A personal plug: I have a couple of new stories on the EatDrinkFilms site about an upcoming screening, with live orchestral accompaniment, of the classic silent film Pandora’s Box (1929). Pandora’s Box was made in Germany, but it starred a young American actress, Louise Brooks, whom the film historian David Thomson has called “one of the most mysterious and potent figures in the history of the cinema.” Read my story about Pandora’s Box and the sidebar about Club Foot Orchestra, the remarkable ensemble – now celebrating its 40th anniversary – that created the score for the film and will perform it, along with students from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, on May 6 at Oakland’s Paramount Theater. The event is being presented by the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Hope to see some of you local cinephiles there!
Louise Brooks as Lulu with Gustav Diessel as an anachronistic Jack the Ripper. Her hairstyle had lasting influence.
*
I’ve been enjoying “Stiffed,” a podcast – not to be confused with Mary Roach’s book Stiff or Susan Faludi’s book Stiffed, both of which I also recommend – about the rise and fall of Viva, an erotic magazine for women that briefly flourished in the 1970s. Founder/publisher Bob Guccione died in 2010, but host Jennifer Romolini managed to interview his son, Bob Jr., as well as many of the women who worked at Viva and tried their damnedest to inject feminism into the mix. Related: my March 2022 post about “Minx,” which name-checks Viva and also rival Playgirl, for which I was a contributing writer..
*
Another podcast worth your attention: A Way with Words, hosted by Grant Barrett and Martha Barnette. The April 16 episode examined, among other topics, why Southern Californians insert “the” before freeway numbers (“take the 405 to the 5”) and whether there’s such a thing as a “neutral” accent.
*
“We are currently in the midst of a radical reinvention of English. Not perhaps since the 15th, 16th and early 17th centuries has the English language shifted faster, with the rapid introduction of loanwords (borrowed from other languages), neologisms, buzzwords, slang and a host of acronyms.” (Steven Mintz for Inside Higher Ed)
*
All about Bay Area branding agency Lexicon and the man who founded and still heads it, David Placek. David gave me my first paying work as a name developer, and although I didn’t work on his most famous projects – Swiffer, Pentium, BlackBerry – I’m still quite proud of having named Keebler’s Elfin Loaves while in Lexicon’s employ. (Carolyn Said for the San Francisco Chronicle; gift link)
*
“Marijuana dispensary names sort of blur together. In the San Francisco Bay Area, there’s a Cannabud Express, Cannabliss, Kanna, Cannabis Culture and Cannavine. It’s like they’re interconnected in the Cannaverse (a name of another dispensary).” (Steven Wolfe for the Washington Post; gift link. Hat tip: Mark Prus) 
*
The names of cannabis strains, on the other hand, are all over the map. “[W]hat I learned from talking to folks up and down the weed chain—rock-star breeders and farmers, boutique retailers and publically [sic] traded cannabis corporations, a marketing exec who moved from Coca-Cola to cannabis—is not only who concocts these catchy names and how that concoction happens, but that legalization is quickly changing much about how naming will look in the future.” (Bill Shapiro for Esquire.)
*
In case you didn’t catch on from the previous two links, last week was 4/20, the high (sorry) holy day of stonerdom. I wrote about “420” in cannabis-related branding way back in 2014.
*
Via Mike Pope: Why do some Italian Americans call red sauce “gravy”? A deep, deep dive on Etymonline. (Hat tip: Mike Pope)
*
From Ablixa (which I wrote about here, a long time ago) to Zubrowka: the very cool Fictional Brands Archive.
*
“Double letters are rampant in aesthetic baby brands. Uppababy, Bugaboo (and their Bugaboo Bee and Butterfly!), Veer, Ella, Keenz, Bokee, Stokke (and the Stokke Clikk!), Joovy (and, um, all of their dozens of products!). Albeebaby, Babyletto, Baby Brezza. MamaRoo. Solly. Doona.” (Jill Stanewick for Tanj)
*
WSJ calls out ProPublica for deploying harmful wealthist language against plus sized yachts. https://t.co/OXNFacnbaU pic.twitter.com/Ex4fah29vu
— Tom Gara (@tomgara) April 8, 2023
*
“The AI boom is creating a new logo trend: the swirling hexagon.” (James I. Bowie for Fast Company)
*
The stories behind the designs of East Bay beer brands. (Madeline Taub for Oaklandside)
Designer Scott Kimball’s art for Martian City, an IPA from Federation Brewing. The “Martian City” name came from a childhood joke.
*
Beginning May 23, the HBO Max streaming service will be called simply Max, “lopping off the HBO part of the name as it mixes in a big bucket of new content from Discovery+ and other new original series.” (Variety) A couple of people whose opinions I respect called it a “dumb” move, but you know what? In a year no one will care, because we always hate new names (until we don’t).
Comments