Oh No, Yoko

17 Oct


That’s it, folks. You’re looking at the best magazine cover of the last 40 years — at least according to the American Society of Magazine Editors.

You may recall that back on September 29, I posted something about ASME’s competition to select the best magazine covers of the last 40 years. Well, the winners have been chosen, and John and Yoko top the list.

If they say so.

Coming in second was the shot of Demi Moore looking large and lovely on the August 1991 cover of Vanity Fair, followed by an April 1968 photo from Esquire of boxer Muhammad Ali with arrows in his body (a cover that Radar magazine recently parodied with Tom Cruise standing in for Ali). The Saul Steinberg drawing of New York’s West Side dwarfing the rest of the country, published in The New Yorker on March 29, 1976, came in fourth. Esquire‘s May 1969 image of Andy Warhol drowning in a can of tomato soup took the fifth spot.

For the complete list of 40, click here. Of course, the famous National Geographic cover that we all know is on the list (#10 — I’d have ranked it higher), as is the cover of the first issue of JFK Jr.’s George with Cindy Crawford made up like George Washington (#22). There are three 9/11-related covers, and a five-way tie (!!) for #37 that includes Time‘s infamous “Yep, I’m Gay” cover with Ellen Degeneres and Fast Company‘s “Brand Called You” cover.

It’s a pretty interesting — though just a bit odd — group. I mean, I’d never pick the John and Yoko cover as the best cover, though it is a great one. But then again, they didn’t ask me, did they? And considering the examples I cited in my previous post, it’s probably better that they didn’t. 🙂

So This Is Morning World …

17 Oct


It’s official: I’m not a morning person. Had to get up early (i.e.: at 6 am) to take care of some car repairs and even when I got out of the bathroom post-shower and washing up it was still dark out. I’m the kind of guy who will hit snooze every 9 minutes for an hour just because he doesn’t like the song playing on the radio, or because it just didn’t feel right and I needed 9 more minutes, so I just can’t get behind all those people who wake up early by choice. Sure, no one likes staying in the office too late (myself included), and I’d wake up early for work if I had to, but if given the choice of being here at 8 am or staying until 7 pm, I’ll take the later option. Waking up early is just no fun. And no, I’m not a coffee drinker. So right now I’m chugging from a can of Coke (diet, because we were all out of regular. Argh).

Happy Monday y’all.

Tru Story

17 Oct

What a difference a day makes.

Saw a much better movie Sunday night: Capote.

It’s the story of Truman Capote during the time he was writing In Cold Blood. Capote is played by the always-reliable Philip Seymour Hoffman, one of my favorite actors, and Hoffman gives an awesome performance.

Capote’s a fey, completely self-involved man, who gets a bit too close to the story he’s writing about, yet retains his single-minded focus on writing the book that will change literature forever — something he knows (and doesn’t hesitate to say) even before he’s written a chapter.

Anyway, without going into too much detail, I’ll just say Hoffman’s great and I really liked this movie. It’s as good as Elizabethtown was bad.

I give it an A.

What’s the Lesser of Two Evils?

16 Oct

Over the summer, when I was working until 9, 10 or 11pm, I’d come home each night to a blinking notification that I had voice mail. And I’d be excited, of course, because after a pretty solitary and lonely evening, the possibility of some love from a friend or family member was just what I needed.

But it never failed: the messages would always be from telemarketers informing me that I’d been preapproved for a credit card, or the entry that I or a family member or friend had submitted had been chosen and I’d won a trip, or that I could consolidate my mortgage payments (note: I rent, not own), or that a satellite TV provider would be in my area … You all know what these calls sound like. And my caller ID would be filled with “Unknown Caller” or “Ocean Glass” or “Iowa” or “Michigan” or other random IDs.

And I found that there really was not much more depressing than coming home from work so late again to find all these messages and have none of them be from people you actually know. Talk about adding insult to injury.

So a couple of months ago, I finally signed up for the National Do Not Call Registry. The thing works like a charm; no more telemarketing calls, no more random IDs on the caller ID. (Alright, maybe an occasional one or two.) In fact, almost no calls at all.

But you know what? I’m not sure this is so much better. I keep asking myself what’s worse: coming home after a long day to messages, even if they are from telemarketers, or coming home to nothing. And no, this is not a plea for people I know to call me. It’s just something of a discussion topic, I suppose, even if it’s a discussion I’m having with myself. Personally, in hindsight, I think I may have liked the calls. Maybe it was their frequency that got annoying. (Ehhhh, maybe not.) I mean, after all, it’s nice to be called by people. Who doesn’t like attention? I don’t know.

So what do you think? Is it worse to have no messages waiting or to have multiple messages from telemarketers?

As Seen In …

16 Oct

If you’ve read the “City Weekly” section of today’s Boston Globe, maybe you’ve seen the Blog Log written by Adam Gaffin, who runs Universal Hub. And maybe you’ve seen his reference to my blog and the posting I did on my commute into work on September 30. It’s a nice plug. Thanks, Adam.

It’s a Fiasco

16 Oct

What a bummer when one of your favorite filmmakers makes a bad movie.

And yet, that’s exactly what Cameron Crowe has done with Elizabethtown. It’s miscast, poorly acted, overly long, and just not good.

If you’ve seen it, say it with me: the film is a fiasco.

Perhaps the only good thing about it is the soundtrack, which includes Elton John’s “My Father’s Gun” and one of my recent favorite songs, I Nine’s “Same in Any Language.”

But even despite that, I give the film a D. That’s D for disappointment.

Dating for Dummies

15 Oct

Well, as long as I haven’t had many dating exploits to write about lately, I thought I’d link y’all to a new site I found today: Dating Dummy. Like me, the guy who writes this blog is 30-something and looking for love in the big city (in his case, San Diego). Supposedly, he met the person he’s currently dating via her blog, so I guess there’s hope for me, right? Anyone cute and single and female out there reading my site?

(Just kidding. Not sure that’s how I’d want to meet someone — though I also suppose these days I can’t be too choosy.)

But hey, if you’d like to live vicariously through this guy’s blog, it seems like things between him and ICG (i.e.: Irresistibly Charming Girl) are going very well, despite the fact that he lives in California and she lives in — well, he hasn’t quite said yet, though it looks like Cleveland. (Am I right, Dan? Is this Cleveland?)

This guy also has a photgraphy blog called Photography Dummy, if you like that sort of thing.

It’s funny sometimes what you find when you browse around the blogosphere and keep clicking on people’s links. Damned rainy days when I’m cooped up indoors …

Their Future’s So Bright …

15 Oct

Frankly, I’m tired of this rain. I’m not sure how Noah dealt with it. And this is coming from a guy who calls Singin’ in the Rain his all-time favorite movie. So as an antidote to this miserable weather, here’s something fun I’ve been holding onto for a while now: another piece of random mail I received recently at work.

A company called ParkerG decided babies need more fashionable sunglasses that don’t look like they come straight out of Revenge of the Nerds (yes, that’s the marketing message they’re going with). Apparently, they’re all the rage among celebrity babies (I’m told Courtney Cox Arquette’s and Debra Messing’s kids both wear them).

Um, I love a cute kid just as much as the next person (see Simon Says!) but I don’t think any mother — celeb or not — would want her baby looking as silly as these babies do.


I guess some people just have too much time on their hands …

On the bright side, maybe sometime soon we’ll all have reason to wear sunglasses again.

Music to My Ears

14 Oct

Best thing about spending 6 of the last 72 hours in my car? The chance to hear some of the new music I’ve been buying. Among the noteworthy tunes …

Jamie Cullum, “London Skies,” “Photograph,” and “Mind Trick,” and his new CD, Catching Tales. I’m a huge fan of Jamie’s previous CD, Twentysomething, with its cool fusion of rock, pop and jazz, and had high hopes for the follow-up. The sound of this new disc is more pop-jazz than Twentysomething, which was more jazz-pop. Songs here have more of a beat, more of an ambient sound in some cases, more edge, and less of a “classic” feel. My favorite track is “London Skies.” I’ve already played it a good handful of times. And “Mind Trick” is just fun. “Photograph” hit a chord with me, due to the wistful, nostalgic lyrics of the chorus (“When I look back on my ordinary, ordinary life, I see so much magic though I missed it at the time.”) and a nice piano solo. Other tracks (like “21st Century Kid” and the Steely Dan-esque “Nothing I Do”) are quickly growing on me. Sure, most of the stronger tracks are in the first half of the CD, but I’d imagine that after a few more listenings, I’ll warm to more tracks in the second half. This is a really good album, even if I don’t instantly love it all, like I did with Twentysomething. Jamie Cullum’s a huge talent and I really recommend this CD.

Susan Tedeschi, “Follow,” and her new CD, Hope and Desire. Tedeschi’s Just Won’t Burn is one of my all-time favorite albums, but since then I just haven’t loved Tedeschi’s work. This album has its highs and lows, and a definite high is “Follow,” a cover of the Richie Havens classic. Simply, it just sounds great. Is it the song? Is it the delivery? It’s both.

Josh Kelley, “Only You”
I Nine, “Same in Any Language” (From the Elizabethtown soundtrack)
Cass Elliot, “Make Your Own Kind of Music” (yes, the song from the first episode of Lost this year)
… These three are just some great songs that had repeated play in my car.

All of this is available on iTunes, by the way. The others are good, but Jamie Cullum’s definitely worth checking out.

Mother Nature Is a Bitch

14 Oct

That’s the only way to explain the hellish drive I had this morning from NY through Connecticut en route back to Boston. All you Beantowners who think these misty conditions are rain have no idea what the folks down in the tri-state area have been getting the past few days. Ugh. We’re talking monsoon conditions. And driving through that is just no fun at all. Especially at 7 a.m. when I’ve had just a couple hours of sleep the night before. I’ve never been so happy to be back in the office. And now I hear tomorrow’s weather here is going to be as bad as it’s been “down south” for the past couple of days? Grrrrreaaaat.

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