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Lost in Manhattan

Behold, a rare rant…

(Apologies in advance.)

I left my job in Chicago to pursue a career in New York City. I have friends here… somewhere… but for now I am in a hotel room alone.

My very precious daughter Grace and very pregnant wife Erin are all back home while I figure this new (ad)venture out, which makes it all the lonelier.

I felt like pausing here, to exhale and put these words down somewhere. I’ve always been the reclusive type, preferring a quiet corner of the room to its noisy epicenter. But for some reason, this time, here, the isolation is cold. Or is that the wind chill?

I realize New York is not going to find me, I have to discover New York. I’ll get there, soon, when I’m done getting lost.

Thank you for listening.
Lasers & Tatters

The art of E.V. Day.
¡Vamanos Alfabetos!
Oh, Uncle Joe!

Oh Joseph Stalin, so chic and so gentle. History must have gotten you all wrong. Such a poor, misunderstood, metrosexual, sensitive communist dictator. Tragic, really, don’t you think?
Folklorish Flourishes

The art of Katy Horan.
Grace Says “Behold, the Rainbow Jailbird!”
We Shall See…

The art of Chris Gray.
Quote of the Week #031

“I feel like a mosquito in a nudist colony; I know what to do, I just don’t know where to start.” – Pat Riley
Scribble Baths

The art of David Ercolini.
Weary Travelers

The art of Matt Sartain.
Cut it Out, Bombo!

The art of Maurizio Santucci.
Addicted to bolachas grátis

With about a dozen authors posting full length albums every day, this is probably one of the most amazing blogs around. If you like music. The premise is simple: these guys post an album to “try”, they accompany this with a link to buy it, and then they post an excerpt of a review from some other site (varies from album to album).

They have been posting three or four albums a day for over two years now. I counted about 1,400 albums on there, but likely more than that. I love the fact that I’ve only heard of about 5% of these artists, and the genius move to include professional reviews really gives you a feel for the album before blindly downloading (most of these are rapidshare links, and unless you pay for a premium account, you are kind of limited to one album an hour).

I can’t stop perusing these gems, and I’m sure you’ll enjoy this as well.

view bolachas grátis.
The Bristol Engineer’s Harpoon

The art of Michael Wandermaier.
Bad Word Pairs #027

“Bean Curd”

Someone on the internet asked the question: “What is bean curd?” Which I thought was a good question indeed.

The answer, wisegeek.com informs us: “To make bean curd, a cook curdles soy milk and presses the resulting soybean curds into molds to firm up.”

Mmm. Tasty. Bean curd is more commonly known simply as tofu. Those who know me, know my issues with tofu, and tofurkey, and soy milk, and rice dream, and vegetarian marketing in general. Bean curd, on the other hand, simply suffers from sounding as gross as its preparation.

Yuk.
A Thousand Words (and Pictures)

The art of Su Blackwell.

(Thank You Erin.)
Grace Says “Give Me that Camera Thingy.”
Buns ‘n Ammo

The art of Chris Wright.
Quote of the Week #030

“There are mighty few people who think what they think they think.” –Robert Henri
Not So Wildlife

The art of Colleen Plumb.
Wolves, Bunnies & Glossy Tables

The art of Suzanne Walters.
Worst/Best Film Promotion Ever
Wonderland’s Looking Glass

The art of Anna Gaskell.
Good Quality Derelict Nostalgia

The art of Kevin Cyr.
Addicted to the LIFE Photo Archive

Google is hosting a rare collection of mostly unpublished photos online from the Time LIFE vaults. They are intended for personal and research use only, but the sheer scope of the project is mind-blowing. This is apparently the largest photo scanning project in history. If what I’ve read is true, what you are about to witness is 10 million photographs, found in loose envelopes and tucked away in the vaults, by some of the most preeminent photojournalists of all time (Gjon Mili, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Margaret Bourke-White, Ansel Adams).

The second most amazing thing about this project are the images themselves. (a quick tip, you can also add source:life to any normal Google image search to call on this inventory of images). With that in mind, I set out to find a nice assortment of images. These are obviously just the tip of the iceberg, but you can see what I’m getting at. It’s just, quite simply, inspiring.

I searched for “Directors at Work” and got a shot of Stanley Kubrick on the set of 2001 along with Jerome Robbins on the set of West Side Story. I searched for “Reflections” and found a shot of Neil Armstrong on the moon with the flag reflected in his visor next to a shot of Charlie Chaplin looking in the mirror in his dressing room. The scenarios go on and on, now get over there and try it for yourself!

View the LIFE Archive.
Bad Word Pairs #026

“New Age”

Wikipedia defines New Age music as “peaceful music of various styles that is intended to help people feel good while listening.” I define it as “music your friends will make fun of you for liking, but your parents will admire you for liking.”

How do you define it? I guess the issue here is the polarizing connotation with New Age nowadays. There’s really no middle ground. You either love it or hate it. It’s kind of like World Music I guess? Though that just seems like international New Age.

Performers like Yanni get lumped in with musicians like Brian Eno, and it makes it hard to avoid contact, since I loathe one, and love the other (guess which). In any case, New Age is further proof why labels always make it harder to get underneath, to the good bits.
Mayday Mayday, the Pacman Cometh!

Lo! Circle your calendars friends, it’s looking like May will mark the first big boxing match of 2009, when Manny Pacquiao takes on the Manchester brawler Ricky Hatton. Bob Aram says it’s a done deal, and when he says it, it hath been written.

It should make for an exciting fight, two good styles, though Hatton had better train for speed, and learn from De la Hoya’s mistakes.

Apparently both of these fighters have grand plans to retire early. Pacquiao wants to finish 2009 and then become president of the Philippines or something (ugh), while Hatton wants to beat Pacquiao and then win a rematch against Mayweather, going out at the top of his game.

The likelihood that either of them will retire when they say? Slim to none. And that would be the best thing we fans would want to see happen.

View the Proof.
Aprés la Pluie

With evident inspiration from director Hayao Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke, Howl’s Moving Castle) comes an all together unique and amazing short film by five students from the Gobelins school of animation in France. Students, yes, you read that right. Unbelievable.

Set within a stilted village in the sky, a boy is fishing in a puddle with a banana for bait when suddenly, impossibly he gets a bite. He lands a creature far bigger than he could have imagined, and far too big to handle. What follows is a breathtaking sequence of shots, punctuated by an unexpected and abstracted ending.

I loved this film for its awe-filled imagery and simple execution. The painting isn’t half bad either, nor is the animation. Sometimes a story doesn’t require fully fleshed out characters. Sometimes the experience itself is reward enough, and this is one of those cases.

Not much is revealed regarding exactly who did what, but the team who concepted and executed this stunning short includes: Charles-André Lefebvre, Manuel Tanon-Tchi, Louis Tardivier, Sébastien Vovau and Emmanuelle Walker.

Click to View.

And don’t miss these sweet making-of videos…

Watch on Vimeo
Mudbaths, Baths and Hedges

The art of Rob Browning.
Grace Says “Christmas was Merry!”
Falling Down Holes

The art of Hubbard/Birchler.