True, it’s a weak punchline for a pubic hair joke. And yes, it is kinda weird that she has no nose. But bear in mind this is a German cartoon.






Desmond Dekker – “Pretty Africa”

Anyway, I’m glad my kitty stays indoors. Children can be very cruel.

Photo c/o Bali Hai’s Eye of the Goof.

Somehow the promise of some sort of mechanical redemption, untapped technological magic, is hidden in the bowels of a junkheap. I really liked these little 360-degree views of Apex’s store and yard treasures. Drag your pointer over the window in any direction for some fun.

It’s always been a mental struggle to part with ex-devices. If I was to allow the psychosis to roam wild, my apartment would look just like that.

Devo – “Timing X”

Copyright © 2009 Rick S. Hall.

Peter Peter & Kyed – “Acoustics of Crime”

Tunnel of Love – “Hey Joe”

- Marcus Tullius Cicero

“In general, people experience their present naively, as it were, without being able to form an estimate of its contents; they have first to put themselves at a distance from it – the present, that is to say, must have become the past – before it can yield points of vantage from which to judge the future.”

- Sigmund Freud

“Life is a dead-end street.”

- H.L. Mencken

Charlie Spand & Blind Blake – “Hastings Street”

(In addition, a fine article about Blind Blake.)

It’s occurred to me that for me, Black Black seems to occupy the role for which an Ethiopian feller might use khat. Except that gum-chewing is a filthy habit that sometimes messes up the soles of people’s shoes later on. Khat doesn’t really seem to have much of a downside except that it has a weird foreign name and some Africans find it pleasurable, which always makes certain folk nervous.

My brilliant analogy with khat means the Drug Enforcement Administration will no doubt be arresting my Japanese gum import connection any month now. My only prayer shall be that politicians and powerful drug warriors will continue to not read this blog.

The Moody Blues – “Question”

(Enjoyment of the Moody Blues can be enhanced with a nice blast of caffeine.)

I remember when an average evening might consist of getting fucked up and making fun of the television. Laughing until my lungs hurt. This commercial aired around NYC in the mid-’80s. It resided on some dog-eared VHS tape containing Newmark & Lewis’s peculiar TV jingle that I used to view over and over, like a cocaine lab monkey. I copied it for friends (like Otto Mannix) who appreciated the truly absurd. Often I’d also put the lavishly government-funded “Stop the Madness” celebrity anti-drug music video tardfest on the same cassette; good for hardcore belly laughs back when the shit was contemporary, let alone now. (Especially stoned… I seem to vaguely recall.)

Thirty seconds of “Dick Lewis is Watching” is so densely goofy and action-packed, it’s hard to know where to begin. From its odd conceptual framework (Dick Lewis as a voyeuristic yet benevolent Big Brother, making sure those prices stay low!), to the “street level” 1980s signifiers (rollerskates, cheesy “rock” guitar, boombox, racial tokenism), to its insane vision of an impossibly perky New York City where singing people have spontaneous orgasms about their favorite home electronics retailer, this ad had its manicured finger on the urban pulse of… Dick Lewis?! At least it did until a few years later when all Dick’s stores went bankrupt.

Here’s more great advice: If you want more NY/NJ broadcast ads from that strange era, there’s a nice, tidy selection over here.

SSM - “You’ll Be Glad You Did”