I'll Have a Pad Thai Dog to Go
Not Fooling Anybody: A chronicle of bad conversions and storefronts past.
November 6, 2008
Not Fooling Anybody: A chronicle of bad conversions and storefronts past.
August 2, 2008
Havana Before Castro
I just received my copy of Havana Before Castro, a wonderful new book by architect, Peter Moruzzi, that "through vintage and contemporary photographs, brochures, and artifacts evocative of time and place...tells the story of the city that was the most popular exotic destination for Americans during the forty years between World War I and Castro’s revolution." At the official website, you can preview many of the book's fantastic mid-century illustrations, like this one:
I'd love to visit Havana some day, and hope that when I do, it's people won't be ruled by thugs, communist or otherwise.
[Link: Havana Before Castro]
February 28, 2008
The Fabulous Baron Prášil
Karel Zeman was a brilliant Czech animator who produced magical films, filled with surrealist whimsy. I stayed up late many a night in my youth in order to watch the fruits of his fertile imagination flicker across the screen of our old RCA television set.
His special effects were astonishing for their time, employing simple, in-camera optical effects, flawless stop-action animation, and live-action to produce stunningly beautiful imagery that looked as if it came straight out of an engraving by Gustave Doré. His work has inspired Terry Gilliam of Monty Python, and Wes Anderson, among many others. Anderson paid homage to Zeman in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and Gilliam even went so far as to remake Zeman's film, The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (AKA Baron Prášil), with decidedly mixed results.
Zeman's Munchausen is an unqualified masterpiece of fantastic cinema that is, inexplicably, unavailable in the US on DVD, and extremely difficult to find everywhere else. Fortunately, several clips are available on YouTube, so do yourself a favor and spend some time watching them. You'll be glad you did.
[Link: The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (review)]
[Link: Baron Prášil Clips 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
[Link: The Special Effects of Karel Zeman Part I and Part II]
[Link: Karel Zeman Short Subjects]
January 22, 2008
Do Nothing Machine
Well, apparently no one was much interested in my Melbourne cocktail review or ancient forays into public television, so I present you with Charles Eame's delightful solar-powered "Do Nothing Machine" from 1958, and bid you adieu for the nonce.
Link: The Do Nothing Machine][via mod*mom]
September 6, 2007
Ne Plus Ultralounge
[Link: Your Swingin' Pad Flickr Set]
August 12, 2007
Tiki Modern
If Beachbum Berry is the Messiah of Tropical Mixology, then Sven Kirsten is his Moses, leading the lost children of the Trader and the Beachcomber out of the wilderness and into the Promised Land flowing with Mai Tais and Puu-puu Platters. Kirsten's first tome was the Book of Tiki: the Ark of the Covenant, Ten (or more) Commandments, and veritable Pentateuch of Polynesian Pop. An essential, if not the essential, addition to the library of any Tikiphile, it almost singlehandedly rescued Tiki from near-total oblivion, and transformed a kitsch pastime for parental squares into, dare-we-say-it, highbrow lowbrow art for the most discerning of tastes.
After an interminable interval, Kirsten has announced the imminent arrival of his second work, Tiki Modern, a look at the artistic connections between PolyPop and mid-century Modernism of the 1950s and '60s. Slated to ship next month, Sven has graciously provided a sneak preview of his new masterpiece in this Tiki Central thread. I've got my copy pre-ordered!
[Link: Tiki Modern Sneak Preview]
August 11, 2007
Strangled at Expo '70
I've only been to one world's fair, and boy was it a doozy. Back in 1970, my mom and I flew from Seoul, Korea to Osaka, Japan and spent a week dragging ourselves around the splendidly retro-futuristic grounds of Expo '70. I was dazzled by the architecture; everything looked like flying saucers and alien artifacts made of chrome and concrete. You can see several of these wonderful structures in the video clip of the Expo's opening ceremonies above.
However, my mom was not having much fun. She was in great pain and had trouble walking more than a couple hundred steps without having to stop and rest. For an over-sugared 11-year old kid who wanted to run around and see and touch everything, it was like hell for me. I selfishly whined and complained until Mom finally grabbed me by the throat and started choking. The look on her face was truly frightening. I really thought she was going to kill me. She finally let go, and believe me, I behaved like an angel for the rest of the trip!
Unbeknownst to us, she had a huge benign tumor pressing on her spinal column which went undiagnosed until we returned to the US later that year. After it was removed, the back and leg pain disappeared. She's always felt terrible about the choking incident, but I tell her that I deserved it, and since it didn't leave any permanent fingerprints on my throat, it's all good.
Here are some great Expo '70 links, courtesy of Things Magazine:
[Link: Expo '70 opening ceremonies]
[Link: Expo Museum Expo '70 Entry]
[Link: Expo '70 Time Capsule Contents]
June 25, 2007
Let There Be Uke Light!
May 1, 2007
Wallpaper From the 70s
April 15, 2007
Loose Lips
[Link: The Red Menace -- Echoes of Communism and Cold War Fears][via I Like]