Erin Go Bragh-Less! Happy St Patrick's Day From Not Another New England Sports Blog!

'Tis the time of year when Americans celebrate Ireland's patron saint driving out all the snakes from the Emerald Isle by coloring everything from their beers to nearby rivers green. The holiday, which is recognized by the Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran and Eastern Orthodox Churches actually marks the arrival of Christianity in Ireland- although over time, the legend grew to Saint Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland (with 'snakes' most likely being an allegory for Pagan beliefs).

While celebrations in cities like New York, Dublin and Chicago being large and boisterous, in 1999 the tiny village of Dripsey in County Cork went to the other extreme to mark the arrival of the new millennium and began hosting the world's shortest St Patrick's Day parade- 26 yards between the village's two pubs; the Weigh Inn and the Lee Valley. The idea stuck, and while the parade has garnered more and more particpants over the last 15 years and includes antique autos and tractors, the distance remains the same.

Although I'm not sure if the scarlet-tressed beauty shown above is going to Dripsey's St Patrick's Day, she should probably get a move on and finish her sweater for whatever St Patrick's Day event she's going out to.

The image is actually from a 1952 piece by Gil Elvgren called 'A Spicy Yarn'. Both the red hair and the green yarn were part of the 60+ year old original and haven't been photoshopped or modified for the St Patrick's Day Holiday.

Proposed EPA Rules on Wood Burning Stoves and Fireplaces Prompt Rural Backlash

Sheer Delight- Gil Elvgren 1948

It's not enough that the Environmental Protection Agency has launched an all-out assault on the coal industry- now the EPA has designs on homeowner's woodstoves, fireplaces or pellet stoves.

A federal proposal to clean up the smoke wafting from wood-burning stoves has sparked a backlash from some rural residents, lawmakers and manu­facturers who fear it could close the damper on one of the oldest ways of warming homes on cold winter days.

Proposed regulations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would significantly reduce the amount of particle pollution allowed from the smokestacks of new residential wood-powered heaters.

Wood-burning stoves are a staple in rural homes in many states, a cheap heating source for low-income residents and others wanting to lessen their reliance on gas or electric furnaces. Outdoor models often cost several thousand dollars, but indoor stoves can cost as little as a few hundred dollars and sometimes double as fashionable centerpieces in homes.

Some manufacturers contend the EPA’s proposed standards are so stringent that the higher production costs would either force them out of business or raise prices so high that many consumers could no longer afford their products.

"There’s not a stove in the United States that can pass the test right now — this is the death knell of any wood burning,” Reg Kelly, the founder of Earth Outdoor Furnaces in Mountain Grove, told Missouri lawmakers during a recent hearing.

More than three dozen Missouri lawmakers have co-sponsored a bill that would symbolically fight back against the EPA by declaring that “All Missourians have a right to heat their homes and businesses using wood-burning furnaces, stoves, fireplaces and heaters."


This past week, a Missouri House committee endorsed a revised measure that proposes to ban state environmental officials from regulating residential wood heaters unless authorized by the Legislature.

Missouri appears to be one the first states to introduce legislation in response to the proposed EPA regulations. But concerns over wood stove pollution and regulations also have been simmering in other states, including Utah and Alaska.

There are about 12 million wood stoves in U.S. homes, including about 9 million that are less than half as efficient as the newer stoves, according to the EPA. The agency’s proposed rules would not affect stoves already in homes.

Most people who own wood stoves have other means of heat, such as electric or gas furnaces. But about 2 percent U.S. homes rely on wood as their primary heating source — a figure that has been rising over the past decade.

I can speak with some firsthand experience- if there's a prolonged, days-long blackout with freezing temperatures, an old fashioned woodstove or fireplace can seem like a godsend. With the eastern US getting walloped by waves of massive winter storms that have knocked down trees and power lines only a few weeks into 2014, a fireplace or woodstove along with a supply of firewood pays dividends.

There is no public hearings on the EPA's proposed revision of regulations for woodstoves and fireplaces, although the agency is accepting public comments through 90 days after their Jan 3rd publication.

Manufacturers have expressed concern that the new EPA regulations would drive up prices and make woodstoves unaffordable for most consumers.

Watson is president of Jotul North America, a wood stove manufacturer founded in Maine in 1980. Its 70 employees manufacture hundreds of cast-iron stoves each year at its facility in Gorham, where it has been located since 2005. Jotul’s stoves already far exceed the current emission standards, which were established by the EPA in 1988, Watson said.

Watson estimates it will cost the company $1 million to re-engineer its product lines and update its testing capabilities to meet the new standard, which because of variability in stove testing he thinks will result in a “statistically insignificant” change in the emissions compared to Jotul’s current stoves.

That cost will be passed onto stove dealers and consumers, resulting in prices for new Jotul stoves to increase by as much as 25 percent, or an additional $300-$500 per stove depending on the model, Watson estimates. Based on this economy and his understanding of supply and demand, he said he’d expect to see his sales fall as a result. Overall, there were roughly 4,500 wood stoves sold in Maine in 2012, according to industry figures cited by Watson.

“When you’re a manufacturer, to cough up $1 million and increase the cost of your stoves’ retail prices by 25 percent — that payback is going to be really tough to digest if sales of wood stoves go down because of that increased cost,” he told the Bangor Daily News on Friday.

That will end up having the opposite effect of what the EPA wants, which is more people to adopt new, cleaner-burning stoves.

Critics also point out that regardless of what sport of new regulations the EPA passes, stoves would still have inappropriate fuel such as garbage or wood from younger trees that would cause even more pollution that what the EPA seeks to abate with these new rules. Even pellet stoves, which have been touted as more versatile and efficient than woodstoves, are suffering from a shortage of fuel in northern New England.

Happy Valentine's Day From Not Another New England Sports Blog!

Believe it or not, I actually have plans this Valentine's Day. Although I could fudge and claim that it involves a weekend romantic getaway of some sort with a Brooklyn Decker look-alike, instead I'll just say that I'm picking up some seasonal work.

But what would Valentine's Day be without an homage to pin-ups....particularly the artistry of the incomparable Gil Elvgren?

If we're to take the title of this 1959 portrait at face value, then this golden tressed beauty goes by the moniker of Mona. Actually, this particular Elvgren piece has the dual title of Mona/Heartwarming.

While this portrait is from Elvgren's tenure with Brown & Bigelow, it doesn't appear to be an ad for any specific sponsor, which leads me to believe that Mona/Heartwarming might've been done for a promotional calendar or deck of cards.

Merry Christmas From Not Another New England Sports Blog!

The stockings have been hung by the chimney with care and right now I'm admiring this Christmas tree with gifts stacked under. Like so many others, I'm gonna be busy over the the next few days, but I just a quick wanted to write a quick note wishing readers a Merry Christmas and a happy New Years.

In case you're wondering, the partially bundled up beauty above is courtesy of none other than the late Gil Elvgren. This particular image is called Out in the Cold and dates back to 1954.

Merry Christmas From Not Another New England Sports Blog

Just a quick note to wish regulars and visitors a Merry Christmas. I'll be fairly busy with visiting relatives, watching football and experimenting with various nogs between now and New Year's, but I wanted to take this opportunity to wish you and yours a joyous holiday season.

This indeed a stressful time of year for so many Americans, but in the grand scheme of things we have it pretty good. While midnight mass may seem like an inconvenience for many of us, Christians in places like Nigeria, Pakistan or Egypt routinely have horiffic violence visited on them for simply practicing their faith. Some of my relatives have realized how fortunate they have it and instead of gifts, they're asking for donations to various non-profits in their name- including things like microfinance for people in developing nations or a rather unique opportunity to adopt specially trained rats used in detecting and clearing landmines in war-torn countries like Cambodia or Mozambique [don't worry- the rats are reportedly too small to actually set off the mines- NANESB!].

In case you're wondering, the decorating damsel above is from a 1955 Gil Elvgren piece called A Put Up Job. The Minneaplos-based promotional firm of Brown & Bigelow retains the rights to many of Elvgren's works, including a number of Christmas-themed pin ups from both Elvgren and other artists.

Happy Halloween From Not Another New England Sports Blog!

Well, this certainly has the feel of a Halloween unlike any other. Whether travel plans included flying across the country or trick-or-treating in the neighborhood, the recent snowstorm has thrown the travel plans of millions into complete disarray.

Whatever your Halloween plans are, here's hoping that you're able to stay safe and warm. If you're travelling any distance, be especially careful.

And Halloween just wouldn't be Halloween without attractive women wearing not very much, wouldn't it? Even though there's technically no costume involved, one can't help but admire this Elvgren girl proudly displaying the fruits of her labor.

This is from a 1962 Gil Elvgren piece titled All Smiles (or Glamorous) in which the charming, scantily clad brunette still has the foresight to keep pumpkin guts off of her.

The Blogosphere is All A-Twitter With the News.

Start spreading the news- now you can follow me on Twitter as I bitch, snark and somehow remain even LESS productive than usual! Simply look for the Twitter handle Fenway_Nation and watch the irreverent 140 character or less goodness flow like water over Niagara Falls.

Actually- can I let you in on a little secret? I've actually been on Twitter for a few months now- since at least when Osama Bin Laden was alive and watching porn in his Pakistani compound and Fukushima-Daiichi was a nondescript, fully functional nuclear power plant in northern Japan. In fact, there's a little sidebar that contains my 10 most recent messages on Twitter off to the left- that's been there for awhile as well.

"So why bother following you?" you may be asking. Fair question; even if you don't like what I'm saying, Twitter requires that I keep it pretty short and sweet. But probably the most compelling argument is so that you can follow the same people that are following me or that I'm following. There's alot of good ones- many of them part of my blogroll or online communities like Correspondence Committee or Table 9.


This also is a very flimsy pretext to toss out some more eye candy in the form of yet another vintage Gil Elvgren piece. This one is from 1955 and is called Well Built (not to be confused with a later piece titled A Well Bult R-R-R-R-Roof) and features what could very well be the forebears to the Twitter logo.

Since many of Elvgren's pieces also served as templates for advertisements, the companies name, logo and phone number would often be displayed where you see the blueprints draped across the sawhorse.

Happy Anniversary Correspondence Committee! Oh...and It's Election Day.

One of the C2 Admins getting all civic-minded.

Today marks the one year anniversary of one of my favorite places on the whole intrawebs, the Correspondence Committee. Like Not Another New England Sports Blog!, they got off to their start in September 2009 before moving to their new and improved digs on November 2nd.

The one year anniversary of C2 'graduating' to their current location falling on the same day as this year's pivotal midterm elections just happened to be a serendipitous coincidence.

[Video Courtesy Republican Governor's Association; Hat Tip Lonely Conservative]

For those of you who are registered to vote, I wholeheartedly encourage you to do just that today.....with one caveat. For those of you who think things are just fine the way they are right now, I prefer that you stay home. You did enough damage back in 2008.

But I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank Littleoldlady, Paladin Phil and Erik the Red for extending the invite to me and Running Bare, Realwest, Design Czar JCM and all the others for doing a bang-up job of running the place. I'm looking forward to seeing what the next couple of years will bring.

And for those of you wondering, the civic-minded bombshell drawing bipartisan attention depicted above is from none other than the incomparable Gil Elvgren, a 1958 piece titled It's Up to You.

Not Another New England Sports Blog! Wishes you a Model Halloween

Ah- Halloween, when the kiddies are out trick-or-treating and the adults sometimes get to play dress-up too. It's been awhile since I got to do that, but that doesn't stop me from appreciating the end results of others and their costumes.

While some are unfortunate and others are nothing short of complete disasters, others work out quite well, even when they don't work out as intended.

Not too long ago, I was working nights at a sports bar when we were invited to a party afterwards. To my surprise, I saw one of the attractive-but-painfully-shy waitresses there in a costume with fishnet stockings and a pseudo-tuxedo top along with a top hat. To say it was a good look for her would've been the understatement of this relatively young century [unfortunately this all took place before I ever got myself a digital camera or cameraphone- NANESB!].

So, finally after some guesswork on my part, I simply asked her 'Magician's assistant?'

'No...' she replied rather sheepishly and began to explain. 'I was trying for the female Penguin look, but I couldn't get my hands on a monacle or one of those cigarette holders at the last minute'

'The Penguin? From Batman?' I asked

'Yeah'

'But you're not hideously deformed or anything' I replied, with Danny Devito's waddling, hooked nosed antagonist from Batman Returns being the only incarnation of the Penguin I could think of off the top of my head.

'Um- thanks?' she said, arching an eyebrow at my gaffe. 'As you can see, things didn't work out. I couldn't even get an umbrella- do you think anyone will notice?'

'Yes...they're all pointing and laughing at you behind your back. Nah.' I said, trying to be nonchalant. 'As long as you don't go around advertising that you're missing a bunch of stuff, I think you'll be just fine.'

It was kind of funny to hear her stressing over whether or not anybody would notice her costume was incomplete. It would be a little like the raven-tressed bruja pictured above fretting over her costume being incomplete because she left the stuffed black kitty at home.

Speaking of which, the title of this 1959 image by the incomprable Gil Elvgren is 'Riding High'.

While Elvgren, like many other pin-up artists of the day, used live models for much of his work, there doesn't seem to be nearly as many photos of them posing for other pieces are there are of this one model for Riding High, which I thought I'd include....you know...in the interest of being thorough.

So happy halloween and for the love of god, stay away from the candied corn....why do they even still make that stuff?

Start Spreading the News.

Up in the Air- Gil Elvgren c. 1965

As some of you might've already known, I'm back, Baby!

Not Another Road Trip!

Fare Maiden/Last Stand- Gil Elvgren c. 1961

Just a quick note that I'll be hitting the road this week.

I don't expect to be completely cut off from the internet, but I suspect updates will be pretty minimal for the next week or so.

Avast, Me Scallywags! Today Be 'Talk Like A Pirate' Day!

Hoist the Jolly Roger and set course for the Spanish main! September 19th be talk like a pirate day, and while the dread FenwayBeard be not the most enthusiastic participant, he need little reason to post images like yon':

And let us not be forgettin' what's most important to any pirate worth their salt- a good sea shanty.

But in leiu of that, one of these will have to do....

Happy 4th Of July From Not Another New England Sports Blog.

There's no denying that times are- at best- rough or uncertain right now. But this is the 4th of July and this blog is my soap box- so while I can't pretend to have all the answers, I do know that shedding the notion that American exceptionalism and American military might are things to apologize for or eschew will not make things any better.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of the NANESB! visitors a happy Independence Day and to remember our outstanding men and women in the military who cannot be there to enjoy a cookout, ballgame or day at the lake with their loved ones.

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free

-Ronald Wilson Reagan, 40th President of the United States

But since you're here, good NANESB! reader, why not stay for some vintage American-as-Apple-pie eye candy with an emphasis on the 4th of July and Americana?

The above 1953 work by the incomparable Gil Elvgren is appropriately titled Looking for Trouble. Hopefully her being cautious pays off so we don't wind up with some ridiculous fireworks ban a-la that one episode of South Park.

Elvgren also produced illustrations for NAPA Auto parts advertisements up until the late 1970s. This untitled work was used by NAPA during the 1976 bicentennial, complete with a Philly fille parked in front of Independence Hall. This was completed less than 4 years before his death in 1980.



This concludes my 4th of July message. Have a great Independence day, everybody!

Not Another New England Sports Blog! Wishes You a Festive & Happy Cinco de Mayo

Gil Elvgren

The word 'diversity' often gets thrown around by smarmy, agenda-driven morons to the point where it's meaningless, but one of my few gripes about the vintage pin-ups from back in the postwar-era was the apparent lack of.....wait for it....ethnic diversity.

Now, granted attitudes about race along with the demographics and marketing strategies were different back in the day. But would companies like Barbasol or Sylvania featured some sort of massive backlash from the public if the artwork in their ads featured an occasional Asian beauty, sultry Latina or ebony bombshell?

But with that said, there's this gem titled A Pleasant Sight to Si courtesy of the incomparable Gil Elvgren. This 1969 work was published some 107 years after outnumbered and outgunned Mexican forces clashed with a better equipped and numerically superior invading Napoleonic French Army that had occupied Veracruz and was advancing towards Mexico City at the Battle of Puebla.

Interestingly, Cinco De Mayo isn't celebrated in Mexico very much outside the state of Puebla, although it has clearly caught on North of the Border. Also, the May 5th Battle of Puebla does not mark Mexico's Independence Day- that actually takes place in mid-September. Apparently May 5th is the only acceptable day to drink a Corona beer as well, which suits me just fine.

Happy National Library Week!

(Rare Edition- Gil Elvgren, 1962)

It has been brought to my attention rather belatedly that this week (April 11-17) is National Library Week. The founder of Not Another New England Sports Blog! is a fairly enthusiastic supporter of the local library, and not just for books, either. While I've been known to check out titles like Mark Bowden's Killing Pablo, I also haven't been to Blockbuster or Hollywood Video in years since the local library system is well stocked with films on DVD like The Last King of Scotland, Children of Men and The Kingdom. Heck- I even got to meet former Boston Bruin and the first black NHL player Willie O'Ree at a library.

PLUS they have a fireplace in the wintertime; how kick-ass it that?

It has also come to my attention that I have a couple of books overdue, so I should probably get cracking on that.

Hearts & Crafts; Happy Valentine's Day from Not Another New England Sports Blog!

Ah yes....Valentine's Day, when thoughts turn from our mundane winter daily routine to murdered Prohabition-era Irish gangsters.

Whatever your plans are for today....whether it's spending time with your sweetie, curling up with a good book or even working, we here at NANESB! would like to wish all of you a happy Valentine's Day.

And don't forget that Mardi Gras is right around the corner!

Not Another New England Sports Blog! The Santa Baby/Christmas Hiatus Version.

(A Christmas Eve- Gil Elvgren)

Just a quick note wishing visitors a safe and happy Christmas season (and a belated Hanukkah as well). Stay warm, try the egg nog- the best nog there is- and enjoy the time you're spending with your loved ones. NANESB! is going on hiatus until around New Years.

And for those of you who may be curious, the saucy little number snooping around the Christmas tree in the dead of night is from the Norman Rockwell of pin-up artists, Gil Elvgren- a 1954 work titled A Christmas Eve to be specific.