Sow’s ear
February 26, 2010
Got into one of those interminable art vs. craft debates once that wound up in my usual “Medium is irrelevant–you can make art out of butter” declaration. Not an hour later I ran into a picture on YouTube, made out of soft drink cans. Not sure that they’re all my kinda art, but they kinda make the point: Not just anything is art, but art can be made from anything.
So…the soft drink cans first:
And, actually, YouTube is full of this stuff. There’s the guy who sketches with french fries:
And the fellows who make halftone-ish portraits out of dice (whoever thought that up had waaaaay too much time on his hands):
Or the guys who build portraits with paint chips from the hardware store. (Why the heck do all these folks need to accompany their videos with obnoxious music?)
You can make art out of coffee:
Or, from a LOT of coffee:
But my favorite? Of course–the lady who makes art…with butter.
Support me. Please.
February 24, 2010
Companies, if you support me, I’ll support you.
I will go out of my way to buy from you. Even if you cost a bit more, I will buy from you. All you have to do is support me.
Please.
Was reading today about the drop in Dell’s stock price, and my first thought was, “Serves ‘em right.”
The importance of timing
January 5, 2010
So I’m doing my usual newsbrowse this morning, stop in at CNN and my eyes catch a nicely done ad.
In it, a guy smiles from an ID card photo, then pops out and skiboards off the screen. The pitch reads:
Getting home from the Winter Games now feels like the bunny slope
Turns out the ad’s from US Customs, and they’re touting how much easier international travel has become now that the US and Canada have RFID travel documents. Click the link, and you go to getyouhome.gov with more info.
Hmmmm. I wonder if their ad buyer noticed events of recent weeks, or perhaps all those lovely new international travel regulations? Was this really the best time to brag?
A couple of friends have returned to the US since TSA’s new and ever-evolving travel rules were put in place, and they’ve been talking (a lot) about their flight home. I have yet to hear the words “easy entry” or “bunny slope,” but they might have been lost in all the cussing.
Bloggery pettifoggery
December 18, 2009
So I’m watching Julie and Julia (great movie about someone who blogged her way through the entire Mastering the Art of French Cooking, by the way, and this is from someone who’s worshiped Julia Child since her teen years and ACTUALLY RAN INTO HER–literally–in Boston. She said, “Hello, how are you?” and didn’t wait for a response.), and the lead character, (Amy Adams, who has been in three beloved movies and is rapidly becoming a favorite actress, which is weird because I normally don’t care for slightly whiny good-girl blonde types), is discussing the relationship between a blogger and her audience…
Hold it! The length of the parenthetical asides in that sentence greatly exceeds the actual content, so let’s make that readable:
So I’m watching Julie and Julia, and the lead character is discussing the relationship between a blogger and her audience…
Losing my APPetite? Sorta
November 28, 2009
Turned off, my iPhone epitomizes Zen design: sleek, nearly featureless and aerodynamic.* Turned on, it looks more like grandma’s attic.
After living with Gigi-the-iPhone for about 18 months, my app fervor has diminished. I’ve six pages (100 apps) sitting on Gigi, but mostly, I use the ones that came with the phone. Of the ones I’ve installed, only five see regular use. I’ve taken at least 20 more off just to relieve some of the clutter.
Spamalicious
November 24, 2009
You know, people, I think we’re missing a bet. Have you ever tried reading your spam?
Somewhere inside me is this compulsion not to let anything go to waste (probably DNA from my thrifty Scottish ancestors), so I do actually read the spam that’s posted to this blog or my junk mail folders. Every once in awhile, that is; if I read all of it I’d never do anything else.
Guess THIS one!…oh well, drat.
November 12, 2009
Oh well, THAT took about five minutes. (sigh) So a couple of days ago I promised a free drink to the first one to correctly identify the subject of this image:
If you’ve been reading the blog you may have noted my recent forays in the rainy Portland Farmers’ Market, which might have been a clue. It’s where I picked up this intriguing-looking, organically grown heirloom broccoli variant of cauliflower, Broccoli Romanesco (Roman broccoli):
As usual, Gary gets one free drink for being first to hit it generically (and at this rate, Gary, it’d better be lemonade unless you want a hangover of elephantine proportions the next time you hit town). But Ondine not only named it, she gave the real name of the beast, so I think that’s good for another. Lemme know when you want to collect, Ondine.
Despite my love of cruciferous veggies, I mostly bought this one for its photogenic qualities. Between the leaves and the whorls on the fruit itself, it probably corners the market on mathematical equations. Those knobs are particularly interesting-looking fractals, arranged in near-logarithmic patterns, so I couldn’t wait to photograph it. After it’d be sliced, roasted and incorporated into a linguini for dinner.
Too bad it’s a particularly high-protein veggie, thanks to the thousands of houseguests it brought along. I set it up in the kitchen (if you’re into photographing produce, always get a kitchen with a black granite counter–built in backdrops), started snapping away with long exposures and noticed odd blurry areas in the images. Went back and checked, and discovered green aphids, white aphids, odd little purple- and blue-striped bugs, caterpillars, gnats and spiders. (The dancing bugs are the soft blue-white spots on the photo at left)
That cauliflower had more insects than an ant farm, and they eagerly set out to explore the kitchen.
I immersed the veggie in a fast-running coldwater bath for about 15 minutes, probably destroying entire civilizations’ worth of bugs without a whit of conscience. Then I took the rest of my photos.
The bath didn’t phase the surviving bugs a bit–turns out those whorling nodes make excellent bug shelters. When the cauliflower had rested and dried a bit, they popped back out and resumed explorations. More bath, more bugs. When the three-inch caterpillar wended his way across my viewfinder, I pretty much lost my appetite for cauliflower.
So the cauliflower wound up in the yard debris bin outside. And I’m still itching and scrubbing down the kitchen.
You know, sometimes a few pesticides aren’t the end of the world..
P.S. Looked it up on the web and read that it’s very delicious, far more than regular broccoli or cauliflower. Also that the spirally, fractal florets are great hiding places for bugs and that it needs to be soaked in salt water for at least 15 minutes to get rid of them. Hmmmm. Must be the salt that does it; soaking in fresh water only encourages ‘em…
Guess THIS one!
November 10, 2009
I don’t know why I even bother, since every body seems to guess right on the first or second try, (the solution obviously being to find a less savvy audience which so far, thank heavens, hasn’t happened) but I suppose I’m the eternal photo-optimist. For a free drink of your choice next time you’re in town, be the first one to correctly identify the subject of the following image:
Answer will be published in a day or two…
How to speak Cynthia
November 1, 2009
“Sometimes when I read your blog,” an erstwhile friend wrote, “I realize that I don’t speak Cynthia very well.”
OK, I will admit that I take the title “wordsmith,” i.e., one who makes words, more seriously than many and on rare occasions actually do kinda make up words.
Like, oh…Castuary. Or glassist. Or weirdicle. Or frittery. Or…never mind.
Ticket Talker 3000
October 29, 2009
So, cruising the Web this evening I came across an ad for Ticket Talker, a free iPhone app that helps you talk your way out of a traffic citation. It’s sponsored, the ad says, by ConocoPhilips 76 because “we’re on the driver’s side.”
Uhm….I’m sure the cops will be happy to hear that.
I suspect this is one of those ideas born in the bowels of a late night brainstorm, when the deadline is 9:00 AM, the boss is already on your case for failure to produce, and after no sleep and three too many beers somebody says, “I KNOW! What if we…”
Everyone nods enthusiastically–anything to go home to bed–and another cutting-edge lame “viral” campaign crawls out of the woodwork.
In all fairness, the copywriter did acknowledge that there could be a public image problem with this one, and weasel-worded the copy:
76 gasoline reminds you that the only way to avoid getting a ticket is not to speed. Ever.
But have you wondered if there might be an excuse that could get you out of a ticket? If there is, it could be in here–the Ticket Talker 3000. Download it and you will have a litany of original justifications, rationalizations and outright prevarications at your fingertips. At the very least it will put a smile on the highway patrolman’s face as he hands over your citation.
The Ticket Talker 3000 is another tool from your friends at 76. We’re not just TOP TIER gas, we’re on the driver’s side.
Uh-huh. Go ahead and try it. I’d love to see the smile on the highway patrolman’s face when you do.
Would somebody PLEASE tell all those sophomoric ad execs turned iPhone hipsters and social media bananaramas to go back to the Swedish bikini team?
Next.