Street Art X

Joe Schumacher, a Harlem-based blogger, has compiled an online exhibit of abandoned bicycles in New York. Currently featuring more than 40 images, the collection is by turns inane and poignant. Such are the things we leave behind. Good thing I remembered my hybrid in the basement on Church Corner before I moved.

Soundtrack: The Small Hours

The Free-Range Comic Book Project XXXIV

This is an installment of Media Diet's Free-Range Comic Book Project:

Superman #94 (DC, November 1994). Writer and artist: Dan Jurgens. Location: On the G line between Court House Square and Nassau.

For more information on this project, please refer to this Media Diet entry.

Rock Shows of Note LXXX

Saturday night, I braved the ill winds and bitter chill of Brooklyn to meet up with Deb, Boots, Mary, and Carl at the Magnetic Field on the edge of Cobble Hill. We were there to see our friends Eric, Frank, Colin, and Jenny in Shumai, but I was also there to check out the Brooklyn-based Strip Minors -- and I wasn't disappointed. I was, however, cold.

The Magnetic Field describes itself as a "rock & roll cocktail lounge," and beyond a small stage area in front, it's almost all lounge. They feature DJs almost every weekend, including the guy who runs March Records. And Matt, the sound guy, used to work at the Diesel in Somerville. Small, small world. Small world even smaller, the bathrooms were painted by Brooklyn-based tatooist and comic book maker Adam Suerte, whose work I've reviewed previously. And, history geek fed, the bar is but blocks away from the site that gave Cobble Hill its name. Near the corner of Court Street and Atlantic Avenue was Ponkiesbergh, or Cobble's Hill, a circa-1766 rise that was supposedly haunted. Later on, Fort Cobble Hill found its home there.

Oh, yes, the show. Shumai performed a laid-back and friendly set of their twee pop with occasional boy-girl harmonies. I wish Eric would sing more, but Colin's got a great voice, and I suppose I shouldn't complain. Well worth checking out, if a little on the low energy side. And the Strip Minors? Fun in the Soltero sense, the band blended plaintive vocals, off-kilter harmonies, a great sense of humor, keyboards, and a trombone to good effect. Fun live, and a good pick me up after Shumai's subtle shoe gazing.

The Restaurant I Ate at Last Night XXVIII

Several colleagues from work and I treated a departing coworker to dinner mid-last week at Amuse on W. 18th. While slightly out of my price -- and ego -- range, the tony eatery impressed more than it amused. And at about $70 a head, I think it's good such send offs are rare. We shared a bunch of starters, including an upper-crust macaroni and cheese and a gourmet pulled-pork tortilla spiked with cumin and black-eyed peas, and my entree of duck was delish. The short-rib main course also received high marks. Knowing that the restaurant's space has housed bars and restaurants for about a century helped ground me amidst the hype and hubbub. After eating, we repaired to the upstairs of the Cedar Tavern, now a long ways away from its storied beat past. After an initial -- and amusing -- run in with the bartender, we were welcomed with open arms and almost outstayed our welcome.

Friday night after work, I ventured into the back side of the Palace Cafe, the corner bar near my new digs. In operation and family run for almost 50 years, the Palace appears to be predominately a bar -- but also includes a full-service restaurant with little decor but a solid homemade menu. On Fridays, the bartender's brother secures plenty of seafood, so I tried the fish and chips. Featuring a lightly breaded filet, the main dish was quite simple and good -- but the lentil soup starter stole the show. I'll eat there again. Interestingly enough, the Palace is even listed in the Payphone Project. Please don't ask for me by name.

Event-O-Dex XCI

Saturday, Jan. 10: Shumai and the Strip Minors do the old shimmy shake at Magnetic Field in Brooklyn. Show starts at 7:30 p.m., so get your early glad rags on.

Comics and Community XX

The New York City Comic Book Museum and the Jewish Community Center Manhattan are collaborating on an exhibit of Jewish contributions to and representations in comic books, "The People of the Comic Book: Superheroes and Jewish Culture." Curated by Alan Oirich of JewishSuperHero, the show -- which opened last night! -- features depictions of stories set in biblical times and World War II, as well as Sabraman, the first Israeli superhero, created in 1978.

Music to My Eyes XXII

Rafer Guzman waxes enthusiastic about Bellmore: The Unscene, a documentary film about the Long Island hardcore scene. Guzman describes the wider Long Island scene as full of "industry-savvy bands promoting themselves and taking meetings with music-business bigwigs," but the online trailer to the movie shows that the punk scene was anything but. Crowd surfing, throwing garbage, and raging at aging. Director Frank Fusco is working the festival circuit seeking distribution, but I think he should just sell the film as a DVD. I'd buy one in a minute.

Movie Magic

I think this is the first Disney movie I've ever looked forward to as long as I've lived: Teacher's Pet. How come? Two words: Gary Baseman. OK, more words: Nathan Lane, Kelsey Grammer, Jerry Stiller, and Paul Reubens. How freaking cool is that? An animated Disney movie.

The Free-Range Comic Book Project XXXIII

This is an installment of Media Diet's Free-Range Comic Book Project:

Star Trek: The Next Generation -- Perchance to Dream #4 (Wildstorm/DC, March 2000). Writer: Keith R.A. DeCandido. Artist: Pachoumis & Benefiel. Location: On a bench at the Nassau stop on the G line.

For more information on this project, please refer to this Media Diet entry.

Newspaper Chase IV

Now that I live in New York, I've been going a little newspaper crazy. There are so many papers here! So far, I've been sticking to the New York Post, Daily News, and Newsday to acquaint myself with the papers I've not read much previously. But, soon, I think I'll be able to return to my normal newspaper grazing -- adding some nice new locals.

This past weekend, I was pleased to see that my new neighborhood -- Greenpoint in Brooklyn -- even sports two papers of its own! The Greenpoint Gazette and Advertiser is a 25-cent weekly published on Manhattan Avenue and claiming to be the "voice of Greenpoint." With a questionable print quality -- a lot of the ads appear distressed, and the designers made some bad typeface calls -- the 20-page tabloid largely consists of legal notices and unbylined news releases. If the Gazette and Advertiser didn't have the legal notice contract, my guess is that it wouldn't be in print. The Brooklyn Public Library has a lot of back issues on microfilm.

Despite the slim pickings of the Gazette and Advertiser, the Greenpoint-Williamsburg Gazette -- "your weekly source for local news" -- is a promising 28-page tabloid that also costs two bits. While the paper runs its share of unbylined stories and news releases -- complete with stand and smile photographs from banquets, awards ceremonies, and other events -- the weekly features a more timely focus on news affecting the area. The highlight the week of Dec. 30: Motiva Enterprises donates historic property to the Greenpoint Monitor Museum. The paper's offices are on Nassau Avenue, not far from where I live -- I'll have to stop by!

New Year's Daze IV

Some subtle snapshots from Mac Swell's Future Room c. Dec. 31, 2003:

The Free-Range Comic Book Project XXXII

This is an installment of Media Diet's Free-Range Comic Book Project:

The Patriots #5 (Wildstorm/DC, May 2000). Writers: Brandon Choi and Jonathan Peterson. Artist: Michael Ryan. Location: On the 7 train between Grand Central and Court House Square.

For more information on this project, please refer to this Media Diet entry.

Mapblogging

A Cambridge-based company called SmartWorlds has developed a technology that will allow shoppers to compare prices and access reviews on cell phones and handhelds -- while still in a physical shop.

The free application, iShop, enables people to key in ISBN numbers and other information to refer to Amazon listings, order online, and email reports. Intriguingly, the idea -- according to a Jan. 1 Cambridge Chronicle piece by Mike Fisher -- stemmed from a museum-based application with which museum goers could learn more about sculptures and paintings. Future plans for service expansion include DVD and electronics commerce tie-ins. SmartWorlds has also partnered with Boston-based Trident Booksellers.

Those are the gimmies. Now if only I could tie iShop into Amazon's Wish List and my cell phone's global positioning for opt-in push-based alerts. One aspect of mapblogging down, many more to go.

[transmitted via sidekick hiptop.]

Seedy CD's

A recent bust on Central Square nabbed the New York-based owner of two shops not far from the Big Blue Couch for selling pirated CD's and DVD's. Tipped off by RIAA agents, two stores within minutes of where I live were charged: the coffee shop and convenience store near the bus stop on Church Corner (I believe) and a jewelry store owned by the same people near Starbucks.

[transmitted via sidekick hiptop.]

Technofetishism XLIX

I can now telnet to the Well from my Sidekick thanks to a neat new free app called Terminal Monkey! Happy new year, indeed. I know the Treo's all the rage, but I just might keep this pup a little longer.

[transmitted via sidekick hiptop.]

Workaday World XLIV

The following photos of where I've been working at the Atlantic aren't that interesting, but they help me test some new code Dan taught me.




What do you think? Borders or no borders?

New Year's Daze III

Happy new year to Media Dieticians everywhere! I hope the holidays were relaxing and refreshing. May 2K4 bring only the best in happiness, health, love, and good fortune. Today's my last day working at the Scotch & Sirloin building on the edge of the North End in Boston, and Friday, the truck arrives for my move to New York. I'll hit the city late Friday night, and the truck follows Saturday morning. I feel like I'm leaving a lot of loose ends in Boston, so I'm sure to come back, but as of Jan. 3, I officially live in New York. Onward and upward!

Book Wormhole

As I prepare to move to New York on Friday, I am increasingly dismayed by how many books I own. Is this the fate that awaits me? Buried under an avalanche of my own books, comics, magazines, and records? Firefighters removed 50 garbage bags of media detritus to save the man. Me, I'd want some say in what they threw away. But I guess that when you've been buried under your stuff for two days, you don't get a lot of input in the cleaning decisions.

Comics and Computers VI

IM'ing with my friend Dan just now, we created a couple of ASCII cartoon characters. I offer them to you as an open-source gift of sorts. I introduce to you: The Angry Couple.

#$%gVV is an angry man, head of the household. He wears a top hat and bowtie, and is almost always scowling.

8%g3 is an angry woman, the angry man's wife. She wears a ribbon in her hair and likes to wear dickies.

Here's a sample Angry Couple comic strip:

8%g3: I spend all day slaving over a hot stove

#$%gVV: Hoity-toit!

You are encouraged to make your own and email them to me -- or leave a comment with your ASCII comic creation.

Event-O-Dex XC

Saturday, Jan. 10: Metropolitan waxes urbane at the Mercury Lounge on East Houston in New York. (Yes, this is my first New York show listing. I guess that means the move is go.)

Magazine Me XLVI

Sunday's Chicago Tribune featured a new book about Cricket magazine. Published on the 30th anniversary of the children's literature periodical, the book considers the history and mission of the magazine -- and the review includes a nice collage of covers.

A subscription is required to access the Chicago Tribune online.

Music to My Ears LI

Shimon Rebibo, one of the people who helps manage the Scotch & Sirloin building, is starting a sound production company called ToneLotus. In addition to his own DJ'ing and electronic music, he's worked on ads for Arnold Worldwide and Volkswagen. If you work in advertising -- and you need original music -- try ToneLotus.

Magazine Me XLV

Jason Kottke's my kind of guy: "Starting the first week in January, I'm going to read a different magazine every week for the entire year." Wish I'd thought of that.

Scene and Heard

While the online version of Tom Lounges' Dec. 26 Local Scene column in the Times doesn't map with what ran in the paper, his "Say You Want a Resolution? Then, Stick to It" piece offers some music scene advice worth considering:

Show courtesy to your musical peers. Arrive early and stay late to show support for the other bands on the bill.

Stop being greedy with your fans. Encourage fans to experience other artists on the bill.

Date and marry people who understand your dedication to music.

Give a "baby band" a hand up.

Never date someone within your band. When romances end, usually so does the band.

Keep your sets fresh. If your set list gets stale, even die-hard fans will stop coming out.

Promote your band and your events.

Live up to your word and your handshake.

Think of music first, drinking last. Stop making your first statement, "How many drinks tickets do we get?"

Buy a watch and use it. Get to gigs on time. Start sets on time.

End sets on time. Don't cheat the next band of its time.

The Anchormen used to joke that we put the "punk" in "puntuality," so I can really resonate with the last two items. And most of Lounges' resolutions also make a lot of sense. If you agree to a show, keep the commitment. There's no reason to duck out the week of a show -- and there's absolutely no reason not to show up at all, especially without calling ahead. I laughed a little at the keeping sets fresh comment -- you should always be writing new songs. At the last Anks show, we debuted a song we'd finished the night before -- and it might be our last show ever.

And the first two are especially important. Don't just promote your band's time slot. Promote the other bands. Mention the other bands during your set. And for gosh sake, stick around for the entire show if at all possible. There's nothing worse than an opening band not sticking around after they play -- and there's really nothing worse than a band coming and going with all of its friends. If you want people to hang out and see you play, model that behavior: Hang out and see a band play. People who've seen your band perform will take notice.

Working the Network

I'd like a Media Dietician to introduce me to David Byrne for a project I'm working on. Any takers? Email me at the usual place, listed to the left. And thanks in advance! I promise not to abuse the privelege.

'Tis the Season to Be... AWOL XVII

Tomorrow, I head home for the holidays. That means that Media Diet may be quiet until I get back to Boston. That doesn't mean that Media Diet is dead (long live Media Diet!). It just means that it's resting. Worst case scenario: Media Diet will be back up and running Dec. 29 or so.

May you and yours have the happiest of holidays.

Pieces, Particles XIII

The following stories spotted recently in print publications might be worth a look. Heads and decks, only. Heads and decks.

Ad Reinhardt, Newspaper Cartoonist: The Abstract Double Agent by Richard B. Woodward, The New York Times, Dec. 21, 2003

A DVD Face-Off: The Official Vs. the Homemade by Emily Nussbaum, The New York Times, Dec. 21, 2003
In the age of participatory TV, why settle for the studio-approved commentary?

For These Pioneers, It's One for the Road by Peter DeMarco, The Boston Globe, Dec. 21, 2003
Trip is history, though unofficial

Lost? Hiding? Your Cellphone Is Keeping Tabs by Amy Harmon, The New York Times, Dec. 21, 2003

On the Web, an Amateur Audience Creates Anti-Bush Ads by Phoebe Eaton, The New York Times, Dec. 21, 2003
A contest to create television commercials inspires 1,000 grass-roots directors.

With History of Firsts, Duo Gunning to be Last by Donovan Slack, The Boston Globe, Dec. 20, 2003

The Movie I Watched Last Night LXXXV

Chinatown
I can't believe I haven't reviewed this movie for Media Diet yet. I've certainly watched the 1974 neo-noir enough. An awesome southern California story of incest, economic development, and backstabbing in the hardboiled Raymond Chandler mold. A young Jack Nicholson, cast as a wise-cracking private eye, stars opposite a languid Faye Dunaway. Water rights, boardroom politics, governmental nepotism, populist activism, and the occasional slugfest all add up to a dark, classic film. One of my favorites.

Read But Dead XXIII

The Grolier Poetry Book Shop in Harvard Square, only one of two stores dedicated to poetry in the United States, may have to close. If the owner doesn't raise the money she needs to pay the bills, the store could shut up shop as early as the end of January. Right now, Grolier is offering a 15% discount on all titles. Say, isn't Christmas just around the corner? Give the gift of poetry.

Corollary: Event-O-Dex LXXXIX

Friday, Dec. 19: The Anchormen, the Operators, Nice & Easy, and Asian Babe Alert join forces for a Handstand Command showcase at the Milky Way in Jamaica Plain. Tonight is the Anks' last show ever. Maybe.

Update: We even rate a photo in the listings section of the Boston Phoenix this week.

Rock Shows of Note LXXIX

Last night, after practice with the Anchormen, Jef and I went to the Milky Way in Jamaica Plain for the Weekly Dig holiday party -- and a Big Digits show. Scarfing some free, but cold pizza, we hung out with Mac, TD, their new drummer -- who may debut at a show with Buffalo Tom at the Middle East in January -- Paul, and other friends. Around 10 p.m., Big Digits took the stage.

This might be the best show I've seen them put on. TD, as hype guy, was all over the place, exacerbating a bad mic connection and at one point, taking a backward tumble into some stacked-up chairs. Mac was in fine form, delivering his rapid-fire and razor-sharp lyrics over the samples and beats he'd prepared. The two played about three new songs for the first time, and I was excited to hear more of the lyrics -- words about science fiction, database management, relationships gone awry, and more. "Traveling through Time" may be a favorite new song, with its dramatic and hammy chorus.

I picked up a copy of their new CD, which sports cover art by one Ron Rege, Jr., and I look forward to their shows with live percussion. If they can actually incorporate live drumming into their stage show, it could be quite awesome indeed. Many of our friends left to hit the Q Division party, but Jef, being slightly ill, headed home -- as did I, to bed and rest.

Workaday World XLIII

Today's the last day I'll be working out of the Boston Fast Company offices located in the scenic Scotch & Sirloin building on the edge of the North End. For the next few weeks, I'll be camping out two floors up, crouching in a corner of The Atlantic until I move to New York. Tim has already begun tearing down the walls and other things he designed and built into the space, which the magazine has occupied since 1997. I was going to take pictures of all the empty work spaces to capture some images of emptiness and abandonment, but wouldn't you know it, the batteries in my camera are dead. We're all probably better off.

Band Name of the Day

Cocoa Hot and the Swiss Mysteries

From the In Box: Books Worth a Look XX

In response to my earlier post about his most recent book, Cory Doctorow emailed me a 21,000 word story entitled "Human Readable" early this morning. Subject line: More didactic SF.

I had to close loop with him to make sure I hadn't offended the man! Turns out that "0wnz0red," the story I described as "polemical," is the "most critically successful thing" Cory's ever written. Just goes to show what I know. Weakest link? Greatest thing.

Take That, Big Apple IV

This past weekend, a friend of a friend who runs a moving company came by my Magazine Street abode to give me an estimate on the move to Brooklyn. Today, I arranged the move-in date with my landlord on that end. Soon, I'll secure the street parking needed for the truck in Cambridge. The move is coming together!

Update: You can even apply for a moving van permit in Cambridge online.

Corollary: Workaday World XLII

They may have taken the water cooler away, but I just learned that if you run the kitchen sink tap for a really long time, the water's almost as cold as ice water. The bigger issue, really, is the lack of on-site coffee. I got a large hazelnut with cream and sugar -- cake in a cup! -- from Dunkin' Donuts this morning, but since then, my caffeination has been little. Not sure I like that.

It's an Ad, Ad, Ad, Ad World XXIX

Peter Carlson, writing for the Washington Post, expresses appreciation for those little ads in the New Yorker.

Sites for Sore Eyes IV

Glenn Gaslin is now contributing to a new groupblog called Big Action!. So far, entries touch on telekinesis, Disney, Santa Claus, and Battlestar Galactica. Plenty of popcult goodness for your frequent reading.

And continuing the relocation trend, Matt has launched a new blog entitled Blue Room. Some choice quotelets: "I've got a head full of trademarks," "My brain hurts," "Marooned indoors," and "The founders of Kindercore records are suing their business partners."

Indeed. "Your honor, then he called me twee." Objection!

Workaday World XLII

T-minus three to the closure of the Boston office of Fast Company. This morning, the refrigerator was taken away, and I just spied a guy removing the coffee machine. The sink is full of ice, and I'm left wondering: Wherever shall I get my coffee for the next three days? File under: You know your office is closing when...

Books Worth a Look XX

While watching the final installment of Angels in America on HBO last night, I finished reading Cory Doctorow's new collection of short stories, A Place So Foreign. Published in September by Four Walls Eight Windows, it collects nine stories originally published in magazines such as Science Fiction Age and On Spec between 1998 and 2002. In the interest of full disclosure, at one time, I'd hoped to acquire the collection for Highwater Books, but it didn't come together; I think Cory found a better home.

Some of the book I'd read before -- "Craphound" and "The Super Man and the Bugout" -- but a lot of the stories were new to me and a wonderful corollary to Cory's novel Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. My favorites? "Craphound" because it held up over the course of five years and for its interstellar love of thrift sales and flea markets turned tale of true friendship. "All Day Sucker" for its new -- and perhaps more realistic -- take on computer-assisted memory and intelligence. "To Market, to Market: The Rebranding of Billy Bailey," a delightfully snarky approach to sales and marketing, shades of Tom Peters' Brand Called You and Naomi Klein's No Logo. And the closer, "The Super Man and the Bugout," for its lefty redux of the superhero icon.

While the stories are what shine here, two other aspects come into play. One is how Cory's personality and interests emerge through the text -- he knows of which he writes, and his interest is that of a true fan and geek. The other is the value of his introductory snippets. I haven't read a book in quite awhile in which the author's notes explain where a story came from -- and further explain who the author is by way of the stories. We get a lot of solid, edge-riding science fiction in this collection, but we also get a lot of Cory: the collecting bug, his reading history, knapsack theory, his voracious appetite for information, Disney, his writing process, his parents political history, and his own activist politics.

All that said, the story that hit me the weakest is also the most recent and political in the volume. Admittedly the first short story he wrote himself since he started work for the EFF, it's not as polemical as his current in-process work, Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town -- which just hit a somewhat strident stride in recent email previews -- but occasionally, the social and political theory and practice underlying his thinking overshadows the narrative. I would encourage Cory not to drop the political and social messages, but perhaps to better weave them into his stories so they're more transparent -- and perhaps digestible. If recent segments of Someone Comes to Town are any indication, his future work may get bogged down in political exposition. In this collection, however, that is not the case.

Get this book. Put it in your knapsack. Read it on the train.

The Movie I Watched Last Night LXXXIV

Jesus' Son
What an amazing sleeper of a film! When this came out in 1999, it didn't hit my radar at all, and with its cast, I'm surprised. Billy Crudup, Samantha Morton, Denis Leary, Jack Black, Dennis Hopper, and Holly Hunter all star to varying degrees in this adaptation of a cycle of interconnected short stories by Denis Johnson. Johnson himself cameos, and despite all the star wattage, no one actor steals the show. Jumping back and forth in time, largely because of the narrator and antihero's narrative forgetfulness, Jesus' Son is a story of love, loss, abuse, confusion, and yearning. Morton's character reminds me of a young Jodie Foster a la Taxi Driver, and her pairing with Crudup's antihero makes for a frustrating love story. As many personal problems as I may develop, I can't imagine coping with everything in the midst of drug addiction. Visually, the movie has several bright moments, including a scene in which Crudup's rounder follows a man who seems "lucky" to a laundromat and another in which he initially mistakes an abandoned drive-in theater for a cemetery. An extremely impressive movie directed by Alison Maclean. Almost all of the characters are wandering directionless, and even when they find an anchor -- Morton's Michelle or the Mennonite songstress -- they cast adrift again. Well worth renting!

Workaday World XLI

I'm in the office today, packing up seven years of office sediment to ship to the Fast Company offices in New York. I've also been separating out personal items and books to ship home -- and then to be moved to Brooklyn when I relocate early next year. The range of emotions I'm feeling today as I pack and get organized is interesting. Seven years is a long time to work somewhere, much less to be in the same office building.

Now the wind is picking up outside as the sky darkens. Boston has yet to get the winter storm we've been warned about for the last few days, and I'm curious when the snow will start. Just before I left the house this morning, I got an email page that American forces had captured Saddam Hussein. Folks have already taken the TV from the office, so I missed Bush's address, but it struck me as I took the T into town that I wasn't really clear on why capturing Hussein was a goal.

Didn't the military action start because of Sept. 11, Osama Bin Laden, and Al Qaeda? Isn't this action in Iraq a convenient spillover to make good on what Bush's father started when he was president? I suppose it's a good thing Hussein has been caught, but it's difficult for me to feel an upswell of patriotism or support for this. I sense no victory. And it'll be interesting to see how Bush uses this as his re-election campaign gears up. Will this be positive propaganda that bolsters Bush's case for the presidency? Or will new news come out in the wash, recontextualizing the capture as the days progress?

OK, time to get back to packing. I'm almost done. Three more days in the office. Then, onward.