found on Flickr

Myvintagevogue's photostream for tons of fashion and vintage pics. The above is from the b&w celebrities gallery-- gorgeous b&w of golden age actresses. Below is from the 1950s set. Lots to look at!

Ben Templesmith's The Presidents of the United States

which we reported earlier this fall, is now available for pre-order on Amazon, though I'm not sure when it's actually being released. To get all hyped up for it, check out Mr Templesmith's blog, which has scans of the likes of TR, FDR, Filmore, and others. They're looking really great, and I can't wait to see the book when it comes out!

White Christmas [1992 edition]

In looking for album images, I've found that there are in fact two White Christmas albums, this one and this one here, which I'm posting here because I think it's a lot better. Granted, it's the one I grew up with, so there's massive personal bias, what sets it apart is the warmth and nostalgia that comes from its format: it's a recording of a radio show, and the album includes Bing's jokes and chatter. If you read the reviews, some people don't like that, and to them I say: You are probably communiss. Anyway, this one also leaves out the ethnic novelty songs, which, while they have their own charm, don't quite measure up to the content of this 1992 edition. The dialogue is fun, the arrangments "bouncy," and you get 15 tracks of Crosby in his popular element.

• Bing Crosby ~ White Christmas [1992]
• Buy

LIFE photo archive hosted on Google

This is a great resource for photos, especially for candid shoots. Search format/start page here. I'll try to post some favorites as I explore the archive.

The photos are also available for purchase. It's pricey, but if you can find a way to buy it without the frame (I'm not sure if this is an option, I really wish it would be), these photos would make beautiful personalized gifts. The photos themselves are of good quality; if you have a good printer and some nice photofinish paper, it might make a fun gift to go with a nice frame from a vintage or thrift shop to go with it.

Bing & Bowie

The tradition Bing & Bowie posting, this time with mp3s.

• Bing & Bowie - Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy [w. dialogue] [skreemr]
• Bing & Bowie - Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy [song only] [skreemr]

Shrek the Halls [2007]

As with the Shrek movies, the charm and hilarity is in the details, including one of the pigs flying around the room singing Ride of the Valkyrie, Puss' inability to ignore small balls and just the fact that it's ANTONIO BANDERAS, and how darn cute everything is. The plot and message are what you would expect, but it doesn't lose the more "adult" jokes of the films (especially at the start with the holiday rush, the cross-dressing wolf, Gingi in general.)

• Watch online via videostop

BABIES!

Gift Ideas: 5 Jewelry-Things!

I meant to put this up before Cyber Monday since most of these sites were having sales (this being the first year I'd even heard of this Cyber-Monday thing), but Final Paper Deadline Tuesday prevented that from happening. Still, you can at least browse the websites and see if you like anything :]

From left to right: Orange Earrings from KnitKnit @Etsy | Heart Attack from LuckyLooLoo | Happy Robot Earrings from Shana Logic | Mexican Loteria Charm Necklace by Sweet Romance from Pin Up Girl Clothing | Handy Girl Necklace Set (of 3) by Girls With Tools from Shana Logic

National Geographic: Best Science Images of 2008

[Clockwise from left: squid suckers, the Bible references charted, Mediterranean diatoms, an excited string.]

You don't have to be a science-y person (as I call them) to appreciate these images. A number of these photos have been colored for reference, and they all represent patterns found in the natural world; the results are stunning. Check out the gallery here.

Check out the other galleries, too, including the one showing Giant, Unknown Animals Found Off Antarctica (9" sea spiders, yikes! and the intriguingly named stareater) and Best Wild Animal Photos (including what you probably won't be eating for Christmas dinner-- read the description-- and the law of the jungle.)

"Orphan Earl" (The My Name Is Earl Christmas Episode)

"Orphan Earl" [via hulu]

Next item on the list: Earl must help the victim of a scam he started years ago and that Joy and her friends have been carrying on since.

Christmas With the Rat Pack

Pure class and an awesome cover design, to boot.

Christmas with the Rat Pack [rar] | Buy | Tracklist

Vintage Christmas Pinups!

& More!

Cold!

According to that source, this song was debuted by composer Frank Loesser and his wife at one of their parties. The rights were sold to MGM, who used the song in Neptune's Daughter not once but twice-- sung by Ester Williams and Ricardo Montalban and the other by Red Skelton and Betty Garrett. I have the former linked down there. Loesser won himself an Academy Award for the song. On the sheet music, the female is "The Mouse" and the man is "The Wolf." Gives new meaning to that "Say, what's in this drink?" line, huh.

• Ricardo Montalban & Ester Williams ~ Baby, It's Cold Outside
• Dean Martin ~ Baby, It's Cold Outside
• Leon Redbone & Zooey Deschanel ~ Baby, It's Cold Outside
• Dinah Shore ~ Baby, It's Cold Outside
• Homer & Jethro feat. June Carter ~ Baby, It's Cold Outside
• Homer & Jethro feat. June Carter ~ Baby, It's Cold Outside SKIT!-- don't worry, Johnny rescues her in the end

Van Johnson dies at 92

10 DVD Gift Ideas

Because we here at sayNA want to help you out this holiday season :) These DVDs are fancy, quality cinema, and oh-so-pretty. And guess what? All under $50! (The links go to Amazon, but if you're interested in any of these, check out half.com & Amazon Marketplace, too.)

1 & 2. Godfather Part I & Part II, Coppola Restorations

3 & 4. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy & Smiley's People

5. Hellboy II: The Golden Army, 3 Disc Special Edition

6. Burn Notice, Season 1

7. The Complete Thin Man Collection: The Thin Man / After the Thin Man / Another Thin Man / Shadow of the Thin Man / The Thin Man Goes Home / Song of the Thin Man / Alias Nick and Nora

8. The Premier Frank Capra Collection: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington / It Happened One Night / You Can't Take It with You / Mr. Deeds Goes to Town / American Madness / Frank Capra's American Dream

9. Rio Bravo: 2-Disc Ultimate Collector's Edition: Features

10. John Wayne-John Ford Film Collection: The Searchers Ultimate Edition / Stagecoach Two-Disc Special Edition / Fort Apache / She Wore a Yellow Ribbon / The Long Voyage Home / They Were Expendable / 3 Godfathers / The Wings of Eagles

Feel Good Holiday Movie: Last Holiday

Okay, so maybe a movie starring Queen Latifah and LL Cool J about a woman with three weeks left to live might not be everybody's cup of tea, but I have always found Queen Latifah to have an extremely pleasing on-screen presence ("It's clear that Queen Latifah is a proper, old school movie star - the camera loves her and her constantly upbeat screen persona is extremely likeable") and this movie, if it sounds remotely like your kind of thing, is a sweet-natured feel-good holiday movie. (I have not seen the original, starring out favorite, Sir Alec Guinness.)

Queen Latifah's character, Georgia Byrd, is a wallflower department store clerk who is incapable of carpe diem'ing her life; she cooks gourmet dinners that she does not eat, and she has a crush on a co-worker (LL Cool J) that, despite his reception, she cannot act on (though she keeps using her store discount to buy bbq grills from his department.) When she finds out she has only weeks to live and that her health care will not cover the operation, she pulls all her money from the bank and embarks on her dream vacation to a luxury hotel where her favorite chef, played by Gerard Depardieu, cooks. It's not the most unpredictable plot ever, and as you can expect, Queen Latifah teaches people lessons (like how real people order food) and is very charming, but if what you need is some light holiday fare for a slow afternoon, this is perfect.

Last Holiday (in parts, Youtube):

Bettie Page dies at age 85

Read more.

On this Day in History: Rat Pack Member Sammy Davis Jr Born

Stay tuned this week for some Christmas cheer from the Rat Pack!

"I swear I could almost smell the honeysuckle blossoms."

"That's me. Barber."

So I'm writing a really shitty paper that is absolutely driving me crazy on John Ford's fabulous My Darling Clementine (Fox, 1946). The movie is great. Henry Fonda is great. The above sequences are great. So are most of the other ones. My paper is not. Oh well.


this is on a completely unrelated note, but anyone have the soundtrack for that fabulous animated movie Anastasia? this one here?

Happy Repeal Day!

[original image]

(as if we need an excuse)

It's easy! There are no outfits to buy, costumes to rent, rivers to dye green. Simply celebrate the day by stopping by your local bar, tavern, saloon, winery, distillery, or brewhouse and having a drink. Pick up a six-pack on your way home from work. Split a bottle of wine with a loved one. Buy a shot for a stranger. Just do it because you can [from the Official Repeal Day website]

It's actually probably gonna be a quiet night for me (finals!), but I've got my heart set on some Winter Warmer. Cheers!

Celebrate by listening to some music--

• Dean Martin ~ Little Ole Wine Drinker Me [skreemr]
  
• Hank Williams III ~ My Drinkin Problem [divshare]
  
• Rum Runner ~ [myspace]

Roger Alan Wade's All Likkered Up is on sale for the holidays. Featuring "All Likkered Up" and "My Baby Loves Malt Liquor," some sayNA favorites.

or, celebrate by watching America's booziest favorite couple-- watch The Thin Man [9 parts, youtube]. Or watch some of that Nascar.

First Season Fresh Prince Christmas Episode

Cos it's deeply, deeply dope.

• Part I & Part II & Part III [youtube]

Will tries to bring the holiday spirit to his aunt and uncle's house. When the neighbors complain about his decorations, an old-executive power intercedes (cos Nancy won't let him do anything fun to the house.) Evander Holyfield makes a guest appearance. Check out the absurd decorator in Part II, who tells us that "the 90s are going to be all about. . . restraint."

Enjoy!

Here is what the guy playing Gambit in that new Wolverine movie looks like.

Um, yuck?
I'll probably see it anyway. . . check out the Comic Con trailer here.

Diggin' the new Beyonce Videos

Or maybe they're not new-- I can't keep up with the kids these days. Not sure how much I like the songs themselves, though "Single Ladies" is insidiously catchy. But I saw this first one of the plane ride back this weekend. A cool concept. The first few seconds make it look like a PSA about respecting your woman, either that or a male enhancement ad, but get past that and there's a cool, without being overbearing, look at gender double-standards.

• Beyonce - If I Were a Boy [youtube]
  

And the second, it's just fun to watch because Beyonce & her backup dancers are very good. Some of the Gwen Verdon-esque moves are a little wacky, but considering they're all wearing heels and probably corsets or control tops. . . Also, check out the now famous SNL sketch (I think this is it?)

• Beyonce - All the Single Ladies [youtube]

As for this whole Sasha Fierce thing, I'm really not sure what's up with that, but looking at that robo-hand she's got on makes it clear that she ran afoul of a Sith Lord she's possibly related to.

Oi! to the World

Kicking off the holiday season with our traditional Vandals' Christmas album post! Oi to the World features the title track, a crazy punk rock Tchaikovsky track, and one of my favorites, "Nothing's Gonna Ruin My Holidays."

• The Vandals - Oi to the World
• Buy from amazon.com

The Vandals will be playing 3 Christmas shows. Hopefully they won't last-minute cancel sans explanation a la 2007 Warped Tour.

Dec 19 2008 @ SLIM’S
San Francisco, California
w/Goodbye Gadget and Time Again

Dec 20 2008 @ House of Blues Disneyland
Anaheim, california
w/ the aggrolites

Dec 21 2008 @ House Of Blues
San Diego, California
w/ The Phenomenauts

Holiday time!

Hey everyone. Sorry for the long absence! This semester hit me a little harder than expected, and while it's still not over, I'll hopefully be posting more regularly, especially now that I get to start posting holiday tunes! So stick around for that! I'm in Florida right now for the holiday and away from the ol' hd, but we'll be up and running in the next week.

Also, I'm very happy to announce that Ken is back with a new, very pretty, and awesome blog-- Romantic and Square is Hip n Aware! A few other links have been updated in the blogroll, so check that out over on the right side; it's mostly small changes that resulted from the blolgger blitzkrieg of about a month ago.

The Gregory Brothers and Sarah Fullen: 75% Brothers, 25% Babe

Er, I started writing this last spring and never got around to finishing and now have done gone and forgot what I meant to say.... Oooops, there's the lazy me again. Sorry. And sorry that this is such as lazily done post.


The Gregory Brothers and Sarah Fullen:

Group from Brooklyn, playing soulish/folkish/rockish something. They are three brothers (Andrew + Evan + Michael Gregory) plus a female vocalist (Sarah Fullen) who shares the singing duties with all the brothers. They've come to our campus three times, twice last year, and are really nice people, and are awfully cute too. (Plus they sang me "Happy Birthday" this year when they were here, about 15 minutes before my birthday; it was a nice surprise. Score one in their favor.) I'm really bad at describing music but I highly recommend seeing them and listening to them; they are really enjoyable. You can listen to songs/watch youtube videos via the links below.

Andrew Rose Gregory's website here
Gregory Brothers' Myspace here
Sarah Fullen's Myspace here

My Loony Bun is Fine Benny Lava! Blogger on the other hand. . . just looney

Hey guys- there may be a break in uploading music files, because as it turns out (or at least I'm pretty sure) Blogger didn't just randomly eat my post- I believe they flagged it for the music file; the file was also deleted over at Divshare, so I'm trying to figure out what's going on. No actual notices were given. Granted, it was a new release- specifically the new James Bond instrumental, but it seems like more than a few people-- and some amazing blogs that actually can claim to stimulate purchasing of music-- on Blogspot are having this problem, including Berkeley Place which got dinged on a post full of indie artists who had given their permission, Setting the Woods on Fire has been having trouble and may be retiring (?!?) (also, read his thoughts on the matter- as always, very well expressed), and many others. . . and I'm wondering if that's why Giant Robots Make Me Nervous has been MIA? (Which would be a fucking crime-- Does anybody know?!) Anyway, I'm just trying to figure out a way to sort this out/get around this, so stick around, I'll do my best to keep posting regularly- the alternative is to link to pages featuring other's files (ie Skreemr), but we'll see. I'd rather not post a link to a link and have Blogger (or whoever) follow it and kill it there.

For now, enjoy "Benny Lava"-- this guy has taken what some Bollywood lyrics sound like and subtitled a vid with them. As if the video itself wasn't funny enough. Enjoy :)

That Wacky Wacky Cold War

US Pilot Ordered to Shoot Down UFO

LONDON (Reuters) - Two U.S. fighter planes were scrambled and ordered to shoot down an unidentified flying object (UFO) over the English countryside during the Cold War, according to secret files made public Monday.

One pilot said he was seconds away from firing 24 rockets at the object, which moved erratically and gave a radar reading like "a flying aircraft carrier."

The pilot, Milton Torres, now 77 and living in Miami, said it spent periods motionless in the sky before reaching estimated speeds of more than 7,600 mph.

After the alert, a shadowy figure told Torres he must never talk about the incident and he duly kept silent for more than 30 years [read more. . .]

• Screeching Weasel ~ I Believe in UFOs
• And don't watch this South Park episode, my God.
  

heh.

[Original picture]

Request! Illegal Tender EP

• Louis XIV ~ Illegal Tender EP [sharebee]
• Buy

The Real Dilemma AND the Eternal Question

Are Fred Perry shirts sold on eBay for $20 and shipped from Thailand real Fred Perry shirts?

Whtie Kids Aren't Hyphy & Hipster Girl Vids

Ah ha, so I missed that a video for one of my favorite MC Lars songs, "White Kids Aren't Hyphy," was released, from what I can tell, in this past May's podcast. As always, fun and cheeky. Check it out!

This is the vid for "Hipster Girl." As you guys know, I hate them more than I hate six dollar PBRs. I'm with MC Lars on how L train girls (yes! It is on the L train that I first saw one of those nasty people who wear glass frames without lenses!) make no sense and how fixed gear bikes make no sense (no seriously, they don't-- until this year I thought that kind of bike was the kind of bike you learned how to ride a bike with because that's the kind of bike I had when I was a kid- I just said bike a lot, huh-) anyway, though it's unclear how Lars feels about them-- love em but don't get them?-- they're hot but they suck so I'll get with them anyway? (oh boys)-- contempt validates them?-- if you hate the things he's pointing out, you can cast your own shadow on the video (as I did) and consider it all insults. Yay negativity! And ps- after the fadeout, if you hate that fucking song from Donnie Darko as much as I do, stop the video.

Mid-October

Hey guys, it's been a busy week and shaping into a long night: midterms, helping friends move large Coke machines up Mt Doom stairs, more midterms, Dodgers not doing to hot (but it's only the 3rd inning! I have faith!), BLOGGER EATING MY POSTS BOO BLOGGER, and more midterms and papers. . . but I just wanted to stop by a moment and say 1) I will be responding to comments and requests as soon as I get a breather this weekend (so stick around for some Louis XIV goodness) and 2) this is the best thing I have read all week- maybe all month- after, of course, your comments:

"Loving" Bonobos Seen Killing, Eating Other Primates

"The second I read this, I thought: Oh good, finally!" said primatologist Elizabeth Lonsdorf of the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

I have to agree with Lonsdorf on that sentiment (though my reaction was "bhahahaaa" or something of that ilk), and she expresses, I think, the general opinion of all of us who did not trust those hippie-dippy love monkeys: "Bonobos being so peaceful never sat well with me," said Lonsdorf, who was not involved with the study.

Songs That I Secretly Like so don't tell anyone

• My Drive Thru ~ NERD ft Julian Casablancas & Santogold

[link is to listen & download via Skreemr; right click & save] This was used for the new batch of Converse promos, and you can check out the vid here on Youtube. Why is it a guilty pleasure? Not sure, and it's not the song itself-- which is excellent-- but everything about me is saying it is. Maybe it's the overwhelming hipster cred that smacks you across the face. This song is the equivalent of that guy on the L wearing skinny gray jeans, colorful high-tops, art-rim glasses (WITH NO LENSES, douchebag) and a thin striped scarf. Maybe it's cos I still don't like that Julian Casablancas. Maybe it's because I need a new pair of Converse and I can't face facts. Maybe it's cos I don't like the direction the company is trying to go in. But goddamnit, it's danceable and catchy, even with those Julian Casablancas whingeing portions.

• Beat Your Heart Out ~ The Distillers

Sorry, Tim.

How We Feel About the New Clint Eastwood Movie

Jeffrey Donovan! In 1920s clothing!

Life Just Keeps Getting Better

Ever sit around and think things like, what are some of the most awesome things in the world? Ketchup. . . Bruce Campbell. . . United States Presidents. . . free delivery. . . Ben Templesmith. . .

Well wait for it folks, because somebody out there has combined two of the above and given us. . . BEN TEMPLESMITH doing US PRESIDENTS.

Just try to complain about that. And then watch some real & true facts about George Washington. Like how he'll save children. Just not the British children.

What I Did This Summer Vol II: Epic Road Trip

[click for more photos]

San Francisco to LA to Vegas to El Paso to Austin to Houston to New Orleans to Atlanta to Baltimore to NYC in a 1998 Nissan Altima and 12 tanks of gas and 1 speeding ticket. 3 people from SF to LA via SLO, 4 people from LA to Houston, 5 Houston to NOLA, 3 people from NOLA to NYC.

I'm the one who got the speeding ticket. Guess what the speed limit is in NC? 65. Guess the speed of traffic? 85. Guess who had the only CA license plates in radar gun-shot? Guess who broke out the drug-sniffing dogs like it was a big deal.

• Caught by the Fuzz by Supergrass

YOUR Berlin Wall

If you can't tell by the resumed posting, then the amount of times I've checked my facebook should tell you that I'm back at school and not doing what I'm supposed to be doing. So in that vein. . . check this out; everything about it is perfect and high-fucken-larious:

See the rest of the list, What the World Would Look Like If the Other Side Won the War, and more, at Cracked.com. As the lists there are the latest on my internet addictions list (you guys are still #1 though), I'll be posting more links in the future.

Speaking of silly. . . my new favorite silly Onion headline: Members of Twisted Sister Now Willing to Take It. Excerpt:

"I acknowledge that we promised not to take it anymore, but things change. The world is a different place today, and with that in mind, we would like to go on record as saying that, starting right now, we are going to take it," read a statement released by the band's lead singer, Dee Snider. "To clarify, we would still prefer not to take it, but as of now, taking it is an option that we would be open to. That is all."

Read & listen: Nabokov's "The Vane Sisters" & Girl in a Coma's "Sybil Vane Was Ill"

Nabokov's second to last short story, published in 1951. Features a device Nabokov said could "only be tried once in a thousand years of fiction." A fantastically unreliable narrator, word games, seances, planchettes, wacky women, and a paragraph to pay attention to:

     Speaking  of  old men, one should add that sometimes these
posthumous auspices and interventions were  in  the  nature  of
parody.  Cynthia  had  been on friendly terms with an eccentric
librarian called Porlock who in the last  years  of  his  dusty
life  had  been  engaged  in examining old books for miraculous
misprints such as the substitution of l for the second h
in the word "hither." Contrary to Cynthia, he cared nothing for
the thrill of obscure predictions; all he sought was the  freak
itself, the chance that mimics choice, the flaw that looks like
a  flower;  and  Cynthia,  a  much  more  perverse  amateur  of
misshapen or illicitly connected words, puns,  logogriphs,  and
so  on, had helped the poor crank to pursue a quest that in the
light of the example  she  cited  struck  me  as  statistically
insane.  Anyway, she said, on the third day after his death she
was reading a magazine and had just  come  across  a  quotation
from  an  imperishable  poem  (that  she,  with  other gullible
readers, believed to have been really composed in a dream) when
it dawned upon her that "Alph"' was a prophetic sequence of the
initial letters of Anna Livia Plurabelle (another sacred  river
running  through,  or  rather  around, yet another fake dream),
while the additional h  modestly  stood,  as  a  private
signpost,  for the word that had so hypnotized Mr. Porlock. And
I wish I could recollect that novel or  short  story  (by  some
contemporary  writer,  I  believe)  in  which,  unknown  to its
author, the first letters of the words in  its  last  paragraph
formed,  as  deciphered  by  Cynthia,  a  message from his dead
mother.

• Online text avail. here.
• Wikipedia tells you what's up with this story [*spoilers*]
  
• And download and listen to Girl In A Coma's "Sybil Vane Was Ill"

Sympathy for Lady Vengeance OST

Yeong-wook Jo's theme is based around Vivaldi's "Ah ch'infelice sempre," which you can listen to here, and sticking with this, the score is heavily baroque influenced. Several tracks are adapted from Vivaldi concertos, and set into the context of the entire frantic, swirling, delicate score, the darkness and tragedy of the movie is perfectly conveyed. The only off-track will be based on personal taste, and that's if you don't like creepy little kids, which track 12 features. Also adapted into the score is a fabulous, typically disgustingly virtuoustic Paganini Caprice, as if we all had crazy weird syndrome fingers. You can watch Jascha Heifetz play the original track here. Check out the mad left hand pizzacato around 3:50.

If you haven't seen the film yet, I certainly recommend it. Lady Vengeance is the third of Park Chan-Wook's Vengeance Trilogy, and I am sorry to say I'm still working on getting a moment to sit down and watch Oldboy, which is purported to be the best of the three. Lady Vengeance follows the main character as she leaves prison and takes her revenge on those who sent her there. Sounds like a predictable plot, but the movie takes a peculiar turn at the end when our protagonist, Lee Geum-ja, discovers that the man she has been following is more than he seems, and she begins to involve others who have been hurt by him in her plot. The film is beautifully shot, which made watching it on Youtube frustrating, so I'd definitely recommend grabbing a good quality version to experience the colors and movements and scenes that make this lush, visually exciting film. You can check out the trailer here.

• Sympathy for Lady Vengeance by Yeong-wook Jo, OST
  
• Buy from Amazon

Paul Newman is Dead

And a lot of what was good about this world is gone from it. Paul Newman was a movie icon, an American icon, a great actor, completely badass, was married to the same woman for 50 years, a true philanthropist who went beyond your usual Hollywood $10,000 per natural disaster and whose foundation will continue to give and whose camps will continue to improve lives, and a gorgeous and graceful human being. If you have a chance, read this excellent Vanity Fair article on Mr Newman.

Here's the statement issued by Newman's Own Foundation:

Paul had an abiding belief in the role that luck plays in one's life, and its randomness. He was quick to acknowledge the good fortune he had in his own life, beginning with being born in America, and was acutely aware of how unlucky so many others were. True to his character, he quietly devoted himself to helping offset this imbalance.

An exceptional example is the legacy of Newman's Own. What started as something of a joke in the basement of his home, turned into a highly-respected, multi-million-dollar-a-year food company. And true to form, he shared this good fortune by donating all the profits and royalties he earned to thousands of charities around the world, a total which now exceeds $250 million.

While his philanthropic interests and donations were wide-ranging, he was especially committed to the thousands of children with life-threatening conditions served by the Hole in the Wall Camps, which he helped start over 20 years ago. He saw the Camps as places where kids could escape the fear, pain and isolation of their conditions, kick back and raise a little hell. Today, there are 11 Camps around the world, with additional programs in Africa and Vietnam. Through the Camps, well over 135,000 children have had the chance to experience what childhood was meant to be.

In Paul's words: "I wanted to acknowledge luck; the chance and benevolence of it in my life, and the brutality of it in the lives of others, who might not be allowed the good fortune of a lifetime to correct it."

Paul took advantage of what life offered him, and while personally reluctant to acknowledge that he was doing anything special, he forever changed the lives of many with his generosity, humor, and humanness. His legacy lives on in the charities he supported and the Hole in the Wall Camps, for which he cared so much.

We will miss our friend Paul Newman, but are lucky ourselves to have known such a remarkable person.

I just ran out and bought some Newman's Own lemonade (pink!) and I was not-quite-surprised to see that Morton Williams was down to the last 5 or 6 cartons on the shelf. You can watch some of his movies on-demand at Amazon. And now all the guys on my wall (behind my desk) are dead.

Decency seems to have come easily to Mr. Newman himself, as evidenced by his philanthropic and political endeavors, which never devolved into self-promotion. It was easy to take his intelligence for granted as well as his talent, which survived even the occasional misstep. At the end of “The Drowning Pool,” a woman wistfully tells Mr. Newman, I wish you’d stay a while. I know how she feels. [Manohla Dargis]

Some thoughts after surfing people.com

i. I have a people.com newsfeed on my google homepage. Yes. I suck. But. . .

1. Thanks to the dearth of the word "Transplants" in the articles about Travis Barker on that site and elsewhere, here's your fun and games for tonight: tell me your 5 favorite Transplants songs. Go!

(in no real order, click for files)

• Gangsters and Thugs [Haunted Cities]
• DJ DJ [s/t]
• California Babylon [s/t]
• Doomsday [Haunted Cities]
• Romper Stomper [s/t]

Buy Haunted Cities & s/t.

2. Clay Aiken is gay. The reaction from fans has been one of "surprise and support." Somebody is going to hafta explain to me the whole 'surprising' part of this.

lesson is. . .

getting a little stir crazy here on a sunday night.

gotham. (anybody else get any pictures of last week's full moon? pretty sweet.)

this is my verandaah. . . it's a foot wide. it's used to hold my cheapass leaky candles and one of my temp roomie's cigarette butts. (luckies.)

you speakerboxxx guys! and certainly no love below! rose.

and in the end, gary cooper made me do it. like ken said, if gary says so, it's on.

ok. back to work. happy sunday kids!

Gary Cooper Likes What We Like

Sorta. Because if I have the choice (and the cash), I'll be drinking something other than PBR. But it's GARY COOPER for chrissakes. If he tells me to do it. . . I'm kinda 110% there.

[Full view]

[Full view]

Note the packaging up there. This ad is from 1937, before Luckies "went to war" in 1942 and stopped using green on their packaging. While this was pitched as a patriotic step to save the copper claimed to be used in the green dye (actually chromium), it was really an effort to update the design and, among other things, appeal to the ladies.

For more info on Luckies going to war, check out this article. For more Gary Cooper endorsement goodness, go here. Vintage ads galore.

And- watch Mr Deeds Goes to Town in parts on Youtube, also starring the ultra fabulous Jean Arthur. And don't take my word for it. Some guy named Graham Greene kinda likes it, too--

Mr. Deeds is Capra's best film (it is on quite a different intellectual level from the spirited and delightful It Happened One Night), and that means it is a comedy quite unmatched on the screen. For Capra has what Lubitsch, the witty playboy, has not: a sense of responsibility, and what Clair, whimsical, poetic, a little precious and a la mode, has not, a kinship with his audience, a sense of common life, a morality: he has what even Chaplin has not, complete mastery of his medium, and that medium the sound film, not the film with sound attached to it.... I do not think anyone can watch Mr. Deeds for long without being aware of a technician as great as Lang employed on a theme which profoundly moves him: the theme of goodness and simplicity manhandled in a deeply selfish and brutal world.

What I Did This Summer Vol I: Europe

This summer I was lucky enough to be able to go to NUI Galway for a creative writing course, so I spent a month in Galway (really great place), then a weekend in Cong at a hostel where they played THIS every night hells yeah, a day in Dublin (heads up: Dublin airport, not so hot for sleeping over as there is an announcement every five minutes: please do not leave your bag unattended or we will DESTROY it), down to Italy with family friends in an AC-less flat for a week, then up into France for some solo backpacking (or rather, rollerbagging) to visit the D-Day beaches: recommendation- if you only have a few days, the musuem/guided tours are definitely worth the price. Guess what isn't? The Eurail Pass. Fuckers. Learned some valuable lessons, too. Use the duty free store for epic cowboy/Mexican showers. Bring shawls whilst in Italy if you wanna get in the churches. Stay up all night before your flight and you will pass the fuck out for your transatlantic like a sorority girl who left her drink at the bar when she went to take a pee-pee. All told, exceeding exhausting, fun, and I think I'll stay in the US for awhile, which I did to the nth degree two days after I got back on an EPIC road trip, so stay tuned for Vol II. xoxo b

Ireland (Galway, Cong AKA Inisfree!, Inishbofin, Spiddal)

Normandy et Amiens

Italy (Padua, Venice)

London

And please!, tell me about your epic/wacky/wackadoo/lame/sweet summers!

Zero. Coke Zero.

hello kind hearts > coronets. we're back up and running, hopefully consistently, hopefully magnificently. i'll be doing the age-old slideshow of what the hell i've been up to (don't worry, it'll be short.) i'm on my way out but i had a great urge to post something in the normal swing o' things, so here's your dose of I went to Pitchfork so you didn't hafta! for. . .

. . . a bit of the new Jack White Bond theme via Coke Zero. You can watch it at the Coke Ads blog- it's what you'd expect, your typical Bond opening ("a homage to the Bond movie franchise's highly stylised pre-credit sequences," they say), but with Coke! Zero!

The song actual does sound like Jack White meets Bond-- White Stripes chords meets jazzy, cocky Bond orchestration. Jack White's pissed that this is the way the world is hearing his song, and I guess I can't blame him since Coke Zero isn't exactly my Coke of choice. But don't listen to me, I prefer Diet (with a lime, please.) Enjoy & see you soon!

• Quantum of Solace Coke Zero Promo

hey kids

i will be back soon! i've finally settled into my place after a crazy summer and some sucky vagrancy, and school is starting up again and some leader of the free world (no, Rick Astley is NOT the official say NA endorsement) are supposed to be on campus tomorrow so things are gonna suck in terms of getting around, but never fear, because we will be back up and running after this long unintentional hiatus, so watch this spot in the next few days!

So I guess I'm ok with Manny now......

..... :(

I DON'T WANT MANNY RAMIREZ.

:(

I guess at least we aren't paying for manny to be manny.

Things I Like This Summer # 2: Vin Scully

Yuppers. It is summer and baseball and I adore Vin Scully.


He is so full of wonderful tidbits; I'm always wondering where he gets them and how he compiles the things he does. Does he just have a giant binder that tells him where each player went to high school, how they batted last against this pitcher when the stars were last aligned just so, and what their favorite food is? I really think he does. And he knows when to be quiet, and he always give the score and the count.





He was even a tad harsh today with regards to Jeff Kent, I think it was, not being able to make the plays he used to be able to make (he mentioned it about 15 times in a batter) , but whimsical too. With regards to Giants' pitcher Brian Wilson's soul patch, while he threw three pitches in a row over 100 mph, Vin said something to the effect of : "throwing so fast he's gonna lose his soul patch. Shakespeare had a soul patch, yes he did, I've been told. Many jazz musicians too, very cool."


New Dodger 3rd Baseman Casey Blake got thrown out rather unfairly by Greg Gibson, 1st base ump, for saying, as Scully put it, "Fertilizer!" (you could see his lips form the word"bullshit!") when he was in the dugout after striking out, Vin kept on hammering about the "fertilizer." I think he was really amused. Joe Torre went out to argue against Blake being ejected, and Vin said "and now Torre is saying fertilizer." Then Torre got ejected, and he rarely does. Then Vin went on to say, if I heard even remotely correctly, "And Gibson, he specializes in making fertilizer."



Oh Vin Scully. :)



I adore my Dodgers and I adore my Angels (esp when they whup the Red Sox and Yankees), but I admit, when we aren't getting beat too bad to a bloody pulp by everyone else in the National League, I often prefer to watch the Dodgers, bc, I mean, they've got my darlin Vin Scully. Don't have to listen to Rex Hudler and Steve Physioc or whatever his name is not give you the score. What did they say today? It was something awful. Even if Garrett Anderson is GA and Troy Percival was Percy and Chone Figgins is Figgy.





And plus: there is always Russell Martin for the Dodgers. A few weeks back he pulled off his catcher's mask to get something and he had a little mohawk. But he still looks like a Teddy Bear. He's a darling. <3>