Snow Saureses

Can you believe it hasn't snowed, like, at all yet this year? It's kind of a relief. I would only like to see big piles of the white stuff on the condition that somebody makes me an amazing snow sculpture like these:

I would put on my snow pants and ride them! These Dinosaurs are from the Saporro Snow Festival in Japan. They are truly in the tradition of Calvin and Hobbes!

Buckleberry Ferry- Follow Me.

Threadless is having an AMAZING sale right now- 9.99 t-shirts, with an additional 30% off with the code HAPPYFUZZY. Plus- Free shipping on orders over $75. Clearly, this was an opportunity to pick up some christmas gifts. To rack up enough dollar signs to get free shipping, I couldn't help but pick up something for myself.

My choice?

"The Brandywine"

What an awesome homage to J.R.R. Tolkien and also to booze. Can't wait to rock it!

Caturday XXXVI - Avada - cat - davra

Ever since Roosevelt has become an indoor/outdoor girl, I've been thinking about solutions to give her a little more autonomy in her comings and goings. Frankly, it's a pain to have to constantly by letting her in and out,and she's not a big fan of being out all day long. I think something like this could be a really cool solution. AND OMG IT'S THE BURROW!

Heights Workshop Builds 'Harry Potter' Cat House: MyFoxHOUSTON.com

Now if only there were a spell to keep her from bringing mice inside. Yuck!

Embarking

Tonight we fly to Germany! One thing we are excited to see are the famous "Mad King Ludwig" castles in Bavaria. They're the architecturally lavish, fairy tale fortresses that inspired the Walt Disney Cinderella Castle.

While these are beautiful, and without a doubt a marvel, I can't help but think we won't be seeing any castles as cool as this one:

Kelburn Castle in Scotland was transformed 3 years ago into a street art masterpiece by a group of Brazillian artists, commissioned by the Earl of Glasgow's children.

The city council only allowed the Earl to make the massive mural on the condition that it would only be up for 3 years. Now time is up, and the land owner is trying to make the work permanent. Unsuprisingly, some folks have a problem with this!

The Earl'ss family have lived in the grand manor for the last 800 years. I'm of the mindset that they should be able to paint their castle any way they want - historical preservation rules be damned.

I just love the juxtaposition of stoic old money splendor and bright colorful graffiti. Very Cool.

I won't be posting for awhile! Have a great start to your September, and I'll see you on the other side!

Beyond Belief

After seeing this extremely discouraging graph-

I've been feeling strengthened in my belief that science is the guiding purpose of the universe. I can't believe that 40% of Americans don't believe in any sort of evolution at all. It's just kind of upsetting that people are that uncomfortable with looking deeper into the formative aspects of reality.

It's kind of drawn me to another bit of body art inspiration:

Darwin tattoo for the win! If there is one thing I would want people to take away from a superficial look at my flesh, it's my faith in the scientific world.

Why yes! I will hang that on my wall!

So Cafe Press has a pretty substantial collection of fan-made Star Trek Merchandise. I was browsing through it other day. Some of the posters are really cool and well done!

Others...not so much. On that note, I present:

The Top 10 Laziest Star Trek Posters

1.

I wanted to start with this one, because it's not exactly "lazy"...it's more strange and awkward. WEIRD!

2.

3.

I should point out that there are TONS of these, one for pretty much every lead male character that has been on the show.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Just a Shirt? WHY FOR?

9.

10.

YOU LITERALLY CANNOT EVEN SEE WHAT THIS IS!

Bathing Beauty

I'm sorry that we're going to miss this on our upcoming German jaunt.

For the next ten days, this neat floating installation will be gracing the waters of Alster Lake in Hamburg.

The sculpture is by Oliver Voss, and is 13 feet high and 98 feet long!

I find it pretty surprising that a local mayor has said that this is "sullying the beloved lake." I thought Germans were down with nudity here there and everywhere. And this nudity is merely implied! IMPLIED!

Ah well, I think its super rad and fun!

Jittery Zeitgeist

I posted not too long ago about one of my favorite street artistes - Jeremy Fish.

I can't believe I overlooked the fact that he's collaborated heavily with rapper Aesop Rock, creating art for not 1, but 2 music videos!



Also, did you know that Aesop Rock is brilliant?



I've been into to rap lately. But it has to be good rap! I like Aesop Rock because his lyrics are really imagery heavy and kind of abstract. I guess I like verse encroaching on the ambiguous borders of poetry.

Strong is Truth

In my ever expanding catalog of things that I think about getting tattoos of, but probably won't, I've added a new category. Arms from my favorite European Places! The City of Oxford has a pretty cool crest, and a pretty awesome motto.

However, I hesitate to permanently put that scary ass beaver on my skins. I am glad that real life beavers do not resemble body builders so strongly! Yikes.

Apparently that buff rodent represented Henry Norreys of Rycote, who spent a week at Christ Church College in 1566. He was the son of the Henry Norreys who was beheaded for doing Anne Boleyn. Way to rise above that and become a green manifestation of a most industrious beast!

Heart!

I recently read all of John Allison's webcomic Bad Machinery. In one sitting. Yes, it is that good!

It follows the adventures of 6 private school children in England who have a propensity for mystery-solving and discovering fantastical beasts in their midst.

I like the humor, the art style, the characters, and the somewhat surreal alternate reality that exists in the fictional Town of Tackleford.

You should read this!

The Precipice

I have a big presentation tomorrow at work that I feel like will define my relationship with the rest of the company. I am presenting to all the department managers. The Executive Director is going to do an introduction.

It all seems rather daunting at the moment!

Very Grownup Indeed

First, the good news: Not only can I get a manicure, but I can get business cards too!

That's right! Even though I didn't get to keep my position working in Brown Bag, The Food Bank hired me for another exciting position. I am officially the Agency Capacity Coordinator for Franklin and Hampshire county! (That is, starting Monday :)) That means I'm a liaison between The Food Bank and all the various community organizations that make up the emergency food system. It's a pretty exciting and interesting opportunity and I'm very pleased to accept it.

We went to the Moan and Dove last night to celebrate, and accidentally stumbled into the opening of an art show there. Giddy on professional advancement and Hennepin, we decided to purchase one of the stunning paintings by local artist (and self confessed "anti-archtophilist" - it's on his business cards!) Brent Klockars. It was the first time that I think I've bought real art, and it seemed like kind of a milestone.

Here are some examples of Klockars' style. The paintings are really more beautiful though when you see them in person. They'll be on the wall until the end of the month there at the Dove. You can also check out his etsy store.

New job, new art. March is actually turning out to be a good month for once, even considering the weather.

Skulls and Bunnies

Last night Paul and I finally watched the documentary "Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)"; a street art documentary about a guy making a street art documentary. I highly recommend it, it will provoke your thoughts about "vandalism", art, capitalism and desperate trendiness. It gave me a new appreciation for the artistic skills good graffiti actually requires. It also taught me (finally) what the deal is with those Andre the Giant "Obey" stickers you see everywhere.
 
The movie also got me thinking about some of my favorite contemporary artists. You know who's awesome? Jeremy Fish. He's a skateboard designer who combines morbid shit with pure cuteness. While a lot of his work is commissioned for products-

-He's done his fair share of street art too.

He's a good example of the line between consumerism and integrity that pop artists face in these modern times.

You're a House Cat

The Daily Mail posted today about a study which found that British women have an increasing desire to be stay-at-home wives and mothers. The article notes that 64% or women aspire to marry a man that makes more than them, and 69% would prefer to stay home and raise children over re-entering the workforce.

It's an interesting and enduring topic of feminism, the priorities and power of women. Whether or not you work after having kids is an issue that defines a woman far more than any other choice does. Not just in your own personal sense of self, but in the way other women classify you in the hegemony of feminism.

There is a fair bit of strength growing in the stay-home corner. Mommy-bloggers are the new voice of the housewife, and there is a lot of power in their organized ranks. One word and collective re-blogging from them can make or break a product. At the same time though there is still derision from the populace, and in the anonymity of the web it is not uncommon to see these mothers dismissed as snobbish and lazy.

The snobbish angle is actually pretty easy to buy, because who else can afford to be a stay at home mom these days but the affluent? Biodegradable diapers and organic baby food are the hip topic du jour because that's the caliber of product a person who can stay home can afford. I think that making stay at home motherhood a more widely available opportunity would really be to the benefit of all people. But I'll get to that...

 

A return to celebrating home making is something that I can get excited about. While I'm no Martha Stewart, I do feel that that there's something immensely satisfying about supporting and perfecting your household. 

There's a part of me that feels like ever since I started working 40 hours a week, that I'm not living up to the wifely standard that I hold myself to. I look around and see the dirty dishes left undone, the projects I've been neglecting, and bathrooms in need of scrubbing and feel truly overwhelmed. When I only worked four days a week, I felt more comfortable in my home, like I was caring for it properly. It gave me time to organize, cook more dinners, and take the stress of chores off the shoulders of Paul, who frankly is the bread winner of the family. It makes me feel good to take care of the homely things. It makes me stressed out when things are left undone.

I don't feel its wrong to take pride in housework and cooking, and I don't think it's wrong to consider the success of these tasks my wifely duty. And heck, I am pretty sure that I'll want to stay home with children once we have some.

I actually think that having more stay-at home mom's would be a positive step for modern a society. More children with an active, strong home life helps assure the moral and societal development of our future. I also see it as a necessity for the propagation of our economic system. We work in a time where labor is no longer imperative. More and more jobs, duties and tasks are being delegated to automation. We have a high unemployment rate, and our rate of creating new jobs falls short of even the number of people initially entering the work force consistently, We should really come to terms with the fact that a full time job for every American is not a realistic vision of the future. It will take a feat of societal re-working, but we possibly could retool a labor-force that is fair but competitive. One way would be to guarantee a living wage, and make stay-home motherhood more feasible for the working poor. The other would be to re-distribute the amount of hours in a standard work-week. If people worked a schedule that is considered "part-time" all the time, it would provide more opportunities for others to work, while increasing the potential for worker happiness through personal development and leisure.

I know in my heart though that these ideas for a Utopian part-time society are pipe-dreams. What with our workaholic, bootstrap, capitalist culture, it would be almost impossible to stop people from working their hardest for personal career gain. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, we've got moxie.

And I'm certainly not yearning for the sexist days of yore, where a career woman's goals were seen as prone to flights of fancy and romance.



I certainly wouldn't criticize any woman who wants to build their career throughout their lives. It's a wonderful goal, to be successful and great at what you do. But part of me does wish that the virtues of good housekeeping were more celebrated as they were in the so-called good old days. Not in a "don't worry you're pretty head way", but in a

kind of way.

Best New Toy

I got Paul a Nerf Maverick six-shooter as a Christmas gift this year. It's awesome!


We went out and bought a second one for me recently, and have been having sweet duels and shoot outs. It's super fun, and a great way to beat the already encroaching cabin fever. I would say its some of the best entertainment I've ever bought for less than $10.


What do you think? Should we take it to the next level and start modding them? Some people out there are real intense about their Nerf guns and paint them to look all steam-punk. Crazy!

Welp, as Paul said: "Everybody needs a hobby."