Beautiful Hands Gallery Grand Opening in Mt. Holly this Saturday, October 9th.

This Saturday as part of the Scott County Art Crawl, we are opening the Beautiful Hands Gallery in Downtown Mt. Holly. The gallery will be open from 9am - 6pm, followed by a campfire. The show will feature artists from the Greater Mt. Holly Area including:

- Morgan Hawley - Dolls and Wooden Robots
- Gary Hawley - Toys, Painting and Photography
- Autumn Haeg - Photography and Emphiria
- Isabella Zadra - Birdhouses
- Mike Haeg - Junk Guitars, Red Arrows and Mini-Mini-Comics

Plus some surprises.

Whether you are coming to the show or not, you can be a part of the show. I whipped up what I hope to be only the first batch of 100 little wooden red directional arrows that point to Mt. Holly. Each is individually numbered. If you send Mt. Holly an arrow, we will put it up on a big post and send a Mt. Holly arrow back for you to nail up wherever you choose. It's a real world mapping project which will be supported by some online stuff like a blog and, well, if I can figure it out, a map.

What can you put on your arrow? Whatever you like:

- where you live
- your favorite city
- an imaginary city
- the business you build with your own 2 hands
- your studio
- anyplace with really great donuts
- where you hid the bodies
- your band
- pretty much anything that can have an arrow pointing at it.

This project is inspired by the directional sign post from M*A*S*H*. That sign post kept a lot of those characters going. Whether the unit was under friendly fire from an American soldier delirious from a gangrenous compound leg fracture, or shivering holes through their long johns on a frigid Christmas night in Korea, Klinger, Hot Lips and the crew could look up at that sign and believe that places like Toledo actually exist . . . and feel a bit of comfort.

We'd like to share a little belief with you all who have believed in Mt. Holly all of these years. So send your arrows!

If you're coming to the show:
- bring a shirt or something to screen on and we will print a big ol' Mt. Holly arrow on it for you (printing at 4:00)
- bring some quarters for the Crap-o-Mat

The Reverse Geocache. Box only opens at one spot on Earth.

A single button on a wooden box. Press it and a digital display reads "Hello, This is attempt 1 of 50" The message is suddenly replaced by a new one: "Access Denied". A third message give the only clue as to how to open the box: "Distance 257 miles".

Despite being subjected to the old box in a box in a box birthday gag repeatedly as a kid, I love when the delivery of a present is filled with mystery. It doesn't get much more mysterious than this.

There's a great write up on the spirit of this project over at Arduino artist Mikal Hart's Arduinia Website.

Thanks @seanhaus

Congratulations, Mom! Better Luck Next Year, Dad!

Hooray! My mom took first place in the Highlander class at the 2010 Cushman Club of America meet in Sturgis this summer! I'm so proud. Dad, you better step it up next year!

Digital Photography is Dead! - New Vivitar Film Camera Commercial

Thanks to @benhedrington who caught this on late night TV IN THE PAST WEEK!

Digital cameras take good pictures. The problem is your photos end up staying on the camera, or you are forced to sit at your computer to see them.

Looks like the folks at Vivitar are squeezing the last drops of blood out of this withered industry . . . Plus, a free roll of film!

(Don't get me wrong, I still do shoot some film. However, I choose film in these instance because of the difficulty and care involved, not because it is easier or frees me up from all the cables, confusion and costly home printing.)

"Lazy is as lazy doesn't." - Haeg

Hey Lazy,

Vote up my slogan over at threadless!

Mayor now posting to Superbeast!

My Buddy, writer, bedazzled ass hunter (SFW), and music expert, Casey Brewer has finally given me a key to his unholy k-hole, the Superbeast Creative Blog. I'll be throwing him a righteous bone now and then like this:

Sage Advice From E. Bloom

SUPERBEAST!

Lamano Corporate Overlord Speaks: Sammy The Mouse Release

Zak Sally says:
hey all--
heads up here; big party/ signing at Big Brain comics here this friday: it's a pre-MIX (about which more in a second) kickoff, and the release event for 3 new books: look, that's the flyer up above:

WILL DINSKI will have his debut book (from Top Shelf) FINGERPRINTS
AARON RENIER's newest, (via First Second) THE UNSINKABLE WALKER BEAN
i'll be signing/ selling copies of the brand new third issue of SAMMY THE MOUSE (Fantagraphics/ Coconino)

Will and Aaron are great cartoonists-- i'm excited to be doing this with them (and i can't wait to see their books).

and then the next day-- Minneapolis Indie Expo, or MIX.
(details above)

this thing is shaping up to be a fantastic event. Minneapolis (being the great city that it is) has a bunch of different comics events that occur over the course of the year, be it Zine Fest or Fallcon or the Rain Taxi Book fest: i like all of em, but they all serve different...niches, somehow.
but i'll tell you: both US coasts have a sizeable "Small press" convention (SPX in Maryland, APE in San Francisco, and MoCCA in NYC). all of those are great, but where the heck is the one for the midwest? i don't want to jump the gun, but there's some significant signs that the organizers of this here thing a) have their act together and b)have put a ton of work into this thing that has already paid off; from all your local knowns and unknowns to out of town heavy hitters like Sparkplug Comic Books and Top Shelf. hell, John Porcellino's coming out for this thing, and it's only the first year.
i have every belief that this thing is going to be fantastic for Small press nerds and casual "consumers" alike.

La Mano will have a table, but unfortunately i'll only be able to be there for a limited time (due to a family wedding), but i cannot urge folks enough to get down to this thing; just go check it out.
if it's terrible you can get real mad and yell at me next time i see you, but it won't be.
terrible, that is.

Minneapolis Indie Xpo (MIX)
Sammy The Mouse #3

Mt. Holly Shirts - Free! Send me shirts an a SASE (That's Self Addressed Stamped Envelope to You Whippersnappers)

Free* . . . *send me shirts and a SASE (That's a self addressed stamped envelope to you whippersnappers)

For those of you who missed the best Mt. Holly Days ever, shirts are still available. Send shirts and return postage to:

Haeg
305 Holmes St S
Mt. Holly, Mn 55379

I'll screen batches of shirts once a month.

Be on the lookout for the real-world mapping project around these little red arrows that kicks off in October.

Check out the totally B.S. Chairman Mao / Mt. Holly hybrid that I had to screen for the LaMano overlord in the clothesline photo (above).

The Dark Side of Dr. Seuss - At the Trylon Tues. Aug 10th, 2010

As Dr, Seuss, Ted Geisel delivered a lesson with every story. Such was the case with the work that he did for internal use by the US army in World War II. Tomorrow night, you can catch a glimpse of rarely seen original prints at the Trylon Microcinema. A caveat: These films were made in different times and thank goodness we have grown beyond many of the racial streotypes portrayed in these films. (The cartoon above show's that our beloved doctor, himself also outgrew them.)

Film archivist Dennis Nyback will be on hand to present his collection and to take questions.

The Trylon Micro Cinema

"Stay Off The Internet and Learn How To Play An Instrument" - Ratso Interviews Dead Moon on Chic-A-Go-Go!

Toody & Fred Cole not only blaze the hottest rock & roll in any bar today, they are a hell of a couple. If you get a chance to watch Unknown Passage the documentary about their longest running incarnation as Dead Moon, you will see how genuinely great Fred & Toody are to eachother. It's really sweet. This clip from Chicago Public Access' great Chic-A-Go-Go is equally sweet.

Chicagogo's YouTube Channel

Handgun Bluetooth Earpiece Project

Photo by Curtis Thompson

Last week, the Open API group that I've been working with at Best Buy had a hack day. It was phenomenal. Gone were our computer screens and in their places appeared soldering irons, arduinos, robots, drawdios, LEDs, tweet-a-watts, ping pong balls, Legos and even a professional lock-picking course.

Any of you who know me well enough know that I hate talking on the telephone. I really, really, really hate it. Inspired by the Retro Wireless Handset project from Make Vol. 20, I decided to mod a Bluetooth earpiece for my phone out of a kids plastic toy gun. Now, I look forward to receiving a call from the First Lady while I'm at work. I draw the gun out of my pocket, stick the barrel in my ear (the speaker is in the business end), and pull the trigger to answer the call.

Below is a larger photo of the guts (in charging mode with the cable attached). It still needs a bit of work to flush mount the microphone and I've been debating on painting it to look like a real gun. (I get equally giddy and frightened by the panic that this could cause should someone not notice that the gun is a fake or should I accidentally take a call while at the bank.) But you can see how perfectly the trigger and switch work together on this model of toy gun.

Documentary on the Red House, Olympia WA

I almost died here back in 2001. I love this place.

1970's Film Tour of The Orange Show by visionary creator Jeff D. McKissack

Boner Cupcake taken off facebook!

Where is the love?

Read all about this travesty over at SUPERBEAST

A Robot Buys a VCR

Armenian grocer, Peter Hajinian writes the best robot-based radio dramas I've ever heard. His latest: A Robot Buys A VCR

Listen and laugh at all the episodes offer at Exorbitant Porridge.

Happy 10th Anniversary, Geocaching

On May 1st, 2000, the US Government disabled a feature within its Global Positioning System (GPS) called Selective Availability (SA).

From Wikipedia:

GPS includes a (currently disabled) feature called Selective Availability (SA) that adds intentional, time varying errors of up to 100 meters (328 ft) to the publicly available navigation signals. This was intended to deny an enemy the use of civilian GPS receivers for precision weapon guidance.

On May 3, 2000, civilian, Dave Ulmer hid a bucket of swag here and posted the coordinates on the internet, creating the first official geocache. Since then over a million caches have been hidden. The city of Mt Holly has found over 250 of them.

Disappearing for a while

Please stay in touch: Haeg / 305 holmes st. / Mt. Holly, MN 55379. Or you can follow my further endeavours at: http://lifewassomuchmoreinterestingbeforethe.blogspot.com/

Happy Again - Merrill Womach (organist, undertaker, gospel singer, burn victim)

I stumbled across Mr. Womach's records while crate-digging metro Goodwills back in the early 90's. Bought the records for the covers, still listen to them for the spirit and the undeniable set of pipes exhibited in the recordings. Had a friendly chat with Spokane's The Makers back in the day in which they charmed me with stories of recording some of their previous band's tracks at Merrill's studio, sightings of Merrill rollerskating around the city's paved trails wearing a terry cloth outfit , and the only Rolls Royce in Spokane! Enjoy!

Quintron & Miss Pussycat - The Drum Buddy Show.

Father and Son - Canned Hamm

Father and Son - Tim and Eric

My first hand-knit QR code

Want to find out the data?

1. Get a QR code scanner on your iphone or android based smart phone

2. you can use the scanner to scan the knit piece (or even this photo) and it will give you or take you immediately to the link.

3. It's totally worth it.

An uplifting horoscope today!

Boy/Girl - Sort Sol featuring Lydia Lunch from Danish TV (1984)

I was introduced to Sort Sol while living in Copenhagen back in 1987. Still own and play this 7" and the Everything That Rises Must Converge Album. A incredible band that was probably just one step away from popping up on a Giorno Poetry Systems LPs of the mid 80's. I still kick myself for not picking up the 1988 limited edition live double Lp (i think there were like 50 made or something crazy like that) that William S. Burroughs, another Sort Sol collaborator, did the liner notes for.

Back in '79, before they were known as Sort Sol they were Sods. Here's a great song about the motorcycle gang wars that raged through Copenhagen for almost two decades.

8 Natural Handstands or (Hold on for your life!)

ROBERT KINMONT
from 8 Natural Handstands 1969/2009
silver gelatin print, 8 1/2 x 8 1/2 in/ 21.5 x 21.5 cm
edition of 10. Courtesy of Alexander and Bonin

Just discovered this series over at one of my new favorite design blogs: Ready for the House. If I owned one of these, I'd be tempted to hang it upside-down. Looks like he's in a last ditch attempt to hold on to the bottom of a giant asteroid.

Cheetahs vs. Monkeys- Videos

Cheetahs Vs. Monkeys from Mike Haeg on Vimeo.

Cheetah and Monkey, destroying minds and forgetting to take names, because animals are like that. You want some C v M gear? Send your pre-washed shit and a S.A.S.E (that's a self-addressed-stamped-envelope) to:

Cheetahs vs. Monkeys Fan Club
c/o The City of Mt. Holly
305 Holmes St S.
Mt. Holly, MN 55379

We kneel at the alter of The Library Shanty, Tony Rubin, Infoshanty Eric, The Art Shanty Project and all of you salivating slaves of true rock & roll!

Never get out of the boat!

Free Cheetahs vs. Monkeys Shirts - Send your shirt & SASE

Alright, you salivating rockhounds. Your pleas for Cheetahs vs. Monkeys gear will not go unheard or unanswered! Here's the deal. Send your shirt and an SASE (that's a self-addressed stamped envelope for all you teeny-boppers) to:

Cheetahs vs. Monkeys Fan Club
c/o Haeg
305 Holmes St S
Mt. Holly, MN 55379

I will screen up a batch of shirts before March 1st, 2010 and send them back in the mail to you.

What makes a good shirt?
• 100% cotton
• Wash that shit
• Bright and light colors. Black stinks, think chartreuse or lemon yellow or electric teal.

Will also screen fabric tubetops or totes, whatever. If you can send it, I will screen it.

Here's what the design looks like:

Meet the Salesmen.

Jesus Christ, do I love movies like this one. Movies that capture, nakedly, in near Weegee-like bravado, the atmosphere of an era through voyeuristic glimpses into the actual daily life and flow of dialog of its subjects. I relish the background signage, the homemakers details, but most of all the directness of interaction that existed in pre-popculture America, (yes, this did still exist in the majority of the country in 1968). This little taste, via baseball and film aficionado, writer / journalist and Loafers Tower custodian, Peter Shilling, Jr. introduces you to the 4 main Salesmen, their methods, and the general milieu for this great documentary. A real life Glengarry Glen Ross.

More about Salesman from imdb.

Video - The Incredible San Francisco Artists' Soap Box Derby of 1975.

The Incredible San Fancisco Artists' Soapbox Derby, 1975. from Mike Haeg on Vimeo.

I stumbled across and purchased an actual print of this film back in SF while working on a project for the SF MOMA. Amanda Pope did a great job capturing the spirit of creativity and the event itself. I wonder where all of these cars are today?

2010 Art Shanty Projects Poster is also a boardgame

Well, the first batch of posters is complete and for a first time screen printing job, they turned out pretty darn good. Each poster comes complete with 'individual character', you know the slight imperfections (over-flooding, dry spots, all of those things that ensure your poster was pulled by a human and not a robot.)

Here are my photos so far.

Reporter at Fargo newspaper falls for the "hey wouldya blowme"

Thanks Swenson

Monkeys on Ice

Matchgame on Facebook

Life is tough, even when it's great. One of the things that makes waking up worth it is the random surprise that one of our friends provides us out of the blue. All hail social networking, right? That's why I love things like Twitter and Facebook and to a justifiably lesser extent MySpace.

I decided to catalyze my interaction and hosting a cloud-run version of one of the best TV games ever. Here's a taste:




Now, I'm not trolling for more friends. Trust me, I have all the friends that I can stomach. But if you want to play along. I invite you to friend me, and blow my mind.

Friend me here: Facebook

Here is a look at some of the mooks who make life worth living: Panel of Experts

Today was a good day.

I spent most of today scared shitless. I painted half my face blue. The other half was tear-drenched. I needed my chakras realigned. There are only three things that can do that: knitting (sorry Casey but your hat's not done - bonus: I'll knit a matching one for Kubes) and this video that I throw out as testimony to all the unfortunate beatles accolades out there, and you, my friends.

Thank you all for inspiring me as much as these guys do.

PS John Entwistle WTF!??!?!

Are we finally getting sick of Bipartisanship: caveat - politics

I voted in my first election in 1987. I studied the politics of each candidate up to the Minnesota state level. After that, I 'threw my vote away' on the third party candidate most likely (or least unlikely) to get into federal politics. Why? I figured that for a candidate to get that far in national politics, they had to be completely out of touch with their constituents, salivating for power over relevancy.

The next year, I was able to experience a full-on election in Denmark where they had something like a dozen parties in play in the election.

I openly admit that I am unqualified to say this is right, because I pay most of my attention to local and global issues (where the real action is . . . bypassing the political stock market that is national politics. Seriously, my own deal).

That's why I pose this as a question.

I was earnestly shocked to see Freshjive issue this shirt. I'm a fan of Shepard Fairey, and Freshjive and my friends who were completely sold on Obama in the past election.

I post this only because I'm curious. What the hell happened? I'm admittedly oblivious.

This seems like a really drastic statement.

Post. Educate me. Please. I just want to understand.

(caveat #2: I'll still vote the same as I always have, so don't try to sway me.)

Thanksgiving: Grindhouse Style (NSFW)

If there ever was a grindhouse holiday, it is Thanksgiving. It is a holiday seeped in death. I can't think of a better way to celebrate the eviscerating of a living beast, the horrible things we've done to America's indigenous people, and the carnal gluttony of this holiday than with the most atrocious grindhouse trailer ever.

PS: I'm not too upset about the turkey thing, but only because of my L-tryptophan addiction.

Thanks to fellow 'substitute-a-human-for-a-turkey' activist, Sean Whipps for the link

Part 2: Argleton, Lancaster, UK. A walk through the phantom city

Update!Roy Bayfield blog with photos of his walk through imaginary Argleton! A fabulous read (and cheaper that a plane & bus ticket.)

From Roy's blog Walking Home to 50:

You have to take care at these times. It is all about detail… I had come equipped, with apparatus to protect me from any strangeness that might occur. I didn’t want to come out the other side reduced to a parody of myself, shambling out transformed into, say, Ray Byfield, Marketing Director of Argleton University. So I had with these items with me:

1. A Wonder Woman comic. I thought the Lasso of Truth, wielded by a character created by one of the inventors of the lie-detector, would provide some symbolic defense against irreality.

2. A bad copy of something else: Kyrik: Warlock Warrior (Gardner F. Fox, 1975) is a pastiche of Conan the Barbarian – a piece of entertaining but unoriginal hackwork; Kyrik is to Conan as Argleton is to Aughton. I thought a bit of this would be a kind of inoculation, passages like ‘The outlaws stared at that darkness, saw it shot through with streaks of vivid lightnings, red as the fires of Haderon’ acting as antigens against any reality-dissolving effects that might be encountered.

3. A toy tapir, bought recently at Transreal Fiction. I figured this little guy must be steeped in alternate worlds, having lived in a science fiction shop for a while – s/he could help navigate back to the real world if some compromised reality became confusing.

Read the whole thing here: Roy Bayfield's Walking Home to 50.

Thanks for the tip BlogCadre!

Argleton, Lancaster, UK. A phantom city that exists only on the web.

View Larger Map

An alleged computer glitch has resulted in the creation of a new, albeit non-existent city in the UK. I for one welcome this new city and share in Roy Bayfield's amazement. It seems that this tiny burgh already has a major export, fascination.

From The Telegraph:

Roy Bayfield, head of corporate marketing at what would be Argleton's closest university, Edge Hill, in Ormskirk, was so intrigued by the mystery that he walked to the where the internet indicated was the centre of Argleton to check that there was definitely nothing there.

"A colleague of mine spotted the anomaly on Google Maps, and I thought 'I've got to go there'," he said.

"I started to weave this amazing fantasy about the place, an alternative universe, a Narnia-like world. I was really fascinated by the appearance of a non-existent place that the internet had the power to make real and give a semi-existence."

Apparently, Google is working to correct this by deleting or redirecting the errant information. (It looks like they've already inactivated many of the photos that were associated with the town.) So visit while you can. Or, even better, someone should actually begin to bring the city into physical existence, by building a city in the open field where Argleton 'exists.' Could be a great project for the nearby university or artists.

From Wikipedia:

One possible explanation for the presence of Argleton is that it was added deliberately as a copyright trap to catch any violations of copyright, though such bogus entries are typically much less obvious. It has been noted that "Argle" seems to echo the word "Google", while the name is also an anagram of "Not Large" and "Not Real G", with the letter G perhaps representing Google. Alternatively, it has been suggested that "Argleton" is merely a misspelling of "Aughton", despite the fact that both names appear on the map. Professor Danny Dorling, president of the Society of Cartographers, considered it more likely that Argleton was nothing more than an "innocent mistake".

A spokesman for Google stated that, "While the vast majority of this information is correct there are occasional errors", and encouraged users to report any issues directly to their data provider. The data for the region in question was provided to Google by Netherlands-based Tele Atlas, who were unable to explain how the anomaly got into their database, but said that Argleton would be removed from the map.

Mystery of Argleton article from the Telegraph

The Senster: Robotic sculpture from the late 60's

Grabbing a little free time here and there to monkey around with my Getting started with Arduino kit. Looking to start building a bit of interactivity into some of my birdhouses and knitting. Stumbled accross this video from the early 1970's of a giant responsive robot. It 'looks like much of the input for the robot was sound, which makes this silent video kind of eerie.

From Today and Tomorrow:

The Senster was a robotic sculpture developed by Edward Ihnatowicz in the late 60’s. It was commissioned by Philips and part of their permanent showplace, the Evoluon, in Eindhoven between 1970 and 1974. It was the first robotic sculpture to be controlled by a computer and could react to the behaviour of the visitors with its sound and movement sensors. The computer used to control The Senster was a Philips P9201 and had only 8K of core memory. Now, almost 40 years later, every interaction student could make something like this and fit the logic in a small box. But this is still an amazing project.

More links and images over at Today and Tomorrow

UPDATE! After this got picked up by Boing Boing, a commenter posted that The Senster still exists! The Dutch company that did the welding saved it from the scrap heap and mounted it on cement blocks outside their building. It's almost more eerie sitting alons and dormant there in the field. I wonder if it could be reactivated?

Here's the translation from The Senster Today where you will find another couple of photos.

Sonny Barger Beer Prototype

I recently started mentoring a U of M Design student. I decided to start a blog specifically for sharing thoughts, examples, and resources with a budding designer. Anyone who would like to, can check it out here. Feel free to comment or suggest items. One of the best things about being a designer is the community, right?

A Design Primer Blog

This is a recent post on an assignment that I was given in my school days. Sharing it here, because it's a pretty good story (and selfishly, I'm hoping that someone out there can help me get it made.)



Redesigning a beer label in school was one of the pivotal experience of my design education. A year before I received the project, I was at the Minnesota Beer Festival. There were these guys who didn't pay for a booth, instead they were hoisting cases of their beer over the fence and passing cans of their beer around. (These were prototypes: they actually came in cans that were stamped to have an actual leather feel to them. Once it went into full production, this proved too costly so they used standard cans.) Total renegades. And why not their beer was Sonny Barger Beer. (Sonny Barger is the long time leader of the Hell's Angels.)

When the instructor gave the assignment, I knew exactly what brand I wanted to redesign. I thought about the man, Sonny, and the brand, and most importantly, the end users: bikers who were non-conformists, liked to show off, and for whom the culture of renegade biking changed and defined their life. One doesn't fake it around these fellows. No way.

What carried the most clout with these dudes, was pushing the ticket.

I also thought about things like functionality. Odds are, whether it is a good idea or not, that this beer would end up in the saddlebags of their motorcycles on some several-hundred mile trek across the countryside. So, glass was out of the question, bottles would click and break along the trip. That led me to think about the types of things that would be in their saddlebags.

I dug in a bit and discovered that the original Harleys were chain driven and that meant carrying a supply of motor oil and that motor oil containers were designed to be rugged and portable.

I actually laughed a bit thinking of this big biker pounding a liter of beer out of a motor oil container, totally showboating in front of his bros. I imagined actually seeing the beer glug down through the visible measurement window that is on the side of the container. I knew I was on to something. It fit the lifestyle perfectly.

Then I got realistic. It would probably be way too costly to produce en masse. So, I thought about it being a special limited edition beer. How about a beer exclusively to be sold at the annual Sturgis Rally. Perfect on two accounts. First, it's the ultimate party for bikers. And secondly, if you've ever been to a Harley shop or a biker's garage or even closet, you can't help but notice the amount of souvenirs these guys amass.

I set out to design. Font choices were based on outlaw spirit, and a pilfered copy of Mobil Oil's proprietary sans-serif font.

I mocked up a few of 'bottles'. One for me, one for the guys brewing the beer and one I actually sent along to Sonny. A month or so after, I got a call from Sonny's longtime friend and lawyer. While logistics (liquor laws) got in the way, he said he hadn't seen Sonny laugh so hard in a long time as when he got the package. Success!

I'm still really proud of the spirit of this design not just for the end product, but because the process really opened up the limitless potential for design to make even a good thing, like beer, bikes, and buddies even better.

PS: Still looking for the small-time brewery who can make this happen. Any ideas, would be greatly appreciated.

The New Frontier - Department of Defense Family Shelter Designs from 1962

I'd really like to find some mid-century purists out there who bought a house complete with its own bomb shelter. Or even better, a homeowner who built their own to complete the clean, cool, cold war experience. If you are an aspiring mod freak of the latter, perhaps you could use some plans. Here they are:

Family Shelter Designs from the Mt. Holly Civil Defense Flickr set

Stumbling across a stockpile of late 50's / early 60's (much of it annotated by the previous owner) CD documents at a recent estate sale, made me remember this great Donald Fagen video from 1983. Oh, the innocence. The intimacy. The Miro, The Gene Deitch. Seriously, you provide the fallout protection, I'll provide the Manhattans. Invite me over... before it's too late.

Donald Fagen New Frontier (1983)
by Crichton44

Mt. Holly Founder's Day Film Festival - This Saturday, Nov. 7th. Check out some trailers.

Please note the updated schedule and line up.

This year we are proud to present a cavalcade of some of the finest international short films in the history of Hollywood and beyond. These films are guaranteed to change your perspective on the world around you. Open to all. Kid friendly. Festival begins at 6:30. Bring your own blankets.



6:30PM The Terror of Tiny Town. 1938 (USA) A great western storyline brought to life with a little singing and dancing.



8:00PM Time Bandits. 1981 (UK) George Harrison funded. Directed and written by Terry Gilliam. This may be one of my favorite trailers of all time. The movie is quite good as well.



9:30PM Intermission Short: The Dogway Melody. 1930 (USA) I'm currently working on a all human spoof of this all dog send-up of the all human 1929 musical, The Broadway Melody. I will be scouting the audience for potential stars.



10:00PM For Your Height Only. 1981 (Philippines) Action, swinging gangsters, beautiful ladies, and degraded film stock. This film has it all.



11:30PM Auch Zwerge Haben Klein Angefangen. 1972 (D) Die Werke des Autorenfilmer-Starregisseurs Werner Herzog wissen von Haus aus sowieso nur eingefleischte Arthouse-Freunde zu würdigen. Einen Schritt weiter geht sein zweiter Langfilm aus dem Jahr 1970. Die kulturpessimistische Groteske „Auch Zwerge haben klein angefangen“ ist nur hartgesottenen Herzog-Anhängern nachhaltig zu empfehlen. Doch die werden den Film lieben, weil es so viele interessante Details zu erkunden gibt, dass es eine echte Freude ist. Das Faszinierende: Wer die wahre Qualität von „Auch Zwerge haben klein angefangen“ entdecken will, muss den unterschwelligen Subtext des Films sezieren. Ein universeller Sinn des Ganzen ergibt sich erst zwischen den Zeilen bzw. Bildern...

Galcos Soda Pop Stop in LA

John Nese is the owner of Soda Pop Stop pop only store in LA. Listening to him rattle off what makes or breaks a good soft drink, makes me thirsty. Listening to his passion about supporting the little man in the face of large corporate pressure in the marketplace is just plain refreshing.

Thanks for the link Chris Campbell.

Curb Score! Sun Service Equipment Mobile Workstation

The tops a bit rusty but I sanded it down and sealed it. Adding a wood work surface and powerstrip are next in order. Damn good find. I can't believe Zadra didn't snag it. It was on the corner of his block.

Join or create a bike club.

Suburban Bike Club
Originally uploaded by mthaeg

Mt. Holly is lucky enough to have neighbors who like to have fun and who like to ride bikes. Look at this rogues gallery of suburban cast-offs. See the pride in our eyes? This was before we even reached the first stop on the Fall 2009 Gonzo Run. I can't thank my fellow Suburban Bike Club members enough for starting this big rattling mess up.

I don't care where you live. Be it a shitbag big city, or a miniscule dot on the map. Where one finds bikes, one finds bros . . . even bros of the female persuasion.

Cheers, you freaks.

Check out the large format version of these proud peddlers HERE

Walk On By - Issac Hayes

There are somethings that make me feel alright. Deep cloudy rain. The camera work in High Noon. Late 60's through early 70's variety show stage design. And the non-blacksploitation songcrafting of Issac Hayes. All of these came together, this rainy Tuesday morning, when one of my favorite designers, Josh Leutz tweeted:

The license plate of the Chrysler First Avenue in front of me last night: BLKMOSES.

Which sent me into youtube land where I was met with this video. Thanks Josh.

New Mt. Holly Register is online

Read it now.

Tricycle with a square front tire.

Saw this photo over by Guzer. It's kept me laughing for 2 days now.

Macho Man Randy Savage on Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous, 1991.

"That's why I live in the kingdom of the madness and you are just visiting."

That's exactly what I thought when I late-night-channel-surfed onto this episode of LOTR&F back in the early 1990s. This is just a portion of the high-energy wonka-esque tour given to Robin Leach by Lord Savage and Miss Elizabeth. I would kill to see the whole thing again.