Bring on the Christmas!

Some of the most terrific fades and transitions ever.

Merry Christmas!

NETFLIX ALERT: 'Black Sunday' or 'The Mask of Satan'

The Mario Bava and the Italians do classic horror right — and I don't know why.  

This movie was perhaps one of the best 'Spooky' horror films I've ever seen, complete with giant bats, secret tunnels, drafty castles, carriages, burning at the stake, ghosts and the undead.  Never gory, but totally fun and creepy.  I can't recommend this movie enough!

http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Black_Sunday/22465068

Soak up the warmth!

Snow monkeys are the absolute best.

Forget Time — The Boston Globe Delivers.

The Boston Globe has compiled the best of photographs 2008, these are just incredible.  They narrowed them down to just 120 selections.

Part 01  Part 02  Part 03

The Santa Claus Family Tree

Definitely worth a peek — pretty clever — click the image for a larger view.

Kudos to Jeffrey Vallance!

For My Publishing Peeps.

This was probably humorous at one point — but now is kinda scary.  

JTree Sees 18" of Snow — campers question if this was such a good idea

According to the Ranger Station, the snow will be all gone by this weekend.  Bring the hot chocolate, long underwear and schnapps!

Holidaybrain!

The Time 2008 Year of in Photos

Time has released it's always-great 'Photos of the Year' — this year has some especially good ones, including a great shot of OhBahMah doing pullups.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2008/personoftheyear/article/0,31682,1861543_1861868,00.html

So Cute. So Deadly...

I think they might have a 90% dropout rate.

Primates! Unite & Revolt!

This photo is only usurped by the terrific caption, pulled from the London Daily Mail:

"Angry monkeys turn on their trainer and beat him senseless with his own stick after he handed out a beating to one of the trio during a performance riding mini bicycles in a market in Sizhou, China"

Dynasty — EP //THE OMEGA

1. I Got A Message For Your Head
2. Salty Mouth
3. Kill Me
4. Hey

I could ramble a dozen stories off about Wu-Tang tattoos, chance meetings with John Reis, showing up late to VFW halls in Providence and lunchmeat being flung across I-95... but what you really need to know is this was an amalgamation of extremely talented musicians who really turned out some innovative stuff.  It was a huge treat to see their earlier shows at random bars on LI's south shore.

Members of The Last Crime, The 52X, Neanderthal, etc.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?duj22znzoxn

Arik Moonhawk Roper — SVA Alumns Unite!

One of my favorite stoner-esque illustrators from the resurgence of sludgy stoner rock, focusing on fantasy, horror, surreal, and psychedelic imagery.

He's currently working on an illustrated book about magic mushrooms (what a surprise!).

http://www.arikroper.com

Next Lifelist entry: Russia’s Kronotsky reserve

I'll have to dig up my itinerary from a few years back of a dream roadtrip — driving up the Pacific coast, into Alaska and finally taking the ferry to Siberia's Kamchatka Peninsula.  Beyond the incredible flyfishing, hiking and wildlife, I understand the people are supposed to be really great.

Interestingly, this area of Russia has become congested with would-be entrepreneurs shuttling used cars from Japan/China to Western Russia.  Bizarre.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/01/russia-wilderness/michael-melford-photography

http://www.travelkamchatka.com/kronotsky_map.htm

It can't be!

Damn — I think it is!

IT IS!  

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1866765,00.html

America Is F*cked.......(Graphically at least)

This is from Aaron Draplin's blog, that I often read — I really like his aesthetic and appreciation for the disappearing roadside America...

Also:

http://www.draplin.com/

Unsuprisingly, spacesuit #3 was not popular.

Holiday Brain.

Take me to JTree.

Christmas Wishes from David Bowie and Bing Crosby

I made poor Adam, my cycling buddy sit in traffic and listen to this in it's complete entirety — almost as good as "Mi Gusta Santa" — the next song. This reminds me I really have to fix the radio in my car.

OK LOL.

The Best Chipmunks Song Ever...

Everyone wishes they had a horse!

Monday Cute Attack!

Someone has discovered Miles' dogbed and is pretty pleased to get some sleep in — Lummis has the ability to fall into full-blown REM sleep within two seconds of closing his eyes... 

Oh Bah Ma. The Mark. The Legend.

This video is pretty pedestrian if you understand the design process at all, but worth checking out to get a sense of how Obama's 2008 logotype was developed.  Sol Sender from VSA has some good insights, but the real treat is to see the elements which were rejected by the Obama team.

You can find part two of the video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZmSzLH-Oi4

Winter Fun

I totally miss winter — all we've been getting is a deluge of rain and terrible traffic!

Hopefully this winter we can go out XCSkiing for a weekend in Mammoth...

Strictly for the Lord of the Rings Fans...

You know who you are!

Those Orcs are the best part of the movie!

Perhaps the most compelling reason not to overeat.

You'll turn into a big angry rhesus monkey!

The NYT definitely did a great job on this diagram:
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/10/31/health/31aging_graphic_lg.jpg

Terrific Gallery of Hajj Photos

I always enjoy photos of the Hajj in Saudi Arabia, but this collection from the Boston Globe is exceptional —  The 'Bigger Picture' section of this site never lets me down with great photos.  I especially like the photos of Jamarat, symbolically stoning satan...

It would be incredible to partake in a tour Mecca and Medina.  Maybe one day.

Until then:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/12/the_hajj_and_eid_aladha.html

DJ EPO // The party was brought.

DJ EPO had a terrific night at ThreeClubs last night, complete with backup dancers and a posse — really a terrific time and the bands were pretty good too.  Next time I think DJ EPO could perhaps headline?  Amazingly, ThreeClubs was the first place I went when arriving in LA with Dave: no sign of life from the facade, but inside is perhaps one of LA's coolest spots.  Thanks Derek and NJ!

http://www.yelp.com/biz/three-clubs-cocktail-lounge-hollywood

An amazing collection of unique houses

I'll try to dig up the english/russia link I found of obscure wooden skyscrapers in Siberia.

Until then!
http://weburbanist.com/2008/12/09/amazing-bizarre-homes-exotic-houses/

NETFLIX ALERT: 'Running on the Sun, the Badwater 135 Ultramarathon'

An pretty absorbing documentary about the early days of the Badwater 135 ultramarathon, where runners are subjected to the absolute edge of endurance: 125° heat, 135 miles of uphill running and elevation into the Mt. Whitney Trailhead (~8500').  If you can get through the visceral aspect, this story is filled with inspiring stories of people overcoming odds to do their personal best.

I watched about 45 minutes of this on DVD this morning to ramp up for the day, after Lummis got me up at 6am, before starting the day.

http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Running_on_the_Sun/60029968

NETFLIX ALERT: Style Wars Documentary

This was a great documentary — on the level of 'Wild Style' and 'Crush Groove' — definitely worth watching if just for 1982 New York and the terrific inflections.

http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Style_Wars/60027810

Thanks Banksy.

Pizza Hack — Reverse Engineering the Perfect Pizza

This is great — I'm going to convince my local pizza spot for some dough.

http://www.seriouseats.com/2007/03/broiled-pizza.html

Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism...

Speaking of socialism... this is from the Leninism page on Wikipedia:

Lenin advanced the view that imperialism is the highest stage of the capitalist economic system...explaining a phenomenon which Marx predicted: the shift of capitalism towards becoming a global system (hence the slogan "Workers of the world, unite!"). At the core of this theory of imperialism lies the idea that advanced capitalist industrial nations increasingly come to export capital to captive colonial countries. They then exploit those colonies for their resources and investment opportunities. This superexploitation of poorer countries allows the advanced capitalist industrial nations to keep at least some of their own workers content, by providing them with slightly higher living standards. — Vladimir Lenin, 1916

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leninism

Socialism. We has it.

I wish this wasn't true. Ugh!

Staten Island Historians Piece Together Genealogy Of Wu-Tang Clan

Oh man this is so funny.
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/staten_island_historians_piece

Quality is Makin' It!

An amazing collection of 1970s era ads targeting african american consumers — totally bizarre!

Enjoy!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sa_steve/sets/72157606334289664/

USC vs that other team nobody with any common sense likes.

A terrific time seeing USC demolish UCLA at the Rosebowl — this was my first football game ever — whoa! It was a great time and I was especially surprised to learn that they don't serve beer at these events?! Just frozen lemonade (boooring) and cottoncandy (snore)... I was expecting gallons of Coors Light.

Coming Soon: THANKSGIVING 2008 Photos

Stay tuned!

Endlessly Steep: Glendora Mountain Road

Ten sloggy miles uphill with pals today: terrific fun and just endlessly uphill for ten miles.  We made it and rewarded ourselves with a trip to Hi-Top for some junkfood afterwards.  I think that this route might replace the LA > Long Beach > LA 85 mile trip.  We got up to the top in 1.5hr (7mph average) with a return down in 12 minutes (28mph average).

Sorry for the photo overload!

Cute Overload!

Lummis is a great sport about being photographed, especially when there is food at stake!  He's really taken to nylabones, green squeeky dinosaurs and slowly gaining appreciation for the subtle taste of tennis balls.