| 13 Summer Shots |
I must be a little bit retarded, because I just finally figured out how to clean the CCD on my Nikon D50. So to celebrate the removal of dust from the sensor of my camera, I took it around with me today and shot some pictures while Rudy and I drove our roommate Stuart to the Trader Joe’s in Pasadena so he could fill out an application. | ||
Eight more videos after the jump! continue reading |
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After eating an insanely delicious scoop of Vanilla Berry Swirl at Pazzo Gelato today, I stopped in next door at Undefeated, the fancy Silver Lake shoe store. I didn’t expect to actually buy anything, because their stuff is, well, fancy– and I can’t afford fancy at the moment. But then I came across the above pictured ultra-neon blue shoes. Maybe neon is played out, and maybe posting on your blog about clothing purchases is like, the worst kind of conspicuous consumption– but I don’t care– I’m in love with these crazy Nikes. And they were 50% off! How could I refuse? |
Shorpy calls itself “The 100-Year-Old Photo Blog”, and acts as a catalogue of vintage snapshots and photos of little official (at least in a broad, historical sense) importance. In a time before the Internet, these sort of photos were confined to mysterious, musky antique shops, thrown in old shoeboxes with yellowed postcards from long since demolished tourist traps, and baseball cards with the smiling faces of now-unknown players adorning them. Nowadays, these ancient images are being digitally frozen, the originals left to perish at the unforgiving hands of time. So much overlooked history is being catalogued in searchable databases, in the Web 2.0 world of Youtube, Wikipedia, and Flickr– not just in the realm of antique photos, but in all forms of ephemera. Images and sounds are resurrected (Shorpy says it “brings our ancestors back, at least to the desktop”) after so many years imprisoned in desk drawers, bootleg VHS tapes, and moldy out-of-print books. Now we need not leave the comfort of our homes to seek out unique objects in foreign places. The function of said antique stores, each with their own character and atmosphere, as keeper of such artifacts, will disappear at the same rate as the already-declining record stores and video stores, as all media loses its physical nature, soon to be accessible only within in the sterile virtual space of every monitor hooked up to the Internet. Is that too much to sacrifice for glimpse of the abandoned past? Decide for yourself, by checking out the beautiful images in Shorpy’s already vast collection. Click the jump to see some of my favorites. continue reading |
Speaking of homoreotic sport images, check out this fantastic new ad from Paris’ tourism board. According to the campaign’s website, the purpose of the ad is to “use offbeat wit and the Rugby World Cup to show the world that Paris is also the capital of humour.” Right… more like the capital of hot rugby player stadium orgies. They’ve got me sold– book me on the first flight to good old gay Paris! | |||
Plan 59 is an online archive of vintage illustrations from the 1950’s, mostly from bizarre American advertising. Personally, I prefer the aesthetic of 1970’s advertisting, but amongst the squeaky clean forced wholesomeness of that nonsense decade, there are some fun little gems. The above illustrations of wrestling stars are explicitly homoerotic. The true American hero on the left is named Yukon Eric. I want him to be my trail guide on whatever mountain he came down from. He can probably communicate with bluejays. According to legend, Yukon Eric was a friendly introvert who didn’t drink or smoke, and once beat up a saloon full of bullies who were criticizing him for being a milk-drinker. That’s my kind of man! There’s more great pictures over on Plan59’s Pro Wrestler gallery.
Plan59 also has a hilarious and terrifying collection of images called Demonic Tots and Deeply Disturbing Cuisine. The Bad Seed, anyone? Dakota Fanning is like, seriously jealous of these freaks. The kids in these pictures are the fictional progenitors of those cuddly Aryans in Village of the Damned. Why were parents in the 50’s so afraid of their kids? I mean, it’s not like they were on the irrevocable path of growing into pseudo-revolutionary herb-smoking, free-loving hippies, and then callous coke-snorting capitalists, or something… oh wait.
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Living in Los Angeles, it’s almost impossible not to own a car, and spend countless hours sitting in traffic. Once upon a time, we had a streetcar system with almost 600 miles of operating track laid down, but that’s a story for another day. Currently, public transportation consists of buses that move only at the speed of often-gridlocked traffic, and the subway system that has been painstakingly slow in its development since the opening of the first line in 1990. There are a handful of places you can go on the subway, but not enough to rely upon it exclusively. And rail service ends at midnight, making it less than a viable option for going out at night.
Others think we need streetcars downtown, or a monorail to the sea– even Ray Bradbury thinks so! Something’s got to happen, that’s for sure… by 2050, the Southern California population is supposed to have increased by 60%. Check out MetroRiderLA for everything you could possibly want to know about public transportaion issues in L.A. LAist also has consistently great coverage on the ever-changing developments. | ||||||
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This morning I was reading probably the 6000th blog item about the Kwik-E-Mart 7-Eleven in Burbank, and I said to Rudy, “We should go to the Simpsons 7-Eleven. Like, right now.” So we grabbed our friend Patrick and drove up north to check it out. And of course I took pictures so I could post the 6001st entry about it in the… blogosphere. There was a small line outside, but the wait was only three or four minutes. The people waiting were genuinely excited about the whole affair. The Indian or Pakistani clerks, who did not seem amused by the hysteria, were even less enthusiastic when a tactless white woman asked one of them to pose for a picture next to a cut-out of Apu. All I have to say about the special Simpsons-themed merchandise is that those pink donuts are, without a doubt, some of the most delicious pastries I have ever consumed. And I know my pastries. Check out the pictures after the jump. |
Lastly, some sad news. Sunset Gower Studios, one of Hollywood’s oldest-standing movie studios, has been sold to a development company that some are speculating may be interested in tearing it down and redeveloping the space as housing– a more valuable asset in L.A.’s outrageous real estate market. Furthermore, “Last month, private equity powerhouse Carlyle Group spent $150 million to purchase Manhattan Beach Studios, and there are rumblings that Culver Studios in Culver City is on the market. Moreover, NBC Universal Inc., a unit of General Electric Co., has proposed a big expansion and large residential development for its Universal Studios backlot.” Is this the inevitable fault of an industry that for almost a decade has been oversaturated with cheapo reality T.V. shows? Are we headed for an entertainment industry contained within the virtual, occupying no physical space? In another rapidly transforming entertainment medium, the Capitol Records Tower was sold by EMI last year, and there have been rumblings of that, too, being turned into housing. Without the oil industry gone and the entertainment industry shrinking, is the Los Angeles of lore destined to become nothing more than a string of high-priced condos interrupted only by the occasional strip mall or Hollywood & Highland-type ’shopping experience’? + Sunset Gower Studios Sell for $200 Million (L.A. Business Journal) |
Somewhere in Malawi, the African nation most widely known as Madonna’s adoption farm, a 19 year old who couldn’t afford to attend high school, and whose village had no electricity, built a windmill with materials discarded by his neighbors and a bicycle dynamo. He had never used a computer, but after his incredible DIY windmill caught some media attention, he now has his own blog! He was even flown out (his first time on a plane) to a TED conference in Tanzania, where he gave a lecture about his accomplishment. Makes you feel kind of lazy and spoiled, huh? + William Kamkwamba’s Malawi Windmill Blog
Fans of The New Beverly’s monthly Grindhouse night– or any fan of that sublime gray area between art and trash– should love MuderMystery on LiveJournal. This 20-year-old photo student from Illinois writes verbose essays on the best films you’ve never heard of. The obscure gems he spotlights often hail from the dusty corners of 1970s and 80s cinematic history, hiding in the oft-dismissed genres of horror, erotica, or experimental cinema. Take a minute to read his manifesto, “A Primer to Watching European Genre Cinema,” for a more thorough concept of what this MuderMystery is all about. If you ever think you’ve run out of movies to watch, check out MurderMystery’s convenient on-going list, “100 Films You Should Probably See.” + MuderMystery (NSFW)
Matthew Barnes’ graphic design work is pretty crazy rad. A recent graduate of the Liverpool School of Art, he has already worked with Anthem Magazine, Nike, Dazed & Confused, Diesel, and SXSW, among others. Check out the work he did for Arktip Magazine and his hand-customized Adidas sneakers. I also want the awesome hooded jacket he customized for the Nike “Performance Art” exhibition. The kid has talent! |
Everyone knows the summers in L.A. are hotter than Georgia asphalt. The sun glares down on you all day, with no sympathy and not even a hint of cloud coverage in sight. So to find some reprieve, I went to 7 Eleven (just a regular one, unfortunately– not a Kwik-E-Mart) for some ice cream yesterday, and came back with the two items pictured above. These two items are essential to staying cool. You don’t need air conditioning, a swimming pool, or even an ice cube being rolled all over your naked body (sorry, Rosie Perez). It’s simple– all you need is a bowl of Oatmeal Cookie Chunk and some Strawberry Syrup to go on top. Because it’s crazy delicious! |
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