To a great man and grandfather

Irving Wiggs (1914-2008)

From the N.Y. Journal:

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Irving Wiggs, beloved husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, on October 20, 2008. He was 94 years old. He is the proud father of three sons, Dr. Robert Maslansky, Paul Maslansky, and Michael, who passed away. A proud grandfather of eight and a proud great-grandfather of seven. He also has one niece, Grace Wiggs, and one nephew, Dr. Richard Wiggs. He graduated valedictorian. Graduating from NYU, he held a BA and a MA. He did his graduate work at the School of Education. He started on his Ph.D. at Columbia, Teacher's College. He was a Secondary School Teacher and Guidance Counselor. After that, he was at Lewis County High Schools for just a year. He created New York's first guidance program for rural counties, and it is being used today. Family death necessitated leaving to take over family business, the Hudson View Hotel in Haverstraw, New York. He was manager of the Hotel and Golf Club. There, he met his late wife, Beatrice Plosky Wiggs. He joined the U.S. Navy in 1942 as an Apprentice Seaman; he came out as Lieutenant. He was Destroyer CIC officer, with five battle stars. In his final month, he was Acting Captain of the Navy's largest WWII destroyer. He was BuPers, where he initiated the Navy's enlisted classification program. He was president of Bergen Mall, New Jersey, and Peck's, Kansas City, Missouri, White Department Store Division. He was V.P. and General Manager at Gimbel's of the 9-store division in the New York Metro Area. His last three years were the best in New York division's history. He was a workaholic and a true gentleman. He was a golf-pro and tennis champion and the recipient of many outstanding awards. Gloria Stevens Wiggs married him in 1984, and that marriage lasted nearly 25 years.

WTF

Someone please explain to me how one could get in such trouble for doing something like this? Can you go to jail for wasting someone's wasted time on the computer? I guess you might as well throw the bloggers too in the proverbial snake pit.

One of my favoritest sketches ever

Late Bloomers

Relevant to my previous posting about precocious youth, an interesting article
about late-bloomers and prodigies. It doesn't say all that much that we don't already know but it's nice to hear it out loud.

Body Beats

Remember this guy? I miss that Jew-fro-ed fairy leaping into different internal organic worlds wearing a skin tight "body" suit.

Johan Timman——1981 - trip into the body - the blood

Pizza Man

Old Skull-Pizza Man

"W" (2008)

I saw Oliver Stone's latest effort and I gotta say, hats off to Josh Brolin for getting every Bush mannerism down to a tee. The way he even captured Bush eating a sandwich was superb.

The most amusing and satisfying impression, or caricature rather, goes to Thandie Newton. Her Condi Rice made me chortle every time she open her clamped lips. She lampooned Condi just enough to make this barely above mediocre movie all the more watchable. But don't get me wrong it still was good watching; it just dragged a little. The whole father/son dynamic was a little belabored. Yes I know, Stone is not known for his restraint. He did show more of it than he ever has in "W" nonetheless. Props for that.

That didn't seem to convince a fellow audience member from yelling "Fuck this movie!" as he vacated the theater however.

My only regret about this film is not seeing it on mushrooms while eating ice cream.

Addendumb

I just want to emphasize how strange it is that my mind was totally convinced the man in The Stuff was Famous Amos. I mean I could have thought the guy in the movie could have been any other actor. But I chose Famous Amos.
I don't think I've even had a Famous Amos cookie. The mind reels.

The Stuff (1985)

I used to see this movie on cable during the day——never at night. I always thought it was strange when cable stations would show stuff (ha ha) like this when the sun was out, when everyone was at work. That made these flicks creepier somehow, intimating that they were blasé enough to be shown when little Timmy could see it on his sick day, making him afraid of Yoplait Yogurt for the rest of his young life.

I used to be fascinated by this movie because the black guy in it looked like the same man from the Famous Amos Cookie advertisements. Seeing this trailer above and the picture below at the age of 32, it's apparent I was wrong and fell prey to "every black man looks alike-itis" when I was a child. Either this or I really wanted the Famous Amos guy to sell me "the stuff" instead.


"Eat this stuff!"

R.I.P. Bill Claxton

Peggy Moffitt

William Claxton, one of most well-known and respected music photographers of his era, passed away the other day. He's probably most known for his images of his wife Peggy Moffitt and Chet Baker, among other Jazz greats. When I was in high school he was kind of enough to meet me for an interview for a class assignment. I never forgot what cool dude he was.

Not too long after the interview, Claxton and Moffitt came to my mother's house for a party. After smoking a copious amount of the green stuff I stumbled upon a friend of mine's impromptu trumpet solo in front of the couple. He barely had a clue how to play the thing but the copious amount of green he had smoked put his inhibitions by the wayside. They watched with big grins on their faces, completely amused. I'll never forget this as well as how Peggy was still sporting her trademark eye make-up. Time stood still twice over in that moment in my 18 year old brain.

Victory is Mine! For now.

Since moving into the living room of my one bedroom apartment, my worries of encountering a cockroach—while it's on my face and during my slumber—have intensified.

The only area they seem to enter the apartment is through the wall-mounted heating unit.
I went in there and inserted steel wool into every nook and cranny I could find.

And then I waited.

It seemed to work! I haven't seen one cockroach since. I knock on wood as I say this.
Maybe it simply got too cold inside for them as the temperatures have dipped considerably during the last few days. Or maybe they are plotting against me. They are waiting for me to get 'comfortable'—until they strike again.

Please God, don't let them.

HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT

Motherfucker it's hot in L.A.! It's fall, God. Check your watch.

But do you remember this jam from the early 000's? It was originally found
on the 1st Electroclash comp. What a crock of poo poo that festival was, or that movement for that matter. Larry Tee, puh, more like Larry Pee! I know, this heat is making the sharpest of sharpies.

Hot Room—Linda Lamb

Bird Brains

When I was a kid my mother used to play this song incessantly.

Excellent Birds—Laurie Anderson

Nine Circles/Sparks

Nine Circles, an obscure Netherlandish dark wave group, is the artist of the week. Such a good, moody song: download it, bro: What is There Left?—Nine Circles






Plus, L.A. native sons Sparks lending their disco/vocoder antics. The runner up of the song of the day, or week for that matter. Download here, sister: My Other Voice—Sparks

Karma, Karma, Karma, Karma, Karmeliaaaaaaa

O.J. is going to jail! Don't drop the soap, bro.

Work will set you free

"In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread"
"Yea are not your own, ye are bought with a price"