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Hey again, all. In my recent wanderings around the `Net, I've been uncovering some great photographic finds (y'know, in lieu of composing any original content here). Again, I'll return to regular programming shortly, but still need to land a few planes before normal service can resume. In any case, this morning I uncovered Heaventree, an East Village photoblog that seems to have stalled activity sometime in 2007. Anyway, there are some nice images herein. Give it a look.
Via a random Google search, I stumbled across a truly stirring collection of Manhattan pics from the 70s. You'll hardly recognize the streets depicted therein. To see them, scroll down from here. Enjoy!
Apologies for the relative slowdown in activity here on the `Pab, but I've had a lot of balls in the air, so to speak. On a purely trivial level, I've been grappling with my dumb iPod problem. Secondly, I've been wasting entirely too much time on my ridiculous Tumblr, Get Back to Work! Thirdly, it's the usual ramp-up to Christmas, which means lots of running around and such. Lastly, though, the real reason I've been waylaid is because last week, my cherubically inviolate little 5-year-old daughter was sent home from school with head lice. I'll spare you the details, but suffice to say, it's been unpleasant, exhausting, repulsive and expensive. I do not recommend it. In any case, as we dig out from that wreckage and slide uncontrollably into the gaping maw of the holidays, console yourself knowing there is more on the way. But enjoy the retina-immolating splendor of Get Back to Work! in the interim.
Regarding my recent ire about my faulty iPod, I suppose it could always be worse. Be warned! The story is pretty grisly. Remember, kids – iPods can be replaced!!! Ugh.
Okay, here's one someone out there might be able to help me with. I have a 160gb iPod classic that has more less been up to snuff since I procured it some year & change ago. Lately, however, when I try to connect to it my hard drive, I have a problem. When connected via the usual USB cable, it launches iTunes and appears on the desktop, but iTunes does not recognize it or acknowledge its existence. The iPod itself goes into "connected" mode and fleetingly shows the circling "synching" icon, but then quickly reverts back to simply "connected." As such, I'm not allowed to synch it with iTunes. Suffice to say, this is really pissing me off, being that I have an irrationally low tolerance for technology that inexplicably decides to fail me.
Just to cover all the bases, I reset the iPod. No dice. I re-booted my iMac and tried again. No dice. I used a different cable in a different USB port. No dice. I tried re-setting my iPod while connected. No dice. I put the iPod in "disc mode" and re-connected. No dice. I uninstalled and then re-installed iTunes on my iMac. No fucking dice.
After two days of all the above (and lots & lots grumbling), I called the Apple support line. The gent on the end of the phone dispassionately re-walked me through several of the steps above, still to an abject paucity of dice. Failing to solve the problem, he told me to make an appointment at the dubiously-titled "Genius Bar" at my local Apple store, wherein they could examine my iPod. Yeah, like I've got time to do that.
Anyone out there have any suggestions?
So apropos of absolutely nothing, I started my own Tumblr. It's filled with just the sort of juvenilia you'd naturally come to expect from the brain trust behind Flaming Pablum. Please go check out my visual array at Get Back to Work. Enjoy.
First of all, where the Hell is Rob?
I know you've seen them. They're everywhere, and they're the dullest campaign I've ever seen. I suppose I should congratulate BNE for covering all that ground, but could his stickers possibly be any lamer? It gives street art a bad name. Astoundingly, however,he's getting his own gallery show.
Hey, howabout this? Rats are feeding on packages at my local post office! Hooray!
Eeeeek. A new recruiting video for Scientology has been leaked, starring Nancy Cartright bleating about a "crusade." I'm never watching the Simpsons again.
I know I'm a tough son of a bitch to buy presents for (for those precious, fleeting few individuals who'd even consider getting me a gift), so let me make it easy for you. Any item here will handily suffice. Thanks awfully.
Lastly, the awesome illustration at the top of this post was done by the great Dirty Danny Hellman. Check out his awesome site.
Someone In Jersey City has a wicked sense of humor. Thanks to Drew.
As I've mentioned here before, I still count myself as an ardent fan of Julian Cope. While he hasn't really delivered an album I've actively wanted to listen to in well over a decade, his back catalog is sterling enough for me to overlook his relatively recent forays into the wilderness of the frankly unlistenable. He's also got a load of things to say, and no small amount of them are provocative. Were his own credentials, revered rock n' roll smarts and résumé not so unimpeachable (having cut his teeth in the British punk & post-punk scenes in the Teardrop Explodes and later as a dynamic and eclectic solo artist and penning several books along the way), I'd probably say he was talking out of his own ass, but inarguably – whether you subscribe to his opinions or not – Julian Cope knows his shit.
Back in September, I logged a post here praising Cope for his championing of Tom Lehrer on his dizzying exhaustive website, Head Heritage. Well, this month, Julian's unveiled a streaming collection of post-punk mp3s he's dubbing "Postpunksampler." It's well worth checking out, given its inclusion of both choices canonical (The Germs, The Swell Maps, etc. ) and esoteric (Psycho Surgeons, Missing Presumed Dead, etc.) More to the point, though, Julian appends a lengthy essay on his take on punk and post-post luminaries. Along the way (and it's a loooong way), Julian takes the time to give some swift kicks to the groin of sacred cows like Joy Division, New Order and The Clash. Bernard Sumner and the late Joe Strummer especially gets their eyes blackened by the self-proclaimed "Arch Drude." Again, Cope pulls no punches.
This isn't the first time Cope's gone after some of my heroes. In "Repossessed," the follow-up to his autobiography "Head-On," Cope took a few cutting swipes at Flaming Pablum favorites, Killing Joke. Were these criticisms and withering put-downs coming from any other source, I'd laugh them off as heretical ramblings. But coming from Cope, they make for some interesting reading. You can check out "Postpunksampler" by clicking right here.
I was sad to read on the NY1 website this morning that the Pink Tea Cup, an age-old soul food joint in the West Village, is slated to close. I don't think I'd set foot in the place in the last several years, but I remember having a few spirited brunches there back in the 90s. The last time I was there, I remember laughing like a hyena with my friend Sean. We were commenting on all the autographed photos of the celebrity patrons on the wall, and trying to think of the least likely ones you could imagine spotting. After bandying several disparate names about, I won with the suggestion of Senator Orrin Hatch, which reduced Sean to hysterics. Sadly, Senator Orrin Hatch is still around, and now the Pink Tea Cup isn't. Pour one out.
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