The "Be the fool" edition :: Rusty's Electric Dreams, Issue #177

“The Fool is potentially everybody, but not everybody has the wisdom or the guts to play the fool. A lot of folks don’t know what’s in that bag they’re carrying. And they’re all too willing to trade it for cash. Inside the bag, they have every tool they need to facilitate their life’s journey, but they won’t even open it up and glance inside…”

— Tom Robbins, Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas (Thanks, Spy!)

An inbox zine for positive deviants and the people who love them
Issue #177 :: The “Be the fool” Edition :: 6:06:2018

Be the fool…

Here are five-word reviews of five documentaries I’ve seen recently:

Making Fun: The Story of Funko:
People really really love toys.

Too Funny to Fail: The Life & Death of The Dana Carvey Show:
Failure leads to bigger things.

Stories We Tell:
A mother lies, then dies.

RBG:
Ruth Bader Ginsburg is BADASS!

The Handmaid’s Tale:
Not a documentary, not yet.

— Rusty Blazenhoff

P.S. It’s beginning to feel like SUMMER!

As seen on the Internets

Carvel's Fudgie the Beer

:: Carvel’s Fudgie the Beer is a whALE of a stout (see what I did there?)
:: https://boingboing.net/carvels-fudgie-the-whale-ice.html

:: There’s a course at Yale on how to be happy
:: https://www.thecut.com/how-to-be-happy.html

:: “Be yourself. Unless ‘yourself’ is an asshole.” — David Sedaris speaking to Oberlin grads
:: https://boingboing.net/be-yourself-unless-yourse.html

:: Simpsons Time is a neat radio program that analyzes one Simpsons episode at a time
:: http://wfmu.org/playlists/SY

:: Fantastic and fun stop-motion video: Dancing (without moving)
:: https://boingboing.net/this-is-how-you-dance-without.html

:: Good read: Conan on changing up his late night show game
:: http://www.vulture.com/2018/06/conan-obrien-in-conversation.html

:: Love this: Tim Hwang has started a quarterly subscription service to get niche trade journals like Pasta Professional, American Funeral Director, and Plumber Magazine delivered to your door
:: h ttps://boingboing.net/get-lovingly-curated-niche.html

:: Is YOUR name on the National Hurricane Center’s Tropical Cyclone list? (Mine is not, which I guess I’m happy about. The only “Hurricane Rusty” will be me, in person)
:: https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutnames.shtml

:: Food author Michael Pollan just wrote a book on psychedelics. He then asked people to tell their stories about their “mind-bending, life-altering psychedelic trips”
:: https://medium.com/s/trips-worth-telling

:: “Brain studies have shown that the withdrawal of romantic love activates the same mechanisms in our brain that get activated when addicts are withdrawing from substances like cocaine or opioids.” Thanks, R.!
:: https://www.ted.com/guy_winch_how_to_fix_a_broken_heart

:: The challenges of English words in regards to the Scripps National Spelling Bee
:: https://fivethirtyeight.com/what-makes-the-spelling-bee-so-hard

:: Documenting the “crazy walls” trope in movies and tv shows via
:: https://crazywalls.tumblr.com

:: I’ve been enjoying Hurry Slowly. It’s a podcast about slowing down to increase creativity and productivity
:: http://hurryslowly.co

:: A board game cafe just opened in San Francisco! (Who wants to go?!)
:: https://www.thegameparlour.com

Real things you can actually buy: yay!? nay!?

Fanny Pack Sandals

Elka Karl of Oakland, California asks: is it a style do or don’t to wear the fanny pack sandals with socks?

Hello Elka,

Thank you for your timely question. We appreciate your interest in Nike’s new “Benassi JDI Fanny Pack” slide sandals.

Socks must be worn with the sandals, but only these exact stupid novelty socks that appeal to millennials ironically.

Rusty.
—
This has been the first, of what I hope will be more, questions for me to answer. Please send questions/links to: rusty@blazenhoff.com. Ask me (almost) anything!

Featured Events

(this awesome image was created by Karen’s friend Keith Peterson)

[10/13 Save the Date] Alameda: Mid-Century Supper Club Potluck founder Karen Finlay is bringing OINGO B-I-N-G-O to the Eagles Hall!

Alameda, CA
[6/23] Pacific Pinball Museum is selling off surplus pinball machines! 1680 Viking Street from 10 AM to 4 PM

Berkeley, CA
[6/7] That Really Happened? a night of true stories at the Monkey House, 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM

Los Angeles, CA
[Until 9/2] The Jim Henson Exhibition: Imagination Unlimited at Skirball Cultural Center

[7/29] 49 Boxes: New show announced

[October] The Pizza Experience, a pizza-themed pop-up museum, opens. Tickets go on sale June 29

Ai Weiwei’s going to have 3 shows in LA this year

Oakland, CA
[TONIGHT 6/6] First Church of the Sacred Silversexual (THE David Bowie worship band) at the Boom Boom Room, 9 PM to 2 AM

[6/7] Tourettes without Regrets at the New Oakland Metro, 8:30 PM, $18+

[6/21] Garden of Memory at Chapel of the Chimes, 5 PM to 9 PM, Tickets (all ages event)
Don’t miss this: live music is played in the nooks and crannies of a gorgeous columbarium in Oakland’s Piedmont neighborhood during the Solstice… I’ll be there!

[7/6] Boots Riley’s Sorry to Bother You opens in theaters (limited release)

[9/29] FIGMENT Oakland 2018, 10 AM to 6 PM

San Francisco, CA
[TONIGHT 6/6] Trolls in Yoga Pants, a one-night, one-woman show written and performed by Lisa Rothman, The Marsh, 7:30 PM to 9 PM

[Until 6/14] SF Docfest, 17th San Francisco Documentary Festival, various theaters

[Until 9/3] Inflatable Expanding Works of Art at the Exploratorium, curated by Colossal’s Christopher Jobson, Tickets

United States
[Starts 10/9] The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Live 30th Anniversary Tour

Worldwide
[6/21] There’s going to be a Global Celebration and Day of Gratitude for Larry Harvey

Summer Festival Calendar by John Atkinson, Wrong Hands

“Summer Festival Calendar” by John Atkinson, Wrong Hands

Rusty’s Electric Dreams is a (mostly) weekly inbox zine by Rusty Blazenhoff for positive deviants and the people who love them.

Described as, “One of the most inspiring, weird and off-kilter collections of curated kitschy ephemera for the big-brained.”

People like it.

:: Read the archives :: Send a tip :: SUBSCRIBE ::

Facebook

Twitter

Inbox zine