"At Everbrite Mercantile we are not interested in following trends. We also have no desire to be The Trendsetters. We are satisfied with the unfettered simplicity of forging our own path."How's that for pretentious, douche-tastic copy?
Sunday, January 30, 2011
i like the sound of my own voice
highest score ever
Why is this man such a Happy Camper?
He just scored 6609 in "Bonus Lane" rules on our United Coronado Bowling Alley
and won a vintage gold-tone Ronson butane lighter for his effort.
the girl with him got a 4225 score... which is a great score too - she also won something.
but 6609. That's an all time Store Best record.
He just scored 6609 in "Bonus Lane" rules on our United Coronado Bowling Alley
and won a vintage gold-tone Ronson butane lighter for his effort.
the girl with him got a 4225 score... which is a great score too - she also won something.
but 6609. That's an all time Store Best record.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
iPods R for p*ssies
In-store only, the coolest Buddhist songs EVER... in Chinese or something. I dunno.
Friday, January 28, 2011
someone stole my stretch limo
The big open top bling-ey white limo...so I had to add another big cat to "Battle of Monkey Skull Mountain" making it a man v. beast riff.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Everbrite Mountain
I name you "Mount Everbrite" and claim you for the Kingdom of France.
Thank you, snow elves
Thank you, snow elves
Monday, January 24, 2011
Caretaker of Olde Machines
I likes me them machines. New, old, re-mashed... as long as they "do stuff". Even if the stuff it does is pointless.
Functionally Pointless is perfect.
Most of the stuff at Everbrite Mercantile works. The few things that don't function are in the process of becoming something new.
You've seen this before: Our beloved late 60s Arcade Big Ball Bowler. Called a 'Big Ball' because it uses 4.5 inch diameter balls, not the smaller 3 inch Skee Ball size of earlier bowlers from the 1950s. It also has the cool arcade-style scoring options which gives inexperienced players a shot at winning.
This Beast requires regular maintenance to keep it going. Luckily I find the tracing of old schematics and cleaning of dirty relays and leaf switches a pleasant exercise in zen meditation.
mottttttorcyyyyycle. Of the 2 stroke variety.
I love these things and I don't even smoke. Bringing vintage lighters back to life is another one of my zen meditations.
It's a shame that they don't manufacture these classic designs anymore.
But we still have them - our collection of good old lighters is growing daily.
Harry Potter called. He wants his friggin camera back.
Okay, so we DON'T have a Scopitone machine in the store and we're not getting one. But I am so intensely fascinated by it that you will definitely find some Scopitone-themed thing in our store by Summer. Some sort of modern hardware mash-up to intrigue oldsters and confuse the young'ns.
We'll be heading out west in February to fetch more olde stuff.
Functionally Pointless is perfect.
Most of the stuff at Everbrite Mercantile works. The few things that don't function are in the process of becoming something new.
You've seen this before: Our beloved late 60s Arcade Big Ball Bowler. Called a 'Big Ball' because it uses 4.5 inch diameter balls, not the smaller 3 inch Skee Ball size of earlier bowlers from the 1950s. It also has the cool arcade-style scoring options which gives inexperienced players a shot at winning.
This Beast requires regular maintenance to keep it going. Luckily I find the tracing of old schematics and cleaning of dirty relays and leaf switches a pleasant exercise in zen meditation.
mottttttorcyyyyycle. Of the 2 stroke variety.
I love these things and I don't even smoke. Bringing vintage lighters back to life is another one of my zen meditations.
It's a shame that they don't manufacture these classic designs anymore.
But we still have them - our collection of good old lighters is growing daily.
Harry Potter called. He wants his friggin camera back.
Okay, so we DON'T have a Scopitone machine in the store and we're not getting one. But I am so intensely fascinated by it that you will definitely find some Scopitone-themed thing in our store by Summer. Some sort of modern hardware mash-up to intrigue oldsters and confuse the young'ns.
We'll be heading out west in February to fetch more olde stuff.
Monday, January 17, 2011
5K Bowling Challenge
Well, last weekend's head-to-head bowling challenge was successful and a friggin blast. But 3 days of bowling left me all tuckered out - I had to hand off the bowling duties to Mollie Sunday afternoon.
Starting Wednesday and on through Sunday another in-store bowling challenge is happening.
This time instead of me and Mollie defending the honor of the store, y'all get to play for a specified high score: 5000 points in a single game is the lofty goal.
Rack up 5000 or more points on the score-wheels and get yourself some fancy prize worthy of the effort.
As always, play is free.
limit 1 prize per person.
3 games per person per day (more if you ask nicely and if the place isn't that busy at the time).
Starting Wednesday and on through Sunday another in-store bowling challenge is happening.
This time instead of me and Mollie defending the honor of the store, y'all get to play for a specified high score: 5000 points in a single game is the lofty goal.
Rack up 5000 or more points on the score-wheels and get yourself some fancy prize worthy of the effort.
As always, play is free.
limit 1 prize per person.
3 games per person per day (more if you ask nicely and if the place isn't that busy at the time).
Saturday, January 15, 2011
bastard
freekin "Chi-O-Kay" (not sure how to spell his name correctly)
Dude won by ONE point on "BONUS LANE" scoring.
Bonus Lane scoring is 800 points for a Strike on the side that's lit, 400 for the off side and 200 for all Spares.
You don't win by a single point on this game. You spank 'em hard or get spanked hard.
One point... closest game of the day. freekin awesome.
That is - the closest game until a half hour later:
GODAMIT. a tie.
tomorrow (Sunday) we continue the Bowling Challenge
Dude won by ONE point on "BONUS LANE" scoring.
Bonus Lane scoring is 800 points for a Strike on the side that's lit, 400 for the off side and 200 for all Spares.
You don't win by a single point on this game. You spank 'em hard or get spanked hard.
One point... closest game of the day. freekin awesome.
That is - the closest game until a half hour later:
GODAMIT. a tie.
tomorrow (Sunday) we continue the Bowling Challenge
Thursday, January 13, 2011
The Dr. Zaius Alpha Ape Bowling Challenge
Most of the time I like to make shit up at the last minute.
The Dr. Zaius Alpha Ape Bowling Challenge is the latest of my Lucy Ricardo/Ethel Mertz-style harebrained schemes.
See the way it works is: come into the store tomorrow (Friday Jan 14) and challenge me to a round of bowling * on the machine here. If you beat me, you'll win a prize. What prize? I don't know. I'll figure that out when the time comes.
Why are we doing this? Because I'm bored that's why.
Business hours are 11am to 7pm. Plus we're dicken around after hours - the Challenge continues until we leave for the night.
Perhaps one of these fine things will be yours:
a "Sweet Mama" calendar
A wooden choking hazard
a cute little vintage Pigeon lighter (fully functional)
a Bowling Dude keychain
An antique Ronson Whirlwind lighter
...or whatever the hell else I decide to give away
* - limit one round of bowling per customer (unless I get all riled up and want to play you more.)
The Dr. Zaius Alpha Ape Bowling Challenge is the latest of my Lucy Ricardo/Ethel Mertz-style harebrained schemes.
See the way it works is: come into the store tomorrow (Friday Jan 14) and challenge me to a round of bowling * on the machine here. If you beat me, you'll win a prize. What prize? I don't know. I'll figure that out when the time comes.
Why are we doing this? Because I'm bored that's why.
Business hours are 11am to 7pm. Plus we're dicken around after hours - the Challenge continues until we leave for the night.
Perhaps one of these fine things will be yours:
a "Sweet Mama" calendar
A wooden choking hazard
a cute little vintage Pigeon lighter (fully functional)
a Bowling Dude keychain
An antique Ronson Whirlwind lighter
...or whatever the hell else I decide to give away
* - limit one round of bowling per customer (unless I get all riled up and want to play you more.)
Saturday, January 8, 2011
my favorite of the 4 elements - flame
I'm trying to put together a good sampling of vintage lighters in the Red Hook store.
I use the word "trying" because they're being sold almost as fast as my acquisition/refurbish cycle. I'm getting ahead slowly though.
In the process of refurbishing various kinds of old butane and petrol lighters I'm developing a growing affinity for the standard "T-bar" Ronson design.
Yesterday Mollie told me she had her Dad's lighter at home and that it was really nice. When we got home, she pulls out this thing here in the foreground:
I trim the wick, pop in a flint and some lighter fluid and find it to be my favorite of all Ronson designs I've seen thus far: a little beefier making it easier to hold and strike. The tortoise enamel detail is sweet too.
Best of all it has a wind shield that pulls up from the body when needed, making it both stylish and extremely functional.
Sorry. We won't be selling this one. It's a keeper. Sentimental value and all.
But I do have an identical model coming in about a week. That one will be rehabbed and added to the for sale collection of classic (and working) flame-makers.
I use the word "trying" because they're being sold almost as fast as my acquisition/refurbish cycle. I'm getting ahead slowly though.
In the process of refurbishing various kinds of old butane and petrol lighters I'm developing a growing affinity for the standard "T-bar" Ronson design.
Yesterday Mollie told me she had her Dad's lighter at home and that it was really nice. When we got home, she pulls out this thing here in the foreground:
I trim the wick, pop in a flint and some lighter fluid and find it to be my favorite of all Ronson designs I've seen thus far: a little beefier making it easier to hold and strike. The tortoise enamel detail is sweet too.
Best of all it has a wind shield that pulls up from the body when needed, making it both stylish and extremely functional.
Sorry. We won't be selling this one. It's a keeper. Sentimental value and all.
But I do have an identical model coming in about a week. That one will be rehabbed and added to the for sale collection of classic (and working) flame-makers.
Monday, January 3, 2011
big things
We will have a new payment system up and running soon on our web site and at our Red Hook store.
A group based in Des Moines breaking out into a nation-wide cashless payments system with extremely low interchange fees, dwolla.com
That is what their logo "might" look like. They are so new, it's not quite hammered out yet.
These guys have a clean and simple model in place: do it simple, do it cheaper.
Once we get the system integrated, we'll be offering an initial 2% discount on all purchases made with Dwolla. Why bother with sketchy convoluted "Rewards" programs when you can enjoy the transparency and simplicity of taking your savings NOW.
We'll still have PayPal (Visa / MC /AmEx) as a normal payment option. Dwolla is for those who want to save a few percent.
Other news: We'll also be opening our web store to International customers soon by adding a "landed cost" shipping service.
What this means is customers in over 200 countries will, in a single click, be able to instantly see the Landed Cost (shipping / taxes / customs / duties) of items - right there inside our shopping cart.
Pay once. Wait for the items to arrive - usually within a week: Simple, no hassle international shipping.
Yes indeed. All coming soon.
Stay tuned for more tricky goodness.
A group based in Des Moines breaking out into a nation-wide cashless payments system with extremely low interchange fees, dwolla.com
That is what their logo "might" look like. They are so new, it's not quite hammered out yet.
These guys have a clean and simple model in place: do it simple, do it cheaper.
Once we get the system integrated, we'll be offering an initial 2% discount on all purchases made with Dwolla. Why bother with sketchy convoluted "Rewards" programs when you can enjoy the transparency and simplicity of taking your savings NOW.
We'll still have PayPal (Visa / MC /AmEx) as a normal payment option. Dwolla is for those who want to save a few percent.
Other news: We'll also be opening our web store to International customers soon by adding a "landed cost" shipping service.
What this means is customers in over 200 countries will, in a single click, be able to instantly see the Landed Cost (shipping / taxes / customs / duties) of items - right there inside our shopping cart.
Pay once. Wait for the items to arrive - usually within a week: Simple, no hassle international shipping.
Yes indeed. All coming soon.
Stay tuned for more tricky goodness.
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