‘Hans Beck, Designer of Little Plastic People, Dies at 79’

Sad but awesome:

Mr. Beck was the original designer and, for 24 years until he retired in 1998, head of research and development for Playmobil (pronounced playmoBEEL). The company is a division of Geobra Brandstätter GmbH & Company KG, founded in 1876, which originally made ornamental casket fittings and handles. Based in Zirndorf, Germany, it has since manufactured cash registers, telephones, piggy banks, self-watering planters and, starting in 1974, those tiny, round-faced, black-eyed characters with moon-sliver smiles.

At precisely 2.9 inches high, the figures have moveable arms and legs, bendable waists and hands that can grasp a pirate’s sword, a carpenter’s saw or a firefighter’s hose. They can be ancient Egyptians building a pyramid, knights defending a castle, police officers in a patrol car, ambulance drivers, circus performers or even members of a wedding party.

Approximately 2.2 billion Playmobil figures have been sold worldwide since they were introduced in 1974. (NYT)

Lux Interior, RIP

Obit coming soon here. In the meantime, here are the Cramps at their notorious 1978 gig at the Napa State (mental) Hospital:

Press release of the day: Nuge in the Bowhunters Hall of Fame

This one is almost too easy:

WORLD RENOWNED HUNTER AND ACTIVIST TED NUGENT
TO BE INDUCTED INTO
THE NATIONAL BOWHUNTERS HALL OF FAME
FEBRUARY 6
IN LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
The National Bowhunters Hall of Fame is proud to announce TED NUGENT as their most recent inductee. The induction will take place February 6 in Las Vegas, NV as part of the National Field Archery Association’s World Archery Festival at the Riviera Hotel. NUGENT will be honored in two categories: Excellence in Bowhunting, as well as Literary Excellence. These categories acknowledge NUGENT’s widely acclaimed skills as an outdoorsman, and his promotion of bowhunting on an international level via his best-selling books and popular writings.

NUGENT began bowhunting around 1956--approximately the same time he picked up his first guitar. Nugent has gone on to wildly successful careers in the two seemingly disparate fields. But it makes perfect sense to TED. He explains, “I started twanging the one-string ‘bout the same time as the 6-string. There was some sort of bow & arrow in my hands as young as six or seven, I’m sure. Got my first guitar around the same time and both have remained my favorite weapons to date!”

[...]

NUGENT has sold in excess of 35 million albums; produces and stars in the award-winning Ted Nugent Spirit of the Wild TV show; is a New York Times best-selling author (his most recent book TED, WHITE, AND BLUE: THE NUGENT MANIFESTO entered the Top 10 at #8 in October 2008); and continues to set attendance records at concert venues around the globe.

"The future of the shooting sports in this country is in the hands of tomorrow's outdoorsmen and women,” TED says. “The youth of America must be educated to the wholesome and valued world of hunting and conservation. Because rock 'n roll plays such a pivotal role in a young person's life, I will share my wonderful lifestyle and experiences with them.”

Click here for more on Nuge’s “literary excellence.”

‘Rorschach Tilley’

By Marcus Thiele, a.k.a. Marcus Parcus, for the New Yorker’s annual Eustace Tilley contest.

In other Watchmen news, Dave Gibbons will be speaking at the Apple Store in SoHo this Friday; and on Tuesday, Feb. 17, there will be Apple Store appearances by Gibbons in San Francisco and Zack Snyder in Santa Monica.

Boredoms update, and Acrassicauda/Metallica

Pitchfork has the scoop on the Boredoms’ latest, Super Roots 10, which has just been released and is apparently already a rarity. Their news item is titled “It Exists!”:

First off: an apology. Sometimes we get so busy pawing through Decemberists album cover news that we miss something big. And so we’re late to the punch on this one: Super Roots 10, the latest entry in the ongoing EP series from monolithic Osaka scene kingpins the Boredoms, is out now. It exists. There aren’t any copies up on Ebay yet, but if you keep a watchful eye out, you can probably own a copy for somewhere in the low triple-digits.

The EP went on sale last Wednesday, though CDJapan says that the first pressing is already completely sold out, unsurprisingly enough. The EP comes with typically headache-inducing cover art from frontman EYE, who also produced the thing. Thrill Jockey, the band’s U.S. label, has no word on an American release, so tough titties and happy downloading.

In other news: The story I was teasing about is now up. I went with Acrassicauda, the Iraqi band featured in the film Heavy Metal in Baghdad, to meet their idols Metallica at the Prudential Center in Newark. The Metallica machine was like nothing I’ve ever seen, a whole traveling army to put on their huge show and manage every backstage detail. And yet each member of the band spent a great deal of time meeting with Acrassicauda — privately, leaving celebs and industry well-wishers waiting — and encouraging them to keep the rock ’n’ roll faith. You’ll have to read the story to find out the astonishing extent of Metallica’s graciousness.

When I get time I will post the full interview with Acrassicauda.

If I were the type to twitter ...

... I’d say that I just shook hands with every member of Metallica. VERY cool story coming soon.

From the dustbin: ‘We’re the Jetsons (Jetsons Rap)’

It was the summer of 1990. PC users tinkered with the brand-new Windows 3.0 operating system. West Germany, seized with excitement for its imminent reunion with its Eastern brothers, won the World Cup. And hip-hop reached its ultimate punk-ass nadir, starting with “U Can’t Touch This” and leading up later that year to “Ice Ice Baby.” In between came the soundtrack to Jetsons: The Movie, which opens with this track, performed by some chumps called XXL.

The soundtrack is way out of print, but if you like what you hear, and want some Tiffany ballads (she did the voice of Judy Jetson), you can download the whole thing here and here. And you can see the YTMND Jetsons-Salt N Pepa here.

Watchmen picture disc with ... My Chemical Romance

I missed this while I was away, and I’m not sure whether I’m glad about that or not.

Tomorrow Warner/Reprise will release a 12-inch picture disc with music from Watchmen. On the A side is My Chemical Romance’s “powerful cover” of Dylan’s “Desolation Row” — from whose lyrics (“At midnight all the agents...”) the title of the first issue was taken. I guess that satisfies the “snotty pop-punk version of a TV theme or 1960s rock classic” required of the soundtrack for every expensive Hollywood adaptation.

Side B: “Tyler Bates ‘Prison Fight’ Track from the Original Motion Picture Score (Rorschach City Scene).” Your advance price from the Warners store: $11.99.

At least it’s not a 12-year-old Smashing Pumpkins leftover.

Sort of an Indiana Jones ‘Use Your Illusion’

Concord Records to Release First Three Expanded Indiana Jones™ Soundtracks Individually on February 24, 2009

Originally Available as Part of Last Year’s Limited-Edition Boxed Set, These Expanded and Remastered Soundtracks Feature Previously Unreleased Music From The First Three Films!

“Sure, the whip, the hat, the jacket are part of the Indiana Jones iconography. But what really gives Indy his heart and spirit is John Williams’ music.” — Steven Spielberg

Beverly Hills, CA — On February 24, 2009 Concord Records will release individually the soundtracks to the original three Indiana Jones films: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

All three feature Oscar-winning composer John Williams’ soundtracks digitally remastered from the original tapes, plus unreleased music from each respective film. Previously available only as part of last year’s highly successful box set release Indiana Jones: The Soundtracks Collection, these reissued CD’s will be available individually for the first time.

About the boxed set, Film Music Magazine raved, “It’s a collection on five CD’s that delivers over an hour of unheard Indy music, all with spectacular sound and sleek packaging. The chance to finally hear that minute of Indy toppling the Anubis statue in ‘Raiders’ is like a dream come true. Now with just about every bit of Indiana Jones music on deck here, listing to some of John Williams’ greatest achievements for the popcorn cinema has never sounded more fun, or fresh. Raid this covenant of CD’s immediately.”

Short version: “We found a new way to sell the stuff that was on the box set.”

Vacation

I’m taking some time away from work, and away from blogging. Will be back when I get back. In the meantime, please content yourself with some lolcats.

Oblique Strategies for iPhone

A company called Far Out Labs has developed an iPhone app for Oblique Strategies, Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt’s wonderful oracle in a deck of cards. (This is separate from the Dashboard widget.) You tap the screen, and another “worthwhile dilemma” pops up to unlock your mind. Complaint: the screenshots above are misleading since the design is inexplicably in landscape orientation. 

Eno himself has helped create an app called Bloom, which allows you to make patterns of sounds — some might call that music, some might just call it patterns of sounds — by tapping on the screen.

Maybe it’s time for me to finally figure out how to do a web version of my parody, Obtuse Strategies, which I designed and printed privately at not inconsiderable expense.

(Thanks to Rob for the tip.)

‘A Priest. A Father’

One of my oldest friends, Dan Madden — whose rain-damaged copy of The Dark Knight Returns I still have in my bookcase, 21 or so years later — is working on a documentary about his father, who was a priest before he started a family.

Dan is now a film editor who has worked on many big projects, but “A Priest. A Father” (sorry, Dan, I can’t abide the eccentric capitalization) is a labor of love. And it’s a revelation to me — I didn’t learn of his father’s ecclesiastical history until long after my days hanging out at his house, endlessly entertained by his four sons’ inevitable smackdowns. Mr. Madden is very candid in the teaser Dan has posted, about growing up poor in the South Bronx and how the church did nothing to prepare its young recruits for celibacy.

Dan’s description:

“A priest. A Father” tells the story of Bill Madden, a former Catholic priest, and now husband and father of 7. This film follows him back to the Benedictine Monastery where began his life as a monk in the late 1950’s, to Rome where he studied, and Assisi Italy where he was ordained. Throughout his journey he finds the remnants of a lifestyle that no longer exists, reflects on the reasons he ultimately left, and ponders the current state of the Catholic Church. This journey is weighed next to the choices of his brother who remained in the priesthood and who has gone on to become a Bishop. We speak to several former and current priests to try and understand the enormous impacts of events like Vatican II, and why in the end, many chose to leave.

Ultimately, this film explores what inspired some men to become priests, but more importantly why some left.

In an attempt to recreate imagery of times and moments that were never documented, the video footage is interwoven with animated illustrations and original music. The final film is expect to run approximately 30 minutes.