but that’s the way it is. I understand their map usefulness. Often, a formalised exercise helps map quest me to crack a block of some kind, and often affords map quest a new way to see something. It’s a way of playing us map with the process of creation – if one lets it mapquest serve that purpose. Another example: a lot of driving directions modern composers who use Finale or similar programs maps to score their music, either on the fly or by hotels

It occurred to me that there might be at least one or two Web sites dedicated to archiving cheesy swimsuit calendars from years past, but a cursory Google search yielded nothing. Which surprises me, because for nearly every niche field of interest, no matter how fleetingly ephemeral, there seems to be someone on the Web willing to devote an unhealthy number of man hours to it.

Money to My Ears

A few blocks later, I stopped by my post office box, where I was pleasantly surprised to find a check for US$13.86 sent to me by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. This, apparently, is payment for my claim in the Compact Disc Minimum Advertised Price Antitrust anti-trust lawsuit brought against five big name music distributors and three music retailers by the AG. The FAQ explains that, “The Plaintiffs filed a lawsuit alleging that the Defendants conspired to illegally raise the prices of certain prerecorded Music Products by implementing Minimum Advertised Price policies, in violation of state and federal laws.”

In short, the music industry has been caught red-handed fixing prices and violating anti-trust laws. I’m shocked, shocked, I say! Anyway, I’m going to add a dollar and fourteen cents of my own money to this little windfall and head down to Canal Street and use it buy about six bootleg music CDs.

Run of the Mel

On the sidewalk in front of the Flat Iron Building, I came across my weirdest find of the morning: a hand-drawn religious tract titled “Is Mel Gibson to Die For?” There’s an established aesthetic for religious tracts like those from Jack Chick Publishing, and though they may be fascinating examples of pop artistry conscripted for religious ends, I’ve only ever found them to be mildly interesting, at best.

But this one actually had me entirely engaged as it asked how big a fan I am of Mel Gibson, and would I die for him? This is obviously a by-product of the actor/director’s masterfully executed controversy marketing for his film “Passion of the Christ,” so I was sure it was leading to some kind of Christian admonishment or another. What I didn’t expect, though, is that its little narrative — which I read diligently all the way through — lead right into a case for Jews for Jesus and their public and surprisingly slick response to the film. As an exercise in guerrilla marketing, this is one I won’t be able to help but remember for a long time.