This would be the type of motorcycle I would drive. Oh, and I would also be a multi-millionaire in this alternate version of reality. It’s undeniable how beautiful these Confederate Machines are, however, so enjoy (if you haven’t seen them before).
Blog
-
Bad Word Pairs #019
“Troubled Assets”
By now we are all aware of the $700 billion bailout signed into law by the government. But I’m not sure many (including myself until recently) really understand how much money that is. With $700 billion you could send a stimulus check to every single American over the age of 18 for $3.5 million.
The reason for this bailout is to buy up the “troubled assets” now left by the greedy assholes on Wall Street who treated the American Dream like the hottest stock on the market . . . and lost once they noticed that house prices couldn’t sky rocket forever. And now they’re nationalizing their losses, and asking the American people to pay it back with their tax dollars, the same Americans they used to get into their little mess in the first place.
Give me a break with these “troubled assets.” It makes me nauseous just thinking about them. It’s hard to scale back the size of government when the free market is knocking on its door to stop the greed-mongers from throwing our country into a full on depression.
-
Timeless Mogollon
The art of Mogollon.
-
Top 5 Obscure Nicknames
(FOR BOYS, MOSTLY)
5. HAL (short for Harry)
I’ll go into more detail a few names down, but ‘Harry’ is a variation of ‘Henry’, and the Normans didn’t like pronouncing the letter ‘R’ very much, and so the shortname for ‘Harry’ might have been ‘Har’ (pronouced ‘hair’), but the ‘R’ became an ‘L’ and this is where ‘Hal’ came from.
4. DICK (short for Richard)
So now we know the Normans didn’t like pronouncing the letter ‘R’, right? This means that while ‘Rick’ was a more obvious nickname for ‘Richard’, the Normans traded the ‘R’ with a ‘D’ leaving us with the flattering nickname ‘Dick’.
3. CHUCK (short for Charles)
Once I learned the root of ‘Charles’, this one wasn’t that odd, but I serve these names up to you on the premise that this knowledge is obscure at best. Apparently ‘Charles’ in Middle English is ‘Chukken’, which is where the nickname ‘Chuck’ stems from. That was easy, wasn’t it?
2. JACK (short for John)
The Norman/English have commandeered my top 5 list again. This time they went and added a term for ‘little’ onto many of their names. That suffix was ‘-kin’. So Jenkin (or little John) became corrupted into ‘Jakin’, which subsequently became truncated into ‘Jack’. Well, duh!
1. HANK (short for Henry)
Similar to ‘Jack’, there was a variation of Henry called ‘Henkin’, which also became ‘Hankin’, then truncated to ‘Hank’. Once you know about the ‘-kin’ suffix it makes some sense, but without that insight, it’s mighty arbitrary looking.
-
Deadbirds and Flowerheads
The art of Olaf Hajek.
-
Addicted to FactCheck.org
Ever watch the news and feel like you’re getting nothing but spin, regardless of how objective the media tells you they are? I feel that way, and usually have to balance my CNN viewing with some FOXNEWS just to see two sides of the same issue.
Well that’s where FactCheck.org comes in handy, because it tries its hardest to demystify the BS you tend to see on a day-to-day basis from both sides of the aisle. And I’ve found it to be a great tool. Perhaps they favor the left just a LITTLE more in their choice of articles (out of the 12 articles on the homepage, for instance, 2 of them debunked Obama, while 6 of them debunked McCain, leaving 8 articles comparing both candidates at once).
In any case, if you’re dizzy from the political spin, check it out, and get a better sense of what’s going on in the political world.
-
Something’s in the Air
The art of Adam Cvijanovic.
-
Top 5 Rap Producers
(RAP, NOT HIP-HOP)
5. DJ Muggs
He started making latino-infused heavy beats with Cypress Hill, and then went on to make “Jump Around” with House of Pain, just one of the members of the classic Soul Assassins group. I’ve always liked the style of Muggs records, and was highly impressed when he teamed up with Wu-Tang’s Gza to record an impressive comeback record entitled “Grandmasters”. I’d say he’s one of the more underrated and overlooked producers around.
4. Pete Rock
For “Mecca and the Soul Brother” alone, Pete Rock makes my top five. He also produced one of the only Run DMC songs I really liked, “Down With the King”. Add to this his work with Wu-Tang on his solo album “Soul Survivor”, and you have one of the most consistent producers of all time.
3. Dr. Dre
Though he wouldn’t make my top 50 as an emcee, you would have to be a fool to exclude Dr. Dre from any top producers list. He is too humble to admit it, but you can thank Dre for the success and exposure of both Snoop Doggy Dogg and Eminem. He proved on “The Chronic” that he could meet and exceed the legendary status of his original group N.W.A. Dre is a machine in the studio, he just doesn’t quit. He’s got a new album coming out with Eminem, and one final solo album before he shifts his focus exclusively to other artists.
2. DJ Premier
Anyone who can make Guru sound dynamic on a track knows a thing or two about producing. He and Guru were better known as Gang Starr, and put out some of the grittiest albums of the 90’s. It doesn’t hurt that Premier kept that tonality alive with some of the most memorable tracks for artists like Nas, Rakim, Jay-Z, Notorius B.I.G., Dilated Peoples, Common and KRS-One. His best single track, however, has to be Jeru the Damaja’s “Come Clean”.
1. Rza
This one was sort of a no-brainer for me. I like to think of the Rza as the Tarantino of rap music. Which was why it didn’t surprise me when he was asked to compose some music for the Kill Bill films. Wu-Tang, when they came on the scene with their ensemble cast and ghetto music videos, changed the game as we all knew it. He took shaolin samples and the kung-fu vernacular and fused it with break beats, and the results were revolutionary. I’m still waiting for another “Enter the 36 Chambers,” but in truth, we only need one of those for a lifetime.
-
Obama/McCain Roast
This is too awesome not to post. The two presidential nominees go toe-to-toe roasting one another at a recent dinner. This is the best debate we never saw.
MCCAIN: “Maverick I can do, but Messiah is above my pay grade.”
OBAMA: “‘Barack’ is actually Swahili for ‘That One’.”
-
Quote of the Week #019
“Expectations. Execution. No explanations, and no excuses.” -Tony Dungy
-
Top 5 Most Googled Presidents
(RESULTS ARE APPROXIMATE)
5. Ronald Reagan – 11,300,000 hits
4. John F. Kennedy – 14,100,000 hits
3. George Washington – 16,800,000 hits
2. Bill Clinton – 21,600,000 hits
1. George W. Bush – 47,600,000 hits
NOTEWORTHY
– John McCain has more hits than all of these presidents, with 60,900,000 hits, and Barack Obama has more than John McCain, with 76,300,000 hits. And they’re not even president yet!
-
Bon Iver “Wisconsin”
This b-side on Bon Iver’s 4AD-released EP “For Emma, Forever Ago,” evokes whispers of a haunted winter. It’s just beginning to be autumn, but I still enjoy the chill in this recording. I also appreciate any song giving props to my home state. Listen for the chorus, when his voice rises above its confiding murmur.
“Wisconsin” – Mp3
-
Addicted to UNWRAPPED
This Food Network show is like the parts of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood where he would tour those factories and discover how things were really made.
Only like a thousand times better, because as a snack food junkie, I get to see where all the treats I know and love truly come from.
It helps that Marc Summers is the host (for most all episodes), since I always enjoyed Double Dare on Nickelodeon when I was a boy. A little nostalgia just helps set the mood.
If you haven’t checked this show out yet, please do. Here are a couple Youtube clips I found . . .
Candy Corn
Corn Dogs
Disney World
-
Cyrk
The art of Cyrk.
In the late 1940’s, the Polish Government approached a small group of artists to design posters for their Film Department. The artists agreed only on the condition that they control the subject matter, that they have the freedom to push beyond the typical clichés already riddling the world of art and design.
From this mutual agreement, a golden age of artwork rose to fame, known as the Polish School of Posters. This era lasted until the 80’s, and the fall of communism brought capitalism to the country. This shift changed the landscape of commissioned art by the government. Where there used to be an average of 1,000 commissioned posters in the 50’s, there are today only about 100 per year.
I’ve found a nice comprehensive collection of posters from this era. The most prolific venue apparently was the Polish Circus. It’s quite a stunning collection to peruse. And keep in mind that these talented artists emerged from a country bruised and battered by the effects of WWII, and went on to create some highly influential, innovative, and isolated artwork around.
-
BMW Art Cars
Thank you David for bringing these to my attention. No-one ever told me this, but apparently BMW has been commissioning artists since the 70’s to give their classic models custom paint jobs. Looks like they’ve trailed off as of late, but this is definitely worth checking out.
What i think is most intriguing is how the cars, if you lay them out in a timeline, are a great reflection of the state of art/design over the years (the 90’s specifically stick out as particularly terrible). After 1982, I’d say these cars started to look worse and worse. Look for yourself.
Here are my six favorite, of the 15 they have done so far (they also happen to be the first six) . . .
1975
1976
1977
1979
1982
1986
-
Bad Word Pairs #018
“Fortune Cookie”
It’s a simple concept really. First, you type a ridiculous “fortune” on a sheet of paper, making sure to keep the fortune generic and written with poor grammar (some spots will even print lucky numbers on the back-side: bonus).
Then, stuff the paper inside a tortellini shaped “cookie” made of glazed cardboard.
After that, enclose the cardboard treat inside a plastic wrapper and stuff four of them in the bottom of your customer’s five pound carry-out bag.
Yum!
-
Glago’s Guest
First-time feature director of the film Bolt, Chris Williams, has also completed a short-film called Glago’s Guest which apparently will screen before Bolt. I have to say that this one looks much more appealing than John Travolta as a talking dog.
Here is a :40 clip online, which looks strange, sparse, stark and super cool.
-
Polemic Perspectives
The art of Stefan Exler.
-
Quote of the Week #018
“What’s past is prologue.” -William Shakespeare -
Obama Loves the Little Children
I find the idea of children singing a song about Obama in the spirit of Sunday School songs about God extremely disturbing. I wonder if Obama finds it slightly creepy as well?
-
First Sequel Ever Made
A random fact: The Fall of a Nation, a 1916 film directed by Thomas F. Dixon, Jr., was cinema’s first sequel ever. It was a follow up to the film, conversely titled The Birth of a Nation. Both of these films unfortunately glorify the KKK, despite the notariety of being such landmarks in cinematic history.
-
Blowfish Embellishments
The art of Lloyd Walsh.
-
Bad Word Pairs #017
“Single-Ply”
I connote this hyphenated word pair mostly with paper products and wood. Whether toilet paper or paper towel, single-ply is nothing but a misleading phenomenon. The theory is that single-ply TP will give you twice as much paper per roll, but the truth is that you end up using twice as much, and it’s twice as coarse.
Same goes with wood, a single-ply of plywood is hardly durable, and it usually takes 3 or 6 or more layers to have anything worth your while.
Single-ply: the poor man’s rationale to efficiency.
