Socks

I know American Apparel likes to get controversial with its ads, but this is even more astoundingly porno-ish than usual. I kind of like it. (Sorry.)
(via Ffffound!)

Courage the Cowardly Dog

Never heard of this series from the past before tonight, but the trailer is hilarious. Apparently, all he ever did was scream.
(Thanks to Pooch Café.)

Chariots of Clams

If you grew up in the Seattle-Vancouver corridor a couple of decades ago, you may well remember the ads for “Ivar’s Acres of Clams,” some sort of dockside tourist-trap purveyor of seafood that I’m thankful I never visited. Their commercials were so homespun and awful that they became kind of a local legend.

However, when I went searching for examples tonight, the first thing that popped up was this gorgeous ’80s parody. My hat is off to whoever did this. I’m going to dig deeper, but my current Safari can’t seem to find Wikipedia, which is unique and frustrating.
(Only 1,400 people have watched this video! Remarkable! For the record, Black Hula is up to 411 from the 83 it had when I first watched it. I feel it is my duty to push Black Hula until it really takes off. It's so darn good.)

UPDATE: More Ivar’s goodness!

Good morning!

If you’re having a bad day, remember, it could be worse.
(via Graham Linehan.)

Lorenzo Lamas, Debbie Deborah Gibson in Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus

All I can really say, is hell, yeah!
(via Coudal’s Fresh Signals.)

Screw your Progressive Conservative flyer

I just love this concert poster from Vancouver punk gods D.O.A. which re-purposed some contemporaneous political advertising in exactly the right way.
And a big thumbs-up to the Canadian Design Resource for recognizing it.

Oh, what a beautiful horn section

Here’s the great Ray Charles doing a standout version of “Oh, What A Beautiful Morning” from Oklahoma! but just try to tell me that whoever did the horn arrangement on this piece doesn’t deserve a fucking McArthur genius grant for horn arrangements.

Because really, this should have been called Amazing Horn Arrangement, featuring Ray Charles.
(via @tunanoodle.)

Light Opera

There’s a festival of light art going on in Sydney right now (or last week). As with many cool things, Brian Eno was involved.
The Telegraph has a nice slide show.
Thanks, Telegraph. Thaph.

Thousand-Hand Guan Yin

Mick Farren suggests this would be better enjoyed while high, but I don’t know. I find it kind of disturbing. There’s something giant-insect or alien-like about it. Which is not to take away from the flawless performance. In addition, all the dancers are allegedly deaf.

My Son the Nut

My dad was a big Allan Sherman fan, and I grew up in a house where his comedy records were played constantly. A lot of the jokes probably went over my head, but I still thought the records were hilarious.

Here’s a funny little clip of Allan Sherman, Dean Martin and Vic Damone performing one of Sherman’s amazing musical melanges. The first bit is a now-curmudgeonly attack on the Beatles as being talentless freaks, but the rest is pretty good. It strikes me as classic Borscht-Belt stuff, pre Rat Pack.


I wonder if Dean had to ditch Allan and Vic when Frank moved him to the A team. Because that would be a sucky move by Dean, or a dick move by Frank. I’m kind of thinking the latter.
(via ICPWAGTBAWLODC.)

Suzanne Somers meets Wire

Wait, Suzanne Somers had a talk show? And it was called “The Late Show?” I remember none of this!

And look who’s on her show! Wire, one of my all-time favourite bands. Ms. Somers is actually very charming with the boys, seeing as she clearly doesn’t get the point.

Blogging about cats!

Here’s a superb Scientific American article about the domestication of the cat. Or rather, the quasi-domestication. Because cats don’t really need us, and can do quite well on their own in our absence.

Here’s the money quote:
“[W]hereas other domesticates were recruited from the wild by humans who bred them for specific tasks, cats most likely chose to live among humans because of opportunities they found for themselves.”

This covers much the same ground as that National Geographic article from last year, but it is a lot more scientific. Don't let that scare you off. It’s only Scientific American. The DNA science is simple and fascinating, including how the Southeast Asian breeds (Siamese, Burmese) came about through “genetic drift.” The rest is pure sociology, about how this predatory species opted to align with humans in the war on rodents and to seize other opportunities, like, y’know, spreading around the world!

Pictured is Ralph, my neurotic feral rescue who has recently emerged from a two-year self-imposed sabbatical in the basement, which he took upon the arrival of Quy, the bitchy kitten rescue from the House of the Manic Jack Russell. Recently, she has mellowed and he has toughened up, so it’s all good. Fuck! I’m blogging about cats!

Machadaynu Remix

Wow, I thought Machadaynu was already too catchy to be legal, but now comes this remix. I say again: Wow.

Thanks, Coudal. Thoudal!

The Underappreciated

Anyone who’s ever worked in marketing or design will laugh at this.

I’m sure there are many industries whose practitioners feel that they are not appreciated by the public at large, but the thing about PR, marketing, and advertising firms is that they have the actual clout and ability to create a satirical video. Which portrays them as under-appreciated geniuses. What a surprise.

Suck on that, berry pickers! Where’s your commercial?

The sudden decline in miles driven

Interesting Nate Silver piece in Esquire about Americans’s changing driving habits.

Even more interesting to me is that Esquire’s web site is cluttered beyond belief, hard to figure out, and sadly indicative of the state of a magazine that was, at one point, up there in the company of the New York Review of Books or the New Yorker in terms of intellectual heft. Now it’s just trying to be the somewhat-smarter FHM. Or some other lads’ magazine. And it sucks.

Too sad.
(Beautiful image above via Ffffound!)

Life’s What You Make It

I was never a big fan of Talk Talk, but I was a HUGE fan of this song. In my mind, it’s a companion piece to How Soon Is Now?, though it actually came out two years later.
Interesting to read in that Wiki link above that How Soon Is Now? started out as a B-side; the record company didn’t think it representative of The Smiths’ usual style.

(via @deborahwise.)

Grateful Dead misdirect

Here’s a video where the band is goofing around on stage with clown masks, and just when it’s about to reach oh-god-turn-it-off time (2:46, if you want to skip ahead), they bust out a killer Big Railroad Blues. Those boys could really rock when they put their mind to it. Garcia’s solo is tight and seems effortless.

But effortlessness doesn’t come without effort. Not to go all Merlin Mann on you.

(stolen from the always-excellent [ the sugar sheet ].

Sometimes a snake is just a snake.

But sometimes not.
(again, via This isn’t happiness.™.)

I approve of this Helvetica Bold

Karin Cooper/CBS News, via Associated Press

Accompanies a good Nagourney piece about the current turmoil in the GOP over which way to go.

Especially entertaining is Pawlenty’s assertion that the Repubs need to tack further right because they ran a “mainstream” candidate last time. So now the “maverick” is being described as not crazy enough.

It’s too late on a work night to start down this political rabbit hole. I just like the picture: the man, the pose, the typeface.

Cannes

I’ve been seeing this image in various news pictures from Cannes over the past week. Not sure what it means, but I love the poster.
(via This isn’t happiness.™.)

Ambassador

This is a very serious article about the upcoming disruption to the transition of goods and services between the U.S. and Canada. And I wouldn’t even blog about it, truth be told. You’re either interested or you’re not. I am and you’re probably not.

But this picture totally grabs me. And so I post it.

Japanese railroads are fast

Love this idea of the countryside streaming by.
(via Design Observer.)

Curve, Monaco 2009

If you like looking at excellent pictures of cars, vintage or modern, throw Hot Wheels into your RSS reader. Another superb Peter Nidzgorski project. The guy’s a genius-monster who must be corralled and used for the greater good!

My fantasy London pad

I don’t often post JPGs of interior design or architecture, because I am a know-nothing in either field.

But I know what I like, yahoo. I would hang out here and drink martinis with the smart set. The key visual is that ancient portrait over the fireplace. It owns this whole layout.
(Lots more cool pics at Desire to Inspire; first spotted at Ffffound!)

The temple explodes the chicken cube

I know it’s like strafing fish, but sometimes mistranslations are just too good to pass up.
(via Murder Burger, as usual.) (Click on it if you want to read it. Sheesh.)

If you introduce a killer robot in the first act, it must kill someone by the third act

I’m not quite sure what superpowers Copperhead’s copper head-covering imparts to him! I think it’s the ability to dodge blows until killer robots arrive. And to humor a not-funny sidekick, dressed as Sherlock Holmes, who ultimately balances upside down on his own head. Am I asleep and dreaming suddenly?
(via Ow! My Sweet Eyes!.)

Epic Storefront Typography

I’m a big fan of the Wooster Collective. So much so that I have it in my RSS feed, so I rarely go directly to its homepage, where I can see its header in all its glory.

They do post their latest homepage banner in their RSS feed. This one just slipped past me the other day. Really nice collection of big slabby fonts on hardcore store shutters. As always, click for (somewhat) bigger.

Mecca redesign

This is just plain amazing. It’s been known for a while that the Saudis want to change some parts of Mecca to prevent those unfortunate stampedes that happen every once in a while, but this is like a re-build for the 21st century, because Islam is more popular than ever, and growing fast.

But I didn’t know they were going this far. Wow. This hypnotic promotional video is from the group overseeing the entire project; individual elements are being designed by world-renowned architects.

I have no clue as to the status of this project in these tough economic times, but I imagine that if anyone can still pull this off, it is the Saudi royal family.
(via The Awl.)

I think my appetite is returning. Oh wait, maybe not.

To save money, I am going to watch this video every day at noon and promptly lose my desire to eat lunch.
(via AdFreak.)

The romance of German dining

On second thought, maybe I’ll just starve to death.
(via Robert Popper.)

I (heart) Charlie Brooker

I was first introduced to Charlie Brooker by Graham Linehan, and he has not failed to amuse!

Detroit ’67

Sam Roberts is a great Canadian musician whom I hardly ever listen to. Honestly, there aren’t enough hours in the day to listen to all the great Canadian music out there.

His new video (I think it’s new) is called Detroit ’67 and it’s a nice mix of archival footage intermixed with retro-styled shots of current Detroit.

I wonder whether Roberts is from Windsor, Ontario, which is south of Detroit. I know a couple of people from Windsor and apparently it’s kind of a crazy place to grow up. It’s like the white-Canadian suburb of Detroit. Which is a totally twisted idea.
(via [ the sugar sheet ].)

First Ladies as Dogs

(Totally presented without comment, but awesome nonetheless, via Maximum Fun.)

Soyuz Landing

(Click for bigness.)

If you go to NASA’s Flickr site now or soon, you will find those amazing shots of Atlantis transiting the sun. Which were pretty cool. But let’s not forget the coming home aspect. Space people return safely to Earth, yo.

Le Wrath di Khan

Wow. I have to watch this again.
(“Shockingly good!” raves @Glinner!)

Just Wanna Play Video Games

I came to mock, but by the end, I was a true believer. You start out wondering why they aren’t AutoTuned, and that’s when you realize you are wishing they were AutoTuned, and how fucking wrong is that, and that’s when you can appreciate the one kid who sounds like a 13-year-old Neil Young.

And seriously, who among us doesn’t just want to play video games? Certainly no one in my house.
(via @stvspl.)

Spooky

Hey, guess who just discovered the “infrared” setting on his iPhone’s CameraBag app?

Without maths, we are nothing

Look Around You is just so insanely brilliant. I love you, Popper and Serafinowizc.

O News

Just released by Peter Serafinowicz!

SpongeBob in popular culture

Here’s a great article in The Atlantic about the awesomeness of SpongeBob Squarepants.

Truth be told, I got my kids hooked on SpongeBob so I could have an excuse to buy the DVD sets as a secret present to myself, so no one has to persuade me. I love the guy.

The video uses two classic episodes to explain why Spongebob is so good and so pertinent.

“We’re more civilized when we know we’re being watched.”

Cameras force us to behave better, it would seem. So, FUCK YOU, CAMERAS!

As a father of small children, I can tell you that this ad fails on a lot of levels, but the main one is this: young'uns fail to remember that there’s a camera in the room. They’re going to exercise their base desires even if there’s an entire SWAT team in the room.

And really, Reporters Without Borders? Comparing antagonistic nations to children who need to be monitored? It seems like condescension. All very first-world, white-man’s-burden, if you ask me.

Saint Carrie of La Jolla

I’m hoping Carrie Prejean sticks around for a while. She’s totally entertaining in that crazy right-wing way and she’s way easier on the eyes than Michele Bachmann or Sarah Palin.

Hey, if I have to watch right-wing crazy, at least let it be hot. (Malkin and Coulter most definitely do not qualify.)

Opsal Steel

I drive by this abandoned building almost every day and I really love it, even though it appears to be on the verge of collapse. Those big bold letters on the orange walls are only the beginning of the excellence. Here’s a nice Flickr set with a lot of interior shots.

So I was quite happy to learn today from Vancouver is Awesome that it will be restored and re-purposed. I hope they find a way to keep those big white letters with their superb drop shadows.


(Picture by John Allison for Bastion Development.)

Modern albums as ’60s Pelican paperback covers

They are all incredible.
(via Super Punch, whose own choice is so nice.)

Types of Wood

(via Robert Popper.)

A Goofy Movie, per David Lynch

This transcends awesome. Who could have ever imagined? I’ve now watched it four times straight.
(via a site I’m not going to link to, because it handicapped me in every way imaginable.)

X-rays came late to Riverdale, a town perpetually on the edge of yesteryear

Both Betty’s look of horror and Veronica’s insane delight are too good for words.
(v. the Gunslinger.)

Canadian icons in single sheets of copper

Damn, these are beautiful. See all five at the Canadian Design Resource. Seriously. You have to click through.

Random Steve McQueen picture of the night

(via Peter Nidzgorski.)

Look after your hair

Peter Serafinowizc is a god.
(via @apelad, from a while back.)

Non-native place names

Check out this cool interactive from National Geographic which maps out the literal meaning of hundreds of Native American place names. Reading this, it’s not hard to imagine First Nations people giving European explorers perplexed, or even mischievous, answers when asked to name a particular place.

“Yeah, that’s a hill with three trees on it. And over there is where Lenny farted real bad one time.”

I wish this extended up into Canada, so I could see what some of our local names actually mean.
(Don’t know where I got this, so I’m going to say Coudal.)

Flygbussarna

I saw pictures of this a while back, but the video is even more compelling: a giant bus built out of cars forces you to realize how much better it is to take the bus.
(via Another Limited Rebellion.)

Giant cardboard Brian Wilson faces!

Can’t say that I was the target demographic for “Pete & Pete,” so I had to go to Wikipedia to find out what it was. (If you don’t feel like clicking, it was a show for tweens on Nickelodeon in the mid-1990s. What more can I say?)

Here’s a version of the show’s theme song, spliced in with a bit of the Beach Boys, and I’m given to understand that it’s a pretty awesome cover, but I’m just posting it for the giant cardboard Brian Wilson faces. The band is Tera Melos. They seem to be pretty good.
(via Kitsune Noir.)

Leary beats Baldwin!

I’ve really been loving the Hulu campaign, and I thought that Alec Baldwin’s ad was the best, until I saw this Denis Leary spot. They should retire this campaign at the top of its game.

Populism run amok. That didn’t take long!

Hey, let’s all go over to Shoot the Banker, where we can wait in line behind other angry people (current wait time: 15 minutes) to fire a paint gun at a “banker.”

I wasn’t going to post this because I find it deeply disturbing on some level, but the promotional video is pure genius. I seriously doubt that this particular guy is on duty all the time, or even at all, come to think of it, but his running patter is hilarious. I could watch him all day.
(via the Denver Egotist.)

The Enterprise in popular culture

I had heard about this exhibition of artists’ takes on Star Trek’s Enterprise, but had not really thought about clicking on it until House Industries released pictures of their entry. So I went and looked, and, while many of them are nice, the House one is definitely the best, in my opinion.

Urban beauty

You should follow istoica. I just did.

Gordon Campbell is a Big Fat LIAR

Just before the BC election we are now sleeping through, the courts struck down a reprehensible law that prohibited people from publishing their opinions about specific political parties, anywhere, including on-line, which is farcical. People have opinions and are entitled to share them with anyone who cares to listen.

The stupid law had already been used against some unions to block their anti-government advertisements, and was most egregiously abused when it was used to censor a neighborhood association’s website just because it was hosting a public meeting about a local construction project.

So, great to hear that this evil law was struck down, about one week before the special election-advertising laws - which amount to the same thing! - kicked in. That gave the public service unions and all the other special interests about one week to get out their message, before being shut out again. Timing!

Politics in British Columbia used to be so loveably loopy. Now it’s all scripted to a T. It’s too bad, because there are serious issues that need to be addressed, and they are not.

So it’s nice to see a little bit of rolling political protest on a rainy afternoon right at the entrance to Gastown.

Beautiful office, half-buried in the forest

I would kill someone to work here. This is one sweet office space.
(via today and tomorrow.)

The Rythmeter

All I can say about this is good luck with your rhythm method. (Nice calculator, mind you.) Get back to me when you have three kids.

And isn’t it spelled wrong (for a non-word)? Shouldn’t there be an “H” after that ‘R’?
(via Draplin, among many others.)

Good night

(via Peter Nidzgorski.)

“It’s the sound of my shoes.”

I was planning to post this because it is not just a weird video, but it is aggressively weird in a humorous way. And the song is pretty good for its genre, in my uninformed opinion. It’s by Tiga, whom I have just learned is a musician and DJ from Montreal.

As I was setting up the post, I was reading the comments and I realized that Tiga is actually playing both parts in this video. Which is pretty cool, as well.

(via Coudal, from about a month ago.)

Rockefeller Center roof gardens

I found this picture tonight when I was reading the excellent Wikipedia entry on Rockefeller Center. It’s by David Shankbone, of some beautiful rooftop gardens that are hidden to the masses in New York City.

The story of Rockefeller Center is astounding. Twenty-two acres in the heart of Manhattan, with 19 buildings in total. This is how rich John D. Rockefeller was: when the Great Depression caused all his other investors to back out, he built this place by himself, from 1930 to 1939. How’s that for confidence in the future? Not to mention deep pockets?

Rockefeller Center remains the largest privately-funded construction project ever, says Wikipedia. And if you think about it, a lot of the most important cultural moments of the modern era occurred there, as well.

Jade and Diana: ping-pong in Heaven

Definitely click through to read @StephenFry's endorsement at bottom left.

(Popbitch via @glinner.)

Best business card ever

No, not that rant by that arrogant business card guy from a while back, although that was pretty entertaining.

(I may have actually posted this before. If so, it bears repeating.)
(via New Shelton.)

Sarah Palin approves of this Twitter page

The background of Sarah Palin’s Twitter page is so amazing that I am tempted to steal it for myself.

Best Layer Tennis yet

Oh my god you guys, today’s Layer Tennis was so freakin’ awesome! I’m seriously thinking of telling my department head that watching these unfold every Friday afternoon should be mandatory.

Gorgeous photos of a Russian nuclear plant

As odd as it might sound, this set of pictures of a Russian nuclear power plant is incredibly beautiful, particularly the farther in you go, with some awesome shots of buttons and dials and who-knows-what.

(via English Russia, which is worth putting in your feed.)

The first 100 days

Because, apparently, it’s too much to wish the new president some good luck in dealing with all the challenges he faces.

Yeesh.
(via Graham Linehan.)