Friday, August 18, 2006


Elsewhere
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- * Nate Davis buys some new CDs, enjoys them, yet finds himself wondering what it is we get from music. Then he has the inspired idea of visually documenting his daily commute. We're lucky he did it on such a pretty day. * Rachel spots evidence (here and here) that Hollywood may be becoming a little less neurotic about weight. We can hope. * Mr. Tall has some good advice for those hoping to beat the heat while stuck wearing a suit. * Claire plays the "One Book" game. My favorite Claire response is to the category "One book I wish I'd written." Claire: "Yoga for People Who Can't be Bothered to Do It." * Greg Mankiw notices that Milton Friedman's 1980 TV series "Free to Choose" can now be watched on Google Video. * Stephanesque shares an architect's image of Boston's new Institute of Contemporary Arts, scheduled to open soon. Sigh: Does reality really have to be turning into a computer rendering of itself? * Alice creates a lovely drawing using ink and pizza grease. * Girish recalls what it was like for him to move to the U.S. 20 years ago. * Texas loyalist Scott Chaffin confides that ZZ Top "pretty much defines me." Not a statement you'll hear often where I live in New York City! * Searchie gives an obnoxious tech-support geek a well-deserved telling-off. * At Querencia, Matt wonders why no one foresaw that that engineered golf grass would likely jump a fence, and Steve shows off a plentiful mushroom harvest. * Muslim comedians -- that has to be a good development. (Link thanks to Rod Dreher.) * Razib wonders why the New York Times doesn't consider Asians to be "minorities." * Citrus/ViewfromArizona/Roger has begun experimenting with videoblogging, and has even visited an Apple Store to get some tech-coaching. I'm looking forward to more. Roger's videocam skills are still works in progress, but onscreen he has a lot of presence. * Derek Lowe wonders how much of a technical/scientific/medical optimist he really is. Best, Michael... posted by Michael at August 18, 2006 | perma-link | (10) comments

Thursday, August 17, 2006


Uninhibited 2
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- A Boomer friend recently told me about a party he'd thrown for his daughter, who was turning 21. Her friends were in attendance, as were many parents. Entertainment included a mocking PowerPoint slideshow, drinks, toasts, and funny presents. Up at the mike, the girl's friends told racey stories about her sex life, and three of the joke-gifts they presented to the girl were dildos. It evidently never occurred to the kids that this might not be quite the way to behave in the presence of their parents. On YouTube, two blonde teens dance in front of the bedroom-webcam to a surly (and catchy) rap song whose refrain is "Circle circle, dot dot / I got my cootie shot." There's some stuff about booteys, and a recurring moment involving the line ''I'll fuck her anyway." The girls bounce around happily to the rhythms. Whee! What fun! (Complete lyrics to the song are here.) Today's kids are making Boomers look like prudes. I wrote a previous blog posting about today's know-no-inhibitions kids here. Best, Michael... posted by Michael at August 17, 2006 | perma-link | (29) comments

Brown Girls
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- I love it when the parti-colored brainiacs at GNXP hash out which chicks are hot and why. It's a great and fun way for non-geeks to learn about ethnic characteristics. They're on about South Asian and Persian girls today. One of the commenters links to a hilarious video entitled "Curry-n-Rice Girl," by MC Vikram and Ludakrishna. Rap with an Indian sense of rueful humor: Is it a culture-meld or a culture-clash? Best, Michael... posted by Michael at August 17, 2006 | perma-link | (7) comments

Classicism Links
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- * Classicism nuts have another essential websource to explore: Greg Shue's beautiful Grand Tradition. Greg's site offers many hours' worth of browsing possibilities, and the material that's on display can really make the head and the senses swim. I loved, for instance, running into this image of Oslo's warmly-colored, distinctively-proportioned National Theater. And the site's links page is a one-stop guide to the online Classical-architecture world. I'm hoping Greg starts blogging soon. * Francis Morrone takes a look at Renzo Piano's addition to New York City's Morgan Library and somehow manages to be very informative, quietly impassioned, and drily amusing all at the same time. I haven't been inside Piano's addition yet, but when I walked by it the other day I was stunned by how banal the exterior is. It all but screeched "bad American embassy in Abu Dhabi, 1962." In the comments on Francis' posting, Tatyana aptly compares Piano's creation to a "plane hangar." Best, Michael... posted by Michael at August 17, 2006 | perma-link | (1) comments

Prairie Mary's Blackfeet Stories Are on Lulu
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- The best linkage news of the day is that Prairie Mary has just published her collection of Blackfeet stories with the first-rate POD outfit Lulu.com. As visitors to 2Blowhards (or to her own blog) know, Mary Scriver is an unruly fireball of writing talent -- full of horsepower, information, soul, brains, and juice. I just ordered a copy of the book, and am expecting an involving and exciting read. You can order a hard copy or download a PDF version of the book from this page. Best, Michael UPDATE: I'm hoping to see many writers sidestep traditional commercial publishers and go the self-publishing route. It's a lot less trouble, far less wearing on the soul, and (potentially, at least) a much more direct way of connecting with audiences and readers. Why re-enact all the old battles? Why not sidestep them, and then get on with life instead? Are you, as your own publisher, stuck doing all your own promotion? Sure. But -- sad fact but true -- so are 9 out of 10 commercially-published authors. Most commercial houses put their marketing muscle behind very few of the books they publish. Taking charge of your own fate can be a real high. Dave Lull spotted a Times of London article by a downright exultant Martin Wroe celebrating his experience with Lulu.com. Wroe writes: "Holding the finished product -- a proper, perfect-bound book, gleaming colour cover hugging 76 crisp white pages of text -- it was obvious that a revolution is under way for prospective authors everywhere ... The maths of publishing is changing. Profitability has been factored around millions of sales by hundreds of authors; in future it may be based around hundreds of sales by millions of authors." Mary's first reflections about self-publishing with Lulu can be read here.... posted by Michael at August 17, 2006 | perma-link | (2) comments

Elsewhere
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards-- * Thanks to Dave Lull, who notices that a collection of letters and postcards by the exuberant and irascible Edward Abbey will be published very soon. (I'm as big a fan as can be of Abbey's "Desert Solitaire.") Dave spotted online excerpts from the book here and here. * Take a break from the long-windedness of 2Blowhards with Alicatte, who posts one-paragraph-long discussions of cultural events. Alicatte isn't just to-the-point. She's also witty and intuitive, and she has her own intriguingly-quirky ways of responding to (and discussing) culture. Even her self-description -- "I'm a pessimist who expects everything to go right" -- hits the perfect, off-center note. * Cupcake or muffin? Jane and Justin deconstruct a delectable-looking lump of floury, buttery sweetness. * Thanks to visitor Sajai, who called my attention to a very absorbing personal blog written by a young woman who describes herself as "an Indian girl who is stuck between traditional values and the modern times." I'll say. Heavens: the traditional-style search for a suitable husband sounds like an awfully trying thing. Well, the blog at least is often funny, often dramatic, and always vivid. * Charlton Griffin points out a very well-done page evoking what life in Charles Dickens' London was like. "Until the second half of the 19th century," one passage goes, "London residents were still drinking water from the very same portions of the Thames that the open sewers were discharging into." There was one event that was literally called "The Great Stink of 1858." 1858 -- that's not so long ago! Best, Michael... posted by Michael at August 17, 2006 | perma-link | (3) comments

Some French Illustrators
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards As anyone who saw "The Triplets of Belleville" can testify, the French have their own way with cartooning and animation. Not for them the perennial (and to my mind often tiresome) American war between the commercial/superhero scene and the indie/slacker scene. French illustration art often manages to be adult, poetic, full of charm and personality, and unapologetically handmade-looking even when it isn't actually handmade. Here's a site where you can sample the work of some young French illustrators. I especially like the girlie-but-funky stylings of Adolie Day, and the fluid, wittily incisive doodles of Le Vilain. Best, Michael... posted by Michael at August 17, 2006 | perma-link | (0) comments

Real? Fake? Or Real-Fake?
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- * Many of the products in TV ads look so unreal and shiney because ... well, they're unreal. Bottles of dishwashing liquid, cans and jars of many kinds, even the cars in some car ads -- they're fakes, or rather they're virtual thingees that have been constructed with computers. Here's a real-or-fake? quiz page. * How soon before the people onscreen will be fake -- or hyperreal -- too? Here's a short semi-documentary about how Marlon Brando was revived and made to deliver some new lines for "Superman Returns." Am I the only person left who doesn't want to inhabit a superbright, poppin', hyperreal, computer-generated universe? Best, Michael... posted by Michael at August 17, 2006 | perma-link | (7) comments

Elsewhere
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- * WhiskyPrajer lists some of the books that have meant something to him. * Cowtown Pattie plays the "one book" game too, then explains the real meanings of varieties of cowboy hats. But what is the other name for a "Gus Hat"? * In his best mystical-comic poet voice, DarkoV shares the very appealing "Philosophy of Fjaka." * Car-crash enthusiasts who think they can't get enough may finally have met their match: here's a video that's over an hour long, and that consists of nothing but rally-car crashes. * Time magazine's list of the 50 coolest websites may (or may not) include a few that are new to you. I thought virtual Jackson Pollock was pure genius, as well as a lot of fun. Best, Michael... posted by Michael at August 17, 2006 | perma-link | (4) comments

Wednesday, August 16, 2006


Who Needs TV?
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- Will the YouTube awesomeness never end? Lex turns up a high-energy -- and genuinely rocking -- ukelele-based version of "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker": Colleen unearths some staggering (and, apparently, all in one shot) treadmill-choreography: I'm beginning to consider unloading my conventional Sony ... Best, Michael... posted by Michael at August 16, 2006 | perma-link | (7) comments

A Boy and His Sports Car
Donald Pittenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- My son was never a car guy, and when he was college-age preferred pickup trucks to sports cars. Where did I go wrong? When I was a teenager I would have pawned my grandmother's jewels (if she had any) for a sports car. Hell, I would have done that clear up to age 30. Maybe I'm being too harsh with myself regarding my son's incomprehensible behavior. I'll do the proper 21st Century thing and place the blame someplace else -- on generational factors, let's say. And in my generation (and locale, socioeconomic group, etc., etc.) sports cars were it. I reached puberty and serious car-consciousness in the early 1950s, right about the time British sports cars began to appear on Seattle streets in noticeable numbers. In those days there was a considerable gap between family cars and sports cars. The former were large and didn't handle well, though models powered by V-8 engines had good acceleration. Sports cars were mostly small and nimble and tended to lack raw power (though their low weight contributed to sprightly performance). Sports cars also tended to be roadsters or convertibles (both have folding tops, but roadsters lack roll-up side windows). This meant they were subject to body-shake on bumpy roads and often leaked when driven in rain. One had to be "dedicated" (read: masochist) to be a sports car owner in the Pacific Northwest in those days. Nowadays, sports cars tend to be large and powerful. Next time you find yourself behind a top-of-the-line Porsche, Jaguar, Aston-Martin or Ferrari, check out how wide they are -- as wide or wider than most sedans or SUVs. Often as not they have a metal top. And sedans no longer can be expected to have lousy handling, as most any BMW owner will attest. The one constant factor over time is that desirable sports cars tend to be fairly costly -- to the point of being unaffordable to the likes of me. When I was in college I couldn't afford any car, envying fraternity brothers who had sports cars. As a grad student I had an income, buy not enough to afford a new sports car. I remember staring at Road & Track road tests, eyeing the prices, and calculating and recalculated my laughable monthly disposable income. I flat-out couldn't afford a sports car. Not a new one anyway, and I didn't want to run the risk of buying a (likely abused) used one. Eventually I got a full-time job and began sports car shopping. Before continuing the story, let's pause for some pictures. Gallery Jaguar XK120 - 1948. Unafordable to all pimply-faced Fifties boys save the trust fund set, the XK120 was sex personified. Even the young Marilyn Monroe would find this Jag tough competition. MG TD - 1950. This was the first post-war British sports car to sell in large numbers in the USA. Triumph TR2. The Triumph was more potent and expensive than the MG, but had the... posted by Donald at August 16, 2006 | perma-link | (11) comments

Tuesday, August 15, 2006


Is Stupid Sexy?
Donald Pittenger writes: I'm edging into Michael's turf here, but I'll chance it anyway. Over the years I've seen a lot of calendars, centerfolds, and other non-porn media featuring girlie art. And over those same years I keep noticing the same thing: Many (but not all) of the gals who pose for those pix look like they're really stupid. You know, lacking in IQ of almost any dimension. Narrow-set eyes that don't seem capable of focusing. Pouty expressions. Etcetera, along with the requisite big rack. Why is this so, fellow deep-thinking Blowhards fans? Some possibilities: Brainless big-boobed bimbos are what photographers can most easily recruit. Said bimbos are what the target audience demands. They really are sexy and Donald, the prude, doesn't get it (in all its meanings, nudge, nudge). Kindly clue me in. Later, Donald... posted by Donald at August 15, 2006 | perma-link | (32) comments

Monday, August 14, 2006


Colin Wilson
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- Here's a great tale: the electrifying rise and almost instant fall of the British writer Colin ("The Outsider") Wilson. Acclaimed as a brilliant talent while still in his early 20s, he became rich and famous very fast. But he was critically eviscerated within a couple of years and has been ignored (and/or treated like an embarassment) ever since. I've never read a word of Wilson's myself, but The Wife, who has, says that Wilson can be a lot of fun to read, in a wild-eyed/autodidact kind of way. Talk about a bulletproof ego! Despite the blows he has taken, Wilson has gone on to publish more than 100 books. "I suspect that I am probably the greatest writer of the 20th century," he says. "In 500 years time, they'll say, 'Wilson was a genius', because I'm a turning-point in intellectual history." Best, Michael... posted by Michael at August 14, 2006 | perma-link | (18) comments

Design Gripes
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- * Michael Bierut wonders if the availability of ever-more DIY design tools is a good or a bad thing for graphic-design professionals. A fun commentsfest follows. * Lionel Shriver thinks that book jackets would benefit if graphic designers could tear themselves away from their computers and pick up some manual tools for a change. Best, Michael... posted by Michael at August 14, 2006 | perma-link | (2) comments

Spotted: Oldie on YouTube!
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- 78-year-old Geriatric1927 brings some of the ol' cranky-'n'-peevish to a new-media landscape otherwise dominated by ADD-afflicted 14-year-olds: Show 'em the way, gramps! Best, Michael UPDATE: I'm so yesterday -- here's a Reuters piece from Sunday about Geriatric1927. Interesting fact: 100 million clips are now watched on YouTube every day.... posted by Michael at August 14, 2006 | perma-link | (1) comments

Hot Ice
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- Time to play compare and contrast! Two blonde chanteuses from different eras show some of what can be done with the classic "I Don't Know Enough About You." Peggy Lee and Diana Krall give lessons in how to keep it cool but smokin', and how to use sly understatement to make those fires burn, baby. Smooth and composed -- yet anything but prim -- Peggy Lee bends it oh so mischievously: And how's that for easygoing erotic self-confidence? Diana Krall shows a lot more grit and funk, but she also demonstrates that class can still be a sexy thing even in a let-it-all-hang-out era: Holding a little something in sultry reserve: Is there anything hotter than that? Best, Michael... posted by Michael at August 14, 2006 | perma-link | (5) comments

More on Migrations
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- * Benjamin Hemric recommends two articles in the current City Journal about immigration. One is by Heather Mac Donald, the other is by Steven Malanga, and both are first-rate eye-openers. Here's a shorter version of Mac Donald's piece. * Guess which ethnicity, er, population group's birth rate far outstrips all other groups' in the American Southeast. (Answer: Hispanics, and Mexicans especially.) And guess how this amazing birth rate is being paid for. (Answer: Your tax dollars.) * Please please please, can we break ourselves of the habit of picturing the immigration issue as a conventional Dem/Repub one? Many prosperous Western countries are waking up to how disruptive the predicaments that they have created for themselves really are. * Our managerial elites sure do know their stuff, don't they? In England, Tony Blair predicted that 13,000 immigrants from Eastern Europe would take advantage of his policies. In fact, more than 350,000 did. Which means, by my careful calculations, that he was off by a trillion percent. Attaway to run a country! Some of the consequences: British working-class people, schools, and health-care providers are feeling considerable strain. Attention Dems: Even Labour has begun to question the wisdom of importing scads of foreigners. As one econ prof says: "Most people coming into the country have a good reason: they're either running from somewhere or they want a job. You can't but be sympathetic and it's a natural reaction to think 'let's let them all in'. The difficulty is that there is such a gigantic supply that it's not a practical policy. The government has, however, been in denial that there is any need for a debate." Enough with denial! I'm rooting for a robust debate (and a minimum of name-calling) myself. Best, Michael... posted by Michael at August 14, 2006 | perma-link | (34) comments

Airlines Coming and Gone
Donald Pittenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- Until last Sunday I was one of a rapidly dwindling group who had never flown Southwest Airlines. Now that group has been decremented by one. I normally fly back and forth to California on Alaska Airlines. But their website gave me the impression that the flight I wanted was likely to be overbooked, so I hopped on Southwest's page and got seats for me and my son on the San Jose-Seattle part of the trip. He had flown Southwest before, so I figured that having along someone familiar with their boarding system would be helpful, and it was. Even though the plane was nearly full I had no problem getting the sort of window seat I wanted. This was because a lot of the early-boarding (A Row) passengers preferred to sit near the front so as to exit quickly on arrival. So there were several window seats left when we (early B Row) boarded. The seats themselves were thinner than usual, freeing up legroom, something important to a guy who (when young) was almost a six-footer. Plus, they handed out two snack food packets and gave me an entire can of Coke instead of a micro-plastic-glassful as is usually the case elsewhere. Ah! Luxury!! Still, I'm wedded to Alaska Airlines, having gobs of frequent-flyer miles (I'm up to 185,000). And I like the ability to seat-select when I book a flight. Moreover, Alaska has a better Seattle-San Jose schedule (for me, anyway) and the prices aren't grossly different. At the end of my trip I updated the Excel-resident flight data base I maintain on my travels. One of the outputs I can generate from a tabulation program I wrote is a ranked list of each airline I used and how many flights I've made. Out of 403 flights in my career, 89 were on United, 78 on Northwest, 77 on Alaska and 55 on American. Then there's a big drop to Delta, at 13 flights. United and Northwest are tops in part because they were the two big airlines that flew out of Seattle back in regulated days, before the late 70s. I also gave Northwest a lot of business because I did a lot of work for General Motors and Northwest had plenty of non-stop flights between Seattle and its Detroit hub. I tabulate according to the name of the airline as it was at the time I flew. If I consolidated by merger, my Delta tally would be 20 flights because I flew Western Airlines seven times. For what it's worth, my first jet flight was on Western -- a Boeing 720 I took from Seattle to San Francisco 45 years ago when I enlisted in the Army and was being sent to Fort Ord for training. Other defunct airlines on my travel list are Eastern (8 flights), National (6), Republic (6), Braniff (5), Air Cal (3), PSA (3), TWA (3), Pacific Northern (1) and Pan American (1). I've also flown 12... posted by Donald at August 14, 2006 | perma-link | (3) comments

The Cultural Significance of Webcam Girls, Part One
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- I received a fun email from a visitor -- I love it when that happens! -- asking, in a friendly way, why I keep linking to inane YouTube videos featuring webcam girls. Aren't there more important cultural developments, and even more important movie developments, to be taking note of? This posting is Part One of my response to my correspondent's question. Hard though it is for me to write in straight-faced earnestness, I'm going to give it a real try. First off: Well, sure, maybe, who knows? But since when does 2Blowhards get hung up over what's important and what's not important? Who knows which developments from 2006 the future is going to look back on and dub important anyway? Predicting the future is a mug's game, if an often enjoyable one. Second off -- and don't let the rubes and the saps know about this, but -- despite the carryings-on of the official cultureworld, very, very few cultural developments are of real importance. Styles and trends come and go; they resonate with you or they don't. Which is great and cool ... But how many are make-it-into-the-history-books important? Let me suggest visiting your local library's archives and leafing through some of the highbrow magazines from, say, 1970 or 1940. 99.9% of what preoccupied the culture-chat set then has been forgotten. (Incidentally, some of it might well be worth taking a fresh look at too.) My response to this fact is to wonder: So why do the culture-chat authorities carry on in such puffed-up ways? And why do the rest of us take them so seriously? Tentative answers: Many members of the culture-set are over-intellectual people desperate for gigs as professional taste-commissars. Many of us seem to want Voices from On High delivering enlightenment, and -- sadly -- we turn to these fools for our guidance. Tragic, no? Funny, no? The notion that there are crucial "issues" in our era that artists and intellectuals need, simply need, to be "dealing with" gives me the giggles. And the idea that our culture-chat set is able to locate and nail down these issues has me on the floor cracking up. Are they really that perceptive? And are we really that un-perceptive? If the culture-chat crowd has some contributions to make, then great. But why should we let the profs, flakes, eggheads, and critics get away with bullying -- with dictating which developments and works are to be taken note of, let alone how we discuss 'em? As to why I feature webcam girls: Let me be upfront about the "cute" factor and the "novelty" factor. Never underestimate the cheesy and exploitative character of your friendly blog-host! Anyway: What a funny world we live in, eh? Where kids in bedrooms broadcast themselves to the world. I enjoy taking the occasional peek into these goings-on, and I assume a few visitors might too. All that said, I do have some convictions -- er, hunches -- about what really... posted by Michael at August 14, 2006 | perma-link | (16) comments

Blogging Notes
Donald Pittenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- "Blogging Notes" is a totally self-centered mini-topic that I'll be tossing into 2Blowhards from time to time. Okay, I often (usually?) use myself as a "peg" for posts, but that's just a sly trick of the writer's trade. "Blogging Notes" is intended to be for posting information dealing with absences, technical problems and that sort of thing. Today I need to let you know that my posting will be erratic (not erotic -- sorry) twixt now and early October. I'll be retiring from my day job at the end of this month. Last week I moved most of my stuff from the apartment to my wife's Seattle house, and that dropped my posting pace. And then I went to California for the weekend to see my bride. Next week, we'll be in Los Cabos at the tip of Baja. I plan to bring my shiny new MacBook, but I don't know for sure if I'll be able to blog from Mexico: I'll try. On August 25th, in conjunction with leaving the apartment, I lose my phone line. So I might have to rely on hotspots, etc. for getting on the web for a few weeks, further crippling blogging. From 9 Sept until early October we'll be in Europe. I still haven't decided whether to bring the computer, but the added weight plus a likely lack of time and spare energy has me tending to think that I won't even try to blog. Once we're back from Europe I'll be getting back to my normal four-ish posts per week pace. Quick bleg: Has anyone in the last couple of years tried to blog from decent hotels or other places in cities including Munich, Berlin, Warsaw, Budapest, Vienna or Prague? Easy? Problems? That's about it. I'll post another reminder before flying to Frankfurt. Later, Donald... posted by Donald at August 14, 2006 | perma-link | (2) comments