Time capsule

Ever notice that record covers used to be so much better than they are today? There was a golden age from about the mid-fifties to maybe '63 or so, coinciding with similar golden ages in cars (see the Nash Metropolitan), jazz, miniature golf (see below), art, fiction, theater, and toys. If it weren't for segregation, universal smoking, alcoholism, sexism, bad hair, and the threat of nuclear annihilation, those woulda been the days.

Random insult of the week

We think of you when we are lonely. Then we are content to be alone.

Links to Enlightenment

What if miniature golf were the true path to oneness? Who's to say it isn't? Read a history of the game and learn.

(Drawing by Steven Olenakos, 1983)

Kinda Kreepy Kris Kringle

Just one reason why I stay home for the holidaze.

Nothing to do?

Kill some time looking at Stuff On My Cat.

Disturbing

A puppy porn jumpsuit thing. This is not right.

Holiday Entertaining

Mmmm, Excorcist Punch garnished with bird droppings!

Not Very Christmassy

Is there much of a demand for these? According to the sales pitch:

Post Mortem Studio Rentals Hands, Heads, Skulls, and Body Part props are the right match for any budget. Custom props can be built from the bones up, with blood, organs, connective tissue and skin all individually crafted for the most life-like prop possible.

And they're:

Available in all stages of decay and dismemberment.

Gee, all I was looking for was a glass eye.

Apropos

Who said this?

The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.

The chickens have come home to roost, no?

Random insult of the week

If you stand close enough to him, you can hear the ocean.

Delight your friends and family

Treasure Trove

This is one hell of a cool web site. Hours of fab stuff, if you have no life to speak of.

I want one of these

A Nash Metropolitan. There's an article about them in today's San Francisco Chronicle. Yes, Virginia, it's hard to believe but American auto makers used to build cars that had a little panache. Who wouldn't want to tootle around town in a Met?

Art forms in nature

I went to an exhibition of Ruth Asawa's wire sculptures over the weekend and had my mind blown. These are surreally complex forms, made from a single length of aluminum or copper wire, painstakingly twisted and curled and manipulated into shapes reminiscent of organic forms such as jellyfish.



Something about them reminded me of the 19th century drawings of Ernst Haeckel, who made detailed images of natural forms.







Similar, aren't they? But don't contemplate Asawa or Haeckel while under the influence of some kind of hallucinogen or you'll make your head explode.

Vox Felidae

Do not teach your cats to talk, people. One day they'll tell on you.

Some groovy rubber stamps

No real point to these except to put interesting people and things in odd places. I like.

Random insult of the week

Do you want me to accept you as you are, or do you want me to like you?

Zen Timewaster No. 652

Nuttin' like mutton

It's what's for dinner.

An ecdote

From Harper's Magazine, we learn that filmaker, Werner Herzog, has a thing for chickens. Says Herzog:

Years ago I was searching for the biggest rooster I could find and heard about a guy in Petaluma, California....I went out there and found Ralph...who weighed an amazing thirty-two pounds! Then I found Frank, a special breed of horse that stood less than two feet high. I told Frank's owner I wanted to film Ralph chasing Frank -- with a midget riding him -- around the biggest sequoia tree in the world....But unfortunately, Frank's owner refused. He said it would make Frank, the horse, look stupid.

We mustn't sacrifice the dignity of one species for the glorification of another.

Duck

Excellent advice for Iraqi children.

Surf Baby

I can't process this right now. Too scary.

I want one of these

This is a good way to make friends and influence people. Flash your bacon wallet and you're suddenly boss of the bar.