Best Fourth Of July Party Idea Ever

Culture, Editorial / , ,

1 July 2009

 

Fouth of July Party Idea

The United States of America will be 233 years old come July 4, 2009. In honor of this most American of all holidays, I recommend making it a truly family friendly fun filled festival by finding a loyal subject of the British Crown and subjecting them to salvo after salvo of bottle rockets. This is an activity suitable for all ages and its sure to make your 4th the most memorable in years.

Fourth Of July Party Planner:

  1. Head to your closest theater or tea and crumpets establishment.
  2. Begin a conversation with a loyal subject of the British Crown. (Tip – look for their bad teeth to spot’em)
  3. Invite said loyal subject of the British Crown over to your designated 4th of July party place and promise them a time they’ll always remember (Tip – don’t leer at their womenfolk as they can be squeemish)
  4. Stop by a local Burger King and see if you can’t get you some of those cardboard crowns.
  5. When your quarry (loyal subject of the British Crown) arrives, lavish them with gifts including a frosty beverage, a hotdog, and a burger if available.
  6. Suggest your quarry don the BK crown you picked up.
  7. Once s/he has placed the crown on their head, shout in your best deliverance voice “Traitor – Let’s Get Him/Her!”
  8. Proceed to allow quarry to run away to give him/her a sporting chance.
  9. Light bottle rockets and aim for his/her lilly white brit ass.

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Miami Based Airline Logos & Collateral

Culture / ,

26 June 2009

 

Miami Airline Logos & Collateral

Miami was a pioneering location for aviation. Over the years, a number of airlines have made a nest at Miami International Airport including the four now defunct companies featured above.

The Air Florida logo is certainly reminiscient of the Hartford Whalers logo – a favorite of mine from the National Hockey League. My family had a close friend who flew for Air Florida. I dig their color scheme a lot. Florida Gulf Coast University uses similar colors today. Air Florida had the distinction of being the airline that crashed in the bridge over the icy Potomac river in the 1970′s

Eastern Airlines was one of Miami’s largest employers for many years. The airline was a national player. The logo is pretty drab however. I have an almost complete deck of some Eastern Airlines playing cards in storage in Miami I think.

I dig the National Airlines logo. I believe it was an attempt to bring travel to the everyman. I flew only one time on National, I believe to what was then called Washington National and is now called Reagan National.

Pan Am was a global leader in aviation. The name was synonymous with the golden age of flight – back when flying by jet was still something of an event in itself. Flying Pan Am meant you were a world traveler. Pan Am started in Coconut Grove as an amphibious outfit out of Dinner Key Marina. Today there are refurbished airplane hangars, an Aviation Drive, and locals are able to dine on peel and eat shrimp and conch fritters overlooking the old Pan Am Clipper’s take-off and landing area.

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Ronald Reagan Proclaims June 25 National Catfish Day

Culture / ,

25 June 2009

 

Catfish thank President Ronald Reagan for all he did...

Proclamation 5672 — National Catfish Day, 1987

June 25, 1987

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

More and more Americans are discovering a uniquely American food delicacy — farm-raised catfish. In 1986, catfish comprised the third highest volume of finned fish consumed in the United States. Ninety-nine percent of all these catfish were farm-raised. Between 1975 and 1985, production of farm-raised catfish increased by 1200 percent. Most observers expect that production will continue to increase in 1987. Production costs of catfish farming, which have averaged only 65 cents per pound over the past 8 years, have resulted in a stable income for growers and an economical food product for consumers. The accompanying growth of the catfish processing industry also has created thousands of permanent jobs.

Farm-raised catfish have come a long way from their bottom-feeding ancestors. The catfish that are available today, fresh or frozen in markets nationwide, are products of state-of-the-art methods of aquaculture. They thrive in clean freshwater ponds on many American farms, where they are surface-fed soybean meal, corn, fish meal, vitamins, and minerals. Farm-raised catfish not only furnish American consumers with a tasty delicacy but also provide a nutritious, low-calorie source of protein that is also low in cholesterol.

In recognition of the value of farm-raised catfish, the Congress, by House Joint Resolution 178, has designated June 25, 1987, as “National Catfish Day” and authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in its observance.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim June 25, 1987, as National Catfish Day. I call upon the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and eleventh.

Ronald Reagan

Thank you President Reagan. Now I know that in addition to funding the Contra’s using proceeds from selling arms to Iran (isn’t that sort of funny with what’s going on these days!) that you also had the moral certitdude and political prescience to proclaim June 25th as National Catfish Day.

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In Bid For New Stadium, Florida Marlins Sought Support From Powerful Demographic

Sport / ,

25 June 2009

 

Florida Marlins Supporters

Most people familiar with politics in the U.S. have witnessed the power that the tiny Cuban diaspora wields at some of the highest levels of government. I salute Jeffrey Loria and David Sampson, Owner and President for the Florida Marlins respectively, in their linking up with this uber-assertive political force in their bid to pass a hotly contested stadium vote. Not only were these two savvy marketers able to enlist the help of this powerful lobby, they managed to crack the inner circles of power and parlay the aid of the female septugenerian demographic – clearly the only one that could deliver.

More photos may be found at the Marlins New Ballpark website.

Go Fish!

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Baseball Infographics At Flip Flop Fly Ball

Arts, Sport / ,

23 June 2009

 

Flip Flop Fly Ball - Stadiu Shapes

I dig infographics. I dig baseball. Consequently, I really like www.flipflopflyball.com, a website published by Craig Robinson. Very good stuff.

The image above is a slice of one of my favorites: http://www.flipflopflyin.com/flipflopflyball/info-majorleaguefields.html which displays the configurations for each of the 30 MLB ballparks. Without looking at the key, try and find your favorite team’s park!

View all the infographics and be sure to check out his other work. Very talented indeed.

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Infographic: Evolution of Advertising Labor

Culture / , ,

22 June 2009

 

Evolution of Advertising Labor

This holds no water in the interactive realm. Especially when you are the interactive department.

From twitter.com/workforfood.

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Gran Torino (2008) – Movie Review

Arts, Editorial / ,

21 June 2009

 

Gran Torino (2008)

Gran Torino (2008)

Walt Kowalski is an angry man. Walt Kowalski is a deeply fearful man. Walt Kowalski without a doubt voted for G.W. Bush both times and definitely for McCain as he wouldn’t have a mixed race mongrel in the oval office – even if it meant electing some bimbo broad into the bullpen. Walt Kowalski slings racial epithets with the ease and nonchalance of a checkout girl scanning your box of raisin bran. Walt Kowalski packs heat and is itching for an opportunity to employ it.

Walt Kowalski may not sound like the most loveable chum

After a couple hours spent with him over the course of a few months, I believe you will be swayed in his corner as you watch the calloused heart of this Korean veteran meld with his deep seeded belief of right and wrong. Clint Eastwood does a fantastic job at embodieng the parochialism and xenophobia I believe permeates much of Red-State America. At the same time, the film shines light on the story of the Mong people, displaced from their native Laos, Cambodia and China after the Vietnam conflict, and the struggle of their second generation youth in balancing between their traditions and the ills of modern American society.

I recommend spending a couple hours with Walt Kowalski. I believe doing so may help open your heart a little in watching him transform.

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Hammer Pants Videos Are The Perfect Pick-Me-Up

The Internets / , ,

18 June 2009

 

MC HammerM.C. Hammer has a new reality show that launched within the last couple of weeks. To be honest, it hadn’t really registered in my mind that Hammertime was coming to me via my cable hookup. But lo and behold, a little internet jazziness now makes that fact plainly clear.

Will I invest more than 15-20 seconds with Hammer on his show? Nope.

But I have invested somewhere between three and five minutes this afternoon watching the videos aetv.com put out to promote the show and they made me smile. They helped me go back in my mind to a simpler time where funny pants, fresh moves, and a catchy beat captured the heart of a nation and the world. Thank you Hammer.

Video Links:

+ Hammertime Pants – Store

+ Hammertime Pants – Street Scene

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Typekit Project May Revolutionize Web Typography

The Internets / ,

17 June 2009

 

logo_typekitIn my years of working on the web, I’ve grown accustomed to having a rather limited selection of typefaces from which to choose. This is due in large part because there are only a limited number of typefaces that are KNOWN to be on the vast majority of website visitors’ computers. Early on I was a big proponent of using Flash or embedding text into images as a means of displaying the oh-so-right typeface for the project du jour.

Over time however, I increasingly saw the benefit of sticking to the basics for a variety of reasons. In the past couple years, my attention moved towards learning the in’s and out’s of CSS as a method to creating solid typographical style using the available tools at my disposal. I already ‘got over’ the fact that I can’t use every font in the universe and happily sought out ways to best display copy using a small selection of fonts and various typographical attributes.

Enter Jeffrey Veen and a new project called Typekit. What Typekit does in a nutshell is provide a platform of licensed fonts that can be used on demand for web-only use. This is a big deal. It represents a legal and accessible means for designers to harness the subtlety of typography into their design. It represents new revenue opportunity for type foundries and the people that create fonts.

Some questions that come to mind include:

Q: Will this mean that you’ll be able to embed Futura or Helvetica Neue on the next site you’re working on?
A: I think yes, provided the font is license-able under this system.

Q: Will this mean that designers who have yet to get over the fact that they can’t select from their myriad typefaces will now have more options?
A: I think yes.

Q: Will this mean that we’re going to see a flourishing of typographical overkill as the Typekit buzz sweeps across the internets?
A: Most probably yes.

I can see a day not too far off on the horizon where we look back fondly to a day where our biggest choices were serif vs. sans-serif; Times/Georgia vs. Arial/Verdana/Helvetica. I am excited for the launch and learning more about the opportunities this advance may bring to the front-end design/development world.

+ http://typekit.com

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How To Be The Hit At A 7 Year Old’s Birthday Party

Editorial, Me /

15 June 2009

 

Rob as Darth Vader @ Chance's Birthday Party - 2009

How to be a hit at a 7 year old’s birthday party.

Channel your inner Darth Vader for a truly memorable event.

  1. Purchase Darth Vader costume at local party shop or via the wide world of webs
  2. Don’t don the suit too quickly – I know you’ve been wanting to put it on since it arrived via UPS and you let the UPS guy know how psyched you were to wear it.
  3. Make sure the kids have had their lunch and have had plenty of caffeine and sugar.
  4. Sneak off and put on the costume making sure no one knows what you’re up to.
  5. Slink back to the party.
  6. Using your best ‘This is CNN’ James Earl Jones voice, query with authority: “Where is the Birthday Boy/Girl?”
  7. Prepare to be bum-rushed by kids high on said caffeine/sugar – protect your privates, expect to field a flurry of punches and kicks as the kids are transported into a frenzy of excitement.
  8. Remember that a little effort and childlike fun on the part of an adult can go a long way in a kids life.

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