For Holiday Rockin', You Can't Do Better Than...

JD McPherson. Most seriously. Can't stop dancing to this...

Happy Holidays!

Have a very wonderful holiday. Drink responsibly. By which I mean, only the best.

"

You Must Change Your Life...

...because you cannot unsee Selleck Waterfall Sandwich(es)...

Sometimes Profanity is the Highest Form of Eloquence

HT: The Daily Dish

This Will Make You Consider Joining the Hairy Hordes Occupying Wall Street...

I try to remain optimistic. I do. But increasingly I find myself absorbing just how poorly Americans treat themselves and I wonder what could possibly change us for the better? This long infographic is worth the effort. You'll feel worse, but you'll be less deceived by the crap that is flowing mightily in the run-up to the Republican primaries.

Created by: Online Masters Degree


Remind yourself that we have chosen to live this way. And also: 90% of us are losing ground every year. So...

• Let's break the unions. 
•  Restrict access to health care.
• Defend the grotesque multiples of executive pay.
• Limit parents' time with their newborns.
• Hold firm on minimum wage.
• Fund prisons rather than social programs.

Yeah, that'll work.

I Needed a Good Joke Today...I Got Like 5 out of 10

BBC News - Nick Helm's password joke is Edinburgh Fringe funniest:

Here are all the top 10.

1) Nick Helm: "I needed a password eight characters long so I picked Snow White and the Seven Dwarves."

2) Tim Vine: "Crime in multi-storey car parks. That is wrong on so many different levels."

3) Hannibal Buress: "People say 'I'm taking it one day at a time'. You know what? So is everybody. That's how time works."

4) Tim Key: "Drive-Thru McDonalds was more expensive than I thought... once you've hired the car..."

5) Matt Kirshen: "I was playing chess with my friend and he said, 'Let's make this interesting'. So we stopped playing chess."

6) Sarah Millican: "My mother told me, you don't have to put anything in your mouth you don't want to. Then she made me eat broccoli, which felt like double standards."

7) Alan Sharp: "I was in a band which we called The Prevention, because we hoped people would say we were better than The Cure."

8) Mark Watson: "Someone asked me recently - what would I rather give up, food or sex. Neither! I'm not falling for that one again, wife."

9) Andrew Lawrence: "I admire these phone hackers. I think they have a lot of patience. I can't even be bothered to check my OWN voicemails."

10) DeAnne Smith: "My friend died doing what he loved ... Heroin."

'via Blog this'

Grover + Beastie Boys = The Beastie Beasts!

I feel like my video skills are gonna need an upgrade so I can do cool stuff like this.


Sesame Street breaks it down from Wonderful Creative on Vimeo.

Censorship

"A censor pronouncing a ban, whether on an obscene spectacle or a derisive imitation, is like a man trying to stop his penis from standing up," - J. M. Coetzee.

From the Daily Dish

Reverse ferret!

This is one of the most colorful things I've learned about the English press as a result of the Murdoch/News of the World phone hacking scandal.

Reverse ferret: "Reverse ferret is a phrase used predominantly within the British media to describe a sudden volte-face in an organisation's editorial line on a certain issue. Generally, this will involve no acknowledgement of the previous position.

The term originates from Kelvin MacKenzie's time at the The Sun. His preferred description of the role of journalists when it came to public figures was to "stick a ferret up their trousers." This meant making their lives uncomfortable, and was based on the northern sport of ferret legging (where contestants compete to show who can endure a live ferret within their sealed trousers the longest).

However, when it became clear that the tide of public opinion had turned against the paper's line, MacKenzie would burst from his office shouting 'Reverse Ferret!'"

Why Does this Make Me Happy? I Don't Know. It Just Does.

Classic-style cameos using Oreo cookies in lieu of gemstones. Other works in Judith Klausner's From Scratch series, including embroidered toast, mantis skeletons, and the union of moth and light bulb. 

Food Art of the Day - The Daily What

Ai Weiwei + MOMA + Beastie Boys = Cosmic Bouyancy

I was lucky enough to be in NY for the one of the late Thursday events this spring. Spring night, Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys spinner platters, and Art!

The most affecting thing I saw was a series of photographs take at famous locations around the world by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. The series includes the White House, the Eiffel Tower, and, below, Tienanmen Square. Ai was detained by the Chinese authorities this spring and released last week. The conditions of his release are still fairly restrictive.



A good write up on the Chinese government and Ai is here.

Other great things were the design exhibit and of course getting to visit "my Duchamps."

Grade Inflation...The Kids are Alright with That

Toothpaste for Dinner, via TDW

Animated Language

As a person who loved language (not wisely, but too well) to ever pay much attention to grammar, I quite enjoyed this. Ah, Stephen Fry, is there anything you can't do?



Watching the above reminded me of an animation of a Dadaist poem (by Kurt Schwitters) I saw years ago. This makes me happy.



Talk about defying the constraints of grammar. Dude.

Long bumper sticker. Need a wider car.

This was timely, today:

The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, answered, "Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.

I continue to believe that being present, remaining mindful in a world of stupefying complexity, is our greatest challenge as humans. Achieving it resolves many of our innner conflicts about judgment, purpose, meaning, and allow us to find the persistence of joy that living should be.

I suspect almost all claims of attribution on the web (burden of proof goes to the poster), but I am inclined to let this stand, because it wouldn't be less true if this was purportedly said by Thurgood Marshall, Alexander Pope, or Inspector Fuddlebutt. (I made one of those up. Extra credit opportunity to guess which.)

Reciprocity Failure: Moral- Take Photos...

A Song for Spring

Thanks to Amy for sharing this and reminding me that spring is never better celebrated than in a song by "Owl Jolson."

Have Fewer, Better Discussions Now!

I am working on a laminated, wallet-sized version of this.

From: 

Simoleon Sense » Blog Archive » Infographic: How To Have A Rational Discussion

Floating Island Football

The point of sports is not always drinking and gambling. Sometimes it is connection and hope. Or survival.

My li'l glass bowl just tripled in value...alas

My beloved little Higgins Glass studio in Riverside hits the big time in this deal with super-chic designer Jonathan Adler. (His Chicago store is also worth a trip.)

I'm glad I was able to lay in a few little pieces before they "sold out."

Higgins for Jonathan Adler on Cool Hunting

Realists vs Idealists

This seems like a pretty accurate way to segment the world. Especially at work.



Toothpaste for Dinner - The Daily What