I rather like this view of JP Pond!
Photos from Flickr
Leah Rolling on the Street
Every day on the way home from work, I see this cat flopping around on the street, happy as can be!
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ColoPana
ColoPana, originally uploaded by nate_marsh.
You keep looking real pretty CO!
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Hi Culture!
Hi Culture!
Homage to the New Yorker
Hm, need something to read, dum de dum de der
What’s this in my bag? Why it’s a double issue of the mf’ing New Yorker!
Cover is a fresh hot slice of NYC
Playa drew it on his iPhone, that works for me!
Check the TOC, see what’s going down
Looks like a tight line-up, flip to the Talk of the Town
Hot damn, I sure just learned a lot!
Including a fascinating snippet on the best Manhattan tater tot
Instead of going shopping, I’d rather be fed to sharks,
but you bet your sweet bippy – I’ll read anything by Patty Marx!
Some good laughs from Shouts and Murmurs
An absurdist piece on an alcoholic housewife & an escaped family of lemurs
Following this, a counter-intuitive piece from Gawande about using floss
And then a left-field article by McPhee on high-school lacrosse
Off to a good start, how about an in-depth profile?
Looks like it’s on the lead editor of the Chicago Manual of Style
Platon’s grainy black & white photo of that dude was the bomb
Gotta check out the rest of his portfolio on Newyorker.com
Now a Gladwell piece on the psychology of choosing a wedding dress
Which surprisingly is an accurate indicator of future career success
Usually when I get to fiction my attention wanders…
But AYFKM? It’s a story from George Saunders!!!
Nice exploration of mass media and a sentient parking meter
Now excuse me I gotta skip this article on modern theater
Oh man, I accidentally skipped a few
Totally overlooked a great lit review!
That 600 page tome on the East India Company sounds OFF THE HOOK
(Note to self: never ever read that book)
Please lord let there be a sketchbook soon by Chast or Ware
All those intense articles can be hard to bear
Did I mention the cartoons this week are spicier than tarragon?
And we got some A+ illustration Spots in the margin
Sasha’s got the details on a hot Brooklyn-based indie group
Must have taken a lot of PBR to get that scoop!
Anthony Lane just ripped some action sequel blockbuster a new one
Watching a chick flick with him does not sound like much fun
Last but not least the witty winner of this week’s caption contest
And what a surprise: he hails from Cambridge, Massachusetts!
The New Yorker magazine continues to entertain me silly
Hats off to you monsieur Eustice Tilly!!
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Pop Culture
I speak of a food so divine…
The smell, the texture, the taste – sublime
It’s born and raised on a simple stalk
Rooted in the earth, unable to walk
In the field it grows a mask
Preparing it’s contents for their holy task
The massive combines, they finally come
And it’s trip to my belly has formally begun.
After harvested it’s shucked and dried.
Losing it’s beautiful hair it surely cried…
The cob now is no longer needed
& to a lucky cow it is summarily feeded
At last released from their structured cells!
Freedom! Liberation from their restrictive shells!
Soon I spot a bag of them in a store,
I buy them and their journey seems over, but wait – there’s more!
Now, with much thoughtful trepidation
I begin the final steps of their preparation
Ah, the homely kernel does not realize the special treat
It may become with the right application of heat!
The mechanism itself matters not,
Be it hot air, microwave or scalding oil in a pot
The culinary staccato soothes anticipation
and announces an arrival of this delicious creation
It’s state is reduced to entropy…
and I am as happy as a flea!
At last we have 2-3 second between pops
Silence descends as the machine stops…
The steam clears, a snack is born
Behold this simple perfection: a bowl of popcorn!
Hello Kitty Beltsander
(This was originally “written” in 2006 – moving it over to the blog!)
Update – we raced again in 2007 as Global Cat-astrophe – here’s a flickr gallery of event
If you cannot see the links to the movies & photos, click here
How To: Sand a Cat
There are thousands of ways to skin a cat but what about sanding one? Not so easy, is it? Well, here’s a great solution – presenting Hello Gritty!
Last February, the New England Belt Sander Racing Association approached the nonprofit I work for, Community Servings, to become the benefiting charity of their annual race. I volunteered at the event and got a taste for the action. This year I wanted to make an impact, to bring a little something to the show.
Together with a dedicated team consisting of a graphic designer, an architect, a science whiz and an Individual Giving Coordinator we decided to assemble a sander that would change the hearts, if not the minds, of the crowds assembled at the Sanderdome at Kenyon Woodworking. We decided that we needed something fresh and different with a decidedly macho edge to it. And, what is more hardcore macho than a little mouthless female adolescent Japanese cat?
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| Exhibit A – Hello Kitty |
In order to adapt Hello Kitty to the sander medium we needed a couple things. Firstly, we needed a belt sander, which was handily supplied by our architect/grease monkey, Mike. And we needed ideas, big ideas to shape this hunk of yellow & black into a throne for Her Kittynesses. The inspirado and finishing touches were provided by Nicole & Emily – the science lady & the designer. Oh, an this year’s theme was, in simple terms, “medical”
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| Exhibit B – A DeWalt Beltsander |
One of the most difficult tasks fell to me – locate & purchase a suitable Kitty for the platform, one that didn’t overwhelm the sander or marginalize her starring role. Luckily, Boston has not one but two Hello Kitty themed retail establishments within a 5 minute walk of one another. There’s a kiosk in the Prudential Center that failed me and then the much superior Hello Kitty World. There I found what we were looking for but it was unfortunately hugging a giant apple. I have since learned that Hello Kitty is officially 5 apples tall and weighs in at 3 shiny apples. So we had to modify her just a tad, no more apple!
This slideshow shows in greater detail the creative process. After the platform was completed we mounted it on the sander itself, now decked out custom stickers and an agressive racing strip, through a small screw on the top, giving a very clean and airy looking. The only real modification was some guide wheels to keep ‘er from hitting the sidewalls (the tracks are 12″ wide). The name was actually the last thing we came up with, it seems so obvious now, we like to think it was fate…
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| Exhibit C – Hello Gritty |
We were all comfortable with the look by Saturday morning but her actual track performance was very questionable. We were luckily able to give her a test run before the races started and were delighted to see that she could actually zip down the track without hitting the walls, albeit at a pokey pace.
When all the beltsanders had been registered there was a slight problem. There are two different categories of racer, Stock & Modified. Stock is just what we did, fancy up a sander without changing the insides. Modifed sanders, on the other hand, are mostly less attractive but contain huge engines and other customizations to let them fly down the track. They asked for volunteers to switch into the Modified category because they had many many more Stock than Modified. We decided that because Hello Gritty wasn’t exactly tearing up the track, we should toss her into the Modified, hoping that crowd sympathy and a small act of God might propel us to Gold.
The assembled racers were a sight to behold as this gallery shows.
The races themselves take place on a two laned track that is 50ft for Stock and 75ft for Modified. A good modified racer can come cover that ground in 2.8 seconds easy. The system there is nice & professional a bell is rung and a “christmas tree” countdown starts (two rows of lights red, red, orange, orange and green) – when it hits green you punch a large control button and the juice flows into your creation, hurtling it down the track where it is caught in a cushiony nest at the end. There is a timing circuit in place for photo finishes. Here are some photos of the races, watch the people’s heads follow the little machines.
We did just about how we thought we’d do against a giant modified sander. Our competition was known as “Al’s Evil Twin”. Everyone settles in, the bell rings, the lights flash down (two false starts and you lose, tough but fair!) and I hit the button. Our little creation lurches forward and keeps pace the first 10 feet and then hits it optimal cruising speed which is well below her competitor and Hello Gritty loses in the 1st round, sadly. Here are two movies that document the first heat – Angle One – (3.71MB) & Angle Two (9.28MB).
We consoled ourselves with beers and other exciting races. Lo & behold at the awards ceremony – Hello Gritty was chosen to be “Rookie of the Year” – a good sign that Hello Gritty will make a reappearance for 2007!
Exhibit D – Gritty & Trophy
Photos
Movies
Hello Gritty vs Al’s Evil Twin1 (3.71MB)
Hello Gritty vs Al’s Evil Twin2 (9.28MB)
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Livin' Large
Note: Took some risky rhymes on this to get it to work. Yeah – it’s edgy but I am blazing some new ground here, might take a while for mainstream to catch up with this style!
Walk in the door and you see the coat rack,
Damn, know that’s an Eames – that piece set us back!
Now you look around, there’s no pix of sea gulls,
We got motherfucking triptychs representing on both walls!
And you know we got more orthogonal side tables
Than the average orthodox Jew’s got dreidels
Careful sucker, you on sacred ground
This livin’ room don’t fuck around
Don’t worry about wiping your shoes
Gotta old-school Roomba with some dopeass moves
I got the real comfy couches and the bamboo shelves
Got ‘nuf knickknacks for a busload of elves
Have so many fine books to make a librarian mad
You know Apartment Therapy would kill to blog our pad!
Oh yeah and that’s a collection of modern lamps
Check it, our plants are certified photosynthesis champs
Careful sucker, you on sacred ground
This livin’ room don’t fuck around
Don’t worry about wiping your shoes
Gotta old-school Roomba with some dopeass moves
We got the custom curtains and the softest rugs
Check it out, bitch, that’s a blanket full of snuggs
Oh hey, you like Ira Glass?
Then that framed “This American Life” poster will knock you on yo’ ass
You know I got my girl on Craigslist 24/7
Looking to add to our lil’ slice of heaven, yeah!
Careful sucker, you on sacred ground
This livin’ room don’t fuck around
Don’t worry about wiping your shoes
Gotta old-school Roomba with some dopeass moves
PEEEEACE!
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Buster: A Eulogy
Earlier this year, little Buster departed for the rainbow bridge/the big yard in the sky. I wrote this to memorialize this proud doggy:
BUSTER
I am a happy canine prince
with four delicate paw prints
My coat is sooooo soft, it’s insane!
but I’ve heard I have a very small brain…
My barks are like little mouse squeaks
but I’m braver than 1,000 Greeks
I’m also told I have a peculiar snore
Like a tiny sleeping wild boar
I love to fetch the frisbee
I never know where it might take me
When I go out to recover the disc
there’s always a fair amount of risk…
Once I thought they threw it for a dog,
but when I grabbed it it was holding a frog!
I’m blessed to have had so many friends
Tucker, Wheatzie, Bodie… the list never ends
As the years wore on it got a little dimmer,
but that only improved my humor!
You see everything was happy for me
as carefree as a dog could be
I gave all the love I could muster,
<3, your loyal dog, BUSTER
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