About Your Blogger Let's not waste too much time on stats. So very briefly:
I was a corporate attorney at a mega-firm in NYC. Now I work at a middle-market family-run independent insurance agency. I live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with my brilliant wife, who also happens to blog at Rosmania. (Check it out.)
Disclaimers Nothing contained on this site should be construed to be legal, business, insurance or tax advice. If you need professional legal advice, find a professional. There are plenty of them out there. If thet’re good, I think that they ultimately pay for themselves.
Also, the views and opinions expressed on this site are mine and mine alone. They should not, under any circumstances, be attributed to anyone other than me. (Not that anyone is trying to take credit for them.)
According to GQ Magazine's News Bites, Paris Hilton is recording her own version of Kim Carnes' 'Bette Davis Eyes.' The song will be released on her own Heiress Record label.
Where to start with this little news item?
I guess the first question is why does every famous person think that they should be a rock star? Come on, just because you're pretty and stupid may make you perfect for reality TV, but music? (Apparently, Tommy Mottola is working with Lindsay Lohanon an album of her own too.)
Then, there's the name of her label -- Heiress. Who would name their record label Heiress? We get it, Paris, you're rich. You an heiress. Sort of sickening that you need to shove it in everyone's face.
Then song slection ... I won't even go into her choice of tired old choice material ... but what is she thinking, just because she smokes cigarettes and parties hard, does she think she going to have Kim Carnes' voice?
Today's big news story is that Benjamin L. Ginsberg, the Bush campaign's top outside lawyer and a major player in the Florida recount, admitted that he has given legal advice to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the political group that has been attacking Senator John Kerry's Vietnam War record in high profile television spots. This is being used by democtrats to show another close tie between the Bush-Cheney campaign and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
What shouldn't be news is that Benjamin L. Ginsberg is a partner at Patton Boggs LLP. Despite acknowledgement in the NYT headline that Mr. Ginsberg is the Bush campaign's top outside legal counsel, no where in the story does the name of Mr. Ginsberg's firm appear. A review of other news sources reveals a similar reticence to name the firm that Mr. Ginsberg works at.
But is is publicly available information. Mr. Ginsberg is prominently featured on the firms website as is his role in the Bush-Cheney campaign and his representation of various PACs:
"In both the 2004 and 2000 election cycles, Mr. Ginsberg served as national counsel to the Bush-Cheney presidential campaign; he played a central role in the 2000 Florida recount. He also represents the campaigns and leadership PACs of numerous members of the Senate and House, as well as the Republican National Committee, National Republican Senatorial Committee and National Republican Congressional Committee."
So why all the secrecy? My guess is that not all of Mr. Ginsberg's partners agree with Mr. Ginsberg's political views and asked not to have the firm tied to this controversy. Still, why have all of the news outlets complied?
But maybe I'm wrong -- the firm does seem like the perfect fit for Bush -- a man of privilege who masquerades as a man of the people. This is from the firm's "About Us" page:
"We're not a traditional law firm in either appearance or operation. From the museum-quality art on our walls to attorneys who don't feel compelled to button their jackets in meetings, you'll see that we enjoy what we do."
Is this the plot line for a remake of Rodney Dangerfield's Back to School? Apparently, Martin Gagen, the US Chief of mega-private equity shop 3i, is leaving the firm after 20 years to go back to school! When I first read the story at AltAssets, I assumed that they had meant to write that he was going to Stanford to teach.
But after a quick search on Google News I found that the Times Online was reporting the same story. According to the Times, Gagen, "the head of 3i’s US and Asia Pacific operations is to leave the FTSE 100 venture capital group with a £430,000 payoff in order to study philosophy and history."
You can but a lot of Cliff Notes with £430,000!!
It seems strange that such a major power player would just drop out to pursue philosophy and history. Strange and really really cool. Also, really honest. None of this "to spend more time with his family" song and dance. I am sure that he has plenty of options, but I guess he has enough money and this is what he wants to do. How refreshing! How gutsy!
I don't know about the rest of you, but I would love to have a chance to be a student at the end of your career at an institution like Stanford -- just for the pure enjoyment of learning.
Nude photos of Jennifer Ellison? Ananova has a story about the theft of Jennifer Ellison's personal laptop computer. Apparently, the computer contained some of Jen's "private" photos.
According to the starlet's manager, Sarah Conacher, in addition to the run-of-the-mill vacation photos, "There was also some pretty racy stuff [on the laptop], such as Jen changing her bikini."
Why would her manager want to broadcast that information? Call me a cynic, but I think this is an orchestrated, "inside job."
The good news is that we should be seeing those photos on the web soon enough!
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- New York City at 7:40 AM
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Sunday, August 22, 2004
The Shining -- Bunny-style
Angry Alien Productions has done a series of famous films in 30 second versions using animated bunnies in the place of actors. The most recent one appears to be a 30 second-version Jaws, complete with Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfeus-like bunnies.
I personally dig the Angry Alien version of The Shining. Somehow with cartoon bunnies, it isn't as scarey as the original.
Apparently May was a very busy month for Lindsay Lohan's breasts. In addition to the national exposure that her chest got on Saturday Night Live, she also displayed one of her nipple for the papparatzzi. (I guess the other nipple is camera-shy.)
For such a young woman, she has a very busy bust ...
Skechers' provocative new print campaign featuring pop star Christina Aguilera is being referred to officially as the "Naughty and Nice" campaign. My prediction is that men will simply be saying "nice."
See for yourself if you don't agree.
My personal favorite. I call it "Nice and Nicerer."
Which one isn't nice here? Nurses are all good, aren't they?
Here the question is which one is nice?
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I hate your fans, those pathetic posers who proudly play your music to showcase their knowledge of indie music.
I hate your publicy which touts you as the biggest indie hit since Wilco. You're not indie if you're constantly played and hyped by MTV, VH1 and Entertainment Weekly.
I hate your damn catchy name, clever design scheme and incredibly not-modest success.
Most of all though, I hate the fact that you make such fucking great music and that I can't stop listening to it. You make me hate myself.
In honor of the recovery of Paris Hilton's Chihuahua, Tinkerbell, I thought that I would post this picture from Maxim. Besides featuring Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie and a strippers pole (those girls are klassy) -- there is also a little green figure in the center of the photo that I have to assume is Tinkerbell. Not the recently-recovered pooch, but the Peter Pan's sidekick from Never-Neverland.
It warms the heart to see these nice young ladies embracing icons of childhood fancy.
If it weren't for the fact that Nicole Richie was required to show her bobbies in a semi-private part of the Reno airport, we would have just assumed that she had a few too many in the cocktail lounge. But, in fact, the slutty second-fiddle's breast became an issue of national security when her nipple ring set off an airport metal detector on a recent trip from Reno to New York.
With the quick-wittedness of a character from Three's Company, Nicole offered to let the guard cop a feel -- just to prove that it was real (the nipple ring, of course):
"I'm like: "What if I say you can touch it? It should be fine." [The guard's] like: "No, I'm not allowed to do that."
Damn rules!
"So they brought in two female officers and took me not to necessarily the most private place in the airport and made me take off my top. Thank God I'm not a shy person, but what if I was shy?"
Well, Nicole -- if you were a shy person, this wouldn't be news but, then again, neither would you. (via Ananova.)
It is a well known fact that in times of strife, people turn to God and religion. So I guess that it should come as no surprise that the people of Williamsburg, Brooklyn are turning to God now more than ever.
In the last decade, housing prices in this area increased more than in any other part of the City -- a staggering 67 percent in the years from 1990 to 2000.
Add to that an indigenous population of Hasidic Jews and an insurgent artist community and the results is the most contentious real estate holy war this side of the Tigris.
The local Hasidic community has been distributing a prayer, in Hebrew, "For the Protection of our City of Williamsburg from the Plague of the Artists."
Here's a taste. It shows just how blind faith can be:
"Please place in the hearts of the homeowners that they should not build, God forbid, for these people, and strengthen their hearts so that they can withstand this difficult test and so that they will not sell for the lure of money."
I like to check out what people are doing with Flickr! There are some really great photos posted there and some really bizarre ones.
This is a really stupid one. Some guy who calls himself Izzard took a photo of the contents of his wallet under ultraviolet light. The effect is pretty cool -- until you realize that you can clearly read the numbers and his name off of his credit cards. If that's not enough, he photographed his license too!
As Bugs Bunny would say, "What a maroon."
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Editor's note: It looks like Izzard tried to smudge the numbers on one of his credit cards in the photo, so I took down my post of the original photo. I really don't want to help anyone commit credit card fraud. If I can figure out how to post it so that you can see how clear it was but still can't read the numbers, I may post it again. But don't get your hopes up. You can still check out the doctored photo -- and I don't think that "Izz" did such a great job of hiding the numbers even now.
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A little known fact: I am the original source of the that story! (At least, I'm pretty sure I am.)
Even if you didn't hear it here first, you should have heard it here first -- the problem is that you haven't been visiting my site everyday like you should have been! Don't worry, all is forgive. Just don't let it happen again.
Here's how news gets made:
On August 9, I noticed what was going on with Warner Bros. and Robots and posted "Warner Bros. helps an MP3 blog" right here.
Now, a week later, the New York Times joins the party. (NYT -- you're late, but thanks for coming.)
Moral of the story? Brand New Vintage is awesome! Read it religiously and you will know important things first!
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- New York City at 8:09 PM
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Sunday, August 15, 2004
Lindsay Lohan on Saturday Night Live
This is an old story and I am sure that a lot of people have already written about it. But I haven't and I just found this link to the Harry Potter sketch from when Lindsay Lohan hosted SNL, so I'm writing about it now!
When Lindsay hosted SNL on May 1, she was only 17 years old. Still, that didn't stop SNL (or Lindsay) from exploiting her sexuality. (I don't want to be unfair. Maybe Lindsay wasn't exploiting her sexuality. Maybe she was just showing off her new supersized breasts like any other high school girl.)
Even in the opening monolgue, there was a running joke about the number of days until she'd turn 18 and be "legal". But the nadir was this skit. It is all clevage and fetishized school girl fantasy. Thing is -- she really is a school girl -- a high school girl.
Of course, the other thing is that she really is hot. And the skit is funny.
Jay, from the blog Jay's Party, has a post of 35 things that he says we'd rather not know about him. He's probably right, but its still pretty damn funny.
Here's a sample of some of the items:
"14. I speed and I do it well. 15. I want little Jays. And maybe little Jasmines. 16. On that topic, I want to fucking tell people she’s mine goddammit. Soon… 17. I don’t lie. 18. #17 is a lie."
This is a dark day for the Olympics. Iran's world judo champion Arash Miresmaeili refused to compete against an Israeli opponent Sunday.
The official reason was that the Iranian didn't make weight for the match, but in Tehran, the Iranian National Olympic Committee said: "This is a general policy of our country to refrain from competing against athletes of the Zionist regime and Arash Miresmaeili has observed this policy."
So much for the Olympic dream of bridging the distance between people of different nations and fostering understanding and good-will.
The International Judo Federation (IJF) is trying to figure out whether any penalty would hit Miresmaeili alone or the entire Iranian team. The IJF already held an emergency meeting and plans to hold further talks on the issue Monday.
If the International Olympic Committee hopes to "uphold the ideal of sport transcending national barriers," swift and decisive action must be taken against any individuals or teams that violate those ideals. In this case, it appears that the Iranian team has a policy that is anathama to those ideals and it should be sanctioned.
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- New York City at 2:53 PM
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Fox TV's The Partner
This season Fox will air an Apprentice-style reality show called The Partner, in which recent law school graduates will compete for a lucrative position as a "partner" at a major law firm.
This show should bring the same type of honor to the legal profession that Halliburton brought to the oil and gas industries, Jeff Skilling brought to Enron, and Dick Cheney brings to the office of the Vice President.
But don't get me wrong -- I'll be home to watch every episode. Its going to be great entertainment, its going to be terrible for the profession.
Its going to be like one season-long lawyer joke.
"What do you call 10 episodes of The Practice at the bottom of Nielsen's? A good start ..."
Probably the biggest problem with the show is its very premise. The very focus of the competition is on showmanship and on lawyers instead of issues. For the puroses of the show "it doesn't matter who's right or wrong in the case, it's who does a better job arguing," as Fox's reality programming executive Mike Darnell freely admits. That's just wrong.
Its the opposite of what our legal system is designed to do. We shouldn't reward the party that can hire the best lawyer. Yes, better lawyers win when they should lose and that is part of the reality of our systems, but it is not the part that should be celebrated. Our legal system is designed to ferret out the truth and give redress for wrongs. The system is not about the lawyers, its is about the plaintiffs and defendants. The show is about the lawyers and that's wrong.
But it is more than that. Even the purported prize is perplexing. What "major law firm" is going to hire an attorney based on a reality TV show? Maybe a plaintiff's bar firm like Milberg Weiss or Lerach Coughlin would, but I seriously doubt that any major "white shoe" law firm would. Major law firms have major clients -- clients that aren't looking for flash and publicity, but for honor, discretion, experience and knowledge. Those aren't the "goods" that reality TV delivers.
Then, the idea of making a first year lawyer a partner at a major firm! Absurd. Major firms have legions of smart, hard working young associates who slave away for years -- often 8, 9, 10 years or more -- just for the opportinity to be considered for partnership. Are they really going to piss off all those loyal associates by letting a first year associate leap frog them all and become an instant partner? In my opinion, that's not likely to happen.
And there's also the proposed catch phrase. Word is that Rocket Science Laboratories, the show's production company, is scrambling to trademark such phrases as "You're disbarred" which will be uttered Trump-style by the "judge". Why? Do they even understand what that term means? To be disbarred is "to be expelled from the bar or the legal profession." It happens if you steal money from your client or intentionally throw a case, not because you lose a make-belive case in mock trial. It just doesn't make sense. And its offensive.
But don't get me wrong. I'll be watching despite it all.
First I doubt the veracity of Moby and now I question the character of the fine people at Stuff Magazine. So if you're thinking its me, you may be right. Still, to be fair, how is that only Stuff Magazine has any information about the "Nebraska Sextuplets." I did a quick google seach and the only hits that I got were from Stuff or referred to Stuff. I just don't think it works like that. I would expect fan sites, photos and news articles from local papers. None of that. Zero.
Minimally, I would think that any sextuplets willing to pose for Stuff would have their own Fox reality T.V.
After all, why would anyone tell a humilating story about himself in which he hires a stripper, snorts her cocaine and then shits himself, only to add "face-saving" lies to it?
It doesn't seem like anyone would, but then again, the "facts" as told by Moby just don't sound right. At least not to me.
But you can judge for yourself.
Not long ago Moby told this story to an audience gathered at the Moth.
A 38 year old Moby went to a strip club in Times Square "for the first time in his life." While there, he paid a stripper $400 "just to talk."
The stripper then "gave" him her bag of cocaine, which "he tried for the first time." Since it was his first time doing coke and he didn't know the proper etiquette, so he did all of it. Surprisingly, he didn't end up in the emergency room attached to a defibrillator. Not surprisingly, he did piss the stripper off pretty badly.
But Moby says he was able to appease her by buying a $400 bottle of champagne. After that he left the club. But the night was far from over -- he capped off his escapades by crapping himself and having sex "all night long" with his ex-girlfriend.
The band intends to generate revenues from touring and related merchandising. Techdirt hails this as fulfillment of the digital music promise:
"Ever since Napster came out, it was easy to see that it was going to be increasingly difficult to just make money selling CDs. This seems fairly obvious, of course, but when people asked where the money would come from, it seemed equally obvious that the money would come from using the music to promote other items for sale, such as concert tickets, fan clubs, access to the artists and plenty of other ideas."
I am not so convinced. You've may have read it here before, but others things seem pretty obvious to me.
For example, it seems pretty obvious to me that people want music on their iPods and are willing to pay for it. It also seems obvious that people are willing to buy music at point-of-purchase locations, like at Starbucks.
What doesn't seem so obvious to me is that touring is going to the basis for an entire mature industry -- one that appeals to baby boomers as well as teenie boppers. One that sells living artists as well as dead artists.
Touring and performing has always been a part of the music industry. I am sure it will continue to be. And I am sure that there will always be bands that make most of their money from (like the Grateful Dead did), but come on -- The Pixies aren't a trend. They are a unique anomaly.
When I was little and would complain bitterly to my parents that everyone was mean and awful and terrible, they would stop me and say, "if everyone is so awful, maybe the problem is with you, not them." I hated it, of course, but the point wasn't lost on me.
I guess Michael Eisner's parents didn't share that philosophy with young Michael.
The latest news (but not exactly new) is that Harvey Weinstein might be leaving the House of Mouse to go off on his own. Given the rocky relationship between Miramax and Disney, this is not a shock to anyone.
What is a shock is that this is being spun a victory by Disney because Bob Weinstein isn't leaving too!
I know that "it takes all kinds" and "that's why Baskin Robbins makes 31 flavors of ice cream" and all that sort of stuff, but how could someone do this to themselves? And who thinks its attractive?
Well, there must be someone, because there is a whole site devoted to these people call "Suicide Girls."
I think its like spray painting the Mona Lisa -- It just shouldn't be done.
Hilary Rosen is barely out the door of the RIAA and Warner Brothers Records is already helping an unaffiliated website, Music For Robots, distribute an MP3 from one of its artists, for free.
Have we entered the Twilight Zone?
Even the folks at Music for Robots can't quite figure this one out:
"We have no idea where this is heading, but it's nice to have the support of the major labels (take that RIAA!) and to know that we're not operating in constant fear of being shut down (not that we were). "
It may be a little premature to say take all that away from this one possible anomaly, but it is nice to see any support for these independent sites that help to promote interesting, non-conventional artists.
Maybe something will come of it. I think that an ongoing relationship between the MP3 blogs and record labels could be mutually beneficial -- helping to expose record label's artists to a wider audience without having to spend huge ad dollars to do it.
Not enough smut on Brand New Vintage today? Don't worry, there's more!
Anastasia Myskina filed an $8 million federal lawsuit against GQ magazine today, claiming that it allowed topless photographs of her to appear in a Russian magazine without her permission.
Although never available though GQ, the pictures did appear in the in the July/August issue of Medved magazine. As we understand it, the above picture was o.k. with Myskina, but a couple of others were not. Those can be found here, along with some other Lady Godiva shots.
Looking at them, it seems obvious that she knew and consented to the photos being taken. So what's her beef? According to her attorney, "she never intended for two shots of her appearing shirtless to be published anywhere." And what about the shots on horseback?
Huh. Then why have them taken at all and at a magazine shoot?
Worried that crass commericalism has ruined the Olympic ideals? No need. The true meaning of the Olympics is alive and well at FHM.
FHM has a feature call "US Olympic Girls" filled with inspiring quotes like:
"I wear a two-piece a lot to train in, and I wedge it right up my butt. We swim like we’re Brazilian swimmers: We have it up our asses. " Amanda Beard
"When guys find out I’m a high jumper, they’re like, ‘You can jump me.’” Amy Acuff
"I'm pretty comfortable naked. " Haley Cope
“I feel sexy in my track clothes. " Jenny Adams
"[My teammates and I] like dancing with each other. We’ll grind and do whatever, because I’d rather dance with them. I’m like, ‘Wait a second. I’m straight, right?’” Logan Tom
We here at Brand New Vintage hate the Segway. It is slow, dangerous (to pedestrians) and dorky.
And we think we're being kind about it.
Even worse, we think that calling it a scooter probably confuses some people in a way we consider to be very dangerous -- we are petrified by the thought that when we talk about our "scooter," people think we ride around on a Segway! We do not.
This is not the sort of harmless confusion that we can live with or forget about. Let's just say that we now know what Kurtz was getting at in Heart of Darkness* when he talked about "the horror."
That is why we have such mixed feelings about "America at 10 mph." While it should be good fun to laugh derisively at the daily dispatches from the idiot who is crossing the country on an "upright, glorified wheelchair" (as the Register calls it), we have some concern that it is only going to make matters worse by publicizing the vehicle.
I just changed the name of this blog from A Practiced Life to Brand New Vintage. (You found the site, so I guess you already know that.)
What you may not know is why.
Well, there are a few reasons.
When I semi-randomly chose the name, A Practiced Life, I didn't know if I was going to pursue blogging with any real ardor. And although my dedication has vacillated over the months since I began, it seems that this blog is here to stay.
That's kind of nice, but the name wasn't. So I decided to change it.
The old name also reflected what I was doing professionally at the time -- practicing law. (Get it? A practiced life, practicing law? I know, it sucks.) Since I am no longer practicing law, the name is no longer the slam-dunk, sure-thing it once was. *
Finally, the old name just wasn't getting the job done. Well, let's be honest, the blog isn't attracting readers and I've chosen to blame the name. No one is visiting it. No one is reading it. So I am changing the name to solve the problem!
You can think of Vintage Vinyl as the Arcadia College of blogs.
For those of you who don't know the story of Arcadia, it is a school in suburban Philadelphia that used to be known as Beaver College. Back in 2000, the school was facing some major obsticles in attracting and keeping students. So what did the trustees do? Raise the quality of the academics? Improve the facilities? Focus on improving the profile of athletic program? The trustees realized that those are really difficult things to do. So, instead, they changed the name. **
They reasoned that if they changes the name, students would flock to Beaver. Makes sense, right? So, the college is now known as Arcadia. ***
Well, friends, I feel the same way. Improving the writing is too hard. Thinking up more interesting stories would take too long. And effectively promoting the blog is way beyond my abilities. (Besides what's the point of promoting a blog with bad writing and lousy stories?)
But changing the name? Well, that's easy. A few key strokes and all my problems are all solved! ****
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* I am out of the law racket into the insurance game! I could have thought up some really cool insurance-related name for the blog -- but let's be honest "cool" and "insurance" don't really go together. In fact, that's the whole point of insurance -- its not cool, its safe and conservative.
** President Landman said in a letter to alumni that the old name "too often elicit[ed] ridicule in the form of derogatory remarks pertaining to the rodent, the TV show 'Leave It to Beaver' and the vulgar reference to the female anatomy." Besides, many firewalls were blocking Beaver College's website as a probable porn site.
How's this for questionable board behavior -- Despite the fact that Andrew Wiederhorn, the CEO of Fatburger-parent company Fog Cutter, is headed for prison after pleading guilty to two felony counts that go directly to corporate responsibility, integrity and judgment -- filing a false tax return and paying an illegal gratuity to the former chief executive of another Portland company -- the Fog Cutter board of directors voted to continue Mr. Weiderhorn's salary during his 18-month long visit at the Federal Correctional Institution in Sheridan.
We know that you will be shocked that the board counts among its members several old friends of Mr. Wiederhorn.
The board even voted to give him a special $2 million "leave of absence" bonus in consideration for the advise he would give the company during his stay at Club Fed. Even worse, Federal prisons don't allow inmates to conduct business while they're in prison.
There is a bright side -- the Company has now made TheStreet's Five Dumbest Things list twice!
Look around New York City these days and you will notice something new. Weaving around the taxis, trucks and cars are a new breed of transportation. Scooters, long a staple of London, Paris and Rome, have arrived state-side and are growing in popularity.
As someone who's been riding one for over a year, I can tell you that there's a reason for the popularity -- riding a Vespa around the city is pure bliss.
Even better than riding one is parking it. While technically parking on the sidewalks of the city is illegal, I have found that the police are generally willing to overlook the infraction if you keep it out of the way of pedestrians. Bike racks usually do the job. In most neighborhoods, parking legally is easy enough too. Vespas fit with ease into spots that even Mini Coopers have to pass up.
In another sign of how popular scoots have become, the Motorcycle Safety School now even offers a class specifically designed for scooterists. Its in Williamsburg, of course. I took their Motorcycle Saftey course when I got my license a few years back and highly recommend taking one.
Watchismo is a very cool site that sells vintage watches. Even if you're not interested in buying, its worth a visit. Think of it as a sort of virtual museum of L.E.D. watches.
Flickr is the service that I discovered last weekend and now use to add photos to my posts (like the one you see above). But apparently, I am just scratching the surface -- Flickr can do so much more.
A guy who calls himself Electricinca * created an "illustrated version" of a Sherlock Holmes story using Flickr. ** Here's his description of the project:
"I decided to utilise *** the comment feature and create an illustrated version of the Sherlock Holmes tale The Speckled Band. I broke the text up into 58 sections, picked a keyword from each bit of the text then searched for a photo that was tagged with that word. I then wrote the text into the coment *** box for each photo linking to the next photo and bit of the text."
Ok. Its a pretty cool idea, I guess. But then his introduction to the story ends with the following tag:
"I'm Male and Single."
So what is that -- The worlds strangest pick-up line or some wry comment on the life of a guy who would spend his evenings illustrating "The Speckled Band" using Flickr?
The August issue of Esquire has a great interview with Jack LaLanne, the iconic exercise guru who's turning 90 this September.
But even as Jack enters his ninth decade, you shouldn't expect to see his photo in the obits any time soon. Jack has no plans to go anywhere. As he says "I can't afford to die. It'll wreck my image."
Besides, he's probably healthier than most of us. Says the guru, "I work out for two hours every morning, seven days a week -- even when I'm traveling. I hate it. But I love the result! That's the key, baby!" *
And if living until 90 isn't enough motivation to get you to put down that crispy cream and the remote, Jack has an ace in the hole, "If you lose a couple of inches off your stomach, your business down there will look an inch longer."
Excuse me, I have to go for a run now ...
You can link to the full interview here.
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* What's with the rat pack lingo? Do you think he's being a swinging hipster, or is it just that when you hit 90, everyone else is a baby?