| |
| February 21, 2024 |
From the Philip
Lamantia story in The Beats, edited by Paul Buhle, one of Harvey Pekar's last productions.
- The
Towers is a short film about Rodia and his creations,
available in the Internet Archive, made just before he walked
away from them forever. Note the anachronistic 'Twilight
Zone-y' soundtrack; this is dated a couple years
before Rod Serling's show premiered.
-
Intricate pen and watercolor drawings of
Mattias Adolfsson.
- Astute analysis,
'Falling Down'
is Propaganda. If you get tired of the clips from the preview, the
whole film can be found deep inside the Archive.
- True glow-in-the-Dark flowers are coming!
Firefly Petunias.
|
| February 17, 2024 |
- Lost chapter from The Martian by Andy Weir.
- Such an in-depth site, Los Angeles Theatres. Here's the entry for
the long-gone
Hawaii on Hollywood Blvd, with its wonderfully
tubular blue neon façade: Enjoy the Unusual Photography Under the Hawaii's Famous 'Black Light' Auditorium Illumination which I imagine was used to light up those
tropical murals inside. It was a church for a while; now it's a big
thrift store. More black light (with photos) in the
Old
Town Music Hall of El Segundo, where I saw "Meet Me In St. Louis"
in the late 1980s.
- Bored Panda, when
AI didn't [quite] understand and created Hilariously Weird Images.
There' a lot of these examples floating around 'out there' now, this
one exceptional for #4, the British Christmas (reminding me of Roger's
mess on the cover of
The
Who Sell Out which my older brother once characterized as a
camping trip nightmare).
- According to the Washington Post,
the best times to visit the world's most popular destinations. Months and seasons, actually; note the best
time to have an adventure is whenever, go when you can.
(gift link)
|
| February 7, 2024 |
- Earlier today the X-ray tech told me I have "Long Lungs"
which sounds like a good user alias to me.
- This is excellent --
Satan's
Guide to the Bible. Seminary Secrets delivered in a
flannel-board/felt-talk format all too familiar from Sunday School.
- Paul McCartney in People magazine:
Something Will Happen. The form
of this I favor is, Something always happens (or comes along) that
changes everything.
|
| January 24, 2024 |
- Colorado Public Radio report,
CIA
Chief Pushes For More Spies Abroad; Surveillance Makes That
Harder. Quotes Jonna Mendez, former CIA Chief of Disguise, on
blending in with Europeans, who think that we
are slouchy, a little sloppy... because they stand up straight,
they don’t lean on things. They are on two feet and we're always on
one foot with that other foot kind of stuck out. Reminding
me of Laurie Anderson, about three minutes into
The Cultural
Ambassador, advice from the US embassy in Madrid on laying low
in international airports, like, don't chew gum or wear a baseball
cap, etc.
|
| January 14, 2024 |
|
| January 10, 2024 |
- New Lomaxian
trove of bluesy old sounds released by Smithsonian Folkways:
Playing
for the Man at the Door: Field Recordings from the Collection of Mack McCormick, 1958–1971; with samples of all the tracks.
Uncle Dan
reviews the vinyl version.
- Popular Mechanics announces that an
airship is Ready for the First Non-Stop, Fully Electric, Around-the-World
Flight. No, not exactly ready, doesn't even exist yet --
construction of Solar Airship One is scheduled to
begin in 2024 ahead of the 2026 flight.
- Understanding this new film, "Chevalier" --
is
"de-centering" classical music's 'whiteness' possible? Compares what
an old chum calls 'pure music' to Noh and Kabuki theater.
- And speaking of new films, caught up on some, flying across
the Pacific, on the Seatback Cinema:
Past
Lives, "Barbie," and "You Hurt My Feelings" although the
standout was a National Geographic documentary,
Living
in the Age of Airplanes, narrated by Harrison Ford, music by James
Horner, see it if you can.
|
| January 3, 2024 |
- Maurice Sendak's Emotional
Last Interview with NPR's Terry Gross, from 2011, animated by
Christoph Niemann.
- Searching for an old This American Life, it was
Wacky -- not quirky or kooky.
- Far Out magazine answers the burning question of the day:
Who
was Mr. Jimmy? Note to Far Out, in 1964 a soda fountain wouldn't
have had Cherry Coke (which wasn't bottled until 1985), but
they could've been out of the necessary cherry syrup with which a
cherry Coke would've been fashioned, at the time.
|
| December 31, 2023 |
|
Watching this odd film located deep inside the Internet Archive,
Hello Down There from 1969, concerning a typical
American family living beneath the sea, for 30 days. Obviously inspired
by Jacques Cousteau's
Conshelf 2 -- watch his team doing it for real in the
World
Without Sun documentary from 1964. Note that unlike Tony Randall's
standalone Green Onion the actual Starfish House required a support ship,
on-station topside, for the duration.
|
| December 25, 2023 - Merry Christmas! |
|
|
| December 18, 2023 |
- Back from the travels, so good to be out from behind the Great
Chinese Firewall. Links resuming soon but as I couldn't access a lot
of the usual I scraped up all the Lee Sandlin I could find
there, and one last special recommendation would be his Road To Nowhere.
|
|
