Thursday, July 31, 2008
She's got the Sistine Chapel sewn up.
It took Texan Joanna Lopianowski-Roberts a decade to replicate his feat in a 40 x 80 inch cross stitch made with 1,809 different color combinations and a total of about 628,296 stitches!
Read more about it at Eternally Cool
What's under the lavender?
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Marian Bantjes: Love Stories
Patrick Burgoyne at Creative Review offered me one of these “Monograph” pieces they send out with subscription editions of the magazine.
For me, it was an opportunity to create all new pieces that I called “Love Stories”, because each one was an illustrated text of the story of someone I love.
Via
Parcours Saint germain des Près 2008
Parcours Saint germain des Près 2008 was held in June.
This artistic annual event has been held since 2000. ' Il était une fois ... ' 'Once upon a time ...' proposed to build on popular tales and legends, which are a persistent cultural background and universal. The idea is to highlight the influence that the theme of stories has on the human imagination, giving carte blanche to artists and writers to regenerate the imaginary or become agents of their own story.
See the work
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Buddha Project
I was intrigued by it and submitted a photo and guess what? They accepted it. Here it is:
Poor Little Pikachu
See more Circuit-bent Pikachu instruments at Pink Tentacle
The splendour of Versailles
Season Of The Witch
Julie Driscoll - Season Of The Witch
Monday, July 28, 2008
Off The Map
Visit the works of 10 untrained, visionary artists who have transformed their part of the world in rare and startling ways.The interactive travelogue is worth a look.
The wit and wisdom of David Lee Roth
The perfect woman has an IQ of 150, wants to make love until 4 in the morning, and then turns into a pizza.
Some people say that life is a cesspool of darkness and despair. Well, we in Van Halen are sailing through it on a yacht.
We call our selves the Fabulous Picasso brothers because Picasso represents fine art... and brothers..makes it sound like pizza delivery...
We’ve all got our vices. Self-destructive bad habits. The trick is to find the 4 or 5 you personally like the best, …and just do those all the time.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Conversation
Mr. Nag: Sometimes it's hard to obey the law.
Nag: I know, sometimes I can barely restrain myself from killing you.
Mr. Nag: I was thinking more of a Highway Traffic Act violation.
Stories Of Burmese Refugees
Via
My cousin's new blog
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Let's hope you never need to know, but if you do...
"Gravediggers went on strike at nine Mount Pleasant Group of Cemeteries this week, leaving managers, office clerks and salespeople to fill in the holes by jumping on backhoes to dig some more of them."
The Toronto Star has compiled information on how to dig a grave, how to fill it and things to look out for. I can't imagine needing this information - unless Mr. Nag says "Goggle" instead of "Google" one more time.
Retrospective of an over the hill philanderer
Lou Reed's Berlin
Lou Reid recorded the album Berlin in 1973.
It was a commercial failure.
Over the next 33 years he never performed the album live.
LOU REED'S BERLIN a film by JULIAN SCHNABEL
Mid century ship interiors
Below, a couple enjoying their cruise; they bear an uncanny resemblance to Mr. Nag and I right down to the distinguished grey hair at his temples. They'd probably be having this conversation:
He ,"I'm jonesin' for a martini, Nag."
She, "Not until you change out of those ridiculous gold pants!"
And seconds of fun for the kids, too, in this brilliantly designed space simulator.
See the entire set .
Friday, July 25, 2008
Stephen Wiltshire, Living Camera
Via 3quarksdaily
Renovating Beijing’s Historic Homes
"Chinese believe that in a siheyuan you can feel the spirit of the earth because unlike in a high-rise apartment, you step on it every day."
These historic homes in Beijing appeal to me but scores of these buildings have been demolished to make room for highrises. Many owners/restorers of these old houses are wealthy foreigners which raises all the sorts of issues around gentrification but they are perhaps the only hope for the preservation of Beijing's historic architecture.
The Official Communist Party Guide To The 2008 Beijing Olympics
Greetings, roundeye! The Glorious Party of Chairman Mao eagerly awaits your arrival here in Beijing for these Games of the 2008 Summer Olympiad. Our preparations for the Games are now complete. We’d just like to let you know that 4 million construction workers DEFINITELY DID NOT DIE during the construction of the Bird’s Nest. Those cries and shrieks you hear from countless mothers and fathers as you walk down the street are not from grief. They are simply overwhelmed about the fact that the Games will soon arrive at long last.
More
Great Minds Tease Alike
Success is mine! The teasing gene has been passed on to the next generation.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Vive le Québec libre!
In Montreal on this day in 1967, French President Charles de Gaulle was welcomed by the mayor, Jean Drapeau, and then made an unscheduled address from the balcony of the city hall to an enthusiastic crowd, ending the speech with the words, "Vive Montréal ! Vive le Québec ! Vive le Québec libre ! Vive le Canada français et Vive la France ! (Long live Montreal ! Long live Quebec ! Long live free Quebec ! Long live French Canada and long live France !)"
"Vive le Quebec libre!" - three words that unleashed an unbelievable furor. It was a breach of international protocol that reverberated for years and gave momentum to the Quebec sovereignty movement.
Alaska: An Unveiled Secret
Via
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
JR in Paris
Font Fun
Font Conference Via Transbuddha
What font are you? Take the quiz below:
I am Times New Roman -
You can come off slightly stodgy. You are often found in intellectual circles, but the average person finds you boring.
In my unbiased opinion I am anything but stodgy. In fact I am the anti-stodge.
Siskel and Ebert Outtakes
Via WRECK & SALVAGE
Robyn Cumming
She has an exquisite eye.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Girls On Wheels
Via Clusterflock
Monday, July 21, 2008
Amend Section 6 of Bill 50
A friend and fellow animal advocate asked me to post this issue that is facing the Toronto Humane Society. Section 6 of Bill 50 would strip this 121 year old agency of its name. Here is the presentation they made to the Standing Committee on Justice Policy at Queen's Park today:
CHAIR, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to explain why we have requested the removal of section 6 from Bill 50.
We believe that if section 6 of Bill 50 were to become law and The Toronto Humane Society stripped of its name and identity, people needing shelter or hospitalization for animals might not know where to find it. We also believe that our revenue, which comes 100% from donations, would plummet because it is based on name recognition and public faith in our history of community service.
People nowadays may not realize that in 1887 The Toronto Humane Society was the first organization in Canada to call itself “humane society”. All others chose “society for the prevention of cruelty to animals”. We have never been known by any other name. (Animal Welfare and Human Values, Preece & Chamberlain, 1995, Wilfred Laurier University Press, p. 35).
Possible fraud or public confusion over policing are concerns that have led to the inclusion of section 6 in Bill 50. We don’t share these concerns. Were we to be outside the Ontario SPCA, we would not then be delivering policing or other Government programs from which confusion could arise. Inside or outside the Ontario SPCA, given our 121 year record, no one could ever suggest that our fundraising might become dishonest.
Fortunately, together we can all be assured because Minister Kwinter commissioned the management consultants Grant, Thornton in 2005 and 2006 to study the present and future of the Ontario SPCA. These studies found no issues of fraud or confusion.
Please vote to remove section 6 from Bill 50. It is superfluous to the animal protection provisions that are contained in the Bill and poses unnecessary risk to The Toronto Humane Society.
Thank you.
Tim Trow,
President
If you live in Ontario call your MPP and ask that Section 6 be amended. Help the THS get on with their work. Thanks for making me aware of this, Terry.
Twitterings
Can anyone help me?
Does anyone out there know where I can find one?
Prevent It
As a political assistant to my party's labour critic I spent a good part of my working career helping injured workers negotiate the maze that is Ontario's Workplace Safety and Insurance Board. I saw many of these nightmare scenarios over the course of my career.
Buddha Collapsed out of Shame
It's about the effects of war on children in Afghanistan and I hope to see it (mais de préférence en anglais). Read today's article in the Guardian.
Learned something new today
According to Urban Dictionary bingo wings are the loose, flabby upper-arm flesh of women in cap-sleeved rayon blouses who attend bingo halls. Bingo wing development can be accelerated by consuming vast quantities of C.Cola and burgers. See also bingo flaps, though my def has more 'ring' to it!
Check the bingo wing on that! If she flapped those arms, she'd take off!
To my relief Mr. Nag assures me that I don't have them - yet.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Official Obama Jokes
Saying he is 'sympathetic to late night comedians' struggle to find jokes to make about me,' Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill) today issued a list of official campaign-approved Barack Obama jokes.Read all the jokes here.
A horse walks into a bar. The bartender says, "Why the long face?" Barack Obama replies, "His jockey just lost his health insurance, which should be the right of all Americans."
Q: What's black and white and red all over?
Barack Obama: The New Yorker magazine, which should be embarrassed after publishing such a tasteless and offensive cover, which I reject and denounce.
Four poems about string theory
Building Blocks, by Robert Borski
Morons are not elementary particles,
birds do not quark, and half-
dead cats fail to constitute roadkill.
On the other hand
silly string may underpin much
of the universe, and in
the toychest of infinities
both larger and smaller sets can be
found side by side.
God as a boy must have been
a strange child, if not actually gifted.
Read the others here.
He's My Man
Picture Paradise
From an exhibition at at the National Gallery of Australia.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
It's all good fun until someone gets raped, drowns or vomits up their liver.
Turn it off!!!
Yes it's awful and it's new and I hope I never have to undergo another such assault on my aural sense ever again.
Are you an old person?
With a score of 3 it looks like I'm safe for the time being.
- up at 5:30am
- won't miss Coronation Street
- can't work the goddamn video recorder
Friday, July 18, 2008
Happy birthday dear Nelson
Here's a video for the song "Nelson Mandela" from the album "In the Studio" by Special AKA (the Specials).
3-D Guernica
Via bad banana blog
Mother liked her white wine
I saw an audio link to this song at Fabulist
Thursday, July 17, 2008
The Stills - Still In Love Song
The Stills are a very good Montreal band. They'll be opening for Paul McCartney at a free concert in Quebec City June 20. It's a huge gig for them.
McCartney's appearance has drawn a lot of criticism from those who say the choice of McCartney violates the spirit of the 400th anniversary celebrations, which commemorate the fight for the survival of the French language in North America. I agree that McCartney was an odd choice for the Plains of Abraham venue where the French and British duked it out for sovereignty of Canada. The concert is expected to draw between 150,000 and 300,000 people.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
10,000 Page Colouring Book
This should keep you busy for awhile. Download or check out more of this black and white line art here
Now we know
Now that they've managed to solve this mystery perhaps they'll move on to crack the secrets of Stonehenge and The Shroud of Turin.
An earlier story reported :
It appears that we Canucks are a gullible bunch. I feel sort of sorry for the guy who put up with this couch surfing imposter for three whole weeks although I'd probably feel the same if the guy was the real David Lee Roth.After being treated in hospital, Mystery Dave took two nurses to the nearby Liquid Lounge, where he got up and performed with a local band. He even had his picture taken. Liquid Lounge owner Cheri Welsh was drawn in by the flashy scarves and alligator shoes.
Even Phatstick, the St. Catharines band that jammed out Van Halen's Ice Cream Man with the mystery man doing the singing — was impressed.
The mystery man also went to the U Are Beautiful salon in Cambridge several times over a two-week period for tanning treatments, hair cuts and dye jobs. "He always paid in cash," said Lesley, who asked that her last name not be used. "He even bought gift certificates."
And Dean Hajas, a local songwriter and recording engineer, said he's still certain the man who stayed at his house for three weeks is the real David Lee Roth.
Mr. Nag was pulled over for speeding a few days ago. (This is, I assure you, a very rare occurrence. He's not an habitual felon.) Maybe he should have told the cop he was Justin Timberlake.
How much do you know about cities of the world?
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
House of Cards
The Teapottery
I'm a morning coffee drinker but I like a cup of tea after lunch and sometimes in the mid-afternoon before I hit the hard stuff. I use a Brown Betty teapot though - not a fancy little number like this Orient Express teapot:
Two funny conversations
Turns out I didn't have to. "Is that like Myspace?" she asked.
2. I was walking the dog with Mr. Nag and we got caught in a torrential downpour. "Great!" he said, eyeing me a little too enthusiastically, "Wet t-shirt time."
To which I replied, tongue-in-cheek, "You like it when your t-shirt gets wet?"
"Of course not. That would be like googling myself."
Monday, July 14, 2008
A Proud Day In Canadian History
Does the government have the right to take the life of one of its citizens? For the first time, the Canadian government says no. After a decade of fierce debate and an impassioned, last-minute speech by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, the House of Commons narrowly passes Bill C-84, abolishing the death penalty in Canada.James Driskel, Romeo Phillion, Thomas Sophonow, David Milgaard, Donald Marshall Jr., Guy Paul Morin, Simon Marshall,William Mullins-Johnson, Steven Truscott, Erin Walsh and Anthony Hanemaayer are all Canadians who spent time in jail for crimes they did not commit.
I cannot begin to imagine the frustration of the wrongly convicted. In my view this is a mighty strong argument against capital punishment.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Francis Bacon
All-Canadian Chucks
Via The CANADIAN DESIGN RESOURCE
The poetry of silence
Gone to the dogs
Saturday, July 12, 2008
The battle is over but the war goes on.
Today I discovered that they were executing their lewd activities in the back yard and had constructed a nest in the wisteria arbour over the back deck - where I drink wine and listen to jazz! There is no way those bastards are going to prevent me from listening to music in my garden while inebriated (me, not them). Knowing them as I do I realize that it would also be impossible to weed or mow or deadhead for the next three weeks if they were to take up residence there. So I took strong action! I told Mr. Nag to go out and dismantle the nest before that floozy dropped another bunch of eggs. Instead he hung a bunch of his freshly washed shirts out to dry in the vicinity of said nest and it is our sincere hope that they will vacate without further incident. I can't help but think that his dirty shirts might have worked to better effect. Let's hope they are spooked enough to relocate. If not I'm sure Mr. Nag will pull out the big guns (Not literally, of course. This isn't the US. We don't even have teeny weeny guns here.) It'll take more than a couple of feathered terrorists to keep me out of my garden.
The Crusader
I am a big fan of The Caped Crusader. Came upon this when I followed a link to Futureshorts via Uncertain Times.
Return of the ivory trade
The world trade in ivory, banned 19 years ago to save the African elephant from extinction, is about to take off again, with the emergence of China as a major ivory buyer.Read more
Smoking Etiquette Posters
Japan Tobacco finds itself in a bind. Like other cigarette makers and distributors, JT is saddled with a product that is at the same time popular and unhealthy. Advertising cigarettes, when it is allowed at all, has to be handled with care and discretion. With their “Smoking Manners for Adults” ads, JT avoids the whole “to smoke or not to smoke” conundrum, focusing instead on ways smokers can lower their profile and not annoy non-smokers.
Here are a couple from this amusing collection. See more here.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Never drink alone again
Via
A British Ghost Town
Tyneham a small parish in the Isle of Purbeck 6 miles south-west of Corfe Castle and 7 miles from Wareham is Dorsets' most famous lost village. In November of 1943 notice was given to the villagers and those in the surrounding area that they would be required to leave within 28 days as the area was needed for training. On 17th December 1943 the last villagers left believing that one day they would be able to return. Sadly this was never to happen.
It must have been very hard for these villagers to give up the homes that their families had lived in for generations but they did so out of patriotism. Below are pictures of Post Office Row as it was then and the ruin that it is today. Only the church and the village school have been restored.
Via Metafilter
Communist Utopia
The chaos of the civil war is hidden behind the optimistic images of the early 1970s. They create the impression that China is a paradise, where abundance reigns and everyone is happy.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
And I say to myself, what a wonderful world
These would look at home in any art gallery.
Via Rashomon