Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Monday, April 9, 2012
20 Bintang Porno Jepang Tercantik
Maria ozawaSara tsukigami Haruna yabukiSaki setoHime kamiyaReon kadenaMihiro taniguchiNatsuki kumadaSora aoiSiori yokoiNanaRan azakawaMiyuki kamiya Rie fukaumiTakako kitaharaRyoko mitakeReina matsushimaAkane sakuraErika satoYua aidasumber: http://www.strov.co.cc/2010/11/20-bintang-porno-jepang-tercantik.html
15 Ciri Tanda Cewe Mudah Diselingkuhi
Selama ini mungkin Anda merasa sebagai pacar yang normal, perhatian sudah Anda curahkan, kasih sayang tak pernah sedikitpun terlewatkan. Tetapi mengapa Anda masih diduakan ya? Well, mungkin Anda punya ciri-ciri berikut ini:1. Anda terlalu mudah membiarkan orang baru masuk pada kehidupan pribadi Anda.2. Anda merasa tidak percaya diri, minder, dan merasa tak bisa hidup sendiri.3. Anda tahu bahwa
10 Godaan Terberat dalam Kisah Cinta
Laskarcerita - MERANGKAI kisah cinta yang sempurna memang dibutuhkan usaha dan pengorbanan. Tak jarang cobaan kerap datang dan mengikis benih-benih cinta yang bersemayam dalam hati.Jika Anda dan pasangan berpikir bijak tentu saja hal ini bisa terlewati. Menilik berbagai godaan yang paling sering mengancam indahnya kisah cinta, inilah 10 godaan terberat yang sering dialami para pasangan:Mantan
10 Cara Agar Wajah Tetap Cantik
Laskarcerita - Kebanyakan produk kecantikan yang bermanfaat untuk melembabkan dan menyehatkan kulit terbuat dari bahan-bahan yang terdapat di alam. Oleh karena itu, mengapa tidak langsung mengambil dari sumbernya saja jika ingin mendapatkan kulit sehat seperti yang diinginkan?Berikut ini 10 cara mudah mendapatkan kulit wajah yang sehat dengan bahan alami1. Tepuk wajah kain yang dibasahi dengan
Sunday, April 8, 2012
5 Kebiasaan Yang Bikin Lo Terlihat Tua
Laskarcerita - Produk perawatan wajah anti-aging memang sudah banyak dijual di pasaran. Namun, jika Anda tetap melakukan kebiasaan buruk, semahal apapun produk anti-aging Anda, itu tidak akan memberikan hasil yang signifikan. Terlihat tua tidak hanya tentang wajah yang berkerut saja, penurunan energi juga merupakan tanda-tanda Anda mengalami penuaan. Ada beberapa kebiasaan sehari-hari yang
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Running: to stretch or not to stretch?
Mom should be so flexible. |
Mom's running the marathon this year, so she learned about pre-run stretching the shin-splint way. So while I'm all warmed up and ready to roll, Tigger-style, she's limping along behind me. At least she's stretching out the arm that holds the leash.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
New training project
I haven't had much motivation to train the last year (or more?). But, I've got a new project that I'm thinking might help. I'm planning to run/walk/bike every street in Lawrence.
I was inspired by Matt Green who is on a project to walk all of New York City.
My project is much more modest. Lawrence has only about 300 miles of streets. It is also a lot easier to bike than to walk.
I'm
I was inspired by Matt Green who is on a project to walk all of New York City.
My project is much more modest. Lawrence has only about 300 miles of streets. It is also a lot easier to bike than to walk.
I'm
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Old Census Data
I spent some time today looking at just-released census information from 1940. I found my Dad and his family. In 1940 my Dad was an 8 year-old school boy. His Did was a railroad car foreman (born in English speaking Canada) earning $2,400 a year.
Poking around the archives can be interesting.
The image below is the census page with my Dad, Aunt, and Grandparents.
Back to
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
4 Spesies Hewan Purba Yang Masih Hidup di Indonesia
1.BuayaSeperti telah kita ketahui bersama baha buaya merupakan salah satu hewan purba yang tersisa si bumi ini. Buaya merupakan hewan Karnivora yang dapat hidup di air dan daratan. Indonesia memiliki 7 spesies buaya dari total seluruh spesies buaya yang ada di Dunia.Spesies buaya yang terdapat di Indonesia antara lain : # Buaya muara (Crocodylus porosus) :Buaya muara merupakan spesies buaya
Monday, April 2, 2012
50 Kebiasaan Untuk Meraih Sukses
laskarcerita - Sukses bermula dari mental. Anda bisa saja miskin namun jika Anda yakin bahwa Anda bisa sukses, maka itulah yang akan Anda raih. Demikian juga sebaliknya, jika seseorang terlahir kaya, namun tidak memiliki mental sukses, maka kelak ia pun bisa jatuh melarat.Tak peduli apa pun yang menjadi profesi kerja Anda sekarang, apakah karyawan rendahan atau bos sekalipun, Anda bisa meraih
Sunday, April 1, 2012
9 Orang yang paling mengganggu di Facebook
Langsung Aja Gan 9 Orang yang paling mengganggu di FacebookYang Pertama : Yang Kedua : Yang Ketiga : Yang Keempat : Yang Kelima : Yang keenam: Yang Ketujuh : Yang Kedelapan: sumber :http://www.kaskus.us/showthread.php?t=10206096
Saturday, March 31, 2012
7 Fakta Unik Seputar Air Mani
Laskarcerita - Dalam perspektif kesehatan, air mani dipandang sebagai suatu substansi biologis yang dikeluarkan oleh pria untuk membuahi telur-telur dari wanita melalui proses persatuan sperma-telur. Tapi ada beberapa fakta aneh seputar air mani yang belum banyak diketahui. Apa saja?Secara definisi, cairan semen atau air mani adalah cairan organik, juga dikenal sebagai seminal fluid, yang
6 Ciri Anda Mungkin Partner Bercinta yang Buruk
Bagaimana menilai seberapa hebat performa seks seseorang? Ternyata faktor penentunya tidak selalu sebaik apa melakukan foreplay, lama penetrasi atau ukuran alat vital.Banyak faktor yang menentukan hebat/kurangnya performa seseorang saat di ranjang. Bagi para wanita, waspadai jika Anda memiliki enam tanda yang dilansir dari All Women Stalk ini, karena bisa jadi Anda pasangan yang buruk dalam
4 Tanda Anda dan Si Dia Lebih Dari Teman Biasa
Meskipun telah lama menjadi sahabat, tidak menutup kemungkinan akan timbul rasa suka antara teman pria dan wanita. Mungkin Anda masih ragu dengan perasaan Anda atau masih bingung dengan perlakuan baiknya. Daripada bertanya-tanya, berikut ini tanda-tanda yang menyiratkan bahwa hubungan Anda dan si dia lebih dari teman biasa. Simak empat tandanya, seperti dirangkum dari Your Tango.Teman-teman Anda
Monday, March 26, 2012
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Misteri Area 51
Laskarcerita - Pusat penelitian adalah merupakan tempat para ilmuwan melakukan kegiatan riset yang dilengkapi dengan berbagai fasilitas dan perangkat pendukung yang dibutuhkan guna tercapainya sasaran dan tujuan suatu penelitian. Pada umumnya setiap negara maju ataupun sedang berkembang sangat berkepentingan untuk memiliki suatu pusat penelitian . Kemajuan ilmu pengetahuan dan teknologi di suatu
Misteri "Angka Tuhan"
laskarcerita - Angka Tuhan? Mungkin Anda bertanya-tanya tentang "Angka Tuhan", apaan sih? Sebenarnya itu hanya istilah saya saja untuk menyebut suatu "angka misteri" (baca:sangat menakjubkan) yang banyak ditemukan pada kejadian-kejadian di alam ini. Angka ini sejatinya telah banyak diteliti oleh peneliti luar negeri, mereka umumnya menyebut angka ini adalah "golden ratio" atau "golden number".Nah
Saturday, March 24, 2012
2012 Smith College Book Sale
The Booklover's First Rite of Spring
Literary looting at Smith College Book Sale
Smith College Book Sale
March 23-25, 2012 @ Maryland State Fairgrounds
In the lobby, I made a quick stop at a very sexy, hourglass-shaped ATM machine that was slightly smaller than the petite Ms. Linthicum and withdrew $100 from my rapidly dwindling checking account (can't wait for payday next week!), but it wasn't really necessary as both Amy and I fought our natural tendencies to stockpile books (and assorted other media) - a habit we've been weaning ourselves from since the demise of our beloved Daedalus Books store at Belvedere Square store in Govans - and spent less than $55 dollars combined for the day.
Maybe it's because we kept running into people we knew there, a veritable Who's Who of local book (and music) collecting nerds that included Chris Siron and Lynne Parks (amazing local artists who rummage through old books looking for vintage cover art and line illustrations for their collages - an example of which is shown below)...
Chris Siron's "Transmutation of a Conniption" (2006 collage)
...Charles Brohawn of The Tinklers (who's always on the lookout for bird books and polka records), musician Bob Tiefenworth and his wife, photographer Denny Lynch, and even Dave Cawley (as shown below left).
Dave was actually on break from his 9-to-5 claims adjuster gig just down the road, where he was busy denying insurance claims with a gusto that has seen "Davey Denial" ("It's Not Just a River In Egypt!") rise rapidly to the upper echelon of insurance industry management; Davey D. had stopped by to check out the Modesty Blaise and other vintage comic books for sale in his beloved collector's corner, where last year he scored some early Flash Gordon comics.
Dave and I are admittedly (unabashedly!) on a Modesty Blaise kick (Joseph Losey's oft-maligned kitsch-cult film adaptation - starring a flying-over-the-gaydar Dirk Bogarde, Terence Stamp and Monica Vitti - of the book and comic serial series by Peter O'Donnell is one of Dave's faves and he will enthusiastically sing you the theme song at the drop of a hat!) and it's hard to resist the tales of a spy who's "courage and cleavage in equal parts" and whose hobbies (like ours) include "danger...intrigue...espionage...sex."
Modesty Blaise: "Courage and cleavage in equal parts. Adventure is her game and her equipment is fantastic."
On our way in, Amy noticed a poster announcing that a film crew would be videotaping throughout the day for a upcoming documentary. Wow, I thought, maybe it's MPT doing one of those Rick Sebak- or Antiques Roadshow-style profiles about flea markets and avid collectors, but it turned out it was just two Stevenson College students doing an asignment for film class about this one event. I guess I'll be in it, because they filmed me, Charles Brohawn, Denny Lynch and his historian friend talking about what attracts us to the book sale.
"I just came to be in the movies," I confessed. We all signed releases, just in case Frederick Wiseman or Erol Morris wants to sign on for a development deal, and when they asked us to state our names and occupations, I replied, "I'm a card-carrying Librarian and a hoarder" or something to that effect. Geeze, the last time I signed a release was for Andrew Kolker and Louis Alvarez's People Like Us: Social Class in America (2001); the filmmakers had filmed a segment on the 2001 Hampden Honfest I attended - one which also featured Hampden native Kelly Conway in character as "Stella Gambino" (ertswhile soap opera reviewer on WJZ-TV's Soap Dish) - and I recall missing the film's premiere in New York City the week of 9/11 (poor Kelly attended the screening and was stuck in lower Manhattan all week - timing is everything!).
"(Mad) Man About (Gentrified) Town" Tom Warner adds a "yeah" and a "right" to the intense sociological debate about class in America in "People Like Us."
My ADD runs rampant at events like these, where I am easily distracted and unfocused like an "Ooh, lookit that...Ooh now lookit that!" kid in a candy store. Amy, on the other hand, is always very focused during booksale shopping sprees, limiting her hunting to Japanese language books (for her mother) and anything/everything to do with mythology-anthropology-spirituality (especially of the anti-Christian, pro-Pagan/Wiccan variety); on this day she scored at least a half dozen Joseph Campbell books (though she missed Bob Tiefenworth's score-of-the-day, the 2-disc Mythos II DVD for $4!) and Spencer Wells's The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey (we had enjoyed the 2003 PBS documentary based on his book - which attempts to trace and explain the geographical dispersal of early human migrations out of Africa to the rest of the world - so this was a great find).
Following are my disjointed, all-over-the-place (and decidely non-intellectual, compared to Ms. Linthicum's titles) scores for the day.
***
The Firesign Theatre - Lawyer's Hospital LP (1982)
Price: $2
"You mean, to Bambi?" "I not mean to Bambi - she likes it that way."
"Lawyer's Hospital" w/William Stout cover (Rhino, 1982)
Amy found this one for me (God bless her!) right off the bat. Ah, the Firesign Theatre - the Fab Four of '70s FM Radio Comedy Troupes (a true anachronism to today's iPod Generation) - how I love(d) them! This is one of their 1980s "leftover" albums for the Rhino label (the follow-up to Nick Danger, Third Eye In the Case Of the Missing Shoe), which compiles pre-existing bits into two loosely thematic LP sides. The Firesign Theatre were in essence a '60s-inspired, '70s-defined FM Radio anomaly that got kinda lost in the '80s as the comedy album concept gradually died away and this new thing called "video" and then cable television and compact discs came along. I've only ever heard a snippet of this record, one that was translated to live action as part of Firesign Theatre's 1986 video release Eat Or Be Eaten (see a clip below).
Watch "Lawyer's Hospital, Part 1" (YouTube)
As if the comedy weren't enough, this record was worth picking up just for the cover by the great "paleo-artist" William Stout, who had a comic career that any artist would envy. He started out working on Tarzan comic strips, then worked with a Hall of Fame roll call of fellow cartoonists like Harvey Kurtzman and Will Elder (Little Annie Fanny), Jack Kirby, Archie Goodwin, the folks at Heavy Metal magazine, and later still did some of the surreal set designs for films like Pan's Labyrinth. He did a number of Firesign Theater covers, including the amazing In the Next World You're On Your Own (1975), as shown below:
Stout couldn't resist putting a dino on the cover!
I particularly liked the back cover of this LP for its depiction of an inter-species baseball game:
Cicada at the Bat: Pop-up Fly?
Stout also did one of my all-time favorite Bomp! magazine covers - the one for the Power Pop issue:
Who Put the Bomp?: Power Pop!
***
Frank Sinatra - This is Sinatra! LP (1956)
Price: $2
"This is Sinatra!" LP (Capitol, 1956): Love "Rain" Over Me!
Unbelievably, I didn't own this classic Sinatra LP from his 1950s "hat years" period at Capitol Records. Though released in 1956, this collection represents Sinatra singles and B-sides recorded with Nelson Riddle in 1953 and is worth it just for the rare recording of "Rain (Falling from the Sky)" - one of the least-known Sinatra songs, despite being among his greatest "emo" intrepretions (and I love how it opens with the sound of rainfall). Before I toughened up into a Macho Man, this song by George Finlay and Robert Mellin used to make me cry (I'm sensitive like that). The other essential inclement weather Sinatra tune is, of course, "Here's That Rainy Day" (but that's a song for another day, I 'spose).
Watch/listen to "Rain."
Ethel Merman - The Ethel Merman Disco Album (1978)
Price: $2
Special Features: Back cover is signed "To Ann and Milton, all my love - Ethel Merman" !
Aesthetically-speaking, Ethel almost slipped her disco on the dancefloor
I really enjoyed listening to this! It made me think back fondly to Love Boat; it's like something cokehead cruise entertainment director "Julie McCoy" (Lauren Tewes) would have played to amuse all the middle-aged swingers on board. As Amazon reviewer Elisabeth Vincentelli describes it:
Watch Ethel promoting her disco album on the "Tonight Show" w/Johnny Carson.
***
The Doors - Other Voices LP (1971)
Price: $2
The Lizard King has left the building!
Other Voices was the seventh studio album by The Doors and the first album released by the band following the death of lead singer Jim Morrison (a period referred to by closed-Door purists as "Morrison, A.D.") - and trust me, that's a gaping hole in the end-product as big as the Grand Canyon (or adult film starlet Liza "Black Hole" Harper's (w)rectum, to put it in layman's terms); the band had started recording tracks for this LP while Morrison was on holiday in France and it was released without much fanfare when that holiday turned into a permanent vacation with Jimbo's untimely death in a Paris bathtub. It's not very good, but I picked it up for nostalgia's sake, specifically for the Robby Krieger-penned "I'm Horny, I'm Stoned" which practically defines the dated '70s stoner-hippie vibe (and highlights Krieger's slide guitar abilities, as well). Back in the early '70s, I recall one of the cool FM DJs (Joe Buchari?) on my beloved [okay that's the third time I've used this expression, but what can I say? - I'm a luver, not a hater!) WKTK used to play this as his theme song. (WKTK was great. Another DJ opened his show with National Lampoon's "Deteriorata" (a parody of Les Cranes's 1971 spoken word recording of "The Desiderata") as his theme song, and the station would also play Firesign Theater albums in their entirety!).
Watch a BBC outtake of sans-Lizard King Doors playing "I'm Horny, I'm Stoned."
***
My Husband Keeps Telling Me To Go To Hell (Hardback, 1955)
by Ella Bentley Arthur and Hannett T. Kane; illustrations by R. Taylor
Price: $3
Picked this up for the illustrations by legendary New Yorker gag cartoonist R. Taylor, best known for his saucer-eyed characters and elegant line drawing style, as shown below:
***
Dick Tracy Meets the Punks (1980)
Price: $3
Worth it for the cover alone! Writer Max Allan Collins and artist Rick Fletcher breathed new life into Chester Gould's Dick Tracy franchise in the '80s with new storylines and characters, including "Dick Tracy Meets the Punks." Though Tracy had dealt with lots of criminal punks like Flyface, Bolo and Puckerpuss before, the androgynous "Bony" and butch "Claudine" were actual punk rockers who, along with Quiver Trembly and her brother (who bear a vague resemblance to Debbie Harry and Elvis Costello) reflect Collins' interest in New Wave rock 'n' roll (the author was a former rock musician himself). Okay, it may be corny and gimmicky, but it works for me!
Dick attempts to deconstruct post-modern rock
***
Sexsations (Hardback, 1954)
Price: $3
Gag me with a 'Toon!
This retro-risque (but not dirty!) gag book lists neither authors nor cartoonists, but is a lot of fun. It's filled with stupid jokes, poems, limericks and traveling salesmen jokes, but I got it for the great gag drawings that adorn almost every page. Lots of nudity and semi-nudity, but the language is strictly PG-13, as this was from the 1950s - when people sold the sizzle and not the steak!
Typical "Sexsations" 'toon
A Sure bet: Win, Place (and especially!) Show!
"The Highballs are on me!": Teabaggin' toon teaser?
Pet Shop Boys, Literally (Paperback, 1992)
by Chris Heath
Price: $4
Amy found this for me. I like the Pet Shop Boys, but I almost wish I hadn't been carrying it around all day because it only added fuel to the fire as far as another aquaintance I saw at the book sale - the gay guy who always flirts with me at the library. He's harmless and means well, but tends to follow me around like a puppy, despite my protestations of "Excuse me, that's fascinating, but I have to go find my girlfriend - ta!" The presence of that book in my hand may have led him to think I'm teetering on the fence.
Also, I'm convinced that the blue-haired septagenarian lady who rang me up (to the tally of $26.50 for the day) now thinks I'm gay (and her opinion really matters to me!).
***
Once in Love With Amy - sheet music
Price: $1 or $2 (can't remember!)
I bought this for sentimental reasons, for to know my Amy once is to love her forever! (Awl!)
***
Attention booklovers! The next rite of spring is the (18th annual) Friends of the Towson Library Book Sale, which will be held April 12-15 at the Towson Branch of the Baltimore County Public Library. Like the Smith College Book Sale, I think they charge $10 for the "preview" sale held on opening night, Thursday, April 12.
Literary looting at Smith College Book Sale
Smith College Book Sale
March 23-25, 2012 @ Maryland State Fairgrounds
"A room without books is like a body without a soul." - CiceroYesterday, Amy and I went to the opening day of the three-day Smith College Book Sale at the Timonium Fairgrounds, an annual rite of spring for movable typeface geeks like us who remember the pre-Kindle days when knowledge was passed from one person to another via the printed page (as well as videotape, audiotape, and vinyl grooves - as Analog Anarchronists, we collect these beloved information distribution formats as well!). We skipped the 10 a.m. opening, because the organizers charge $10 the first hour - a price diehard collectors, hoarders and book (re)sellers are only too willing to pay - but there was still plenty of good stuff on offer after that, especially at the Vintage table.
In the lobby, I made a quick stop at a very sexy, hourglass-shaped ATM machine that was slightly smaller than the petite Ms. Linthicum and withdrew $100 from my rapidly dwindling checking account (can't wait for payday next week!), but it wasn't really necessary as both Amy and I fought our natural tendencies to stockpile books (and assorted other media) - a habit we've been weaning ourselves from since the demise of our beloved Daedalus Books store at Belvedere Square store in Govans - and spent less than $55 dollars combined for the day.
Maybe it's because we kept running into people we knew there, a veritable Who's Who of local book (and music) collecting nerds that included Chris Siron and Lynne Parks (amazing local artists who rummage through old books looking for vintage cover art and line illustrations for their collages - an example of which is shown below)...
Chris Siron's "Transmutation of a Conniption" (2006 collage)
...Charles Brohawn of The Tinklers (who's always on the lookout for bird books and polka records), musician Bob Tiefenworth and his wife, photographer Denny Lynch, and even Dave Cawley (as shown below left).
Dave was actually on break from his 9-to-5 claims adjuster gig just down the road, where he was busy denying insurance claims with a gusto that has seen "Davey Denial" ("It's Not Just a River In Egypt!") rise rapidly to the upper echelon of insurance industry management; Davey D. had stopped by to check out the Modesty Blaise and other vintage comic books for sale in his beloved collector's corner, where last year he scored some early Flash Gordon comics.
Dave and I are admittedly (unabashedly!) on a Modesty Blaise kick (Joseph Losey's oft-maligned kitsch-cult film adaptation - starring a flying-over-the-gaydar Dirk Bogarde, Terence Stamp and Monica Vitti - of the book and comic serial series by Peter O'Donnell is one of Dave's faves and he will enthusiastically sing you the theme song at the drop of a hat!) and it's hard to resist the tales of a spy who's "courage and cleavage in equal parts" and whose hobbies (like ours) include "danger...intrigue...espionage...sex."
Modesty Blaise: "Courage and cleavage in equal parts. Adventure is her game and her equipment is fantastic."
On our way in, Amy noticed a poster announcing that a film crew would be videotaping throughout the day for a upcoming documentary. Wow, I thought, maybe it's MPT doing one of those Rick Sebak- or Antiques Roadshow-style profiles about flea markets and avid collectors, but it turned out it was just two Stevenson College students doing an asignment for film class about this one event. I guess I'll be in it, because they filmed me, Charles Brohawn, Denny Lynch and his historian friend talking about what attracts us to the book sale.
"I just came to be in the movies," I confessed. We all signed releases, just in case Frederick Wiseman or Erol Morris wants to sign on for a development deal, and when they asked us to state our names and occupations, I replied, "I'm a card-carrying Librarian and a hoarder" or something to that effect. Geeze, the last time I signed a release was for Andrew Kolker and Louis Alvarez's People Like Us: Social Class in America (2001); the filmmakers had filmed a segment on the 2001 Hampden Honfest I attended - one which also featured Hampden native Kelly Conway in character as "Stella Gambino" (ertswhile soap opera reviewer on WJZ-TV's Soap Dish) - and I recall missing the film's premiere in New York City the week of 9/11 (poor Kelly attended the screening and was stuck in lower Manhattan all week - timing is everything!).
"(Mad) Man About (Gentrified) Town" Tom Warner adds a "yeah" and a "right" to the intense sociological debate about class in America in "People Like Us."
My ADD runs rampant at events like these, where I am easily distracted and unfocused like an "Ooh, lookit that...Ooh now lookit that!" kid in a candy store. Amy, on the other hand, is always very focused during booksale shopping sprees, limiting her hunting to Japanese language books (for her mother) and anything/everything to do with mythology-anthropology-spirituality (especially of the anti-Christian, pro-Pagan/Wiccan variety); on this day she scored at least a half dozen Joseph Campbell books (though she missed Bob Tiefenworth's score-of-the-day, the 2-disc Mythos II DVD for $4!) and Spencer Wells's The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey (we had enjoyed the 2003 PBS documentary based on his book - which attempts to trace and explain the geographical dispersal of early human migrations out of Africa to the rest of the world - so this was a great find).
Following are my disjointed, all-over-the-place (and decidely non-intellectual, compared to Ms. Linthicum's titles) scores for the day.
***
The Firesign Theatre - Lawyer's Hospital LP (1982)
Price: $2
"You mean, to Bambi?" "I not mean to Bambi - she likes it that way."
"Lawyer's Hospital" w/William Stout cover (Rhino, 1982)
Amy found this one for me (God bless her!) right off the bat. Ah, the Firesign Theatre - the Fab Four of '70s FM Radio Comedy Troupes (a true anachronism to today's iPod Generation) - how I love(d) them! This is one of their 1980s "leftover" albums for the Rhino label (the follow-up to Nick Danger, Third Eye In the Case Of the Missing Shoe), which compiles pre-existing bits into two loosely thematic LP sides. The Firesign Theatre were in essence a '60s-inspired, '70s-defined FM Radio anomaly that got kinda lost in the '80s as the comedy album concept gradually died away and this new thing called "video" and then cable television and compact discs came along. I've only ever heard a snippet of this record, one that was translated to live action as part of Firesign Theatre's 1986 video release Eat Or Be Eaten (see a clip below).
Watch "Lawyer's Hospital, Part 1" (YouTube)
As if the comedy weren't enough, this record was worth picking up just for the cover by the great "paleo-artist" William Stout, who had a comic career that any artist would envy. He started out working on Tarzan comic strips, then worked with a Hall of Fame roll call of fellow cartoonists like Harvey Kurtzman and Will Elder (Little Annie Fanny), Jack Kirby, Archie Goodwin, the folks at Heavy Metal magazine, and later still did some of the surreal set designs for films like Pan's Labyrinth. He did a number of Firesign Theater covers, including the amazing In the Next World You're On Your Own (1975), as shown below:
Stout couldn't resist putting a dino on the cover!
I particularly liked the back cover of this LP for its depiction of an inter-species baseball game:
Cicada at the Bat: Pop-up Fly?
Stout also did one of my all-time favorite Bomp! magazine covers - the one for the Power Pop issue:
Who Put the Bomp?: Power Pop!
***
Frank Sinatra - This is Sinatra! LP (1956)
Price: $2
"This is Sinatra!" LP (Capitol, 1956): Love "Rain" Over Me!
Unbelievably, I didn't own this classic Sinatra LP from his 1950s "hat years" period at Capitol Records. Though released in 1956, this collection represents Sinatra singles and B-sides recorded with Nelson Riddle in 1953 and is worth it just for the rare recording of "Rain (Falling from the Sky)" - one of the least-known Sinatra songs, despite being among his greatest "emo" intrepretions (and I love how it opens with the sound of rainfall). Before I toughened up into a Macho Man, this song by George Finlay and Robert Mellin used to make me cry (I'm sensitive like that). The other essential inclement weather Sinatra tune is, of course, "Here's That Rainy Day" (but that's a song for another day, I 'spose).
Watch/listen to "Rain."
Ethel Merman - The Ethel Merman Disco Album (1978)
Price: $2
Special Features: Back cover is signed "To Ann and Milton, all my love - Ethel Merman" !
Aesthetically-speaking, Ethel almost slipped her disco on the dancefloor
I really enjoyed listening to this! It made me think back fondly to Love Boat; it's like something cokehead cruise entertainment director "Julie McCoy" (Lauren Tewes) would have played to amuse all the middle-aged swingers on board. As Amazon reviewer Elisabeth Vincentelli describes it:
The title says it all. This is the disco album "the Merm" recorded in 1979, a few years before her death. Rumor has it that Merman couldn't stand the disco craze that was sweeping the nation in the late '70s, recording her vocals before the instrumental tracks were laid down. Masterminded by Peter Matz, who produced, arranged, and conducted the whole thing, Merman's disco album is one of those jaw-dropping, "what were they thinking?" UFOs that periodically land on the pop landscape. Merman (at her most bombastic, vibrato-laden) barrels through eight of her signature tunes. All are taken at breakneck speed, and even dramatic show-stoppers, such as "Everything's Coming Up Roses" (from Gypsy), become dance-floor burners. Whether you find the album simply horrifying or an entrancing testimony to the power of people to lose their heads as they fall prey to a dance fad, this collision between two completely different American musical traditions is nothing short of, ahem, breathtaking.
Watch Ethel promoting her disco album on the "Tonight Show" w/Johnny Carson.
***
The Doors - Other Voices LP (1971)
Price: $2
The Lizard King has left the building!
Other Voices was the seventh studio album by The Doors and the first album released by the band following the death of lead singer Jim Morrison (a period referred to by closed-Door purists as "Morrison, A.D.") - and trust me, that's a gaping hole in the end-product as big as the Grand Canyon (or adult film starlet Liza "Black Hole" Harper's (w)rectum, to put it in layman's terms); the band had started recording tracks for this LP while Morrison was on holiday in France and it was released without much fanfare when that holiday turned into a permanent vacation with Jimbo's untimely death in a Paris bathtub. It's not very good, but I picked it up for nostalgia's sake, specifically for the Robby Krieger-penned "I'm Horny, I'm Stoned" which practically defines the dated '70s stoner-hippie vibe (and highlights Krieger's slide guitar abilities, as well). Back in the early '70s, I recall one of the cool FM DJs (Joe Buchari?) on my beloved [okay that's the third time I've used this expression, but what can I say? - I'm a luver, not a hater!) WKTK used to play this as his theme song. (WKTK was great. Another DJ opened his show with National Lampoon's "Deteriorata" (a parody of Les Cranes's 1971 spoken word recording of "The Desiderata") as his theme song, and the station would also play Firesign Theater albums in their entirety!).
Watch a BBC outtake of sans-Lizard King Doors playing "I'm Horny, I'm Stoned."
***
My Husband Keeps Telling Me To Go To Hell (Hardback, 1955)
by Ella Bentley Arthur and Hannett T. Kane; illustrations by R. Taylor
Price: $3
Picked this up for the illustrations by legendary New Yorker gag cartoonist R. Taylor, best known for his saucer-eyed characters and elegant line drawing style, as shown below:
***
Dick Tracy Meets the Punks (1980)
Price: $3
Worth it for the cover alone! Writer Max Allan Collins and artist Rick Fletcher breathed new life into Chester Gould's Dick Tracy franchise in the '80s with new storylines and characters, including "Dick Tracy Meets the Punks." Though Tracy had dealt with lots of criminal punks like Flyface, Bolo and Puckerpuss before, the androgynous "Bony" and butch "Claudine" were actual punk rockers who, along with Quiver Trembly and her brother (who bear a vague resemblance to Debbie Harry and Elvis Costello) reflect Collins' interest in New Wave rock 'n' roll (the author was a former rock musician himself). Okay, it may be corny and gimmicky, but it works for me!
Dick attempts to deconstruct post-modern rock
***
Sexsations (Hardback, 1954)
Price: $3
Gag me with a 'Toon!
This retro-risque (but not dirty!) gag book lists neither authors nor cartoonists, but is a lot of fun. It's filled with stupid jokes, poems, limericks and traveling salesmen jokes, but I got it for the great gag drawings that adorn almost every page. Lots of nudity and semi-nudity, but the language is strictly PG-13, as this was from the 1950s - when people sold the sizzle and not the steak!
Typical "Sexsations" 'toon
A Sure bet: Win, Place (and especially!) Show!
"The Highballs are on me!": Teabaggin' toon teaser?
Pet Shop Boys, Literally (Paperback, 1992)
by Chris Heath
Price: $4
Amy found this for me. I like the Pet Shop Boys, but I almost wish I hadn't been carrying it around all day because it only added fuel to the fire as far as another aquaintance I saw at the book sale - the gay guy who always flirts with me at the library. He's harmless and means well, but tends to follow me around like a puppy, despite my protestations of "Excuse me, that's fascinating, but I have to go find my girlfriend - ta!" The presence of that book in my hand may have led him to think I'm teetering on the fence.
Also, I'm convinced that the blue-haired septagenarian lady who rang me up (to the tally of $26.50 for the day) now thinks I'm gay (and her opinion really matters to me!).
***
Once in Love With Amy - sheet music
Price: $1 or $2 (can't remember!)
I bought this for sentimental reasons, for to know my Amy once is to love her forever! (Awl!)
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Attention booklovers! The next rite of spring is the (18th annual) Friends of the Towson Library Book Sale, which will be held April 12-15 at the Towson Branch of the Baltimore County Public Library. Like the Smith College Book Sale, I think they charge $10 for the "preview" sale held on opening night, Thursday, April 12.
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