The Opposite of Anti-Hip?

Did anyone catch the article from a couple of weeks ago about this anti-fashion thing called "normcore"? (It's totally okay if you haven't heard about it, as it doesn't seem to have made it beyond the fashion and style blogs, yet. That means that six months from now, when it's already on the verge of being played out, the New York Times Style section will do a big, splashy piece on it.)

Essentially, normcore (the word originated with a group of artists who operate a "trend forecasting group") means embracing ordinariness but in a supposedly cool way, which in fashion terms means instead of dressing in of-the-moment, high-fashion stuff, choosing to dress in plain, blah, ordinary clothing. Think relaxed-fit jeans in lighter washes, pullover fleeces, those certain style of New Balance sneakers favored by tech guys.

The claim being made by people in fashion is that this normcore thing is not being done ironically, but I'm calling bullshit on that. Hipsters love it, obviously, because being a hipster is all about co-opting something that isn't trendy and thereby making it secretly trendy to a select group. But when being hip and insider means you're now wearing dad jeans and mock turtlenecks, isn't that the point where the serpent has begun to eat its own tail?

And now Esquire's style blog is trying to tell me that dressing this way is okay, but you have to get the details right? That's painfully contradictory. People who are anti-fashion fundamentally don't care about the details, which is why they dress the way they do. People who are worrying about whether the brand of fleece they are wearing is uncool enough are simply trying too hard, and that is no different from a guy who's wearing double-monk strap shoes with one buckle on each shoe left undone on purpose, or ties his tie with the back blade longer than the front.

I'm not going to criticize anyone who wants to dress this way (though I certainly wouldn't), but don't try to tell us it isn't trendy. The fact that it has cachet with, and is being talked about by, stylists and fashion insiders is the clearest indication that this is a trend, just like jeggings or multiple bracelets or too-short sport jackets.

Blinker

When our dog blinks, her eyes make a noise. It's the strangest damn thing. We can hear it if the room is quiet enough.

Car Stuff: Fantasy Garage #3

I admit that I've always been less enthusiastic about Ford products compared to those from Chrysler Corporation and General Motors. Sure, everyone loves a classic Mustang, but in car collecting and shows they are so common that they are kind of ordinary.

However, there are certain Ford Motor Company products that will always have strong appeal for me. One of these is the 1960s Lincoln Continental, the ones with the forward-opening rear doors known as suicide doors. As we've discussed before, American car styling went through a difficult period at the end of the 1950s, and Lincoln's cars were particularly ponderous and unattractive. (There are those who appreciate these cars more today, as this recent New York Times article attests.) Lincolns were selling poorly compared to Cadillacs, so this 1961 redesign was something of a last hope for the company.

The design originated as an alternate proposal for the 1961 Ford Thunderbird, which partly explains why the roof and glass area on the initial models looks more coupe-like, and perhaps a bit too small relative to the rest of the car's body. In fact the '61 Continental shared part of its inner body structure with the Thunderbird for financial reasons (a much more common practice now, but still common enough half a century ago). This kinship is quite evident when comparing the front end designs of the '61 Thunderbird and Continental:

(The center grille bar that sweeps down and under the headlight units on these two cars is obviously very similar.)

The Continental was made in four-door closed-roof and convertible body styles, with the same basic design lasting from 1961-69 with minor styling tweaks and revisions along the way (though some of these were subtle enough that they might not be noticeable to someone who doesn't pay much attention to car styling). Lincoln introduced a two-door hardtop coupe version in 1966 that proved to be more popular than they had expected; the convertible was dropped after 1967.

If I were to choose one car from the whole model run for my fantasy garage it would have to be one of the four-door convertibles, because the design is unique among post-World War II vehicles. (Entourage kind of ruined the coolness factor of this car, but we're going to ignore that.) And if I have to narrow it down to a specific model year, it would be the 1964.

For that year the car was redesigned and gained a few inches in wheelbase and length, along with a revision to the roof design that improved the balance of its overall appearance. (I prefer the dashboard design of the 1961-63 models, but the cleaner and more refined exterior front and rear designs of the '64 tilt my opinion in its favor.) Second place would probably go to the '66, which again had slightly revised sheetmetal and was one of the first American cars to incorporate tail lights into the rear bumper.

A couple of other notes on these cars: the leather interior was available in a choice of ten colors. Ten! (You all know how I feel about current cars' lack of interior color choices.) Cloth seats were also available, in six colors.

Also, for 1967 Ford applied the suicide-door design to a four-door version of the Thunderbird, in an attempt to move the 'bird upmarket and afford it a measure of distinction. Not everyone likes these cars, but I've always thought they were quite cool; they are probably my favorite Thunderbirds. (And check out the groovy dress on that model.)

For an excellent overview of the 1961-69 Lincolns, see this article on Curbside Classic.

(Image credits for this post, from top: #1,3, and 4 are cropped from full-page brochure images on the Old Car Brochures website; #5 is a full brochure page image from OCB; #2 is from Wikipedia.)

Losing a Customer, Probably

This afternoon I ventured to my local Bed Bath & Beyond intending to buy a coffee grinder. It turned out that the model I intended to get was out of stock; I had checked the stock online over the weekend, but not today before leaving the house.

But I probably wouldn't have ended up buying it even if it was in stock, because the store price was $10 higher than the online price. This is the sort of thing that irritates the crap out of me. You can order an item online to pick up in-store, and I have done this in the past with certain items, but in this instance it didn't seem necessary. And if you do that, it's possible you wouldn't see the item on the shelf in the store, so you might not know there was a price difference.

And beyond that, we've had nearly two decades of e-commerce; isn't it time to expect that online prices and in-store prices will match? There's really no excuse at this point for this not to be so. If a website can tell me what stores have an item in stock, and lets me order it through the site to pick up at the store, then it probably means a common supply chain; what, then, is the justification for a different price on the item in the store? Taking advantage of people who don't use the internet, or are just gullible? Hoping that because people are already in the store they'll just give in and buy the item they came in for anyway? Neither of these strikes me as a strategy that will earn long-term customer loyalty.

Normally I would have left the store's name out of such a story, but I was so dismayed by the occurrence that I don't care. I know marketing people have google alerts for when stuff like this gets published online, so if someone from BB&B reads this and wants to talk with me about it, swell. (Maybe they can also explain why the 20% off coupons have disappeared.)

I walked over to the adjacent Target and bought ground coffee to use while I decide which online store I'm going to order a grinder from. And as I've dug a little deeper into looking at grinders online, I've also started to have second thoughts about the particular model I was planning to buy. I'm hoping to speak to the proprietor of our local coffee shop to ask her opinion about grinders, so it may take a few days longer to make a decision and order the thing.

Olfactory Overshare

What's the female equivalent of Axe body spray? Because I'm being asphyxiated by it on the bus right now...

This Week in Awesome (3/8/14)

It sure was nice out today. And even if we end up getting the storm on Wednesday that is still being talked about in vague terms, it will have been three weeks since the last storm of any significance passed through our area. We're almost there...

This week's longish and interesting read is about some techy guys who wondered if it was possible to capture the sounds of an internet hacking attack. It will make more sense if you go and read it. (The Awl)

I had heard of this condition, but only slightly. I think it would be very unfortunate to experience. (The Verge)

Speaking of music, this is quite an intriguing idea, and I am not at all surprised that James Murphy is the guy behind it. (The Wall Street Journal)

And finally this week, speaking of New York, here's a nice, in-depth, interactive look at the new 1 World Trade Center building. (Time)

Retro Video Unit (3/7/14)

Apologies for forgetting about this yesterday... I don't always choose the clips ahead of time, and if I haven't found one it means I'm more likely to forget to do it on the correct day.

Anyway, I was thinking about the 1980s and that led me to R.E.M., one of the biggest bands of that decade. I had the good fortune to see them very early on, in the spring of '83 at BU's old Walter Brown Arena (since replaced by the Agganis Arena), where they were the opening act for The English Beat. Murmur had just come out, and seeing them was a genuine revelation.

Within a couple of years they were one of MTV's mid-decade darlings, producing multiple videos for the songs on the album Fables of the Reconstruction. "Can't Get There From Here" was a bit more lighthearted than some of the other songs on that album, and the video is suitably goofy.



And of course it has old cars in it, which is another reason I like it. The purplish car is a 1960 Ford Galaxie, the top of the line four-door sedan available that year. The one seen more briefly, with Bill Berry climbing out of the trunk, is a 1966 Ford Thunderbird.

Coffee Prep

I forgot that when you get a new coffee maker, you're supposed to run vinegar through it first, and then a few cycles of just water to rinse and purge the vinegar residue, so I had to walk to the market and get a bottle. At least it's cheap.

Also, we regularly get those 20% coupons for Bed Bath and Beyond in our mail, but of course because I want to go there and buy the coffee grinder, there are none to be found. You can go to their website and get a printable one, after first giving them all your personal information.

Ground to a Halt

My beloved Krups grind-and-brew coffee maker stopped working over the weekend. Everything was fine on Saturday; on Sunday it ground the coffee beans as usual, but when I turned on the brewing cycle nothing happened. I'm guessing this means that the heating element has given out. I wish I had the ability to repair it, but that's not the case. It lasted six years, which I suppose isn't so bad for a kitchen appliance. I've had other coffee makers that worked for much shorter periods of time. The Mrs. has a french press she used to use at work, so at least we were still able to make coffee.

I spent some time thinking about what I wanted to get to replace the Krups. I briefly considered replacing the machine with one just like it, but to be honest it had become something of a pain to use. The coffee it made was delicious, but the ground coffee never got fully expelled from the grinder, so each day I had to pick up the unit and bang on the side to get all the coffee into the filter (otherwise it wouldn't be strong enough), then add the water. It also made a mess in general, spraying ground coffee dust on the counter when the lid snapped shut.

At first I thought I might take the minimalist approach and get a Chemex pot, which is basically a manual "pour-over" version of a drip coffee maker. It's a beautiful object to look at, plus it's relatively inexpensive (around $40), and there's also a version with a handle. You still have to boil water, but otherwise it's much less fussy than a french press. But then I noticed that the Chemex pots require a special type of filter that costs $8 for a package of 100, which is four times what I pay for cone filters at Trader Joe's or Market Basket. It might seem silly to fret about that, but cost of use has to be considered. Sorry, Chemex.

A Chemex would also require getting a separate coffee grinder, which I'm fine with, since I'm far too entrenched in the pleasure of drinking coffee made from freshly ground beans to revert to buying pre-ground coffee, but those little cylindrical blade grinders that cost $20 are terrible; a burr grinder, which uses plates to crush the beans, is the way to go, and they are large enough that you can grind a larger quantity of coffee beans at one time if you wish. I can grind beans two or three times a week and store the ground coffee in an airtight container.

So I decided I would find a decent drip coffee maker and a decent burr grinder. I still want a coffee maker that uses cone filters, which is harder to find than the kind that uses basket-shaped filters. I settled on a Melitta unit with a thermal carafe, made by Hamilton Beach, because it had good user reviews and because it was available through my credit card reward program by using points I had already accrued. (The Krups was also obtained with gift cards which I exchanged reward points for.) It's already on the way and will arrive Wednesday.

I looked at a lot of grinders, and I noticed that a lot of the negative reviews were from people who said they couldn't get a grind fine enough for espresso. I sympathize with them, but I'm only interested in regular coffee that's going in a drip machine, so I actually want a coarser grind. If you filter out those reviews, the picture can be quite different. I asked a friend what grinder he uses, and it turns out he has the one I was thinking of getting. It's by Cuisinart and is nothing fancy (it's not too difficult to spend more than $100 on a grinder alone), but it will do the job and I can purchase one in a store nearby.

Car Stuff: Random Sighting #22

There are still a number of street-parked finds from my neighborhood that I have not yet posted, so let's have a look at a mid-1980s large American car.

This is another Oldsmobile, a 1989 Eighty Eight (formerly Delta 88) Royale. But it's a Royale without cheese, because it's not the nicer Brougham model. This car is the direct successor to random sighting #16 (the first year for this design was '86), and it's nice to be able to see the evolution of a car from one generation to the next.

I'm able to peg the year on this one because of small things like the badges on the rear fenders and the tail lights, which had amber turn signal lenses in their top halves in the preceding years, and for '90 the car got a different front-end treatment.

It looks about the way you would expect a 25-year-old car that lives in New England and parks on the street to look. Most of these were owned by older folks, who were probably inclined to coddle them, so either this one was passed down to a family member, purchased by someone outside the family, or simply owned by someone who wasn't interested in cosseting a vehicle. But it has still managed to hang onto 75% of its wheel covers and pass an inspection.

These are actually nice cars, pleasant to drive with a nice ride and one of General Motors's better engines of this era, all of which may explain why this one is still on the road in beater service.

This Week in Awesome (3/1/14)

I'm dealing with a coffee maker crisis here, so bear with me...

This will disturb some and offend others. I mainly think it's just interesting to look at. (The Hairpin)

This email exchange is worth the couple of minutes it will take to read, especially if you work in any sort of field where you may get asked to make a contribution on spec. (Tickld via Dappered)

I've seen this before, and I may have even posted about it before, but I did not realize it was a project still in progress. If you live in southern California you can see this at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. (Vimeo Staff Picks)

And finally this week, I don't know if any of you visit the website The Verge, but they publish a lot of interesting stuff that goes beyond just tech news. This week there was a story about a mysterious old book that people have been attempting to decipher for 100 years or so, and also a very worthy piece about net neutrality. If you don't understand net neutrality or don't think it's important, you need to read it. If you do get it and know it's important, you also need to read it.

It's 2014, People

Sometimes I wonder what year other people are living in. Today I boarded a bus and the person in front of me paid the $2 fare with coins, which had to be dropped into the slot one by one while the rest of us waited alongside the bus in sub-20-degree weather. The driver pointed out that if she used a Charlie Card (the MBTA's refillable fare card, for those of you who aren't from the area) she would save 50 cents on each ride. The woman said, "I know," bent down to pick up the two large bags she'd had to set down to pay her fare (keeping us waiting longer), and moved back into the bus.

I get that for some people it would be a hardship to pay $48 for a monthly bus pass (or $70 for the subway and bus pass), or perhaps she doesn't ride buses frequently enough to make a monthly pass worth the cost. But that 50 cents per ride is 25% of what she had to put in the fare box; if she put $12 on a Charlie Card, she could take eight bus rides instead of six paying per ride, plus she wouldn't have to have all that change for each ride.

A bit later I was on my way home and I had to make a quick stop at the market. I got in line behind an older gentleman who was in the process of putting his purchases on the counter from his cart. He then took a blank check out of his wallet and started filling it out.

I frequently get stuck behind slow people when I'm only buying one or two items, but the check was the thing that caught my attention. I barely write checks for anything other than rent these days, and I haven't used one to pay for groceries in probably close to 20 years.

I get that not everyone is comfortable carrying large amounts of cash, but most people have at least one credit or debit card, and checking out is so much faster that way. Maybe the check-writing dude doesn't value the time of the people behind him in line, but he must value his own time. Or maybe I just think too much about these things...

What a Gas

I'm stuck at home for most of the day. The gas company needs to replace our meter. They have called about it several times over the past month, and initially I referred them to our landlord, but the calls continued and I figured it was easier to schedule it myself and get it over with.

And even though they claim they need to do this, they are inconveniencing me by giving a six-hour window for the appointment. "Oh, the tech will call you 15 to 20 minutes before he arrives." Well, how about that? That makes all the difference. And I need to stay by the phone because if for some reason I miss the call, the tech won't come.

Given how cold it is I might not have wanted to go out anyway, but it still seems somewhat ridiculous that they can't narrow down the window to three or four hours. At least it will only take 20 to 30 minutes for the tech to complete the task after he finally arrives.

The Downslope

We had a pleasant weekend that hinted at spring, and I was able to wear fewer layers and a lighter coat while out walking around, but now it's quite cold again, so it's back to the heavy sweaters and flannel-lined jeans.

Inside the house it's not an issue, but walking the dog, especially first thing in the morning, requires the heavy-duty stuff. Even if I only use these pants and other deep-winter pieces of clothing a couple of months out of the year at most, I'm awfully glad I have them.

Winter has to release its grip on us eventually. I've noticed that the sun is setting later, and it feels stronger even when it's not at its peak height. I don't generally look forward to spring the way most people do, but this year I'm ready for it.

Car Stuff: Fantasy Garage #2

From 1961-66, American car styling hit peak after exhilarating peak. The excesses of the late 1950s were largely swept away and replaced by clean designs with less reliance on chrome decoration and more effort placed on pleasant, refined looks.

General Motors was on top, as it had been for some time. The company's hierarchy of five car brands shared certain platforms and styling components like roof panels, but otherwise the offerings presented distinctive and attractive looks to the car-buying public. Buicks and Oldsmobiles, being higher-priced, had cars based on two bodies, the larger of which was shared with Cadillac.

As much as I like the Cadillac design of 1961-62, I slightly prefer the Oldsmobile 98, specifically the four-door hardtop with a third side window behind the rear door, called the "Holiday Sedan" in Olds marketing lingo. Maybe an Olds was a couple of steps down from a Cadillac, but the 98 was less fussy-looking. (While it's also true that my grandfather had a '62 Olds, it was a less glamorous Dynamic 88 four-door sedan.)

I don't have any scale die-cast version to show you for this one, but there are illustrations around online from the brochure:

Google's image search wasn't quite as helpful as I'd hoped, but I did find this one:

I was hoping for a photo with the side windows open, but this at least gives a sense of the roofline. Besides great color choices inside and out, one other thing I miss about cars is lots of glass area. In newer cars, designers have raised the side window sills relative to seat height to enhance the sense of safety, but at the cost of visibility. I suppose in a few more years almost all cars will come with backup cameras standard, but I think some people would still prefer being able to see out of the car all around.

This Week in Awesome (2/22/14)

I have no excuse: I was home all day yesterday, doing not much of anything...

I love being able to look at photos like these for a slice of urban life in the not-too-distant past. Think how much easier it is to do this today with our smartphones. (Time via Laughing Squid)

You may remember my earlier references to the Comedy Central show Key & Peele. Their action movie-loving valet attendant characters (I have no idea if they have names) have a surprise encounter with one of their favorite stars in a clever bit of cross-promotion for his upcoming movie. (Note to marketers: THIS is how you do this type of promotion in a way that does not pander to or insult your audience.)

Those of you with voyeuristic tendencies may be interested in this. (Boy Genius Report)

Rapping Brian Williams is back, with an assist this time. (The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon)

And finally this week, prepare to get lost in one of the internet's rabbit holes. (The Hairpin)

Retro Video Unit (2/21/14)

I was in the mood for a deep flashback, all the way back to the disco era. I happened to read an article about Queen that linked to a video of Chic's 1979 hit "Good Times" but it had some awful modern footage spliced into the middle. Fortunately YouTube also had the original version, which came from some sort of weird Italian television aanlogue to American Bandstand (I think).



And just for fun, let's also look at Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust" from the same year, which is, shall we say, heavily indebted to the Chic song as far as the music is concerned:

Angles

When I'm wandering around trying to find old cars to take pictures of, I sometimes find other things worthy of a photo. I've always been interested in buildings and architecture, and there are plenty of interesting buildings in this area.

This is the Flour and Grain Exchange Building at the corner of India and Milk Streets downtown. I took this picture last summer when the Mrs. and I were trying to find a food truck or two from which to get lunch (since it was a Saturday there were only a couple stationed on the nearby Greenway).

The building is triangular with rounded corners, and I have been somewhat fascinated by it for decades, though I have never ventured inside. The only thing I miss about the old elevated Central Artery is that when heading southbound, it was easier to get a decent look at this building as you passed by just a few feet from it. (I remember there used to be a huge red ribbon around the whole thing at Christmas.)

About a month ago I was in Medford Square in the morning, heading to an appointment. As I was waiting for the bus I looked across the street and noticed that the building on the corner reminded me a little of the Flour and Grain Exchange Building, though the one in Medford is certainly quite different.

Winter Non-Vacation

I try not to do a lot of complaining about winter. Generally I don't mind it so much, though I started to feel less that way after we got a dog that has to be walked several times a day regardless of what sort of nastiness may be happening outside.

But this year's winter, and this month in particular, has been relentless, with storms hitting us over and over, sometimes just a day or two apart. So it was heartening today to see bright sunshine and blue skies (for part of the day, at least) and feel the temperature rising well above 40 for the first time in several weeks.

This is a nice point in the winter to get away to somewhere warm, if possible. When my parents used to spend the winter in Fort Lauderdale, this is the time when I would go and visit them. In fact, the Mrs. left today to go visit her sister in California, leaving me here to take care of the dog (or vice versa, maybe?).

Of course I would have liked to go along, but in practical terms it didn't make sense this time. And the weather is supposed to remain decent here for a few more days, so I'll be fine. I have food and coffee and beer and whatever else I might need, movies on the TiVo that the Mrs. isn't interested in watching, laundry and house-cleaning, and plenty else to keep me occupied.

Car Stuff: Random Sighting #21

This car isn't old, but I took pictures of it anyway, mainly because it has a vinyl roof covering and I didn't think those were available anymore. It turns out they aren't—not from the factory, at least.

It happened that I had just read a post on Curbside Classic about new Cadillacs with dealer-installed vinyl tops when I saw this car driving through my neighborhood. It's not a Cadillac but a Mercury, though I'll admit that I had to look up exactly which model, because some of the cars they made in their final few years on the market sold in such small numbers that they I simply was not aware they had existed.

It turns out this was called a Montego, which is a nameplate from the 1960s and '70s that Mercury went and dug out of its corporate attic, but applied to this particular car it's basically meaningless. It's essentially the same car as a Ford Five Hundred, which was the early-2000's replacement for the Taurus.

The roof treatment appears to be part of a "Park Lane" decor package (another model name from Mercury's past) that also includes the shiny window trim, and more than anything else, I couldn't help but wonder why someone would still want a car equipped this way. It's such a dated look, especially with its aerodynamically rounded roofline (which looks borrowed from something like an Audi A6) that is totally unsuited to a faux-convertible treatment.

Oddly enough, I had to stalk this car for a while, which accounts for the extremely mediocre nature of these pictures. When I took the distant shot above, from across the street and behind the car, I didn't realize its owner was getting into it and was looking in my direction (probably trying to figure out why someone might want to take a picture of him or his car). Had I been able to see him clearly from that far away, I wouldn't have taken the shot. Subsequently I walked down the block and attempted to get a side shot of the car as it passed me, but tried to make it look like I was taking a picture of something else. I was able to get the front shot of it in its driveway a few days later, but you don't really get the full effect of the tacky add-on vinyl roof from that angle.

Looking at that last shot, it kind of reminds me of some of those old surveillance photos of Whitey Bulger. Too bad this isn't a genuine Mercury Montego from back in the '70s; that would have been even more evocative of those pictures.

Long Weekend in Awesome (2/15/14)

Ah well, good intentions and all that. Yesterday was fairly well consumed by snow-shoveling (and later, burrito-getting), but things were very low-key on Saturday and I have no idea why I didn't post this then...

Olympics-adjacent: Conan's Andy Richter finds out what curling is all about. (Tastefully Offensive)

I've become kind of anti-Gawker in the same way I'm kind of anti-Amazon, so at first I was reluctant to post this, but the coolness factor won out: New York's subway is implementing giant touch-screen map guides. Can't wait to get back to NYC to try 'em out. (I'd also love to see the MBTA get something like this.) (Boy Genius Report)

I have always disliked this word, and here's why: because people use it incorrectly. (The Chronicle of Higher Education via The Awl)

And finally this week, the passing of comedic genius Sid Caesar brought plenty of tributes, including one from Billy Crystal. Caesar was a giant in his importance to the medium of TV and to the realm of comedy; this compilation of classic sketches shows why. (The Daily Beast via TV Tattle)

Still Here, Still Shoveling

I was on my way to bed when I realized that I hadn't posted anything since Wednesday. I spent most of Thursday dealing with the latest snowstorm, which left about six inches of heavy, wet snow in our immediate area. All the forecasts said the snow would turn to rain, so I started shoveling around noon in anticipation of the transition, expecting it to be raining by the time I'd finished.

I was about half done when I noticed that it had started snowing much harder, and that the flakes were much larger than usual. By the time I'd finished, everything I'd shoveled was already covered over again. In fact, I ended up going back out a couple of hours later and doing everything a second time. After that I had to go out two more times to clear the bottom of the driveway after plow passes (no sign of the helpful neighbor this time). By that point it was indeed raining, not that it mattered or did me any good.

Of course everything froze overnight, so I went out today to have a look and see if there was any ice I could clear away. I noticed that our next-door neighbors had cleared their front sidewalk of ice right up to the property line, so I figured I should do the same. At first I had to break off chunks with the edge of the shovel, but eventually I was able to slide the shovel under the ice and bring it up in pieces and slabs.

When I'd worked my way all the way across to our neighbors on the other side, I got to work on our driveway, which in some places had an inch of ice going back to last Saturday, when we got a small amount of snow that I had cleared only half-heartedly. By the time I'd finished with everything, including the front steps, more than three hours had passed. (I had paused in the middle to walk the dog.)

So that's where I've been most of the past two days. And lucky us, another storm is coming through Saturday evening and night. Earlier in the week the forecasts were saying this one was going to miss us, or maybe just leave a dusting; now the predictions for this area are ranging from four to eight inches, so I know what I'll be doing Sunday.

Overheard: Reality of Winter Edition

On the platform at Wellington station last Friday, I happened to hear a young man say to his female friend, "I picked the wrong day to wear a sleeveless shirt." (He was otherwise bundled up in winter gear, but those other layers definitely make a difference.)

Ramped

A few weeks back I mentioned our dog and the joint supplements we give her. While they do seem to help, she is 12-1/2 and a few months ago we noticed that she seemed to be having a bit more difficulty getting up the stairs when we came back from walks.

Winter only makes this more difficult, so we decided to find someone who could build us a ramp for her. I looked through some handyman-for-hire postings on craigslist and found a guy who had 30 years' experience and was based in Arlington, which is nearby. I emailed him with a description of what we wanted done and a photo of the steps. He responded and we arranged a time for him to come by to look over the area in person and take measurements.

A few days later he submitted a thorough proposal, outlining the materials he would use, how he would construct the ramp, and his price. We thought it over for a day or so and decided to go ahead. He called during my minor phone crisis a couple of weeks ago to ask if it would be okay for him to come and do the job that Saturday, so I had to wait until I got my phone working the next day to return his call.

That Saturday turned out to be one of the nice days between snowstorms. The contractor arrived right on time and set up his sawhorses and gear. I showed him where he could plug in a power cord in the basement and he set right to work. It took him less than two hours to complete the project, which I found impressive. The only thing we needed to do was add some sort of traction-providing material to the surface.

We went to the hardware store the next day, thinking we could find something with an adhesive backing, but the closest we came was some sort of tape that was only 2" wide, so we settled for rubber doormats which the Mrs. attached to the ramp with a staple gun. We then brought the dog outside and did a few practice runs with treats, to get her used to using the ramp.

Over the next couple of days we led her to the ramp after her walks. At first I picked her up and set her on the bottom of it, and she did go up the ramp fairly readily, though she seemed a bit unsure of it and sort of hopped up it at first. But she adapted to it very quickly and within another day or so she was going up the ramp without hesitation when led to the bottom. We've yet to get her to go down it again, but going down the stairs isn't as difficult for her as going up them. If she decides she needs it for going down, I think she'll know what to do.

Car Stuff: The Fantasy Garage

As I work on replenishing my supply of photos of cars I encounter for Random Sightings, I also want to expand to other topics, so today I'm launching Fantasy Garage, where I daydream about the classic cars I'd buy if I won a big lottery jackpot.

I didn't necessarily want to rank my choices, so I thought about doing them alphabetically and then chronologically. I settled on the latter, and though I'm starting with a car from 1960, it's entirely possible that later on I may want to add one that's older.

I've alluded to my enthusiasm for 1960 Chryslers before, in this post about seeing a 1959 Chrysler 300E at the car show I attended last July and this one about a '61 Chrysler wagon on Curbside Classic. Those two cars end up as brackets for my favorite, the 1960 300F. The 300 "letter series" cars (link to wikipedia entry) were made from 1955-65; they were expensive cars with high-performance engines and luxurious appointments that never sold more than a few thousand units per year, but served as halo cars for the brand.

Initially available as a two-door hardtop coupe, a convertible was added for 1957 and continued through 1965, except there was no convertible offered for '63. Production for 1960 was just over 1200 cars total, and only 248 of those were convertibles. I have seen restored examples for sale for as much as $75,000, though I have no idea if any of them have sold for such prices. There is one 300F convertible currently for sale on the classic-car site Hemmings for $199,000!

I don't think I've ever seen a '60 300F in person, but I do have this die-cast 1/18 scale version. (I'd probably have a lot more of these if I had space to display them.)

 As with the real car, the model has swiveling front bucket seats and a full-length console. I also like the dashboard-mounted rear view mirror, which was found on most Chrysler Corporation products of this time period.

The side trim helps to break up the car's convex slab sides, though I think black isn't the best color for showing off this car's lines.

This Week in Awesome (2/8/14)

Today was a full day of errands. Stay tuned for a report on a Bissell carpet cleaner that is rated highly for removal of pet-related stains...

When I was growing up I had dozens of Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars. This musician has thousands of them. (Collectors Weekly)

Have you ever noticed that most of the movies that come out during the winter are bad? There are exceptions, of course (we saw The LEGO Movie last night, and it was a blast), but statistically it's true. (Slate via The A.V. Club)

Thanks to the hilarious and delightful Comedy Central show @Midnight, I'm now aware of my new favorite hipster-mocking blog: Sad Etsy Boyfriends.

And finally this week, Soul Train is a cultural reference point for a lot of people (growing up in the 1970s, I watched it occasionally), but I think a lot of younger people aren't as familiar with it. Rolling Stone rounded up a dozen of the show's most memorable performances.

Retro Video Unit (2/7/14)

Yesterday turned out to be a busier day than I'd expected, so I wasn't home for much of it and ended up forgetting it was the day for this feature...

Let's hang out in the '80s a while longer and check out a one-off song that holds up remarkably well, "Pump Up The Volume" by M/A/R/R/S. (Technically those are supposed to be vertical lines between the letters, but they didn't look right onscreen in this font.)



A studio collaboration between two obscure house music acts, "Pump" became a hit on alternative radio stations like WFNX that otherwise didn't feature this type of music. The song was almost entirely assembled from samples, and there are a ridiculous number of versions and remixes of it. I chose this one because it was described as the "official video" and because it was posted by the record label. As a video it uses what appears to be archival and stock footage to keep the emphasis on the music; nowadays we'd probably get shots of a guy with a laptop doing the mix.

(For more on this song, check out this article posted on The A.V. Club just a few days ago.)

A Snow Mystery

Another week, another snowstorm: they've been coming through pretty regularly this winter. Yesterday's snow was the heavier kind, and it turned to rain for a while in the afternoon before the temperature dropped again, but the later-day stuff was lighter and accumulated only about another half-inch.

Surprisingly, even though the snow was heavy it wasn't that difficult for me to deal with. The one area that's always a challenge is the bottom of the driveway. The plows come by in groups of three, each one riding a little closer to the edge of the street than the one in front of it, and we always end up with a substantial deposit of thick snow that needs to be excavated to free the car.

After I'd cleared our sidewalk, steps, and made a path to the back of the house, I was working my way through the bank of snow and was a little more than half done when I got a profound surprise. We have a neighbor who plows for a small business across the street, and clears the sidewalks in front of a couple of houses adjacent to the commercial building. I almost always see him when I'm outside shoveling, and he certainly sees me.

He hasn't been the most cooperative person as far as clearing the sidewalks in front of his own house, and on occasion he has left plowed snow in the middle of the street, maintaining that "the city plows will take care of it," which of course means it ends up getting plowed into our driveway after I've cleared it. (He also has a mean dog.)

Yesterday he passed by, then looped around to our side of the street, angled in, and ran his plow across the area I was working on, saving me another 15 minutes or so of effort. I waved and yelled my thanks, and he drove off.

We've lived here almost eight years, and this is the first time this has happened. There were times when I wished he would do what he did yesterday, and times when I considered flagging him down and offering him money to make a pass across the bottom of our driveway. I have no idea what may have motivated him to decide to help me out yesterday, but I'm appreciative of it just the same.

Of course I had to go out twice later in the day and night to clean up after subsequent passes by the city's plows, but those were relatively minor amounts.

Overheard: Lack of Geographic Clarity Edition

This bit of conversation took place between two young women on Saturday afternoon in the Starbucks at Wellington Circle, shortly before 2 pm.

"What time are you meeting the girls?"
"2:30, so I need to get going."
"Where are you meeting them?"
"Dedham."
"Where's Dedham?"
"I don't know, I guess I should figure that out."

(If I were to guess, I'd say they were meeting at Legacy Place.)

Car Stuff: Random Sighting #20

After last week's phone mishap, I lost some of the car pictures I'd taken over the past couple of months, mainly because I wasn't backing up to iCloud regularly. Some of them are from nearby and can be redone, while others were chance encounters in my travels and wanderings that I'm unlikely to find again. (Fortunately I didn't lose anything more important.)

In the short term, I have material I can use, just not as deep a reserve as before. This picture is from Downtown Crossing in early December, and I've cropped less of the original image than I typically do, mainly because I liked this particular car against this background.

This is a Buick Roadmaster Estate Wagon from the mid-1990s, the last of the traditional, full-size, V-8 engined, rear-wheel-drive station wagons that General Motors had been building for decades. This specific model was built from 1991-96 with virtually no exterior changes during that time, but the mirrors on this one identify it as either a '95 or '96.

This car shared its basic body with the Chevrolet Caprice wagon and sedan, and there was also an Oldsmobile version of the wagon called the Custom Cruiser, which was only offered in 1991-92. All of them suffer from rather unfortunate styling; they are sometimes referred to as "bathtubs." GM was clearly trying to make the cars more aerodynamic in the wake of Ford's success with the Taurus, but their iteration just didn't work. The previous design was more squared off and wore its proportions much better, as you can see on this Pontiac from early in the series.

By the time this car came out, buyers of station wagons had switched to either minivans or SUVs, both of which brought about the end for these cars. You only bought this car if you wanted to float down the road while carrying a bunch of stuff. Among the car's more unusual features, you can just make out the fixed glass panel over the rear seat, which was standard (though a shade for it was not offered until 1995).

Based on where it was parked, I suspect this car belongs to someone involved in putting up the downtown holiday decorations like the wreath on the pole. It was either raining or snowing on that day, so I took only this quick shot from the shelter of the T station entrance; I wasn't able to take the front and rear shots I like to get when I have more time.

This Week in Awesome (2/1/14)

On time two weeks in a row? Maybe too ambitious...

We haven't seen a nice time-lapse in a while; this one was filmed after an ice storm in Toronto. (Vimeo via Laughing Squid)

Maybe the whole app thing has gone too far. (Cult of Mac via io9)

Do you remember what happened at the Super Bowl ten years ago (besides the Patriots victory)? Here's a thorough and well-done look back, with some hindsight reflection. (ESPN via Kempt)

And finally this week, how the US stacks up against other countries in terms of alcohol consumption. Enlightening to say the least. (Priceonomics via Dappered)

It's Alive!

I visited the Apple store this morning, and one of the Geniuses was able to revive my iPhone. I don't know exactly what happened, and even if I'd asked I'm not sure he would have been able to tell me. The important thing is he was able to get it into restore mode and get it working, then restore my data and such from the cloud.

Since I hadn't backed up to iCloud in a while I lost some photos, but otherwise everything is back the way it was. The tech mentioned that if I use wi-fi at home (something I don't tend to do, as I'm not a big data user in general), the phone will back up automatically whenever I plug it in to charge, so that's going to be part of my regular routine now.

It's Dead, Jim

Well, shit. My iPhone's dead.

I noticed it around 6:30 this evening when I went to check the time on my phone (unusual, but I had been doing dishes and food prep in the kitchen and wasn't wearing a watch). Pushed the button, got no response. Pushed the other button, nothing. Held the button down, uh-oh.

I went to Apple's support site and got into a chat with a service rep, who walked me through some steps that might have gotten it going again (pro tip: holding down both the power and home buttons is the iPhone's version of a forced restart). That ended up getting it stuck in a loop, so I was told to connect it to iTunes for a memory wipe (I had backed up through iCloud) but that didn't work either.

Since I've had the phone only two months, it's still covered under the warranty, so I have an appointment at the Apple store later this morning to get a new one. The last thing I did earlier in the afternoon was update two apps, but I can only remember one of them (GasBuddy). One of the apps may have been the culprit, or it could have been something else. I'll probably never know for sure.

Resolved

Okay, the trash got cleaned up today. Our neighbor claims that he was unaware that loose trash not in a bin would not be picked up. He didn't explain why he didn't pick it up until today, but I didn't want to push it.

Messy Situation

We have a bit of a situation with one of our upstairs neighbors, something we haven't encountered before. We put out the trash and recycling on Sunday nights. The trash bin is stored under our back porch where everyone can access it to deposit their stuff. The recycling bin is in the garage; it's larger than the trash bin and I only put it out when it gets full.

On Sunday night, after I'd put the trash at the curb, one of the upstairs people put out a couple of large items: a tall cardboard box maybe five feet high by two feet square, with a big wad of plastic sheeting inside; and a chair mat, like you put under a rolling office chair. The problem was that he put them next to the trash bin, and the city will not pick up any trash that is not in a bin.

I didn't have a direct email or phone contact for him, so I emailed another upstairs resident and asked her to pass along that these items would not be picked up. It was late Sunday night when I saw them, but there was time for him to deal with them on Monday morning. She told me that she had forwarded the message. He also used to live just a couple of blocks from here, so I believed he was already familiar with the city's rules.

He left at some point on Monday morning, and the items were still next to the trash bin. Of course the truck did not take them, and it was very windy that day, so the chair mat got blown into the street fairly soon afterward, where it was run over by a number of vehicles and broke into many pieces. The box was also blown around by the wind, but stayed in the general vicinity of the sidewalk in front of our house. I pushed the plastic pieces out of the middle of the street with a broom, and stacked the remaining larger pieces at the edge of the sidewalk.

The neighbor didn't come home until late Monday night but was around this morning; after he had left I checked and everything was still as it had been left. He was in and back out this afternoon, still no change. I have no intention of cleaning up these items, so I finally decided to leave a note.

I tried out several snarkier versions in my head, such as "Is there a reason why you haven't picked up your trash?" or "You're an adult and I feel like I shouldn't have to be leaving you a not about this..." or "I thought you would have dealt with this by now..." but ultimately I decided it was best to be direct and nonjudgmental: "Will you please pick up your trash from outside?" I suggested he might want to recycle the box, and if so he could put it in the garage. I signed it with "thank you."

Obviously I can't make him pick up the stuff, and I don't like being in a position where I feel I have to guilt someone, however gently, into taking responsibility for their belongings. This is obviously not a crisis, but it's unsightly, and I don't like having to live with careless people. I also feel that I have to tread carefully because I don't want to cause any sort of larger conflict, since we all have to coexist in this dwelling.

Car Stuff: Random Sighting #19

When I look back at this series, it's surprising to me how many of the cars I've found just by walking around my neighborhood and paying attention. I didn't think there were many interesting older cars around until I started looking for them.

Today's car is one that I had noticed long before I started taking photos of them, but didn't have the opportunity to photograph until I encountered it during a random walk. It's a Buick Skylark, one of the compacts designated X-bodies by General Motors that arrived for 1980 to replace the aging Chevrolet Nova and its badge-engineered cousins (Pontiac Phoenix, Oldsmobile Omega, and Skylark).

The new vehicles were front-wheel-drive, a first for GM other than the luxury Eldorado and Toronado of the 1960s. This car was 19" shorter in length than the car it replaced, but had better interior room, quite a significant accomplishment at the time for a company in the process of relearning how to design and make cars.

The X-cars were built and sold from 1980-85, and while initially successful, they were plagued with problems, though the Skylark managed to keep on selling in decent enough volume throughout its six-year production run, suggesting that they somehow managed to have fewer problems than the other X-bodies (the Chevy Citation was the worst). That might help explain how this one survived. The car's exterior styling changed very little over six model years; I can tell you from the grille that this is at least an '82, while the "Custom" badges on the rear fenders suggest that it's either an '84 or '85.

I didn't notice until I was preparing these photos that this car has wheel covers on only one side. I can't say for sure whether or not this car gets driven; I've never seen it on the roads around the neighborhood, and when I see it parked it seems to always be in the same spot. But it still has license plates, and it's still here, which is something 30 years later.

This Week in Awesome (1/25/14)

It's still technically Saturday, so this is moving in the right direction...

I love the weird corners of tumblr where people just latch onto some zany idea and run wild with it. (Yahoo! Tech)

Similarly, there are sites that are rather more obsessive than zany, but those can be okay too. Give this guy credit for being thorough. (Laughing Squid)

If you have ever thought about writing a screenplay, this is worth a look. You might be surprised at some of the stuff these guys created. Splitsider)

This probably would have been better at the start of the football season, but I'll take it anyway: reimagining the NFL team logos as hipsters. (Uproxx via Dappered Weekend Dossier)

And finally this week, what happens when a menswear trade show collides with a big winter storm? You get a bunch of guys dressed to look cool, and thus in reality are woefully unprepared for severe weather. I am pretty sure these pictures were not intended to be funny, but I find them hilarious. (Four Pins via Valet)

Retro Video Unit (1/24/14)

It's been very cold here again for most of this week, so I started thinking about a song that might assuage some of the chill, and "Walking On Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves came to mind.

Now this is not exactly a sun-drenched video, which is a bit odd; it appears to have been shot in London on a typically foggy day. But it is an infectious song and pretty much a guaranteed mood lifter. (I've always thought "Do You Want Crying?" from the same album is a better song, but lyrically it's something of a downer.)



This song was all over the summer of 1985, which may be another reason why I've associated it mentally with warmth.

Vagaries of the Canine Appetite

Right around the time we figured out that we were supposed to be giving the dog twice as much of her joint supplement daily, she started displaying a lack of interest in the previously irresistible, chewy, bacon-flavored medicine-disguised-as-treats (of which we had just purchased a new two-pound tub). This is a dog that would pick through dry kibble with her tongue, seeking out whatever worthy gems of goodness we had hidden at the bottom of the dish.

We resorted to breaking up the chews into small pieces and mixing them with her evening food. Since the food is also doused with chicken broth and plain yogurt, it tends to be consumed very quickly, scooped into her mouth via her long, spoonlike tongue. We've had a few nights over the past week where she seemed less than interested in her food overall, barely touching it and sometimes leaving it to congeal overnight, other times circling back to it around 11 pm.

A bit of strategic thinking brought us to the realization that we may have been feeding her too early, and her actual appetite may not have been matching up with her need for reassurance that her feeding was imminent. We started holding off on feeding her for 20 to 30 minutes past her usual time, and that seems to have solved the problem. Coincidentally, it seems that the chewy medicine treats are once again worthy of being eaten immediately when given in the morning.

Overheard: Parental Responsibility Edition

At the auto show on Monday, the Volvo display was one of the only areas on the show floor with any seating (aside from sitting in the cars themselves). A group of cream-colored leather couches (possibly Swedish, probably not from IKEA) was arranged in a rectangle, and a couple of families were taking a break there.

As we passed by, a young boy of perhaps four jumped up from sitting alongside his parents and started walking across the seating surface of one of the sofas. I didn't see the reaction of either parent, but the mother called the child's name several times, scoldingly but with little sense of threat or consequence behind it, in a vain attempt to get him to stop.

I then heard her say, perhaps to her husband, another parent, or possibly even to herself, "This is why we don't have white furniture at home." I couldn't help myself: we weren't that close, but loudly enough so that it was within the realm of possibility that the parents heard me, I said to my friend, "This is why I don't have children."

Car Stuff: Miscellany

I guess I took yesterday off from the blog; I went to the auto show with a friend. I thought I'd take a bunch of pictures and make a post out of it, but even though I enjoyed the show, I ended up not feeling all that inspired. Plus there was a sizable crowd, making it difficult to get decent shots without a bunch of people in the way. But I can share a couple of pictures:

This is a Subaru Forester cut open to display its safety features, or something like that. (You can see that I still ended up with a stray arm in the shot.)

And this, well, it's pretty self-explanatory: a Mustang pool table, with working lights, probably intended to "commemorate" the 50th anniversary this spring of the original Mustang's release. I'm not sure who the audience is for it, but that's someone else's problem. (Also, note that is not the upcoming redesigned Mustang in the background, but the outgoing model; the show was rather short on just-announced redesigns.)

This Week in Awesome (1/18/14)

Still trying to get this right... small steps.

In celebration of the return of Archer this past week, Uproxx put together a supercut of the self-involved superspy's best one-liners.

Here's a long but very interesting story about relief efforts for American soldiers held prisoner during World War II that included modified board game sets that included items that could be useful in an escape. (Eurogamer via Consumerist)

What if your Google searches were handled by an actual person? (CollegeHumor)

And finally this week, on the real side of things Google, an interactive timeline of popular music since 1950. (Laughing Squid)

Walking Shoes

During the cold months, when it's not wet and sloppy or extremely cold I spend most of my time in Caterpillar work boots that I've had for years. They are neither insulated nor waterproof, but they are comfortable for walking and their thicker soles and ankle coverage help keep my feet from getting cold.

But every once in a while we get a week in January like the one we've just had, where it's above 40 every day and sometimes hits 50, and I don't always feel like wearing my boots. Back in the spring I got these shoes from L.L. Bean, and they have turned out to be the best walking shoes I have owned.

They are meant to look like the old-school hiking shoes that have recently come back into fashion, but functionally they are more of a general-purpose shoe. They're a bit funny-looking, but not nearly as bad as the puffy "mall-walking shoes" you tend to see older folks wearing. (I'm not ready to give in to those yet.) I also like that they are quite plain, devoid of unnecessary detailing.

Although I kind of like the tan, I went with the gray, which is more low-key. The blue laces are anything but subtle, but fortunately they came with a second pair of laces in matching gray. The blue pull tabs on the back aren't so noticeable, so I don't mind those. They aren't available in wide, which I tend to find more comfortable, but these are wide enough that it's not an issue.

I've had some foot issues over the years, including a cramp/nerve-pinch thing in my right foot that tends to manifest after I have been walking or standing for a while. It doesn't matter what shoes I am wearing, so whenever I wear new shoes during a day of walking I expect the cramp to show up. But with these shoes, no cramp. I have no idea why, but I think it may have something to do with the footbeds. When I first put them on they tend to feel a bit strange, but as soon as I start walking everything feels fine.

Bean happens to be offering 10% off all orders through next Wednesday (1/22), and these shoes are already marked down $10 from their original price, so you could get them for $63.

Overheard: We've All Wondered About It Edition

While I was riding the bus today, a woman boarded with a small boy of three or possibly four. They sat a couple of seats behind me. A few minutes later I heard the boy ask his mother, "Is it going to be the same driver on the way back?"

Car Stuff: Random Sighting #18

Sometimes I seek out certain cars where they live after I've noticed them parked in the same place on different occasions; other times, those cars find me.

Back in the fall I was heading to an appointment one morning when I found this car parked across the street from the bus stop. I had passed it at least a dozen times in the car, parked several streets away, when we were driving to Medford Square. I kept meaning to go over there and take pictures of it where its owner presumably lives, but then on this particular day it was right in front of me, saving me the effort.

This is a 1986 Pontiac Parisienne, and you are forgiven if you've never heard of it. In the 1960s the top of the line Pontiac was the Bonneville, but in 1971 they added the Grand Ville at the top of the lineup. When General Motors' full-size cars got downsized for 1977, the Grand Ville was dropped and the Bonneville once again became the top-line Pontiac ride. Meanwhile up in Canada, what was called a Bonneville here was called a Parisienne, dating back to 1958 (which, coincidentally, is when the Bonneville was first introduced).

But wait, it gets more confusing: due to declining sales, the full-size Bonneville was dropped after 1981; Pontiac took what had been a mid-size LeMans, gave it a different front end, and slapped the Bonneville name on it. Almost immediately they regretted the decision, but up north they were still building the Parisienne. Since they had already given the Bonneville name to another car, they imported the Parisienne and kept its name.

For the final bit of weirdness, the Parisiennes sent here for sale in 1983 and '84 were really just Chevrolet Caprices with different grilles, tail lights, and trim. But for 1985 Pontiac went back to using the body panels that had been used on the Bonneville and Parisienne back in 1981, which differed from those on the Caprice, mainly at the rear of the car. See how this car has the gently sloping rear fenders and trunk lid? That's the older/newer version.

So how do I know this isn't a Canadian car from '81? Because it has the government-mandated center stop light, which first appeared on American cars for the 1986 model year.

As you can see, this car has been pounded on and is still going. Oxidized paint, missing trim, a vinyl top that appears to have psoriasis, a dented door, some sort of Pep Boys wheel covers—this is a true beater, and has earned the right to be called one.

Last Week in Awesome (1/11/14)

Okay, this is getting a bit silly... but in my defense, I was busy most of the day Saturday, then of course I had to watch the football game. Yesterday just kind of got away from me entirely; before I knew it, it was 10:30 pm and I still hadn't done my weekly TV lineup for The Longfellow Bridge.

Michelle Dockery was game for some spoofing of both her Downton Abbey character and American cop shows, with an assist from Michael Chiklis, seemingly reincarnating Vic Mackey from The Shield. (Funny or Die)

On the eve of the release of his new album, an assessment of Bruce Springsteen's body of work in typically exhaustive Grantland fashion. (Grantland via Kempt)

Words are awesome, but sometimes the right word for expressing a certain concept or feeling doesn't exist in our native tongue. Fortunately there are words in other languages that can provide an assist. (Mental Floss via the Dappered Weekend Dossier)

And finally this week, a music nerd writes for other music nerds on "bands that were good, but blew it." (The A.V. Club via Unlikely Words)

Retro Video Unit (1/10/14)

I've been up in the (YouTube) attic again, digging around for one of those rare power-pop nuggets. And I found one, all right, though in this instance it's more about the song than the video clip.

The Monroes were a San Diego band that had a moderate hit in 1982 with "What Do All the People Know?" They were on their way to what could have been a very successful run when the Japan-based label with which they had chosen to sign decided to abandon the American market, leaving the band without the ability to promote its recently released EP. (Info courtesy Wikipedia)

The entry says this happened while the band was working on ideas for a music video for this song, which means there isn't an official video. There is, however, a live appearance on The Merv Griffin Show that showcases the song pretty well:

Point of View

Since I walk around with a decent camera on me most of the time, I've been attempting to make use of it beyond taking pictures of old cars. You have already seen some of these experiments, such as this Orange Line train, construction in Downtown Crossing, or these rooftop shots.

T stations are not the most photogenic locations, but waiting around for 20 to 30 minutes for a bus can be a catalyst for creativity. The other day I was standing next to a concrete pillar at Wellington when I noticed a pipe running down it, and a groove in the concrete where the sections of concrete were joined together. I leaned over and looked through the space between the pipe and the groove, and then thought to take a photo of it:

I think this would have come out better if I had a more sophisticated camera like a digital SLR, but considering that the iPhone's camera has a fixed lens I think it's all right. Also, there is a bus shelter directly across from where I was aiming, so that's the blurry thing you are seeing at the end of the groove; I think the shot may have worked better if that area was open. There are now lens attachments for smartphones that offer wide-angle and macro capabilities, and I may give them a try at some point.

Last Week in Awesome (1/4/14)

Arrrgh... I had a full complement of TWiA ready to go for this past weekend, but I admit I got caught up in the NFL playoff games and before I knew it, the weekend was gone.

This one isn't of interest to me, but I bet a bunch of people would enjoy being able to play hundreds of classic console video games in a web browser. (Business Insider via Boy Genius Report)

Speaking of flashbacks, have a look at an L.L. Bean holiday catalog circa 1983. (Heavy Tweed Jacket; thanks to DC)

I suppose it was inevitable: there's a Downton Abbey LEGO set. (Vanity Fair via TV Tattle)

And finally last week, a collection of some of last year's outstanding online writing. (The Verge)

Car Stuff: Random Sighting #17

Some of the cars in my neighborhood are regularly parked in front of their owners' homes, but I'm not always on foot when I see them. This week's example is a car that I tend to pass while riding in our car or on the bus, so when I happened to walk this route one day I was ready to get these shots.

If you remember the light blue Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera from back in November, this is its Buick counterpart, the Century. Just about everything I wrote about that car applies to this one as well. Now I just have to spot a Chevrolet Celebrity and a Pontiac 6000...

I think this one may be a year or two newer than the Olds; they were built through the 1996 model year, and something about this car has an aura of finality about it, both in the sense that it's from near the end of the car's production run, and in the sense that its owner, whom I suspect is an older person, seems to have decided that this would the last car s/he bought.

It's certainly well kept for a car around 20 years old, which suggests that it is driven infrequently. It also looks like it has those passive seat belts that used to be installed on cars before they had been updated with air bags. (Also, I need to remember to try to get interior shots.)

I'm pretty sure there are no longer any American cars offered with a front bench seat. Now that cars like this one, and others that appealed primarily to car buyers of a certain age like the Mercury Grand Marquis, are no longer in production, I do wonder what sorts of cars those approaching retirement age are buying. I think the closest current analogue to this car may be the Toyota Camry. Reasonably sized, comfortable, economical to buy and own, bland to the point of numbness...

Dog Dosage

Our dog turned 12 in August. She's been on a joint supplement for the better part of two years to help with movement. She does not have arthritis as far as we know, but she has been having a little trouble getting up the stairs when we come back from walks.

The other day we were getting ready to reorder the supplement and were comparing its ingredients to a different one that some dog owners on an email list had recommended. As I was looking over the small print on the outside of the container I noticed this: "give one tablet daily per 25 pounds of body weight."

The dog weighs around 55 pounds, but we've been giving her only one tablet per day since she started taking this particular kind back in August. Oops. The dosage on the other kind she was getting before was one per day, and it never occurred to either of us that it would be any different for these. So the replenishment order is on the way, but of course this dosage means that she will go through them in half the time. The joys of being a pet owner...

Annals of Puzzling Human Behavior

I know I should no longer be surprised when I see people who are ill-dressed for the weather, but I always end up wondering what's going on with them and how they can tolerate the conditions.

It's snowing lightly here today; the brunt of the storm will be coming through later tonight, and by tomorrow we should have a foot of snow. But it's very windy today. One of my eBay items sold last night, so I had to go out this morning to bring it to the post office. I figured it was better to get it into the system today, because I'll be spending a good chunk of tomorrow clearing snow and I don't know how quickly conditions will be returning to something near normal. I promise buyers that I will generally be able to ship their purchases within one business day, so if I want positive feedback it's in my interest to get their packages out quickly.

The two post offices that are easiest to get to are in Medford Square and downtown on Milk Street. Getting to the Medford post office requires more walking when leaving my house and coming back, as the bus route I take to get there is about eight minutes' walk away. Getting downtown requires less time outside: the stop for that bus route is only a minute from our house, and the post office is just around the corner from the State T stop, so today I decided to head downtown.

After I left the post office I saw a guy walking toward me, wearing only a short-sleeve polo shirt and jeans, and some sort of light-duty hiking shoes. His shoulders were hunched and his hands were stuffed into his pockets, and he ducked into a restaurant across from the post office. I suppose he had come from one of the nearby office buildings and figured he didn't need to bundle up to go and get his lunch.

But come on, it's 25 degrees outside and the wind is blowing at around 25 miles an hour. Short sleeves? And maybe this is my own judgmental nature at work, but when I see someone underdressed in such a way in such conditions, I tend to think it makes that person look at least a bit unhinged, as though he had spontaneously decided to wander away from his treatment program.

Resurrection of the Phones

Happy new year to everyone out there. You may remember a few months ago I posted a photo of sad pay phones in the Wellington T station. I was passing through the other day and noticed that things aren't so sad after all:

It appears that the phones were being installed, not removed. There's a third one hiding behind that Gronk sign; looking at it now, it's kind of in the way of passersby where it is and should be moved back next to the phone.

(Sorry for the iffy exposure, but MBTA employees have been known to exhibit selective awareness of the policy that specifically permits taking photos on T property, so when I do take them I try to do so quickly, to avoid attracting the attention of station personnel.)

And yes, this is one of the ugliest stations in the T system.