Clay posted this hilarious GIF photo of him and his buddy passing the time at a recent wedding:
LOL. This keeps cracking me up.
Wendy's today was a surreal experience. While Wilco's song "Impossible Germany" was playing inside, an odd choice for a fast food joint I would think, I also spotted...Wendy herself.
In the European Olympic pre-qualifying women's hockey matches, Bulgaria lost to Slovakia by the score of 82-0 on Saturday, in a game in which Slovakia took 139 shots on goal. What, no mercy rule?
[Thanks Otto!]
The MTA will be running a 30 day trial run of double-decker buses in New York City.
Beginning on Thursday, the 13-foot-tall, 45-foot-long, 81-seat bus will alternate service on local and express bus routes: BxM3 from Yonkers to Manhattan, the X17J between Staten Island and Manhattan, the M15 limited on First and Second Avenues, and possibly the M5 along Fifth Avenue (if the tree pruning along the bus lane goes well).
Great. Note sarcasm.
What I've learned from the obnoxious double-decker tour buses that crowd around my office's block is that this just means New York City will see more bus billboards that will now be twice as large with advertisements for upcoming movies or invitations to go visit Tulum or Paris.
Hey MTA: Less novelty distractions and focus instead on installing digital service signs announcing the ETA for trains in all the subway platforms, and finishing the 2nd Avenue subway line. Kthnxby.
These luxury branded assault rifles (and a Chanel RPG) are created by artist Peter Gronquist.
War and machines of war have become such a fetish and commodity, that once one gets beyond the initial shock of seeing a Burberry or Gucci AK-47, they should realize or recognize that it's not too far of a leap to go from this to the reality that weapons are in fact branded, with the AK-47 itself and its silhouette being one of the most popular, familiar, and used brands around the world.
Gronquist's Pac Man shaped grenades are pretty great as well. Click on his name above to view.
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Have to admit I found this squirrel running around the diamond at a Cleveland Indians baseball game pretty darn cute. It's hilarious how it scoots along the ground on its stomach with its four tiny legs splayed out. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rr6BIUjxJfw]
Verdict: Cleveland squirrels cute. New York City squirrels, bastard children of the devil.
[Thanks Moye!]
On September 12, John Maeda will be newly inaugurated as the 16th president of RISD, one of the most elite art and design colleges in the country, as well as a sister school of my alma mater Brown University. President Maeda's curriculum vitae is extraordinarily impressive, unsurprisingly for someone being asked to helm such a prestigious institution or as he called it "RISD is MIT for the right brain." For not only designers ("...he is the first designer to be appointed president of RISD, to say nothing of any college) but for Asian Americans, as Maeda is Japanese American, this is a nice moment. If this was Dave Chappelle's "Racial Draft" skit, which parodies the NBA teams' draft of college players, any "race" would be lucky to have this guy on their team!
In addition to designing sneakers where his first effort 'the Timetanium" sold out in 14 hours, and being named by Esquire as one of the "21 most important people in the 21st century," Maeda has been:
...a professor at MIT since 1996, and more recently managed research relationships between the MIT Media Lab and more than 70 industrial organizations. His work in digital media design is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. But Mr. Maeda also attended the "anti-computer" University of Tsukuba in Japan, studying graphic design and sculpture.
Congratulations Pres. Maeda!
Read more here.
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Admittedly his voice sounds a lot like...Bush imitating McCain's voice, but this "recorded" phone conversation of McCain's one and only phone conversation with Sarah Palin to offer her the vice presidency still cracked me up. I doubt the spirit of this whole thing isn't too far from the truth: McCain does have that infamous temper, which seems to be a personality trait of Vietnam vets, such as my father. I'd be gruff and easily irritable too if my helicopter was shot down and people were shooting at me, like MRod Senior.
This piece (obviously) titled "Chernobyl" by Jaime Pitarch is amazing to me, especially because my parents' house is filled with matryoshka dolls (or "nesting dolls" for the uncultured--I'm kidding) and other Russian bric-a-brac thanks to my mother, whom as a teacher hosted many exchange programs with schools in mainly Siberia, Russia. The one I had purchased when I was over there years ago was one that depicted all the various rulers and tsars of Russia with the last tiny one being...a skeleton! OOOH. Apparently all the tourists bought this particular matryoshka doll. Whatever. USA! USA! USA! OBAMA! OBAMA! OBAMA!
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From Julia Allison's "lifecasting" of New York's Fashion Week (Come on, Ashley, get with it. I know you're always right out of the frame of all these front row pictures at the shows. Don't deny it. Get those iPhone stalkerazzi photos up!):
I suppose the line between fashion and costume is rather blurry and gray.
"I don't get it. What's so funny? Why are we laughing?"
"I don't know, man. Whenever a hot girl is laughing, I join in. So shut up and just laugh."
"HAHAHAHHAHAHAHA."
Pzzzzt. Initiating.
Searching.
Connecting.
Signal Connected.
Terminate MRod.
Okay, so last weekend I posted about how I sent my beloved cell phone accidentally through the wash cycle at the laundromat. It was completely dead. Needing my connectivity, I went ahead and quickly purchased a new one that afternoon. It hurt, don't get me wrong, in my heart and in my wallet. But it had to be done.
Today on a whim I decided to turn on that old water damaged phone. This is what I saw:
The gold pimplicious phone on the bottom is the water damaged, no good, dead, finis, in cell phone heaven phone. The gray one above it is the replacement.
IT'S A CELL PHONE MIRACLE! IT'S WORKING! IT'S ALIVE!!! And there was also a text message there. Hm, what could it say?
...What...the...fuck... My phone is literally alive. It's sentient. It somehow came back from the dead, evolved to a higher level, and gained consciousness. And maybe it's just me, but that message seems awfully passive aggressive...and HAL-esque. HAL was one nutso computer dude with that soothing voice, and we saw what it ended up doing to those astronauts. Also, minorities always seems to be the first to go in those sci-fi thriller films. I know it's just a phone, but I'm not going to be some Hollywood minority archetype. No Event Horizon for me. No,sir. I'm definitely taking the battery out of this crazy ass phone. But first let me retrieve the phone numbers of "Marquee Girl," "Money Cash ?," and "First and Fifteenth."
Unrelatedly
Today, on my way home I had a case of reverse-savantism and somehow forgot my ATM pin number. Yes, my brain that once solved complex calculus problems, analyzed SPSS data, and taught myself and crammed an entire college semester's worth of geology (yea, yea, Rocks for Jocks...) over the course of three sleepless nights, which with only attending a few classes managed to pull of an A. HOLLER. This same brain somehow between the DeKalb and Atlantic-Pacific subway stop forgot the four number sequence that I have been inputing once a week over the past...four plus years. I am an idiot.
Weather forecast and report simplified to its most basic: Umbrella Today?
Also check out their umbrelletiquette explaining the proper and civilized manner of using an umbrella.
[Thanks Tsar!]
Update: I just want to note that I posted about this before Neatorama got on it.
Had a relatively uneventful weekend, but it was still fun.
Met up with Pooja to go visit some gallery exhibit openings around her neighborhood in Chelsea aka an open bar pub gallery crawl. Even the garbage bags are artsier in this neighborhood.
One of the galleries we visited.
Aw, sad. Hollywood sign is on fire. I really like this piece actually.
Pooja preferred this one.
This was also interesting. In lieu of paint brush and paint, try a handgun and bullets.
Close up.
While waiting outside a restaurant, we noticed this taxi cab that had lights flashing like a police car. It was one of those masked police cars. So TRICKY! Memo to self: If throwing up in a cab, be sure it's not this one.
Dinner with Stan and one of Pooja's friends, Vijay (I think that's your name!). We are all wearing the male uniform du jour. Hahahah. But mine is striped, okay?
The AC was broken in the restaurant which made it boiling hot. Vijay requested a bucket o' ice.
Hah. Not sure what I'm doing here.
Pooja's friends Vijay and his gal Audrey drinking the sake.
Afterwards, we went to the Frying Pan, which is basically a bar...on a boat, for some party. Once we got there, Pooja started complaining about her heels. Being the good friend that she is, Audrey offered to switch shoes.
The transfer...
And the switch! Stan wouldn't trade shoes with me though. Way to not be a team player Stan.
Not our beers. It's kinda random to see a bottle of green Tabasco sauce in a place like this.
Mmm, Tabascy.
On our way out, Stan and Pooja pose with the...actual frying pan.
Saturday afternoon at the height of the rainstorm in Brooklyn, at least, I headed out to Stan's apartment for pizza, beer, and Guitar Hero.
There's something perfect about the aformentioned trifecta combo of pizza, beer, and Guitar Hero on a rainy weekend.
Frank Rich highlights how McCain's shotgun VP marriage to Sarah Palin, a pick that was "sloppily vetted, at best," is yet another example of McCain's troubling "dereliction of due diligence."
“Often my haste is a mistake,” McCain conceded in his 2002 memoir, “but I live with the consequences without complaint.” Well, maybe it’s fine if he wants to live with the consequences, but what about his country? Should the unexamined Palin prove unfit to serve at the pinnacle of American power, it will be too late for the rest of us to complain.
[...]
In October 2001, he speculated that Saddam Hussein might have been behind the anthrax attacks in America. That same month he out-Cheneyed Cheney in his repeated public insistence that Iraq had a role in 9/11 — even after both American and foreign intelligence services found that unlikely. He was similarly rash in his reading of the supposed evidence of Saddam’s W.M.D. and in his estimate of the number of troops needed to occupy Iraq. (McCain told MSNBC in late 2001 that we could do with fewer than 100,000.) It wasn’t until months after “Mission Accomplished” that he called for more American forces to be tossed into the bloodbath. The whole fiasco might have been prevented had he listened to those like Gen. Eric Shinseki who faulted the Rumsfeld war plan from the start.
We've seen eight years of what this "shoot from the hip" policy can result in. It ain't pretty. I don't think we want a third term of this same crap.
Read more here.
Not only is Stephen Hawking a genius and an inspiration for all of us, he also has quite a sense of humor. Watch him get the crowd rolling in laughter: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8AG5RPOCjA]
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Alaska photojournalist Stephen Nowers snapped this Alaskan movie theater's marquee wishing Palin good luck. Man, Mat-Su cinema is showing some terrible movies. I think I saw Dark City at this place with Clay and Sam back in the day. Dark City is one of the most underrated sci-fi noirs of all time. It was The Matrix before The Matrix.
I'd rather see "Mamma Mia."
Lastly, I just want to remind my fellow Alaskans that Sarah Palin is not Scott Gomez or Carlos Boozer or Jewel: Lets stop treating Sarah Palin like she's a reality TV contestant or a sports star. Those are the people you wish "good luck" to, and not to an individual who might be one heartbeat away from making decisions that will impact the lives of millions and millions of people in the US and around the world. She has been chosen to help elect someone who voted with W. Bush 95 percent of the time. As such, she should be treated, prodded, and questioned like someone who is running for the vice presidency of one of the most powerful and influential nations in the world.
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William Drenttel (rightfully) criticizes a recent flag design competition hosted by Adbusters on the topic, ironically, of global citizenship.
The jury consists of 7 judges, 4 of whom are contributors to Design Observer, and all of whom are capable critics, respected in the field.
The seven person jury, however, consists entirely of white men.
Nearly a decade into a new century, I believe it is unacceptable for a design organization, foundation, board of directors, magazine or other enterprise, to mount an initiative with an all male panel of judges — or, put another way, "white, native English-speaking men from the U.S., British Isles or Australia." Such behavior is no longer acceptable and should not be tolerated by a community of designers (or any other community).
Designers around the world should just say no.
Read more here.
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Ron Huebel from MTV's Human Giant remarks: "these are delicious. as are most baby zoo animals." All you probably need is about 10 seconds on high in the microwave.
The next time I'm in Philadelphia I need to swing by this sculpture by Claes Oldenburg.
Clothespin, 1976 Cor-Ten and stainless steels 45 ft. x 12 ft. 3 in. x 4 ft. 6 in. (13.7 x 3.7 x 1.4 m) Centre Square Plaza, Fifteenth and Market streets, Philadelphia
Fabricated by Lippincott, Inc., North Haven, Connecticut. Engineer: J. Robert Jennings Commissioned May 1974 by Jack Wolgin, through the Redevelopment Authority's Fine Arts Program Installed June 25, 1976 Inaugurated July 1, 1976
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