Category: etc.

1) What the public affairs office of the LDS Church finds itself in the middle of because of the presidential candicacy of church member Mitt Romney. The deluge of media inquiries is to be met by an army of interns.

greg.org, based on flickr user reutc’s original image

This report from Church Solutions [“formerly Church Business”] Magazine:

Faith-Based Amusement Association Launches
Posted on: 12/07/2006
With the goal of providing “influential amusement” in their industry, a group of 48 met last week as the founding members of the Faith-Based Amusement Association (FBAA). The group gathered during the recent International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions convention.
…
“We take great pleasure in sharing our faith and praying with all of our employees,” says Johnny Blevins of Splash Kingdom Waterpark in Canton, Texas. “Second, we have some of our favorite Bible verses around the park and play Christian music all the time. Hopefully, as we interact with our guests and employees, we’re showing Christ’s love for others.”

An interview with Mr. Blevins of Splash Kingdom is on the FBAA’s blog:

Reagan Hillier: How would you describe the “faith based initiative” at your park?
Johnny Blevins: We are less than low key with our approach, not extremely overt or in your face. But our guests know where we stand as a family and as a business. For example, we play positive, encouraging Christian music around the park and our mission statement is clearly visible on our website. We don’t use the cross as a marketing tool, but we have had tremendous support and success in partnering with churches.

The park also sponsors a popular vacation Bible school program featuring “water related themes from the Bible.” [via nyt]

Just as he has done for insurance executive Robert Rosenkrantz’s thoughtful affairs, for just a few basis points, Christopher Hitchens will pepper your next client-heavy dinner party with not unfollowable latin legalisms:

“I think there’s a big incentive among people in finance to prove to themselves that they aren’t just bean counters or whatever,” he said, adding that he had recently been paid to attend a small dinner party with a group of strangers from the hedge fund industry. “They don’t want to just be the fat guy with a cigar in the New Yorker cartoon.”

Also Rosenkrantz does not have a jet, only a jet share. Just the kind of revelation that might have once made for an awkward revelation at a dinner party. Sounds like progress to me!
A Hobby That’s Part Party, Part Debate, All Intellect [nyt]

See it’s alright for Australians to give the little animated sushi character buckteeth–because they’re Asian, too!
Wrigley’s Extra commercial
Dir. Jonathan Baker
Agency: DDB Sydney [atwinthing.com via coudal, I thought]

Most of the time we’re never aware of it. But at some level, it’s gotta be deeply disturbing to find out we’re as much a type as a person.

And by that, I don’t mean “Mac” or “PC”; I mean John Hodgman and that other guy. Mostly that other guy.
Japanese Get A Mac Commercial [apple.com/jp via notcot]

I’ve been wondering for a while now what I could get laser-etched on my MacBook that would be sustainably cool, conceptually tight, not too annoyingly arty, but that wouldn’t be a total 19th century lemur etching knockoff, you know?
I think these guys are onto something.
Boomcase/Briefbox by Epidemik Coalition [via notcot]

In the pre-opening press for his new shop, Tom Ford was in. sufferable. But it was all worth it, if only as a set up for Horacio Silva’s shopping review in the NYT:

“Sir, this area is for appointments only,” said the security guard at the base of the stairs. I told him that I wanted to arrange a time for a fitting; he told me he did not know to whom to direct me. When I suggested he try the store manager, he replied, “Let me see if he has the time for you.”
You have to laugh. An unintentionally hilarious parody of a pretentious Madison Avenue boutique, the store reeks of arriviste Anglophilic posturing dressed up as aristocratic gentlemanly refinement. For all the preopening ballyhoo about the it’s-all-about-you customization and details like buttons on trouser cuffs so that your butler can brush away the remains of the day — at last! — the reality is more akin to a luxury store in a second-tier market during the mid-’90s.

Silva gets better treatment after making an appointment–under his own byline. Remarkably, service improves. The takeaway: if you have the means to buy Ford’s new products, defintely call ahead. That’ll give Ford’s staff time to look you up and see how rich you are and adjust the simpering accordingly.
The wheel Ford is reinventing here isn’t Savile Row, but Rodeo Drive. He’s just a money- and power-worshipping egofop, a Bijan with Google.

I assembled a table from Italy the other day. From the accompanying instructions, I learned a Phillips screwdriver is called a cacciavite inglese, or English screwdriver, in Italian. [vite is screw.]
Which is odd, because Phillips was American.
I did know that in Japan, they’re called “plus” and “minus” screws, which seemed very sensible.

But for some reason, the BYU Alumni Association recently deleted their 2002 Alumni Spotlight profile of one of the most powerful and prominent BYU Cougars out there, one who “oversaw all of President Bush’s lawyer-related appointments. Last year, he assumed additional duties as a member of the White House Counsel’s office. Sampson provides legal advice to the President, helps develop policy initiatives, and ensures that the constitutional powers of the Presidency are both protected and exercised appropriately.”
Fortunately the Internet Archive has preserved a copy, and I went ahead and reprinted it below.

Continue reading “Kyle Sampson Went To BYU, Too!”

Muji has always been a luxury of a simple, affordable sort. On March 30th, Muji will open a new store in the Tokyo Midtown complex. Instead of the standard, aggressively humble, utilitarian Muji products, though, they will feature high-design, high-touch manufacture, high-quality furniture with commensurately high prices. The’re going to launch with 30 pieces of furniture and 190 home products. [I’d put up an autotranslation, but Muji’s announcement page is just one big graphic.]
Last year, Muji bought Idee, a slightly troubled maker of high-end minimalist furniture. Jean Snow, rightly, I suspect, predicts that Idee is being leveraged into this new direction. I’m keeping my eye on Jean’s flickr stream
In a related note, it seems Muji’s theme for 2007, at least in Japan, is “renovation.” There’s an essay on their site about how, in an aging Japan where the population is not increasing, yet where the paradigm of disposable newness still holds sway in the housing market, undervalued “used” buildings can make put your individualized desires for a home within reach. A nice strategy for someone who sells primarily the stuff that goes inside a home, not the homes themselves:

For instance, just switching from the notion of buying a new apartment expands the possibilities greatly. In Europe, people don’t compete by throwing up new buildings; instead they adapt, redecorate, and reuse the interiors of old buildings to fit their lifestyles. The long-lasting exterior of a building they call a “skeleton,” and the interior is called “infill.” People in Europe value and reuse the skeleton while they freely adapt the infill. They also have the view that the long-term use of architecture should only be reconsidered after 50 years of so have passed.

[adapted from an excite.jp translation]

Let’s talk houses [muji.net, japanese only]

I did something yesterday on the train I never do anymore: I read a print copy of the newspaper. I was reminded how, by scanning the page, I used to discover articles about fascinating new things, insights, or perspectives, things that I never would have taken the effort to click through on. Not that anything like that happened to me, of course; since what I picked up from the seat next to me was the Style section of the Washington Post.
In the absence of many facts, Robin Givhan, the Post’s Woman In Paris, threw her analytical hat into the ring, attempting to put fashion shows by Miu Miu, McQueen, and Theyskens into context for readers with an actively hostile, anti-fashion fashion sense:

Prada excels in merging creativity and logic, a rare ability in the fashion industry. The most exuberantly imaginative designers are often the least reasonable. They don’t care if a woman can’t sit in a dress as long as those giant mirrored discs on her rear end look “fierce.”
…
At Hermes on Saturday, the collection from Jean Paul Gaultier emerged as a blur of luxurious materials: crocodile, cashmere, glove leather. The theme was biker chic, but it really could have been anything at all so long as the house’s handbags — Birkins and Kellys — were prominently featured. The ready-to-wear at Hermes serves as a mise-en-scene for the handbags. The clothes are beautiful but not especially memorable. They don’t define an Hermes ready-to-wear aesthetic; they simply imply wealth.
Contrast that with the ready-to-wear collection at Louis Vuitton. It, too, is a brand defined by its handbags. But while Hermes bags are about longevity and the idea that a woman might pass one down to her daughter, the Louis Vuitton brand is focused on trends. It is an absurdly expensive disposable fashion.
The clothes at Vuitton are fashion-conscious. A wearer may not necessarily feel rich, but she’ll feel hip. They are unveiled with blaring fanfare. The grandeur of the show is in marked contrast with the availability of the collection, which is generally limited to flagship Vuitton boutiques. But the point is not to sell the clothes, but to sell Louis Vuitton as a fashion brand. Subliminal message: Go buy a bag. Or two. Or five.

And even so, Miuccia got off better than John Cage. Here’s a review of a recent all-Cage concert at the National Gallery:

Cage’s work often transcends gimmickry through unmistakably musical rhythmic drive highlighted by prominent percussion. The dancelike “Amores” came across as ideal music for a love scene. Percussionists Thomas Jones, William Richards and guest Michael Zell drummed softly with their hands and effectively conveyed a gentle but vital intimacy. They brought virility to the jungle sounds of “Third Construction,” using cowbells and conches with equal abandon.
“Nocturne” featured poignant performances by Johnson and violinist Lina Bahn.
Throughout, the Contemporary Music Forum displayed uncommon scope and sensitivity and brought out the best of an important and still underappreciated composer.

From the Jan. 07 issue of Esquire: What I’ve Learned — Producer Rick Rubin [Johnny Cash, some other stuff]:

Here we were in Mr. Chow’s, and literally, it was like World War III had broken out. And when I really thought about it, this person causing it wasn’t famous for anything that you could really put your finger on. It was an interesting comment on our society

via kottke]