OF A GOLDEN AGE

Talking with friends last night I realized that the vegan cupcakes I made the other day are made of all shelf-stable ingredients that, especially once baked, will take a long time to go bad or stale if kept in an airtight container.

My brother works for the enormous, uber-international bank HSBC, so when I learned about a recent stunt of theirs from Trendwatching I got excited: HSBC’s in-flight magazine puts customers in charge.

Passengers can choose from five writers, including celebrity chef Jamie Oliver and tennis legend Björn Borg.

It will also feature four key sectors – home and abroad, commerce and politics, health and sport, and media and culture – with content sourced from countries such as Mexico, Malaysia, and China.

The magazine is then bound into a hardback cover for the passengers to take on their flight in an “exclusive” HBSC enclosure. The scheme is open to all passengers using the terminal.

Trendwatching reports that over 2,000 people created magazines and 7,000 visited the magazine stand during its two-week trial run.

For some reason I’ve spent a good portion of time reading about popes, because really, papacy is a fascinating concept. For instance, this graphic of popes over time is awesome, and it also gives some insight into the difference in life expectancy over the years.

Almost all of the first 50 popes are saints, but only one of the most recent 25. (Seven others are engaged in the saint process.) I wonder why some are and some aren’t?

Stone Yamashita Partners is an insanely important strategy firm with a beautiful, but mazelike and preposterous, website.

It’s so navigation-unfriendly and design-heavy that it reminds me of intentional design maze Superbad (which, in case you were wondering, predates the movie by ten years). The trunk page I linked to is the only thing close to an index — if you type www.superbad.com into your browser it will take you to any number of random starting points.

Apparently Cynthia Rowley missed her calling as the bridge between Disney and Wes Anderson-y quirk:

This season, Ms. Rowley said, “I wanted to be a little more inclusive.” To that end, she hired a group of indie filmmakers (Red Bucket Films) and an indie band (the Beets) and made a one-minute movie featuring models wearing her clothes and playing a game of musical chairs.

Hahaha. “More inclusive” means trading fashion haughtiness for calculated whimsy?

In which your faithful servant bakes and bakes. I reckon the people at work think I have some insane domestic bent. Pictures from my cell phone, please note the dolphin, shark, turtle, and fish sprinkles:

John Corbett as Chris Stevens on Northern Exposure:

“If I sound strange, that’s because I am.”

Netflix has decided of its own volition that I lean toward:

Tearjerks from the 1980s
TV Crime Dramas
TV Dramedy
Pre-20th Century Period Pieces
Films from the United Kingdom

At the Brown Elephant thrift store, I found a tshirt printed with a map of Moscow’s subway system. Moscow has a circular border (the city finally spilled over it within the last 30 or so years), which serves as an ideal base for public transit. On the other hand, sister city Chicago presses up against Lake Michigan and grows westerly.

For comparison: Moscow’s Metro and Chicago’s elevated train.

Marty reminded me that Achewood ran a great series of strips on Subway-to-Subway competition.