Flaming Lips do the NBC G-E-C chime

Jerks at Entertainment Weekly won’t let me embed. So here’s the link. Well worth the click.

Oh yeah, up yours, Entertainment Weekly. If you had been a little more forthcoming, I might have put at least a still up there. Word is, the Internet is here to stay. You might want to look into it.

Due process for Bill Stickers!

If we don’t have rule of law, we have nothing.
(via Ffffound!)

Pantime

Okay, so are we nearing the last gasp of Pantone colors as internet meme? It just feels like we’ve been hitting it pretty hard recently, and it’s time to give it a bit of a rest.
(Pantime concept via SwissMiss.)

Political Compass

Here’s an interesting new test that attempts to plot political opinion on two axes, rather than one. I imagine virtually everyone who takes it will end up somewhere in the bottom left, as I have here, because all the other quadrants are discredited or insane.

I saw a few references to this today, but I wasn’t tempted to check it out until Sator Arepo posted his and I wanted to see how he and I stacked up. If you don’t feel like looking, he and I are equal on the authoritarian/libertarian axis, but I am about three notches to the right of him on economic issues.

Okay, who told them about the sheep?

Nice ad campaign from Sukle, a Denver agency, for Fuser, which apparently aggregates all your e-mail and social media feeds into one window.

Here’s another, not about Andy:


(via Denver Egotist.)

Gnarls does the ’head

God, I love Gnarls Barkley. This version of “Reckoner” isn’t that different from Radiohead’s, but it’s still awesome just for them having done it at all.
(Denver Egotist)

Ramping up for Hallowe’en

The energy level around here is insane. Trick-or-treating commences in about an hour.

Obey EVE. Or die.

The EVE factory.
(via Ffffound!)

Subtle advertising, wi-fi style

Smart thinking! Here’s a coming-from-behind car rental outfit that buys a batch of free-to-the-user wi-fi servers for Hamburg airport, then turns their names into a brief message advertising its sweet rate on a BMW. Everybody wins!

The video works better than I do in describing it. So check it out despite me.
(via the good old DE.)

Cagney with a Pepsi

SwissMiss found this great Flickr pool of nothing but “The End” title cards from classic movies. I was torn between this image of James Cagney or Rocket J. Squirrel.

Au recherche des bus-passes de Milwaukee

Wow, Grain Edit found this amazing set of vintage Milwaukee transit system passes. Thanks.

Marquee Moon

Hey, my Internet pal The Subtle Rudder found this gem this morning: Television doing Marquee Moon. God, I feel like I’m 18 again. Tom Verlaine was a freakin’ genius. And he gave hope to all of us geeky punky guys.

Crabby says back off

Here’s a nice collection of photo-based album covers, but it’s mostly an excuse to post the image above, ’cause it’s one of my faves. In fact, I think I like the picture even more than I like the band, although I do like the band. A lot.
(via Coudal.)

Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever

(This is the first picture I ever took with my first digital camera.)

We used to joke that our dog Zoe (above) (and I use “our” loosely here, as Zoe predated me in the relationship) was a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever and not some random mutt from the pound.

Not that we ever came to believe it, but here is an actual NSDTR, via the Canadian Design Resource, and dang, the colors and fur length are pretty close:

Dead Husband Coffee Maker review

Funny how a little typo can turn an otherwise mundane Internet discussion into a hilarious routine. The fun starts on the third comment.
(via abigvictory.)

Charles meets Barack

Watched the infomercial tonight. So, he was preaching to the choir and I’m Canadian to boot, but wow. Republican or Democrat, black or white, the main thing is that the guy is as cool as a cucumber. And smarter than hell.

No matter what you think of Barack Obama, you have to admit: his internet and grassroots campaign has been amazing. All of the unsolicited art and glowing tribute YouTube videos. All the kids out knocking on doors.

It’s been hitting me off and on for a while. More frequently as of late. At some point tonight, it hit me again: it looks like in less than a week, the U.S. will have elected its first black president. Wow. Way to go, my American friends.

Abraham Lincoln, wrong for America

This is great. I thought so even before I realized it was created by two of my Internet acquaintances, Jetpacks and Bill Green.

Nice work, guys.

Incredible auto-related logos of the ’50s

I am in awe.
(via Delicious Industries.)

Vote for Change

Just wanted to remind all my U.S. friends to vote for Tippecanoe and Tyler, too! We have to beat Little Van, for Van is a used up man…
(TMN rules the world for this amazing link.)

Great literal videos, #3

Yes, it’s the big new “meme” now, what with A-Ha and Tears For Fears lyrics being repurposed, then sung perfectly in sync and style with their crusty old videos!

Well, screw you, pal! Here’s the original!
(via O!MSE!)

Elbow, “One Day Like This”

Coudal had this a while back, but Ace Jet 170 referenced it again today. It’s kind of mesmerizing. I think I like what I’m hearing; it’s like a variation on Lambchop.

Hey, it’s Tuesday!

Tuesday Weld, to be exact!

I’ve been waiting six days to say that…
(via Gunslinger.)

Objectivity is soooo passé!

I was just going to laugh this off as yet another batshit-insane Fox News talking head until I googled the station and discovered that it’s an ABC affiliate! Peter Jennings must be spinning like a turbine.
(via Radio Free Babylon.)

Imperium Kontratakuje

Check out this amazing poster for The Empire Strikes Back in Polish. I’m not a big SW fan, but I still might ask for this for Christmas.

Available at Polish Posters. What, really?
(via Coudal.)

Urban Wakeboarding! Best Video Ever!

Sorry for the hyperbole, but this truly is the best thing I’ve seen in quite some time.

Buncha guys urban wakeboarding. What is that, even? Watch.

The Infidels song makes it, but holy crap, dudes! You rule!

Only 5,000 hits on YouTube: next big viral?
(via The Morning News.)

Pantone Rubik

I have always hated Rubik’s Cube. Luckily, it hasn’t been mandatory to love it, though there was that one time when it sure as hell seemed like it. Of course, it’s always better when fads are frivolous. Because otherwise you end up with jackboots. Okay, enough digressing down that path.

But I would buy this in a heartbeat just to put on my desk. It is a thing of beauty.

Wait, someone would totally come along when I wasn’t there and twist it up and then I would be forced to learn how to solve it. Damn. Luckily, it’s only a concept at this stage so my angst is hypothetical.
(Design Spotter via swissmiss.)

Smile, damn you

White Spot is a legendary local burger chain which is family-friendly and offers good eats at a reasonable price. In fact, we took the kids to one tonight.

Back when I was a kid, they used to hand out these promo cards to put in the window of your car. I had totally forgotten about them, so when the Canadian Design Resource posted one today, you can bet I did, indeed, smile.

And Ringo on drums

Interactive Hank has a nice set of 360° panoramas of the POV of each of the four Beatles (and George Martin) in EMI’s Studio Two. Historical and interactive!
He’s also got links to a couple of nice videos of the band in studio, around the time of Let It Be. Man, they look rough. Especially Ringo.
(via Coudal.)

Know your mavericks

Stay alert. Mavericks could be anywhere.

William Carlos Williams is a really bad roommate

This Is Just to Say

I have clogged
the sink
that is in
the kitchen

and which
you requested
I not use
to rinse my silkscreens

Forgive me
my band needed merch
and Bill’s wife
wouldn’t let us do it there

If you’ve ever studied any W.C.W., you’ll agree that these are bloody brilliant. I haven’t yet added Yankee Pot Roast to my feed, but I keep following links to there, so I think I’m going to have to soon…

It’s upside-down, soccer boy

Def Leppard meets the Stanley Cup.
(via Coudal.)

Purple and Brown

Have to admit I’ve never heard of Purple and Brown before, but when I saw it was from Aardman, I knew it would be good.
(via Drawn!)

That dog is making me paranoid

German dance party with Cindy & Bert!

(via Ow! My Sweet Eyes!)

Not good-bye, GREAT-bye

Oh my god, I’ve been sitting on this link for over two weeks and I just finally got around to watching it. It is freaking hilarious! I almost fell off my chair…
(via Why, That’s Delightful!)

Thanks, Doritos

I don’t eat Doritos, and this is unlikely to make me start, but it’s still an interesting concept: a browser plug-in that replaces the ads on a web page with content of your own choosing.

I would imagine that if I saw a picture of my kids instead of, say, an offer to re-finance my mortgage, it would make me think of Doritos in a more favorable light. I still wouldn’t eat them, but I would like them better.
(via Denver Egotist.)

Change means black?

As much as I would love to believe this letter is from the Barack Hussein Obama II committee, it seems a bit incoherent. Okay, a lot incoherent. I guess the “Obama II” business gets them off the hook on some legal technicality should they get prosecuted?

I don’t think this flyer comes from any mean-spirited organized conspiratorial group, but rather from a mean-spirited confused and racist individual. Deal with it, buddy. You’re gonna have a black president. He might even improve your life, even as you bitch about him. Just don’t go out and take a shot at him, okay? Words, good. Bullets, bad.

There was a time when the presidential race looked so close that, if McCain had won, the left might have made a plausible case that Diebold et al had stolen it. Now McCain is so far down that if he and Palin win, there is… unlikely to be some sort of uprising. But damn, there should be.
(BB.)

Past and Present Yacht Clubs of New England

Jonathan Hoefler recently dug up a ton of nice stuff at the New York Public Library.

Egyptian alphabet:
(via Coudal.)

Free jazz

Even though I am appalled by the whole Sarah Palin debacle, on seeing the first few seconds of this, I felt it was a bit of a low blow. But then it gains a strange and terrible beauty as the pianist accompanies the governor’s abrupt outbursts and half-thoughts. Aaaaand I hate her again by the end. So balance has been restored.
(via the always-reliable Murderface.)

Hodgman on aliens and other things

Crap crap crap! I saw this on Wednesday and thought it was brilliant. But it’s 16 minutes long, and I don’t like to post stuff much longer than three or four minutes.

Then today, BoingBoing featured it so now I look like a copycat for posting a video that’s already been on the world’s biggest blog. (I don’t know if that’s true.)

I guess one good thing about sitting on a link for a couple of days is that you can gauge just how popular it gets before deciding to post it yourself. You will know whether you alone are sitting on some Internet gold, or whether everyone and his link-farm brother (that would be me) is re-posting it.

Well, in this case, screw it. I think John Hodgman is hilarious, and I highly recommend this video. If you would like to embed it for your own bad self, get the code here.

C’mon up, eh?

What they don’t tell you is that the national drink is made with tomatoes and clams. Mmmm, Bloody Caesar…
(via Matthew Good.)

This drives me crazy

Ipsos-Reid is a highly respected polling firm, and I’m happy to take a few minutes every couple of days to answer some questions from them.

But when it comes time to answer a few questions about myself, the pull-down menu pictured above makes me insane. Why do they have the years arranged like this? What are the odds that I am 108 years old? I’m statistically far more likely to be one year old, and they should arrange the pull-down in that chronological order.

(Thanks for listening to my rant.)

(UPDATE: What if I’m 109 years old? What then? Answer me that, Ipsos-Reid!)

Bitchin’ graphics!

I may have mentioned Retro Skate Stickers in the past. If so, I apologize. But it really is an amazing collection of vintage skate-related graphics.
(via Ffffound!)

Lawn sign

I’m tempted to order one and I live in Canada!
(via Ihnatko.)

Two little boys

“These two boys waited as a long line of adults greeted Senator Obama before a rally on Martin Luther King Day in Columbia, S.C. They never took their eyes off of him. Their grandmother told me, "Our young men have waited a long time to have someone to look up to, to make them believe Dr. King's words can be true for them." Jan. 21, 2008.”

From a beautiful set of photos by Callie Shell. Maybe it’s because my house is overrun by little boys, but this image in particular really moved me.

This is a bad sign

Literally, a bad, bad sign.
(via Indefensible.)

Hot Babes of Star Trek

Teri Garr!

Poletti does us all a favor with his Flickr set. Some of the comments are delightfully geeky: “I'll stay trapped on Talos IV for her!” Hah!
(via Coudal.)

Perp walk!

Quoting Moltz: “The first step in a promising career in Republican politics is the perp walk.”

Time for a smart guy

(via Thought Gadgets.)

Considering shopping in Pennsylvania

Because you want to look good for the recession.
(via Conde Nast, soon to be publishers of the new teen sorta-recession for-rich-kids magazine. You just watch.)

Thanks, MTLB.

My favorite film still

Someone keeps putting bits and pieces of this on-line. Eventually, we can assemble the whole thing, and see what they were doing back in the ’60s..
(via Ffff.)

Think you’re messed up? You ain’t no Liechtenstein...

Yes. Liechtenstein is apparently the craziest little country on the planet. Because it’s not really a normal country by any modern definition.

I’d get a headache just summarizing. Strange Maps has all the details, and congratulations to them for figuring it all out.

JCVD

I heard about this about six months ago, and even after seeing some clips, I still wasn’t sure if it wasn’t some bizarre prank. But here’s the trailer, so apparently it’s real.

Wow. I may have to completely re-evaluate my opinion of this guy.
(via Why Advertising Sucks.)

Happy New Year, 1982

Here’s David Johansen, solo, fresh out of the New York Dolls, doing a killer version of Frenchette at what appears to be an MTV New Year’s party. A lot of people never got the appeal of the Dolls or Johansen himself. I think this video shows just how compelling he could be; almost, as some would have had it, a younger, American version of Mick Jagger.
(via The Subtle Rudder.)

What’s cookin’?

My new pal A Big Victory posted this today because she wanted everybody to share her earworm misery at having “Total Eclipse of the Heart” stuck in her brain, but I can’t stop laughing! Oh my god! The asscrack!

Attack of the Price Slashers

I’m rather proud of this Photoshop mash-up I did for a local car dealer yesterday.

(You see, even though I hang out online with a bunch of deep brand thinkers and marketing gurus, in real life, I am a lowly builder of spec ads for car dealers. Hey, it may be soul-deadening, but it pays the mortgage.)

So, as I was saying, I’m quite pleased with how this turned out: classic horror-movie typeface; a nice inner shadow on the tombstone copy; I brought the bird in the haunted house graphic forward in front of the type, and for the pièce de résistance, I found an ancient British website promoting Dawn of the Dead on DVD that allowed me to zombify the dealership manager’s mugshot. Sweet!

So today, the sales rep came to me and he was laughing so hard he could barely talk. Turns out, the owner of the dealership (one of several owned by the same company around town) had recently convened a meeting of all his managers and stressed how he wanted to enforce a unified message: the dealership group, which has been around for over 80 years, is strong in these trying times.

So, you know, sober-minded corporate responsibility, service to the community, blah, blah, blah, and what does the one manager come up with? Invasion of the zombie car price slashers! Terrific!

Rollin’ and scrollin’

Got stuck in traffic tonight behind this, which I’d never seen before. A cube van with scrolling billboards on the back and (as I could see when it turned) on the sides as well. Maybe this sort of thing is common as dirt in those elite cities back east, but they’re new to our jerkwater burg.

I found it incredibly distracting, like the landscape was changing every few seconds, or I was following a rapidly-changing succession of vehicles. (And of course trying to take a picture of it didn’t help my concentration either!)

I suppose it’s a clever idea. I suppose eventually I’ll get used to it as well, and it will seem normal. But not for the first few times.

Posting will be light tonight

I’ll be in 1971.

I love U.S. politics

I don’t even live there! But there has been so much superb writing about politics in the U.S., from Theodore H. White to Hunter S. Thompson, that I just can’t help myself.

And, believe me, in addition to its insanely great writing about politics, I love the U.S. for its ideals of democracy and equality. I just don’t think some of what’s going on there these days really qualifies in either category.

And I love this picture.
(image via Shorpy.)

Mandatory abortions for 13-year-olds!

Here’s Florida representative Tom Feeney, keeping it classy. Jetpacks is all over this dink like stink on a monkey. Go Jetpacks!

Previous post brought to you by…

Hey you kids! Stay outta my blog!

(Who knew they’d find the “publish” button?)

Starzxzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzxcccccvvbnswo123444444444444456777778999990000z0700000 Trek vs. Star Wars

Darth Mater

Here’s an excellent mash-up of two memes that are popular in our house: Darth Vader and Pixar’s Cars. I’d totally consider buying one, but it’s a unique item created for a charity auction. I hope it goes for a lot.
(Matty Collector via Super Punch.)

Lindsay going ’round and ’round

From Public

I’m no fan or follower of Lindsay Lohan, but this animated GIF fucking rocks.
(via Ffffound!)

We’ll always have 9/11

(via Another Limited Rebellion.)

Advertising, advertising, advertising

I try to stay out of the Mac-versus-PC wars, but this latest commercial is so good, and I’m such a fan of John Hodgman, that I had to post it. Hodgman is guest-blogging on BoingBoing this week to mark the publication of his new book. I’m not going to hyperlink a single damn thing on this post. Find it yourself, lazybones.

Dread or alive

I don’t know who originally thought of having an Elvis impersonator fronting a reggae band doing Led Zep covers, but I still think Dread Zeppelin is one of the most inspired ideas in the history of mankind.

Their version of Heartbreaker mixed up with Heartbreak Hotel is way better than this, but the video is kind of crap, so Immigrant Song it is.

Stylin’

Here’s a nice collection of vintage advertisements, although I’d say the ad for the 1979 Mustang is a bit of a stretch as far as being either nice or vintage. That was one ugly car.

It was hard to pick just one, but this Ford Fairlane ad is pretty trippy!
(via Coudal.)

What would Andy do?

These two pictures have been leaning against the outside wall of the Catholic school across the street for three days. If anybody wants ’em, I’d be happy to steal them for you. That wouldn’t be like, a sin or anything, would it?

(Come to think of it, maybe the reason they’ve been there so long is that people are afraid to steal something with Jesus on it…)

Jules Verne breaking up over the Pacific

Here's the automated robot rocket “Jules Verne,” breaking up as intended as it re-enters over the Pacific after successfully delivering its cargo to the International Space Station. When you stumble upon an image like this, and then read its backstory, it really makes you realize that the future we were promised has somehow arrived as the background to our lives without us even realizing it. Robot rockets make deliveries to space.

I guess that’s how the future is supposed to arrive: incrementally. Now I’m going to check Twitter on my iPhone. It’s the future, baby!

Buffalo Apples

Man, that’s one hell of a label.
(via Canadian Design Resource.)

BBC newspaper boxes

What a clever idea.
(via Denver Egotist.)

Cartoon bollocks

Now that’s a Saturday-morning cartoon I’d get up to watch.

UPDATE: The same treatment applied to the Ramones! Sweet!
(Deviant Art via Ihnatko.)

Code-breaking at the grocery store

I’d consider buying it if I knew what it was.

Spotted just below the mystery meat: “Baseball cut” steaks. Say what?

The meat department is a comedy gold mine!

Abu Ghraib, the movie

I’ve been waiting for this one for a while. Errol Morris has apparently made a superb new film. Damn, I love Errol Mprris.

No matter what the circumstances, torture is never an option.

The Carpet Crawlers

I found this amazing video the other night, and while it didn’t suit my purposes at the time, it made me think stop and think. This is Genesis, performing what is, to my my mind, the best song they have ever done, “The Carpet Crawlers.” But it's being sung by Phil Collins, rather than Peter Gabriel, which is why I didn’t post it.

Which got me thinking about poor Phil Collins, and how maybe his curse was that he sounded a little too much like Peter Gabriel. Which made him singing lead for Genesis kind of a cover-band proposition.

Oh wait, he went on to earn millions as a solo artist. That sort of torpedoes whatever facetious argument I was going to make, at least as far as his bank balance goes.

Can’t seem to close the thought tonight; all I’m saying is watch the video. It’s really good.

The Avengers opening theme

This will be the last Avengers-related post for a while, I promise. I just wanted to point out the groovy opening theme that contributed to the overall cool-ness of the show. Those brassy horns! That swirly string section!

And I love the spy graphics at the top of the spot. Scrolling through the figures before landing on the heart. That's really nice. The computer-y font is also a delight, as is the intensely-kerned Helvetica Compressed later on in the credits.

Totally gonna buy one of these

On sale here.
(via Neatorama.)

Music to make an entrance to…

I’ll say!
(via a big victory.)

Chicken Salad Sandwich

When I was a kid, “between your knees” was a really rude euphemism for… what? Taking it from behind, I suppose. Damn, I’m old.

Anyway, I do recall the shock and horror that this particular scene in Five Easy Pieces caused, but I haven’t thought about it in decades, so a kudos to Ian Spiegelman at Gawker for posting it.

Container Color System

I’ve mentioned before that I’m fascinated by shipping containers; my office window looks down on a rail yard/container terminal, which makes for some excellent staring out the window when I should be working. As a student of how the world works, I’m totally intrigued by the low-key but vastly important role the humble shipping container plays in global trade.

But I’ve never thought of the containers themselves as being objects of art; at least not until I saw this series of posters from Antrepo Design Industry. Man, I am totally going to buy one as soon as I can figure out how.
(via Thinking for a Living.)

Ms. Rigg

After that last post, I couldn’t stop thinking about Diana Rigg. I can’t imagine why.

So I went looking for more Emma Peel, and found this clip, from the alarmingly-named “Celebs in Leather” series. It turns out to be fairly innocuous on the leather side, but with lots more evidence of her superb comedic delivery and timing. Because the only thing better than a beautiful woman (in leather!) is a beautiful woman (in leather!) who has a sense of humor.

Mrs. Peel

The Queen of Sin! My god, Diana Rigg was hot. I feel like I’m 14 again.
(via London Lee.)

The Politics of Fear

Earlier today, someone (I believe it was Kevin Guilfoile or John Warner at The Morning News) posited that the Republicans, having realized they are going to lose this election, are now massaging the narrative so that true believers can persuade themselves the presidency was stolen by black militants, thus perpetuating the horrid red state/blue state internecine hatred that has consumed American politics since Clinton-Gingrich, if not before.

How terribly, terribly sad. I really had high hopes that McCain was going to rise above, as he had promised. It would be a shame if Obama, whom even David Brooks has admitted could be a leader for the ages, finds himself hamstrung by the politics of racism, hatred and fear.

That drummer looks like Phil Collins… with hair!

Over on Thought Gadgets, Ben has been musing about how our movements, communications and bad fashion decisions are now preserved for posterity and could well come back to haunt us, like when we’re running for office and a video of us being blessed by a crazy African preacher shows up on YouTube.

Certainly, that was the case in the just-finished Canadian election, in which a handful of candidates were obliged to drop out after embarrassing videos and blog comments popped up.

To illustrate his point, Ben used a vintage YouTube video of Genesis performing “The Musical Box” as an illustration of how Peter Gabriel’s hairstyle then looks ridiculous now. I’ll not argue the point, but hindsight is always 20-20.

As I am not as deep a thinker as Ben, all I thought was “Sweet! Vintage Genesis!” and went looking for my own. Here’s “I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)”

Ford Madox Ford

Unless you took Modern English Literature, you are unlikely to have heard of this guy, but I can assure you that he could write circles around the lot of you. Punks.
(Sweet link from Gunslinger.)

McCain on drums.

(via DE.)

Spectators

December 15, 1864. "Nashville, Tennessee. Battle of Nashville. Spectators watching the fight between generals Hood and Thomas." Photograph by George N. Barnard. Civil War glass negative collection, Library of Congress.

It just slays me that we used to have wars where the spectators would come out and watch. How crazy is that?
(Shorpy.)

Orion on his side

Orion’s got some interesting stuff going on!

Explanation: Orion, the Hunter, is one of the most easily recognizable constellations in planet Earth's night sky. But Orion's stars and nebulas don't look quite as colorful to the eye as they do in this lovely camera image, taken early last month at the Black Forest Star Party from Cherry Springs State Park in Pennsylvania, USA. In this single exposure, cool red giant Betelgeuse takes on a yellowish tint as the brightest star at the far left. Otherwise Orion's hot blue stars are numerous, with supergiant Rigel balancing Betelgeuse at the upper right, Bellatrix at the upper left, and Saiph at the lower right. Lined up in Orion's belt (bottom to top) are Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka all about 1,500 light-years away, born of the constellation's well studied interstellar clouds. And if the middle "star" of Orion's sword looks reddish and fuzzy to you, it should. It's the stellar nursery known as the Great Nebula of Orion.

If you click though to here, most of the words above will have links, and there is a lot of cool info there, if you are as star-struck as I am.

Eat the Cheerleader

Here’s a scenario that probably sounded pretty good on paper and then it actually came to pass: Team mascot chases down and eats one of the cheerleaders.

The scary thing is that I can see how I might totally buy into this horrific group thinking if it was the first meeting of the morning and I hadn’t had enough coffee yet. “Then the other team’s mascot comes out and beats him up until he regurgitates the cheerleader!” Awesome!
(via Super Punch.)

What’s the deal with progress bars?

This is almost predictable, but still has a few good jokes. I don’t know. You’ll probably hate it, and I wouldn’t blame you.
(and it’s from Neatorama.)

I almost feel sorry for this spokesman

Here’s Cullen Sheehan, who works for Minnesota senator Norm Coleman, who is apparently dancing these days on the juuuust-the-right side of a very nuanced line about accepting gifts.

Talk about sticking to the script. I think this is the man who should be telling us that the economy is sound, since every time Bush opens his fuckin’ mouth the Dow drops another 700 points.
(via John Moe.)

Color-coded drinking guide

This pretty much sums up my Theory of Drinking, so I’m glad I found it. As the days get shorter and the nights get colder, the hooch needs to get darker. Gin in the summer; scotch in the winter. And it applies to beer as well: lagers in the summer; ales in the winter.

We’re transitioning to ales in our house right now.
(Magnificent Bastard via Sci-Fi Hi-Fi.)

Drinking the Kool-Aid

Apparently, it wasn’t actually Kool-Aid that they drank, but a somewhat more generic grape beverage. However, that phrase has certainly entered the vernacular, hasn’t it?

Here’s Jim Jones, who actually did a lot of good for the poor and homeless in San Francisco before moving to Guyana and going batshit-crazy.
(via Gunslinger.)

Tea and a smile

Via London Lee, a beautiful vintage photograph of a British nurse having a cup of tea. I couldn’t stop staring at it when I saw it this morning. She is gorgeous.

Great Unappreciated Canadian Bands, Pt. II

In keeping with the previous post’s theme of talented Canadian musicians who deserved to be bigger south of the border, here’s Tom Wilson and Junkhouse doing “Shine.”

Heaven in Alberta

I don’t have a lot to add here, except that Gordie Johnson should be a musical star, or huger than he actually is.

“Has anyone been hanging around the opening?”

There’s a lot of awfulness to appreciate in this video, but I particularly appreciate the guy wearing the large white fuzzy diapers. Poor schmuck.
(via Ow! My Sweet Eyes!)

Mayday! Mayday!

Maybe it helps to have young kids, but this image of a Fisher-Price airplane going down in flames made me laugh out loud, particularly the little dog figure looking out the window.
(Artulo Design via Super Punch.)

Horrifying image of the night

Sorry to inflict this on you, but I think we all need to stay informed.
(via Glark.)

Land of the free $8.88 steak-and-eggs-breakfast

He did not die in vain.
(via the sugar sheet.)

Obama O's

Click through for horrifying theme song. Also available: Captain McCain’s, with even more godawful theme song! The race to the bottom continues!
(via Coudal.)

I like to torture small dogs

I always thought I was a pretty moral guy. Even if I don’t believe in Jesus, I think what he represents is worth aspiring to. Which, if you know me, is pretty obviously not Sarah Palin-style Jesus, but more like liberation theology.

Sorry for the religious digression. My point is, today I discovered a realm in which I realize I have always been a sinner, and I quite enjoy being evil, so screw you all…

Whenever I pass a car with a crazy-aggressive small dog inside, I can’t help loitering around and driving it even more nuts. I also like to think it’s trashing the inside of its owner’s car in the process. Because as much as I disdain some of the more prominently useless small dog breeds, I actually reserve more dislike for pet owners who drive their dog to some destination, then leave them locked in the car. I know it has to be done occasionally, and I have done it myself, but still, it’s wrong, and you really should just be dashing into somewhere to pick something up, rather than hanging out for a while, while your creature dies of boredom in your car.

So I like to provoke small dogs in cars. Their “I’d rip your fuckin’ face off if I wasn’t trapped behind this glass!” bravado just makes me laugh and laugh and laugh. Because in the real world, you know, out from behind that glass, BOO!

Reality check

My reason for living… On this Thanksgiving weekend, I give thanks for having three healthy, happy, handsome boys.

Blur blur blur

Related to the post previous to last, Blur doing “Parklife,” in case you haven’t seen it before. I certainly needed a refresher:

Big old sled made of metal

Caught this specimen (1975? Have to look it up) while walking today. I love that the owner has a club on the wheel, because he thinks this hunk of crap is worth stealing.

On the other hand, it seems to be fairly pristine and totally stock, so maybe that would appeal to people who have a ’75-Bel-Air fixation. We’re talking about a 33-year-old design, after all. (And I have to add that my brothers and I have an unnatural attraction to 1972 Buick Skylarks. So we’re not immune.)

But seriously, what is “Bel” or freaking “Air” about this car? It’s about as far from a happy breeze as I can imagine. They should have called this car the Charles Bronson, in my opinion.

Damon & Ray

This popped up just now on the iPod and I was almost in tears, and I’m not even drunk! So I headed over to YouTube and dang me if there wasn’t a video.

Two of my favorite people, performing one of the most beautiful songs ever written. Sweet. As a bonus, a wee bit of “Parklife” at the end.

Ballet brawl

I have to admit I’d never heard of Omaha Bitch before I saw this rather striking video for a song called “Orgasmic Troopers.” But I think I’m a fan now. At least for the videos. Hubba-hubba. Oh, I’m so sorry for saying that…
(via today and tomorrow.)

I love old cars of the ’60s and ’70s

And the The Old Car Manual Project is awesome!

Agents of intolerance

Is it just me, or does anyone else find this “Country First” logo with its militaristic Zapf Dingbat star a tad fascistic? It doesn’t help that Palin is leading the charge to pander to the most anti-intellectual know-nothings in the United States. I’ve asked it previously, but when did ignorance become a point of pride for American conservatives? These guys make William F. Buckley look like a freakin’ commie…

Hatred: make sure to pass it on to your kids

Yeesh.
(via RCX.)

Your arsenal

I was never a rabid fan of The Smiths or Morrissey. I liked them a lot, but my life didn’t revolve around them. Having said that, I can see how they spoke deeply to a lot of people. And I do think “How Soon is Now?” is one of the most beautiful songs ever.

Their album cover art was uniformly excellent, and here’s a nice archive, arranged chronologically.

That typeface, by the way, is Antique Olive, which I don’t particularly like, but a lot of the sales reps I work with do, so it’s a constant battle.
(via Coudal.)

Dude’s got a Sputnik in his library

And that’s just the start of it. Wired has a feature on this Internet billionaire who has used his money to buy some of the neatest things imaginable. I am indescribably envious.
(via Gawker.)

Pixelated camouflage for the MIG-29

Tonight, I went to post a picture of Patti Smith that I had bookmarked from one of my favorite image sites, suwaowa.log, and it was gone. Like, the whole site was just not there any more. And I had a lot of links to that site. Shee-it. If I had known that was going to go down, I might have been more assiduous in saving its images to my own hard drive. With appropriate credit, of course.

With that in mind, here’s a MIG-29 painted in some cool pixel camouflage, via Ffffound!

Hey there, little planet

NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft is currently doing the closest fly-by of Mercury ever - like, really, really close - and sending back some totally cool pictures.
(via APOD.)

Rust Lust

Nice collection of vintage car-door art at Jalopnik, found by Mr. Draplin.

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffin’ glue

Writing that post about four three posts below this one got me thinking about the origin of the “wrong week to quit…” meme. Aaah, Lloyd Bridges, you were almost always too meta for your roles.

My Next Car, Wayback Machine Edition

I wouldn’t normally link to a NYT page because most of you are sentient human beings who can find a NYT page by themselves.

But I had to flag this article about a 1973 BMW 2002. Because I learned to drive standard on a ’72 2002, and that was one sweet little car. As mentioned in the article, it was an almost-perfect balance of weight and power. And I prefer to drive standard to this day because of that incredible gearbox.

We Sing the Forest Electric

I think my kids would really dig this, but I would have to explain what happens in the final seconds, and frankly, I’m not sure what happens in the final seconds. Either all the animals buy the farm or the hunters turn their guns on themselves. (Sorry, spoiler.) Either way, not pretty.
(via Drawn!)

The Angry Police Captain

He’s sort of like Obama is Your New Bicycle except angrier. And, yes, a police captain.
(link, via the sugar sheet.)

Aerial pictures of British motorway interchanges

They’re really quite beautiful, if you’re into that sort of thing. I saw a blog or Wikipedia entry once about the craziest-looking highway interchanges in the world - I should track that down.
(via Coudal.)

Edward Gorey’s Children

Good article in Mental Floss about Edward Gorey, his opinion of children, and how he could never publish this sort of stuff today.

I initially blew by this link, thinking it was just going to be the Gashlycrumb Tinies, which are brilliant, but I’ve seen them a thousand times. However, it is a bit more general, and Gorey’s distaste for children seems to have permeated the body of his work.
(via The Morning News.)

Martial law

I like to joke about this sort of stuff, but you know, this is really, actually, FOR REAL going to happen if people don’t stay on top of it. I am not fucking kidding!

Martial law. Bush & Cheney forever. That is scary shit. Wake up, people!

Old time inventions that seem fresh today

From Shorpy:

Washington, D.C., circa 1912. "Police Call Box." Finally we have a closeup of a mysterious item of street furniture on view in many of our urban scenes -- what looks like a streetlight with a dark globe. These were telephones with a direct line to the police station. When a call went out, the red illuminated globe showed arriving officers where help was needed. This one was downtown at 13½ and D streets N.W. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative.

(Shorpy.)

How to photograph an atomic bomb

Castle Bravo detonation, March 1, 1954. 15 megatons. Largest nuclear test conducted by the United States.

Here’s an interesting set of photos. Some of them are very ’50s and naive. All are somewhat chilling.
(via things.)

Sha Na Na invented “The Fifties”

This is really interesting: Sha Na Na was originally a traditional a capella group at Columbia University, and they basically invented the “retro” image of the “greaser” out of whole cloth in 1969 as a kind of one-off, jokey theme for one of their concerts.

But it was so successful that they went on to open at Woodstock (remember?) and ultimately had their own TV show. And, because of what they started, the greaser eventually replaced the beatnik as the symbol of the 1950s. Intriguing…

And I might add we got American Graffiti and Happy Days out of the phenomenon. Draw your own conclusions there.

The story of how “grease” became “the word” is especially amusing...
(via TMN. Pic from San Diego Union-Tribune.)

Johnny Cash Machine

Back when ATMs were still a novel conceit, Canada Trust was one of the first banking-type institutions to offer them. (It’s hard now to conceive that there was once a time when, if you didn’t get your money out of a bank by 6:00 pm Friday, you were screwed, cash-wise, for the weekend.)

Anyway, to promote its new ATMs, Canada Trust hired Johnny Cash, who was decidedly uncool at the time - this was well before Rick Rubin revived his career. I was a client there, and one of my greatest regrets in life is that I never boosted one of their life-size cardboard cutouts of Johnny when I had the chance. I was even dating a teller at the time, so I probably could have pulled it off.

And could the song choice be any more perfect? “I Walk the Line!”
(Sort of via Canadian Design Resource.)

Sing along with Jarvis

Man, I do love that old populist shit-disturber Jarvis Cocker. This may not be his greatest song, but it’s certainly timely.

Warning: this song uses a Very Bad Word which most North Americans find more offensive than Brits do.
(via Sci-Fi Hi-Fi.)

Maybe we ain’t that young anymore

Say what you will about Bruce Springsteen, but if you’re of a certain age and social upbringing, his music is a backdrop to your life, whether you like it or not. Here’s a stunning version of Thunder Road, right from the beginning (1975) of when he started to amaze and/or exasperate us, the Hammersmith Odeon concerts that introduced him to the British music press.

Also of note here is the beautiful keyboard work of Danny Federici, who passed away recently.

My main point is that today we’re 33 years on, which makes me feel very old, indeed.
(via Merlin Mann.)

Heartless MONSTERS

Police: iPhone Left In Hot Car For Three Hours

The last paragraph seals the deal for me.
(Via Real Dan Lyons.)

Butcher Manila

A label for a paper product from the now-defunct town of Ocean Falls, British Columbia.

The jokey legend was that Ocean Falls got its name not from any nearby waterfall, but because of the fact that it rained so goddamned much that it felt like an ocean was falling, all the time.
(via Canadian Design Resource.)

Distressed Storefronts

Here’s a small but richly detailed archive of storefronts which are decaying in a beautiful way.
(via Draplin.)

Too close to the truth

It’s easy to laugh now, but wait until November. (Actually, I keep expecting Bush & Cheney to declare martial law and suspend the elections altogether.)
(v. Why Advertising Sucks.)

Vintage Poison Labels

They seem rather too enthusiastic about the poison…
(Via The Morning News.)

Please do it on the mountain

If you’re looking for those great Tokyo subway etiquette posters, they’re all here.
(via Coudal.)

For future reference

I’m saving this one for when the economy tanks.
(via Ffffound!)

Harry Shearer announces the Apocalypse

Thanks, Harry. Now can we hear it in your marbles-in-the-mouth version of Tom Brokaw, and, more importantly, Kent Brockman?
(BBC via Danger Room.)

Darfur? I hardly know her!

I don’t know. I agree, and I even admire the concept, but this stuff always rubs me the wrong way.
(v. MTLB.)

Lasers!

Nice! This site, devoted to laser-background class pictures, doesn’t match the hilarity of Cake Wrecks, the surrealism of Keeping it Realtor or the pinnacle of the genre, It’s Lovely! I’ll Take It!, but it could be mentioned in the same breath, to be sure.

Boring

Yes, this is on Oobject and BoingBoing Gadgets linked to it, but I am enough of a boring-machine geek to want to make sure that nobody misses it. Boring machines rule.

DEATH in BANGOR

Oh, my heavens.

Bangor -- Two Indiana gangsters, Al Brady, 27 - the Midwest's current Public Enemy No. 1 - and his lieutenant, Clarence Lee Shaffer, Jr., 21, who had been hunted by Federal agents for several murders and scores of bank robberies, were slain by G-Men in a furious street battle in Bangor, Maine, October 12th. An accomplice, James Dalhover, 30, of Madison, Indiana, was captured, and G-Man Walter Walsh, 28, of Washington, was wounded. Here is the scene in Main Street after the battle. Brady, foreground, and Shaffer lie dead across trolley tracks. (1937)

(via Gunslinger.)

Rocketeering

Hey look, the first rocket being fired from Cape Canaveral! And it’s on its way to finding out the temperature in the upper atmosphere gasp! Pretty cold, I’m betting.

So what we have here is essentially a modified V2, launched five years after the war, and, for the first time, I wondered, was the US still launching captured German V2s five years after the war? Or were they building their own by then (a more likely scenario)? And, if so, why hadn’t they changed the V2’s name to something more melodramatic and American? Like Minuteman or Patriot? Or Screaming Eagle? Or High-Altitude Thermometer?
(More details at APOD.)

Variations of incomplete open cubes

In case you were wondering.
(via Ffffound!)

A few questions

A lot of people make Dennis Kucinich out to be some sort of flake, apparently because he talks sense and doesn’t seem to be beholden to special interests. Weird, huh?
(via TMN.)

Mini-Choppers

I mostly link to this D&R post about chopperized mini-bikes because I love Mister Jalopy’s final line:

“These sweet choppers pretty much nail the 1976 adolescent hoodlum aesthetic.”

Ha! As a teenager from the ’70s, I couldn’t agree more.

The co-opting of rebellion is complete

I know the man’s got to make a living, but this makes me feel soooo old. I’ve also seen commercials using music by Devo and Flying Lizards, bands that were too strange for 99% of the population back in the day, not to mention The Clash pushing Jaguar(!) and Iggy’s Lust for Life being used to advertise absolutely everything. Strange days, indeed.
(Guardian via Coudal.)

Dave’s on fire

As much as I adore David Letterman, it’s been eons since I actually watched his show, what with the kids and the work and the needing sleep blah blah blah. So I don’t know if his recent mockery of the Republicans is a new thing, or if he’s equally scathing about the Democrats, but I do know: when a genial and seemingly even-handed guy like Dave starts going after McCain and Bush like this, it signals a mood swing in the country at large; one that does not bode well for the Republicans.
(via Tara Ariano.)