Frank Ifield sings the Craven A jingle. He had a few top hits back in the day and my mother was a fan. I wonder if this commercial influenced her to switch from Rothman's to Craven A.
Via everlasting blort
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Swiss Army Piano
When you find your living quarters too cramped this convertible piano bedroom might solve the problem.
More at Futility Closet
Charles Hess patented this combination piano, couch, and bureau in 1866, intending it for hotels and boarding schools in which some bedrooms are used as parlors during daylight hours. Closet F holds the bedclothes, and closet G holds a washbowl, pitcher, and towels.
More at Futility Closet
Rick's Rant - Robocalls
Go Rick! This isn't voter suppression, it's stealing democracy and I'm fuming.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
35 Inspiring Colour Palettes
35 color pallettes extracted from the work of master painters.
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| La Montagne Saint Victoire Barnes - Cezanne |
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| Tahitian Women on the Beach - Gauguin |
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| Starry Night - Van Gogh |
See how to create colour palettes at Art Varsity.
Thanks Bruce!
Save the People's Supermarket
Due to financial difficulties, The People's Supermarket has struggled to keep up with the payment of business rates to Camden Council. The People's Supermarket is a Co-operative and Community Benefit Society and operates for the benefit of its members and the community, not in pursuit of profit. For that reason, we ask that Camden Council continue to support us by allowing for the renegotiation of rate payments. In the absence of such support, The People's Supermarket will become insolvent by March 1st.
When we were in London recently we stayed near Lamb's Conduit, a street in Bloomsbury with charming shops and pubs. We bought a bottle of wine at The People's Supermarket and asked if they could sell us a corkscrew to open it. They had none for sale but a very nice fellow fetched one from downstairs and gave it to us so I have a soft spot for this place and hope they manage to stay afloat.
Sign the Petition at Change.org
Super Doggies Video With Obama.
Imani watches from her house how both Obama and Putin care for their dogs. All Imani has is a raggedy stuffed animal. At one point she writes to both men asking them for a real pet – and in a fantastic scene that climaxes into a dance party featuring both dancing world leaders and their dogs – she gets her wish.
This Senior Is Mad As Hell!
From Operation Maple: Joy Taylor, 89, has a bone to pick with Prime Minister Harper.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Air Raid Siren Loudspeaker
Chase and Scout Creations have constructed this very interesting iPhone speaker out of a WWII air raid siren. You can plug the device of your choice into the powered speaker via a standard 1/8″ headphone jack. Volume and sound density are adjustable.
Cohen and Cave
A painting of Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave by Australian artist Ben Smith titled The Influence: Leonard Cohen consoles Nick Cave:
Via the always interesting Shrine of Dreams
Pictures of Math
Beautiful Pictures of Math :
Thanks Bruce.
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| A close up of 4 of the hundredth roots of unity. Ian Sammis. |
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| Three-dimensional rendering of the Julia set using distance estimation by Gert Buschmann. |
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| Fourier Transform |
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Commie Cards
My friend Tom wanted to unload these playing cards. I lean a bit to the left and I guess I'm the closest thing to a communist this right wing town can produce so he gave me this red deck. Love it!
Guinness Jello Shots
Perfect for St. Patrick's Day - Guinness jello with Bailey's Irish Cream foam. Slainte!
Toronto Laundromat Photos
It's been many years since I graced a laundromat with my presence. I remember them as dreary places to be avoided in all but the most dire emergency (i.e. I'd run out of clean or even slightly soiled underwear). I once had a boyfriend with access to a washing machine and I stayed with him longer than was good for me because being able to watch tv with my feet up while my dirty clothes cleaned up their act seemed like luxury in those bygone days.
More lovely Toronto laundromat photos at blogTO
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| Photo by byronjyu |
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| Photo by byronjyu |
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| Photo by Metrix X |
Cost of Living Extremely Well Index Is Up
Forbes Cost of Living Extremely Well Index measures the cost of 40 goods and services targeted at the super wealthy. The most recent CLEWI is up 4.5% compared to a 3.6% rise in the Consumer Price Index over the same period. The uber rich are taking a financial hit but don't feel sorry for them. They could always put the $14.8m Sikorsky helicopter on the auction block if worse comes to worst.
How many of these items did you purchase last year?
Are you curious about what people who have more money than sense purchase with their wealth? Of course you are! Here is the index:
How many of these items did you purchase last year?
Friday, February 24, 2012
9 Oscar Dogs Inspired by the 2012 Best Picture Nominees
Here are nine Oscar-themed hot dogs inspired by each of the films nominated for Best Picture. Everything from "The Parisian Dog" for Midnight in Paris with pate and Dijon vinaigrette to the pineapple and Sriracha "Hawaii Dog" for The Descendants.
I like "The Watch Dog" (3rd from left) from Hugo.
41 Common Cooking Mistakes
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Batman Russian Matroyshka Nesting Dolls
‘Escort Quality, Hooker Pricing’
I thought this was a joke but apparently it's for real and they're removing the billboard from one neighborhood but letting it remain in others.
The above billboard ad for Wodka vodka so offended residents of the Hunts Point neighborhood in the Bronx that it was removed just one day after community leaders complained about it to the advertising agency and in the media. The Wodka billboard, which hung over the Bruckner Expressway, an area known for its brazen streetwalkers, read “Escort Quality, Hooker Pricing.”
Read more at Dangerous Minds
Television Lingo Illustrated
Illustrated by John Alcorn under the art direction of the legendary Lou Dorfsman for CBS, 1964.
Click here for a larger view.
A Modest Proposal
I think this is one of the most romantic marriage proposals ever:
In 1936, after his first wife had left him, Evelyn Waugh sent a letter to her cousin Laura Herbert, asking whether “you could bear the idea of marrying me.”
“I can’t advise you in my favour because I think it would be beastly for you,” he wrote, “but think how nice it would be for me. I am restless & moody and misanthropic & lazy & have no money except what I earn and if I got ill you would starve.
Did Laura think Waugh's proposal was irresistible? Read more at Futility Closet.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Interview with Fidel Castro, 1959
Edward R. Murrow interviews the 32 year old Fidel in 1959 after he ousted Batista and took control of Cuba.
Via Retronaut
Via Retronaut
Illustrated Guide to Mad Men Bed-Hopping
Take this refresher course before the next season starts. I don't have to because I watch old seasons of the show over and over and over again.
Wired.com Via The Hairpin
Wired.com Via The Hairpin
Everything is a Remix Part 4
When we copy we celebrate it. When others copy we vilify it. This is an interesting video about intellectual property.
Everything is a Remix Part 4 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.
Everything is a Remix Part 4 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.
Thank you Avery xxx.
“Gimme Shelter” Without the Distracting Instruments
The Stones "Gimme Shelter" with the vocal tracks isolated. Eerie! I felt strangely compelled to listen to it all the way through.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Demeritwear Patches
Everyone is good at something. Demeritwear creates funny merit badges that recognize a range of esoteric accomplishments.
Found out the man in your life went to a conference in Vegas and spent most of his time there stuffing stacks of bills in strippers' g-strings? Shame him with this one:
Cat caught a mouse? There's a badge for that:
Found out the man in your life went to a conference in Vegas and spent most of his time there stuffing stacks of bills in strippers' g-strings? Shame him with this one:
Know a blogger who is a suave, elegant and sophisticated red wine drinker? Give me ( I mean her) this one:
Thanks again Bruce!
A Guy And His Neoclassical Stove - Together Forever
This unusual, oddly touching cemetery monument is in the Melatenfriedhof in Köln, Deutschland. I'll tell you what the words say in German first, then English:
Hier ruht in Frieden
August Broichenschüt
August Broichenschüt
1822 - 1874
Die meiste Zeit seines Lebens
verbrachte er in eine Kneipe
neben diesem neoklassiztischen
Saulenofen worauf der Wirt diese
Denkmal errichte
≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
Here rests in peace
August Broichenschütz
1822 - 1874
Who spent most of his life
in a tavern next to this neoclassical
column stove, which is why the owner of the tavern
erected this monument
Stolen from Alan Parker's Facebook Page
Die meiste Zeit seines Lebens
verbrachte er in eine Kneipe
neben diesem neoklassiztischen
Saulenofen worauf der Wirt diese
Denkmal errichte
≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
Here rests in peace
August Broichenschütz
1822 - 1874
Who spent most of his life
in a tavern next to this neoclassical
column stove, which is why the owner of the tavern
erected this monument
Stolen from Alan Parker's Facebook Page
Monday, February 20, 2012
Broken China Jewelry
Pennsylvania artist Laura Beth Love, owner of Dishfunctional Designs, takes broken china and transforms it into beautiful, wearable works of art.
Via Recyclart
The Love Competition
A short film by Brent Hoff (editor of the DVD magazine Wholphin) showing a competition to see who can produce the most love, as determined by MRI scans of their brains. Each of the competitors was given five minutes in an MRI machine, during which time they had to think of someone they loved and “love them as hard as they could”.
The Love Competition from Brent Hoff on Vimeo.
Via Accordian Guy
Photographer Builds 35 Foot Camera
Photographer Dennis Manarchy is creating a camera so large it can capture 24-foot tall realistic incredibly detailed photographs.The camera itself is 35 feet long, 12 feet tall and 8 feet wide. It’s so large that a small apartment could fit inside it. Manarchy has a working immobile model in his studio. It uses negatives that are 4.56 feet in size.
(I think I'll pass; it's a little cumbersome for everyday use.)
See more at Oddity Central
(I think I'll pass; it's a little cumbersome for everyday use.)
See more at Oddity Central
Enchanting London
We stayed on Southampton Row near Russell Square when we were in London last week. I saw a lot of people popping in and out and omnibuses but alas no crazy organs.
Virginia Woolf
London is enchanting. I step out upon a tawny coloured magic carpet, it seems, and get carried into beauty without raising a finger. The nights are amazing, with all the white porticoes and broad silent avenues. And people pop in and out, lightly, divertingly like rabbits; and I look down Southampton Row, wet as a seal’s back or red and yellow with sunshine, and watch the omnibus going and coming, and hear the old crazy organs. One of these days I will write about London, and how it takes up the private life and carries it on, without any effort.
Virginia Woolf
Vintage Clinton
Photos from the Clinton Library collection.
Via Holy Kaw!
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| Bill and Hillary on their wedding day in Fayetteville, Arkansas on October 11, 1975. |
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| Bill Clinton & Hillary Rodham playing soccer in Fayetteville during the summer of 1975. |
Via Holy Kaw!
Sunday, February 19, 2012
1960s Time Capsule House
My home decor is a constantly evolving work in progress - out with the old, in with the new. Some people aren't as eager for change. 93 year old Lina Diacono is selling the house she has lived in since 1964. The home is like a time capsule of the 1960's with all the original furniture and architecture. She hasn't changed a thing.
Via Neatorama
Tiny Dog Speaker For Your iPod or MP3 Player
I am completely smitten by these tiny apricot wood terrier speakers.
You can buy them here.
Via If It's Hip, It's Here
Saturday, February 18, 2012
When Jean-Paul Sartre Met Che Guevara
Via Frogsmoke
The Actors' Church
The day we visited there was a dance class taking place on the altar. Having been raised Catholic I'm always a little bit taken aback by non-religious activity in a place of worship. When I was growing up we had to bow our heads (which had to be covered), genuflect and throw down a quick sign of the cross when passing the altar where Jesus lived in the tabernacle. It's refreshing to see these buildings being used for other things.
The theatrical connection began as early as 1663 with the establishment of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and by the opening of the Covent Garden Theatre in 1723. It is still `The Actors' Church,' the Actors' Church Union has its offices here, and the inner walls and the garden hold memorial plaques to famous personalities in the world of the performing arts. Here are a few:
The theatrical connection began as early as 1663 with the establishment of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and by the opening of the Covent Garden Theatre in 1723. It is still `The Actors' Church,' the Actors' Church Union has its offices here, and the inner walls and the garden hold memorial plaques to famous personalities in the world of the performing arts. Here are a few:
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| A bench dedicated to John Thaw aka Inspector Morse |
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| I've included this one because it is also the name of the young lady (very much alive)who cares for Joyce when we travel |
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