Sunday, September 30, 2007
Art Too BadTo Be Ignored
The Museum Of Bad Art (MOBA) is the world's only museum dedicated to the collection, preservation, exhibition and celebration of bad art in all its forms.
Via Optical Poptitude
An Operatic Tragedy
Hundreds of letters and photographs recently found in a dusty and long-forgotten suitcase add a new twist to the secret life of the great Italian composer Giacomo Puccini. Slideshow
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Pony Power!
You may remember that I am fond of the ponies, mainly because they provided a sweet contrast to the Transformers and He Men toys that littered my home before the younger generation of Nags discovered sex, drugs and rock and roll. My fondness however lacks the passionate conviction of Stephanie or Desiree Skylark. who I consider to be real ponyphiles.
Via Raincoaster
The Arts and Crafts Architecture of Nicholson and MacBeth
The St. Catharines Standard has an interesting story today on arts and crafts homes in Niagara designed by architects Arthur Nicholson and Robert Macbeth. A DVD showcasing some of the masterpiece homes has recently been released by the Niagara Society of Architects. The 20-minute documentary, Domestic Gems, highlights many of the homes the duo designed in St. Catharines, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Fonthill and
elsewhere in Niagara.
Friday, September 28, 2007
The very rough guide: the rudest travel book ever written
In the mid-19th century, one Mrs Favell Mortimer set forth to write a definitive travel guide to the world. There was just one problem: she had never set foot outside her native Shropshire. This was the result...
oh yeah!
Your Score: the Shock Jock
your humor style:
VULGAR | SPONTANEOUS | DARK
Your sense of humor is off-the-cuff and kind of gross. Is it is also
sinister, cynical, and vaguely threatening to the purer folks of this
world. You probably get off on that. You would cut a greasy fart, then blame it on your mom, and then just shrug when someone pointed out that she's dead.
Yours is hands-down the most outrageous sense of humor; you like things
trangressive and hardcore. It's highly likely (a) you have no limits (b) you have no scruples and (c) you have no job. Ironically, it's your type of humor that can make the biggest bucks in show business.
PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Howard Stern - Adam Sandler - Roseanne Barr
The 3-Variable Funny Test!
- it rules -
(61% dark, 46% spontaneous, 42% vulgar)
VULGAR | SPONTANEOUS | DARK
Your sense of humor is off-the-cuff and kind of gross. Is it is also
sinister, cynical, and vaguely threatening to the purer folks of this
world. You probably get off on that. You would cut a greasy fart, then blame it on your mom, and then just shrug when someone pointed out that she's dead.
Yours is hands-down the most outrageous sense of humor; you like things
trangressive and hardcore. It's highly likely (a) you have no limits (b) you have no scruples and (c) you have no job. Ironically, it's your type of humor that can make the biggest bucks in show business.
PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Howard Stern - Adam Sandler - Roseanne Barr
The 3-Variable Funny Test!
- it rules -
Thursday, September 27, 2007
How I’d Sink American Vogue
This is very funny:
Link via Notcot
Picture this: Anna Wintour has resigned. The sheer effort of keeping an immaculate bob and an unfeasibly large pair of sunglasses in place 24 hours a day has finally taken its toll. In a move that has shocked the fashion industry, American Vogue has appointed as her successor graphic-designer-turned-artist Scott King. For his first issue in charge, King decides that Vogue should have an anti-war theme. Oh, and it should also be free…
Link via Notcot
I Am So Funny
Lauren Weidman tells us what it's really like to work on The Daily Show.
Via Metafilter
My brief and wondrous career at The Daily Show consisted of making jokes about the Amish and trying to get Jon Stewart to love me.
Via Metafilter
Biblical Living
Following Every Rule of the Bible for One Year
After A. J. Jacobs spent a year reading the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica for his book “The Know-It-All,” he figured he had the yearlong experiment thing down. How much harder could it be to follow every rule in the Bible? Much, much harder, he soon discovered, as he found himself growing his beard, struggling not to curse and asking strangers for permission to stone them for adultery.
via about:blank
Images of England
Images of England is a major heritage project that aims to create a photographic record of every listed building in the country. It will eventually become one of the largest free digital image libraries in the world.
Che Guevara children's socks
I'm willing to bet Che Guevara would be rolling over in his grave if he saw these capitalist Che children's socks.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Watching the Watchers
Layers of Voyeurism |A Slidehow
A collection of photos of voyeurs watching people having sex in the park by Japanese photographer Kohei Yoshiyuki. What a weird activity!
Via Kottke
Pardon, ou est le WC, sil vous plait?
Not Exactly The Nag's Dream Home
Philanthropic Mansion
 | |
Build YOUR Dream Home! |
I don't much care for chocolate. I'd definitely scrap the Ferraris and replace them with a pair of Priuses (Prii?). I like to putter about in the kitchen and couldn't do without one. A doberman would not be my pet of choice. I'd have a bunch of lap dogs (like the Osbornes).
The carpets, the classics, the maze and the servants I could live with.
Via Beancounters
Paris May 1968
In Paris in May 1968, massive confrontations between police and students brought workers out on a general strike and brought the government to the point of collapse. Here is a collection (Via Plep) of documents from the period.
Among the slogans approved by the students occupying the Sorbonne was this one:
HUMANITY WON'T BE HAPPY TILL THE LAST BUREAUCRAT IS HUNG WITH THE GUTS OF THE LAST CAPITALIST .
Kinda catchy, don't you think?
What brought things to a boil was the invasion of the Sorbonne by the police. The institution had never been occupied even during the Nazi occupation. Labour joined the students to protest this violation. There was an attempt by the conservative media to brand student leader Daniel Cohn-Bendit as a foreign Jew. This backfired when Parisians took to the streets chanting, "We are all Jews". They brought down the DeGaulle government. Those were the days when people felt they could change the world and they did.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Bite The Wax Tadpole
13 Unfortunate Translations That Harmed Brand Reputations
It is important for companies to do adequate preparation and research before introducing a product into the international marketplace. How easily even 'experts' can sometimes fall victim when their in-house marketing department is not fully aware of the local culture.
Here's an example of an ill conceived marketing campaign:
It is important for companies to do adequate preparation and research before introducing a product into the international marketplace. How easily even 'experts' can sometimes fall victim when their in-house marketing department is not fully aware of the local culture.
Here's an example of an ill conceived marketing campaign:
The Coca-Cola name in China was first read as "Kekoukela", meaning "Bite the Wax Tadpole" or "Female Horse Stuffed with Wax", depending on the dialect. Coke then researched 40,000 characters to find a phonetic equivalent "kokoukole", translating into "Happiness in the Mouth. Read more
Via Dark Roasted Blend
It's Out Of This World!
The seven wonders of Niagara Falls
1. Flying Saucer Restaurant 1011 votes
2. The Old Barge 508 votes
3. The Portage Oak 262 votes
4. Nathaniel Dett Chapel 145 votes
5. Niagara Gorge/Glen (Whirlpool) 70 votes
6. Drummond Hill Cemetery 55 votes
7. Mount Carmel Chapel 54 votes
Congratulations! The Saucer is well ahead of the pack in the latest Seven Wonders competition. We used to take the kids there when they were still little Nags. One does not go there for the food (although there's lots of it and it's cheap). One goes to the Saucer for an extraterrestrial dining experience. Once I also got an extra-intestinal experience - someone likely didn't wash their hands before handling my E.T. special.
ON THIS DAY
Troops end Little Rock school crisis Nine black children have finally been able to attend Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. But they had to be surrounded by more than 1,000 US paratroopers to protect them from segregationist whites.
(See the trailer for the HBO doc.)
Monday, September 24, 2007
Soundwagon, the Tiniest Record Player
Edit: Baby Nag says he saw these 10 years ago when he was in Japan. He calls them "vinyl killers" and informs me that my blog content is stale.
Les Machines de l'Ile
Les Machines de l'Ile in Nantes France is an amazing exhibition of huge mechanical creatures. This 12 metre high elephant carries up to 35 passengers at a time on a ramble around town. See the Crab Larva, the Pirate Fish, the Reverse-Propelling Squid and the Manta Ray being built as part of this unique mechanical universe.
Via Been Seen
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Voters Apathetic To Ontario Election
Perhaps the parties could pique voter interest with this tactic.
Then again the sight of a nude Tony Ruprecht,"Wild Bill" Murdoch or Gilles Bisson might be more than the average voter could handle.
Then again the sight of a nude Tony Ruprecht,"Wild Bill" Murdoch or Gilles Bisson might be more than the average voter could handle.
Tory's plan for two-tier health care
John Tory has no problem dipping into the public purse so that fundamentalist Christian kids can be taught creationism. But if they want the best available health care he thinks folks should dig into their own pockets. Tom Walkom's article in today's Toronto Star on John Tory's plan to decimate Ontario's public health care system should give us pause:
Tory's scheme, however, is qualitatively different. He's not just talking about letting private clinics deliver medicare services. His plan would set the stage for a full-scale, private, parallel system. Read all of it
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Another Side of Ronald
McDonald’s Around the World:
I can't imagine eating at McDonald's when there is so much great cuisine to try when travelling. I don't mean to badmouth McD's, the McLaks from Norway pictured above actually looks tasty. I should be singing their praises as I am in debt to this ubiquitous chain. When my boys were little we stopped in for a Happy Meal, entered a contest and won a week at Jay Peak Ski resort in Vermont for the family.
So you think you know the McDonald's menu like the back of your hand? Think again. From McDonald's international, here are some menu items you have probably never tried before.
I can't imagine eating at McDonald's when there is so much great cuisine to try when travelling. I don't mean to badmouth McD's, the McLaks from Norway pictured above actually looks tasty. I should be singing their praises as I am in debt to this ubiquitous chain. When my boys were little we stopped in for a Happy Meal, entered a contest and won a week at Jay Peak Ski resort in Vermont for the family.
Calendiers PIAGGIO
Great photos. Some of them feature famous models like Angie Dickinson, Raquel Welch, Geraldine Chapman, Jayne Mansfield and, believe it or not, John Wayne and Gary Cooper.
Friday, September 21, 2007
This was horrifying!
I watched this movie last night. Don't ask me why, I can't explain it but I assure you Mr. Nag is to blame. What I found most remarkable about the film was that the girls, especially Annette, had breasts pointy enough to put a person's eye out if they were unfortunate enough to get in the way during one of the frequent bouts of frenetic, almost violent, half-naked yet asexual dancing. My exposure to this film genre at a very impressionable stage of my development is, I suspect, the root cause of some of the idiosyncracies I now display.
iBone
iBone might be the perfect birthday gift for Max, as long as he didn't develop iBone jaw from repetitive use.
Via Optical Popitude
Tim Noble & Sue Webster
More awesomeness from Your Daily Awesome.
British artists, Tim Noble and Sue Webster, arrange junk to cast artfully detailed shadows.
Would that I were as creative with my junk!
British artists, Tim Noble and Sue Webster, arrange junk to cast artfully detailed shadows.
Would that I were as creative with my junk!
Thursday, September 20, 2007
The Canadian loonie is at par with the American dollar
Why then are we still paying a huge differential when we purchase books in Canada? I want to read Richard Ford's novel The Lay of the Land. I checked out the price on Amazon.ca and on Amazon .com. The Canadian price is $15.33. The US price is $10.17. What about the latest from that Canadian icon, Douglas Coupland? The Gum Thief is even more egregiously priced at$29.32 Cdn while selling for $16.47 US. Books are more expensive here than in U.S. stores, largely because of outdated exchange rates used to calculate Canadian prices. Book prices here haven't changed since our dollar was worth $0.65 U.S. One can't expect prices to change with every fluctuation of the dollar but this is unconscionable.
Living in a border town I can just nip over to the US to snap up bargains but that is hardly the point.
This is just one example. I shudder to think about all the other industries that are ripping us off.
Living in a border town I can just nip over to the US to snap up bargains but that is hardly the point.
This is just one example. I shudder to think about all the other industries that are ripping us off.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
500 year old skyscrapers
See amazing photographs of the world’s first skyscrapers
Also known as ‘the Manhattan of the desert’, Shibam in Yemen is said to be home to the world’s oldest surviving skyscrapers. These buildings are made of mud bricks - I guess it doesn't rain much there.
Via Neatorama
NDP win in Outremont
There's no doubt that Dion is weak and that the Liberals are in deep trouble with him at the helm. I wonder if Gerard Kennedy is regretting having hitched his horse to the wrong wagon when he supported Dion for leader. It's looking more and more like he'll be remembered as the guy who made Harper's wet dream of a majority a reality.
And anyone who believes Ignatieff is the guy to turn the Liberals around is wrong (even though he does speak better English).
All the libs can hope for now is that Harper will relax his vigilance for a second or two and a couple of yahoos in his caucus will take the opportunity to express themselves without censorship.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Minimalist's Tomato Paella
I saw this video and knew I had to make this paella. What a wonderful way to use up some of those end of season tomatoes! It was delish and I'll definitely make it again. I used tiny plum tomatoes because that's all I had . It would look better with wedges of larger tomatoes.
Battle against saggy pants
I've blogged about this before here.
Yeah, and before you know it toddlers will be wearing saggy diapers and mums won't be able to tell if they've taken a dump or if they're just trying to be cool.
The bare-your-britches fashion is believed to have started in prisons, where inmates aren't given belts with their baggy uniform pants to prevent hangings and beatings. By the late 1980s, the trend had made it to gangster rap videos, then went on to skateboarders in the suburbs and high school hallways. 'For young people, it's a form of rebellion and identity,' Adrian 'Easy A.D.' Harris, 43, a member of the Bronx's legendary rap group Cold Crush Brothers. 'The young people think it's fashionable. They don't think it's negative.' But those who want to stop them see it as an indecent, sloppy trend that is a bad influence on children. 'It has the potential to catch on with elementary school kids,' said C.T. Martin, an Atlanta councillor.
Yeah, and before you know it toddlers will be wearing saggy diapers and mums won't be able to tell if they've taken a dump or if they're just trying to be cool.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
What to Tip in 77 Countries
Traveling abroad? Here's a handy chart outlining 77 different countries and their common tipping amounts for restaurants, porters, and taxis.
I'm glad I read this before my trip to Paris. I've always understood that one doesn't tip there as a service charge is levied in almost all restaurants. We usually leave a small amount of change if we have some. This chart advises that I should tip 5% -10%. Have I been a skinflint tipper all these years?
I'm glad I read this before my trip to Paris. I've always understood that one doesn't tip there as a service charge is levied in almost all restaurants. We usually leave a small amount of change if we have some. This chart advises that I should tip 5% -10%. Have I been a skinflint tipper all these years?
Hot Tub Action
I took this picture of sparrows spa-ing it up in my back yard. It was hard to get close to them and they kept thrashing and splashing so this s the best I could come up with.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
I am indeed
| You Are a Link Blogger! |
 Your blog is more about cool links than thougtful posts. Better to be entertaining and breif than longwinded and boring! |
Via Metro
13 Signs That MTV Hates You
If MTV had a soul, it would be black, empty, and full of quicksand. The terrible VMAs only made it more obvious. In short, MTV hates you, and it isn't shy about showing its contempt. How else could you explain the following?
Rome With a View
Walkin' the Dog
A few times a week I tag along with Mr. Nag and Max on their morning walk along the Niagara River. Here are a few of the things I see:
Geese in the vineyard
I can wave at my American neighbours across the river in Youngstown, NY
Wild grapes, rose hips and goldenrod
Home again
Geese in the vineyard
I can wave at my American neighbours across the river in Youngstown, NY
Wild grapes, rose hips and goldenrod
Home againFriday, September 14, 2007
The Nag's Favourite Instrument
Air guitar champ reclaims world crown:
A Japanese man out-“played” challengers to win the Air Guitar World Championship for the second consecutive year at a contest in northern Finland.I'm thinking about challenging him next year and am already practicing my guitar face in front of the mirror.
Purr Insanity
Remember how excited I was about the Bowlingual Dog Translator?
Now you feline fanciers can also communicate more deeply with your pet using the Meowlingual Cat Translation Device .
Seen at Inventor Spot
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Forever
Here's a trailer for a new documentary about Pere Lachaise Cemetery. Paris has many interesting cemeteries with distinguished citizenry (Montparnasse, resting place of many French intellectuals, is another favourite). These are great places to spend a quiet afternoon under the trees paying homage to the large number of writers, musicians, politicians, and other famous people buried there. Read more about Pere Lachaise here.
Video via The French Journal
Call me Imelda
I get annoyed when Baby Nag leaves many pairs of very large, brightly coloured shoes at the back door (above). I shake my head and say,"Where did he get this damn shoe fetish?".
When I started cleaning my closet as part of my manic post-retirement rampage my question was answered. It appears that I am Niagara on the Lake's answer to Imelda Marcos, Phillipine ex-first lady and patron saint of shoe collectors. I had 58 pairs of shoes stashed away neatly in my tiny closet! I can't throw them out if they've hardly been worn and still look like new. Nor can I throw away those that are worn out and look like they've been chewed on by a pack of dogs as they are the most comfortable. I have shoes made by Ecco (2), Rockport (3), Roots (2), Coach, Airwalk, Reebok (2), Guess, BCBG, Nike, Saucony, Bandolino, Liz Claiborne, Naot, Birkenstock, Aerosole, Kenneth Cole, Clarke (3), Anne Klein, Ralph Lauren, Keds and Bass as well as non-name brands and slippers. I could write a song about my collection a la Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire. I put 12 pairs in a box to give to charity. I bought some flat plastic boxes and stashed 18 pairs under my bed (where I found Mr. Nag's long disappeared moccasins). Pretty feeble culling, I know.
The guys I live with are as bad as I am but at least my footwear is small and relatively inconspicuous. Their size 12s take up a hell of a lot of space in every room in the house and I feel obliged to nag them shrilly and incessantly about it. I have managed until now to keep my own fetish secret, even from myself it seems. Mr. Nag was astounded when I revealed the extent of my addiction. He had no idea I had a problem. Is there a Twelve Step Program for out of control shoe shoppers? Point me to it and I'll enroll my whole family pronto.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Almost Naked Animals
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
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