:: December 30, 2002
New on the Excitement Machine: ads from Ebony Magazine, January 1972. The cover story of this issue was majorettes and marching bands of black colleges, so I offer this as a soundtrack. It's from DJ Shadow Presents: Schoolhouse Funk, a compilation of high school and college marching bands from the 60s and 70s. You can download the album from eMusic if you feel like giving up your credit card number for a free trial membership. ::
Gumby X-Maz, a psycho flash cartoon from the frenetic Paperrad ::
:: December 29, 2002
The other night I dreamt that I was in a class on the history of rice taught by Laura Innes (of E.R. fame). For the final (which my grade ABSOLUTELY depended on, Professor Innes sternly reminded me) I was to cook two dishes: one was Persian crusty rice with potatoes, the other involved corn somehow. It was a rather textbook anxiety dream (I was running around trying to figure out when and where the final was), but you can't deny the beauty in this combination of obscure celebrity + food staple. ::
:: December 25, 2002
It's been weeks! Hi, and happy Christmas from the Excitement Machine. I just heard this song on VH1 and had to find it on the Internet and share it with you. It's Weird Al Yankovic's "Christmas at Ground Zero," highly inappropriate and dark in hindsight. I stole it from here, where lots of other devious Christmas songs live, such as Virginia Keegal's "I Want a Boob Job for Christmas."
Bryan and I recently discussed the topic "Which is worse: traditional or original Christmas songs?" My immediate instinct was "original, and and version of 'Jingle Bell Rocks'," but now I feel I must reconsider. Although now that Xmas is almost over, you really don't have to give this question a first thought, much less a second. So I won't even ask what you think. ::
:: December 11, 2002
Quiet American, a site dedicated to field recordings from around the world. Wow. Wow wow wow. (Via this Metafilter thread.) ::
300 Loses Luster: Bowling struggles with credibility as perfect games become routine. Says the good ol USA Today:
"So as the business of bowling reels from the 60% drop in league players the last two decades, the integrity of the sport is in question. A great debate rages on how the scoring boom has affected league participation, and there's even greater debate within the sport on how to restore scoring credibility."
(Via Travelers Diagram.)
How do you think the bowling ante can be upped? I say professionals should have to select from a limited set of house balls instead of using their own specially-weighted custom jobs with "extra hook." And, they should be judged subjectively on their form, e.g. points for a little "hop" at the end of their follow-through. And screw strikes, points should be awarded progressively for increasingly difficult configurations, like the sought-after dinner bucket. ::
Dr. (Walter) Potter's Museum of Curiosities is up for sale. According to CNN, "The collection is one of the most elaborate surviving examples of the 19th-century craze for anthropomorphic displays of preserved dead animals." A Case of Curiosities has lots more photos and a Potter timeline -- look around the site for more examples of wacky taxidermy. (Via Bonnie) ::
:: December 5, 2002
Stan alerted me that the JC Penney Catalog Nostalgia was chosen by Yahoo's Year in Review to be among the top 25 sites of the year. Bryan says, "Holy shit, you're a superstar! And you almost beat out Philip Glass. People truly are suckers. What's with their fasination with the bearded skier?"
I'm still waiting to be sued, maybe this will put us over the top. Cross your fingers!
By the way, JC Penney's has its archives and museum in Plano, TX, so you can visit all the old catalogs in person. But, you'd have to go to Plano. ::
:: December 4, 2002
"Well, being the good drug addict I am, I started knitting obsessively. When my friend Alex had a birthday, I started fooling around with felting. When you wash wool it shrinks and mats. So I made one for Alex and people suggested that I sell them. So I do while working on the next Breeders' record."
Handbags by Kelley Deal, only $40 + $5 s/h. ::
:: December 1, 2002
Mouth-cam! (via Mister Pants) ::
Table of condiments that periodically go bad (via Incoming Signals) ::
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