Elsewhere Online: 100 Days in Glacier National Park

Glacier Park Magazine editor Chris Peterson set out to chronicle 100 days in Glacier National Park in preparation for the park’s centennial celebration next year. From his photographs, he chose one for each consecutive day, and they are all amazing. Glacier is one of the most-beautiful places I’ve ever seen, and seems wilder than your average national park. The photos here reflect that. There are bear and moose, but many birds and incredible landscapes. Peterson adds short anecdotes to each photo, and the best of them add to the enjoyment of the photo. He describes being in the middle of …

Continue Reading

Elsewhere Online: Desperate Man Blues

Set aside an hour-and-a-half sometime in the next week and take a look at Desperate Man Blues, director Edward Gillian’s 2003 film about Joe Bussard, known in record-collecting circles for his love for and devotion to 78s. Bussard seems like a curmudgeonly old fella who lights up once he drops the needle on one of his many rare discs. He chain-smokes his cigars, stomps his feet to the old blues and bluegrass and old-timey jazz that he collects, and rails against rock-and-roll as “the cancer that killed music.” The part of the film I loved was traveling with him as …

Continue Reading

Elsewhere Online: Black Cab Sessions

I’m finding so much music online these days. One really unique stage I stumbled across is provided on Black Cab Sessions, a site that features artists playing about as stripped down as one can get, riding through London in a cab. There’s something about the intimacy and necessary acoustic nature of these videos that is very appealing. I really enjoyed the Fleet Foxes, Beach House and Ryan Adams performances, and there’s a link below to a great Bon Iver appearance, but there are many more that I have to check out. The Black Cab Sessions: http://www.blackcabsessions.com Bon Iver on Black …

Continue Reading

Elsewhere Online: The Tragic History of Snowmen

The online edition of Smithsonian magazine features an article by Bob Eckstein that discusses a forgotten shame: the pre-Frosty treatment of snowmen in popular culture. Snowmen were assaulted and abused by children and adults alike, possibly leading to their frequent depiction as drunken, out-of-control anthropomorphic wads of snow. Snowmen were apparently an easy target — unable to run or fight back, they were also weakened by direct sunlight, and not as dapper as later depictions would have you believe. And advertisers exploited their pathetic nature: To add insult to injury, the snowman somehow became a spokesperson for any product of …

Continue Reading

Elsewhere Online: The End of Wall Street’s Boom

Michael Lewis, who wrote about the madness of Wall Street in 1989’s Liar’s Poker, has an amazing article in the December issue of Portfolio magazine, detailing the ridiculous evolution of subprime-backed securities and the irresponsible, incompetent business culture that embraced them. This is great journalism — and I love the earthy, blunt language used throughout the article. Here’s an excerpt: The funny thing, looking back on it, is how long it took for even someone who predicted the disaster to grasp its root causes. They were learning about this on the fly, shorting the bonds and then trying to figure …

Continue Reading

Elsewhere Online: Origins of Hollywood Studio Logos

Neatorama is a regular stop for me. Along with Boing Boing, it is the one of the best time-wasters out there. But it’s also the home of some very helpful information, like the story behind each of the logos for the big Hollywood studios, familiar to anyone who’s seen a movie in the past, oh, century or so. I can’t decide which is my favorite (probably 20th Century Fox or Paramount), but I’m glad to know there have been five different Leo the Lions who have performed the growl at the start of an MGM film. The Stories Behind Hollywood …

Continue Reading

Elsewhere Online: Southdale by Shorpy

The “Always Something Interesting” photo blog Shorpy.com features a 1956 photo of Southdale, originally seen in Life magazine. Not a lot has changed: the escalators run toward the camera’s point of view, the Apple Store was just a fever dream in little Stevie Jobs’ crib, and guys no longer wear suits. Except for the guys selling suits in Macy’s. I’m pretty sure the mod lighting is gone too — I’ll check next time I’m in Hot Topic. I bet that Woolworth’s rocked. Shorpy.com Southdale full-size image

Continue Reading

Elsewhere Online: How He Did It

Political campaigns can be exhausting — and the campaign season behind us was especially tough — but at the heart of politics is a mix of people, strategy, emotion and changing circumstances. Newsweek has an amazingly interesting 7-chapter behind-the-scenes look at the 2008 presidential race, including insiders’ views of the Obama and McCain campaign staffs. Some of the insights have already become post-election arguments (the animosity within the McCain-Palin campaign, the battle over that campaign’s message, and the ever-growing clothing tab), but tells of challenges within the Obama campaign as well. How our President-Elect handled himself — with disciplined restraint …

Continue Reading

Elsewhere Online: Travels with Barack

Here are some fantastic photos of Barack Obama along the campaign trail taken by Time photographer Callie Shell. Besides the nice, simple navigation at the bottom of the page that allows you to load several photos at a time, this is a rare behind-the-scenes look at a rare man. It’s exciting to think that, in a few weeks, he’ll begin to bring this country and its divided people together. The Digital Journalist: Callie Shell

Continue Reading

Elsewhere Online: Cute Overload

I’m confident enough in my masculinity to admit that I love Cute Overload. This is what blogging is about: the unabashed obsession digitized. Soon, every photo or video of an animal (preferably a baby animal) being cute will be documented here. And the site has been responsible for several new words that deserve consideration in the English language: snorgle, prosh, puppitude. If you worry at all about your manliness taking a hit while oohing and aaaawwwwwing over the baby chicks and sleeping kitties, there’s always the Cats ‘n Racks link. In its own vernacular, Cute Overload is redonkulous. Link: http://www.cuteoverload.com/

Continue Reading