Click on the titles to view an archive and possible review for each piece of media! Featured media is most recently consumed.
Books:
[Currently Reading] To Anyone Who Ever Asks - The Life, Music, and Mystery of Connie Converse (Howard Fishman, 2023)
[Currently Reading] From The Bottom: Writings From Wisconsin State Prison, Waupun (From The Bottom Press, 1978)
Movies:
Space is the Place (1974, dir. John Coney)
Musics:
Kim Jung Mi - Now (1973)
*Updated Media Corner, new blog post, new corner: "From The Guestbook", new additions to the VHS/Cassettes/Trash collections, and a long-awaited ranking of The Dead Milkmen studio albums.
*Click on the image to the right to view RADAR: "Meanderings and Links for you to ponder." Still in-progress, but it'll lead you to corners beyond this site.
*Lastly, I'd like to thank everyone who has reached out to share kind words about this site. Hopefully it will inspire you to make one of your own. If you do, let me know and I'll add you to the radar ;)
Last updated 3/1/26
Hi! I'm Aki! I'm a seamster and artist living in Chicago, USA.
I love little tchotchkes, ephemera, products/marketing of the past - it's a lot of what I'll be writing about as the months go on. I spent the last five years as a self-employed artist, but am now a full-time seamster. Now that I don't have to hustle every waking moment of my life, I'm exploring art for fun and what it means to me. I feel like this website may act as a document for that.
It's important to note that this site looks best on the computer, but it's also simple enough to where you can figure it out on your phone.
E
February 3, 2026 at 10:10 AM
Aki, what a fun site and nice update. V curious about your ability to control your dreams (or not).
***
Dear E,
Thank you for the kind comment. Here is my recipe for trying to dream about someone (results not guaranteed!):
1. Preheat your bed to 75°F (23.8°C)
2. Eat some sugar (for me, Pillsbury chocolate chip cookies work just fine).
3. Brush your teeth.
4. Hop into bed and get cozy.
5. Read something they’ve written, watch/listen to something they’re speaking in.
6. When you’re feeling sleepy, close your eyes and try not to think about anything at all.
I came across the Oldsmobile Complimentary Tape Cartridge in the same way I come across most things: perusing the thrift store. Nestled between Lumberjacks in Love and Roger Wilson & The Low Overhead Band (contained no tape - anyone familiar?), the tape is exactly what it states - a complimentary gift from General Motors with your purchase of an Oldsmobile, filled with “hits of the time” to highlight the new vehicle's stereo system.
It piqued my interest because my first (reliable) car was a 2001 Buick Regal, a gift from my grandpa. I named her Dolly. Dolly the Buick would get me through high school, college, and eventually land me in Chicago, which would become her final resting place. Her engine went up in flames and she was scrapped for a wad of cash. I’m sure she has since turned into something as valuable as she was in her original form.
Back to the tape: I figured the best way to listen to this was on the road. I'm without Walkman so I put all the tracks into a playlist, and since I don't have a car, the bus will have to do. (This experiment is inconclusive, since I couldn’t really make out the lyrics over the whirring of the bus, the announcements from Mr. CTA, and the babblings of an anthropomorphic bottle of pepto bismol.)
Maybe not really being able to make out the lyrics is for the better because, dear reader, some of these songs are anguish-inducing. The type of music where I pray nobody was driving across a bridge as it played. The second program is the one that really stuck out to me. It goes:
Lacy J. Dalton - Taking It Easy
Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers - Almost Called Her Baby by Mistake
Janie Fricke - You Don’t Know Love
1. Eat Your Paisley (1986)
2. Bucky Fellini (1987)
3. Not Richard, But Dick (1993)
4. The King In Yellow (2011)
5. Big Lizard in my Backyard (1985)
6. Quaker City Quiet Pills (2023)
7. Soul Rotation (1992)
8. Beelzebubba (1988)
9. Pretty Music for Pretty People (2014)
10. Metaphysical Graffiti (1990)
11. Stoney’s Extra Stout (Pig) (1995)