Graffiti improves advertisement

Oh heck, graffiti almost always improves advertising. Minor quibble: There's only one real "nickname" in the graffiti. It woulda been funnier if the person had written Bub, Tuck, Snapper, Clubber and Twinkles. [Click on picture to enlarge.]

"________ sprawl"

I thought it was "suburban sprawl."

I think that's what it's been called since the '60s. But more and more I'm seeing it called "urban sprawl." Wikipedia redirects searches for "suburban sprawl" to "urban sprawl."

Guess I like the term "suburban sprawl" for two reasons. I like the alliteration and I think suburbs are more sprawly than urban areas.

Nice little drawing

I was looking at the bottom of my camera and I saw a drawing there I hadn't noticed until today. A drawing showing how to load in the four AA batteries. It's really a nice little drawing. It's about 3/8-inch wide (about 9mm).

Ban these phrases

Getting a jump on the year-end lists of phrases that should be banned.

"Well and truly." Use only if you want to sound like a hopeless sci-fi/comic book fanboy. Or has this phrase been banned already?

"Reaching across the aisle." If it's not in reference to grabbing for a box of cornflakes at the supermarket, please don't use this phrase.

"That's three minutes of my life I'll never get back." Usually written in the comment section of a YouTube video. To which I say, is that including the time it took to compose your comment?

[UPDATE: Just one more.] "Damn . . . just damn." and "Wow. . . just wow." I say, just stop.

Brainstorm idea: Probably the best way for me to stop getting worked up about these phrases would be for me to stop reading comments on the Internet.

Something new

Kojak

The Urban Dictionary definition of kojak parking is: To find a parking spot directly in front of the place you want to go, any time day or night. The way Telly Savalas did in his 1970s TV series, "Kojak."
The way I remember it, my family had a variation on this definition. We defined a kojak as driving right in to a parallel-parking spot without having to back up or adjust your car's position at all. A perfect parking job in one go.

Customize your lawn sign

[Update: These signs are now gone. I suspect it's less a change of heart than neighborhood vandals.]

Two political signs on one house's lawn. Including little owner-added jabs. It's not enough to show support for a candidate -- the competing candidate must also be insulted.

Go gray, Linda Ronstadt

Nice article in the New York Times about Linda Ronstadt. She's 62 years old. And I think it's totally great that she has not gone down the plastic surgery road. Although I think she'd look more comfortable if she let her hair go gray. (Suggested with this amateurish Photoshop job.)

"Recycle" the bottle

I'm not convinced that plastic soda pop bottles are recycleable in any useful way. Coca-Cola has recently been making a big pitch for recycling their plastic bottles.

At the Minnesota State Fair there were giant plastic Coke bottles asking to be filled with empty plastic Coke bottles. I suppose so the empties could be made in to more giant plastic recycling/advertising stations.

It's interesting that the Coke recycling triangle has two arrows. They should have used just one arrow. The traditional "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" slogan certainly doesn't apply.



I've been complaining about this since the turn of the century.

Where is last week's City Pages?

Last week, before the big convention, I was looking around for a copy of City Pages, the local weekly free paper, published on Wednesdays. I wanted a copy because in this issue is a swell comic by Zander Cannon.

There are a number of boxes around downtown St. Paul that usually have plenty of papers. The boxes were empty. Last night, after the convention was over, I spotted a City Pages box that was chock-full of the Aug. 27 edition -- hey, that's from last week.

I didn't miss last week's paper after all!

Is so. Is not.

Just to set the record straight.

It's a first

Sure, the Science Museum of Minnesota has always used the side of its building to advertise. To advertise its own shows, that is. But this is the first time they've used the space to advertise someone else's product. (Yeah, they like to stretch out the change, so there are a few days of confusion as the poster gradually changes from one to another.)


Here's a closer view.


[UPDATE: I guess there's a reason they haven't done this in the past. It's a violation of St. Paul's signage code. The sign was for the benefit of the Rebublican Convention. The Science Museum is saying they thought the Republican National Committee was responsible for getting the proper permits. The ad will be taken down on Monday -- three days after the convention ended.]

Republican-ready

Red on the right, blue on the left and red, white and blue in the middle. Must be symbolic of -- something. Look! That big ol' American flag is glowing!

Cleverness

The new attack book about presidential candidate Barack Obama is titled "The Obama Nation." Say it out loud and it sounds like "The Abomination."

It's perfect for use on talk radio.

I'm guessing the author must be, what, 14 years old?

Republican-ready

Pictures of some of the cameras that have recently appeared downtown. Welcome to St. Paul!

Republican-ready redo

That's more like it. Guess they aren't going to go with the mushy, glowy logo after all.

Republican-ready

I go by the Xcel Hockey Arena every day. Two days ago I noted they were putting up a big sign on the glass. There was the Republican National Convention dancing-elephant logo, bigger than life! Kinda colorless. Guess they are going with the red=Republican theme.


Yesterday, the sign is a little bit littler. Not sure why the dancing elephant is gone. But I imagine it will be back. Without the elephant and with only the red background and yellowish stars it looks a little bit Soviet-ish.

Crop art time of year

Crop art time. Blogging progress at
www.cropart.blogspot.com. If you think watching paint dry is exciting, you may enjoy this.

New warnings

In an ad for the new movie, "Hellboy II."


In an ad for the new movie, "Momma Mia."


Smoking -- er, I meant to say, tobacco consumption -- takes place in these movies. You have been warned!

Blinky lights

We've got road construction in the neighborhood this summer. I had to take some video of this bunched-together group of warning lights.