Ktmnky

Surely once it shows up in The Guardian, a meme is dead.

And now, for this important information.

Vintage Logos - “Collection of vintage logos from a mid-70’s edition of the book World of Logotypes.”

This particular one is for “Combined Communications Corporation” out of Phoenix, Arizona.

I’ve seen this picture around for years without actually seeing it. Always in the background, a sort of racial memory of a time when Exotica ruled the Western world, and cocktails and Hawaiian shirts were the epitome of cool.

It’s been sitting at Luna for ages now, taunting me each time I walk past on my way home from work. When I would go in and enquire, the price was always too high, especially for something that wasn’t an actual painting.

Today, Daphne’s Handbag had it for £35. And I couldn’t say no.

Her name is Tina. And she was painted by J.H. Lynch. And I love her.

5.3 on the Richter Scale, shaking the East Midlands awake just before 1am.

Yes, it’s true, I brought the earthquakes with me when I moved from L.A. Be glad I didn’t bring the hurricanes from New Orleans.

I’ve started listening to the Vintage Horror Radio podcast, a collection of old-time horror radio shows.

There’s just something about spending your morning commute hearing Vincent Price in The Pit and the Pendulum that brightens up even the gloomiest morning.

I bought some Mung beans at Wilkinsons, as part of my current domestic craze.

I thought Mmm. I love bean sprouts. But stir-fry kits are so expensive and have too many sprouts in them. I will buy some beans, turn them into sprouts, and enjoy the delicious sprouty fruits of my labour.

At the register, the cashier looked closely at the package. “What, you eat them?” she said, looking up at me.

“You grow them then eat them,” I replied.

She looked back down at the package.

“It’s just what’s in stir-fries,” I added.

“Oh…” The cashier looked at the package again. “I don’t eat stir-fries.”

“Oh.”

“I’m a picky eater.” And with that she continued scanning in my purchases.

Oh, I thought to myself. Such people do exist.

In true L’espirit de l’escalier, I wish I had said “Oh, that’s not picky eating. That’s pathetic eating. You’re missing out on one of the great easy pleasures in life because you’re too busy stuffing your face with whatever godawful swill you enjoy while you’re working at the bloody Wilkos! Eat a goddamned bean sprout for once in your goddamned life!”

On the other hand, I hate broccoli. And cauliflower. And most fish.

Laugh-Out-Loud Cats #717 is what my brain does every morning.

I Can Has Rezearch Papar?, a short paper about the creation of Internet memes, including 4chan, Caturday, YTMND, LOLCats, ORLY, and a dozen other acroynms and strange internet speak that you keep on using, but don’t realise where it came from.

Everything I do, I do it for the lulz.

I’m in the middle of re-reading Dale Spender’s Nattering on the Net: Women, Power and Cyberspace, a 1995 study of gender, power, and technology.

It’s a bit dated, naturally, but it came at a time when I was spending most of my time in my university’s women’s center, working at the small computer lab we put together to get women using the Internet. In fact, I bought this copy when Dale Spender came to speak about women on the Internet. I introduced her, even, and I do regret not spending more time talking to her.

So along with my nostalgia trip over my university days, I’m also enjoying reading this because it’s still relevant today. How women relate to technology, and how technology relates to women.

I do wish she’d come out with an updated version, though. Or post more on her blog. Because I’d love to see what she’d get from blogs, social networking, and even the mighty cliché of Second Life.

(If you’re in the mood for something similar from around the same time, I also recommend Surfer Grrrls: Look, Ethel! An Internet Guide for Us! by Laurel Gilbert and Crystal Kile. And not just because Crystal was my boss back at Newcomb.)