Author: Ashley Bischoff

Red Staplers — hot!

Ashley Bischoff2 Comments

Apparently, due to the mildly successful film Office Space, there’s now a cult following behind red Swingline staplers:

“Office Space” didn’t burn up at the box office, barely recouping the $10 million it cost News Corp.’s 20th Century Fox to make it. But in 2000, when it came out on video, it was clear the movie was reaching a particular audience — cubicle-dwelling computer programmers. For months, Swingline fielded demands for “that red stapler” pouring in by phone and e-mail.

There was just a slight problem: Swingline didn’t make bright-red staplers.

The Swingline in the movie was custom-painted by a prop designer. When real-life Miltons found out they couldn't buy one from the manufacturer, they simply made their own, creating a thriving market on eBay for Swinglines spray-painted red. Then, finally, in April, three years after the red-stapler buzz began, Swingline began selling a “Rio Red” stapler, its basic “747” model in a coat of lipstick. [...]

The best part is Swingline’s website section on the stapler:

Up the Revolution: The Red Stapler! Staple and be heard! WHAM-cubicles! WHAM-dress code! WHAMWHAMWHAM!

Man, if I score myself a cubicle job (whee!), I’ll be sure to get one of these to complete the image :).

(Link from ObscureStore)

Men in Black II

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Men in Black II opens this weekend, in case you were living under a rock ;). As I expected, it had a luke-warm reception from critics, scoring 43/100 at MetaCritic.

Some critics liked it, as you’d find with any movie. But, most found it merely all right.

Film Threat / Ron Wells:
Hey, I’m not saying it’s bad. It’s kind of entertaining, what I can recall of it after two days. It’s, uh, okay. Just okay, though.

Chicago Sun-Times / Roger Ebert:
The astonishing success of the original “MiB” was partly because it was fun, partly because it was unexpected. We’d never seen anything like it, while with MiBII, we've seen something exactly like it.

Salon.com / Jeff Stark:
Here's an idea: Let’s just take that same gizmo-packed alien-attack buddy-flick blockbuster from the summer of ’97 ... and make it dumber!

I trust all of those reviewers, but I think this line from the Salon review sums it up best:

Here, you can feel everyone’s expectations: This is going to be a blockbuster, goddammit! It’s Babe Ruth promising a homer, fouling out and running the bases with a big grin on his face anyway. [...]

So, I don’t think it’s a bad movie, but it may be more appropriate for a rental.

Thomas Struth Photography

Ashley Bischoff2 Comments

Today, I took my parents (who are visiting) to the Dallas Museum of Art, specifically to the Thomas Struth photography exhibit. It was better than I thought, and I was looking forward to it in the first place.

The exhibit features dozens of prints. But, many of the prints are 3’ x 4’ or larger — so, many of the landscape-type prints are like looking out a window (into Tokyo or Singapore). And, the man’s sense of composition was astounding. Much like a designer, he selects the optimum balance between the elements in the photograph, and he makes it look so natural, almost as if you’re standing right there.

It was a great exhibit, and I’d recommend it to anyone, especially those who appreciate photogtraphy. Perhaps my only complaint was that the captions only featured the title, year, and date of the photograph. As a novice photographer myself, I would have appreciated information about lens size, film stock, and camera body.

Incidentally, I noticed that the exhibit halls had one characteristic common to almost all museums — echo-y halls. Or, more accurately, revereration-filled halls. That is, should anyone talk, the sound magnifies and bothers all present. Really, why not install some sound proofing so as to allow the public to hold conversations without disturbing others?

Silver Sculptures From Mexico

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My parents are visiting for the weekend, and today I took them to see “Silver Sculptures From Mexico” at the SMU Meadows Museum. It’s an exhibit of metal sculptures, but not just any metal — they’re all done with silver. Obviously, the exhibit was very expensive and valuable, and there’s even a metal-detector on your way out (get it?).

It’s $5/person for the metal-sculptures exhibit, but it’s well worth it. I was very impressed by all the detail and beauty of the sculptures. And, while you’re there, there’re also the regular (free) exhibits of the rest of the SMU Meadows Museum, including a section of Spanish oil paintings (quite good as well).