Uncool Bible Report - Bible in Chronological Order

I've learned that it's one of the pillars of Uncool here to actually go to church on Sunday's and it's even uncooler to actually read the Bible. But I decided that this year I am going to read the Bible from front to back in chronological order and try and get every word through me at least once in my life. I used to pick up the Bible every so often but have never been able to read more than a little bit without someone having to explain the passage to me.

Being in Hollywood, I've had WAY more people than I care to admit start talking to me about this issue or that issue and it is clear they hadn't read or researched any of it. Someone told them about it and they repeated it. I was thinking that I was kind of doing the same thing with my own religious beliefs. So I decided to buckle down and just read it.

I started reading at the top of the year and have been pretty consistent. Page-wise, the book isn't that long. However the writing is very dense, very old timey, and full of unusual terminology. It's hard to just read it fast. The first thing you realize is the Bible is not really in chronological order. Things skip around quite a bit. I've gone to a couple of websites to try and figure out the proper order and they are all a little different so it's quite obvious there isn't a definitive order. HERE is a nice article on Bible chronology as well.

Early review: lots of repeating, lots of funny names, and reading Job is a lot like watching Schindler's List.

I almost started this on a lark, but the thing I like about it is how much I've learned. I'm still in the old Testament so a lot of it is admittedly very rough reading. Lots of laws, suffering, sacrifices, slavery, etc. But it has given me some nice perspective on the church sermons.

Examples: The Day of Jubilee, the Tabernacle, the early laws.

I feel kind of like the guy who tries to put together his child's toy without reading the directions, then goes back and reads the directions and realizes how much simpler it would have been to read the directions in the first place. I'm reading the directions.

Jack Purcell - Rubber Company Sneaker History

A great article about the history sneakers versus tennis shoes, etc. Jack Purcell's were originally a tough utilitarian rubber company sneaker. Part of the article below and HERE at BrandlandUSA

The B.F. Goodrich rubber shoes were some of the great tire/rubber company shoe brands. But they weren’t the only ones. In fact, in consumers’ minds, there was a vast difference between sneakers and tennis shoes and regular shoes. Regular shoes were about style only; sneakers were about style AND performance, which hooked in with tire company brand heritage.
A few of the tire/rubber brand shoes.

B. F. Goodrich not only made Jack Purcell tennis shoes, but they made SeaVees, a sort of rubber soled canvas Top-Sider, and PF Flyers.

United States Rubber, later UniRoyal, made Keds. Keds is now part of Stride Rite, and they are doing fascinating things with the brand, including this recent photo shoot with a very 1970s Ford Country Squire station wagon. Quite strange to have a station wagon that was in my childhood be seen as vintage, but time does that.

Firestone had a whole line of its brand of shoes; the performance of the rubber in the shoes matched consumers’ ideals of the performance of the rubber in tires. Even in the 1920s, it was a major force in sportswear.

Dunlop Footwear, a spin off of well known Dunlop performance tires, is still a major sportswear brand, especially in former countries of the British Empire, including Australia, where Evonne Goolagong and Margaret Court wore the shoes, true tennis shoes. The tire company Dunlop is part of Goodyear. The roots of the company are in Dublin, Ireland with John Boyd Dunlop’s Dunlop Pneumatic Tire Company, which was originally about bike tires. It has a true Victorian feel, as Dunlop was founded in 1889 at the height of Victoria’s power.

How to Spot Old School Jack Purcell - the differences

I've been running into some old school Jack Purcell's recently and I wanted to provide some information that I've been able to ascertain about the differences between the old and the new. There was a clear dividing line between the old and new era of Jack Purcell. While the basic framework of the shoe 'look' has been consistent for decades (thus some of its appeal), upon close inspection there are clear design changes to the base sneaker.

The two basic changes are the 'top-down' shape profile and significant minor changes to the toe area.

First off, the toe. If you look at the picture above, you'll notice that the old school toe (the shoe to the rear on the right) is much shallower. The toe piece above the signature smiley face wraps back to form the toe. The old school Jack's barely lip over the top, forming a more utilitarian toe wrap. The new era Jack's lip over much deeper, forming a larger more distinctive toe.

The new era Jack's also take that bigger toe piece and wraps it around the side of the shoe almost 1/3 of the way down the length of the sneaker. On the old school Jacks, the toe piece ends right at the front of the shoe. The difference is that the old school Jacks have a more pointy toe (below right).

The smiley face on the old school Jacks (below left) is much thicker in the 'corners of the mouth meaning the the smiley face is much deeper.


Secondly, the downward viewing profile is much different. Look at the picture below. The new era Jacks (lower right) have a simple 'pill shape' profile. Round toe, straight sides, rounded heel.

The old school Jacks have a more tapered look. Notice the pointy toe (lower left) and how the shoe narrows as it gets closer to the heel. This design gives the sneaker a somewhat jarring profile as the 'ball of the foot' sticks out noticeably compared to the rest of the shoe.

The old school Jack has a taller sole which gives it a higher profile than the new eras.
Next time someone drags out an old box and claims they are twenty year old mint Jack Purcell's, look at the toe! Look at the profile!

Birthday Wishlist 2010

With my birthday fast approaching, the family has been asking what I want for my upcoming birthday. To make it simple and to adjust for today's market conditions, here is a pretty good list:

1. Goldfish Crackers (1 gallon container) - I love eating these yummy heroin-filled treats so much that I learned early you can't just eat one. One bag. So many years ago, I switched to the one gallon container. I don't eat nearly as many as I'd like anymore (for lots of reasons), but hey, it's my birfdee.

2. Diet Coke - Quite frankly, any caffeine-filled diet soda will work but since it is my birfdee coming up, I might as well go with my preference. I like diet coke in the can, the bottle or the barrel as long as it is cold.
3. I take several pre-planned naps every year. Fathers Day and the Birfdee. Cold, dark and guilt free (much like my diet coke).
4. Finally, if you truly insist on getting me something of a monetary nature and I seriously doubt there is a line for this, how about a Target gift card. Then I can go to Target, buy some Goldfish crackers, diet coke and consume them before my nap.

Orioles Baseball - 2010 - A New Start

Jeff's favorite Oriole from back in the day Randy Milligan (above).

I'm making a fresh start with the Baltimore Orioles this year. I grew up with the classic birds of the 70's and 80's and was a fan for many years. I even had season tickets for a few years in the late 80's / early 90's with my good friend Steve Weinstein. But the team has been abysmal for ten years now, they seem to have no personality or fire or desire or inspiration or talent. Does that stop me? No.

I've decided I'm going to try my hardest to follow this team through this downturn and be the good fan that I am. Hopefully, I won't change my mind during the first of the seven eight game losing streaks.

Above is a picture of one of my favorite Orioles from the 80's Randy "The Crazy Irishman" Milligan. I may be confusing him with one of my favorite Baltimore Colts Randy McMillan so I'm not really sure. But either way, I'm back on the Orioles wagon!

Uncool Music Playlist - Pete Townshend "Slit Skirt"

The Uncool hits keep on rolling... Live, from Jeff's iPod it is #14 on his most played list "Slit Skirts" by Pete Townshend.

I haven't the foggiest idea what this song is about or what it means and I can't understand half of what he is saying. Which makes it a perfect for my playlist.

Jack Purcell - Sneaker of Bruce Springsteen

On the highly collectible and now famous "Coming Soon" poster for Bruce Springsteen's BORN TO RUN album, there is pair of sneakers conspicuously hanging on the end of Bruce's guitar. They are of course a pair of Jack Purcell's. It being a black and white photo, I am unsure as to whether they are black or blue canvas.

It also looks conspicuously like the were added into the the shot in some kind of primitive photoshop from the olden days. In fact, if you look closely enough, I'm not even sure the sneaker in the rear is a Jack Purcell It looks more like a Converse All-Star low top.

Supremely sad to say I noticed all of that and took the time to make a blog entry out of it.

Uncool Dude - A Statistical Analysis Top 5

One of the cool things about the internet is the ability to track what people look at. A lot of traffic here on my humble website is somewhat random. People are on the lookout for something, do a Google search and then end up on jeffreyrhodes.com. What other way to explain the top 5 searched blog entries here on the site in reverse order:

5. My Electronic Football entry - There must be more people than I thought who had these really primitive handheld football games because this has been quite consistent since it first went up.

4. I created this FEES FOR SERVICES page mainly as a joke but also to snag the occassional writing gig if someone needed something quality at a reasonable price. I am as of yet to receive even an inquiry let alone an order but at least I know this page is working because it is consistently a top five page. Perhaps I have some fans who enjoying this page more as a joke!

3. I photoshopped a picture of myself on a guy wearing a tight bike riding suit. Living in a place where lots of people ride bikes and wear silly outfits, I came up with an entry last March describing my disgust. It has been top five ever since.

2. My Jack Purcell Shoe Repair Tips is the one entry in the list I can understand how it became popular. It is a practical tip, it is well thought-out and has lots of pictures. This one went up in March 2009.

1. The most popular blog entry, by far, is my Home Urinal blog entry from January 24, 2009. It was only my third blog entry ever and still the most popular. I guess I'm not the only one who has kids with poor aim!

Jack Purcell - DC Skate Phil Frost Edition

While not technically a Jack Purcell, this custom sneaker sports the unmistakable Jack Purcell smiley face and fishhead toe. From the web series "Souls" and my pals at soveryfresh.com

RIP Doug Fieger THE KNACK

RIP, the lead singer of THE KNACK Doug Fieger. "My Sharona" is was one of those songs that probably isn't the deepest ever written but is certainly infectious.

Dream Job - Workin' the Twinkie Factory

A picture is a thousand words. But let me try. Imagine lovingly staring down at those lovely golden cakes every day, day after day, as they came fresh from magical Hostess ovens, mere seconds after that creamy goodness was injected into those yummy treats. Oh, mama...

Happy Valentine's Day!

I was trying and trying and trying and trying to come up with a clever/funny/twinkie twist for Valentine's Day and it just wasn't happening. So I thought perhaps the best thing to do was to keep it straight and deviate a touch from my usual Uncool blog entries and just give a heart felt thanks and "I Love You" to my wife...

I love you, Victoria! It's been perfect everyday and gets better by the minute...

Monopoly Game Collection - Onyx Edition

Being the Uncoolest Dude in Hollywood, I of course have the Uncoolest of collections. The fact that I collect things is fairly Uncool in these green days of recycling and repurposing. I love these Monopoly games! I got this set for Christmas a couple of years ago and like most of the sets I collect, I never play with it. I've got some ratty 'gamer' sets that I actually play with.

This Onyx Edition game is supposed to be a classier, more sophisticated version of the game. While the rules are always the same, there are some differences with this set...

The board is one piece of solid wood on raised feet. The wood is painted black to go with the onyx theme. You'll also notice that the spaces are much smaller and the center of the board is a recessed pit to keep the dice on the board at all times.

Below is a look at the inside of the box. The entire set is roughly double in size. Typically, Monopoly comes in that oblong box. This set is a little shorter but double-wide and square.

This set comes with the usual: money, property cards, dice, houses/hotels and tokens. The additional pieces are a nifty little holder for the money and a carousel for the unsold propertys. The houses/hotels are a plastic, made to look like jewels and come with felt jewel bags.

Below is a close-up of the carousel with a custom picture of Mr. Monopoly aka Rich Uncle Pennybags.

The money and the property cards about 1/3 smaller than their standard counter parts. Above is the package of property cards and no, my hand isn't that huge. Below you can see how much smaller the money is. The top $1 is from a standard set and you can clearly see the size difference.

As opposed to everything else, the dice are actually a bit bigger than a standard pair. No, my hand is not that small!

Even the game instructions get a kick. Printed on glossy paper with a silver edge and a classier font and look. Nothing unique about the copy, but the look is classy.

Signs of AGE: Comic Books on the Computer

My son (above) reading something called "manga" on something
called a "computer". Jeff (below) reads an issue of one of his hip
ARCHIE "comics" out of something called a "comic book".

Sign of my age: I caught my son reading comics off of the computer. Even worse, it was a Japanese comic called "Dragon Ball Z" which when it was explained to me sounds like the stupidest thing I've ever heard of. Most likely, the fact that I think it is the stupidest thing I've ever heard of makes it that much more desirable for the young ones.

Two of my kids are now reading these things on pretty regular basis. When I explained to them that traditionally, comic books are to be "held", I was corrected and told that they were not reading comic books but "manga". I may be totally Uncool, but I am not totally oblivious to the happenings of the world, so I informed my kids that "manga" was a Japanese version of the good ol' American comic book. He merely shook his head in disgust, put his head phones back on and continued poisoning his mind with stories of Dragon Balls and battles and quests.

I certainly loved reading comic books as a kid and I still love them today. But to me, one of the cool things about comic books was that you got to keep comic books. I never liked reading comic books from the library or borrowing them from a friend. I wanted to keep them! How else could I copy the pictures when making my own comic books?

I guess I really am entering those black-socks-with-sandals years...

Lego Rogue Zoo

My twelve year old son's latest masterpiece. He shot a bunch of Legos one day and edited it together in the computer. He added music and all of the sound efx. I like that there is an actual story in one minute forty seconds. Great job Jack Rhodes (aka Sedohr)

Uncool History - Team of Rivals

Jeff's Uncool history series continues with a look back Abraham Lincoln's early presidential history.

"Team of Rivals" by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

There has been about a bizillion books written about Abraham Lincoln but I kind of feel like this one is a very appropriate one for today's times. In all off these modern political wranglings about partisanship and non-partisanship most of what you see today is all a bunch of bunk. It's all talk. What's cool about 'Team of Rivals' is that Abraham Lincoln actually did it...

The gist: When Lincoln was elected, that was pretty much the final straw that started the Civil War. Nobody thought the dude was all that. But he did something that few have done before or since: He brought in the smartest, best people at their jobs, even if they were his enemies. He brought into his cabinet THREE guys he had run against and beaten in the presidential election. Imagine if Barack Obama had brought in not only Hilary Clinton but also John McCain and Sarah Palin. It was a gutsy move and it took all of his efforts to coral it and make it work.

Fun book to read that gives a very nice picture of presidential politics back in the day...

Uncool Music Playlist - Styx "Lady"

The Uncool hits keep on rolling.. Live, from Jeff's iPod it is #2 on his most played list "Lady" by Styx. I like the song, but #2? I think there must be a technical glitch in the counting software. Or I'm a goober.

Super Bowl XLIV Prediction - Choices, Choices

I am not pleased that my beloved Ravens lost to Indy in the NFL playoffs so I am not pleased that they are in the Super Bowl. Generally, at this point I give some whacky prediction about how I predict I will not watch the Super Bowl but will watch some other Uncool thing. But the more I thought about (with the rain and all) the more I realized I was probably going to watch the Super Bowl.

Then my wife informed me we have a home Bible fellowship meeting on that night. So now the conflict really starts. Do I ignore the fact that I really don't want to watch the game and whine about missing the Super Bowl for home Bible fellowship? Or do I take my lumps and have a pretty funny blog entry?

I'm not sure the other husbands in the home Bible fellowship have thought through the fact that Super Bowl is on that night because I'm sure there is interest there as well. I'm wondering if we are going to do one of those "Every Sunday is a Super Sunday" or perhaps postpone. I win either way!

TV is Superior to Movies - Mad Men

TV is superior to movies example of the month... Mad Men.

When I first broke into television oh those many years ago, there was a pretty strict philosophy that television shows were to be 'episodic' as opposed to 'serial'. This meant that each episode of a television show was to be somewhat standalone and if you started watching somewhere in the middle then you wouldn't miss all that much. This is one of the reasons that genre's like police shows and hospital shows always showed up because you could have a different case every week and maintain rules of the show without having an ongoing story.

Think about it... comedies like FRIENDS or CHEERS are all basically standalone. Cop shows like HAWAII FIVE-O and LAW AND ORDER are standalone. The reason was simple: you could build an audience and syndicate a show without a new viewer having to have much pre-knowledge of a show. In my opinion, most all television was still a second class artistic venue. Movies were superior. It was not until episodic television really took hold that TV started to fulfill its artistic promise. This month...

Program: Mad Men
Episodes: 3 seasons, 39 episodes
Status: Season 4 begins in 2010

This is the kind of show that would have very little hope of being any kind of movie. Capturing the tone and feel of USA in the early 60's, it plays on a world that few of us have any idea about. The cool thing about it is how by looking at America through the prism of the 1960's, you learn more about today. Multi-layered, character driven, funny, and fascinating. Like reading a book...

One of Jeff's favorite scenes: the Draper family out for a picnic. Time to go so Betty shakes the blanket off, throwing all of the food wrappers and garbage on the ground - Don crunches up beer can and tosses it in the grass. As the family leaves the park, they pull back to show litter everywhere! For those younger tykes out there, I remember a time when you just tossed trash out the window of the car... that's just what everybody did!

Twinkie: Deep Fried Twinkie Covered with Chocolate & Powdered Sugar

Legos - Yet Another Uncool Hobby

So how have I been amusing myself lately? Legos. Like most kids, mine get these Lego kits for birthdays and holidays, build them, then eventually throw them into the pile. Of course being the packrat that I am, I saved all of the instructions. So now, me and the boys (mostly me), go through the old instructions and try to rebuild the old kits. The big problem is finding the exact piece as pictured in the instructions. What should take an hour or so to build takes a week of digging through boxes all over the house trying to find that one perfect piece in the correct color.

Well... it beats going to the club I suppose!

Uncool Business Card Flashback - Mr. Independent

There was a time when I was strictly my own man. It was pretty cool telling everybody I was my own man but extremely terrifying when it came to paying bills to people who didn't care what kind of man I was. As things changed, I tried to keep the card up to date but it just started looking real... cobbled together.

I love this business card because not one thing (other than my name) is really the same. Different email, cell phone, home phone and company name.

As hard as those times were, there's something to say for being Mr. Independent. Here's to being your own man (at least once in your life).

My Life - Buying More Milk than Most Restaurants

Every time I had another kid, my Dad would bust out with something along the lines of, "You know, kids cost money." If anyone ever doubted it, a quick glance at my refrigerator gives all the clues one would need. Not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, but six gallons of milk currently sit in the frig. That's right, that stuff that goes bad pretty quick. That stuff that spoils if it sits around too long.
Not at the Rhodes house. These monsters drink milk like its milkSHAKE mix or something. I feel like the dorkiest Dad in the world yelling at my kids for DRINKING milk when most parents have to yell to get them to drink it. We have to ration it or I'd be buying four gallons per day. I honestly believe it would be much, much cheaper to have an actual cow and pay for the hay, etc.

RIP Jack Purcell White Leathers - Proper Disposal

Alas, one of my favorite pair of Jack Purcell's just couldn't be repaired sufficiently. My wife finally pulled the plug, she knew I could never make the decision on my own. There was just too much dirt, too many holes, too much wear-and-tear. But just because my favorite all white leather Jack Purcell's could no longer be worn, does not mean that you just throw them away. No, sir.
You can't let a little thing like burst-out holes and long-gone leather on the sides deter one from getting a good use out of these sneaks. A confirmed pack-rat and hoarder-in-training couldn't possibly let an old pair of shoes go straight to the trash. So as my wife shook her head in disgust, I went to work harvesting the organs out of my old Jack Purcell's.
First off, remove the shoe strings. Every Jack Purcell geek knows that the shoe strings have the branded tips that are impossible to find without buying a whole new pair of shoes. So I removed the shoe strings, cleaned them with soap and water and put them straight into a two-week bath in the bleach.

Second, I pulled out the shears and removed the smiley face fish-head. These are in terrific shape and make the perfect... well... I'm not sure what, yet. But I'm gonna think of something. The same with the tongue logo and distinctive sole logo.

Every good pack rat will give you the standard slogan: "I could use them for something someday." We'll see.

Until then, they join the pile of completely worn-out Jack Purcells that I couldn't bear to throw away.