Buying the New Yorker 1986 - page 69

Remember what I was saying in the last post about about the time of the year? Looks like they have a bit more backstock at this point than they anticipated.

Buying the New Yorker 1986 - page 68

One of the things that I've started to consider while doing this is the way that the time of year the issue comes out has an effect on the advertising. Because, these are all mid-January issues, we see quite a number of travel ads, both for spontaneous getaways to escape the winter and huge trips in the summertime that require a few months of planning. Because the holidays have just ended, we see few ads for drinks. Valentine's Day is on the horizon, so there's a few ads for jewelry. But here's something that I hadn't thought of yet: the New Yorker readership have to start planning to get their seeds in. Harris Seeds can give you such delights as the "Ghostbuster Eggplant" (it's sheet white!), the "Purple Haze Carrot" (it's appropriately psychedelic!) and something called the "Tidal Wave Petunia."

So, as I was saying: here's a vacation to St Croix. The Buccaneer's website says that it was "Founded in the 17th century and family-run for generations." It also says that 2007 will be its 60th Anniversary. A glance at the history page gives us the answer: It's only been a hotel for the last 60 years. Before that it was an estate, a sugar factory, a cotton plantation and a cattle ranch. Check out this page of vintage photos. If that's the best in their archive, then I feel really sorry for them.

It's called the Ambassador Grill because it's next door to the United Nations. Not because they serve grilled ambassadors. And look, it's in the agelessly named Millennium UN Plaza Hotel New York! Here's the description of their Champagne Brunch:

Start off with a complimentary Bottomless Glass of Champagne, enjoy our signature Ambassador Grill Lobster, Shrimp and Crab Cocktail, then wander through our lavish buffet, resplendent delectables, such as Eggs Benedict with Black Truffle Hollandaise, Beef Stroganoff with homemade Spaetzle, Austrian Cider Braised Chicken and Hibachi Salmon with Sake-soy Baby Bok Choi. These delicacies will be nestled between our Chefs hard at work carving Roast Prime Rib au Jus with Horseradish Cream, filling steamed Chinese Buns with Peking Duck and preparing Omelets and Mini Waffles to order and an array of desserts including a full selection of Pastries, Cakes, Cookies surrounding our renowned Bananas Foster and a Make Your Own Sundae Bar.

That should hit the spot after a long week across the street arguing about Darfur.

And another thing.

The At Last the 1948 Show DVD includes the most ungainly, complicated and unhelpful chart of British comedy I've ever seen in my life.

Imagine a bowl of multi-colored spaghetti that is trying to tell you that somebody appeared in 102 Dalmations. This is that.

A sentence from Wikipedia that begs for elaboration (and how I came to find it)

One of the new additions to the library from the Christmas season is the DVD of At Last the 1948 Show (US,UK). After a couple of episodes, a question arose - "Whatever became of 'The Lovely' Aimi MacDonald?" The answer: not much. The IMDB has her appearing in Rentaghost, which is one of those things that I've heard about for years but have never actually known about.

Learn about Rentaghost on Wikipedia.

At the bottom of of the page is the category for "BBC children's television programmes."

This led me to Blue Peter, as it is close to the top.

And then to this: "Other well-remembered and much-repeated items include the Girl Guides' bonfire that got out of hand on the 1970 Christmas edition."

This I want to see.

Perhaps my dog has joined the Air Force!

Among the many rituals of the ending of one year and the beginning of the next is the renewal of the city dog license. On the form is an area to fill out if you are not going to be renewing the license for the coming year. The section reads like this:

This dog, formerly owned by me, (please check one):

__ Has died.

__ Has a new owner.

__ Other - ____________________

I've spent the last week wondering what could possibly be a legitimate response for "Other."

Buying the New Yorker 1986 - page 67

The Knickerbocker Chicago recently changed its name, as the ownership seems to have felt that the word "knickerbocker" might not have aged as well as they might have liked. The new name that will hopefully remain timeless for decades to come?

The Millennium Knickerbocker Hotel

The Knickerbocker was built in 1927, which was an exciting time to have been in Chicago. The photo there, vague as it might be, certainly gives a sense of the atmosphere.

Now for the important bit. "Knickerbocker" was early New York City slang for the variety of button-legged pants that the Dutch residents wore. After a while, the name came to be used as a term of synonymity with the city itself (particularly in the sense of its history). Beers, clubs, sports teams, and even a hotel (which the Chicago hotel that we're ostensibly talking about is named after) were given the name. As an example, Washington Irving's satirical History of New York is narrated by a character named Diedrich Knickerbocker. When this book was printed in London, the illustrations (by George Cruikshank) made the button-legged pants look so similar to contemporary ladies underwear that they came to be called "knickers."

The answer to the other question that I just had to look up for this ad: So far as I can tell, nobody has ever been tommy-gunned by the mob in the Knickerbocker's parking garage. So much for atmosphere.

Winter Silks is no longer selling the Scandinavian Ski hat. I think that's wise of them. They do offer silk balaclavas and toe socks. There doesn't seem to be anything champagne colored, which is a pity as nothing says "special gift" like a pair of champagne colored toe socks.

There's lots of interesting stuff on Ladatco's website, but nothing about the mystery I was hoping to explore - what does "Ladatco" mean? The "Ancient Mystery" angle is being downplayed in favor of what they call "Pampered Adventure." Unlike most of these companies, the "Adventure" seems to actually take precedence over the "Pampered." Here's a couple of days out of the week-long "Offbeat Adventure in Nicaragua and El Salvador" package:

Monday - San Salvador Full day visit to the newly discovered (and currently under excavation) Joya de Ceren, a Maya village dating back to 1400 B.C. that was covered by volcanic ash and is the only Maya site found to date that reflects "village" daily life. Continue to Santa Ana for a visit to the San Andres ruins, once a Maya religious settlement. Lunch included today.
Thursday - Managua Another full day excursion; first, visit the impressive Masaya Volcano where you can stand right on the edge of the active crater. Then continue to the town of Masaya and its famed arts and crafts market, of special note are the hammocks and wood cravings. On to the colonial capital of Granada on the shores of Lake Nicaragua. Founded in 1524, you will see many churches and convents that still preserve the historic legacy. Lunch included in Granada prior to a boat ride through some of the 365 "isletas" on Lake Nicaragua.

You can also go to the Falklands and see the penguins, but you'd best have a fondness for small aircraft and Land Rovers.

Let's just call it a new tradition and be done with it.

This year's UK Christmas number one is the first single from Leona Lewis, "A Moment like This." Lewis is the winner of the most recent series of X Factor, and like with last year's winner, the song made its debut at number one.

A little bit of digging reveals that this release is a cover of the song that was the debut single for Kelly Clarkson, the 2002 American Idol winner.

At some point I will have a comment prepared that makes fun of this whole grim scenario, but right now I just feel empty inside.

Another ticket

I think that this is for the streetcar system in Budapest. Beyond that, I'm in the dark.

I had to share.

A post on my Doctor Who blog went so tangental that I felt that it was good enough to be reposted here.

From icWales:

THE nation's obsession with Doctor Who and a love of 10-pin bowling and films has established the Red Dragon Centre in Cardiff Bay among the nation's pre-eminent beacons of tourism and entertainment.

Here's the link to the Doctor Who Exhibition. And here's one to the bowling alley.

I think the person who is in charge of the publicity for the bowling alley deserves a large cash award.

A unique Numeracy Trail ties learning in with the family fun of bowling - who said maths couldn't be a laugh!

They are operated by a group called Hollywood Bowl. Hollywood bowl seems to be running some sort of contest/event called "The Pirates of Pinzance" where (if I am understanding this correctly) they dress the bowling pins up as pirates and instead of rolling the ball at them, you get to fire it down the lane from some sort of cannon. Or it's a scratch-off game. I am certain that I am not alone in hoping for the former.

Put my money on PKD.

Ed from the dizzies offers a challenge. I hope I'm right!

Purely for the spiders.

Technorati Profile

Scratch one from the list.

I was brainstorming about what sort of interesting things I might be able to see from the satellite view when I thought of this:


This ought to be interesting to see from space!

So first I had to figure out where this is. Turns out it was filmed at West Malling Airfield, and those big cement things are "blast screens for protection from the outwash of military jet engines."

Trouble is, the whole place is gone. It's a subdivision now. From the website, I see that it is an excellent place for folks of all ethnic backgrounds to live and wear grey business suits. There's also golf!

My annual Christmastime music fun

Last year I had a look at the UK pop chart to see what the annual Christmas single might be, so I decided to have a look again to see what was in contention.

Down at number 40 is Red Hot Chili Peppers with "Snow ((Hey Oh))." (The double parenthesis seems to be deliberate. I don't know why.) I suspect that this is not really a Christmas song, but really. Snow for Christmas. I think that counts.

Likewise at number 39 Jay-Z's "Show Me What You Got" obviously has something to do with the fun of opening up Christmas presents with the family.

Snow Patrol has a song at number 35. Snow again. That counts.

At 31 we have Fratellis - "Whistle For The Choir" a reference to wassailing, I have to presume.

Coming in at number 26 is Emma Bunton with "Downtown." As with most of these songs, I haven't actually heard this, but I think she was a Spice Girl and I hope to God that she isn't doing the Petula Clark song. Anyway, "downtown" is where you go shopping for Christmas presents.

The BBC 1 Singles Chart lists Ricky Tomlinson's entry (which is at number 25) as "Christmas My A*se." I have to point out that when Americans want to make get that word past the censors, they add the "r" to where the asterisk is, which makes it seem posh to us. I love these subtleties.

At 23 - Slade! My God! Are they still alive? They're doing "Merry Xmas Everybody." Merry Xmas Slade!

Andy Abraham and Michael Underwood are at number 18 with "December Brings Me Back To You." Close enough.

Debuting at 16 is Crazy Frog with "Last Christmas" which is when I said "I have to say that The Crazy Frog just flat out gives me the creeps." Still does.

An article in the latest Uncut gives me the impression that The Pogues' "Fairytale Of New York" is much more well known in the UK than here. It's at number 10. Today is the 22nd and I haven't heard it yet this year. Don't worry, I'll dig the CD out.

Roughly a third of my readership is from the UK (thank you Comic Strip Presents) so for that contingent I have to apologise. But for family and friends and sundry Americans I have to explain who Cliff Richard is. We know him as the guy Rik makes fun of on The Young Ones, and if someone plays "Devil Woman," folks of a certain age will sort of blink and go "oh, that."

In England this man is like Elvis. Elvis without the barbs and the carbos, but nevertheless. He has hit the Number One on the UK pop charts at least once every decade from the fifties to the nineties. He has yet to get a number one in the current decade. Currently he is at number 2, with something called "21st Century Christmas." I get the impression that this is what some might call the sentimental favorite.

At number one is Take That. Americans don't know them either. They were a boy band once. I was certain they'd broken up. Good for them persevering and all.

a laundry list

At least I'm presuming that's what this is:





It was too long for the scanner and folded in half anyway, so instead of trying to fiddle about with joining the two images I just put them both up as they were.

The bottom of the second is a perforated line, I'm not sure what it's for.

Handy Hint

In the upper left corner of this blog is a search field. You can use it to search for things on this blog. And only this blog. I recall the old Blogger gave you a choice. Now it doesn't.

And now a quick aside for the person who has been visiting for the last few days and attempting to use the search function: There is a small chance that you might be looking for this post. Otherwise I am afraid you are looking for information that I really can't provide you.

I do admire your persistence, however, and wish you the best of luck in your quest.

if you can't get enough old magazine ads

Here's a selection of ads from a 1963 issue of Playboy.

Breaking Down the Nervous Detectives - But first: a question for the police

While getting ready for my next semi-intermittent project I had a little question pop into my head.

How common is it for British police officers who find themselves in some sort of bother to get transferred to the other end of the country?

The usual Google and Wikipedia venues offered little joy, other than to find that regional police do seem to independent of each other. So to pursue, I had a look at the website for the Northumbria Police. The FAQ tells me that the three most common questions that they have are:

1. "I am the System Manager for my company's CCTV system. How do I comply with the Data Protection Act?"
2. "I have been asked to give evidence at court and am worried about what to expect. What will I have to do?"
3. "Where can I find information about how Northumbria Police has performed?"

I get the impression that they aren't in the frame of mind to put a lot of effort into deconstructing pop culture. Which is their right.

And congratulations to Chief Superintendent Kevin Lambert for becoming the "voice of festive talking road signs" in South Tyneside. That sounds like a fun gig.

I prepare for the coming year of blogging

My new job is now beginning to get some form of normal attached to it. My position had been vacant for a while, so I started with a two and a half month backlog. I also was told only a couple of days ago that I am getting over the busiest time of the year.

So, I hope to have a bit more time and energy to be adding value to the internet in the future. I have a few more ideas lined up (because I think that the New Yorker ads are starting to tire some folks).

Stay tuned.

Archie comics is getting a new look

It's sort of scary.

Sorry, World!

It turns out that Pandora can currently only stream music to listeners in the United States.

I'll make a note when this has changed.

A few more tools for the box

Off to the side you will find a new link to my Pandora Account. Pandora is an offshoot of "The Music Genome Project," which is one of those deals where you can enter a song and get a list of other songs that are sort of similar. Pandora is a jukebox thingy, that plays what it thinks you like based on what you say you think you like. If you click on the link, you can find your way to what it thinks my likes and dislikes are. They are really my attempt to game the system which seems to have its own ideas. I went through a big Country phase, followed by lots of women with husky voices. Currently, it is trending into lounge prog - which I like, but in smaller doses (It has been playing an awful lot of Cousteau for example). Still, when it went from Stereolab to Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich and then a cut from Joe Strummer's soundtrack to Walker, I knew that I had something set up right.

I've had a lot of fun with satellite photos, but I've been a little frustrated with the competing services. Now I've found FlashEarth, which pulls images from GoogleMaps, Microsoft VE, Yahoo, and others that I've not bothered with. You can toggle back and forth from service to service, which is handy, and if it goes belly up tomorrow the links have the latitude and longitude in them, so I can see where I was.

So here is a picture that I took, in the general direction of the satellite,



and here is the link to see from the satellite where I was when I took the picture.

Speaking of pictures I took, I've also set up a flickr account. I'll be using it for some of my scans and photos, so some of my posts are going to start to look sort of wonky as I work out how all the coding works and move some of the old photos over.

One of the added features of the Blogger Beta is that it has its own rss feed. But I already set one up with Feedburner. That link is restored to the side. I'm still trying to work out which one I like better.

Finally, Amazon has added a lot of functionality to their a-Store system. I can have more than nine items, and I can put things in sections - I can even ghettoize my Doctor Who section. It's sort of ugly and unorganized at the moment, but I thought I might mention it because it's live, and it's Christmastime. Go shopping.

The things you learn

I am informed that the young lady in the photo is carrying an "Ash Basket."

You can purchase some nice ones for yourself here.

Ash baskets were intended for the sorts of folks who like to go out into the woods and collect pinecones and whatnot for home decor. This particular ash basket seems to be filled with that tall grass that people gather to stick in dry vases. The grass then disintegrates and falls all over the room until it is all ground into the carpet.

Or perhaps she has indeed gathered some wheat to grind, boil down to wort, ferment and then distill. But I'm just a romantic that way.

Buying the New Yorker 1986 - page 66

One of the bands that I was really into in 1986 was The Three O'Clock. The liner notes on their album "Arrive Without Travelling" ended with the words "have some wheat."

This became a catchphrase amongst my friends, partly for the enigma of it, and also because of the number of beverages that we enjoyed that were derived from wheat.

I am reminded of that because I have no idea what she has slung over her shoulder - some sort of quiver for gathering wheat is my best guess.

It looks like The Slickerworks has gone out of business. Pity. I'd liked to have asked them.

I was thinking that "Young Island" was a slogan. Nope. That's the name. And go have a look at the place. It's so little and cute!

Vacances en Campagne seems to have been run by a fellow named Carl I. Stewart. At least he wrote some letters to The New York Times about the business. There is now an attorney in New York named Carl I. Stewart. Same guy? Stranger things have happened.

I can't tell for certain if the cunningly named "Bed and Breakfast Inn" is still operation. If it is, they're not making it particularly easy to find them. Of course, I could just try calling their phone number, but where's the fun in that?

Buying the New Yorker 1986 - page 65

You'll pardon me for not being silly for this one. Here's the link.

Buying the New Yorker 1986 - page 63

Let's go to the events calendar:

Complimentary Christmas Maple Sugar Exfoliations.
December 22: 10:00am-2:00pm
As a taster of one of Topnotch Spa's Signature Services, The Maple Sugar Body Scrub, join massage therapy manger, Margo Hanson and her team, for sumptuous lower leg and foot scrubs. Our therapists will exfoliate, moisturize and massage to bring you a sweet holiday treat for feet.

I don't think that this sounds particularly soothing. But it does sound Christmassy, in that you will come out smelling like a holiday breakfast.


Oh please just stop.

What not to buy

Tired of all of those sites that look at what you like and extrapolate other things that you will like?

Here's something different: A site that tells you what you will probably not like.

Just go tell The Unsuggester what books you like and it will give you suggestions for things that you should avoid.

For example: If you like "Critique of Pure Reason" by Immanuel Kant you are likely to dislike "Confessions of a Shopaholic" by Sophie Kinsella. If you like "All-American Girl" by Meg Cabot you are likely to dislike "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick.

Buying the New Yorker 1986 - page 62

Woo! A cruise you can "Handel!" Get it! Handel! IT'S A PUN! Ha ha ha!

I know! we can stop by the Handel and Haydn Society and share this joke with them. If we can find them ... 'cause they'll be "Haydn" from us! Har har har.


I can't find this particular model being made anymore, but there's a couple on eBay. They seem to be averaging $15. You can go to the actual Orient-Express train line website and purchase a lamp exactly like the one that is on the train now. List price: £550.00.

Haverhills seems to have gone out of business. I'm not sure if this is the reason for them closing up shop, but I see that they were in some trouble with the Federal Trade Commission for "making false and unsubstantiated advertising claims about suntanning and fuel-economy devices."

Buying the New Yorker 1986 - page 61

According to wikipedia:

Tricot is a special case of warp knitting, in which the yarn zigzags vertically, following a single column ("wale") of knitting, rather than a single row ("course"), as is customary. Tricot and its relatives are very resistant to runs, and are commonly used in lingerie.

Is Tricot any good? Let's see... All the pyjamas that Cable Car Clothiers currently has for sale are made of cotton.

Back in the early days of museums, it was common for plaster casts to be made of, well, just about everything. Then they all swapped. Result: tons of casts. Then the fashion changed. Museum-goers only wanted to see the real artefacts and thousands of plaster cast replicas went off to storage. There are a few galleries here and there. The Victoria And Albert has one, and you "Oxford Scholars" that I was yelling at in the last post can sneak off to a back alley and visit the Ashmolean's cast gallery. Some of these cool old casts seemed to have found their way to the Giust Gallery. Zeus there now goes for $200, in case you're interested.

The Cinnamon Reef Beach Club is now called "The Enclave at Cinnamon Reef." Looks like they've done the place up a bit.

Buying the New Yorker 1986 - page 60

The Oxford/Berkeley exchange is still going on. Here is their site. The info that is up currently is still for 2006 Summer session, so some of the info I've gathered might have changed by the time you get to it.

I am a big fan of continuing education programs. I take them myself and I always encourage others to do so as well. People who want to learn for nothing more than a love of learning are the best people on this planet, and there needs to be more of them. Having said that I have to say that I have a few reservations about this program.

There is no application process, barring the ability to pay the 5+ g's to go. Four of the courses look like fine excuses to take in a nice bunch of country houses. A course on "The Scientific Imagination" includes a boat ride to Greenwich. I'll put money down that the "Winston Churchill and the Liberal World" course included at least one nip up the road to Blenheim. The faq says that "the average participant is 50 to 60."

Frequent visitors to this site will have long ago inferred that I work in academia. I'm going to put that hat on for just a moment. If you, dear reader, are currently an undergraduate who thinks that this program is an excellent opportunity for study, I heartily recommend that you request a syllabus from the course that you wish to take from this program and bring a copy to your course advisor NOW. There is a very small chance that you might be allowed to earn one or two semester hours from this.

If you, dear reader, are someone who would like to drop a Madison for the opportunity to go to Oxford and "pursue independent study in one of the university's many libraries or perhaps under a tree in a beautiful garden," then all power to you. Just a word of perspective for you. If you are going because you have time and money to burn, then go. You will have fun, it will be interesting. If you are sincere about your desire to learn and travel and experience life, then you will better yourself.

If you are going so that you can earn the opportunity to drop the phrase "Well, when I was studying at Oxford" at cocktail parties then you are a jackass. Sooner or later you will bump into someone who actually was a student, who worked long and hard and earned an actual degree for their efforts, and they will call you on it and make you look to everyone present like the shallow poseur tourist that you are. I hope I'm there to see it.

So anyway. India.

It's Incomparable! If I had much more free time, I think that an interesting thing to study would be the way India is depicted in travel literature throughout the years. I suspect that in contemporary ads you find a bigger trend towards actual contemporary Indian culture. Of course, were I to take up that challenge, I would most likely not even use this ad at all because it tells me next to nothing. Interestingly, Journeyworld seems to have maintained their passion for the destination: They've moved to Bhutan!

The Assembly Steakhouse has also moved. But just across the river to New Jersey. But it's more than a great steakhouse, it's a truly comprehensive and utterly freaky set of links for steak and steak related items. I suspect that it might be compiled by searchbots, which might explain why when you click on Kobe Beef, you get a subsection on Kobe Bryant. You also get another subsection on Semen. Told you it was weird.

About six years before this ad appeared, everybody in my family got one of these nightcaps from Santa. Looking back on it, I start to wonder if the parents decided to start turning the heat down to save a bit of money. What I know for sure: while it might be possible to wear one of these babies in a suave and fashionable way, it is far too difficult to bother. Also watch out for static and the most amazing hat-hair you'll ever see, that is if it doesn't fall off in the middle of the night.

I suspect Putnam Antiques went out of business, by the way. Pity, I'd have wanted to find out if the hats themselves were antiques. That might be more suave.

Holy Cow! I have a blog!

A combination of new job, holiday, and spiffy weather have kept me away from the computer.

I'll be back soon.

Buying the New Yorker 1986 - page 59

You know, I never noticed this before. The old Columbia House Pop/Rock ads had all the selections listed randomly, but here we see the Classical selections in alphabetical order.

And get a load of this: Columbia House only does videos now. Their music club has been farmed out to BMG!

Time marches on!

Buying the New Yorker 1986 - page 57

Here's the synopsis from Doollee.com:

As the play begins the protagonists are twelve-year-old sixth graders. One of them, Daniel Rocket, is firmly convinced that he can fly, a belief that causes him to be shunned and ridiculed by his schoolmatesincluding the girl he adores and for whose regard he is driven to prove himself. Oddly enough, however, it turns out that Daniel can fly, although, initially he does so in secret. When, at last, he demonstrates his talent to the others, he straps on wings (although he doesn't need them) in deference to their stubborn disbelief. From then on, Daniel soars to fame and fortune and, in the second half of the play, which takes place twenty years later, he returns home a renowned celebrity. But he has also become, in a sense, the symbol of the exceptional person, the genius who has outdistanced those around him and, in so doing, has isolated himself not only from his childhood but from the simple joys and tender emotions shared by those whom he has left behind. Torn by growing uncertainty, Daniel finds his gift waning and, in the climax of the play, he suffers a fatal crashvictim both of his distrusted uniqueness and of the unwitting need of others to bring down what they cannot understand or emulate.

What American Playhouse used to do was take plays and film them completely on the cheap. They were filmed on videotape and generally without an audience. Folks who are more knowledgeable then I can (and have) fill whole books about "medium" and "process." All I know is that the way it was done took perfectly good stageplays with amazingly talented casts and sucked every last bit of life out of them.

Some tidbits that I found while trying to learn about this show:

• The Tom Hulce Ultimate Webpage has the most frightening "the server is temporarily down" message that I have ever seen in my life.
• Valarie Mahaffey was born in Sumatra. She, Hulce and playwright Peter Parnell were all born in 1953.
• Chubb is still in the insurance game. This page is where you can go get a policy on your yacht.
  

Buying the New Yorker 1986 - page 56

I think that this sets a new record for ad quantity on a page. I'm pretty sure that this is the first time I've needed four images to get all the ads in. I apologise in advance. This post is probably going to look horrific.

All I have to do is look at one of L.L. Bean's signature boots and I can feel my calves chafing. I think we have ten current Bean catalogs floating around the house now that it is the early (read: safe to order things that have to be shipped) holiday season. I would be interested to have a look at an old catalog, just to see how much it's changed. Somehow I think not so much.

The Andrews Hotel is still there, and they've done a little work on the front. Gone is the nice period canopy, and in it's place... well from the picture it looks like a slab. I don't like the new sign either. Man, I am a grump. Oh, and you youngsters in the audience: That car in the ad. It's not from 1986. Just so you know.

Generally the sign that a craft firm is really into their art is when their website has a bibliography. The James Robinson Company is just this hardcore. Their flatware is all hand-hammered, so, in addition to the quality, it can also be customized:

Most of our patterns can be altered to suit your particular taste and individuality. For instance, all three prong forks are also made with four prongs. All knives are offered with a choice of blades. Most patterns can be supplied in longer or shorter lengths to fit your needs. All patterns can have their handles turned up or down as you prefer.

I have no idea why I would need any of this, but I'm somehow quite happy that I can get it.

Yes, it's that Trapp Family. Honestly, I can't add anything to this. Go have a look for yourself.

Italia Adagio seems to currently be run by a moonlighting academic named Dr. Daniel Lesnick.

Dr. Lesnick has lived in Italy for over eight years since 1969, studying and conducting historical research on topics including Preaching in Medieval Florence, Criminal Activity in Medieval and Renaissance Todi, and Italian Microhistory.

I suspect that he's taken the business over from artist Frieda Yamins (she also seems to have done a similar setup with Hawaii) - I need to do more research than I'm really up to at the moment to find out for sure. Sorry.

What seems to go down is this: you write to Dr. Lesnick and tell him what bits of Italy you want to visit and learn about, and he whomps up a group of 15 or so people to take the trip. It sounds like good interesting fun unless one of the people on the trip has the personality of a rotting fish. Which you never see from tourists.

The Island City House hotel is the sort of Bed and Breakfast that needs to have a whole section on their website about their cats. Each cat has its own page. Here's the one for the cat named "Miss Snorkels." Don't say I didn't warn you.

Don't bother googling the phrase "canoe burgundy" if you are looking for this trip deal. You'll just get a bunch of burgundy colored canoes. I have so far found nothing on Connor Travel and their "Canoeing through France" set up, but I have to say that after all the hoity-toity barge tours I've seen in this project, the idea of doing the same routes in a canoe sounds like hilarious fun. The fact that my imagination is conjuring up images of early nineteenth-century French Canadian fur trappers is just a happy bonus.

Buying the New Yorker 1986 - page 55

I'm sure that recent advances in nano-technology and computer modeling have created advances far beyond these layered models. I felt adventurous, so I googled "pillow manufacturing research" to see what the state of the pillow art is.

The second hit I got on that search was this article.

It turns out that the hip field in the pillow business is catering to the power napping movement. And towards the end of the article look who pops up:

Today, there are napping Web sites and napping books, such as William Anthony's "The Art of Napping," a serio-comic exegesis of the all-too-human pastime. The Weehawken, N.J.-based Company Store, which specializes in pillow manufacturing, recently started offering an "Executive Napping Kit." For $89.99, you get a down-filled travel pillow (synthetic down for the allergic) and pillow case in six designer colors, a black nylon and canvas attache in which to store your pillow, and a copy of Anthony's book. They call their specialty headrest "the Productivity Pillow."

Move sixteen tons and what do you get? A coincidence!

Meet the guy with season tickets to SNL

Ironic Sans interviews "Louis Klein, audience member of nearly every episode of Saturday Night Live."

My memory from meeting you 15 years ago was that you had seen every episode live except for a few. But I guess you’ve missed more than that.

In the first 5 years I’d seen 59 out of 106. So I missed 47 shows then. To date I’ve missed I think 83. That means in the last 27 years I’ve missed 36 shows.

How many have you seen?

This is my 528th show.

Another look at that map.

So if you look really close at this map that I put up in the last post, you can see that he drew on it. It's hard to spot because it's in mechanical pencil (he was an engineer, after all).

There's a little arrow on the Victoria Hotel and a line that goes up to the Central Station and then along the tram line, finally ending on Oostenberger Gracht.

A business meeting?

Victoria Hotel Amsterdam

Here's a nice looking receipt:


I can't for the life of me figure out all the added costs beyond the room on this one. But the Victoria Hotel is still there. Here's what it looks like today:

Here's some more info about the hotel.

Along with the bill I find this delightful Art Nouveau information card:


On the back are the room rates. Looks like Great-Grandpa got the cheapest single room available:

And inside, a spiffy map:




And here is the same area in Google Maps.

Dinner on board

After the ship that Great-Grandpa was meant to have come back from Europe on was removed from the active fleet, he settled on the Oceanic. Amongst the ephemera related to the Oceanic was this piece of heavy stock cardboard.


At first I thought it was a postcard or some sort of souvenir. But closer examination showed that it flipped open, revealing a menu.


It seems that Great-Grandpa's company set him up with enough of a travel advance to go First Class.

View some photos of CBGB's being dismantled

Many years ago, a few friends and I got together and decided that it would be cool to start a bar/music venue. We looked around and found a spot that was on the market, so we started making calls and got ourselves a tour.

As part of the process of going out of business, the previous owners and their clientele thoroughly trashed the place. It was pretty ghastly from that, and had then sat unoccupied for about two years, which only added to the mystique. A small detail that sums up the experience: just as the real estate guy was explaining that the food prep area could have a decent swipedown and all the equipment would be good as new, he finds a petrified mouse in the fry vat basket.

At least I understand how that happened. If you go through this slideshow of CBGB's being cleaned out, pause yourself at photo number 17 and try to work out how that mouse came to be there.

Buying the New Yorker 1986 - page 54

I think I've made it clear from an earlier post that I'm really not that into golf, so when I found my way to the Casa de Campo website, I took a look at their coming attractions to see what else there is to do. Turns out that this weekend is the Caribe POP Festival! The daily headliners are Bryan Adams, The Rasmus, and La Oreja de Van Gogh (representing Canada, Finland and Spain respectively, but

In addition to the international stars, there will be super surprises in charge of recognized national bands. The names of the Dominican artists will be announced very soon.

They best hurry up, it's already over.


From their website:

Hamilton Adams celebrates over 50 years of providing the finest linen textiles to the American decorative furnishings trade.

furthermore:

Hamilton Adams is uniquely able to serve a broad range of markets - upholstery, drapery, bedding, tabletop, artist supply and decorative textile resources, to name but a few.

Notice what's missing? Clothes! Back in the day you can take that upholstery linen and make a snappy jacket out of it.

I've been thinking that this ad doesn't look nearly as dated as it should, and I've just realized why: the top of the model's head is out of the frame -- we can't see the full hairstyle. I'm all nostalgic now. I'll get over it.

A hat trick

I just noticed that the other day, a confluence happened in my teensy little corner of Blogger.


I made a post to all three in the same day! This is quite rare. And I suspect it will continue to be.

If you haven't been by in a while, you can visit from the links up on your right, and scroll down to see the headlines from the latest posts.

Science continues to work for you.

Good News:

Researchers at the Harvard Medical School and the National Institute on Aging report that a natural substance found in red wine, known as resveratrol, offsets the bad effects of a high-calorie diet in mice and significantly extends their lifespan.

The Catch:

The mice were fed a hefty dose of resveratrol, 24 milligrams per kilogram of body weight. Red wine has about 1.5 to 3 milligrams of resveratrol per liter, so a 150-pound person would need to drink from 1,500 to 3,000 bottles of red wine a day to get such a dose.

Hotel Belgischer Hof

Hmmm. From what I can tell, The Hotel Belgischer Hof ("Belgian Yard") is (or was) in Cologne, and seems to be still operational. Judging from the photos on various travel sites, it has either moved locations or had a massive renovation - very possible as the city saw extensive bombing during the Second World War.

Here you can see my Great-Grandfather's first name (Lloyd) on the receipt, but not his last name. If I'm understanding the receipt correctly, he arrived on May 8th and stayed the ninth and tenth (at four Marks a night) and checked out on the 11th (the date on the inkstamp). The additional 6.4 is for "washing" - perhaps laundry service?

Great moments in CD reviewing

I normally don't listen to All Things Considered on NPR, as I generally commute by mass transit with my own audio, but yesterday I was coming home in my car and caught this review of the new Maria Muldaur CD. I found it quite fascinating, partly because I like music reviews on audio, particularly when the reviewer pulls illustrative clips from both the item at hand and other sources, so you can really get a sense of what is being discussed. The other reason for fascination was because I couldn't tell if the reviewer had a really subtle and odd sense of humor, or, well, not. Example:

When, a few minutes later, she reaches the strange line "Ghengis Khan, he could not keep all his men supplied with sheep," you get a whole new idea what those sheep were for.

Stay for the end, when he actually uses the word "grok."

A door closes and another opens

Today I am unemployed.

Yesterday was the final day of my old job (the one I was in the process of being laid off from), and Monday I start at the new one. I get a four day weekend to hose the old job out of my brain and get ready to be "the new guy" again.

I don't even care that it's a crappy, grey drizzly morning. I'm feeling pretty good.

Shhh, don't let him know we're following him.

It's interesting to note that I've been following the blog on Dave Gorman's website for quite a few years now. In late 2002-early 2003, there were hints as to the events that would become his Googlewack Adventure. Towards the end (Feb 20, 2003) he wrote:

If you've seen any of my other stage shows, you'll understand that there are times in my life when events take over. It doesn't leave a lot of time for other things. This is no exception. I don't write a story, a story happens to me, and right now it's still happening to me. There really isn't time to do everything that needs to be done and to stop and explain it, so for now that's all I can say. The dates are on the live dates page and when I have the chance to stop and take stock of what's been happening to me I'll put something explanatory on the site. Oh, and I'll start actually writing the show too.

It was kind of thrilling, seeing posts like that.

As I mentioned a little while ago, he is off on another project/adventure, and this time he's told us to "expect some website silence." Fair enough.

Here's the deal though: A while ago I added the feed from his flickr pool to my newsreader. He's still taking pictures! He's travelling in America, going up the West Coast. Balancing stacks of rocks.

I'm looking forward to seeing what comes of it all.

Oh, dear god no! Never!

One or more Saturday Night Live cast members might have been pharmaceutically impaired.

That's just so last century.

Weekend for the Working

I'm always a sucker for an opportunity to have a look at all the little details of a television show set. TV Squad has this marvelous look at the details of the set of (the American version of) The Office here. (And an Office fan-site opens it up for comments here)

I gave up on the American version of The Office after the first ten minutes as it was at that point a bad cover version. It seems to have found its own way. I am amused to find this article about the various international versions, as part of the thesis seems to be that while it is perfectly sensible for there to be an American remake, the creation of French and German remakes is somehow silly.

And continuing with the general theme, check out this video, which I've never seen before. This was the first song that I ever listened to and considered that pop music could have thematic depth. I was eight, so I get some slack for that.

Three tickets

Three tickets for perhaps a streetcar or a train.





I have a feeling that this project is going to be more interactive, as I have more questions about these than answers.

The words in the center are place names in Germany and Austria, so these are obviously mass-transit related. I don't know that area well enough to tell if the places are close together or not.

This is the most complicated punch-card system I've ever seen, but I guess that the punch at the top indicates the value of these tickets, and the lack of other punches would mean that they went unused. I'm also not sure if the rip in the upper right corners are part of the fare taking, or just from being removed from the pad. The fact that the serial numbers are in sequence tells me that they were purchased at the same time.

A word about anonymity (to be specific, mine)

Some of you might be surprised to discover that Xenius Jones is not my real name.

When I began blogging, I thought for a while about the question of anonymity.

A portion of my job entailed writing letters to college students that began with variations of "I regret to inform you that the committee has not decided to..." Experience has shown that a small percentage of students, upon receipt of such a message, will respond with some level of venom, and the addition of Google to the mix meant that I would sooner or later be faced with some rejected munchkin swearing at my blog.

So I thought for a while and picked a name. In the world of author Harry Stephen Keeler, Xenius Jones is a detective who solves crimes (such as the famed "Aeronautic Strangler-Baby Case" in which... oh just go look it up) by studying the fourth-dimensional ripples of causality that emanate from a given event. I felt it appropriate at the time.

From time to time, the identity has been a bit of a crutch. I feel a little twinge for people who are trying to navigate it, who suspect that it might be a fake but don't want to call me on it, just in case it isn't.

On the whole, it's been fine and has served me well.

Yesterday I was offered another job at another institution, and accepted. That's one enormous horrible load off of my mind, replaced by a bunch of tinier happy loads.

One of the happy loads is this blog, and how I want to deal with it in the new workplace. My old workplace was unaware that I was blogging (though I'll bet a couple of people suspected). I may decide to be more open in my new situation. In any event, if I do come out of the blogging closet, it will probably not be soon.

In the meantime, I'd like to take a moment to thank you folks who sent me messages of encouragement, advice, and good thoughts in general.

And a special shout-out to the scholar who used my Amazon link to buy science textbooks.

Buying the New Yorker 1986 - page 53

Yes, the Privileged Few can listen to the sunrise. The rest of us poor shmoes have to settle for looking at it. In any other page context, I might go on about the design styles of the Eighties, but no. I have to get on to this next ad.

Every so often I hear someone gobbling on about how the styles of the Eighties are coming back. I will not believe it until I see some young hipster coming down the sidewalk wearing that primo sailboat number. Without the use of irony.

Honestly, I can't stop looking at this ad. Did he say "Oh, we're going sailing! I have just the sweater to wear!" or was it just some hilarious coincidence?

Buying the New Yorker 1986 - page 52

I like how they have the fake headlines in this ad, even though there is no graphical reason for it. Notice also how they make note of "catalog 201." That's a code so the folks in Spiegel HQ know exactly where you saw this ad. The catalog costs five bucks now, but you also get a ten dollar gift certificate. That's like they're giving you money.


Every time I look at this ad, I get "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" stuck in my head.

Princess Hotels has sold The Pierre Marques to Fairmont. It looks much less like the wallpaper in Grandma's bathroom now that the new management has come in and spruced the place up.

Behind the scenes of the Green Screen Challenge

(If you don't know what I'm talking about, click here)

Bonnie R. writes about what it was like to win (which she didn't really do, because it wasn’t a contest) on the Colbert Report. She also has a link to a better def version of her film then the one plastered all over YouTube.

Buying the New Yorker 1986 - page 51

Air France no longer offers the "Aristocrat Tour" offered here. So far as I can see from their website, they have two tours: The "Paris Honeymoon" tour and the "French Riviera" tour. Click for the details of either one and you will get a "Page non trouvée" message. The reason for this is because both of the tour deals were for April 1 to October 31, 2003.

They do have links to hotels so you can book yourself, perhaps at a discount. You can also download .pdf maps and hunks of Lonely Planet guidebooks.

On the plus side, I'll bet that the prices are comparably cheaper now.

I love a good project

via We Make Money Not Art, I learn of another project that has just been completed. The goal of this one: "to photograph every taxidermied polar bear in the UK."

BBC Report

The Artists' website.

The Gallery where the results are displayed.

An article from the telegraph which begins with:

A couple of years ago, Cumbrian artists Bryndis Snæbjörnsdóttir and Mark Wilson found a polar bear in a pub in Wensleydale. He'd been there for some time, and was completely legless.

If I ever have an opportunity to write something half as interesting as that, I'll (eventually) die a happy man.

Marianne Moore clocks in at the Ford plant

A story from the annals of American Literature that has tickled me for years, via wikipedia:

In 1955, [modernist poet Marianne] Moore was informally invited by Ford's David Wallace, Manager of Marketing Research for Ford's proposed "E" car project and co-worker Bob Young for input and suggestions. Wallace's rationale was "who better to understand the nature of words than a poet."
Moore, a loyal Ford owner, submitted numerous lists which included: "Silver Sword," "Thundercrest" (and "Thundercrester"), "Resilient Bullit," "Intelligent Whale," "Pastelogram," "Adante con Moto" "Varsity Stroke," and "Mongoose Civique." (One name she suggested, "Chaparral", later coincidentally was used for a racing car.) Against the strong objection of her brother, Moore also submitted the name TURCOTINGA, which was a play on the Cotinga (a South American finch) and the color turquoise; however, she noted in her letter to Wallace that it was simply a suggestion; that if he wanted to go in the direction of nature she had several volumes of works that she could review. In a letter dated December 8th 1955, Moore wrote the following:

Mr Young,
May I submit UTOPIAN TURTLETOP? Do not trouble to answer unless you like it. Marianne Moore

All these outside ideas were rejected, although Miss Moore received two dozen roses and a thank you note affectionately addressed to the Top Turtletop, which Moore found amusing. In her reply to Young she regretted that she could not have been more help, and noted that she was looking forward to trying out the vehicle when it was introduced. While Moore's contributions were meant to stir creative thought, and were not officially authorized or contractual in nature, history has greatly exaggerated her relationship to the project. The car was finally christened "the Edsel."

Every so often it strikes me to do something creative with some or all of those interesting car names, so today I decided to see if anyone else had:

• Silver Sword - There are close to 12 million hits for Silver Sword on Google. It seems that the overlap between folks who enjoy computers and folks who enjoy talking about interesting varieties of swords is rather high.
  
• Thundercrest (and Thundercrester) - Thundercrest also brought a bunch of hits having to do with Everquest. Apparently at some point during play you can be "sent in to the Thundercrest Isles to destroy the animated statues created by the drake Kro`val." I doubt if there is a Marianne Moore connection here. "Thundercrester" brought five hits about Moore and her adventures with Edsel, including one in Czechoslovakian.
  
• Resilient Bullit - I'm not sure if "Bullitt" was deliberately misspelled, but either way, nobody seems to be using it -- it's there for the picking.
  
• Intelligent Whale - Check this out:
  

Intelligent Whale was one of a number of submarines built during the Civil War. She was hand-propelled, and steered by horizontal and vertical rudders. Wooden doors on the bottom allowed a diver to exit with a mine. She was purchased by the U.S. Navy in 1869, and brought to the Brooklyn Navy Yard for testing. In September 1872, in her only official Navy test, Intelligent Whale flooded. The crew escaped, but the Navy's interest in her ceased. Intelligent Whale was an early experiment in a field now of great importance.

(Nothing to do with Moore. She wasn't born yet. But, man is that cool!)

• Pastelogram - "Plan59.com" is a particularly lovely site that focuses on 1950's era design. Pastelogram is the name of their blog. Great stuff.
  
• Andante con Moto - Brahms predates Moore as well.
  
• Varsity Stroke - I admit to being more than a little frightened at what I'd get from this. Actually we get a lot of hits about college rowing teams.
  
• Mongoose Civique - Just hits about Moore, but one writer wondered aloud if this name was the inspiration for the "Honda Civic."
  
• Turcotinga - More Moore, but the ratio of non-English hits is rather high.
  
• Utopian Turtletop - Another blog (although it's spelled "uTopian Turtletop"). Mr. Turtletop seems to be a pop culture generalist who is happy to write about whatever strikes his fancy (particularly music). Click through to his own music, which sounds like the sort of stuff that only happens halfway through a Sunday afternoon backyard barbecue when someone says "Hey, let's get the guitars out." Which is, now that I think of it, what the blog feels like, too. That's a compliment, by the way.
  

Catching up with Dave Gorman

The other day we had a friend over for a tremendously low key evening of dinner and complaints about job hunting. After a bit, the consensus came to be that we should watch a video to cheer up the mood, and pulled out Dave Gorman's Googlewack Adventure (UK). It did the trick.

Dave Gorman, after a few false starts, is starting to catch on in America, thanks to his intermittent appearances on The Daily Show. I am happy to see that his television show called "The Dave Gorman Collection" is being released on DVD (The stage show and book were called "Are You Dave Gorman" so the DVD has that title). I'm not linking to Amazon for this one because Dave Gorman has a link to a pre-order from his site. It is advertised as a region free NTSC and PAL DVD. I've never seen a DVD that is both broadcast systems simultaneously, so I'm looking forward to tinkering with it.

We saw the Googlewack show live a few years back. When we travel, we try to see who is playing where, and saw that he was touring. We extrapolated our path with his, and decided that the most convenient place to try and see him was in the town of Aylesbury (We were stopping by friends in Oxford). After the show we stayed to get an autograph and
Dave seemed completely baffled that we would come from America to see him in Aylesbury. After two hours of him explaining how he impulsively travelled around the world to meet random people who found each other on the internet, we thought this a bit odd.

We thought it was a very good show and it seemed that the audience around us was really getting into it. This is what Dave said on his site about the show we attended (ours was the Friday night):

Two very different shows in Aylesbury. The Friday night show was probably the worst one of the tour so far. I don't know if it was me or the audience or ... or anything else, but there were so many things that usually elicit gales of laughter that were getting a smattering, if that. If you were in that audience and I wasn't on form; my apologies.

Well, OK. On behalf of the audience, sorry Dave.

Eagle-eyed readers of this site will have noticed that I occasionally poke a little fun of Aylesbury. I grew up in a city very much like it, near as I can tell. It's the sort of place where everyone either wants to leave as soon as possible, or stay around and make the best of it or kick things. There were a number of very kind people at the town museum, the Civic Centre where the show was, and various shops and pubs who seemed a bit baffled when we showed up. I understand this bafflement. If British tourists suddenly appeared in my home town, I'd have been a bit weirded out too.

Three stories about how I learned more about Aylesbury:

1. There is an underpass between a shopping mall and the train station. As we were wandering around, we found our way there. I thought that it seemed oddly familiar. Turns out that this is the spot where they filmed the scene from the beginning of A Clockwork Orange where Alex and his Droogs beat up the old bum.
2. A couple of days after our visit, Aylesbury was in the news. An old age pensioner who was selling poppies for November 11th was intercepted by a group of youths who bashed in his head with a claw hammer.
3. A while later, Danny Wallace, the co-author of the Are You Dave Gorman book, was in town on a book tour. We showed up for a reading and came up afterward to autograph our copies. After the initial miscue (Danny's first reaction when he saw Dave's autograph was "Are you one of his Googlewacks?") we explained that we were just fans. Then we mentioned where we saw him. The guy who was hawking about a book about how he accidentally started a cult (US UK) was looking at us like we were nuts because we had gone to Aylesbury.

I also notice that the most recent post on Dave Gorman's site indicates that he is up to something, but won't say what. Good luck to him, and I'm looking forward to seeing what comes of it.