the last ten days

cut and paste

Trabant

Today, a project went wrong. No, not a project, more an exploration.

And it didn't go terribly wrong—but simply—the idea looked better on screen than real life.

There will be no pictures. Let's just say competing plaids were involved and leave it at that.

Instead, I'll share this paper Trabant made between experimentation and meetings. [ download your own to cut out, with a hat tip to Swiss Miss for the fun diversion ]

Also of note: An absolute trove of paper models to explore [ as seen on Coudal ]

Current music: Carrie Underwood! "Praying for Time"

If I'm not here I might be there

Something that will deserve its own slice on this chart in the near future: Home Improvements

I like how Fish* puts ancillary links in his sidebar. I'm going to do that right here in case you ever wonder what I'm doing when I let my journal gather dust:

+ Recent activity on Twitter
+ Links on Delicious
+ Photos on Flickr
+ Images I like on ffffound
+ Videos on Vimeo
+ Random stuff on Tumblr
+ All these things wrapped up in one place at FriendFeed

Why all these sites? Each are tools that do different things, and do them relatively well. (Though I'm giving 'Delicious' the stink eye right now.) There is some overlap, but I like the compartments for now. Soon an enterprising company will bring these services all together in an extendable, online suite with questionable social hooks. You might say Tumblr already does this but I would beg for more features.

Until that day, we can try to figure out how to best present all this information in some neat visual package. I know I'm still trying to get my head wrapped these streams of content I make, and content I like. (I'll save the debate as to WHY anyone would want to share all this data for the sociologists and marketing department.)

So there I am, and there with bits of me there and there. Eventually I'll find a permanent home for these places, but until then I'll enjoy not committing anything until fully vetted.

Oh, and If you caught it on Twitter, you'd already know that the counter-offer for a house was accepted yesterday.

Yay.

* I know two men nicknamed Fish. One virtually, one I've hugged.

Current music: The Breeders "Bang On" [stream/mp3]

Nice sunset today

Caption not required

It was a good day that kicked off with an offer to jump into a match of Layer Tennis on Oct 19th with Naz. (thanks, Coudal)

The rest of the day, though fine on all fronts (with some exceptions), it wasn't quite this good of a day. (via)

I came home and paused good and long over a post from my friend Jim. Which reminded me we need to work with our exceptions and find the exceptional.

I won't linger on the sweet or bitter, but instead share this video of babies eating lemons, and thank Rachel for sharing it.

In the queue: Pack for Chicago, pay rent, find a house so I can stop paying rent , get a tooth fixed, direct some Flash development, donate pants that don't fit, find new pants that do fit, write about meeting Merlin Mann for the first time, buy a cast iron skillet to cook the meat in the freezer, and get a haircut.

Current music: Akron/Family "Love, Love, Love (Everyone)"

I’m on TV talking like it’s just you and me

La, la, la, la

My bud tom sent me a clip to the alternative Kanye West video (pictured above) and I had to share:

Zach Galifianakis stars in Kanye West's "Cant Tell Me Nothing" - I should mention I quite like the song too.

--- MORE LINKS ---

Speaking of facial hair - this hand carved wood mustache rocks. (via)

The Hello Experiment - Lionel Richie inspiration (via)

Prisoners in the Philippines do Thriller - Even better than Lexington, KY

Behind the scenes of Sprint's flashlight commercial - Lotta work put into that (youtube via)

Where do presidential hopefuls stand on issues? - Breaking it down to checkboxes (via)

I heart this Bluetooth Johnson t-shirt.

Current music: Kanye West "Can't Tell Me Nothing"

Jolly’s

Hamilton, Ohio [ + ]

Took this single photo today leaving Goodwill. Next time I'm going in Jolly’s for the homemade root beer.

I went in to the thrift store hoping to find a big mirror and walked out with 4 fewer bucks in the wallet and a feeling of accomplishment. Not often things pan out like that.

Visual inspiration to round out the day:

Jen Stark makes awesome things out of cut paper (via)

t-shirts i have known : More awesome. Be sure to click around Wil Freeborn's blog. Quite dig his style. (via)

The Busy Life : Naz and Jen collaborate and the results feel like home.

Uniforms Self-portraits: My 39 Years : Mine would have a lot of corduroy and plaid. (via)

The Wurstminster Dog Show : Artists + Dogs = Another fine show from this Oregon gallery. (via)

Current music: Beirut "Carousels" on WOXY

Furniture Blow-out Sale!

It's Friday, I'm having tea, sadly not this simple ginger tea

Blow-out links to wrap up the snowless week:

Grandaddy FTP - Music, videos, rarities. A fan of Grandaddy? Go. Long live the legacy.

Digital SLR cameras: What to get, how to use them, examples, and more, much more - An amazing and thorough resource that would be helpful for those looking to get a digital SLR, or me, trying to use one.

What Does 200 Calories Look Like? Well, here's a gallery to show you just that. Well done (via SwissMiss)

I did not know that yesterday! - A blog about things unknown, then researched. (via Yewknee)

Lines From Alanis Morissette's "Ironic," Modified to Actually Make them Ironic - An old man turned ninety-eight. He won the lottery and died the next day... of chronic emphysema from inhalation of the latex particles scratched off decades' worth of lottery tickets. (via linkfilter)

Mike Watt Guests on Kelly Clarkson Record. Works for me. (thx johnny)

JesusPets is assembling a community of heathen pet-lovers to care for pets that are 'left-behind.' We are coordinating with feed mills and kennels in preparation for your post-apocalyptic pet care needs. (thx rachel)

Current music: Grandaddy "Street Bunny (BBC session)"

snowmen, and links

fancy light up ones at that [ + bigger, uncropped ]

I haven't posted links in a while

Lenticulations - Animated 3D multiple lens photographs. Quite neato (via)

Network Time Killers - Some well made flash games, I quite enjoy "Play 4"

SketchFighter 4000 - Speaking of games, if you have a Mac and like shooters, you must check out this new game from Ambrosia. (via)

Souvenirs - If you haven't seen this set of photos by Michael Hughes that puts souvenirs in context, do check it out.

The Fruit Guys - Fruit of the Loom has some great commericals out. This site has videos and MP3s to boot. My favorite is "Blue."

This I Believe - Lenna Mae Gara from Wilmington Ohio made me say "Amen" in the car. This link is an MP3, kinda long, slow paced, but a lovely perspective on religion.

Current music: New Order "Ceremony"

A picture of a window, and some links that open in new windows

Downtown Cincinnati

Hey Ya - Covered by Mat Weddle. WOW! Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. They coulda just left the camera on him tho... More music in the google video sidebar. (via)

Flowers as type - Very beautiful. (via)

PickleJuiceSport - Yum? No... Not yum at all. (via)

Some Design 'Blogs - If you are feeling overwhelmed that there's just too much neat/cool "stuff," don't go here. Otherwise, enjoy. (via)

trucking

Well, technically vantruckin

June left us a while ago, meaning my stint as provider of supplemental links to Coudal is over. Of course, I did a sub-par job because everyone knows June is the worst month for web content.

Things are looking up in July. Here's a few things that caught my eye pulled from the delicious stream:

Rookwood brings in new artists - If you're from Cincinnati, you might have some idea about the legacy of Rookwood Pottery. It's been dormant for a while, but a revival is nigh. Oh yeah, Cincinnati is shrinking, fast.

A Collage a Day - Don't feel down on the Nati, we have great talent like this nearby.

Laughing Yoga - Need a way to start your day, but not willing to contort anything but your smile lines? This video is for you (via)

Cliptip - MTV is poo, blah blah blah. This destination points out vids from the indy scene.

A picture of Velcro® really close up - Ahhh, so that's how it works. (via)

Remaking Seurat - You know the Sunday in the park painting, now see a photographic interpretation. (via)

Grizzly Bear - Likes the Bears Gone Wild. So much they gave those fellas some music to share.

Limited Edition Candy - I love this stuff.

backhoe loader

Productive day, in the din of thunderstorms and construction

Some recent surfing:

Zoom zoom zoom - a quite nifty picture zoom thing (shockwave, via)

Fast food calorie quiz - I guessed horribly.

Tired of telling folks your WEP password? Recycle a painting. (via)

Visual Harmony - translating the ideas of John Whitney, animating sound. (via)

It’s not the House of Cosbys I’m worried about

This image is for the geeks (or nerds)

Semi-related link: Coogi sweaters

Other fun tidbits to make the days (or nights) go by faster:

The Evolution of Dance reminds me a bit of that ZeFrank's classic How to Dance Properly... but all that seems like baby steps to the video goodness that is The Show.

Keep on, keep on, keep on, keep on dancing all through the night.

Dirty never looked so good. (yes, it's safe for work)

These are the best stickers ever to deface a stop sign with (via)

McDonalds gets a makeover and I just want the buns to be consistently soft and warm. (via)

Half fish log, hot slaw, steak fries

No comment, instead, links:

Want to make a book but don't have iPhoto? Blurb launched with its own desktop application for design.

The DS Lite arrives June 11th for $129 bucks
Related Nintendo links: (playable) Metroid cubed, couple trailers for New Super Mario Bros.

How to make a shot glass out of ice (via)

Climb along the top of a bridge in Cincinnati. It costs a mere 60 bucks and you get a photo. Me? I'd want to take my camera. (via)

5 Beard Championship photos on Yahoo.

cartage

target flavored

Watched American Idol Karaoke last night.
I don't get it.

Also streamed Loose Change, thinking, like hell I'll sit through an hour-long movie online. Then hooks were deployed and this conspiracy theory rich movie about 9/11 really made me wonder. (debunking ensues)

More reason to think Colbert has stones, and a fine t-shirt to commemorate the roast only bloggers talk about.

In related and hopeful news, maybe they'll make a Gay Merit Badge for blogging one day (thanks AJ)

Badges got nothing on this average homeboy. Once you hear his audio demo, you'll just be blazed.

Blazed.

In other news, days spent scrambling, lots of work to do, pictures taken, will fill in the blanks later.

retro vertigo

Daddy mack'll make you jump

It's official. Volkswagen has stopped selling cars named after a rich white man's sport and reverted to a nameplate with a long-eared, short-tailed, burrowing mammal of the family Leporidae.

And other links:

Oxfam Unwrapped — Buy a cow, or plant 25 trees, or teach a class for one month. These are a few gifts available you can send to communities in need. Beautiful concept and site. (via)

dot old — already seen a link before (via)

Rentglass.com — lens rental for you SLR nerds. (via)

Angela Moll Art Quilts — The pages of her secret diaries are actual journal entries screen printed on fabric. (via)

More links here

in stitches

I can hear Dan Akroyd doing his best Julia Child,
"Oh now I've done it, I've cut the dickens out of my finger"

After 3 hours waiting in the ER and then staring up at this drop ceiling, I am 7 stitches stronger and typing really slow after a mishap with a (brittle) drinking glass in sudsy dishwater.

And on my special hand no less.

The aftermath, for those that don't faint at the sight of stitches... really

---

How about some links for levity?

Patently Silly — The humor of invention (via)

Steven Harrington — makes beautiful prints (via)

Chinese Restaurant Sign Generator — Like the church one, but different

The Troubled History of Beards — Today, pogonotrophy is normally accepted in society; but in the past, growing a beard could cause quite a few problems. (via)

You Seem Interesting — I will add you to my friends (via)

The Other Family — The Family Circus gone utterly over the top tasteless(via)

big rooster and 5 links

Ron's Roost, Cheviot Ohio

Pre-pixelated clothes for reality tv shows — funny. (via)

iSketch — Pictionary, online, with strangers (quite fun, requires Shockwave)

SST — Favorite photo of the moment, and now my desktop background.

Flight Attendant uniform collection — reminds me of an old post.

Vintage Wallpaper — Nice patterns, that's all. (via)

Steak ’n Shake is sinking

and random links

Me & My Katamari — Finally, the PSP gets ONE good game.

Nintendo DS Lite — Cabel's video review is simply fantastic.

I kinda like the new Office Look — but I don't know if I'd like to actually USE it. I'm thinking the removal of traditional "menus" might be hard for folks to swallow. I prefer Text Edit.

Emotions flare over same-sex marriage — I'm still hoping for reasonable health care prices, but this quote is priceless, "Senator, when you took your oath of office, you placed your hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. You did not place your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible." (via)

Ohio candidate for U.S. Senate wants gays dead — Sad.

Dark portrait of the painter of light — Another reason to love Bob Ross, may he rest in peace.

DQ Issue 3 - An excellent collaborative illustration thing. (via)

Niagara — a narrated photo essay by Alec Sloth. I very much want to so something like this. (via)

postbear and links

postgaycowboy is next

And now some links, or a shorter way to say, "aren't you glad I'm not sending this crap to you in an email?"

Live webcam of the place Brokeback Mountain was filmed — It's gallery 6, "Three Sisters" (timelapse videos too)

Sing along with Willie — follow the bouncing dot for the gay cowboy song. (Flash, and not really worth the click)

Where I bought the t-shirt — And I must admit it is of excellent quality. Not sure if they're still for sale, but worth a shot (maybe he'll make more!)

Wiki defines bear — I never heard the term “pocket protector” before (in this context).

More random:

Let Them Sing it for You – Type in (simple) words and the magic of computers will piece together a song from other songs for you. (via)

Code Orange: The Slaves of Christo — Chronicle of two students who lived to tell about working on The Gates.

History of New York Egg Cream — I have yet to have one, but I know just where to go.

They Might Be Giants — are writing a song for every venue they're playin on their tour.

1,300 cereal boxes — I'm still looking around for the Halfsies. (via)

We Heart Gocco — The Wurst Gallery has another fine exhibition. (via my favorite sites)

button

on stripes

Crazy busy, but I thought this photo found on Flickr was appropriate for the day.

This is not my beautiful house

and I should be in bed but here are some links

Three Wise Monkeys – A collection of games, activities and teaching ideas by language teachers in Japan (great for my friends who host playgroups when they're kids get older)

Cliche finder – Search for "say" –> it goes without saying, needless to say, love is never having to say you're sorry.

Project Runway Barbie auction – Bid all you want, just don't say I look like Santino

Patterns in Interaction Design – a compendium of sites not just of interest to web designers, but for people who need a website or are thinking about starting one. (via)

Local:

Maya Angelou at UC tonight – 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 8, in Fifth Third Arena at Shoemaker Center (it's free)

Robert Pollard – This Saturday at the Southgate House in Newport.

hot links

Work's crazy. Here's a firetruck from the street today and a bunch of links.

Scratch and Spin – DJ'ing the streets (quicktime, via)

Songs for beards by beards – A compilation that has great album art (and music). Inspired by Whiskerino 2005 also a fun browse as contestants begin the last month of facial fur growin.

6 cars to watch for in 2006 – Wow, a Ford I kinda like. Camry's a nice upgrade. Curious how much the Eos will cost.

Future American lawyers to be proud of – Alberto Gonzales spoke before law students at Georgetown, justifying illegal, unauthorized surveilance of US citizens, but during the course of his speech the students in class did something pretty ballsy and brave.

2006 Coachella line up – Three words: Color Me Badd

Exactitudes — Interesting similarities between folks (via)

Lindsay Lohan doesn't change facial expressions – this one's a bit loud with Steve Winwood

Board Games with Scott – Video podcast (vlog?) reviewing "social" board games (iTunes music store link)

nice weather and random links

Cincinnati, The 'Nati, Cincy, The Queen City, Porkopolis

20|20 - Twenty people with 20 seconds to describe something they like without saying it (via)

2009 Chevrolet Chevy Camaro Concept - Bitchin? I think I might like the Dodge Challenger better (via)

Hand made - a photo I dig.

Old Grandma Hardcore - Grandma, the video-game playing queen of her age-bracket and weight class (check out the videos of her playing games)

Potential long-distance trips - Speaking of which, I should really be planning 2006.

Stuffed felt monsters - A tutorial

handle with care

Thanks Lydia, for the package

And now for completely random links:

Lightroom - An alternative to Aperture (with spiffy new Adobemedia interface. Mac only. Beachballs galore.)

Honda Fit - A new subcompact with nice seat folding. A key feature? Body Colored Power side mirrors.

Sky Scout - handheld device that instantly identifies and/or locates any celestial object visible to the naked eye (via scobleizer/memeo)

Lame/Funny/Bad tattoos - (via)

101 Tips for improving children's behavior - Like dealing with tantrums is just about kids. (via)

Reviews by Noel Hurley on Amazon - (via)

The Great American Smokeout - Brokeback humor (via)

Links because I forgot my camera

Clockwise from top left

CoverFlow - A mac app that allows you to browse your collection like a jukebox. It pulls missing images from online sources, and isn't as buggy as previous versions.

Paper works - Really wonderful and inspiring works created by a sheet of paper. Also check out Paper Art (via plasticbag)

Make-a-Flake - A snowflake maker by Lookandfeel new media... Essentially start at the edges and plot our your cut. Nicely done (thanks artsycub)

Maps - Because maps are cool and a great gift, and not too dang expensive.

Hanks Trucks Pictures - Exhaustive collection of trucks and semis (via Coudal)

Pixel House - Pixely isometric goodness I wish I could click back through to expose rooms. (flash)

Ugly Shoe of the Week - Ug

iChat Transcript Manager - Until spotlight stops grinding and gets better, there's this to help sort through chat data (mac)

Dinner Club: Latitudes

In charming historic Milford, OH

The monthly get-together was at a tapas joint on the other side of town. Good times, good food.

And now for some random thoughts and links:

Mike Wallace is 87 years old.

Thanks to my trip to Lexington, I've learned a new phrase—"Hot mess" Definitions vary.

Movie quote that stuck: "I'd much rather be happy than right." taken from the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Which I sorta watched, but had my laptop open. I've since realized that's why I like going to the movies proper... I can focus. I'd like to see this flick again without distraction.

Unicorns LA, is likely the best music video I've seen in a while. (QuickTime)

Jesus is Magic Soundboard — Sarah Silverman's movie opens November 11th in select theaters... I hope it comes here. (Flash)

Battlestar Galactica — Back when Legos were not big molded parts that formed 1/4 of the object.

FlapArt — Fool strangers. Cover your book with jackets like "The Nutritional Benifits of Nose Picking"

Gay fabric of the month

Sno-bo — a heartwarming winter animated tale (QuickTime)

What I want for the back of my car — a programmable LED message board. The Hummer I could do without.

Free links

With daily photos, one is bound to repeat a locale

Bush's speech writer - requires QuickTime, and is worth every megabyte

Out of 5: Themed mixes - loverly graphic design, great music, fun idea

Kate Bush's coded cover - Looking forward to her new album. There's some speculation about the cover art. Kempa.com brings you love, and deeper understanding.

Audio clips from TV in the 70s - My husband, some hotshot. Here's his ancient Chinese secret...

1-800-Free411 - Free directory information (on your mobile). The catch: you must listen to a local ad. Sounds good to me. (via)

Well, that's a few links. As always, I keep them collected up at del.icio.us/glass.

In other news, I have gotten lots of test results back, trying to determine my (improving) state of health. So far, we've ruled out lots of things (which is relieving), but we haven't hit paydirt. I'm thinking I might give acupuncture a try soon.

Warning

Unrelated to the post below

That neat little to-do list I had carved out in my mind on the plane ride home got shuffled into a whole new list that erupted once I got back in contact with everyone. Now I sift.

In lieu of real content, here's some links.

Quotes from when Clinton committed troops to Bosnia - I'll just assume all these are real. It's too ridiculous to be anything but.

Roger von Oech's Creative Think, with front page refreshable tips to shake up ideas - I always enjoyed his books back in the day. Good to see this content survive beyond the man.

Flipping off Hummers - A really, really, really large gallery. Maybe this fueled Claire Fisher's (excellent) diatribe last week.

FUCK this website - Dig into this one. It's beautiful genius. I need some stickers.

Brandon Bird - Apparently this made the Webby Awards, but there's too many sites to visit anymore. Anyways, he's an amazing artist with a keen, twisted pop culture sense of humor.

Oh, I'm not keeping up with your blog, and I'm not putting stuff on my cat either.

Truckin

Random links for the day

Pick up wall art - This wall art above now adorns my entryway. You can buy it at Urban Outfitters. It's actually hand painted and you can almost smell the sweat shop.

Worst Ringtone Ever - Please stop using this. (MP3)

The new chastity belt - With hot technology for the millennium (thanks champ)

Veer Shuttleboard - A great way to composite type, image and other tidbits. The first thing I've seen where the web could become an application for design.

Ajax on Rails - New technology is easy.

Neko Case - live in the woxy lounge late this afternoon, and Gorillaz + de novo dahl tomorrow...

Nice watch - I'll stick with my mobile phone though... (via Nixlog)

Live music, punk clothes, blog cycles and more

Architecture in Helsinki this afternoon, live in the woxy lounge.

AT-AT Boombox : Rock with the dark side.

Dave Devries Monster Engine : Transforming kids art into, um, different art.

Little Punk : Cute clothing for kids that costs too much. (another funny one)

Stéphane Bucco : Super cool design style (via Coudal)

Game Skins : Arcadey t-shirts (for adults this time)

The Lifecycle of Bloggers : Time to take that sabbatical...

David Shrigley : is genius and funny

The A square is the same color as B

Optical illusion by Edward H. Adelson

Really. They're the same. Here's the proof. (via waxy links)

Doug Henning would have enjoyed this.

Desktop

Almost as fun to do as looking at the infinite cat project

Inspired by these photos

These various links don't open in new windows

• Taking separate photos for A Scene from My Life this week
• Incorporated recent surfing into personal site homepage (Not possible without Dave’s help)... Updating is ganz einfach now
• Realized the photo page on my site needed sorely updated
• Half debating, would I want a D70 or a 20D?
• Wanted to fill out the "Best of" Poll for our free press rag, but the form was too long
• Some new-to-me sites I'm enjoying:
  • Core 77 design stuff
  • Golden Fiddle trash i don't need to know
  • We Make Money Not Art for more of the same
  • I'm torn on whether or not I need to know about Lindsay Lohan's latest drunken binges, Britney's life plans or that Deborah Gibson posed for playboy, but stereogum continues to make me chuckle.
• There's so much about The Gates on the web, I wonder if I've already experienced it enough. But this photo seemed choice, thanks to ThoughtNot
• And for this holiday, a special valentine message (takes a while to load) via via kottke

Phrasing

Word Spy

While looking up 'google bombing' to find a short explanation this evening, I ran across this site called The Word Spy. It's like a more exploratory UrbanDictionary, without all the flaming junk.

Of course, it has tired lingo like bling-bling and blog. Along with even more tired metrosexual, retrosexual, pomosexual, and technosexual, post-gay and hasbian.

But there are a few gems in there, like:

rurban adj. Combining aspects of both rural and urban or suburban life.

meanderthal n. A person who walks particularly slowly and aimlessly.

SUV Democrat noun. A politician (particularly one who is a member of the U.S. Democratic Party) who talks about energy conservation but who owns and drives a fuel-inefficient sport utility vehicle.

Of related interest, Lake Superior State University published their banished words list for 2005 not too long ago. No more 'izzle' speak folks, or carbs.

In other news, I spoke with my friend from New Year’s Eve who played a voicemail left by his wife and myself from the very scene of the crime where my camera was lost. That was fun. I should probably look up the etymology for three sheets to the wind.

Nature's Anthem

Again! Again!

How to entertain old and young alike on a Saturday evening:

Download the Grandaddy video for Nature's Anthem.

Loop it full-screen.

Repeat until you absolutley go crazy.

I want to walk up the side of the mountain,
I want to walk down the other side of the mountain.
I want to swim in in the river and lie in the sun,
I want to try to be nice to everyone.

The gospel of Mary Tyler Moore

From a Newsweek clipping on my fridge

Quotes are like horoscopes. You twist them into truths if they suit you.

I was thinking about quotes a while back and decided to research some of my favorites. So I googled and collected, pulling what I liked out of generally noisy pages. Now I have a framework for saving the ones I like. By no means exhaustive, here they are. I tend to go for comedians.