Stan Cornyn in Studio with Sinatra
L to R: CBS camera man; holding score producer Sonny Burke; on podium, Gordon Jenkins; on right, Frank Sinatra. above podium, liner notes writer. Era: 1965.
I've been meaning to post this for a while now. This is a classic photo of my dad, the great Stan Cornyn, pretending to look busy in a recording studio with Frank Sinatra. Cornyn is the photogenic fellow with glasses and necktie.
Come to think of it, this is one of the few times I've seen him in a necktie. He must have been in trouble with his boss that day.
Bob Biniak R.I.P.
Bob Biniak was someone I've known since I was probably twelve years old. You can read in my DogTown book how we first met--it would not be appropriate to include it here. But as his wife said in her note to some of his personal friends thursday afternoon: "Bobby loves Life and lived more in his short life than many us of can ever imagine to do." From what I knew of Bob I can attest to this not being an exaggeration or a cliché.
via WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE?: Bob "The Bullet" Biniakoriginal Z-BoyBad Ass Mother FuckerR.I.P..
The Government’s Prohibition Poison Program
It was Christmas Eve 1926, the streets aglitter with snow and lights, when the man afraid of Santa Claus stumbled into the emergency room at New York City's Bellevue Hospital. He was flushed, gasping with fear: Santa Claus, he kept telling the nurses, was just behind him, wielding a baseball bat.
Wilshire & Bundy ca. 1968
I found this great photo of the intersection of Wilshire and Bundy in west LA. It was supposedly taken back in 1968.
How To Hide An Airplane Factory
During World War II the Army Corps of Engineers needed to hide the Lockheed Burbank Aircraft Plant to protect it from a Japanese air attack. They covered it with camouflage netting and trompe l’oeil to make it look like a rural subdivision from the air.
Old Spruce Goose hangar is for sale — latimes.com
The hangar is visible on the right. Doesn't seem big enough, really.
Old Spruce Goose hangar is for sale -- latimes.com.
AT&T Ad Made Accurate Predictions
Of course, considering they made all this stuff, it's not surprising.
If you ever want to be blown away by an amazing true story, go read the Wikipedia entry on Bell Labs. They invented everything from UNIX to the C programming language, in addition to wireless computer networks and cellular telephones systems.
They also hold a bunch of crazy records, like first to transmit data at terabit rates over long distance and first to transmit over local areas at rates in excess of one gigabit.
Bell X-1
Oh and they also built the aircraft that sent Chuck Yeager past the speed of sound, and built this really cool rocket belt. It's basically like 7-11 meets the Manhattan Project. It seems like they're constantly churning out James Bond Q-Department-type stuff, that's totally advanced and experimental, until one day it's sitting on the shelf at Best Buy (minus the rockets, of course).
If there were ever a convincing reason not to break up the Death Star, it would be Bell Labs. Fortunately, they don't seem to have slowed down any since the break-up.
Home Movies At DisneyLand – 1956 on Vimeo
Home Movies At DisneyLand - 1956 on Vimeo
Awesomeness.
A Motorcycle With a Tank Engine – Neatorama
A Motorcycle With a Tank Engine - Neatorama.
I don't know why, but for some reason this really strikes a chord with me.
