The Pop-Up Guy

Here's a link to an article in the Cincinnati Enquirer (oddly enough) about my friend Bruce in Houston. He's the paper engineer we are working with in creating Vis 54, a collection of pop-up spreads by 12 different artists.

The Ol' Lefthander

It is utterly impossible for me to think of the Reds on radio without hearing the tandem voices of "Marty and Joe" dishing opinionated Reds-centric commentary. He hadn't announced anything for the Reds in a few years, but 28 years of hearing the voice of Joe Nuxhall on the Big One WLW will stick with me for life.

RIP Joe.

Free Me

I haven't taken a vacation in 2 1/2 years where I turned off the Blackberry and simply did not work, so unfortunately I can relate to this article in today's Times. Sad state of affairs, and a place I never saw myself living in.

With my work on the two mags coming to a close, and the new person starting right after Thanksgiving, I am dreaming of that time post-Xmas when I am (mostly) free from the electronic shackles. Free and in Thailand for six weeks!

Ancient Chinese Secrets

A product called Aquadots was recalled this week because it was found to convert to GHB (date rape drug) when ingested. A few kids apparently had to collapse and almost die for this to be discovered.

Wow. Now that's a serious production error.

Nothing blew my mind more on my trip to Asia than the sheer number of factories in China. Everything was growing so rapidly that the roads weren't paved yet, traffic was horrendous on the inadequate existing roads and all one could see was space and people eager to make money. There's absolutely no way any government agency could be overseeing safety standards in all of these new places. And there's going to be a whole lot more of these kind of recalls.

City of Angeles

Staying in downtown LA for three nights at the oh-so-hip Standard while overseeing the assembly of the latest Vis issue (Sound) and eating like a king. LA is such a great food town, but I've never been a fan in general of this place. Constant driving would make me nuts, for I'm spoiled by living in one of the few cities where you can walk or take public transit. Anne stopped by for a couple hours Sunday, went over to Beverly Hills last night to have dinner with Mr. Steele at Michael Ovitz's new place (whatevs), may go out to Encino to see Phillip's two chillluns, and assembly is happening in Glendale but mostly am exploring downtown for the first time. A few thoughts:

--who knew there was a hill in downtown LA? I didn't, and was the only person in the city yesterday who was huffing up it on the way to the excellent Gordon Matta-Clark show at MOCA. No one walks around but me and homeless people.
--lotta donut shops. Weird considering everyone's so beautiful out here. Donuts do not a beauty make.
--Had a bangin' lamb sandwich at Phillipe's today. Yum.
--taxis are like unicorns. You only get an occasional glimpse as they flit by.
--there are TONS of old movie theaters, mostly dark. Kind of wild that they were built less than 80 years ago with glamour galore, and are now useless and shuttered. There's about 30 on Broadway alone.
--i love the early-mid 20th century architecture that is everywhere, including the diners/americana-type vibe, neon and art deco shite.