Ok. How cool is this magnet? I love how there's a hieroglyphics key! It makes me want to find the nearest Egyptian collection and start decoding. Funnily enough, it wasn't until I looked at the picture of the magnet that I realized that it holds the keys to the universe. Or, at least the letters to it.
Egypt's on my list of places to visit, but not for a while, methinks. But, just think, I didn't even have to go farther than the Egyptian goods stall at the Union Square Holiday Market to find this magnet! Another reason to be grateful for New York City!
Supershort post today, I have to keep moving, otherwise, I'll go into a food coma. Happy Thanksgiving!
He was one of my favorites of the Saturday morning cartoon line-up, growing up in Chicago. Back when I had to be dragged away from the television to start my day.
Uh, yeah, that really hasn't changed much. To this day, I am not opposed to running Cartoon Network or Boomerang all day long in my apartment. And of course, I still have to be dragged away from the television to start my day.
Anyway, I knew when I saw this magnet at Universal Studios I couldn't walk away from him - he was such a part of my childhood!
I did want to share a new cartoon that I discovered on Facebook, the Velvet Mouse Show. It's basically a bunch of guys who got together to create a new cartoon show worthy of the 70s and 80s Saturday morning cartoons.
It's about the shenanigans of four dudes - two stoner kids (ok, fine, but Shaggy-like) who end up forming a band with Merlin's nephew and a Buzz Lightyear-ish dude from another planet. Oh, and the requisite cutegirl (voiced by Emma Caulfield) who drops by every so often, a mouse who doesn't really show up all that often so far, and Dr. X, the evil scientist who hates confounded rock music. *shakes fists*
No, I know it sounds a little crazy, and it totally is, with its trippy music and animated sequences, silly stories and even sillier 70s sound cues, but I've now watched every episode on their site, and actually kinda love it. The pilot's below, cuz I can't stop hearing the Velvet Mouse theme song in my head now.
Magnet #1005 - BAM! All of geekdom wasted another two hours going after the SD Comic-Con badges that their registration vendor, EPIC, couldn't make happen. Again. Making this BAM! sticker magnet pretty accurate.
I had nothing to do but ride a train and hit refresh, so I sat back and watched the #sdcc hashtag fly by, laughing as each hatetweet and #EPICfail Tweet and Cafe Press shirt went by. But, it's not really funny.
On the business side, there's absolutely nothing funny about a vendor who doesn't deliver, twice. There's also nothing funny about slow PR crisis response, waiting too long to communicate with the pissed-off masses, and waiting even longer to call Time of Death on the registration proceedings.
I do feel terrible for the folks that were running around trying to fix the bad situation. But that time lapse allowed so much #sdcc vitriol to spew that it would make any and all corporate reputation experts' heads spin. So much goodwill was lost in those two hours, it's impossible to gauge. Will anyone boycott? No, of course not. Will people continue to mock the SDCC and EPIC brands? Most likely.
Now we wait for the next TBD reg date. In the meantime, the below post is from DC Sister, who was one of the lucky ones who got a golden ticket.
Take it away, Charlie!
- joy
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So if you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that Joy and I went to the San Diego Comic-Con this past summer. Yeah. Cool, right?
She and I (and maybe SaveTheWorldCouple) were supposed to have bought our tickets for the 2011 Comic-Con yesterday. You would think that after the big registration fail two weeks ago, the organizers would’ve come up with some solutions before they reopened registration yesterday. Too bad that didn’t happen.
Once again, I was obsessively pressing the Refresh button for more than an hour only to get server errors. Sigh. Oh well.
In the end, I got my badge at least before they closed registration once more for technical difficulties. Sadly, I have a feeling that one more fail means none of my group will want to go and I’ll have to sell my ticket back.
Oh, but I do so want to go!
Why? you ask. Why venture back into the fray of the great, graphic-T-wearing unwashed? Here goes:
- The stars. How often do you get to see/hear your favorite stars talk about their shows/movies? In D.C. it doesn’t happen often. I don’t like New York much, but I do get jealous when Joy gets to see someone like Colin Firth speak at a screening. (To brag, though, I’ve been on the set of The West Wing and met the cast when they filmed in D.C., so ... holla!)
- The spectacle. Dudes, a lot of people go to this shindig. Like a lot, a lot. And I hate lines; I like to blame the three-hour wait at Bloomingdale’s to meet Santa when we were kids. [This way to Santa! This way to Santa! - joy] But at this place? I don’t mind so much. Because, really, where else can you sit down for an hour or two in line and see Wonder Woman, Mal Reynolds, Chewbacca and a TARDIS pass you by in a matter of minutes? Best. People watching. Ever.
- The possibilities. The $64,000 question: Is it better to go in 2011 or 2012? Much of this hinges on what movies are coming out next year. Captain America had a panel this summer, but the film is scheduled to open Comic-Con weekend in 2011! Will the cast be there again? Will they have, like, surprise screenings? Because if so, I’m there. Richard Armitage is in this movie. It may be a bit part, but who cares. He’s. In. A. Movie. Like a big movie. What if he’s there???
Also, he’s gonna be in The Hobbit. I don’t even like that book! All I remember from reading it in sixth grade is the vocabulary word “fortnight.” I don’t really know who his character is either. But I do know I’ll be seein’ that ish. But will Richard, Peter Jackson et al. be at Comic-Con in 2011?
Presumably they’d still be filming in New Zealand, but could one or two of them - preferably someone whose initials are brought to you by the letters R and A - give an early sneak peek at footage, maybe to raise awareness? Or would they come in 2012, a few months before the movie releases in December? Bah. These are important questions!
They likely won’t be answered until well after we decide to give up our tickets. Alls I know is I’ll be kicking myself if I’m at home that week in July and there’s some YouTube video of Richard Armitage playing Just Dance with Zachary Levi on the Comic-Con show floor in San Diego or something.
*TM @NathanFillion, who *needs* to call me when we’re in San Diego...if anyone can successfully register, that is.
It's definitely one of those days that a few generations can remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news about John F. Kennedy being shot in Dallas.
It would be a good decade before I was born, so all I have is the legacy of his presidency and the tragic story of his assassination. And several magnets...including this one, from Pomegranate.
It looks like some folks are planning on educating a whole new generation about the JFK legacy, with a January 2011 launch of JFK50 - currently a launch page announcing an innovative community website dedicated to celebrating the 50th anniversary of his presidency.
I'm not gonna lie, the hopeful tone of the video and the content just made me all teary - especially within the context of today's turbulent times, and how far (or how little) we've come in the last 50 years.
Nice job, JFK50.
*For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.
What a gorgeous painting. My friends brought this back for me a few weeks ago.
Do you suppose, back in 1860, when Fredric Edwin Church painted his Aurora Borealis, that he ever thought that man would be Tweeting the same image...from space?
While I get it's totally a PR mechanism for NASA, I can't even believe that all the astronauts are allowed to Tweet...much less from space. And holding Tweet Ups? Wha?
It's like the coolest thing - ever. The astronaut who Tweeted that image (@astro_soichi) has already gone home, so I've started following @astro_wheels and @NASA_Astronauts. I won't lie, it's mainly because in my head, I'm totally envisioning how the kids from Space Camp would have Tweeted. (@JinxtheRogueRobot: "@Max and @Jinx, friends foooooreeeeeever!" or @ImTish: "Whip me, beat me, take away my charge card, NASA'S TALKING!")
Anyway, from this Church painting to those Twitpics, it's truly unbelievable how far we've come in the last couple of centuries.
Back then, it was amazing that Dr. Isaac Hayes was leading an expedition to the Arctic, and that he made it back alive. He's the one who brought back sketches from his trip, and gave them to Church to paint. Folks actually considered this painting a portent of doom, an omen for the ensuing conflict between North and South.
Now, we're marveling over Twitpics from space. Whew.
Ok. Someone's been listening to this blog, because I took a quick spin through the Holiday Market down at Union Square yesterday, and bought tons of stocking stuffers. And at least four magnets.
I dunno what it is, but this year, a lot more booths seem to be selling them. That's right. You heard it here, joy magnetism is the vanguard of magnet popularity.
Anyway, one of the places I dropped by was the supercool Nicola and the Newfoundlander booth. I was totally drawn in by the gorgeous display of wood magnets with tiny 1x1 images on them. Loved it.
The wood magnets were what they called "reclaimed words on reclaimed wood" - the most novel and creative idea I've seen in a while. The artists, Nicola and Brendan (I'm assuming he's the Newfoundlander) have been creating hand-crafted, green art for the last decade. They have some beautiful work for sale at the market. But you know I had keen eyes for that small wall of magnets.
Nicola explained to me that she and Brendan have created images of lost words - words that have gone out of use - and placed them on reclaimed wood that they rescued from all over Brooklyn - watertowers, Coney Island boardwalks, pickle and wine tanks, etc. There's some gorgeous ones on the board, but I'm now deathly afraid to go back down to visit, because I worry that it'll be too tempting to just start collecting. (Kind of like this whole carousel of the Unemployed Philosophers Guild.)
But, even if you're not a pins/magnets kinda person (although, hi, you're reading about magnets right now!), there are nightlights, vases, clocks, etc. Very cool. And you feel smart for buying from them, because they've done their utmost to be as green as possible with their work.
So by now, you're probably wondering what rememble means. No, this isn't a sneaky ad for Rememble, the social media site, either. Basically, rememble is having a false memory, one of my mother's funniest phrases. (I can't wait to tell her that there's an actual word for it.)
For example, dcsis seems to have a memory that she's the one who came up with the idea of doing a blog about a different magnet each day. I have no recollection of this conversation. So that means one of us, does not rememble correctly.
Dudes. You've no idea the pressure over selecting the next of the millienialmagnets!
I figured a little echo from yesterday's magnet wouldn't hurt, so I'm using this inspire magnet for a couple of the most gratifying days I've had in years.
I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but JCP is running their Adopt-an-Angel / Angel Giving Tree Program again this year, in partnership with the Salvation Army and Rascal Flatts.
Yesterday I volunteered for their media event down in Herald Square - your usual "hand over a giant check" and shake some hands media event, followed by a little meet and greet with the band. We helped the Salvation Army collect toys for the toy drive, and in return JCP/RF gave away autographed copies of the latest CD.
Then, this morning, I got to help out in the Salvation Army Toy Workshop! Dudes. A. Toy. Workshop.
If you guys know me at all, you know that I love toys. Christmas. Gift-wrapping. And not necessarily in that order.
Shoot. If you know me at all, you know that for me, being in the Toy Workshop, knee-deep in piles of toys, looking for just the right one for little Johnny or Suzie must be what Heaven's like. (Only with more chocolate and television. And George Clooney. And Joshua Jackson. And David Tennant. And throw Alex O'Loughlin in there, too.)
Can I tell you guys? I had the best time for those few hours, sorting and resorting, pecking and hunting, bagging and tagging toys for a local daycare. Yes, it was just me with my supervisor (Dudes, she's in charge of a Toy Workshop! How is that not the best job in all of the world right now?), and the toys, and I don't remember the last time I felt this good about something I was involved in.
Don't get me wrong. I love volunteering. But, usually, when I volunteer, it's for stuff like Tribeca Film Festival with an angled view of the Red Carpet and Mickey Rourke brushing past me as I'm calling for audience ballots, or a Dragon Boat Festival where I'm knee-deep in a semi-submerged boat in the Hudson wondering why the cuteboys aren't helping me bail water, or at the NY TV Festival giving out directions, waiting for my comp pass to a TV critics panel, or once, (and I quit after one session) babysitting helping over-privileged, spoiled Upper West Side kids through a kids' workshop at a kids' museum.
So I never really get to help anyone.
But, this was different. Yeah, I don't get to see the kids unwrap their presents, but just knowing that because of the Salvation Army, they'll actually have a present...well, that's present enough for me.
What inspired me this season? (Don't think I'm not mourning for all those seasons past that I could have been helping out there.)
The only reason I ended up helping out is because I had on the TV in the background last week, and heard the JCP Angel ad come on, and I was tickled because the VO said something about the greatest gift you can give someone is joy.
I was amused so much, that I went online and picked an angel, who lives somewhere in a 2-block radius of me. As I was clicking here and there, selecting all my gifts, it struck me that I wondered who was coordinating the gifts and wrapping the gifts on the other side.
The next day, I emailed the Salvation Army to see if I could help out in any way, and voila! Toy Workshop. I can't wait for Thanksgiving to be over, so I can come back and dive back into the toypiles.
Magnet #1007 - Egypt
