Archive for 2023
September 6, 2023
THE WIND CRIES NIKON: The Nikon That Shot Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Psychedelic’ 1960s LP covers is for Sale.
The original Nikon camera that photographer Karl Ferris used to take multiple Jimi Hendrix 1960s-era album covers as well as Ferris’ original Halliburton case are coming to auction.
Ferris is an English photographer best known as the innovator of “psychedelic photography,” a look that he employed at the behest of Jimi Hendrix and which would go on to define the look of the 1960s and influence the culture of the time around the world. Ferris would also shoot other rock bands and icons including Eric Clapton, Cream, and Donovan.
As the San Francisco Art Exchange puts it, Ferris captured some of the most unforgettable photos of the 1960s including eight album covers in 1967 along with a large number of posters and magazine features.
Related: ‘Squaring The Circle’: New Documentary Explores How Hipgnosis Created Rock’s Greatest Album Covers.
CHRISTIAN TOTO: ‘Promised Land’ Star, Director Stumped by Insane Diversity Question.
The star and director behind “The Promised Land,” which just screened at the prestigious Venice Film Festival, must have drawn the short straw. They were both presented with a question about their film’s lack of diversity, at least by American standards.
The historical drama follows an 18th century army captain (Mikkelsen) struggling to raise his social status and maintain his values in an increasingly hostile climate. The film is based on a novel inspired by a real person, Captain Ludvig Kahlen.
An unnamed journalist from Denmark quizzed Mikkelsen and Arcel about the film’s alleged dearth of diversity. It’s set in a Nordic country circa the 1700s.
Much more at the link.
AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: After Third Infection, COVID Desperately Seeks Vaccine Against Whoopi Goldberg.
LAUGH, CRY, OR DRINK — YOU MAKE THE CALL: I Can’t Stop Laughing: Biden Thinks He’s Treated Like a Toddler.
TESLA’S DIRTY LITTLE SECRET ON CALIFORNIA’S I-5:
The Harris Ranch Tesla Supercharger has a couple of things going for it that have made it a part of Tesla enthusiasts’ lore: It’s one of the electric car giant’s first Supercharger stations, and with 98 charging bays, it’s also the biggest in the world.
The Central California charging station is such a big deal that Tesla clubs even make it an appointment destination. Yes, they’ll rally-style drive to it just to honor its lineage and size.
But as with many Tesla-related things, there is a secret, thinly obscured by an Oz-like curtain, at the Harris Ranch Supercharger. Hidden in plain sight across the way from the Harris Ranch Supercharger’s main stations, behind a Shell station, is a small diesel plant that has helped power Tesla’s footprint.
To be fair, that’s pretty consistent with Tesla’s overall strategy: When the Going Gets Tough, the Electric go Petrol. Electric car-maker Tesla isn’t taking any range risks in Australia with their support vehicles. When they need to repair their breakdown-prone plug buggies, Tesla use reliable, petrol-powered Mitsubishis.
TOO MUCH FOR ME: How Much is a Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen?
THERE HE GOES AGAIN, REBUILDING OUR TATTERED FOREIGN RELATIONS: Biden’s Absence at ASEAN Summit Seen as Snub to Southeast Asia.
MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: Meet the Avowed Marxist Who Decides What Books Go in Your School Library.
READER FAVORITE: COZSINOOR Hotel Grade Queen Size Cooling Bed Pillows: Set of 2. #CommissionEarned
WELL, YEAH — WE SQUANDERED OUR MILITARY AND POLITICAL CAPITAL: U.S. Deterrence Against China Is Not Working.
PAULA ABDUL AND MC SKAT KAT SAY OTHERWISE: Study confirms it: Opposites don’t actually attract.
It ain’t fiction, just a natural fact.
TONIGHT WE’RE GONNA PARTY LIKE IT’S 2020: Hypocrite Biden Already Violated White House Masking Protocol.
I’M NOT SAYING IT WAS ALIENS, BUT . . . Is IM1 Interstellar Meteor the Product of Technological Aliens?
EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Credit card and car loan defaults hit 10-year high as inflation squeezes families.
Here’s the official spin, courtesy (as always) of the Washington Post: “The federal deficit is projected to roughly double this year, as bigger interest payments and lower tax receipts widen the nation’s spending imbalance despite robust overall economic growth.” [Emphasis added.]
Biden’s deficit spending is the growth. Unlike genuine economic growth, Bidenomics is going to leave us with a multitrillion-dollar hangover and a nasty correction when either the spending runs out or the inflation really kicks in.
THE WHIGS WOULD LIKE A WORD: The GOP Is in Danger of Becoming the Pac-12 of Political Parties.
WHAT ABOUT MEN? Childhood trauma may affect sexual health of women. “A stressful or traumatic childhood experience — anything from parents divorcing to a sibling’s drug problem — may have long-term effects on a woman’s sexual health.”
WE ARE NOT LIVING IN A GOLDEN AGE OF TV: Streamers Want You To Dumb Down Your Film and TV Ideas: It’s hard to follow the plot if you’re not paying attention!
I think we can all admit that sometimes when we’re watching TV at home, we have our phones out at the same time. After a long day of picketing, I like to toss on Cheers and check my email. It happens. But when I sit down to watch a movie, to really study a story (like I did with the Cheers pilot), I devote all my attention to the screen when I can.
However, streamers aren’t making shows or movies for that level of thinking anymore, or, at least, they’re trying to be cognizant of that fact. Streamers are advocating for stories that you can understand while only paying half attention.
Today, I came across this amazing interview with Justine Bateman in The Hollywood Reporter. For those of you who don’t know, Justine Bateman is a writer, director, and producer. Recently, she contributed her expertise as an AI consultant for SAG-AFTRA’s negotiating committee.
Bateman began her career in Hollywood with an acclaimed and Emmy-nominated portrayal of Mallory Keaton on the TV show Family Ties.
In her interview, Bateman discussed a range of ideas in Hollywood, but one quote about storytelling shook me to my core.
Bateman said, “I’ve heard from showrunners who are given notes from the streamers that ‘This isn’t second screen enough.’ Meaning, the viewer’s primary screen is their phone and the laptop and they don’t want anything on your show to distract them from their primary screen because if they get distracted, they might look up, be confused, and go turn it off. I heard somebody use this term before: they want a ‘visual muzak.’ When showrunners are getting notes like that, are they able to do their best work? No.”
This explains a lot, actually.
EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Rising Rents Are Hitting American Suburbs Hardest: Suburban rent growth exceeds its urban counterpart in 28 of 33 metro areas, a new study finds.
America’s suburbs are posting the country’s fastest-rising rents, a sign that the recent migration of families from major cities is starting to look more long-term.
Many white-collar workers with remote jobs moved out of city apartments for roomier accommodations during the early months of the pandemic in 2020. Now, high mortgage rates and home prices are keeping some of the same families renting for longer periods. A rise in crime and homelessness in several big cities has some renters looking to the suburbs.
The trend is propping up rents and fueling concerns about rental affordability in suburban areas, leading some governments to pass new rent-control measures in response.
Rents in suburbs had climbed 26% through this past July since March 2020, 8 percentage points higher than the gain in urban cores, according to a report from rentals website Apartment List. Suburban rent growth was greater than its urban counterpart in 28 of the 33 metro areas studied, the company said.
“In 2019, we were talking about a decade of urbanization,” said Igor Popov, Apartment List’s chief economist. “That is no longer the case.”
The widest rent gap was in Portland, Ore., which lost nearly 3% of its population between 2020 and 2022. Rents in Portland’s suburbs are up 23% since 2020, compared with about 2% in the center city.
Urban decay and disorder are why people move to the suburbs. Same as it ever was. Bidenomics is just adding inflation to the mix.
Landlords are hitting tenants with an abundance of fees every month. Many are no more than five or 10 dollars each, but when stacked up they can amount to hundreds of dollars more each year. Some fees, such as those for parking and pets, have been around for years, but many renters now pay up for things they were rarely charged for in the past.
That includes fees for trash pickup, pest control, the use of a mailbox, and for making routine maintenance requests. Then there are fees for move-ins and move-outs and for “lease administration.” One Minnesota landlord collected a $100 so-called January fee the first month of each year, though it isn’t clear what tenants got in return for that charge.
In suburban Phoenix, buildings increasingly charge for valet trash pickup that can add more than $30 to the monthly rent. “I can carry the trash 50 feet to the dumpster,” said Debbie Giannecchini, who moved out of a building that started charging the fee.
Apartment asking rents rose 25% between early 2021 and summer 2022, straining the budgets of many renters whose wages didn’t keep up. While rent growth has since flattened in much of the country, large property-investment companies continue with these add-ons to boost their bottom lines.
Flashback: Team Biden might be purposefully grinding down the middle class. “Vladimir Lenin supposedly once said, ‘The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation.’ There’s some doubt as to whether this line is genuine; regardless, it seems like a pretty good description of what the Biden administration is doing to America’s middle class.”
THE NEW SPACE RACE: SpaceX stacks giant Starship rocket ahead of 2nd test flight.
The work represents a major milestone ahead of an impending test flight, which SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk says can happen whenever the required regulatory boxes get checked.
“Starship is ready to launch, awaiting FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] license approval,” Musk wrote Tuesday in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) that included a 40-second video capturing highlights of the stacking process.
I hope I’m wrong, but I’m expecting more foot-dragging by the FAA to punish Musk for freeing Twitter.