Rest In Peace Roland S. Howard
Roland S. Howard, the shimmering guitar powerhouse of The Birthday Party, These Immortal Souls and Crime and the City Solution has left us, aged 50. I’ve heard many people speak of that one album that at first listen utterly mystified them...
Read moreYour New Coffee Table Friend no. 2: Mariscal Drawing Life
I have been an avid fan of Javier Mariscal’s art since first encountering his Garriris comics in Raw Magazine at the age of 12. When I got to visit Barcelona for the first time, apart from the buildings of Guadi and the museums of Picasso...
Read moreYour New Coffee Table Friend no. 1: Comic Book Design
Continuing this informal daily (-ish) holiday series on Wow Cool, that highlights some cultural objects that may have flown under your radar, but are well worth a look for one reason or another, we move on to a few lovely (comic) art books that...
Read moreHoliday Cartoon Mindwarp Part 2: Doctor Snuggles
Now some 30 years old, Doctor Snuggles, in it’s 13 episodes, doesn’t hold up so great. The animation is maybe comparable to the Smurfs cartoons of the same era; and, it ups the surrealism quotient up by about a power of 10 from those...
Read morePunk’s Not Dead
It’s just become a blanket in the baby section at Target. Or, for the truly hardcore, TGI Friday’s has the Pink Punk Cosmo on it’s cocktail menu. Slightly more mystifying is this t-shirt that is part of Shaun White’s...
Read moreHoliday Cartoon Mindwarp Part 1: The Clangers
A little over a year ago, Oliver Postgate passed on at age 83. He left an astounding legacy, in just a few short series, that have had a lasting impact on generations of children. Despite only ever making thirteen episodes of Bagpuss, it remains...
Read moreThe Power of Nightmares
I know it’s no A Christmas Story, and I’m a little late noticing that this documentary by Adam Curtis is available on Archive.org. But this has been my Christmas Eve viewing. I’ve been assaulted this year with endless idiocy...
Read moreMerry Christmas
Multiplying Toys, originally uploaded by Marc Arsenault – Wow Cool. May your toys multiply and prosper.
Read moreNo Pigeonholes Wow Cool Special
Don Campau and John Hayden at KKUP 91.5 FM I was invited to be a special guest on Don Campau‘s excellent No Pigeonholes show at KKUP 91.5 FM’s new studios in San Jose on Sunday, December 13th, 2009. We breezed through 20 years of the...
Read moreHappy Winter Solstice from the Kissing Pigs
Design FAIL: Beatles Collection at Restoration Hardware
Unadvertised special feature: two-inch thick Styrofoam block (pictured below) As you may have heard, the complete catalog of the Beatles recordings have recently become available in a brilliantly remastered digital version. You can acquire these...
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