When Turner Classic Movies started in 1994, they started with a very strong logo. It was designed by the Minneapolis firm, Charles S. Anderson Design Co. It had a main version, with a gangster. But it also had other versions where other heads representing movie cliches were swapped in and out.
Wednesday, September 01, 2021
Turner Classic Movies logo change
Friday, December 18, 2020
Land vs. population
I like population-adjusted US maps. When presenting vote totals, showing realistic land maps give a distorted picture of the numbers. I particularly enjoy the map artists's decisions on how to mimic each state's shape. The limited pixel count adds an extra challenge.
Minnesota comes off pretty well. Some other states leave a lot to the imagination.
Daughter Number Three on Facebook suggested that Vermont and New Hampshire are poorly-served by these representations. I agree, but those states should just up their population, so the map artist has more pixels to work with.
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Top maps from the New York Times website. I redrew the highlighted enlarged states. |
Wednesday, November 11, 2020
Save Our Snakes
I was relieved — and only slightly disappointed — that we didn't see snakes on the road, or anywhere else, during our visit to Dinosaur Provincial Park in southern Alberta. Delores did take this great photo just outside the park, though.
Saturday, September 05, 2020
Just like the USA — Alberta, Canada has people with widely-differing opinions.
The billboard is from the Wexit crowd (the Canadian twist on Brexit, Western Canada Exit, I think). They are unhappy with how the rest of Canada treats their province, so they want to leave Canada. And apparently join the USA.
This letter to the editor in the Edmonton Journal is a rebuttal of that idea.
Monday, June 29, 2020
Platt and Bogdanovich

Tuesday, February 11, 2020
Alberta election, April 2019
Long story.
Today we took advantage of advance voting in Alberta’s provincial election. It’s our first time voting as Canadians. Yay! Election day is Tuesday, April 16.
About these pictures: These distinctive bubble-window row houses are in our neighborhood. There’s another set of them a few blocks east of these on the same street. They strike me as very 1970s.
While the bubble windows are ignored by most of the people living in these houses, a few of the windows are decorated with Christmas lights in season.
The political race this month is between candidates of two major parties. The current party in power is the New Democratic Party (NDP). In 2015, they won power from the conservative party of the time, the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta. This was a huge upset as the Progressive Conservatives had ruled Alberta since the 1970s. The way I understand it, the loss was due to some particularly visible corruption.
The Progressive Conservatives were beaten so badly, they decided to disband and regroup, joining with a more Tea-Party-ish political party, the Wildrose Party, to form the United Conservative Party (UPC).
Around the time the NDP was voted in, Alberta’s lifeblood — the extraction of oil from the Alberta tar sands (most here call them the “oil sands,” only wild-eyed environmentalists use the “tar sands” term) — became much less profitable because of the global collapse of oil prices. The unemployment numbers have grown and anger against the NDP has grown.
So, the United Conservatives are heavily favored to take control of Alberta in this election.
But, at least here in our neighborhood, the New Democrats are still popular. Hence the bubble-window display shown.
Update: United Conservative Party won.
Grumpy cat on the internet
Sunday, January 19, 2020
Language alert: Apps
A restaurant chain here is trying to replace the word, “appetizers” with “apps.” They may succeed, but I don’t like it. (From a Facebook ad.)
(Yes, Edmonton has an Ice District. The centerpiece of it is the new-ish hockey arena.)
Wednesday, January 15, 2020
I didn't know he was a Canadian
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Edmonton Journal, May 17, 2019 |
The cutline for the accompanying photo starts out: “Canadian actor Keanu Reeves reprises his role as ….” I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be true (IMDB.com says he was born in Lebanon) or an insult or what.
Maybe the cutline writer has Reeves confused with the many, many other actors who are Canadians.
[May 17, 2019 Facebook post]
And whenever the newspaper mentions William Shatner it always has to remind readers that Shatner is Canadian.
Yes, I did go see the third John Wick movie. It was okay. Just as good as "John Wick 2" and not as good as "John Wick 1."
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
Tidying up
So … I'm going to copy some of the stuff I've been doing over there to over here.
First up: Marie Kondo on Netflix.
Just what I needed. Help with tidying from Marie Kondo-zilla-san. Thank you, Netflix. I AM READY TO SPARK JOY!
It's no coincidence that Marie Kondo's Netflix show appeared at the beginning of the year. Just in time for us starting out with a New Year's resolution to, um, tidy up.
[Facebook post from Jan. 1, 2019]
Sunday, January 05, 2020
Animal stacking
The Parlour, Edmonton |
Prairie Noodle Shop, Edmonton |
And I then noticed a third. This one is at an Edmonton grocery store – Loblaw's City Market, in the Brewery District strip mall. Same line up as the raman place, but here the animals are facing different directions.
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Loblaw's City Market, Brewery District |
And finally (so far), this fall, I saw this sign at the Minnesota State Fair. For Mancini's al fresco restaurant. This one leaves out the chicken and puts the animals on a Vespa scooter.
Mancini's al fresco, Minnesota State Fairgrounds |