jim henson

1. Amazon reviews as guerilla creative writing projects - -
Who knew?!?

Earlier this week, Boing Boing posted an entry linked to funny reviews for Bic pens at Amazon UK.

Follow link to: Bic Crystal ballpoint pen, medium point, black, EACH

Fun and fascinating. Reference was also made to dozens of reviews for milk - -
Link to: Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon, 128 fl oz

People have posted haikus and sprawling pieces of fiction all centered around the mundane and ubiquitous offerings from the gi-normous globo-vendor. It's brilliant, cheerfully and quietly subversive, and I'm pleased to discover it's out there.

I think it's the sort of thing that exemplifies all that is BEST and TRULY wonderful about the internet.

While reading a milk review I also noticed the little
"Customers who viewed this item also viewed" sidebar thingie.

It was offering Uranium Ore - - →

"I bought a can of this about 4.5 billion years ago, give or take a few million years, but when I went to use it today I noticed only half of it was still in the can. I swear I put the lid on tight. I'd give it more stars if it came in a better package."

← - - and the $20k
JL421 Badonkadonk
Land Cruiser/Tank - -

"Finally, a tank you can trust"




2. A wicked and wonderful guilty pleasure: men who look like old lesbians (Via Mira y Calla)
Some of the magic works by power of suggestion, much of it works just fine without any persuasion...

... and I can just hear the response of some of the assorted gentlemen: "Whaddya mean 'old'??"

3. A few Xmas-tly items I ran across this past week:

- WishbookWeb.com has painstakingly archived EVERY page from a baker's dozen of vintage Christmas catalogs from Sears, JC Penneys, and others, dating from 1944 - 1985.

Thousands of cultural artifacts to inspire interest and awe, such as this image from 1971. (click to enlarge)
⬅ (Via Coudal Partners' MoOm Annex)

- The Saint Nicholas Center:
Discovering the Truth About Santa Claus

"Who is St. Nicholas? Who is Santa Claus? Are they the same? Find out here."
Saint Nicholas traditions and celebrations in many countries, activities, crafts, recipes, stories & more!

- Xmas crafts and such from Better Homes & Gardens (circa 1958) at Jim Dunn's always intriguing Do What Now?

4. Legendary pioneer of Rock & Roll Ike Turner finally found peace this week.

Follow links to :

-Ike Turner obituary at Reuters.

- Bedazzled's posting of a complete 1959 episode of the 'Party Time' TV show with Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm as the House Band



5. M_Patton's lists at
Rate Your Music.

Another recent post at Bedazzled linked to
'NUDE NUDE NUDE!!!'

- - a trove of *1487* examples (and counting) of nude photography in album cover art.

(Big surprise: 99% female, and many of them FAR less tame than these posted examples. NSFW!)

I loves me a good gallery of old LP covers.

So, y'know, that's great and all - - but (if maybe that's not your thing) I found that M_Patton has also listed several other galleries of album art that are also quite fun.

Aside from his personal faves, there are several lists sorted by the cover's subject matter, such as:

Painted portraits of the artist, Artists sitting on stairs, 'Half a face', Silhouettes, 'Out of focus', Album covers spoofing other album covers, Albums without the title or the artist's name written on the cover
- - and many others. Check it out!

6. NPR ran a nice little piece on über-outsider musician Jandek this week. (Thanks to JLIV and KALX for the heads up)

- Link to Jandek: The Man from Corwood

Some nice insights, and a great primer for the uninitiated.

I guess there's a small nagging voice inside me wondering if it isn't somehow 'wrong' for Jandek to be garnering such media attention - - yet here I am contributing, in my own small and hypocritical fashion...

7. The Movie Title Screens Page is just about exactly what it sounds like, and it's a great, eclectic and colorful resource.

(Via the expansive and wondrous Coudal Partners' MoOm Annex)


8. Thanks for coming out, Jodie, and congratulations.

Also in her speech this past week, accepting the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award:

"Growing up, there were hardly any women in my professional sphere — there was maybe a script supervisor, the makeup artist and the lady who played my mother. I became the prodigal daughter after I proved myself in a family of men."

"I don't feel very powerful. I feel fragile ... unsure, struggling to figure it all out, trying to get there even though I'm not sure where there is ... I've been working in this business for 42 years and there's no way you can do that and not be as nutty as a fruitcake."

"I always feel like something of an impostor. I don't know what I'm doing. I suppose that's my one little secret, the secret of my success."