It must be 20 minutes into the future again. Max Headroom is back, shilling for the UK's Channel 4, his original home.
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Will the Nordstrom piano player soon be as rare as spats and handkerchiefs? Five years ago, years ago, three quarters of the Nordstrom stores had a live pianist providing shopping accompaniment. Today it's half. The decision to drop the pianist in favor of recorded music is up to the individual store. It's a great gig for a pianist and adds such a unique, classy touch. Although the Bellevue Square Nordstrom has dropped their piano player, the mall itself has a pianist playing in the center stairway, so all is not yet lost.
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Thursday, November 29, 2007

The Peapod MP3 player for infants and preschoolers made the newsrounds early this year, and now it appears to be ready for purchase, renamed the SweetPea 3.
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Don't drink and shop. S.U.I. is hazardous to the wallet, even when online shopping. But at least you can usually return your purchases.
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Have you seen the Cal Band's video game halftime show? It's nifty. Pong, Tetris, Mortal Kombat, Pokemon, Zelda, Mario. (Stanford & USC folks, you may want to skip this... unless you can ignore the vanquishing of your mascots.)
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Wednesday, November 28, 2007

The wonderful thing about this photo gallery of Snoqualmie Pass' first snow of the season is a couple shots of people experiencing snow for the very first time in their lives.
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Ann Vileisis' "Kitchen Literacy" takes a look at the history of food in America, what people ate at home and how the ingredients got to the kitchens. She examines how the problem of transporting live cattle to cities resulted in mass-produced dressed beef, the acceptance of canned foods, the rise of brand names, and how much closer cooks were to the source of food in earlier times.
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Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Ovation TV is showing four versions of The Nutcracker ballet during the month of December, culminating in a Christmas Eve viewer's choice and a marathon of all four back-to-back on Christmas Day. The different performances, in order from traditional to "out there" are: a 1989 performance by the Bolshoi Ballet, Peter Martins' 1993 film of George Balanchine’s version(little Macaulay Culkin is the Nutcracker Prince), Matthew Bourne’s Nutcracker! from 2003, and, my favorite as it's the only one I've seen live, Mark Morris' The Hard Nut.
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As is the case with many parents-to-be, the Baby Bargains book was our shopping bible when we were expecting and for a year or so afterwards. We received ours from a friend who felt it was a new parent imperative. This in-depth account of Alan and Denise Fields, the couple behind Baby Bargains, tags along with them on a research trip to Babies'r'Us (which refuses to carry Baby Bargains) and tells of the genesis of their first book, Wedding Bargains, and the distaste most manufacturers and retailers have for their advice. Their practical approach is what made my copy so well-thumbed. We're the type of parents who keep the diapers out in plain sight in the super-economy box they came in. We never bought Toddler Bargains though, and apparently no one else did either since it's being discontinued, and as the article says "when children reach that age, their parents 'run out of time to read.'" (via Pop Culture Junkmail)
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Monday, November 26, 2007

Animals live longer in the zoo than in the wild, and that means zoos need to provide extra care and attention for their elderly population. Several senior occupants of Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo get special heating pads and perches, glucosamine and other medications to make life easier. The older animals also get crankier, just like us.
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During my foray into roller hockey I acquired at least two puck-shaped bruises on my shins, despite my protective gear. So when I winced as I read the N.Y. Times article about NHL players blocking shots, it was from a small amount of actual experience. It's become commonplace for all players, not just goalies, to hurl themselves in front of shots in a tactic "built on bravery and strategy, calculated risk and not a small slice of insanity." Compare the full head mask, leg pads, chest protectors, and wide gloves worn by the goalies to the protective gear of the other players if you want to fully consider the dangers of this trend. Martin Strata, a Rangers forward (for you non-hockey folks that means he's supposed to be making shots, not blocking them), broke his finger throwing himself in front of the puck in October and was out for a month. No one ever said hockey was a game for whimps.
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Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Turkeys "May" and "Flower" were pardoned on Tuesday by President Bush and then flown to Florida for the customary parade grand marshal duties at Disney World.
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This year's Rockefeller Center Christmas tree grew up in Shelton, Connecticut (another tree contribution from my home state!) and I found a nice view of it in its original location on maps.live.com (here on flickr). The Norway Spruce was cut down by hand this year, no power saws, and it will be lit with LEDs as part of an initiative to keep the Rockefeller Center celebrations more "green" this year. After its service, the tree will be made into lumber and used by Habitat for Humanity.
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Monday, November 19, 2007

Seattle foodies shouldn't miss this interesting history of the local fine dining establishments and how many restaurant roots go back to the early 1980s pioneers such as Settebello and Campagne.
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It costs $415 to take Driver's Education in the Seattle public school district, and prices are similarly high in neighboring areas. Private driving schools offer perk-filled classes (door-to-door service, snacks & drinks, even a Mercedes-Benz C230) with steeper fees. A quick web search shows fees across the country at $165, $225, $350, with some districts opting out of offering classes after state funding was reduced.
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Friday, November 16, 2007

Want to watch video of the New Frontier Hotel & Casino implosion that took place on Tuesday in Vegas? Sure you do!
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In the year since the Bellevue, WA crane collapse that killed Microsoft employee Matthew Ammon the following has taken place: $14,800 in fines were imposed on two companies involved in the building's construction; they are appealing the fines. Ammon's parents filed a lawsuit against the same two companies. Licensing for crane operators and certification for crane installations will be required statewide in 2010. Three cranes in Bellevue were found to have structural problems; one was taken down, the others repaired. Two cranes at Microsoft in Redmond were also shut down.
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Thursday, November 15, 2007

Eurostar has launched its new high-speed link between London and Paris, scheduled at two hours and 15 minutes. The train leaves from St. Pancras arriving at Gare du Nord, and the inaugural trip, while not affected directly by the Paris transit strike, did leave some passengers struggling for options to get to their final destinations after arrival. St. Pancras underwent a $1.7 billion restoration, bringing shiny steel and glass back to its Gothic architecture. Retailers and restaurants will also be opening in the station which Eurostar boasts as having "the longest Champagne bar in Europe" at 330 feet.
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It's white truffle season, and a particularly expensive one. At Pike Place Market $4,000 will get you a pound of these famous fungi from Alba, Italy. Even with significant surcharges, local restaurants aren't expecting much profit from adding the pricey shavings to their dishes. Black truffles are a little more affordable, $740 per pound at one purveyor. But perhaps you'd rather try to find a local truffle and save yourself a bundle.
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Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Kiddie Records celebrates "the golden age of children's records." The site contains a treasure trove of mp3s taken from the classic records of the 1940's and 50's. Hollywood names of the time provide narration. It's a splendid collection. (thanks 13s!)
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Bringing your kids along for a wine tasting doesn't make much sense, but it does make cents for the wineries in Napa who are now catering to visiting moms & dads. Some wineries are putting out crayons and games. While the parents taste wine, their kids drink juice boxes or sparkling beverages. While some visitors find it inappropriate, the winery operators figure if the entire family is coming along, why not keep the youngsters entertained?
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Tuesday, November 13, 2007

It took glass artist James McKelvey six months to figure out how to make a glass faucet but the eventual result was beautiful and functional. The colored faucets have an outside layer of clear glass to ensure the safety of the water running past. The glass is tempered for strength. See video of how they're made start to finish in the Third Degree Glass Factory. (via Luxist)
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Tetris bracelet, Tetris skirt, Tetris scarf.
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Monday, November 12, 2007

Las Vegas plays host early Tuesday morning to another infrequent casino building implosion. The demolition of the New Frontier Hotel-Casino is in the experienced hands of the Loizeaux family who have been in the business of blowing things up since the late 1940s. The N.Y. Times takes a look at the family that plans destruction together as Controlled Demolition, Inc. They travel the country and the globe imploding and exploding to make way for the new. The same company flattened Seattle's Kingdome in 2000, an event that has been immortalized on Youtube. The New Frontier will be replaced by the Plaza, from the owners of New York's Plaza Hotel.
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When I read on Wikipedia that synthpop founding father Vince Clarke lives in Maine, I did a double-take. I remember thinking "that's some town in England named Maine that I've never heard of before, right?" No, Erasure's Vince Clarke actually does live in that northeastern corner of the U.S., in relative anonymity with his wife and young son. The recent Erasure album, "Light at the End of the World," was recorded in nearby Falmouth. Singer Andy Bell, the flamboyant half of Erasure, joined Clarke in Maine for the writing and recording of the songs. It's a beautiful, peaceful place to compose any kind of music. (source: Boston Globe)
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Friday, November 09, 2007

More on picking edible mushrooms, the NY Times follows a forager in central Illinois.
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Neiman Marcus is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. Their famously extravagant Christmas Book has been published since 1939 and one man has amassed a collection of 50 of them. Michael Oxman became intrigued by the catalog that arrived at his home in 1976 and has been seeking out vintage printings primarily on eBay. He's hoping to acquire all of them one day. Neiman Marcus' fantasy Christmas Book items for 2007 include a 100 foot dragon topiary, a trip with migrating monarch butterflies on Vico Gutierrez' Papalotzin Ultralight, a Gem Triton 1000 Submarine, and a 305-carat uncut diamond. Happy shopping.
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Thursday, November 08, 2007

When Elvis Costello released his first album, "My Aim Is True" in 1977, he was backed by Clover, a band from Marin County, California that just happened to be available. Now, 30 years later, he and the members of Clover are reuniting for two benefit concerts in San Francisco today.
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Buses and subways get wrapped with ads, now it's Amtrak's turn. The Acela Express will feature an ad for the History Channel's "1968 with Tom Brokaw" special. Individual cars and locomotives have been covered in ads before, but this one's the entire train, 2 locomotives and 6 cars, covered in vinyl advertising. Amtrak does have to be careful with the type of advertising it will accept given that it is federally subsidized, however this fits into their goal of finding creative revenue sources.
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Tuesday, November 06, 2007

PZEV?
I've mentioned here previously that my vehicle wish was for a Subaru hybrid. Their outdoors-y fans make the hybrid market a natural. But the company is, like many of its car owners, also very practical. They decided they were better off investing in a diesel engine for the near-term. So, with my loved ones constantly (and I believe irrationally) pleading for me to replace my 1997 Legacy wagon before I got stranded somewhere (mere minutes away from help!), I decided to go ahead and buy a new Subaru without getting hung up on gas savings. It turns out that I did a little better than I intended. The only car the dealer had in the model and color I wanted was a PZEV. That stands for "partial zero emissions vehicle" (yes, that's a laughable name). It's a modification of the term "zero emissions vehicle," which is what the car manufacturers were supposed to be selling (at 2% by 1998) to comply with California's ZEV program. But, as politics always goes, the manufacturers won a compromise which allows them to sell hybrids or PZEVs and earn credit points to bank against their ZEV obligations. PZEVs need to meet the Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicles standard (greatly reduced tailpipe emissions, vapor tight fuel tank). There are several on the market from various automakers, but PZEVs aren't hyped or advertised much. I'm perfectly happy with my car's performance; Subaru claims to have "the most powerful PZEV engine available in the U.S. market today." They also like to point out that the tailpipe air may be cleaner than the smog-filled surroundings it is entering. I'm glad I stumbled across my PZEV, even if it isn't as noble as better MPG and was the result of a bureaucratic deal. (my car on flickr, more on PZEVs from the NY Times)
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Monday, November 05, 2007

On the first day of the Writers Guild of America strike, memories of the 1988 strike are returning to me in the form of "Hal Gurnee's Network Time Killers" on Late Night with David Letterman. After suffering several months of reruns, Letterman returned to Late Night in the odd position of being a striking writer himself, but willing to keep the rest of the show's staff employed and happily occupied with creative time fillers that kept the random nature of the program at top form. Unfortunately the same strike lowered the coffin lid on my favorite show at the time, Moonlighting, as it ended its 4th season with a rendition of "Wooly Bully" to fill in the remaining time (see it on YouTube).
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"The Farnsworth Invention," Aaron Sorkin's new play opening on Broadway next week, was originally intended for the silver screen. But Sorkin, whose dialogue-driven style is, at heart, closer to theater than TV or film, decided to write his Farnsworth script using the stage-play format of Final Draft software and soon he and his agent were buying back the movie rights from New Line and preparing for his return to Broadway. The topic, the invention of the television and its champions' utopian vision for it, is one that Sorkin certainly has the perspective to mine for the outmost of irony. But he considers it "an optimistic story about the spirit of exploration." The movie rights for the play have already been sold, so Sorkin will have to consider how to get his play back into the screenplay format. (source: NY Times)
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Friday, November 02, 2007

Newsweek cover story: kids and food allergies. An accurate article with various studies cited, but nothing new for those of us parents who've done our Internet research over and over.
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Before I went to college my dad told me that although I was brought up to believe that the world should be a fair place, life would always be more difficult for me just because I'm female. I remember not wanting to believe it at the time, because I wanted so much to change it, not live with it. Since then I've realized that it's not just other people who have to change, I had to change too, in positive ways. This N.Y. Times article, which I hope is making the rounds given that it's topping the "most emailed" list, touches on every critical realization in my career (and it cites the studies that show I'm not unique). 1) Displaying negative emotions (anger, sadness) at work has more detrimental results for a woman than a man. 2) Women are worse than men at asking for raises and promotions, and often don't even realize they need to ask or they won't receive. 3) A woman's clothes and appearance will get noticed, for better or worse. No, life isn't fair, but at least we have some clues about how to even the playing field.
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Thursday, November 01, 2007

Spreading the word, though you've probably heard: Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku have an agreement with Fox for 7 episodes of a new series called Dollhouse. Details and interviews with both Joss & Eliza.
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This article previews of some of the wacky stunts appearing on Mythbusters in the next couple months. What happens when a plane takes off from a conveyor belt? Can Tory wakeboard from the back of a cruise ship? Will his pants catch on fire while being dragged behind a horse? But no news on whether motion-sickness-prone Grant will have to lose it into a trashcan again all in the name of science.
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