PicoBlog

The Cockney-accented “lizard” has been Geico’s mascot for 23+ years, since 1999. PRE-9/11. (Here’s one of his first ads—his accent wasn’t so cute back then.) The average lifespan of a real gecko is 15 years. How was he created? Well, “Geico” used to sometimes be mispronounced as “gecko”—connect the dots. Geico has produced over 150 differentads with that fucking animated fuck. The creatives writing the commercials now even have the ad actors “writing” ads for him—that’s how meta he has become.

The three people on camera through the hour-plus of Joe Biden’s third State of the Union address, in representative poses: Biden himself making a point; Kamala Harris leading Democrats in standing applause; Mike Johnson, wishing he were anyplace else. (Photo Mandel Ngan/AFP, via Getty Images.)Through four presidencies now, I’ve done annotated versions of State of the Union addresses (SOTU). The main reason I’ve gone through this process is that, seven presidencies ago, I was involved in writing some of these presentations.

What we call the fifth chapter of Genesis calls itself "the book of the generations of Adam." We might paraphrase this as "the people generated by Adam" (all male, incidentally). In other words, this is Adam's family tree. Biblical genealogies are notoriously dry, boring, and skippable. We will certainly be skipping over some in the future, but I thought we'd zoom in on this one a little just to get a "

I was so psyched to be back in Santa Cruz on tour again after so many years, and am really glad it worked out to have Jack come by my hotel and tape this interview for you all. I’ve been a massive fan of the Noble since Jack handed me serial #9 (an unintended prototype) in Santa Cruz when I was on tour with David Ryan Harris in 2014. I’ve used it almost non-stop ever since, have always been curious about the back story to the company, and the ideas that eventually became what we all know and love today as the Noble Preamp DI.

Yesterday, writer Nicolaia Rips, who knows I love a saucy shoe moment, sent me a photo of the new Chloé designer Chemena Kamali taking a bow at her debut show. “Look at the shoes,” she wrote to me. At first, I thought Nicolaia meant Kamali’s scuffed white sneakers that she wore with loose jeans. Big whoop. But at a second glance, I saw what she meant: A gaggle of front-row guests were wearing hulking cork wedges with a thick banded black upper and a slingback strap.

In today’s issue of Back Row: An interview with Kathleen Felix-Hager, Hacks’s brilliant costume designer, on dressing Deborah Vance. Where Felix-Hager found the ugly-glam yellow dress that kicked off the season (hint: you could maybe even find one for yourself online). Loose Threads, including the Internet’s favorite nepo baby hard-launching in W magazine; the Zac Posen for Gap shirtdress gown you can now buy; Jennifer Lopez promotes bottled margaritas — and more!

It’s the second Friday of October, and a Friday the 13th, no less. What better way to celebrate than with another spooky bug? This week, we have a species of praying mantis, which is a frightening group of bugs in its own right. Mantids are lightning-fast killers, relying on instinct and camouflage to hunt and ambush their prey. Some look like bright green leaves, others like the flowers they hide inside, and others like cast off plant matter, mottled and dull.

Empire of Dirt’s new home is on Ghost — and, I hope, in your email inboxes and your hearts. I’ll miss Substack. They’ve got some great tools here, and some terrific climate newsletters. But they basically hung a sign out that says NAZI HAPPY HOUR, and this bar isn’t fun anymore. Follow us to Ghost: Click here for more Empire of Dirt ncG1vNJzZmidnaW2s7HOn5uiqqRjwLau0q2YnKNemLyue89oq6GdXZy1sL%2FTZqafZZOdv6q%2F06aYrGWWqsG2vsQ%3D

An important preamble to what will be a great shopping guide directing you to my favorite (though not yet exhaustive list) of specialty stores, independent designers, and brands that are just the real deal. It was always my dream to have a thriving creative business, working with great people and making designs we collectively loved. But somewhere al… ncG1vNJzZmiZna7ArrXLqK2im16owqO%2F05qapGaTpLpwvI6tn55ll56ztXnOnw%3D%3D