Erik Moe Art & Design

Apparently all of Edwardian England was in a kerfuffle for the better part of a decade (and rightfully so) over the (alleged) torture of a cute pooch by medical scientists. The memorial for the dog caused riots in the streets due to the provocative question on it’s plaque, “Men and women of England, how long shall these things be?”

The story is fascinating to me not only because animal rights seem more like a 21st Century issue, but also because of the role of the simple, symbolic artwork in the controversy. Admittedly, the intrigue of “Swedish women activists” infiltrating the medical school and the “pitched battles” between medical students and police assigned to protect the bronze dog add a certain level of incredulity.

Is there a lesson here for today’s animal rights advocates? If the sympathy of cuddly dogs is such a catalyst for change, perhaps activists should seize upon the popularity of Cute Overload to help their cause instead of photographing naked vegetarians over and over again. I mean — I like to think we vegetarians are good looking, but the approach always results in a troublesome mixed message and doesn’t really win the cause any allies. Best to stick with creatures that are easier to identify with.

Full entry: Brown Dog Affair (via Wikipedia’s usually more banal article of the day).

Werner Herzog’s has dedicated his latest film, “Encounters at the End of the World” to the senior statesman of film criticism. Roger Ebert has published an eloquent letter to his friend in response.

You often say this modern world is starving for images. That the media pound the same paltry ideas into our heads time and again, and that we need to see around the edges or over the top…. You are the most curious of men. You are like the storytellers of old, returning from far lands with spellbinding tales.

Herzog’s films are remarkably consistent in their ability to transfix and inspire wonderment, even if the nitpickers among us might point out his liberal use of artistic license in depicting “truth.” As a licensed Liberal artist, I have no problem with Herzog’s versions of reality. The full text of Ebert’s letter is well worth the read.

The tag “700club” on Flickr is an amusing amalgam of Philly hipsters drinking beer at the 700 Club (located at 700 N. 2nd Street) and friends of Pat Robertson’s religious talk show The 700 Club. These are the dangers of folksonomies.

the bicycle has done more for the emancipation of women than anything else in the world. (via the WashCycle)

That is all.

Three quick items posted from DC on a lovely September day:

1. My old stomping grounds at documentaries.about.com are up and running again. Stop by and say “hi” to to Jennifer Merin, your new guide to documentary film.
2. Good luck to Agnes Varnum, who is moving to Austin to work for the Austin Film Society.
3. I’ve been pondering A.J. Schnack’s About A Son Soundtrack Challenge for the past week or so. Perhaps I take these things too seriously. 14 songs to score a biopic about yourself? Maybe I’ll have the answers before Thanksgiving.

So, after an extended settling-in period, I’m finally starting the good habit of frequenting my neighborhood’s sole Minneapolis-worthy coffeeshop, Big Bear Cafe. I haven’t had a neighborhood coffeeshop to call my own in years, as the indie coffeeshops I lived near in Philly and Chicago suffered from any one of the many fatal flaws coffeeshops fall prey to (too claustrophobic, too much pressure to buy a $12 lunch, cigarette smoke, kitchen grease fumes, bad coffee, etc.). Big Bear does it right. It is spacious, filled with diverse neighborhood folk, has nice windows open to the outdoors, and (of course) good coffee. On Sunday morning the street outside was filled with a lovely farmers market and the only problem was a premature shortage of breakfast substantials.

Chicago, I hardly knew you. I already miss your irrationally exuberant municipal elections, your lovable but flailing transit system, and of course all of your amazing food. For those keeping score at home, my departure from Chicago and my most recent extended blogging lull is due to a very sudden move to Washington, where I’ve taken the position of lead graphics and web designer at Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd’s Presidential campaign. I’m excited to be working on a team doing some innovative things on the web and to be using my design skills to fight the good fight in support of a candidate with strong progressive credentials. To get a feel for the pulse of my new day-to-day and an introduction to Chris Dodd, might I suggest our campaign blog led by my colleague Matt Browner-Hamlin. As for Washington… So far so good. I haven’t even had cause to write an angry letter to D.C.’s Senator yet. Oh wait… D.C. doesn’t have a Senator.

Roger Ebert fell ill several months before I came to Chicago, so I haven’t yet crossed paths with him in my journeys through the Chicago film scene. Still, every week it seems I hear another anecdote about how amazing and down-to-earth the guy is. With the ongoing trial of Canadian media magnate Conrad Black comes disclosure of recent emails between Ebert and Black articulately expressing the film critic’s solidarity with his less famous brethren at the Sun-Times and the newspaper guild. Last week, Ebert made his first public appearances since his illness at his Overlooked Film Festival in Urbana-Champaign. In advance of his appearance he wrote a quick column warning that he wasn’t a pretty-boy anymore, but that he didn’t want to be part of the culture of hiding illness and wasn’t going to miss his film festival for the sake of avoiding the paparazzi. Go Roger!

I’m about a decade early on this one, but it just came to mind while I was perusing the recent “Essential Chicago Lists” edition of Time Out Chicago. The issue included a list of fascinating (to design and history geeks) facts about Chicago’s flag. I’ve learned to love the municipal standard’s simple design since moving here, but somehow never asked what its four stars represented. I assumed that it must represent territory of some sort, as with the 50 U.S. stars, but it turns out that each represents an important event in Chicago’s history.

When the flag was created in 1917 there were two stars, one for the 1871 fire and one for the 1893 World’s Fair. In 1933 a star was added for Chicago’s second (and less noteworthy) World’s Fair. In 1939 a star was added to commemorate the Fort Dearborn Massacre of 1812 (well before the city was founded).

All of this means that it has been 74 years since anything star-worthy has happened here. Since half the stars are for tragedies, we can be half-thankful. At the same time, the symbolism of the stars seems to require that one be added every so often to show that the city is alive and still doing great things.

I might suggest adding a star for Sonic Youth’s recently announced performance of my favorite album of all time, “Daydream Nation,” in its entirety at this year’s Pitchfork music festival, but somehow I’m not sure the rest of the city would agree that this is as star-worthy. I can’t think of anything as potentially important to the city as the the two World’s Fairs other than an Olympics, so perhaps the ongoing bid for the 2016 games will bring with it a flag upgrade. Taking the next logical leap, in 1,000 years will there be twenty stars on the Chicago flag?