Saturday September 20, 2008
Next Semester
If you made it to Adult Education on Tuesday, you know that a good time was had by all. Robert Galinsky of the New York Reality TV School shared the 9 commandments of reality TV—e.g. “Thou Shall Never Say, ‘I am an Actor.’” Charles told the true story of his high school physics teacher who turned out to be a proud member of NAMBLA. (So proud, in fact, that he appeared in a creepy documentary defending his beliefs.) Portfolio’s Jeff Bercovici told tales of Juicy Campus, while Gersh Kuntzman did that thing he does each week in The Brooklyn Paper, except he did it live and in person.
Next up, on October 14, Adult Education welcomes a panel of collectors to speak on the theme of “Hunting and Gathering.” The line-up is as follows: (Complete details here. Speaker bios after the jump.)
“No Park City”
“Mice, Deer, and Terrorists: Three Things Made Easier to Kill”
“The Ties That Blind”
“America’s Awkward Stage”
All hosted by comedian Charles Star.
[continued]
Posted by jim at 09:45 AM ||
Tuesday September 16, 2008
The United States of Pantone
Alexandra made this out of an old swatch set for our friend Neil’s birthday. It makes me feel like Lee Greenwood.
Posted by jim at 12:41 PM ||
Sunday September 14, 2008
DFW
Call it hubris, but whenever I’m confronted with an accomplished literary work, I think to myself, “I might have written this. I have some of the tools, and the rest I could acquire. Given the right amount of time, concentration, and perseverance, I could have written this.” But, despite its frustrations, I never thought this about Infinite Jest. I couldn’t have written it in 10,000 years. It’s sad.
Posted by jim at 11:04 AM ||
Tuesday September 09, 2008
The Curse Returns
David Duchovny and Tea Leoni are having marital problems? Why am I not surprised? The Redbook curse rains on the dull and likable alike, and—as I predicted more than three years ago—it looks like it will pour on the Duchovny/Leonis soon enough. Appearing solo on the glossy’s cover still appears to be somewhat dangerous. Just ask Shania Twain (December 2007), who split with husband Mutt Lange this summer. But the magazine doesn’t even put couples on its covers anymore, and with good reason. The last four couples to grace Redbook’s cover (excluding pre-cursed couple John and Carolyn Kennedy) are, in order: Leoni and Duchovny (April 2005), Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen (February 2005), Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor (July 2004), and Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey (March 2004). If I were Ms. Taylor, I think I’d start filtering hubby’s internet connection.
Posted by jim at 11:12 AM ||
Wednesday September 03, 2008
And That’s the Way It Isn’t
I have a feature in the new issue of PRINT about the graphic designers who work behind the scenes at The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and the Onion News Network, where they have to be ready to riff on any visual meme that comes their way. It’s like doing real news graphics, only harder. The cover image was created by Greg Duncan, who produced the opens for both The Daily Show and Colbert. As you can see, the cover was generated in that 3D netherworld where all broadcast graphics now take place.
In the same issue, Leslie Savan looks at the modernist trend that is sweeping the baby accessories industry, “stok[ing] the mad hope that you can contain your kid’s id with the clean lines and flat surfaces of Modernity itself.” If you don’t think this article rings true, come on out to Park Slope. Sam Potts also does a nice round-up of design trends in presidential signs and bumper stickers over the last 40 years, but you’ll have to pick up the issue for that.
Posted by jim at 11:49 AM ||
Friday August 29, 2008
Summer’s End
I’m going back to Kentucky this weekend, where I can feel the freshly cut bluegrass coursing through my veins. Or something like that.
I really like this picture. My friend Pat took it.
Posted by jim at 10:41 AM ||
Wednesday August 27, 2008
Back to School
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m curating the Adult Education lecture series at Union Hall for the next couple of months, and the Sept. 16 lineup is all set. The theme is “School for Scandal,” and complete details are available here. The program is as follows:
“Authenticity and Reality: Lessons from the New York Reality TV School,” presented by the school’s founder, Robert Galinsky.
[http://newyorkrealitytvschool.com]
“The Show-Off,” a cautionary film from 1954, courtesy of Skip Elsheimer at the A/V Geeks film archive, that “demonstrates that nothing scandalizes a classroom more than the wise-ass who sits in the back of the room. Sure, all the kids laugh at him but isn’t he ultimately making things worse for everybody?”
[http://avgeeks.com]
“Takeru Kobayashi Cheated!” an explosive investigation by Gersh Kuntzman, who has seen his share of scandals as a veteran of the New York Post and the current editor of The Brooklyn Paper.
[http://brooklynpaper.com]
All hosted by Charles Star, a lawyer sans portfolio and a stand-up comedian sans recognition who lives in Brooklyn with his excellent wife, his awesome cat, and a newborn baby genius.
[http://charlesstar.com]
Posted by jim at 02:09 PM ||
Monday August 25, 2008
Distress Call
My wife’s cousin’s husband has to have the most beat-ass cellphone that’s still in service. It made me feel bougie. Click it for the full view.
Posted by jim at 08:58 AM ||
Thursday August 14, 2008
Wish You Were Here
Electric Palm Tree — Ocean City, NJ
Posted by jim at 08:07 AM ||
Friday August 08, 2008
Beach, Beach, Beach
I’m headed to Ocean City, New Jersey, tomorrow for a week-long family vacation. If the timing works out, I’m hoping to catch the Miss Ocean City Pageant tomorrow night. (Although I doubt the costumes will top last year’s.) I’ll post some pics if I make it. Increasingly, the best place to follow me online is Friendfeed. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a service that aggregates all your online activity from various sites so you can share it with friends. My Friendfeed, for example, logs all my posts to Twitter, Flickr, Scribd, Delicious, and to this blog. Pretty useful if you’re into that sort of thing.
Posted by jim at 01:55 PM ||
Sunday July 13, 2008
Why Coney Island is Better than Disney World
This animatronic attraction can be found outside the Ghost Hole ride at Coney Island. Sooo much better than the stuffy Hall of Presidents, I think. Here’s a detail.
Posted by jim at 02:20 PM ||
Wednesday July 09, 2008
The Guest
I’ve posted my short story “The Guest”—which appeared in the Winter/Spring 2007 issue of Fence—to Scribd. Here it is. For (much) easier reading, click the full-screen button in the upper-right-hand corner of the Scribd reader.
Posted by jim at 09:24 AM ||
Tuesday July 01, 2008
Adult Education (And So Can You!)
Thanks to Church Tucker for preparing this nicely edited and embeddable version of my February Adult Education “lecture” on metatourism.
If that looks like fun—and believe me, it was—note that I will be curating the Adult Education series in September, October, and November. So if you have an obsession or an arcane sphere of knowledge about which you’d like to present a 10 to 12 minute slideshow, let me know. You can watch other examples of past performances—plus sign up for the Adult Ed mailing list, etc.—right here.
Posted by jim at 10:31 AM ||
Tuesday June 17, 2008
Technology Catches Up
I’ve been experimenting with Scribd, which is frequently described as a “YouTube for documents.” It looks like it might be useful for managing my portfolio of print clips, in particular, since it’s easier to view a document in Scribd than it is to download it as a clunky pdf. It’s also good for presenting longer form documents. One of the first things I ever blogged about here was the Nielsen TV Ratings Activity Book, a coloring book Nielsen put out to teach toddlers how to register their TV viewing habits with the company’s proprietary People Meters. At the time, I just posted a few pages. Here it is in all its unabridged glory.
Posted by jim at 05:38 PM ||
Tuesday May 06, 2008
Memento
I visited The Daily Show yesterday for a story I’m working on. Even the security wristband was amusing.
Posted by jim at 09:24 AM ||
Monday April 28, 2008
Hot Off the Presses
On Saturday, we went to the release party for Spelt-Rite Comics #1, by friend, copy editor, and fellow Modern Humorist (R.I.P.) contributor Martha Keavney. Martha has been drawing comics for years under the Badly-Drawn Comics moniker (lots of samples here), but this is her first book in more than five years. It is clever, impeccably edited, and Martha’s comics haven’t actually been badly drawn in a long, long time. The panels inside tackle topics like time travel, trademarks, and (of course) spelling. If you want a copy, you can order one from Lulu. Check here for Badly-Drawn back issues.
Posted by jim at 02:47 PM ||
Friday April 18, 2008
You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat
Ben forwarded me this grab from the Times’ site. At least there was a good turnout. Those victims are nothing if not loyal. I checked in later and the picture had changed, although it still sent the wrong message.
Posted by jim at 11:12 AM ||
Thursday April 17, 2008
They Have a Plan
And they do mean every frakin’ corner.
Posted by jim at 11:20 AM ||
Wednesday April 16, 2008
Welcome to Booklyn. Seriously.
I stopped and chatted this morning with Vic Fortezza, who was hawking his self-published novel—Close to the Edge—out on the sidewalk, just up the street from the Barnes & Noble in Park Slope. After assuring him that I was not easily offended, he sold me a copy and signed it. He also noted that it was the 250th copy he’s unloaded (all-time, not just today), which I’m pretty sure makes it a bigger hit than the last book I was in.
Posted by jim at 05:49 PM ||
Wednesday April 02, 2008
Quote of the Day
“The advertising agencies are not villains whose sole purpose is to destroy the artistic integrity of a dramatic script. But, by definition, they are concerned with selling their clients’ products, and the twenty-two or fifty-three minutes of drama that go between the commercials are considered an essential part of the sales talk. The agency is most concerned with neither offending nor disturbing possible customers, a policy that stringently limits the scope of the television drama.” –Paddy Chayefsky, 1955. Brought to mind by the ad column in today’s Times.
Posted by jim at 10:04 AM ||
