The Phantom Tollbooth Turns 50

Officer Officer Short Shrift to Milo: “Not doing anything, eh? You’ll have to admit at your aOfficer Short Shrift to Milo: “Not doing anything, eh? You’ll have to admit at your age that’s a crime.”

Milo and Tock, Norton and Jules, Officer Short Shrift and the Spelling Bee–the gang is together again thanks to a new documentary film celebrating the 50th anniversary of Norton Juster’s classic book, The Phantom Tollbooth (also known as the Only Book I’ve Read More Than Once). Get the details on Kickstarter.

Also, be sure to check out these brain-bending infographics from Brooklyn artist Jan Avendano.

Steve Jobs, 1955-2011

Wild Wild Web

I’ve often wondered what a top-side view of the evolution of Internet/information technology over the past 15 years would look like (well, not often, but sometimes I think about it). A Very Short list clued me into this handy chart, made by a motley crew of tech junkies at places like Google and GOOD, which tackles that very topic. To paraphrase the lovely ladies of En Vogue, it’s time for a (web browser/application/search engine) breakdown.

Oysters for Life

Photo: theheadislandsreport.blogspot.com

Starting with the first harvest in 2012, each supporter of the Oyster Company of Virginia’s “Oysters for Life Cage Package” ($175) will receive two dozen fresh packed oysters shipped anywhere in the continental USA once a year, every year for the rest of their life. It’s essentially an oyster CSA. Want to join? Read more here.

Thursday Funny

From Vanity Fair, August 2011

So true, so true.

Zach Williams and the Bellow

Zach Williams is one of the best musicians I’ve heard in a long time. He also happens to be one of the most genuinely nice people I’ve met in a long time, which is why I’m asking everyone I know to support his fundraising campaign on kickstarter.com. With three days to go, he’s met his goal of raising $20K to cover the hard costs of producing an album, which means he will receive the money pledged. Anyone who knows anything about making music, though, (and I don’t) tells me that the cost of promoting and touring far, far exceed the base amounts needed to simply produce the record. For $10, you’ll get a digital copy of the record. Pledge $50 and you’ll get a signed physical copy (plus the digital copy). $100 gets your name in the album credits, $250 gets a thank you video from the band, $1000 ensures the band will record a cover of your choosing, and for the really supportive folks who pledge $4,000 or more, Zach Williams and the Bellow will play a private concert (plus all of the above). Incentived yet?

The Anthropologist + My Stuff

Apologies for my MIA-ness. I recently moved from New York City to Charleston, and adjusting to all of this space and freedom and Southern hospitality has taken longer than I expected. A few weeks before I left, my friend Foster Huntington photographed some of my favorite things for his Burning House project. Yesterday, they were featured, along with many other folks’ most precious possessions, on The Anthropologist. Good, clean, old-fashioned voyeurism at its finest. Check it out.

The Burning House

Photo: Foster Huntington's shot of Matt Hranek's essentials.

What would you take if your house was burning and you could only grab what you could carry? That’s what my friend, Foster Huntington, focuses on in his super cool photoblog, The Burning House. Check it out here.

Razzle Dazzle Camo

A propos of nothing, a canoe camouflaged in the Razzle Dazzle paint scheme employed on naval ships during World War I. Just because it’s Monday, and the ziggy-zaggy design civilianized on an un-battleship is pretty rad.

A Bit of Advice

From an artist whose name I don't know.

“One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am – a reluctant enthusiast….a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards.” 

–Ed Abbey