November « 2008 « Towse: views from the hill

November 25, 2008

The Dunlap Question

Filed under: life,people,shopshopshop — Towse @ 12:04 am

Item listed in an upcoming Sotheby’s auction.

Item: a sheet of paper with the header, THE DUNLAP QUESTION, with typed questions and scribbled answers from F Scott Fitzgerald. (est: $8-$12K)

The basic question is followed by questions that refine the basic question and answer.

You make a quick survey of your whole life, remembering all your pains and all your pleasures, the humiliations and triumphs, the regrets and satisfactions, the miseries and the happiness. Then suppose you are compelled to make the following decision, with no alternative?

1. Live through your whole life again, just exactly as before, with no opportunity to better it by your present experience, or

2. Die instantly.

Which would you choose?

***

Interesting question.

The person posing the questions: Gilbert Seldes

***

I’m still pondering.

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November 24, 2008

Providing stability. Securing the future.

Filed under: financeconomics,news,politics — Towse @ 7:43 am

This year, our financial markets have been tested in unprecedented ways. And though the global landscape has become increasingly complex, one thing has remained consistent: Citi’s commitment to helping our clients and customers find solutions that will drive their financial success.

and the full-page ad in today’s San Francisco Chronicle (Page A16) goes on.

hahaha hohoho.

c2008 Citigroup Inc. Member FDIC. Citibank and Citibank with Arc Design are registered service marks of Citigroup Inc. Citi never sleeps is a service mark of Citigroup Inc.

Citigroup’s latest news

Citi dodges bullet
Government will guarantee losses on more than $300 billion in troubled assets and make a fresh $20 billion injection.

By David Ellis, CNNMoney.com staff writer
Last Updated: November 24, 2008: 2:03 AM ET

Citigroup secured a massive government aid package over the weekend following a painful selloff last week in company stock.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The U.S. federal government on Sunday announced a massive rescue package for Citigroup – the latest move to steady the banking giant, whose shares have plunged in the past week.

Oh.

So how much does a full-page ad in the Chron cost?

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November 23, 2008

Esquire’s 70 Greatest Sentences

Filed under: culture,writing — Towse @ 1:11 am

Esquire's 70 Greatest Sentences

Well, these sorts of things are always, “Why did they choose that?” “Why didn’t they choose that?”

Sample sentences from the list:

Also, I shouldn’t have to say this, but do not, under any circumstances, put Pop Rocks in your ass. –Stacey Grenrock Woods, Sex column, 2003

It showed a crowd of freaks bending over a dying fat man on a dark and lonely road, looking at a tattoo on his back which illustrated a crowd of freaks bending over a dying fat man on a . . . –Ray Bradbury, “The Illustrated Man,” 1950

Many of the great sentences deal with sex, erections, and/or war.

Hm.

[via Grapes2.0]

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November 19, 2008

LIFE photo archive hosted by Google

Filed under: history,photographs,URL,web2.0 — Towse @ 3:28 am

LIFE photo archive hosted by Google

Search millions of photographs from the LIFE photo archive, stretching from the 1750s to today. Most were never published and are now available for the first time through the joint work of LIFE and Google.

[via Scott Beale @ laughing squid]

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Peeves of the Day (AKA POTD)

Filed under: peeves — Tags: BART — Towse @ 3:16 am

(1) People who refer to BART as “the BART” — Take a bow, San Francisco Hyatt Regency – Embarcadero.

I also cringe at hip DJs and traffic reporters who refer to our freeways as “the 101″ and “the 280.” That sort of terminology is fine for people south of the San Berd’o line, but we are living in Northern California.

(2) Writerly folks who still write (on this the thirtieth anniversary of the Jonestown Massacre) that Jim Jones’ followers committed suicide by drinking cyanide-laced Kool-Aid.

FLAVOR AID, folks. FLAVOR AID.

All that “don’t drink the Kool-Aid” advice is based on a reference to the wrong powdered drink. Stop it. I’m sure the Kool-Aid folks join me in this request.

Here’s some little known Kool-Aid history and trivia. Enjoy.

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November 18, 2008

PSA – Showcasing Your Life Online? New Software Uses Images of Keys to Make Copies

Filed under: app,news,yikes — Towse @ 9:31 pm

Showcasing Your Life Online? New Software Uses Images of Keys to Make Copies

So the lesson to be learned is not to empty your pockets and take pictures of “what’s in my pockets” with your keys in clear view and then post the pics on your Facebook page or Web site or blog.

New Sneakey software can setup a keymaking machine to reproduce your key(s).

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Moonrise Sculptures: December by Ugo Rondinone

Filed under: art,photographs,San Francisco — Towse @ 12:58 am

Public art by Ugo Rondinone. Moonrise Sculptures: March, October and December. Three sculptures at the public plaza at 555 Mission. We’re talking nine feet tall here, folks.

Where are the other nine moonrise sculptures in the series?

Here’s December:

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November 16, 2008

Cassius Marcellus Coolidge

Filed under: art,shopshopshop — Towse @ 1:58 am

You’ve been saving your pennies, being frugal as can be, waiting for a buying opportunity in this depressed economy.

Here’s your chance.

Sotheby’s auction in New York. “American Paintings, Drawings & Sculpture”
Wed, 03 Dec 08

Cassius Marcellus Coolidge. The Poker Game.

Estimate $200-300K.

One of many he painted in his lifetime:

Cassius Marcellus Coolidge was well-known in the Rochester area of New York for his paintings of anthropomorphised canines surrounded by the trappings of successful middle-class life. Typical subjects included the all-night card game, a trip to the ball park, commuting to work and even arguing a case in court. A great deal of attention is paid to the dogs’ clothing, details of their surroundings and to a humorous variety of facial expressions. Cigar companies, the artist’s first customers, printed copies of his paintings for promotional give-aways, but the printers Brown & Bigelow made Coolidge’s dog-genre familiar to the general public as advertising posters, calendars and prints.

Estimate $200-300K.

Oy.