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Good News for DM Fans!

A couple of years ago, I asked for a pair of STEEL brand boots for Christmas. This came as something of a shock to my family, as I’d worn Doc Martens shoes and boots nearly exclusively for almost 22 years.

The truth be told, the last two pairs of Docs I bought started falling apart in less than a year. In one case, the soles actually started splitting where they’d bend as I walked. In the second case, the reinforcements around the eyelets started falling off.

Contrast this to the second pair of Docs I ever owned: a pair of plain black 3-hole Oxfords. I bought those shoes at Abbadabbas in Little Five Points shortly after graduating high school and wore them almost every single day for nine years. I only ended up throwing them away because all of the leather inside of the shoe had worn off, and the sole was so thin that the “air sole” bits were starting to stick out. Sure, I paid around $130 for them back in 1989, but I probably wore them over 3,000 times. I wore them to work at my Dad’s warehouse every day. I wore them the entire time I was in college. I even wore them to several jobs after graduation. It was the best damn $130 I ever spent!

So anyway, I chalked up Doc Martens decline in quality to the fact that the company ceased manufacturing its shoes in England in 2001 and outsourced their manufacture to China and Thailand. Imagine my joy when I found out the other day that Doc Martens started making shoes in the UK again in late 2007!

The “British Doc Martens” shoes are sold under the “Vintage Originals” product line and are made from “scratch” at the Cobbs Lane Factory in Wollaston. This isn’t a case where all the parts are made in China and assembled in England… the entire shoe is made in the UK to Doc Martens’ original specifications.

I think I just might add a new pair of 3-hole Oxfords to my Christmas List!

Check it out at Doc Martens’ official site here.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADONNA!!

Can you believe that the Material Girl turns 50 freakin’ years old today? Me neither. Gawd, I’m getting old. Just the other day, I realized that if I still had my first pair of Doc Martens, we could go out for a drink together, since they’d be almost 22 years old. Sigh.

Anyway… HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MADONNA! I’m still crazy about you after all these years!

PS – I hope your ankle gets better soon!

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Using Weave On Your Server

Google Browser Sync was an awesome tool that automatically synchronized your Firefox bookmarks, passwords, autocomplete information, and even your tabs between multiple computers. So if you installed Browser Sync on your work and home computers, you could close your browser at the office, then come home to the exact same experience – the same bookmarks, the same open tabs, same saved passwords, etc.

Sadly, Google announced that Browser Sync would not be updated for Firefox 3.0. So the Mozilla Foundation announced that they were rolling out Weave, a Firefox plug-in that would do all that Browser Sync did (and more, some day in the future). Although Weave is still very much in beta mode, it promises to be great one day. If you have any need for a browser synchronization tool, Weave’s where it’s at these days.

A few days ago, a guy named Marios Tziortzis posted this article on his blog about setting up Weave on any WebDAV-enabled webserver. So if you have your own website, you can set Weave up to sync to your server instead of Mozilla’s servers, which frequently go down for testing or maintenance.

Now, one of my “commandments” for running this site is that I always test out everything I recommend here. Most of the time, if I say that “[program name] works great!”, it’s because I use it at home and have tested it in detail here at home, not only on my own computer, but on virtual computers and test machines, too.

In the case of installing Weave on my own server, I haven’t quite figured it out yet. It seems that WordPress and WebDAV don’t get along that well, and much of the follow-up advice Marios offers in the comments section of his post is a bit over my head (for example, for the life of me, I can’t figure out how to change the WebDAV login type to “AuthType Basic” from “AuthType Digest” using my host’s control panel).

Still, many others have had success with this, so it’s worth checking out if you want to sync up to your own webserver.

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Cool Mad Men Sites

I know that some of you might be sick of all the talk about Mad Men, but I just wanted to let you guys know about two cool Mad Men websites.

The first is AMC’s official Mad Men site. Yes, it’s an official site owned and operated by AMC, but there’s lots of great stuff at there, like blogs, trivia games, episode guides and a lot more. The Mad Men blog is especially interesting, as it contains not only interviews with cast and crew members, but also the “1960s Handbook”, which focuses on background information about many of the places, objects and companies featured on the show. The site is, in my opinion, great, and if you like the show, it’s absolutely worth a visit.

The second site is a bit silly, yet thought-provoking at the same time. It’s called What Would Don Draper Do? and it features “questions” that people allegedly send in to the site, which “Don” answers. Think of it like “Dear Abby”, only run by a hard-livin’ guy from the 1960s. There are also lots of free-form quotes inspired by things Don says on the actual show. The funny thing is, the quotes tend to come across sounding a bit like fortune cookies… like “Don’t be cruel unless it serves both parties equally” or “Don’t fight. Say whatever she thinks you should” or (my personal favorite) “Teach your eight-year-old daughter to bartend”.

Both sites have RSS feeds, too… so you don’t need to check them all the time.

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Lavonia Rocks!

As someone that’s driven from Charlotte to Atlanta (or vice versa) dozens of times, I’ve often been… intrigued by the dozens of billboards for Café Risque, a restaurant\strip club in the small town of Lavonia, Georgia. I guess this is because I have some kind of morbid curiosity about the place. Why do they have 30 billboards on each side of I-85 advertising the place? What kind of girls work at a strip club in Lavonia? Do they have all their teeth? What kind of food does a Lavonia-based strip club have on its buffet? Is it safe to eat?

In a way, it’s similar to the curiosity I used to have as a child about the “alligator farms” advertised along the interstates in northern Florida. I remember begging my mom to stop at one of those farms on several car trips to the Sunshine State. But she never would.

And it seems that I’ll never get my chance to visit Café Risque, either: the city of Lavonia purchased Café Risque in late July for $997,000, and plans to convert the property to a family-friendly restaurant.

You might not think the story of a strip club in a tiny Georgia town would be that interesting, but the tale of Café Risque is actually chock full of intrigue.

Back in 2001, a man named Jerry Sullivan approached city officials about building a family restaurant at the site. Sullivan told the city council that he was “building a Cracker Barrel-type restaurant, and [the restaurant would] make the best tomato gravy in the world”. He further told the council that the restaurant would be called “Skeeter’s Big Biscuits”. Sullivan then gave city officials a tour of the restaurant, which was in the final stages of construction. After the city council approved Sullivan’s business license, the smut peddler immediately set to work removing the booths, replacing the lunch counter with a bar, and even bricking up the windows. By 5am the morning after he got his business license, Sullivan had Café Risque open for business.

As you might guess, this infuriated city officials. They were, however, powerless to stop him, as the city had never passed any sort of law regulating adult entertainment venues, because (quite frankly) the issue had never come up before. The city launched a series of expensive lawsuits against Sullivan, which they almost always lost due to First Amendment concerns. In 2003, the city sued Sullivan again, and this time he agreed to stop selling alcohol… if the city would allow more nudity (which they grudgingly agreed to). In 2006, Café Risque was raided by local police, who seized a number of illegal poker machines. Sullivan sued the city, saying that the action violated his agreement with the city, which banned police officers from coming onto Sullivan’s property for any reason (QUESTION: how can I get that kind of deal?)

Jerry Sullivan died in 2006, but the club continued to operate. Earlier this year, a third-party informed the city that he had been approached by the mysterious new owners of the club, who were interested in selling. In complete secrecy, the city quietly used its emergency fund to pay off a bond issue (which saved the city $1.2 million in interest payments); the third party (a local bank) then lent the city the money to buy the club. In late July, Lavonia mayor Ralph Owens announced that “the city was offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get rid of a very undesirable business in Lavonia. The transaction has now been finalized, and we can make history for our city. By purchasing the Café Risque property, the city can now rid itself of that terrible business and the awful billboard blight”. This set off a round of celebration from the crowd, who followed the mayor to the Café Risque site, where all the signage was taken down from the building and set alight in a huge bonfire.

And thus, Café Risque ceased to exist. There remains only one question in my mind, though: what reason do I ever have to visit Lavonia now?

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Bad News for the Bobcats

Creative Loafing Charlotte columnist Tara Servatius recently wrote this column about the uncertain future of the Charlotte Bobcats NBA franchise. As anyone that follows Charlotte sports knows, the Bobcats are having a difficult time simply generating interest in the Charlotte area, to say nothing of actually selling tickets or merchandise. The team has given free tickets to the homeless and slashed season ticket prices in attempts to fill the seats at the Bobcats Arena (I won’t call it the “Time Warner Cable Arena” until TWC pays me $1,000 per mention on this site). No matter what they do, Charlotteans just don’t seem to care.

Servatius’ column bears this out. In a recent study released by Public Policy Polling, 500 North Carolinians were asked which sporting event they would attend if they could get free tickets. Here are the results:

Sporting Event Percentage
Carolina Panthers 29%
UNC Basketball 28%
NASCAR 16%
Duke Basketball 13%
Carolina Hurricanes 10%
Charlotte Bobcats 5%

The numbers get even more amazing when you consider that 18% of overall respondents didn’t even know that North Carolina had an NHL team (this includes an incredible 6% of the people in the 919 (Raleigh) area code, where the Hurricanes play). So twice as many people said they’d go to a Hurricanes game than a Bobcats game, even though almost 20% of the overall respondents had no idea that there even was an NHL team nearby! That’s bad news for the Bobcats, folks!

Even worse, of the 5% that said that they’d prefer to go to a Bobcats game, only 1% were white. And no, that’s not a typo: of the 25 people that said they’d prefer a Bobcats game, 24.75 of those people were non-white. So when I say that white people “couldn’t care less” about the Charlotte Bobcats, it’s almost mathematically accurate. And here in the city of Charlotte – which is run by a bunch of white bankers – that ain’t good.

Continue reading “Bad News for the Bobcats”

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The Battle for Your Screen

Ever notice that more and more of the lower third of your TV screen is covered more and more often with some kind of promotional “bug” from the networks? Hold on to your hats, then: some networks are planning to sell that as ad space, according to this article over at trade journal site Broadcasting & Cable.

Thankfully, the issue is not as cut and dried as you might think. Although advertisers are itching to find new ways to sell advertising in a world where 20% of US homes have a DVR (and thus, presumably skip the commercials), it seems that most networks are wary of turning your favorite comedy or drama into a CNN-style hodge-podge of crawlers and obnoxicons. In fact, some TV insiders are against the practice in general, not because it’s “defaming the art of the filmmaker”, but because scientific study has shown that most people cannot process two thoughts at the same time while watching TV. In other words, people either watch the show and ignore the bug, or they watch the bug and ignore the show (either of which is not good for the networks). Also, many at the networks (TBS excepted, apparently) are wary of alienating their dwindling numbers.

All around, it’s some interesting reading. You should check it out.

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Mad Men: “The Benefactor”

Wow – Mad Men‘s getting dark again, isn’t it? It really is starting to live up to its tagline: “Where the truth lies”.

This episode begins with comedian “Jimmy Barrett” filming a commercial for Utz potato chips. Barrett – a pastiche of Don Rickles, Jackie Mason, and\or Gene Saks – has had a few drinks, and when Utz owners Mr and Mrs Schilling enter the room, Barrett launches a verbal assault on Mrs Schilling and her considerable girth. The Schillings are understandably offended, and Barrett is too drunk to care. A fiasco thus ensues for Sterling Cooper.

Unfortunately for the agency, Don is at the movies, looking for meaning (again)… this time in Michelangelo Antonioni’s La Notte. When he gets back to the office, the agency is in crisis mode. Don angrily fires Lois and vows to take matters into his own hands.

Meanwhile, two big things have happened: Arthur and Betty have more conversations at the stables, and Henry opens Ken’s paycheck and finds out that he makes $100 a week less than Ken. This causes Henry to call a friend at CBS to see if any jobs are available there. There aren’t, but his friend does mention that he desperately needs advertisers for an upcoming episode of The Defenders.  Why? The episode is about abortion, and none of his regular advertisers will touch it with a 10-foot pole. Henry thinks that he can sell the ad space to a Sterling Cooper client for pennies on the dollar, and comes up with a plan to sell it to his bosses. Most touching about this scene: the fact that Henry calls his wife for advice about his money situation, and that Jennifer actually gives him good advice. Henry and Jennifer are, more than any other couple on Mad Men, a “team”. They’re husband and wife in the “modern” sense, and it’s cute to see them together.

But then… everything gets dark. Don goes to meet Bobbie Barrett (Jimmy’s wife), to see what it will take to get Jimmy to apologize to Mrs Schilling:

Bobbie don’t play. She takes on Don at every turn, and at one point she suggests that Jimmy will apologize only if Don lets Jimmy have sex with Betty! Negotiations are at an impasse. Don offers to give her a ride home… when a hailstorm breaks out… and Bobbie kisses Don in the car! What happens next isn’t clear: several blogs have talked about how “Don slept with Bobbie”, but the official AMC recap only mentions the kiss. Personally, I’m not sure. I think he only kissed her, but I’m not sure about that.

At home, Sally asks Don if she can ride with Mom on Saturday. Don tells her no. Betty then gives Don his watch, which she’d taken to get repaired (and engraved as a special treat). Don looks at the engraving, says “Awww, Bets!” and kisses her.

Saturday rolls around, and Betty goes to the stables to ride. She, of course, runs in to Arthur. They have a long conversation, which ends with Arthur trying to kiss Betty. She refuses his advances, and in doing so looks absolutely beautiful. January Jones is one of those people that looks much better on TV than she does in real life. Which is a pity, because when she’s all dolled up as Betty Draper, she’s totally a modern day Grace Kelly:

Anyway, while Betty is at the stables, Don calls Bobbie to arrange a dinner between her and Jimmy, Don and Betty, and the Schillings. When Betty comes home, Don asks her how she feels about going to Lutece on Monday night. Betty is initially excited, but then she finds out that it’s a “business thing”. Betty asks if “this is one where I talk, or where I don’t talk?” Don gives her one of his trademark lines: “I need you to be shiny and bright. I need a better half.” She complains about the short notice and having nothing to wear. Don, seeing that she’s really complaining about not spending time with her husband, tells her that they’ll go alone sometime. He then calls her “Birdie” (for those of you keeping up with his nicknames). Hmmm..

Continue reading “Mad Men: “The Benefactor””

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“The Boss” to Bore Us

Bruce SpringsteenIt was announced today that the Super Bowl halftime show will be headlined by… Bruce Springsteen, who will bring his lame New Jersey-based rock to millions of people… people that will be taking bathroom or cigarette breaks, or hitting the buffet instead of watching yet another over-the-hill rock dinosaur.

Wake me up when that’s over!

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Spooks: Code 9

So yesterday, the missus and I enjoyed a lazy Sunday on the sofa. At one point, one of Lisa’s friends (who has had some health issues recently and was just in the hospital for a small ‘procedure’) called the house line. Lisa went outside to talk to her, so I turned off whatever it was that we were watching to catch the last few minutes of last Thursday’s Burn Notice. As luck would have it, Lisa wasn’t on the phone for very long, so she came back inside and got back on the sofa. After watching about 30 seconds of Burn Notice she declared it “garbage” and asked how I could watch crap like that.

Well, I don’t think Burn Notice is garbage, and I’m apparently not alone: it’s one of the highest-rated shows on basic cable. It’s funny, though, that Lisa would call it garbage… because just a couple of hours later I watched a show that is indeed garbage:

Actually, the show is called Spooks: Code 9 and it’s a spin-off of the BBC’s popular show Spooks. Sadly, however, while Spooks was an excellent show in its heyday, Spooks: Code 9 is a steaming pile of poo.

Here’s the plot: terrorists detonate a small nuclear bomb in London during the 2012 Olympics. The British government has been moved from London to Manchester, and much of southeast England has been quarantined. MI-5 (the version you know for the original show) has been dismantled and broken up into small “field offices”. So instead of one giant spy agency, there are now 10 or 12 “mini-MI-5s” in the UK.

The main problem with the show is that the cast is made up of nothing but beautiful twentysomethings. If you will, imagine the overall look and feel of Spooks (albeit on a much tighter budget), but with British versions of the cast of The Hills or Gossip Girl playing spies (if you’re actually British, imagine Spooks recast with the kids from Skins). While the acting is barely passable, the plots are inane, and the fact that every character has a “specialty” is hackneyed and contrived. The show lacks the cohones of Spooks. For example, we have no idea who set off the nuclear blast. While Spooks would have immediately blamed Al Qaeda, an IRA splinter group, or some other (mostly plausible) terrorist group, Spooks: Code 90210 apparently doesn’t want to offend anyone by assigning blame.

And it’s not just me thinking the show sucks. The Telegraph wondered if the nuclear bomb had killed everyone over 40 in London. The Times said that the show is “to Spooks what Torchwood is to Doctor Who” (i.e., not as good). It further called the plots “daft and unconvincing” and “too ludicrous to work as well as similar spin-offs”.

Don’t get me wrong. I could look at Ruta Gedmintas (who plays former police officer Rachel Harris on the show) all day long. But not in this crap. This is awful!