A Certain Aesthetic
Aural Surprises
A few weeks ago I found myself wondering, “Was Billy Idol’s White Wedding ever actually released on white vinyl?”
Which would only make sense, right?
A quick trip to Discogs answered that question, and $15 later it’s in my collection.
Along the same, “I wonder if…” lines, the other day I was listening to The Peter Jacques Band’s Fire Night Dance (all four cuts on the LP massive disco hits back in 1979) and started wondering if they’d done anything thereafter. Once again I headed over to Discogs, and discovered that indeed, they had a followup release in 1980 called Welcome Back. Were they gone?
Anyhow, the album cover looked familiar, so I either had it in my collection back in the day and somehow neglected to catalog it at the time, or it was one of those I’d heard in the clubs, saw in a record store, and decided it really wasn’t worth spending $5.99 on.
I went over to Spotify, not really expecting to find it there, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it—along with a couple other releases that I’ll explore at another time.
In tone and tempo, in a lot of ways it reminds me of Rice and Beans, another group from the era I only became acquainted with a few years ago. It has that definite not-disco but also not-quite-dance-music sound of the early 80s. It’s not bad. It’s not great. Welcome Back and Exotical L.Y. are catchy tunes. But I definitely understand why at the time I didn’t add it to my collection—or if I did, it slipped under the radar when the time came to catalog it.
Monday
Gratuitous Armie Hammer
Shower Thoughts
It’s Sunday morning, and last night someone (probably hundreds of someones) had a first date with someone else. They don’t know it yet, but they have met the one they will fall in love with, marry and raise a family. They have met the one they will stay with till “death do they part.” But they don’t know this yet. It was just a first date.
UNF! (NSFW)
100 Things To Live By
1. There are plenty of ways to enter a pool. The stairs is not one of them.
2. Never cancel dinner plans by text message.
3. Don’t knock it ‘til you try it.
4. If a street performer makes you stop walking, you owe him a buck.
5. Always use ‘we’ when referring to your home team or your government.
6. When entrusted with a secret, keep it.
7. Don’t underestimate free throws in a game of ‘horse’.
8. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
9. Don’t dumb it down.
10. You only get one chance to notice a new haircut.
11. If you’re staying more than one night, unpack.
12. Never park in front of a bar.
13. Expect the seat in front of you to recline. Prepare accordingly.
14. Keep a picture of your first fish, first car, and first boy/girlfriend.
15. Hold your heroes to a high standard.
16. A suntan is earned, not bought.
17. Never lie to your doctor.
18. All guns are loaded.
19. Don’t mention sunburns. Believe me, they know.
20. The best way to show thanks is to wear it. Even if it’s only once.
21. Take a vacation of your cell phone, internet, and TV once a year.
22. Don’t fill up on bread, no matter how good.
23. A handshake beats an autograph.
24. Don’t linger in the doorway. In or out.
25. If you choose to go in drag, don’t sell yourself short.
26. If you want to know what makes you unique, sit for a caricature.
27. Never get your hair cut the day of a special event.
28. Be mindful of what comes between you and the Earth. Always buy good shoes, tires, and sheets.
29. Never eat lunch at your desk if you can avoid it.
30. When you’re with new friends, don’t just talk about old friends.
31. Eat lunch with the new kids.
32. When traveling, keep your wits about you.
33. It’s never too late for an apology.
34. Don’t pose with booze.
35. If you have the right of way, take it.
36. You don’t get to choose your own nickname.
37. When you marry someone, remember you marry their entire family.
38. Never push someone off a dock.
39. Under no circumstances should you ask a woman if she’s pregnant.
40. It’s not enough to be proud of your ancestry; live up to it.
41. Don’t make a scene.
42. When giving a thank you speech, short and sweet is best.
43. Know when to ignore the camera.
44. Never gloat.
45. Invest in good luggage.
46. Make time for your mom on your birthday. It’s her special day, too.
47. When opening presents, no one likes a good guesser.
48. Sympathy is a crutch, never fake a limp.
49. Give credit. Take blame.
50. Suck it up every now and again.
51. Never be the last one in the pool.
52. Don’t stare.
53. Address everyone that carries a firearm professionally.
54. Stand up to bullies. You’ll only have to do it once.
55. If you’ve made your point, stop talking.
56. Admit it when you’re wrong.
57. If you offer to help don’t quit until the job is done.
58. Look people in the eye when you thank them.
59. Thank the bus driver.
60. Never answer the phone at the dinner table.
61. Forgive yourself for your mistakes.
62. Know at least one good joke.
63. Don’t boo. Even the ref is somebody’s son.
64. Know how to cook one good meal.
65. Learn to drive a stick shift.
66. Be cool to younger kids. Reputations are built over a lifetime.
67. It’s okay to go to the movies by yourself.
68. Dance with your mother/father.
69. Don’t lose your cool. Especially at work.
70. Always thank the host.
71. If you don’t understand, ask before it’s too late.
72. Know the size of your boy/girlfriend’s clothes.
73. There is nothing wrong with a plain t-shirt.
74. Be a good listener. Don’t just wait for your turn to talk.
75. Keep your word.
76. In college, always sit in the front. You’ll stand out immediately.
77. Carry your mother’s bags. She carried you for nine months.
78. Be patient with airport security. They’re just doing their jobs.
79. Don’t be the talker in a movie.
80. The opposite sex likes people who shower.
81. You are what you do, not what you say.
82. Learn to change a tire.
83. Be kind. Everyone has a hard fight ahead of them.
84. An hour with grandparents is time well spent. Ask for advice when you need it.
85. Don’t litter.
86. If you have a sister, get to know her boyfriend. Your opinion is important.
87. You won’t always be the strongest or the fastest. But you can be the toughest.
88. Never call someone before 9am or after 9pm.
89. Buy the orange properties in Monopoly.
90. Make the little things count.
91. Always wear a bra at work.
92. There is a fine line between looking sultry and slutty. Find it.
93. You’re never too old to need your mom.
94. Ladies, if you make the decision to wear heels on the first date, commit to keeping them on and keeping your trap shut about how much your feet are killing you.
95. Know the words to your national anthem.
96. Your dance moves might not be the best, but I promise making a fool of yourself is more fun then sitting on the bench alone.
97. Smile at strangers.
98. Make goals.
99. Being old is not dictated by your bedtime.
100. If you have to fight, punch first and punch hard.
~ A high school teacher’s list of 100 wisest words.
A Hot Mess
Many years ago, while out of work and undergoing radiation treatments for my cancer, I finally had enough free time on my hands to start a project I’d been wanting to undertake since the first flatbed scanner came into my life: digitizing the contents of my photo albums.
At the time, I really didn’t have a system for organizing the photos, and over the years this has proven to be a huge problem. I had something like ten albums, so I simply named each photo with a sequential number based on which album was being scanned, followed by a short description that included the year. If there were multiple photos of a single event, I’d append an “a” or “b” to the end.
During the years that followed the initial completion of the project, that convention completely fell apart when I stopped printing photos and putting them into albums. Adding to the confusion was the fact that sometime around 2006, I’d purchased a new scanner that could digitize slides. The slide scans (of already scanned photos) were far and away better quality than the corresponding photos, but I made no attempt whatsoever to integrate them into the existing naming sequence, simply naming them scan1, scan2, etc.
After my dad passed, I got hold of his family photo albums and scanned all those photos into the mix. His albums were roughly organized by year, so in the interest of simply getting it done, I took advantage of that rough organization and threw the newly-scanned images into yearly folders. Unfortunately I made no attempt to properly name any of them, opting instead of a generic album name 001, 002, etc. At some point thereafter, I went back and moved all my photos into those yearly folders as well, since there was no reason to keep them separate.
The other day I was trying to locate a particular photo I knew existed in the collection, but after spending the better part of an hour coming up empty handed no matter what search parameters I put in, I knew the time had come that something had to be done about the hot mess that this photo collection had become.
I knew it was bad, but I didn’t realize how bad it was. There were exact duplicates in the same folders with different names. There were duplicates with different names and years in different folders. There were the hundreds of scanxx photos, and I soon realized this was probably going to be a weeks-long (if not months-long) project getting this disaster organized.
Add to that I’ve been sitting on a dozen or so of my mom’s family albums that are waiting to be scanned. My sister keeps asking if I’ve gotten around to doing it, and I keep putting her off, not wanting to wade into that without first organizing the mess I already had.
So the other day I created monthly folders in each yearly folder and started moving those items I had either previously named with a month, or knew with relative certainty happened at a particular time.
This time, my naming convention is year-month-numerical sequence-short description (where needed). In other words, 1989-06-0046-kevin ohm at sf pride.jpg. Fortunately Adobe Bridge has a batch rename function that allows me to do everything except the description automatically.
Even with that automation tool (and PhotoSweeper to weed out duplicates), at approximately 32,000 photos, this isn’t going to happen overnight, but it is forcing me to rediscover a lot of photos I’d completely forgotten about.
Friday
Gratuitous Tom Cullen
We binge-watched The Five on Netflix over the past few nights. It’s a moody, atmospheric British murder mystery that is definitely worth 10 hours of your time. And Tom Cullen is very pretty (as is his co-star, O-T Fagbenle).
It
We finally saw It this past weekend. I really liked it. I was expecting the worst, being such a fan of the original 90’s miniseries, but when the credits finally rolled, I felt it was money very well spent. I’ve never read the original novel, so I had only the miniseries to go off of, but I loved the character development and the bits of backstory that were missing from the miniseries. As I’m sure others have written, it’s the adults in the film who are as equally as monstrous as Pennywise. Looking forward to Chapter 2 now!
Shower Thoughts
I would love to see a movie from the perspective of aliens discovering the Voyager probes and attempting to decode the golden records.
Shower Thoughts
It’s 2017, any place that charges a convenience fee to pay bills online is just an asshole.
Monday
Shower Thoughts
Every day our dogs wake up and wonder if today is one of those two special days that the humans stay home all day with them.
Nature’s Red Flags
My Ginger Flipping Crush
Eric Bennett of Desert Flippers on HGTV. A cute goofball. And you just know the guy’s got a fire crotch…
Wait…Wasn’t The World Supposed to End (Again) Today?
According to Christian numerologist David Meade, verses in Luke 21:25 to 26 are the sign that recent events, such as the solar eclipse and Hurricane Harvey, are signs of the apocalypse.
Conspiracy theories about a rogue planet impacting the Earth and bringing about armageddon have been circulating online for more than two decades, with the latest dubious prophecy predicting the apocalypse happens today—September 23, 2017.
And since it’s now September 24th in Australia and Asia, well…
Shower Thoughts
North Korea is the world’s chihuahua. It’s small, evil, unpredictable, yaps constantly, and no one wants to get anywhere near it.
A Certain Aesthetic
Pretty Much!
Unf! (NSFW)
Evil Bitch That I Am…
Just once on one of these house flipping shows, instead of announcing termite infestation or rotten wiring, I’d like the bad news the contractor inevitably delivers to the charming, photogenic couple halfway through construction to be, “I’ve got the clap. You and your wife both need to get checked out.”
I’m Not a Witch…
…but I do approve of this message!
I curse Donald Trump and I curse his ideas. I invoke the Hex of Obsolescence.
May he be devoured by his own shadow, may his name stick in every throat, may the favoring of him bind to the earth every roving foot until the nail of hatred is pulled, may his ideas twist to lance any hand which will not renounce its greed, may the churned mud of lies clot every closed heart with weakness and fear, may he and his works fall and be devoured by the teeming creatures that feast on rot and putrescence, may his ugliness be sunk into emptiness and ruin, may his name and his word turn to dust and be driven like ash before a fiery wind, never to find rest in any fertile field, nor nourish any fruit.
Shower Thoughts
In this “Age of Information,” you’d think there’d be a lot less stupid people. But it seems access to the Internet and humanity’s amassed knowledge is just allowing them to broadcast their stupidity from the rooftops.
Friday
