Tonight’s game plan: more tough defense (last night was marvelous) and then Jamal, you break some ankles. I know if Starbury can do it, so can you.
Wait, in fact, let’s have Tim Roye break down that patented crossover in slow motion (see below)? And, while Yao is about 5 feet taller than lil’ round Roye, I’m confident in your abilities to get it done.
Now, go out and break some ankles.
Gd.
You know, 43 years of hot dogs, potato chips and bad domestic beer can really super-size your logo. And, the latest installment is really no exception. Personally, I think it looks a little like the Bank of America or Obama logo with it’s protruding stripes of field. I wonder, are those meant to represent the fruited plains or just ten yard increments at Raymond James Stadium?
Honestly, the logos that really caught my eye were these alternatives I found in the NY Times. Much more creative. I say.
Above are a few of my favorites, and the corresponding quotes are here:
Fig A:
“Hush little Cardinals, don’t say a thing, Ben’s gonna score Steelers’ sixth Bowl ring.” — Felix Sockwell, Felix Sockwell Inc., Maplewood, N.J.Fig B:
“The Super Bowl always wants to be bigger, glitzier and more spectacular than every Super Bowl preceding. But with the United States in its current recession, major advertising sponsors pulling out and Tampa having very little hosting money, this Super Bowl will need a government stimulus package to be all it wants to be.” — Michael Strassburger, Modern Dog Design Co., SeattleFig C:
“Combine my complete lack of knowledge regarding contemporary pro football and the fact that my dad’s perpetual underdog Detroit Lions went 0-16 this year and, well, this is what you get: Back to the basics — team colors, green grass and a football. Just like when I was 11, playing until sunset with my neighborhood buddies in Central Lake, Mich.” — Aaron Draplin, Draplin Design Co., Portland, Ore.
Read more about the “official” XLIII logo in this New York Times article. There is even a link to a printable of all 43 logos in chronological order. Special mention to the “Evel Knievel-esque” Super Bowl III and the swanky, sexy, and somewhat psychedelic Super Bowl IX logo. Sweet.
Gd.
Jazz is about as native to Utah as breakdancing. Which sort of explains the above video. A dance-off between Kyrylo Fesenko and Kosta Koufos at the Jazz family BBQ? Really? Well, yes.
The American-born Koufos sort of lightweight pwns his Ukranian counterpart. In a breakdance battle. Between really big white dudes. In Utah. Since he has dual citizenship, this might make him the best breakdancer in Greece and Utah. Not exactly the Boogie Down Bronx circa ‘83, but hey.
Damn if that isn’t the slowest worm I’ve ever seen though,
Turman
PS. Another view of Koufous after the break. And props to Skeets over at Ball Don’t Lie for the find. Read More »
Frequent commenter and valued friend of FTB, Dylan “Bearded Barman” O’Brien, is now the Bearded Proprietor. Wednesday night marked the soft opening of Bloodhound, his new South of Market watering hole. I, for one, can vouch for the signature cocktail, a Greyhound fortified with a splash of Campari. Turman approved. Unfortunately, it couldn’t put any points on the board for the Dubs as they shot their way right out of the Mavs game over on a nearby flat screen.
But, back to Bloodhound. Partnered with a couple of like-minded bon vivants, the Bearded Barman has helped transform one of SOMA’s divey-er joints into something top notch. There’s still a juke and a pool table to remind you that you’re in a bar, but this spot is lightweight posh. And stocked with a bounty of handcrafted beers and spirits, the bearded one is officially going public tonight.
Conveniently located at 1145 Folsom Street in Ess Eff, between Seventh and Eighth, find time to swing by and tip a glass. Who knows? Maybe by the time you get there, Dylan will have perfected the recipe for the “FTB.” I’ll be digging through my vintage cocktail manuals for a concept, but until then I say rock The Bloodhound. Perhaps he’ll even grace us with the recipe for it in the comments.
Moreover, the Bearded Barman has also tacitly agreed to host a future FTB event, so get ready to drown your sorrows in style during a future 24-point road loss.
Cheers,
Turman
Usually it’s pretty easy to tell if someone’s a bum or a hipster. But other times you have to turn on your Bumdar or Hipdar for maximum detection. In these tough economic times, the grey area (emphasis on grey) between bums and hipsters is growing, especially around these parts. I guess what I’m saying is that there might actually be some hipster bums out there. Well, if anyone would know, it would be the good folks over at Bumsters.blogspot.com. They’ve set out on a little urban anthropological research to catalog the bummiest hipsters and the hippest bums in The Bay. Apparently, the beard is often a variable in Bumster fashion. Take “Muni Bumster” (Exhibit A above) for instance.
Personally, I’m a much bigger fan of bumsters than their more elusive cousins, bumlebrities - you know, those paparazzi-avoiding celebrities who get extra bummy looking when they go out in public to avoid attention. There’s a million dollar blog idea in there somewhere, but who has the time? Perez Hilton, I’m giving you a freebee here. I want to see Keanu Reeves with a Pig Pen dirt cloud drawn around him in a future post. Let’s blow this up.
Thanks to Stacy over at Odopod for the tip.
M. Meschery
Cheikh Samb? I barely remember the name from Sunday night’s game notes. But I fired up the league pass Monday and saw this. Then I had to run back to the game notes. Then Wikipedia: Senegal, Lakers, Italy, Pistons, Fort Wayne Mad Ants, Pistons, Mad Ants, two teeth knocked out, NBA, Mad Ants, NBA again, traded to the Nuggets in the Billups deal, assigned to the Colorado 14ers, traded to the Clippers, and now: mounted to a fine wood frame and hanging on the wall of Brandon Roy’s Portland crib.
Turman
PS. More on the Blazers soon. I kind of like them.
I loves me some Golden State of Mind. Not only is it a fine Warriors blog, but it’s run by some of the best people in the blogosphere, see Atma Brother One (above right). Better still, they host several mass gatherings a year up in the 200s, known simply as GSoM Night. This one was number six. Because they’re all such nice folks, they also now manage to negotiate the improbable about once a year.
A pickup game on the Oracle floor.
You heard correctly. After the Warriors dismantling of the Baron-less Clippers, about 15 of us descended on the arena. I’ll spare you the dissection of the NBA action in favor of the post-game comedy. But before any of that, a disclaimer: I had thought that the game after the game had been cancelled. Until the middle of the third quarter. So our pre-game meal of stadium nachos and 40 ounces of Red Hook ESB provides a convenient crutch when explaining the action below. It also explains the FTB’ers’ strange choice of outfits for a 90-foot run. I don’t think I’ve hooped in jeans since eighth grade. But we’re gamers. And with the hot lights of wannabe-baller-ism exposing every flaw in grim detail, we took to the court. The highlights and the truth in pictures, after the jump. Read More »
If you’re not in the design or advertising industry chances are high the name Sol Sender means nothing to you. But, I guarantee you know his work.
The Chicago-based Sender was brought in by a motion design company with a relationship with one David Axelrod, to develop the identity for his new candidate, then Senator, Barack Obama.
When we received the assignment, we immediately read both of Senator Obama’s books. We were struck by the ideas of hope, change and a new perspective on red and blue (not red and blue states, but one country). There was also a strong sense, from the start, that his campaign represented something entirely new in American politics — “a new day,” so to speak.
In the video, Sender walks through the thinking behind the logo’s concept, its development and final design. The rest is history.
In the span of Obama’s campaign, the logo became one of the most recognizable in the world. Most certainly the greatest campaign identity in history of the United States and perhaps the most memorable political image since, well, those of Che Guevara or the Chairman, Mao Zedong.
O was adopted, cooped, digitized then printed, painted and posterized on to every manner of pin, mug, sticker, banner, bag, button and baby stroller.
O took on a life of it’s own. O could not be stopped. O rolled right up the the White House and into the Oval Office.
And, for his part, we thank Sol (and his collaborators).
It is interesting to see the portion of the video where he reviews some of the other finalists that did not make it in the end.
I believe you’ll agree. They chose wisely.
Gd.
See “Part 2″ after the jump.
Read More »
A couple of days ago, Kirk from the blog known as Curse of Cleveland wrote to suggest a little Q&A before the Warriors and Cavaliers game on Friday. His answers to a few of my five questions are below, with the rest after the jump. Jump on over to the COC to read my responses to his questions. But first, I couldn’t resist asking about the namesake curse and offering up a theory.
Let’s talk about this curse for a minute. Your curse may, in fact, be the only one stronger than the one which currently grips our beloved Warriors. And the curse seems so multifaceted it’s hard to pinpoint the moment it really began. But I have a theory. I think that Clevelanders famously offended Mother Nature in 1969 and as a consequence she has decided to punish your greatest remaining natural resource: your athletes. To wit, when the Cuyahoga River caught fire in 1969, the Curse of Cleveland officially began.
Daniel, that’s a good theory. In fact, it reminds of the Randy Newman song, “Burn On” from the start of Major League. A little background for some who don’t know a lot about the Cleveland curse. The last time a Cleveland team won a championship was the 1964 Cleveland Browns. That’s going on 45 years now that the Browns, Indians (last championship - 1948), and Cavaliers (expansion team in 1970, no titles) have been in a drought. A lot of people trace it back to Rocky Colavito, an outfielder for the Indians in the 1950s. He was traded to the Tigers in 1960. There is more about it on Wikipedia under Cleveland Sports Curse if you’re interested. Simply put, us Cleveland fans have been long suffering.
And since that moment, for most of the country, the most enduring basketball image related to the Cavaliers is that of Craig Ehlo getting “MJ’d” back in ‘89. But life is different now. You have LeBron and the rest of us do not. You’ve also assembled a pretty fair cast of characters around him. You’ve been to a championship series in the recent past, whereas a lot of other towns (like mine) have not. But still you wait. The curse lingers. And as a result all of my questions must revolve around a familiar axis: is LeBron strong enough to defeat the retaliatory smackdown Mother Nature put on your town?
I am only the ripe young age of 20, so I did not see the MJ shot with my own two eyes live, but I’ve seen it enough to feel the pain of it. In a word, YES. LeBron is strong enough to end the Curse of Cleveland and make me think about a website name-change. But, it may take longer than the two years we have him for sure. That’s why time is of the essence here in C-town.
1) Now you have LeBron. Soon you may not. Free-agency loometh. What is the general mood around those parts about the possibility of his departure? Because, of course, if the curse holds true to form, he’ll leave and immediately win five championships elsewhere, right?
The general mood around here is positive, but cautiously positive. LeBron is in a good position right now, and the Cavaliers are setup to compete for the title for several seasons if LeBron decides to stick around. I think the whole LeBron to NYC/NJ thing is a little overhyped. Many forget the guy signed an extension with us back in the summer of 2006 for three years and a fourth-year player option when he had a choice to leave. Many will point to the fact that he didn’t sign for the maximum number of years possible. I think that was largely motivated by the CBA being reworked and the possibility of James getting more money. Of course, he wanted to make sure the Cavaliers were committed to winning, and they have shown nothing but that commitment since LeBron stepped on the court in 2003. Owner Dan Gilbert has allowed GM Danny Ferry to go out and acquire players that have put the Cavaliers way over the cap as they currently have the third highest payroll. I told Matt with Bust a Bucket that I said I was 80 percent confident James would stay in Cleveland, and I stand by that belief. Does he really want to go to New York or New Jersey and wait several years to build an elite team, or continue that mission here in Cleveland? I know I’m in the minority nationwide, but that’s fine with me. Don’t make me think about him winning five championships somewhere else, that just makes my skin crawl.
2) It seems likely, if not probable, that LeBron and Carlos Boozer could have won a championship together two years ago had Boozer not escaped to Utah. What with the whole Elway thing and all, Is it possible that there is a special relationship between the curse and the mountain time zone? And is Boozer still despised there or have people gotten over it?
You provoke another theory that I have not yet heard! Cleveland fans hold a grudge better than any other fan out there. We don’t forget simply put. You’re not the only one, myself included, that thinks the Cavaliers could have beaten the Spurs in the 2007 Finals with Boozer. But, the high-level this team has played at the last four seasons has helped Cleveland fans move on, but not forget.
My friend used to teach guitar lessons in Berkeley. His add on Craig’s List read simply, “Guitar Lessons: Jazz, Funk, Blues.” His first student was a 6′ 7” bearded dude who was in a band that played original Rennaissance Music. He wanted my friend to do the impossible. He wanted him to “funkify” some of his Rennaissance jams. First up, “The Corn That Springeth Green.” If George Clinton and The Mothership went back in time, descended upon Stonehenge and hit every druid up in that mug with The Bop Gun, “The Corn That Springeth Green” would still not be funky. My friend didn’t teach many more guitar lessons after that.
I have wondered what those Rennaissance Festival fanatics do in their spare time, like when they’re not practicing madrigals or searching for codpieces on eBay. Maybe they enter beard competitions like The NY Beard and Moustache Championship. I do get concerned about the audience at these things, and as the popularity of beard events grow, they don’t get homogenized. It would be a shame if these just became some celebration of Northern European Hirsute Heritage. But that’s why I like the fact that NYCBMC has the category “Full Beard Freestyle” (See above). Such measures will help to keep things funky. And I also like the “Ladies Artificial” category, but what about extending that not just to the ladies, but to all the less able bearded of the world? Here at FTB we believe in the Big Tent of Beards which even includes those for whom bearditude is a state of mind. Of course, that probably wouldn’t win any competitions. Thanks to Matthew of New York Beard and Moustache Champs for the hit.
M. Meschery
