Stuff (several topics)

From: montykin@cst.trib.com (Monty Ashley)
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 1995

Well, I have all this stuff that I keep meaning to post on, but I keep not
doing it. So it's all in one post. Deal with it!

1) Winston Smith in "Spin" Magazine

In the latest issue of "Spin" (with PJ Harvey on the cover), they have a
one-page article on Winston Smith, and say where you can order a book o'
collages!

If you're not clear on the SubGenius connection here, I direct you to
_Revelation X_, pages 45, 59, 70, 77, 109, 117, 120, 122, 123, 139, 140
(twice), and 159.

2) "No Parking Except For Bob" sign

Yeah, you remember those damn commercials. Well, you can order the sign from
a catalog called "What on Earth" (2451 Enterprise East Parkway; Twinsburg,
OH 44087). The sign is $12.95.

They've got other, cooler things in here too, like the Desktop Zen Rock
Garden, the Refrigerator-Magnet Michelangelo's David, and a bunch o' plastic
gargoyles.

3) The word "subgenius" used in a noncanonical sense!

In the book _Why Things Are_, by Joel Achenbach, in his essay on Why the
Beatles are Considered Great, he says:

"Research into how geniuses think has never shown any special cognitive
shortcut; geniuses solve problems step-by-step just like anyone else. They
also do subgenius work, even truly awful stuff, which is why you can't
simply assume that every painting or drawing by Picasso is a great piece of
art."

4) Library Book Sale

Big sale at the local library, and I made out like a bandit! Not only did I
find old hard-to-find classics (_Slan_, by A.E. van Vogt), new hard-to-find
classics (_Wizard of the Pigeons_, by Megan Lindholm), and such, I found
books of great Hidden Value:

_A Trip to the New York World's Fair With Bobby and Betty_, by Grover
Whalen, as told to Elsie-Jean.

Great book on several levels. First, it's about the 1939 World's Fair.
People follow the colored lines to the Hall of Science, walking past murals
that talk. It's the World of Tomorrow! See "I Think We're All Bozos on This
Bus" if you don't see what I'm getting at here.

Second, it features the sort of stilted children's-book writing that lasts
centuries:

"Too bad, Betty, that we haven't those seven-league boots - are you very
tired?" asked Mr. Whalen.
"Oh no, I could go on forever. I feel as though we are walking in an
enchanted world."
"Maybe we are, Betty, and that's why we do not feel tired."
"Suppose you ask your legs to carry you across Rainbow Avenue," suggested
Mr. Whalen.
"We're going to the Foreign Government Exhibits and the Lagoon of Nations -
hurrah!" shouted Bobby.

The picture captions are also great: "This is the Perisphere! The gleaming
white Theme Building ot the World's Fair of 1939. Next to it stands the
Trylong like a white sentinal guarding the World of Tomorrow."

And Third, the predictions for the World of the Future are surprisingly
accurate. I did not know that as early as 1939 the "facsimile machine" had
been planned:

"That is an even more recent invention than television. Now, when you sit at
your radio, you hear music and speeches and adventure stories, but when you
will sit next to your facsimile machine, a printed page will come to you,
perhaps the funnies will appear, or your favorite serial.

The other Great Book I got is called _How to Make Good Movies_. It's
published by the Eastman-Kodak company, and was published around 1940. Not
only is it neat to see "Panoram" instead of "Pan" ("By far the greater
proportion of panoraming is bestowed upon stationary objects such as
scenery") and chuckle at the self-serving advice (How to get the right
lighting? Buy a light-meter from - surprise! - Eastman-Kodak!), but there's
a couple pictures of "Bob" in here!

My favorite is on page 118. It's not _really_ "Bob", but it's a hand-shadow
made with two hands and a pipe. It looks like a cross between a troll and
"Bob". I hereby declare this picture to be my new logo!

Too bad people can't see it. Someone with a scanner, Email me your address!

On second thought, I don't have access to alt.binaries.slack. So what? I
NEED these things scanned!

5) My New Gee-tar

Yep, bought me one o' them Ee-lectric Gee-tars. As my first big Punk Rock
action, I decided to leave the price tag on it (Marked down from $125 to
$75! Thank you, Pawn Shop!). As my first big Anti-Punk Rock action, I
decided to learn to play it <snicker>.

Well, that's all. Nice to get that off my chest.

-Monty
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[IMAGE]

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