The Space Toast Pages

Matthew Rasmussen's journal of journals on various topics of interest, published here, there or somewhere since 1999.

Panoramas: Will Rogers State Park, Los Angeles, California

360° panorama, looking south over Santa Monica Bay at center. Stitched together in Hugin from 16 camera phone pictures.

Vertical panorama from a higher elevation. Stitched together in Hugin from five camera phone pictures.

Image of the "bridge" on a ridge between Will Rogers and Topanga State Parks.

Freezepop's Future Future Future Perfect Album

I've got moods for Freezepop, and I consider that progress as a human being.

Future Future Future Perfect is their latest album. "Do You Like My Wang?" and "Afterparty" are absolute abortions, "Ninja of Love" and "Brainpower" are merely tired, "Do You Like Boys" and "He Says She Says" are cute enough, while "Swimming Pool," "Less Talk More Rokk," "Pop Music Is Not a Crime" and "Thought Balloon" are each excellent.

Freezepop is gen-x (anyone who got to ride the dotcom bubble) smitten with hipster (mop-topped little douchebags) -- kids older than me crushing on kids younger than me. It is a little creepy, and at its best that's why it works. There's an undeniable distance in line two of "The music is loud/ The kids are so young/ All over the world/ They want to have fun." It's the sense of loss of a geeky girl who got cool too late in life for her dancing queen moment. The game of scenesterism has the same rules as Logan's Run.

The juxtaposition of self-awareness with cutesiness is inherently pathetic. (You've been reading the Space Toast Pages.) "Frontload" gives away a desperation musically that the simple take-me-out-tonight lyrics try to conceal. "Swimming Pool" paints a nostalgia so heavy it smothers. The sense of being in the right place spatially but not temporally is what rescues Freezepop from its more precious moments. Future Future Future Perfect is at its best when it acknowledges that cutesy self-awareness really betrays a painful desire to be wanted.

The Greatest Photograph Ever Taken

From Quentin and Jessica D. via the Cute Overload blog.

Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen Perform "This Land is Your Land" at the Obama Inaugural Celebration Concert

Panorama: Runyon Canyon Park, California

Looking back toward Los Angeles. Stitched together in Hugin from 15 camera phone pictures.

Darwin in Love

"In September of 1837, Darwin suffered palpitations of the heart, which would plague him throughout his life. Recuperating in his home town of Shrewsbury, he was introduced to his cousin, Emma Wedgewood, who mended his heart, and then won it. Charles Darwin and Emma Wedgewood fell in love, but ever a man of method, he drew up two lists. One called 'Marry,' one called 'Not Marry,' and he worked through the pros and cons. He concluded that 'A constant companion and a friend in old age' outweighed 'Less money for books' and 'The terrible loss of time.'"

--Melvyn Bragg, from "In Our Time: Darwin, Part 2" on BBC Radio 4
The Darwins had ten children.

Panorama: West Hollywood, California

Stitched together in Hugin from 37 camera phone pictures.

Afternoons With Mr. Noonday

"We are not a duo! You're a heavy little demon who won't get off my back."

"Think about it. I'm always by your... side. Pointing out danger. Listening. Maybe you've forgotten, but you called me."

"Why the hell would I call you?"

"Because you are so alone in this world."

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Fifty word flash fiction. See also:

• "Mr. Noonday"
• "More Fun With Mr. Noonday"

Second Panorama: Half Moon Bay, California

Stitched together in Hugin from 5 camera phone pictures.

Panorama: Half Moon Bay, California

Stitched together in Hugin from 28 camera phone pictures.

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