Anachronistic Mom Blog

blogging doesn't pay?

Here's an amusing Newsweek article from the Dan Lyons, the guy who brought you The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs, saying that he's done (stick a fork in him) -- and he didn't make any money anyway.

Perhaps "Media Marketing 101" should be required for Humanities majors everywhere.

The most fun site - vintage ads!

These are fun. Check 'em out. You can scroll backwards by increments of 20 to look at vintage ads submitted by viewers.

The BEST SENTENCE I have heard all week.

OK, so the fur is flying this week. Republicans are lying through their teeth while swaggering, and Democrats are righteously whining.

In the midst of all of the sleazy lies and so forth, I found this sentence:

Mrs. Greenglass, who died earlier this year, said her sister-in-law also was in the kitchen when Julius bisected the side of a Jell-O box that a courier would use as a signal to retrieve atomic secrets from David Greenglass.

Truly, this is a sentence that stops you, makes you blink, and causes you to screech to a halt. I like that.  Here's the article.

Why celebrities look nice in photos

I stumbled onto some pretty fun posts about how celebrities are photoshopped out of control.  Always fun to look.

Here's Jezebel's "before and after comparison" of Faith Hill on the cover of some women's mag.
Here's their point-by-point rundown on what got changed.

And check out this guy's website. He's a retoucher.  Seriously, the mouse rollovers are scary!

Want to hear the new slogan for the USA?

Via Science Addiction:
The NY Times' Freakonomics blog recently ran a great contest for a 6-word slogan for the USA.  The winning slogan? 

Our Worst Critics Prefer to Stay (194 votes)

Here are the runners-up:

Caution! Experiment in Progress Since 1776 (134)

The Most Gentle Empire So Far (64) votes

You Should See the Other Guy (38)

Just Like Canada, With Better Bacon (18)

From Boing-boing - SF sculpted out of cookware

Here you go.  It's gorgeous.  Check it out at  BoingBoing's page. They have great links too.  Excerpt:

For his exhibition at the Asian Art Museum, Wang has selected rocks from the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, alluding to the nineteenth-century Chinese immigrant experience of mining gold during the California gold rush. Both the actual rocks and their stainless steel versions will be exhibited. The artist will also create a topographic San Francisco cityscape–one of his “urban landscape” series– using steel rocks, mirrored surfaces, silverware, and stainless steel pots and pans.

Finally! Respect for books! The Johnny Bunco Trailer

Here is a first -- a video ad for a book.  It's awesome, wonderful, and made me hop up and down with joy.  How cool that media are crossing over!

Happy Passover Week! Jesus' Failings as a Boyfriend

I love Jezebel, even though it was created by a skanky media company.  They are rude and they are funny.  It's fun to see what all of the smart, smart-mouthed girls are saying nowadays.

Here's a lovely little piece titled "8 Ways Jesus would have been the worst boyfriend ever" by the irrepressible Moe.

Recommended reading for 7 year olds

Here's a nice blog called Teddy Bear in a Suitcase, written by Ellen.  She is a reading specialist and talks about all sorts of books for kids -- for every circumstance! In this post, she talks about taking her 7 year old to broadway musicals and offers book suggestions on the topic.  In particular, I liked Pamela's First Musical by the late playwright (and mom) Wendy Wasserstein. 

I took my squirmy four year old son to the Lion King musical and he was enraptured - the entire time.  Mouth open. Entranced.  And we listened to the music for ages.  "Ariel" clones aside, musicals can be very cool.

Sufi Poetry and Philosophy...

Do you like the poet Rumi?  You should.  He's awesome.

With a tip of the hat to ModestoKid, for posting this link, here's a really wonderful website, called "the electronic school of masnavi studies" with excellent content and analysis, put together by Ibrahim Gamard.

Ibrahim Gamard first translated Rumi's poetry from Persian in 1985, and started posting selected Rumi translations, commentary, and Persian transliterations on the Internet in 1997. His website, www.dar-al-masnavi.org, is one of the best Web sources for in-depth information about the great Sufi mystic. Gamard is a member of the Mevlevi Order, a 730-year-old Sufi order that originated with Rumi himself. A licensed psychologist, Dr. Gamard converted to Islam twenty years ago.