Making Flippy Floppy

The site Typorganism has this really cool doo-dad that takes a photo and reproduces it using letters of the alphabet, or squares if you prefer. Hours of Fall fun for all the kids!

Labels: Links, Optical Illusions

Free - Terrarium / Mixed Media Piece

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Date: 2007-07-19, 11:02AM EDT This mixed media piece by renowned conceptual artist Rummy La Rue literally captivates the viewer from across the street. The raw power of beaten blue collar wheelbarrow is gently masked by sensual green tides of common, CO2 eating grass. A master in the use of mixed-media, La Rue has captured the despair of the eroding American middle class with the hope of a better, greener future. The monsoons of the rainy season spring forth with limitless abundance of life sucking mosquitoes. The flat-tire exudes the weary exhaustion of the plow horse-lifeblood of the American breadbasket. Limited edition (numbered 1 of 1), cannot be passed by the discerning collector. E-mail today to add this living sculpture to your front yard collection. PostingID: 377340521 Original Ad Link

Labels: Bad Art, Craigslist, Links

She was truly one of the beautiful people, a rare wonderful creature whose positive outlook transcended the bullshit and set forth an attitude of acceptance and humanity. The absence of her outrageous, fabulous spirit leaves a giant hole in the fabric of our culture. There will never be another quite like her... Update: Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog has stopped obsessing over Condi's hairdo long enough to post some fantastic Tammy Faye MP3's to download. Tammy may be long gone, but that delightfully grating caterwaul of a voice will reverberate forever.

Labels: Links, Memorial, MP3, Retro Fun, Tammy Faye

Lima Bean Tears Last night I remembered why I gave Dragon House restaurant on Appleway such a bitchy review last year. On my way home from work, I decided I was hungry specifically for some combination fried rice to go. Right now it's unclear why I chose not to go to Canton, where I know the combo fried rice is excellent. I was hungry and Dragon House happened to be sorta on my way home. After I ordered, I noticed the cook looked like he had just gotten out of state prison where he was booked on meth charges. Scurry. With no plastic gloves or a courtesy hand washing, he threw my meal together and before I even had a chance to sit down it was ready. Suspiciously quick. Still, I was starving and I got home, sat down, opened my take out box and remembered reason number one why I hate the place: frozen mixed vegetables. I've said it a thousand times: certain vegetables DO NOT belong in fried rice. Green onions? Certainly. Sprouts? Of course. Peas? You're pushing it, but maybe. Corn? Hell no. LIMA BEANS? Like, gag me with a chopstick. Now, Lima beans are fine on their own or whatever, but they do not belong in fried rice. It's just laziness to throw in a package of frozen mixed vegetables, like the kind they forced you to eat in 1st grade: little cubed carrots, peas, green beans, corn, lima beans. Ugh! This is the only Chinese place I've ever been to that does it. Also, the shrimp was undercooked to the point of being nearly raw. They were inedible, I had to pick them out (all 2 1/2 of them). The chicken was rubbery and along with the pork it was sliced into such tiny bits and so scarcely used that it was barely detectable. I had to pour on the soy sauce to even get any flavor at all out the situation. Ungodly bad. I felt icky and gross all night last night from eating it. For this I paid $9.50 plus tax? Never, ever again. Insecticide When I was really young, my dad taught me two songs. One was sung to the tune of the William Tell Overture (theme to "The Lone Ranger.") We sang it every time we went to the dump. It went "To the dump, to the dump, to the dump, dump, dump" etc. The other song was sung whenever I stepped on ant. To the tune of the "Pink Panther" theme: "Dead Ant, Dead Ant, Dead Ant Dead Ant Dead Ant, Dead Ant, Dead Aaaaaaannnnnnt." Lately there's a weird problem with ants at my workplace. They're big and they're black. Every now and then I see an actual live one do the cha-cha across my desk. However, the real problem lies with the dead ants. I come in the morning and there are ant parts all over my desk and floor. Somehow, they die in the rafters above and drop dramatically from the heights and smash into pieces below. It's truly disgusting and I'm getting tired of vacuuming up the little dead buggers every damn day. Let's hope this is just a seasonal crisis. Lox and Neufchâtel Cheese on a Blogroll The Blogroll - that long list of places on the right on the page - it used to be called "Tuna Casserole of Links." I kinda like that, why did I change it? Anyways, I'm going to spend a moment every now and then pointing out some highlights and must-visits: !!OMG Blog!! - Does just what it says - makes you say "Oh my God!" Whether it's a shocking video clip, or a nude celebrity sighting, or just random bits of overheard conversation, this site is updated very frequently and has a decidedly queer bent. Never a dull moment. 365 Days Project - I was obsessed with round one of this daily MP3 series in 2004, and the 2007 version takes advantage of advances in bandwidth technology by including full albums and lengthy recordings instead of just single cuts. The curators of 365 Days present an amazing variety of oddball recordings and thrift store finds. Some of these are pretty much unlistenable but curious nonetheless, and some are full-on classics like General Electric's 1976 corporate masterpiece "Got to Investigate Silicones." It sounds crazy, but it's actually a fantastic, well-written and masterfully performed musical about the many amazing qualities and advanced uses of silicone-based products. 365 days is a daily addiction, and like a visit to Goodwill, you just never know what you'll find. Bradley's Buzz - It would be remiss not to point you once again to my pal Bradley's blog which is always fun to visit with it's amazing and tales of a starstruck Wisconsin boy's fabulous life in West Hollywood, CA. Pop in and do leave a comment or two while you're there. CDA Library NetCam - OK, maybe it's not the most action-packed site on the net, but I do check in every now and then to see how things are progressing with the new library currently under construction downtown. As a longtime library geek, I'm just excited for the late-summer unveiling of the shiny new lakeside facility. I can't wait to relax with a book in one of the comfy chairs up on the 3rd floor with the killer view of the lake and downtown. At least I'm hoping that's going to be the scenario. Death Wears White Socks - I've harbored a longtime obsession with obscure new wave music from the approximate era 78-84. There's just something exciting and experimental about this period and genre of music to me. For years, I've been digging in deeper and deeper in attempts to uncover obscure sounds full of glamorous doom, fried hair moods, swooshy synths, and pretentious lyrics. There are a few sites that do these kind of post-punk MP3s but none go quite as deep as this one. They dig deep in the musty record bins so we don't have to. Engrish - I find unintentional humor to be some of the funniest stuff ever. From "Showgirls" to the original "Iron Chef" I like it when things that are supposed to be meant seriously come across as a joke. Engrish is a site that features pictures of signs, packaging, t-shirts etc from various parts of Asia that include hilariously mangled attempts at English. Especially in Japan, they think it's just cool to use English words on stuff and they haven't the foggiest idea what the actual meaning is. This site makes my brain tingle a bit. Okay, that should keep you entertained enough for now. More links later.

Labels: Dead Ants, Food, Links, Random Thoughts

If you enjoy the tunes of that woozy boozy decade the 70's, you need to follow my link over to Bradley's Buzz blog. For the last few weeks, Brad has been counting down his personal favorite singles from 1970-1979 and with each entry he tells an interesting little story. I know Bradley, and I can imagine it must have taken many wine-soaked winter evenings in front of the old turntable making lists and narrowing all those thousands of possibilities down to a mere one hundred musical highlights of the feathered hair era. It's a huge task I'd never have the stamina to undertake, but Brad's not afraid, and the result is meticulous and entertaining. It's a very uniquely Brad-esque list, a world where Dolly Parton rubs her boobs on Gary Numan and The Partidge Family share a joint with Lou Reed. It's probably the only retro-70's list ever to include a Lisa Hartman single and not one but two Melanie singles (so far. We still have the Top 20 to go.) Check it out here: Bradley's taste is pretty (very) pop oriented, but if I were to make a similar list, it would wander off a bit into "artier" territories. Here's a few more singles from the seventies, not necessarily the best, but just some essentials off the top of my head... Brian Eno: King's Lead Hat T-Rex: 20th Century Boy Mike Oldfield: Tubular Bells The Cure: Killing an Arab Kraftwerk: Trans Europe Express David Bowie: TVC15 The Rolling Stones: Street Fighting Man Orchestral Manoevers in the Dark: Electricity Bauhaus: Bela Lugosi's Dead Can: Spoon The Human League: Being Boiled Donna Summer: I Feel Love Lou Reed: Perfect Day The Normal: Warm Leatherette Siouxsie & The Banshees: Hong Kong Garden

Labels: Bradley's Buzz, Links, Music Reviews, Retro Fun