Double Dutch

A snappy lil' song from the late Malcom McClaren.

Cartoon styles of the decades

I was thinking this morning of how various styles of cartoon art go in and out of style--I'm not talking about things like comic books and comic strips, but the kind of art that gets used for magazine and album covers, and for illustrations in publications like the New York Times. For instance, when I was a kid in the seventies, the art of Seymour Chwast and his imitators was everywhere.

Chwast is still working. It's a style that seemed very clever, but got a little old after too much repetition.

The work of Gary Panter is stuck in my head as firmly identified with the 80s. Panter's background was in the LA punk scene of the late 70s, but he's best known for his work designing for Pee-Wee's Playhouse:

He's also responsible for some well-known album covers:

This is a very Eighties idea of 'hip' and edgy:

The work of Dan Clowes is, to me, very very early nineties, probably because that's when I was really into it. After working on his own comics and commissions for various 'alternative' media,

he was one of the artists (along with Charles Burns) used for the ill-fated "slacker" OK Soda campaign:

Now he's the type of artist you see more regularly in The New Yorker, like Panter and Chwast.


I'm not sure who a recognizably identifiable 2000-2010 cartoonist would be--maybe I wasn't paying attention, or I might need more time to look back to figure it out. My favorite artist now is Michael Kupperman, who has been around a long time. Maybe he's it? What do YOU think?

Homer's four greatest inventions

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The Horrible Angostura Bitters Shortage of 2010

I thought it was just a neighborhood thing where I live but it's sadly true--there has been a worldwide Angostura Bitters shortage. I've never encountered such a thing in my 20 years of buying this product. I haven't had any at home in a couple of months, since my last bottle ran out. For a long time, I though I was just having bad shopping luck, and I've been relying on my back-up bottle of Fee's Bitters*, but they're just not the same.

With any luck, our long national nightmare will end soon, and we can all go back to being civilized mixologists and imbibers.

*They have an "Old-Fashioned Bitters" that's close, but no cigar. However, they are the source for the formerly elusive Orange Bitters and Mint Bitters. And to make a Sazerac, you need to get yourself some Peychaud's Bitters.

Inaccurate History in Copywriting, Part 43

"Dude, I'm smokin' through this ad copy"

Revue Retro 210 Eyeglasses

Model: 210

Product ID: 4071250002450732c199

Description:

It was the late 1970's and Andy Warhol dominated the New York art scene. Millions were learning the "twist" from James Brown. These vintage glasses were all the rage in that era, with the thick, cartoon-like rims.

I have no idea what era they're supposed to be talking about here, unless this is on some alternate Earth. I won't even do a point-by-point on this because just about every 'fact' is wrong. Yikes!

Here's another one that I found in my kitchen, courtesy of Morton Salt:


1933
In the post-Depression years from 1933 to 1941, jazz was king. And as it reigned, our little girl kept pouring.

I think a lot of people would have liked to have known the depression was over in 1933! It would have saved them a lot of trouble with joblessness and hunger. Also, saying "Jazz is King" has a distinctly 'roaring twenties', Gatsby-esque tone.

Poorly-written copy and wrong history are two of my big pet peeves (out of many), so these blurbs really get my goat.