Lauren Bush, Barbara Bush and Vincent Gallo.
Politics Fashion makes for some strange bedfellows front row guests.
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Tom Haverford's (played by Aziz Ansari) DJ Roomba appearance sealed it for me; "Parks and Recreation" is the best comedy on television right now. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dt0wBL2GGlA]
I read the following on a fellow straphanger's bag on the subway tonight.
"Scarf Ace: Say hello to my needle, friend."
Dave McKenzie, "Self-Help Hyperventilation Bag."
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It's a pretty amateur move to have your cheat sheet written on your hand, but I am pleased to that Sarah Palin is a fan of my blog. We might not see eye to eye on everything, but at least she and I can agree on the awesomeness of LOLCats.
[Create your own Sarah Palin hand notes here.]
Getting on my soapbox here for a second. Why? Because this is my blog. My less than 6-day-old unlimited subway metrocard, for which I paid $89 to New York City's MTA (Or in the interest of SEO, that's the New York City Transit Metropolitan Transportation Authority), failed this morning and the (unhelpful) station agent told me it was damaged and I needed to purchase a new one.
I think I've set an unofficial world record for the most expense subway rides I've essentially paid approximately $8.90 for each time I used the subway this past week.
Poet E. E. Cummings sent this crayon valentine to Marion Morehouse, "a fashion model and photographer who lived with him at 4 Patchin Place in Greenwich Village, until his death in 1962."
A few days ago FedEx delivered two pandas from the US to China. You could track the shipment on their website. Here are some other unusual shipments delivered by FedEx.
- 17 classic Ferraris - Worth millions of dollars, these cars were shipped from Brussels to the U.S. for a car show.
- A yacht for the U.S. Paralympic sailing team - In October 2000, the yacht of the U.S. Paralympic Sailing Team was transported from the East Coast to Sydney, Australia for the 2000 Paralymplic Games, the Olympic equivalent for the world's top athletes with disabilities.
- A windmill from Denmark
- Catherine the Great's collection of historic artifacts - Historic artifacts from Russian Empress Catherine the Great were shipped from Leningrad to Memphis for a special exhibition.
- A helicopter - A Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopter weighing 11,000 lbs. was flown via FedEx to Narita, Japan.
- A statue - The eight-ton statue of Filipino war hero Dr. Jose P. Rizal, who inspired the 1896 revolution against Spanish domination, was shipped via FedEx from the Philippines to Spain.
- A communications satellite - A five-ton communications satellite was shipped from Los Angeles to a remote site in China.
- Rescue Equipment - A four-ton high press water drill and 5,700 lbs. of equipment were flown to Midland, Texas, to rescue 18-month-old Jessica McClure from a well in 1987.
- Easter Eggs - FedEx delivered 12 decorated eggs for the 1977 White House Easter Egg Roll.
- Giant Snowball - A FedEx pilot gave special handling to a giant snowball picked up in Wisconsin and delivered to a child in Memphis.
- Special Sauce - When a storm struck New England, a fast food company chartered a FedEx plane for an emergency re-supply of special sauce.
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Martha Friedman's sculpture "Waffle" was on display from November 7, 2008 through September 25, 2009 in Brooklyn. I'm mad I missed this.
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Baptiste Debombourg's "Turbo" or the artist's interpretation of Hulk SMASH.
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John Hockenberry once called the Guggenheim Museum in New York "the most spectacular indoor wheelchair ramp in the Western hemisphere."
$50 at ThirdDrawerDown.
Funniest video I've seen today: This frog is DOING IT WRONG! [Via]
Update: Press this button while watching the aforementioned video.
Apparently the "Derelicte" aesthetic from "Zoolander" is a source of inspiration for some designers if this garbage bag-shaped Louis Vuitton case, the "Raindrop Besace," (retailing at $1960) is any indication.
[Hat tip: Lynda]
Bill Simmons re-examines his Diane Lane All Stars (his team of hot 40-years-old or older actresses in Hollywood). His batting order for 2010:
1. Jennifer Aniston (40) -- I like having a single leadoff hitter with rumbling ovaries. Aggressive and unquestionably desperate. You'd fear her on the basepaths.2. Sandra Bullock (46) -- Cheery veteran, good for the clubhouse, willing to give up at-bats and move runners along to help the team.
3. Heather Graham (40) -- Power, OPS, speed, the whole package. It's almost unfair to the others that she's eligible. It's like when Jack Nicklaus joined the PGA Senior Tour.
4. Halle Berry (43) -- Perennial MVP candidate, someone you have to see in person to fully appreciate her greatness. Our highest-paid player.
5. Selma Hayek (43) -- Fiery Latina, prodigious natural gifts, famous for people gawking at her tape measure … home runs.
6. Catherine Zeta-Jones (40) -- She's our David Ortiz, an aging foreign slugger who's four or five years older than listed.
7. Kelly Preston (47) -- Don't worry about the creepy Travolta stink on her. She's still putting up big stats, and the statistical community loves her.
8. Demi Moore (47) -- Knows all the chemical shortcuts and can help anyone else who needs advice on surgery or botox.
9. Cheryl Hines (44) -- Keeps the team loose, keeps everyone laughing, doesn't go for her own stats, gives us a hot-selling jersey for our Jewish fans. Can play four positions.
Starting pitcher: Diane Lane (45) -- Crafty veteran, namesake of the team, knows every trick in the book. She's like Jack Morris circa 1991. You want her out there in big games.
Set-up reliever: Maria Bello (42) -- Can throw one inning or three, has the highest "nude scene per movie" ratio of any decent actress.
Closer: Cindy Crawford (43) -- Still routinely hits 103 on the radar gun.
Coaching staff: Jacqueline Bisset, Julie Christie, Helen Mirren (all in their 60s). Why is it that women with accents retain a level of hotness that American women can't match?
I really can't argue with this list.
Update: In light of Sandra Bullock's drama involving her cheating Nazi-ing husband, I wonder if Simmons needs to reconsider Bullock's position in the line-up.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=991ugfaioiQ] Further evidence that dogs are better than cats.
Paolo Lomazzi, Donato D'Urbino, and Jonathan De Pas. Blow Inflatable Armchair. 1967. PVC plastic.
This is the classiest blowup chair I've ever seen.
A fascinating op-ed in the New York Times on the failure of Microsoft as an innovator. It's written by a former Microsoft brass, Dick Brass, a vice president at Microsoft from 1997 to 2004.
Internal competition is common at great companies. It can be wisely encouraged to force ideas to compete. The problem comes when the competition becomes uncontrolled and destructive. At Microsoft, it has created a dysfunctional corporate culture in which the big established groups are allowed to prey upon emerging teams, belittle their efforts, compete unfairly against them for resources, and over time hector them out of existence. It’s not an accident that almost all the executives in charge of Microsoft’s music, e-books, phone, online, search and tablet efforts over the past decade have left.
I also like the accompany graphic, seen above, by Maye Webb.
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Beautiful and interesting collection of retro hotel door hangers from around the world. Michael Lebowitz writes:
When my grandfather passed away last year, my family gathered to go through his belongings. He had been in the foreign service and he had filled a whole wall of his study with hotel door hangers from all his travels throughout the world.
I like this idea and will copy it for my future progeny.
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