August 31, 2004

Whee! It's the Series 200e!



August 30, 2004

More Buenos Aires, because I know you love it as much as I do (and if you're sick of it, go read some pithy publishing gossip or something). Turismo Bs As is one of the most well-designed municipal tourism sites I've ever seen: attractive, intuitive, practical, and up-to-date. Moreover, it doesn't look like it was created with Dreamweaver in 1996 and left to rot.

Nice photo gallery too:




Second Argentina item (and this story's already a month old, but I just found out about it tonight):

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina [AP-Latin America] - Paint the polar bear purple and the crowds will come.

That seems to be the lesson a zoo in Mendoza has learned, after its 23-year-old bear Pelusa was sprayed with an antiseptic spray that turned her normally white fur a dark shade of violet.

The unusual color — a temporary side effect of the treatment for dermatitis — has turned the aging bear into a minor celebrity in Argentina and prompted thousands of schoolchildren and tourists to make their way to the Jardin Zoologico de Mendoza in the western city beneath the snow-capped Andes.


August 27, 2004

Protesters at the RNC? Feh. Those pansy pinko anarchists don't stand a chance against JOHNNY LAW!

August 24, 2004



Full disclosure: This is the first year in a long time that I haven't followed the Olympics, or even acknowledged the games in some marginal way. I'm not about to start now, but I'll be a contrarian and blog this Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles poster exhibit of images from the Pan American Games, 1951-1999. The first Pan American Games was held in Buenos Aires. As I may have mentioned, CKB and I are heading down there in November. His blog post for today is a link to some k-fab vintage Argentine postcards.

August 23, 2004

My room's a mess, but I don't care
I'm tired of sitting at my desk
You can't bother me
I'm far away from you
Got to get away
You can't ruin my day
You can't tell me what to do
You can't make me think I love you
Shoot it in the arm, you can't hurt me
I'm on my way to Catalina
And I'm not going to read your books
My tank's full of squid
And it's getting light
And you whores, you can't make me want
'Cause I got all the rest I need
On the deck of my boat
And you can't take my heart when I'm here
'Cause it's a long swim home
For your cute little arms
I'll steal some gas, fix my motor
Put on my Beatles tape
And get you out of my head
Ah yes, here I am, far away from everyone
And the only fish I smell
Is on the back of my boat
I want to go but my motor's broken
There's no scotch tape, I'm out of gas,
So it looks like I'm stuck here
I'll steal some gas, fix my motor
Put on my Doors tape
And get you out of my head

-Descendents, "Catalina"

I just went googling for info about a long-gone Tennessee art-punk band called the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and came upon an old Christgau Consumer Guide that made my head spin. A profusion of groundbreaking, era-defining, bonafide classics... and U2's Boy (" ... if Bono's echoey vocals already teeter on the edge [in-joke] of grandiosity, how are they going to sound by the time he plays the Garden?"). March 30, 1981.

August 21, 2004





August 19, 2004



August 15, 2004

August 14, 2004

Oh yeah: Picked this postcard up in the lobby of the Anthology Film Archives. In conjunction with the Film Forum's They Came From Toho series, Posteritati is presenting a film poster exhibition called "Japanese Monsters" -- and you have until September 7 to catch it.

My day in cameraphone pictures:

Vietnamese pork chops on University Place:



The shrine of dead computers in the bathroom at alt.coffee:



Some wonderfully befouled building:



We aim to please, so aim too please:



Posho gentrification consumes the East Village:

August 10, 2004

"You can buy a house in this abandoned village on one of the most out-of-the-way islands in Italy. More than a mile from the nearest road, no utilities, no neighbors. But hey, the views! And it looks like there's a roof. $36,000."

August 09, 2004

Kottke.org blogs about the design aesthetic of the menu at West Village mainstay Shopsin's and links to what's probably the most comprehensive write-up of the place -- a 2002 feature story by Calvin Trillin. I only got to go to the old Shopsin's location once (and actually we timed it to get there during their odd hours); haven't visited the new digs yet but this may be the kick in the pants I need. Nota bene: The son mentioned in the article lived in Portland when I was there and we hung out dated a few times.

August 08, 2004

Nothing right now says "come to mommy" more than this Weather Underground picture of Cascada Los Alerces Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi Bariloche - Patagonia. When I finally drop out of society, leave the country, and go fuck-off barmy, you'll find me under that rainbow, lovingly stroking a treasure trove filled with matambre and malbec, and singing Disco Evita.

August 05, 2004

If you sign up for a policy from Mobilers Insurance Services through the company's website, you'll receive a free copy of The Mister Softee Story, Fifty Years of Ice Cream Vehicles, or The Mr. Whippy Story. Now I finally have an excuse to take out insurance on my chipper van!