Wednesday, March 26, 2008

The Return of Closet World

Back in February, I posted a convoluted story revolving around an obscure commercial for Closet World. A reader named Michelle just left a comment there, mentioning that she'd been on a similar quest to find any scrap of evidence for this commercial on the Web, but to no avail. So, taking matters into her own hands, she made the following video of herself performing a heartfelt rendition of the Closet World jingle.



Is it presumptuous or creepy of me to take the liberty of posing this video? Cast your vote!

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Cake Indentities

This is what blogging is all about. All my efforts, the sleepless nights, the alcoholic binges, and the hernias resulting from hefting Bloggy-Blog to its current iconic stature, have all culminated with this singular defining post.

Yes, the generous folks at the old Fairfax' Farmer's Market Pastry Shop permitted me to copy images from their scrapbook of personalized cakes! This gallery of confections has been an under-appreciated treasure for too long. I'm sure you'll agree that every single customized cake is a culinary masterwork worthy of only the most refined of digestive tracts.


grilled steak and stuffed potato cake with chardonnay

pregnant taco cake

watermelon cake with cryptic youth culture message

a 'Quincy' cake, starring Jack Klugman

stolen bag of loot cake

liberace's protégé cake

lucky leather-scented shoe cake

highly desirable spam cake

bar mitzvah w/prayer shawl cake. 'way to go larry!

cat and mouse cake. no apologizing for dead rodents in this kitchen

hulk cake. the only known cake you have to negotiate with

kleenex cake... it's my birthday and i'll cry if i want to

the mixed-up bucket of chicken stuck inside a cake's body
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Sorry if this came off too much like some kind of lame-ass Jay Leno segment. As usual, I'll try to come up with something better next time.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Flim Flam Film Fan Flan



I'll try to approach this authoritatively.

The 1967 version of Casino Royale made for a fairly ponderous comedy. Several directors oversaw individual segments and the whole goulash was then strewn together, resulting in major continuity gaps and narrative flaws. None of this was helped by Peter Sellers walking off the project prematurely. I've always though that Sellers came across as a cool dude but apparently, except for Stanley Kubrick, everyone reported that he was a monster to work with.

On the other hand, this Bond spoof is placed right in the middle of one of my favorite decades for film set design. So, visually, it more than makes up for what it lacks in story.

...Oh yeah, the score to Casino Royale was by Herb Alpert which lent the perfect union of kitsch for later generations to gawk at --and yet another reason why this chaotic mess deserves to be enshrined.

Click any image for large view.

my favorite shot, hands-down: slo-mo feathers and ursula andres spinning on a circular bed

some anonymous loser









no 60s comedy is worth it's salt without a hallucination sequence

60s computers were the BEST! I've always puzzled over how the 60s could look more modern than the 70s. is it because the 70's saw us scaling back on our vaunted expectations of the future due to the mounting political corrosion ? what do you say, Joey Polanski?



woody allen IS Jimmy Bond... this was his second film, following "what's new pussycat?"