Male narcissism

No, the title of this blog entry isn't a redundancy. These prints go rather beyond that, I'd say. (And they are rather amusing, particularly if you're fond of Japanese prints, as I am.)

In the mid-1840s, ukiyo-e master Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861) created a number of woodblock prints showing legendary tanuki (raccoon dogs) using their humorously large scrota in creative ways.

This series of comic prints alludes to the supposed ability of raccoon dogs to voluntarily enlarge their scrotums. It is listed as 209 in Kuniyoshi by Basil William Robinson (Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1961). Robinson translated tanuki as ‘badgers’, but ‘raccoon dogs’ seems to be more correct. The images are each about 7 by 10 inches (18 by 25 centimeters), a size known as chûban. Two images were printed on a sheet of paper about 14 by 10 inches (36 by 25 centimeters), a size known as ôban.

Better copies of the prints can be found here and here.

Male narcissism

The Gettysburg PowerPoint Presentation

Baseline Briefing had an article today on 7 ways to ruin a PowerPoint presentation. There was nothing much new in it, but they did have a link to the Gettysburg PowerPoint Presentation, a good demonstration of how not to do PowerPoints.

The Gettysburg PowerPoint Presentation

The Congress of Wonders

The Congress of Wonders was a comedy group from the late 60s and early 70s in San Francisco. They only recorded two albums--Sophomoric and Revolting--but they were extraordinary, even for their time and place. Their albums are long out of print, but if you look, you can find them in both LP and re-released CD form. There's a rumor of a DVD with clips that I'd dearly love to find, but I'll have to dig around later.

One of the things that that always set their presentation apart was that they'd frequently speak their sound effects for actions ("No one will notice if I shove you down this laundry chute. Che-BLONK!") They had fast snappy dialog and very funny material, much of which is still screamingly funny today.

Some of the great lines that come to mind are:

From Sylvia Davenport:
"List' to the starboard tale of Sylvia Davenport, whose noblesse exceeded her oblige."
"The twine of her life unravelled by the kittens of destiny."
"The passionate turtle of romance was stewed in the soup of despair."

From Health Man:
"Say, fella, where do you eat?" "Oh, I'll have a Grimsburger every now and then, but I usually eat at McBarnyard's Golden Starches, or Colonel Bucket's Chicken Blasphemy."

From the Stoned Ranger:
"A cloud of hooves... a speed of dust... and a hearty cry of "Ohio River!!!" "That not your line!"

From Star Trip:
"Stardate 3.1415... oh, the heck with it!"

In the course of looking for some online references, I struck a huge vein of gold: downloadable Real Player clips of many of these cuts, but, even better, a number of UNRELEASED BITS that I've never heard!!!! So there's good to be had from blogging.

The Congress of Wonders

Handwriting analysis for stone tablets!

How wonderful! This reminds me of the use of infrared digital photography to discern letters that are no longer visible on ancient papyrus fragments.

Handwriting analysis for stone tablets!

Old Jews Telling Jokes

Neil, my agent (and a leader of the Orthodox community in his city), just sent me this about an incredible film project called "Old Jews Telling Jokes." You have to be over 60, Jewish, and tell your favorite joke. The article about the project gives a little background and the website itself has videos of old Jews telling really funny jokes. (They update the current video twice a week. Look at some of the older ones, too. There's some boffo stuff.)

Old Jews Telling Jokes

RetroComedy: Creepy Vintage Ads

This is very strange. RetroComedy has assembled their catalog of the 15 creepiest ads of all time. I'm thinking they've done a good job.

My faves are 15, 14, 6, 2, and 1. You have to click on the #6 ad and read the text and see what they're really pitching. I vaguely remember ads along these lines for Lysol in the past, but the reality is so much creepier.

(Thanks to Herb for pointing this out to me.)

RetroComedy: Creepy Vintage Ads

DIY Jackson Pollock art

Patricia posted this on FaceBook. It's the winner of the Webby Awards this year. It's a do-it-yourself website for creating your own Jackson Pollock style painting. (Click your left mouse button to change the color.)

DIY Jackson Pollock art

Death found dead in his Burbank apartment

There was a discussion on a writer's forum by someone who has lost too many people in the last six months and is really angry at Death. A writer going by the online alias of Owlwhisper posted this in response as an article they want to see in the newspaper.

Death was found dead today in his Burbank apartment. He was 13.7 billion years old. The cause of death has not been announced pending an autopsy, but police investigators suggested Death died of natural causes, murder, suicide, various Acts of God, and swine flu.

"He kept to himself and was very quiet," said a neighbor who declined to be identified. "I didn't hear anything out of his place other than moans, clanking chains, and sounds of mortal coils being shuffled. Nothing unusual at all."

Old Age, younger brother of Death, was contacted and issued a statement that there would be a funeral. No date has been set, Old Age indicated, because the family wants the arrangements to be perfect. "After all," he said, "it's the last funeral we'll ever do."

In addition to his direct family, Death leaves seven billion survivors.

Death found dead in his Burbank apartment

Jedi Mind Trick, Do You Can!

This article describes a nifty little toy that lets you control the motions of a ball purely with brain waves.

Jedi Mind Trick, Do You Can!

Flowchart of Republican sex scandals

Leftake has produced a handy-dandy flow chart to help you keep track of all those nasty Republican sex scandals that seem to be popping up lately. (Note: This chart is only good for 2006-2009.)

I have to say that I think this is incomplete in one important aspect: this should have a notation for everyone who demanded that Clinton resign/be impeached for his extramarital dalliance with Monica Lewinsky. And there should also be something for "family values"/"gay rights will destroy marriage" similarly. Because, well, sauce for the goose....

Flowchart of Republican sex scandals

"Another famous person has died"

This lovely cartoon is by John Campbell from his blog, Goodbye, Foom. More can also be seen at Pictures for Sad Children.

"Another famous person has died"

Dante Bucci!

I have always liked steel drum music, particularly when the musician is breaking out of the traditional calypso mold (although that stuff is pretty good, too).

Dante Bucci is a musician who's just been pointed out to me. He plays the hang drum, a new invention based on the steel drum. (I want one, or at least to try one!)

There are a number of videos on YouTube of Dante Bucci playing, but you should also search for "hang drum" as well. If you prefer to listen to lots of music like this, try pandora.dantebucci.com or itunes.dantebucci.com.

Dante Bucci!