretty good - I think I’ll be buying a copy.

Nice catch, catch, catch

Wow, this guy sure deserves however many millions he’s being paid.
(v. Super Punch.)

The view from below

I first saw one of these on Ffffound! and I had no idea what I was looking at, but today Coudal linked through; Branislav Kropilak is a hell of a photographer.

Welcome to Denver!

Statistically, the drunkest city in the U.S.A.! Though how that’s possible without me living there, I’m not sure.

These fine folks have put together a primer for all the Democrats who will be descending on making the climb to Denver in a couple of weeks’ time.
(v. Denver Egotist, of course!)

How the Day Sounds

“How the Day Sounds” by Greg Laswell.
I’m a sucker for the slightly drone-y, slightly dreamy rock purveyed herein. It’s a bit like Grandaddy with a more “mainstream” voice up front. Oh, what do I know.

The video itself is nice. I enjoy grocery shopping with my family. My wife thinks I’m insane.
(Again, v. Coudal.)

Why don’t they just call it “Engrish?”

Maybe this isn’t a hilarious look at the way naive foreigners mispronounce our language, because ho-ho-ho.

This may instead be a rather earnest documentary about people who are avidly trying to improve their lives by engaging with us in the West. In which case, good for them, because they are probably striving a lot harder than most of us are.

I’m hoping it’s the latter, but his trailer sure dances on the edge.
(v. Coudal.)

Hey look, it’s Alice Cooper!

Uh, no, it’s Bono Vox, or at least what the spectacularly bad Rock Legends Wax Museum in Niagara Falls thinks he looks like.
(Talie’s Flickr stream via TMN.)

If you say so, Eleanor

This is not the first Roosevelt I’ve seen shilling for spare change. I thought they were supposed to be rich…
(v. Jetpacks.)

A dune buggy filled with, um, awesomeness!

(Where else but Ow! My Sweet Eyes!)

Gas Station Cozy

“Tired of seeing the abandoned eyesore on a daily basis, artist Jennifer Marsh decided to cover this old gas station in 5,000 square feet of fabric.

With the help of professional and amateur artists from 15 countries and more than 2,500 grade-school students in 29 states, Marsh covered the 50-year-old former Citgo station — pumps, light stands, signs and all — with more than 3,000 fiber panels that are crocheted, knitted, quilted or stitched together.”

Great idea! I’m going to start knitting one for the crack den across the street!
(MAKE via Wooster Collective.)

Waterborne

The Morning News has a nice interview with, and photo gallery by, Asako Narahashi, who takes pictures of Japanese landscapes from out in the water. They’re quite compelling, but also strangely soothing. The series is called “half awake and half asleep in the water,” which seems fitting.

The permanence of temporary things

Nifty piece by Kevin Kelly on how things start out as patches, quick fixes, and “just good enough” ideas, then gradually ossify until they are embedded in the culture. Interesting to think that lousy computer code written today may still be around in 500 years because of sheer inertia.

As an example, he cites the classic “Kilroy Was Here” WWII graffito, which has been etched into a small corner of the World War II monument in Washington. Cool!
(Picture by Jason Coyne.)

Image-building

I’ve been meaning for some time to add the blog If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger, There’d Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats to my RSS feed, if only because the name itself is freakin’ awesome, but this picture, posted today, is what pushed me over the top. This is exactly the sort of thing I love to discover on the internet.

It’s a great site, with tons of vintage photos and occasional musings on culture.

Life in Hell carries on, thank God Satan

We were emptying a bookshelf the other night when this fell out of a book from, clearly, about 12 years ago.

Oh, that takes me back. Nice to see that Life in Hell is still going strong, although apparently not here in Vancouver.

Photocopy animation

Yeah, that would take a while to make. Someone’s more dedicated than me (surprise).

Wooster Collective has more details on the making of…

It’s not real food, it’s yogurt!

Holy moley, I’d never even heard of Target: Women before today, but now I have to watch every single episode. They are that good.

Marketers: watch these before, ahem, “targeting” women. Maybe you’ll avoid falling into the bottomless cliché pit!
(v. The Morning News.)

Les Logos Olympiques

Scott Hansen has helpfully compiled the logos of the “modern” Olympic Games. I’m also partial to the Munich ’72 design esthetic - virtually every poster I’ve seen out of those games is a thing of beauty.

What more can I say?

Okay, I’ve already raved about Earl Stevenson twice, so I’m not going to say much more, except that he absolutely killed on Canadian Idol last night.

I figure by this point, you either get what I’m talking about or you’re perplexed by my obsession with this kid.

That’s one hell of a super power…

Man, I’d surrender on the spot.
(v. Ow! My Sweet Eyes!, of course.)

Double Taker (Snout)

"Double-Taker (Snout)" (interactive installation, 2008) deals in a whimsical manner with the themes of trans-species eye contact, gestural choreography, subjecthood, and autonomous surveillance. The project consists of an eight-foot (2.5m) long industrial robot arm, costumed to resemble an enormous inchworm or elephant's trunk, which responds in unexpected ways to the presence and movements of people in its vicinity. Sited on a low roof above a museum entrance, and governed by a real-time machine vision algorithm, Double-Taker (Snout) orients itself towards passers-by, tracking their bodies and suggesting an intelligent awareness of their activities. The goal of this kinetic system is to perform convincing "double-takes" at its visitors, in which the sculpture appears to be continually surprised by the presence of its own viewers — communicating, without words, that there is something uniquely surprising about each of us. Double-Taker (Snout) is currently active at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts (map), where it will be on display through early August.

I love how the kids wave to it!

UPDATE: Oops, I forgot to link to its creator, Golan Levin.
(v. today and tomorrow.)

Heaven

Beautiful.
(Nathan Coley via today and tomorrow.)

Good morning sausage…

Hey! I entered a little contest at Reuben Miller’s (very nice) site, and I won! So, yesterday my prize arrived and it’s a great set of cards by Simon Oxley.

One of the images is pictured above, and it had my kids literally rolling around with laughter. So, thanks again, Reuben and Simon!

What is the value of “value?”

Twenty years or so ago, I read in The New Yorker about J.S.G. Boggs, a fascinating artist who paints representations of actual currency, then goes out and “spends” it on products. At which point, the fake money, the receipt, the product purchased and any change received all become part of the art. So, what is it? Performance art? Situationalism? And which part of it is art? The painting? Or the transaction?

I don’t know, although I think it’s pretty cool. Various governments disagree...

To Sir With Love

Apropos of nothing, I was just thinking about this beautiful song from the ’60s which always makes me sentimental. I guess I must have seen the movie when I was at a very impressionable age, because it still gets me every time.

Note to self: throw out all red shirts

It’s always been an article of faith that, on the original Star Trek series, the crewman wearing the red shirt was the most likely to die in an encounter with baddies. Now, we have the YouTube proof…
(v. Super Punch.)

$748 million

That’s the selling price on Villa Leopolda, built by Leopold II of Belgium, who owned Congo. It wasn’t a Belgian colony; it was his private property, and, oh my god, bad things went on there.
(New York Post via Coudal.)

Five-Pin Bowling

While tweeting at my Yanqui friends from the bowling alley yesterday, it occurred to me that, in addition to free medical care for one and all, one of the greatest things about Canada is five-pin bowling. Even a three-year-old can do it.

David Byrne Bike Racks

Great story about how David Byrne inadvertently ended up designing new bike racks for the streets of New York City. The Times won’t let me enlarge the images for illustration purposes, so here’s a Wall Street Journal video about it.

Head, Radio

Nice picture of Thom Yorke from the New York Times review of All Points West. Radiohead plays here a week from tomorrow, and I’m totally pumped. Their last two Vancouver shows were sublime.

Carp Gods and Tight Blouses

Funny piece by John Methven in The Morning News: at the intersection of lust, philanthropy and one-upmanship:

Enclosed is a check for $11,000. I hope it can go some way toward keeping Tintabaum and his damned self-righteousness clear of my village. My people are fishermen who worship the Carp God.

Polar Bear Escape Training

Man, this is so realistic. If global warming ever wipes ’em out, we’ve always got this guy.
(Arbroath via Coudal.)

Smoking!

Yeah, so I’m a link farmer. What of it?

Dark Roasted Blend has a nice collection of pictures of smoke. I prefer the natural ones (as above, I think, amazingly) over the Photoshop jobs.

This guy is totally getting laid tonight.

He’s a class act, all the way.
(v. Ow! My Sweet Eyes!)

Apparently, I like to waste money

Above, the Grinch Action Figure Boxed Set, priced at a very reasonable $13.27. Below, the real score, the plush mini Black Beast of Arrrggghhh for a mere $5.75.



(Super Punch did all the legwork; I just cherry-picked some of his favorites.)

So, $19 for the items and $20 for the shipping. Goddamn, I love/hate the Internet.

Here’s the thing: my wife and I recently went to see Spamalot, and everything behind the swag counter was priced at least twice as high as it should have been. And I don’t think they’ve really thought it through: if they slashed prices by half, they would sell three times as much!

I mean, the cheapest thing on offer was a pair of fake coconut shells for $25. Pretty much everything else, like t-shirts and hats and a really cool cow catapult, was $40 or more. Hell, if the prices had been more in line with reality, I would have easily dropped $100. But I didn’t spend anything because, screw you!, high prices!

Or maybe the high prices have something to do with Actors’ Equity or some other weird contract.

Here’s the other thing: Why doesn’t the theatre have some sort of of storefront on the street where they can sell their over-priced crap to people who haven’t already paid $80 for a ticket? A show like Spamalot has a lot of residual fans who might consider buying a generic vinyl cow in lieu of actually seeing the show…

The Disco at the End of the Universe

Wow, I’m not even sure where I picked this up, though I suspect it was Astronomy Pic of the Day, your one-stop shop for amazing space pictures.

Anoint mine eyes… with bleach!

This is so craptastic that even Make The Logo Bigger has been rendered incapable of comment. I hope everyone involved went into the witness protection program after this.

Signs of Love

Clever project by Rose|Glenn Group of Reno. They would certainly brighten my commute.
(v. Reuben Miller.)

Massive conspiracy uncovered!

Something needs to be done NOW before they take away our HUMAN RIGHTS and replace them with RAINBOWS!
(Today’s BIG Thing via Why, That’s Delightful!)

Upper-middle-class twit

Hey, I finally joined Twitter. Just joined it yesterday and I already get the appeal. That’s funny, because my understanding of it hasn’t changed: it’s just another website to check, to find out what your web pals are doing, or thinking, on a minute-by-minute basis, and frankly, who the hell wants to do that? but now that I’m doing it, I’m totally hooked.

My sudden and unexpected love for the tweet is definitely tied to my new iPhone and texting. I just never felt the need to text before. Now (as long as it’s free), I can micro-blog my walking-around experiences for all the world to be collectively bored about.

Like taking a kid to a medical clinic. Hey, it beats staring at the wall.

The doctor asks me what happened, and I legitimately don’t know, other than “he fell down at the playground.” That’s not too specific, so I immediately feel like she suspects me of lying… So he pipes up with “NO! THAT’S NOT WHAT HAPPENED!” and I think I’m about to get outed as a bad dad.

“I fell down at the water park, not the playground!” Well, that’s a relief.

So anyway, if you are on Twitter, you’ll be sure to join in on such incredible moments if you choose to follow me.

This is how the world ends

Höly cräp, somebody’s made a biopic about Lemmy Kilmister. Talk about a niche audience. Jeez, maybe I’m part of it.


Man, the umlaut and earplugs jokes practically write themselves!
(v. Wired, featuring a whole bunch of swearing.)

Well, why not?

Hundreds click on link offering to infect their computer with a virus. Yowza.
(v. Danger Room.)

A whimsical exchange

Because at heart, I am still a sniggering twelve-year-old.

(v. Cartoon Lounge.)

It takes all kinds

I know the Internet has been a boon for folks with extremely specific fetishes, but I’m still pretty sure Erotic Falconry is some sort of elaborate joke.
(I did see one NSFW pic.)
(Found via an image on Ffffound!)

Lego Olympics

Some maniac talented Lego artiste has done the Olympic village in brick form. Crazy.
(v. TMN.)

Dancing in the sky

I’ve written here several times of my love of documentaries, and ever since I heard since I heard of Man on Wire, I’ve been dying to see it. Here’s a great article in Design Observer which goes some way to articulating my feelings.

I especially like the line (and I’m paraphrasing here), “This is impossible, so we’d better get started.”
(v. Coudal.)

Sweet, sweet booze

Based on small sample bottles, this label on the full-size bottle makes me very happy.

(v. Super Punch.)

In other primate news…

…Scientists have discovered a previously unknown population of 125,000 western lowland gorillas! Some good news for a change!

I just love the picture above - the baby looks like some sort of over-emoting vaudevillian!

Say good-bye to this guy

…because he's going extinct.

And to judge by the look on his face, he knows it.
(v. Matthew Good.)

Love and…

This is what amounts to nostalgia for my demographic. Pity us, please.

Big Brother Butt Lover

I’m always up for a good Orwell/Sir Mix-A-Lot mash-up.

Because, you know, there are so many poor ones out there…
(Flickr set via Super Punch.)

Logo a-go-go

I love it when Logo Lounge posts one of its regular looks at current logo trends. There’s a lot there to inspire, to make you think, or maybe just pretty designs to look at.

Things seem to moving away from the so-called Web 2.0 logo trend of liquid-looking type with a subtle Photoshop reflection underneath. Oh, I think you know what I mean…
(v. Coudal.)

New Eno/Byrne song tomorrow

Go here to get it.

Here’s hoping it’s good.

The eye of God

I’ve written before about how beautiful I find the Large Hadron Collider. Today I declare it the Most Beautiful Science Experiment Ever.

Even if we all die in a black hole.
(Via BigPicture.)

Good times? Fortean Times!

I love to click on a link and end up at the Fortean Times, which is what, the New Yorker of the conspiracy set?

Here’s a good article about a pair of Italian brothers who may have listened to the first, unsuccessful Soviet manned space shots, which implies that a couple of cosmonauts may have died in secrecy before Yuri Gagarin succeeded.

In search of an image to accompany this post, I stumbled upon this rather hysterical and somewhat comically translated denunciation of the whole thesis.

Since I couldn’t find anything decent to illustrate this post, let’s say screw Yuri Gagarin, first man in space, and pay tribute to the second man in space, Gherman Stepanovich Titov…

…who apparently fell through some sort of cloud of medals on his way back to Earth.

UPDATE: Wait, here’s a better picture, more along the lines of what I was looking for:

More money than brains

If the frequency of my posting seems a little on the light side over the past day or two, it’s because I’m busy playing with my new toy:

That’s right, the guy who gets maybe one cellphone call every three months or so has just dropped $350 and committed to about $85 per month for the next three years.

But, you know what? It’s frickin’ awesome!

Regular posting of inane thoughts will resume soon…

In Soviet Russia, milk drinks you!

If these commercials are all over U.S. TV screens, then I apologize in advance, but we haven’t seen them up here in Canada. Anyway, this is rather amusing, though I’m not sure it’s going to motivate anyone to buy more milk.
(via SwissMiss.)