Facebook Archives - The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit

Jan302013 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

Battle of the CHiPs TV Theme Songs!

TV & Radio

Yesterday I posted an image on my Facebook page of an old CHiPs Emergency Medical Kit toy, and we all had fun with it. I'm not sure why a medical kit is a relevant toy for a show about motorcycle cops, but whatever. But it got me to thinking about an age-old question. Of the two main theme songs CHiPs used over the course of its six-season run, which is the better one? I know what my answer is, but I need to know what you think. For reference, here are the choices. Both were written by John Parker, by the way. Here's the intro used for season 1, which is fairly close to what was used for the pilot episode as well. It was also used on occasion in later seasons. CHiPs season-6 with 1977 theme by deadsnake As you can hear, we've got a bit of a laid back mariachi thing going ...

Jan222013 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

Over One Million Served!

Blogstuff

Today is a momentous day in Gray Flannel History, for this humble site logged passed the 1,000,000-visitor mark and rolled the odometer over! It's been a big 12 months for this site, what with the Facebook page taking off and my Zazzle shop opening. I'd like to take yet another opportunity to thank everyone who has turned this little venture -- which launched almost 6 years ago after I closed my first site -- into the fun diversion it is! I've got more fun time wasting web stuff planned for 2013, so stay tuned. And tell a friend!

Sep262012 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

Just a Gentle Reminder (aka Shameless Plug)

Blogstuff

For those who haven't yet beheld the wonder that is the official Facebook page of the Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, there's still time to head over and click that magical Like button. Otherwise, there's no telling what could happen. So won't you please think of all the sidekicks out there, click on this link (or on the Facebook icon in the upper right), and then hit that Like button? I promise it'll be worth your while, as there's all sorts of cool stuff to see there that I don't share here.

Apr252012 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

Comic Caption Contest #1 — Diary Secrets

Ephemera

To commemorate my Facebook page passing 200 Likes, I've unveiling a new contest series! It's pretty simple really -- I've blanked some dialogue from a comic book panel and it's up to one of you, my loyal fans, to write your own. I'd rather it be funny or clever in some way, so let's keep it light. Here's the first contest panel: The fine print: I'll judge the entries personally and announce a winner no later than 4pm Eastern on Friday, April 24. The winner receives a free .mp3! To enter your caption, just head over to the GFS Facebook Fan Page -- click Like if you haven't done so already -- and show me what you got. Only one entry per person will be accepted, and you must be a fan of the Facebook page.

Apr192012 by Chris Holmes2 Comments

Can You Name This Car?

History, Photography

One of my Facebook page's readers posted a photo challenge for me, which was to identify the car and time period in this picture: I am not an expert in antique cars, but I'm a half-decent internet sleuth. From what I can discern, this looks to be an American car from the mid-1930s, in the style of a "trunkback." Now, just about all of the major manufacturers had trunkbacks in the mid '30s, but one thing that looks fairly unique are the wheels. Those appear to be specific to Chevrolet. So based on that, and on the styling of the car -- which sadly doesn't have any obvious identifications or markings -- my best guess is that this is a Chevy Standard, most likely from 1936 or 1937. So I throw out a challenge to anyone reading this -- am I right? And if not, any idea what the make...

Feb82012 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

The Lost Art of Real Estate Listing Photography

Funny Stuff

It's been a tough go for the real estate industry over the last several years, and it seems unlikely to get much better any time soon. And I've watched enough real estate shows on cable to know that an agent's job can be demanding even in a good market. A part of that job that far too many agents seem to overlook is the all-important listing photo. Just like a good resume helps you get an job interview, a good listing photo can get someone to your open house. The key in both cases is that even an interested party will only give you a few seconds to make a good impression. So a crappy photo will not only kill a potential sale, it can now provide me with more material to mock. And so that's what I'm going to do on my Facebook page as part of a new photo series I'm calling Is This For Real...

Feb62012 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

Five Reasons I Stopped Following Your Twitter Feed

Internet

I was a fairly late Twitter adopter, only joining a few years ago. It's been a fun and sometimes enlightening experience so far, but it's come with some annoyances too. And so once in a great while I'm forced to take the drastic and life-altering step of unfollowing a feed. I know, harsh, right? So if you are one of the unfortunate souls whose tweets will no longer be reaching my eyes -- or if you want to avoid that awful fate -- here's five things to reflect upon. You're not funny and/or interesting. I post my share of banal crap, but I at least try to keep things entertaining for the most part. Not saying I succeed, but I try. Regular updates about what you're eating or wearing (especially Foursquare tweets about becoming the Mayor of some shitty bar) are no more interesting o...

Sep222011 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

Facebook and the social contract

Internet

It's hard for me to get worked up into a nice lather over the most recent renovations to Facebook, aka The Site You Just Can't Quit. For one, my main interaction with it these days is through TweetDeck, which very nicely strips away all the irrelevant layout and advertising to show me just the status updates, ma'am. And for another, ever since I quit playing games like Farmville and Mafia Wars cold turkey -- both more addictive than heroin or crystal meth I'm told -- I really have little reason to go to the site proper anymore. While it's been interesting to observe the backlash against the latest Facelift, I've developed a greater interest in the predictable backlash against the backlash. People who have taken to the internets to complain about Facebook are derided as lacking persp...

Sep122011 by Chris Holmes13 Comments

Why I pulled the plug on Disqus

Blogstuff

Note: Since this post was published in September 2011, Disqus has sufficiently improved their product that I have decided to re-enable it. But in the interest of intellectual honesty, I'm leaving this post intact. Regular readers of this site may notice that I am no longer using Disqus to handle my commenting. And if you haven't noticed, well, that's one of the reasons why. Allow me to explain. I installed Disqus to replace the native Wordpress comment functionality on this site, oh, at least a few years ago. My little blogger head was filled with the promise of even more interactivity and ease with regards to commenting, as well as more traffic.I liked Disqus enough that as recently as April 2011 I listed it as one of my 10 favorite Wordpress plugins. The thing is, ...