(This is a compiled repost of items culled from my soon-to-be-extinct subsidiary blog, 'Brief Window')
1. 
Leif Peng at Today's Inspiration has put up a great string of posts looking at the work of David Stone Martin, the American artist / illustrator responsible for so many classic and influential album covers, primarily in the jazz vein, primarily in the 1950s and '60s.
Click over to:
- David Stone Martin: For the Record
- David Stone Martin: Early Days
- David Stone Martin: Modernism meets Traditionalism
One link included is to Fox Music's David Stone Martin flickr set, which is where the four images posted here were found.
(Via Martin Klasch)
For more DSM, see also:
- The Album Art of David Stone Martin, a list at Rate Your Music
- LP Cover Lover
- Like Wow! Vinyl Culture Quarterly
2. Composer / Arranger Neal Hefti passed away last Saturday, at the age of 85.
He'd worked with big band leaders like
Woody Herman and Count Basie in the 1940s and '50s, as well as many other top names.
Hefti segued into scoring for movies and television in the '60s, which is where he'd said he did his best work.
Most people who lived through that era can instantly recall his themes to 'The Odd Couple' and the '60's incarnation of 'Batman'.
Surfing about the web, a few interesting links turn up that give further insight into the life and work of Neal Hefti - -
Follow links to:
- New York Times obituary
- A profile at Space Age Pop.Com
- A 2004 interview with Neal Hefti, posted at The Robert Farnon Society Website
- Several tracks from Neal Hefti are available at Grabb.it
- The out-of-print LP, 'Hefti in Gotham City', recorded during the height of 'Bat-Mania', is available for download at 'Blog of 999 Dances'
- The 'Hefti in Gotham City' LP included the brassy track 'Gotham City Municipal Swing Band', which for more than a decade became familiar in and around the San Francisco bay area as theme music to 'Creature Features', the local late-night horror movie TV show, hosted for years by Bob Wilkins.
3. The evidence has been around for a while now: Men are the New Women.
- - At least as far as the fashion industry, the cosmetic, personal accessory, personal fragrance industries and certainly the world of advertising are concerned.
Options and a range of choices are a good thing, but not surprisingly it feels like it may only be commerce that's driving it.
"Hmm, what else can we get them to buy?"
How about Pantyhose for Men?
Follow the link above to the 'e-MANcipate!' site, and also check out Manolo's Shoe Blog to learn so much more about 'Mantyhose'.
4. In Walks Plantbot!
It's the planter box that strolls about the room, following the best patches of sunlight.
Imagine several in a small apartment!
Click over to
The Play Coalition for a closer look.
- - And while you're there, take a peek at their other innovative products, like The Subtletie and The Immersion Scarf.
Pretty tricky... (Via Neatorama)
5. Click over to
The Advertising Artwork of Dr. Seuss,
and see some of what Ted Geisel was up to
when he wasn't creating children's books...
5. Click over to 
