Soft Rocket
Oh, hello. Found this sad little rocket in an old sketch book. Was meant to be a t-shirt design. T-shirt design is kind of boring, though. Maybe the cleverist t-shirt has nothing on it?
updated 01/09: looking back: love the idea. The commentary is kind of lame, though. A t-shirt with nothing on it would be stupid! Only YOU would get the joke…the very same problem the average conceptual art piece has.
In all truthfulness, my problem with tshirt designs with a “message” is the same problem I have with bumper stickers (and all types of social affiliations, religious or political). The hazard is giving the impression that your entire existence can be expressed through one particular sentiment, idea, or membership. The mere act of CHOOSING a symbol is an act of exclusivity of all other ideas, because you chose THIS symbol over THAT symbol. Any kind of choice results in an oversimplification of reality, and oversimplification of your experience of the world.
You have CHOSEN to misrepresent and oversimplify yourself, and why would you want to do that? You are thoughtful and fair, and carefully weigh and balance all sides of an argument, listen carefully, and clarify facts (as you know them) and misconceptions. You try to be honest, but not brash. You believe in truth and justice, but know the world is a complicated place, and not everyone can see eye to eye. So, why would you put a one-liner on the back of your car, or the front of your body? Are you a one-liner?
The message of this particular design? War is an ineffectual way of achieving peace. And there’s nothing wrong with that idea. And a rocket shaped like a flaccid penis is funny. The “problem” with the concept is that it excludes the legitimacy of a country needing to defend itself (with a rocket for example). The soft rocket negates that possibility, because the concept expressed isn’t “war is bad when it’s not justified according to my calculations, but it is totally justified when I feel it is so”. It is simply, “War is unjustified.” Sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn’t, but all you know by looking at my shirt is that I believe there is no such thing as a justified war.
Filed under Miscellaneous | Comments (169)12-Step Program alternative
I have an idea for a much simpler program. It has only one step.
Step #1: stop drinking.
udpated 01/09: looking back: maybe that’s why there’s so much recidivism with recovering alcoholics: none of the twelve steps is “stop drinking.”
The 6 Million Dollar Man’s cost if built today?
Using 1974 (when the show first aired) dollars and adjusting for inflation, about 26 million in 2008 dollars.
updated 01/09: looking back: there’s no idea here. Just a boring fact. However, I based the calculation on actual inflation data, so if you want to actually build the 6 million dollar man that is how much it will cost.
Filed under Inventions | Comment (0)New York vs. Los Angeles : who’s smarter?
Let’s consider fashion sense as a gauge of intelligence. To do that we’ll begin with some broad generalizations, but we may need to define some new stereotypes as well.
New York fashion ranges from classy 5th avenue to the cringingly painfully hip, and everything inbetween. The worst dressed in Manhattan are the tourists, who’re either decked out in their new sweat pants and 5-sizes-too big (but we still know you’re fat) t-shirts or LL Bean trail shoes, fanny pack, and zip-off pants.
Los Angeles fashion is just varing degrees of trashy, where most of the “well-dressed†look like they just stepped into or out of a tattoo parlor (which they in fact just did). There’s the late-30’s sloppy rockabillys, half-assed punk rockers (blue mohawk and studded bracelets and pumping gas into my mini-van), thrift store cannon-ballers with 80’s style hairsprayed bangs, and hipster wanna-be’s with ironic ring-neck t-shirts (ie. a classic Nintendo game pad) and white socks.
The differences in fashion-intelligence between New Yorkers and Los Angelesers(?) are real, but does it have anything to do with basic intelligence? Are New Yorkers smarter just because they dress smarter? You be the judge, but the answer is yes and yes.
updated 01/09: looking back: I really want to delete this one. So negative!
I had just moved to LA and it was really getting on my nerves, so this outburst was a tiny catharsis. Curiously, though, my general take on LA fashion hasn’t changed much in 5 months. There’s something about the way people assemble their outfits…so desperate to stand out, often resulting in a costume quality. In fact there is a store on Melrose that specializes in leather, and all of their outfits look like costumes from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.
The other problem with this post is that it isn’t an idea. It’s an arrogant observation.
Filed under Inventions | Comment (0)LAVA life
LAVA life is a type of life that originated from molten rock. If water is the key to life simple because of its fluidity, then maybe life could originate in lava if there were different type of molecules that stayed intact at high temperatures. These hot molecules could eventually coagulate into life-stuff. Like lava amoebas, lava fish, lava dogs, and lava people who eat lava sandwiches.
update 01/09: looking back: pretty good idea. Why couldn’t life develop from any neutral fluid? Isn’t that all water is? ISN’T IT?
Filed under Miscellaneous | Comment (0)