The "F" Word

Glee tore down one of my least favorite words last week better than anyplace else I've ever seen:



It's proof there's always hope, and that pop culture is changing too.

It's a sign of the times.

Transformer Furniture

I'm fully aware that I probably live in more space than I really need.

Then again, isn't that relative to what you want to live in?

As spaces get tighter though, adaptable furniture like Murphy Beds would seem to be due for a revisit, or a revolution.

Well thanks to the folks at Core77 here's the cramped decor of the urban lifestyle as we fit ourselves into tighter and tighter spaces.



The furniture is probably revolutionary, but I can't say I'd really want a kid of mine to have a bedroom where you only have room for either a bed or a desk. That coffee table that turns into a dining room table however...

It's a sign of the times.

Fly the Friendly Skies?

Do you ever wonder what happened to the Friendly Skies?

Let me tell you, after months of dealing with heavily-accented, relatively-inept customer service reps, it kinda makes you miss the old United Airlines spirit.



Shoddy customer service, punctuated by Rhapsody in Blue on hold: It's a sign of the times.

Part of a Complete Breakfast

Apparently corn flakes aren't quite proprietary enough, so word has it that Kellogg's wants to personalize their wares.

Do we really want our food to look as processed as it actually is?


Yuck.

A disturbing sign of the times.

The Legacy of Lightcycles

It's funny how on a night where I think I may have lost that sparkle for big budget computerized special effect explosiveness, I get home and find there's hope (if a bit of nostalgia) yet!

We wasted money tonight to finally see the new Transformers trainwreck on glorious IMAX, and -- memo to IMAX -- I want my money back. There was nothing on that screen that begged for bigger and better.

There was no sweeping vista to get lost in. There was no lingering image enveloping you.

Just even bigger examples of plastic toys smashing each other. Which I guess is the point, except that the jumbo screen just made it clearer what a convoluted pixelated mess it really was.

So here I am a few minutes ago, saying that we should have just gone for the quiet comedy tonight, when this flashes on my screen:


And suddenly the inner geek in me gets all giddy again.

The movie that, in a way, was the real precursor to all things digitally animated. The movie that was way ahead of it's time with it's computerized flying discs and lightcycles.

It's back for it's own dip in the electronic pond, and I can't think of anything better than a revisit to the very start of the digital era.

The Tron reboot is an odd, but fitting, sign of the times.

Diving into summer...

From over at Core77 and Make, a reminder that warmer days are ahead.


Perhaps an apropos sign of the times?

I just hope these have industrial amounts of chlorine in them. I've seen what goes into dumpsters like those...

Goggles to the World

If you grew up in the 1970's these should be a familiar icon:



As a kid, I know I spent many a day exploring the world in 3-D thanks to a View-Master disc of some far flung place.

Sadly those days are disappearing in the era of portable digital entertainment. It's not necessarily a bad thing. Just another sign of the times.

Lighting Up Your Tunes

Simply brilliant.


Picture being able to get sound from anywhere you have an empty light socket. Suddenly the integrated home sound system industry cringes in fear of obsolescence. Your home is instantly wired for music, everywhere.

Just like other great light bulb ideas, we're not quite there yet.

It's a sign of the times though: The wireless media revolution continues.

Outsourced Patriotism

I agree swissmiss, no explanation required.

It is, however, a sign of the times.

Take Your Pick...

On the way out of Invesco Field last night we bumped into this religious nutjob covering all his bases:

Unfortunately the photo washed out the next sign over (the big white one on the right) for a variety of burritos.

Pick your vice. Pick your burrito.

It's an intersection of speech and commerce that is definitely a sign of the times.

You can sit there, you just can't sit THERE

Having now heard about this all day, and having watched it numerous times, I can't feel anything but impressed that a top-rated tv entertainer is marrying her partner this summer AND discussing it on her show with an awkward relic of a presidential candidate.


Times are clearly changing.

The Art of Tagging Art Promotion

Agenda Inc. has a neat little snippet about a billboard promoting a Takashi Murakami retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles that was tagged by a noted grafitti artist:

Two days later, to the chagrin of grafitti art connoiseurs, the billboard was gone.

Apparently Murakami himself loved it enough to have it shipped intact all the way to Tokyo.

Consider it a blessing of urban street art from one of Japan's leading graphic artists.

It is, clearly, a sign of the times.

Intimacy trumps bibles in the bedstand

There was a time a time when an often-ratty Gideon bible was all a hotel would encourage to keep you company at night.

The hotel industry is now coming to the realization that their younger, upscale clientele is often more interested in other overnight activities than passive proselytization.

As Newsweek is reporting, it's out with the bible and in with slightly more salacious replacements. While you will probably still find the Christian word of God in your suburban chain hotel, hipper establishments are finding that they are not ashamed of other activities they may choose to pursue away from home.

So next time you check in, don't be surprised to find an "intimacy kit" in lieu of reading material. It's an open acknowledgement that what really happens in hotel rooms around the world, doesn't need to be so hush-hush anymore.

It's a welcome sign of the times.

Sign of the times: No Prince Charming for this Cinderella

When's the last time you caught a flick at a drive-in? Better question: Have you EVER been to one?

I think I vaguely remember going to the Cinderella Twin in Sheridan (a Denver suburb) a few times as kid. I know for sure it will be jarring to drive past it when the iconic signs and screens come down soon.

There is something nostaligic just knowing there's one in your city, but then again, there were once great movie palaces downtown too, and they're pretty much all gone now too. It was just a matter of time before a developer took advantage of the Cinderella Twin's ideal location.

Sheridan's chief building official summed it up succinctly for The Rocky Mountain News: "The nostalgia of that site - the city tried to be sensitive to the whole issue," he said. "But the shopping center that it was named after is gone. It's time to move on."

So if you want a local drive-in experience, you better go soon.

Me, I'll stick to stadium seating and surround sound at home. I will, however, remember it fondly