The Restaurant Trade Was Once A Den Of Depraved Criminals…

Artist Dr. Lou Jacobs has put together a pretty interesting show in Portland, Maine called “Food Industry Mug Shots 1899-1954″. From Good:

On March 12, 1942, Donald Smith, a cook in Iowa, was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct. His case history describes his crime: “During an altercation in the kitchen of the Red Feather Cafe, subject stabbed one Ted Anderson with a butcher knife.”

Maybe bad-ass chefs like Anthony Bourdain and David Chang aren’t really anything new. Restaurants have seedy, sometimes violent, underbellies. And sometimes, cooks get caught doing what they shouldn’t.

Four years ago, Dr. Lou Jacobs found a mug shot and started collecting original images from the dark side of the food world. He found bartenders, cooks, and waiters who had been pushed over the edge and were accused of murder, theft, pimping and pandering, and drunken and disorderly conduct.

So not much has changed. See more of Jacobs’ curated mugshots here.

PS. The genial Ted Anderson, chef de cuisine at West 4th’s Refuel, is perfectly fine.

Taking 21st Century Web Services Back To The Late 1960′s

(via Laughing Squid) I get a kick out of these. The book covers by artist Stéphane Massa-Bidal are based on a popular 1960′s technical instruction textbook series, only they’ve morphed into manuals for 21st century web services like Wikipedia, Twitter, and Facebook. See a few up close after the leap… Read more

Hegemony of the Snow Walker as 21st Century Icon Continues

In our afternoon inbox we discover more evidence that the Imperial Snow Walker (aka AT-AT) remains as strong a feature on our cultural and mythological landscapes as vampires and unicorns. If you’ve never seen our body of evidence, click after the jump: Read more

Overthinking The Aesthetics Of Publishing In One Easy Lesson…

A German art house print periodical changes its name with every issue in order to announce a monthly change in the magazine’s primary typeface. Seriously.

NYC Hotel Video Mural Depicts Stylized Ascent Into Heaven…

This video mural by Marco Brambilla is both gorgeous and startling. It reminds me of the crazier, more apocalyptic works of Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Bruegel, sped up from a 16th century medium to one more emblematic of the 21st…  Read more

Meet The Wooden Toy Block Set That I’d Never Give My Kids…

Oh man, but the kid in me still thinks it’s 84% awesome (that’s pretty kickass). It’s from Dutch designer Tomm Velthuis. See what it builds after the leap… Read more

Inserting The Present Into The Past With “Imagine Finding Me”

Me at Spanish Banks, circa 1976

I’m a sucker for old family photographs. The walls in my home are overwhelmed with evidence of that. I just love the way each photograph documents a point in my life. I particularly have a soft spot for snapshots from the 70′s – those accidental and slightly softer moments captured – like me running naked through tidal pools on an uncrowded Spanish Banks against the backdrop of a younger (and shorter) Vancouver skyline. I guess I like them because they take me back to that time. They remind me of who I am and where I came from. Read more

Who Weilded The Blade That Cut Off Vincent Van Gogh’s Ear?

Two German art historians beg to differ with the traditional story line that sees post-impressionist painter Van Gogh cutting his own ear off in a fit of pique. According to their new book, it was Paul Gauguin. Read more

Imperial Snow Walker As 21st Century Unicorn?

The other day I asked my kids to name five species that didn’t really exist. It took them just a few moments to list off unicorns, pixies, trolls, jawas, and wookies. I pressed for more, and they kept coming and coming.

I’d learned in school that mythological creatures had woven themselves into the fabric of the human experience since the genesis of our species, but I found it amazing that my own children, aged 3 and 7, could already tell the real from the fantastic.

Such an exchange could have happened anywhere in the world, as regional mythologies abound as much as they persist. In Africa there are tokoloshes, jengus, and little troublesome sprites that wreak havoc on personal property and lives; in Europe there are werewolves, vampires, gnomes, and faeries; while in Asia and the Americas there are entire pantheons of spirits, plus anthropomorphic beasts like the yeti and sasquatch. There are also creatures hungover from the ancient world like lapiths, hydras, and cyclops’, each more famous than every American Idol contestant. It’s an entire animal kingdom wrought wholly by our imaginations, hopes, and fears. Of course nobody assumes that they are real. One can readily imagine the Greeks giggling at Hercules.

In the twentieth century, two writers added new myths and brought old ones back to life. JRR Tolkien gave us wood elves, ring-wraiths, hobbits, and orcs, while his friend C.S. Lewis re-awoke our appreciation for the inventions of the ancients with centaurs, minotaurs, and an interpretation of God as seen through the prism of the natural world. Sadly, the post-war period wasn’t all that impressive, as the traditional mediums in which our imaginations flourished the most – books and oral stories – gave way to the visual mediums of television and film, where all is fantasy by definition.

I very much doubt that Alien, Predator, Godzilla, or the creature from the Black Lagoon will have the staying power that gorgons and dwarves easily boast. Even ET will fade from our collective consciousness as a mere comedic footnote. Truly, only one director seems to have been able to stand in the same shoes as Hesiod, Herodotus, and Homer, and that is George Lucas, the creator of the Star Wars films.

Lucas gave us Sand People, the Jedi, Jabba, and dozens of others, all archetypes echoing myths perpetuated from classical times until today. It’s still too early to know which of his creatures will survive for three thousand years or more. I thought Yoda would be a good bet, all wise and Moses-like, but a tour of the internet – the new New Testament – suggests it won’t be a creature or a droid at all, but rather a machine.

There have been plenty of mechanical things that have wormed their way into the cultural zeitgeist since the advent of motion pictures. Terminator, the Transformers, and HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey spring immediately to mind (there are many others), but these are devices that have been made conscious through the wonders of alien or domestic technologies, and will almost certainly be cast aside as so much cultural detritus (like Care Bears and Klingons). What I instead see sticking around is a device, something that is manipulated. I’m not talking about the X-wing or the Tie-fighter, or even the Millenium Falcon. None of Lucas’ machines – despite being cool enough for young lads and lasses to drop dimes on (for diecast and plastic replicas in minitaure) – exist outside of their original contexts, except one.

I’m referring, of course, to the menacing AT-AT, also known as the Imperial Snow Walker, first seen in Lucas’ second Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back.

When I first saw these quadrupedal giants emerging from the snowy haze, advancing on the rebel defense lines on the ice planet of Hoth, my seven year old ass froze in its movie theater seat. Here was a machine that instilled more dread than a Panzer tank, more joy than a Spitfire, and more envy than Magnum’s red Ferrari. So strong was its appeal that it’s almost as if — like the creatures of the classical world — the AT-AT had always existed in the imagination without ever having been seen for real. And like the beasties conjured by the ancients, it now exists outside its original context. Today, the AT-AT just is...on t-shirts, as graffiti, as pop art, as deviant public fornicator, as dessert, as audio design…even as dutiful pet.

For confirmation, check out the gallery of found images that I’ve compiled below:

[imgset:72157614962783171,square,true]

Mark my words, when the next civilisation picks up from the one we’ve left behind, they’ll be hard-pressed knowing whether they existed for real or not.

Painting The West Coast With Sandra Harris

One or twice a week Scout poses 60 questions to a local who has made life in BC that much more interesting. They pick and choose which ones they’d prefer to answer, with a minimum response rate of 20. A Rorschach test, for sure…

Sandra Harris has a passion for painting the untamed landscapes of Canada’s west coast. “A scene that I paint has to put a sense of awe into me first; that moment has to happen where all I see is the landscape in its size, energy, and beauty. The whole idea of my work is to recreate or to relate the experience of seeing and being in the landscape to the viewer.” Harris studied art at Langara College, Emily Carr University and The University of Victoria. She recently graduated from the University of Victoria’s visual arts program with a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts. She lives and paints in North Vancouver.

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Scout Q&A

Three things about your neighbourhood that make you want to live there:
On a mountain, beautiful scenery, 5 minute walk and I’m on a trail hiking in the beautiful scenery.

The thing that you eat that is bad for you that you will never stop eating: Red licorice.

Default drink: Water.

Sexiest fashion item for the opposite sex: Baggy basketball shorts. No short shorts please.

Book you’re reading: “Sleep Thieves” by Stanley Coren.

Last place traveled: I went to the Queen Charlotte Islands this past summer on a week-long kayaking tour down in the south end of the Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve with the Pacific Rim Paddling Company. Despite the lousy weather, the scenery was awe-inspiring. We visited the village of Ninstints with all its decaying totem poles, which was pretty amazing for the imagination. It was mind blowing to see a landscape with no sign of development, no power-lines, no nothing. I actually found it to be somewhat of a relief to know that places like this still existed.

Best sneaker in the world: Well, my favorite basketball shoe is a toss up between the Nike Zoom LeBron 2 II and the Adidas KB8 II. This is strictly based on aesthetics as neither seemed to help me jump higher.

Ice cream flavour: Oreo.

Food your mom makes better than anyone: Cheesecake. I’ve been ruined for life; no other cheesecake can compare.

Talent you wish you possessed: The ability to skateboard and not eat concrete.

Favourite sports team: Los Angeles Lakers, and I seem to take a lot of heat for it.

Best concert experience ever: Hilltop Hoods @ Tonic. Front row, baby.

Dream car: A non-existent charcoal grey seriously fuel-efficient diesel Toyota 4-Runner with a great sound system, so that I can explore the province for future paintings enjoyably with a few friends. I’m not satisfied as to why there aren’t more diesel cars available in North America.

Town you were born in: North Van, as far as I’m told. My memory is non-existent pre-preschool.

Old television shows you can tolerate re-runs of: The Cosby Show! I wish sitcom shows today were still filmed in front of a live studio audience so that the jokes actually have to be funny to get a laugh. There is nothing worse then watching a show and needing the tape loop laughter track to come on for you to realize that a joke was just made… a bad joke. Might this be part of the reason why I don’t watch very much TV anymore?

Album that first made you love music: Can’t remember. It could quite possibly have been a Bryan Adams album…? No, wait! It was Dolly Parton’s “White Limozeen”. No joke, when we were little my sisters and I used to crank that and sing along. I remember one time a babysitter told us she knew Dolly and we believed, and she had the three of us eating out of her hand the entire evening. Nowadays, ‘Rock n Roll’ by The Sounds is the song that I am in love with, hands down. Rhymefest is also definitely a recommended download.

The career path you considered but never followed: Professional basketball player. I had the passion for it; I even got voted in my high school yearbook as ‘most likely to play in the WNBA’. The only thing I was lacking was LeBron James’ athleticism. Fingers crossed for my next life.

Three websites you visit every day: Facebook, NBA.com, Voleurz.com.

The thing you’re addicted to: Books on mythology. I’m an avid reader of anything by Joseph Campbell… you know, the mentor George Lucas credits for ‘Star Wars’. Check it out.

Biggest hope: To wake up tomorrow with the powers of Superman.

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THE SCOUT INTERVIEW ARCHIVE

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