?? April 2004 | Main | June 2004 ??
can't take cred for that...
not my pic... they probably picked up the story from Gothamist, which picked up the story from Kottke and I.
Where the real demons dwell...
Here's the pics of Manhattanhenge. I was assuming it was a loss due to the overcast. At around 7:45pm I noticed that sun was shining across the street and bolted out the door with camera in hand, running across times square to get some perspective. These shots come from locations along 6th and 5th, between 47th street and 39th. Purty, ain't it? Not bad for a few minutes of running-inspired wooziness and possible retina damage.
Church furniture at bargain basement prices
Finally you can get that pew you always wanted. Best part is the name. Via toastmonkey. (kind of; he didn't link to it, just told me about it.
Manhattanhenge!
WNYC was good enough to point out that today is Manhattanhenge, the one day per year when the sun aligns perfectly with the street grid. So watch for a perfect golden sunset on every crosstreet. Except for the ones that are blocked by tall buildings. (I'm looking at you, giant brutalist trapezoid.)
The Philosophy of Jell-O
There's always room for it. Characteristic of the period in which it was introduced, the suggestion is one of abundance and neighborly generosity in Eisenhower-era America. One can also see Jell-O as indicitave of alienation between consumer and the means of production; it is, after all, rendered horse protein. One only must look to the Teamster's official emblem to note the symbolism of the repurposed horse.
By taking the shape of any mold, Jell-O negates any sense of Platonic form, and is therefore Aristotelian. One wonders if St. Augustine, in his continuing quest to synthesize the teachings of the classical world with his faith, might add fruit slices, thus reinserting life, and by extension the concept of eternal life, into the otherwise featureless gelatin. In this formulation, the Jell-O represents the divine and formless, the slices represent the divine-made-human.
All the hype that wasn't fit to print
The Times has posted a mea culpa on their pre-war jingoism.
This was so due
A design team queer-eyes Jakob Neilsen, prettying up the usability guru's admittedly ugly pages without breaking them. Via boingboing.
Showcase your desperation
For the coolest online perquisite since, well, ever. Gmail swap is where you can offer your first born for your bestest name on the email of the future.
Theodor Kittelsen
Not exactly Norse gods, but victorian nordic creepiness. Prepare to get the heebie jeebies at the illustrations herein.
Hammer of Thor Kindred.
We start with this guy. And be sure to check out the photos section. Any excuse to drink mead.
Bladder Relief in the City
A guide to free public restrooms in Manhattan. Finally a resource for the New Yorker on the go who has to go. Via Gawker.
Star Wars playset
Boingboing linked to this supposed Star wars playset. But come on, Woman's Day, you obviously watched Logan's Run by accident.
What's up, Doc?
From the makers of The Exorcist in 30 Seconds with Bunnies, The Shining in 30 Seconds with Bunnies.
New York becomes orthogonal
The skyscraper museum has launched a gorgeous-looking tour of New York architecture. I'm moblogging this but I can't wait to see it!
It's never too late to learn to feed
Ok so I ate lunch yesterday, despite the fact that it was City Harvest's Skip Lunch for Hunger Day. But you can still give money. You can even skip lunch if you want to.
Moon Matlock
Everything you never wanted to know about Salvage One, a short lived 1979 series wherein Andy Griffith is a Moon garbageman.
Increase your Awareness by 100%
Finally, a list of Awareness months, weeks, and days. My favorite is lightning awareness week, which happens to fall on my own birthday. Via a Metafilter thread. (thanks Smackfu!)
Kerouac was a hawk, too.
Rumsfeldiana set to music, with a female vocalist. I'm waiting for the Shatner covers, personally.
She Loves NY
And I love her website, whoever She is. But please, She, we need those curiously nonpresent drinking tips. We're puking all over our dates out here.
Shakespeare versus Spears
A little philosophical exercise via Metafilter. (More philosophical games here.)
The Lesser Known Muses
Ichthythelazos, the "suckerfish", is the muse of the straight-to-video release with a cover and name suspiciously resembling a recent hit. Characteristically displayed in proximity to Tom Beringer.
Kypellophere, the "cupholder", the muse of half-assed buskers, is commonly depicted with a boom-box. According to legend, Zeus fell in love with Kypellophere's mother, a living statue on the 4/5/6, and seduced her in the guise of a beautiful rat.
Katadechomaia, the "panderer", is the muse of electronics commercials with a buffoon husband and thrifty wife. Shown with a clipboard, in a blue polo shirt, sporting an go-get-'em attitude noncommensurate with entry-level retail.
The smoking short bus
Via Metafilter. Wherein, I think hildalgo said it best:
It is well known that IQ is not a relevant way to measure "true" intelligence, and that many factors go into determining the political makeup of a stare's electorate, including historic tradition, perceived affinity with the candidate, differences in campaign targetting, media influence, and haha ha hahaha ha ha ha!
UPDATE: The paper has rescinded the story, since the IQ data was pulled from some racially uncool eugenicists or something.
Monty Python on Stage
If Bea Arthur could sing in the Star Wars holiday special, it only stands to reason that Monty Python and the Holy Grail is ready for Broadway. Possibly the most definitive sign yet of the upcoming dorkwad / gaywad accord.
Things I learned yesterday:
- A vavasour is an old word for landlord. The guy right under a baron, powerwise.
- The Apollonian Gasket is geometric figure consisting of recursed inner soddy circles, and looks exactly like the front panel of a thong bikini.
- Said Soddy wrote a poem about his circles, entitled "The Kiss Precise."
Hello, boys!
Some days, you just don't want to run your little personal website. It's a drag. You can't think of anything funny to post. Then a little inspiration floats into your referer log:
Tomorrow I'll be disturbed by the fact that someone at Halliburton was looking at the Ashcroft terror alert at 1:54 am. But tonight, I'll go to sleep smiling.
Side note: What the fuck is up with their site? Are these guys commies or something? Come to think of it, they don't believe in competition and they're government funded. Cool font, though.
Have you sold out yet?
Nice to get out every once in a while. Case in point, the blogger love-in at the Soho Apple store, and the concommitant drink-and-schmooze. Among those I met: Ellen of Standard Deviance, Nichelle of Nichelle Newsletter, and a few of the boys from Memefirst. A good time was had by all.
As for the actual panel, I think they might've been better served by a more straightforward Q&A, as the audience questions tended to be more interesting and pointed than the moderator questions, which were more general. On the other hand, the audience managed to ask Jen Chung and Choire Sicha "have you sold out yet?" about a dozen times, in different formats.
I asked Jason Calacanis of Weblogsinc about how syndication might affect ad revenues and by extension his business model, and he suggested that they would vigorously defend their IP. He also suggested that fully syndicating the content (as opposed to just headlines) would probably be a no-no on their system. Which seems very unbloggish. But then, they are using a microsoft web server, so what do I expect?
Also noteworthy: Just about everyone there, dayjobwise, was in publishing or media in some form or another. I wonder if that's true of the San Franciscans. Somehow I think they're probably more dotcommy.
i nicked this i nicked this...
...neee ner neener neeeeeeeeener.
but, alas, i did give your sassy site a heads up.
your stuff rocks, dude. totally pulls the Web together.
Hashville on the Thames.
Robert Altman smokes joint in front of Tony Blair. Tony pretends to be cool about it. But I bet if his buddy George was there, he'd be all like, "Hey, don't smoke that here." Peer pressure, man.
Unwanted supernatural powers
Retropathy: The ability to sense, upon entering a room, that a boring and ill-conceived party once took place there.
Lactosyzygy: A feeling of bloating and gassiness after a loved one eats dairy thousands of miles away.
Dactylimonition: A sudden, vivid impression of the events and context surrounding your next toe stubbing, accompanied by a sense that it is inevitable.
Oneidakinesis: The ability to bend a spoon into a spoon of lesser value.
Where does a 120 lb hard drive sit?
Scans from a computer catalog, circa 1981. Be sure to catch the founders' portrait, which suggests that perhaps some porn stars did make it in the electronics business, contrary to what Boogie Nights might have us think. Also: kudos on the use of the then-popular Souvenir font, as seen in Choose Your Own Adventure books.
