Two for one over on Three Imaginary Girls

The writing muse wooed me today and I wrote two articles over on the Three Imaginary Girls music site.

Pearl Jam back in the day
Seventeen years + 1 day ago, I started loving live music shows.
(Pearl Jam plays Seattle's Key Arena tonight and tomorrow night)

Girl Talk and a remix manifesto
Rip: A Remix Manifesto is a new-ish documentary film about the legality of remixes and mashups and features Gregg Gillis of Girl Talk as the poster child for open source licensing.
(Girl Talk played a show in Seattle on Saturday and a second one tonight)

Dusky city soccer

dusk city soccer
Originally uploaded by JeanineAnderson

Cal Anderson Park supplies continuous photo ops.

Day trippin'

Got out of the city
Originally uploaded by JeanineAnderson

Lake Easton State Park is one of my favorite late summer/fall day trips when it's cool in Seattle and hot in Eastern WA.

The picnic area is very well shaded with tall pine trees and is located right on the lakeshore. Beer is tolerated, even if not expressly permitted. Dog are allowed on leashes; children may run free.

Lake Easton is the headwaters of the Yakima River, which is the main source of irrigation for the fruit and farm-rich Yakima Valley.

Located at exit 70 off I-90, about 10 miles east of Snoqualmie Pass. about 75 min from Seattle.

Picture from my magic gadget iPhone

Sidewalk fruit. red plums. Yum!

The wading pool at Cal Anderson Park! Haven't seen it filled before. A sad little spot no more.

The wading pool at Cal Anderson Park! Haven't seen it filled before. A sad little spot no more.
Originally uploaded by JeanineAnderson

Video: The Crocodile showroom redone

I was somehow lucky enough to accompany a writer on a pre-opening private tour of Seattle music venue The Crocodile earlier this week.

In one sentence: everything is different from what you remember of the old place.

Here's a 360 video of the showroom two days prior to first door open.


You can see the new showroom for yourself tonight and Friday, when local bands take the stage for what The Croc is calling soundchecks. These two nights are opportunity for the club's operations staff to fire up all engines for the first time and learn the kinks and quirks of the new place, prior to the first ticketed performance this weekend. The soundchecks tonight and Friday are completely free. You should go.

Read more about the tour and get some inside scoop in Chris Burlingame's article The Crocodile Sneak Peak. A few more photos from our tour are over on my Flickr.

The Crocodile is a new venue located at the old, long-storied Crocodile Cafe location in Belltown. (One such story goes like this: Eddie Vedder had his own personal key for the alley door so he could come and go whenever he wanted.) But this venue is not simply The Crocodile Cafe, reopened. It is The Crocodile, with a completely redone interior, top-of-the-line equipment and an operating philosophy which places quality over quantity. You will not see The Croc booking shows every night of the week, just to be open. If a good lineup can't be had, the club will be closed. (ala Showbox vs. Chop Suey vs. the old Crocodile Cafe.) I like this approach: it helps the performance-going public to distinguish between a good show and just a show. If The Croc books it, the club believes it will be good, and it is not just a date-filler on the club calendar.

The Crocodile folks we met were to-a-one friendly, approachable, open, fun, and really good people. I'm confident The Crocodile will soon enough have their own stories and be creating new memories for music lovers throughout the Puget Sound region.

It's the small things in life

toast tongs!
Originally uploaded by JeanineAnderson

These toast tongs are awesome! I've become hooked on toasted cheesy bagels and boy, oh boy, do they get HOT.

One of my kids (Glenn, I think) made these toast tongs in woodshop class and they've been neglected and fogotten in the mess of the utensil drawer.

After burning the fingertips, I briefly considered using a metal fork -- but yeah, I've seen the same cartoons as you and didn't want to turn into a b/w skeleton.

Wait, don't I have TOAST TONGS? Why yes I do! Nom nom nom.

Video: If I Made a Commercial for Trader Joe's

Who doesn't love Trader Joe's? This is a funny fan ad created by Carl's Fine Films, who describes this as an "unauthorized commercial for Trader Joe's shot on my Palm Treo before I accidentally ran over it with my car." The song perfect represents the TJ vibe.



There's a Trader Joe's three blocks from where I live. My favorite TJ things: good cheap wine, Parrano cheese for half the price of regular stores, feta cheese, organic marinara sauce, black bean dip, flattened bananas, choco-covered graham bites. I have more but I'll stop now.

Art: Wordle creates images from words

Wordle

You can make your own word art at www.wordle.net. Paste in any text, website address, or rss feed and go. After the image is generated you can play with options such as shape, colors, orientation, number of words to use, and fonts.

The fonts (typefaces) have funny names: Gunplay, Telephoto, Boopee, Sweater School Rg, Duality, Kenyan Coffee, Sexsmith, Owned, Silentina Movie, Tank, Scheme, Loved by the King, Alphabet Fridge Magnets All Caps, King Typewriter, plus more.

I made this Wordle from my Twitter posts. You can get a text file archive of all of your tweets on Twitter from TweetScan.

Advert: Check these eyebrows

I can't help but love the uber-creative ad spots the folks at Fallon come up with.

Eyebrow Dance



Cadbury’s Dairy Milk ad
agency: Fallon
creative: Nils-Petter Lovgren
production company: MJZ London
director: Tom Kuntz

Fucking David Foster Wallace (free)

Yeah, I know he's dead and all, but I have to be straight up: I couldn't get even half through An Infinite Jest. The novel was pretentious and hipster and navel-gazing and as hard to get into as any James Joyce piece of work.

I'm mostly alone in my opinion of David Foster Wallace, I realize. To be fair, I liked a few of his short stories in the collection Girl with Curious Hair. His writing was sharp and insightful in short form, particularly the first few in that collection. (The ones toward the end, meh, not so much.)

If I don't have anything else to do on Thursday April 26th, I might end up at the Hugo House and give fucking David Foster Wallace one more chance. I like the reader line up.

Reading and Celebration in Memory of David Foster Wallace
Thursday, February 26th 2009, 7:00 pm
Richard Hugo House
Free

Hugo House is hosting a special event celebrating the life and work of writer David Foster Wallace. Local luminaries David Schmader, Cienna Madrid, Paul Constant and other writers and performers will read from their most beloved of the late author’s work.

Wallace, who died tragically last September at the age of 46, was a writer of singular importance and influence, both as a literary stylist and as an exacting, hilarious, and heartbreaking examiner of the cultural and existential absurdities and tragedies in contemporary America. Come hear some of your favorite of Wallace’s essays, novels, and short fiction, or be introduced to this extraordinary writer for the first time.

For further information, contact Cristin Miller at cristinmlr@gmail.com

Make the story happen

In the dichotomous choice of cat or dog, I am dog. All the way. Not that I hate cats, I'm just mostly indifferent. (Just like a cat.) Yet, even I like this amusing video, Kittens Inspired by Kittens:



Yes, cat funny (LOL). But the video also perfectly captures what kidlets under 5 have in abundance: energy, creativity, and the ability to see the simply obvious. It's been 15 years since living with a 5-year old, so I forget the magic of a young child learning and shaping their world.

It reminds me to take time to think simply, to see the obvious, and to make the story happen.

(via LeeLeFever)

p.s. Please don't send me links to other "cute kid" videos. I can only tolerate one every three to six months. If you ignore my request, you'll get links to movies of my dog and of my vacations. The links will be disguised so well as to be irresistable. Be cool. Thank you.

A luxe date night on the cheap tonight

Tonight is the opening of a new art show hanging at Vermillion with local singer/songwriter PWRFL Power performing for the opening event. The art opening and performance tonight are free, so being broke is not an excuse to stay in. Get out and get on some art, music, and night air tonight.

This month's show at Vermillion, An Unfinished Edge, is about ambiguity, the spaces between, and what can happen when the observer is not supplied with the critical information of a story. Concerned with ideas of habitat, the work addresses conflicts and comparisons between the natural and human worlds.

Vermillion is an unpretentious space on Capitol Hill with art in the front and a comfortable, hip, and inexpensive wine and beer bar in the back. It's a great pre-func or meet up spot any time you're on the hill. The design of the space is lovely; the board games and 45s jukebox encourage lingering and hanging out. Although wi-fi isn't provided by Vermillion, I've been able to jump on neighboring networks easily enough.

Peeps are passionate about tonight's performer PWRFL Power: it's love or hate, with no middle ground. (More.) If you haven't heard him before, tonight's a no-risk chance to form an opinion.

Even if you aren't into the music, your trek to the hill is not a waste. There's lots of art to check out in the neighborhood: it's the monthly Capitol Hill Art Walk tonight. Capitol Hill Seattle created a handy walking map of participating businesses.

Vermillion
1508 11th Ave
Capitol Hill, between Pike and Pine

An Unfinished Edge, opening Thursday, February 12, 2009
Live Music by PWRFL Power And Guest DJs
6pm - Late, Free

2009 is International Year of Astronomy: Local Notes

2009 is the International Year of Astronomy, so here's two Seattle-related bits of cosmic news to start off the month of Galileo's birthday:

• Mt. Rainier made an appearance in NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day yesterday


• On February 15th, the Museum of Flight will unveil two new large-sized prints of multi-wavelength images of the spiral galaxy Messier.

Astronomy Picture of the Day is an unadorned site of gorgeous photos accompanied by explanations in plain English. The photo above is of lenticular clouds near Mt. Rainier, taken in December 2008. Browse the APOD archive for more amazing pics. I particularly like this one: The Milky Way Over Mauna Kea. Wow.

The two new prints at the Museum of Flight combine images from NASA's Great Observatories: the Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope, and Chandra X-Ray Observatory. The prints are provided by NASA as part of NASA's participation in International Year of Astronomy. One print displays the combined Hubble-Spitzer-Chandra images. A second print is a triptych that displays the three high-resolution images from Hubble, Spitzer, and Chandra side by side and with description captions below. The Museum of Flight is one of 100 organizations across the country to recieve two new prints from NASA. More info on the Museum of Flight's Happy Birthday Galileo! and print unveiling event to be held on February 16th.

Video: Stephen Colbert remixes himself

His own Remix Challenge results in Stephen Colbert remixing himself into a video with glowsticks and laser lights.

Stephen did not -- not -- want you to take his interview with Lawrence Lessig and remix it with a pumping k-hole groove. But you did it anyway. Stephen says, " I don't know what makes me angrier, here, the copyright infringement or the fact that those beats were so jaw-droppin', ear-poppin' fresh. "

So what's a guy like Stephen to do in response? He made his own, of course. Hahahahaha! Check it out: he busts out some hilarious dance moves.

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Stephen's Remix Challenge

Colbert at Christmas
Colbert Christmas DVD

Green Screen
Bill O'Reilly Interview

Aretha Franklin's Hat:

I'm having fun with Aretha Franklin's extra special President Obama Inaguration Day hat.

Birthday greeting for Emmy-winning friend Shannon:

DJ Adam Freeland wears it well:



Hedgehog Ms. Appa Pricklesworth isn't so sure.

Download the hat file here. The psd file has a transparent background for your own Photoshop play. Check out the Flickr gallery Aretha Franklin's Hat for inspiration.

Coraline: movie trailer v.2

Neil Gaiman says, "It's the first Coraline trailer I've liked ." This new trailer is much creepier than the earlier one. Love it!!

Related: I learned a new word today thanks to SlightlyNorth. His self-portait should be avoided by all koumpounophobes.

Coraline opens in theaters on February 6th.

O is for Obama

new shirt saved for today
Originally uploaded by JeanineAnderson

Happy day! I ordered this shirt back in November and saved it for today. It is designed by Alex Ross.
Yeah, I know Obama will not be perfect and he is not a superhero, but hell, I am happy he's of new generation who GETS today, the future and the opportunities ahead of us. And not afraid to call b-shit on b-shit. Hope. Engagement. Passion. Many are waking up from hibernation induced by despair.

Travel: a feast day for animal blessings

Today is Feast Day of de San Antonio de Abad in Mexico, which explains why there were lots of animals with the christmas trees and nativity scenes. This feast day is a religious holiday during which the Catholic Church allows animals to enter the church for blessing. I wonder how many of the many many dogs are brought into the church for an annual blessing today.

A couple of small towns were setting up carnival kiddie rides in their central town plazas on Thursday. I'm guessing the Feast Day is a community event and marks the end of the holiday season in Mexico.

I loved walking around the ordinary life spaces in the small towns and getting a sense of place and local people. This is sort of travel I value most.

Video: Daft Punk vs Freeland - Aer OBAMA

Just in time for the Jan 20th inauguration, directing team GOLD has released a fun video of Adam Freeland's Aer OBAMA track. The video is a stop motion multimedia piece featuring alt toys designed by Dalek, Bill McMullen and Kubrick. Freeland's Aer OBAMA is a remix of Daft Punk's Aerodynamic, mashed up with other tracks plus a speak-n-spell saying "Say it...O B A M A...You are correct!" OBAMA. Correct!



Less than 7 days remain in the Bush-whack administration. Finally, finally.
I'm counting down in Mexico at the moment and will be back in Seattle in time for inauguration festivities.

A Twitter Marriage Proposal

Text messaging is so old school. Be all high-techie-like and propose marriage via Twitter. Ultimate geek!
Grant Robertson proposed to his girlfriend Christina Warren today using Twitter. With 1,221 and 4,248 followers respectively, it was a risky move. However, they already have a ring picked out, so I suspect they had a previous private discussion. See the public tete-a-tete on grobertson's and film_girl's twitter pages.

p.s. I don't know this couple. I do, however, know a few people who live in Atlanta. Poor things.

Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch: It's Real and It's Bad

I heard just a little bit last year about the enormous island of garbage in the Pacific Ocean and I furrowed the brow for a second, but it took a random appearance of the Patch in a dream last week to prompt me learn more about it.

The following is part 1 of a video series documenting a research voyage led by Charles Moore, leader of the Agalita Marine Research Foundation. Charles Moore discovered the garbage patch in 1997, and has since devoted his life and family fortune toward research of and education about the Pacific Garbage Patch. The images are astounding.


(source)
I suspect there are lots of people like me: we care, we reuse/reduce/recycle yet aren't "environmentalists" hardcore. We're aware that plastic is bad for our planet, but thought that buying fewer plastic bottles and recycling was enough to absolve us of personal responsibility. I think not.

I'll be changing more of my consumer habits and deliberate actions as a result of learning about this mess. I'm not sure exactly how, but I do know I don't have to turn into a one-note environmentalist in order to have impact.

Thomas Morton, a member of documentary video crew provides an insightful and revealing commentary on his transformation as a result of the voyage:

All the journalism I’d read about the patch had carefully danced around physical descriptions of the trash, leading myself and the rest of the shooting crew to fanciful visions of a solid, Texas-size barge of discarded Coke bottles and sporting goods. The idea that people had managed to fuck up a part of the world that nobody even visits, much less inhabits, and on such a monumental scale struck me as interesting and, to be honest, slightly awesome-sounding, but at the end of the day the impact of the mess on the rest of the world failed to register. I mean, sure, sea birds choking to death on deflated balloons and sea turtles whose shells have been completely deformed by soda can rings (click here for a picture of this if you want to ruin your day)—all this definitely sucks, but so do a lot of things, you know?

Needless to say this whole journey ended up overturning my expectations about the Garbage Patch, as well as just about every misconception I’ve ever held about the sea, environmentalism, consumption, knots, pollution, humanity, and myself.
(Thomas Morton)

Learn more: Wikipedia, video series

Mother's Cookies Circus Animals to Return

frosted animals
Originally uploaded by JeanineAnderson

Like Oreos, Mother's Circus Animal cookies are a staple of my childhood and of my parenting years. So sad to read in early October that Mother's Cookies closed abruptly and filed for bankruptcy. Although it's been years years since I bought these cookies, they were always there on the shelf just in case.
Anyways, Bonnie spotted some bags at a Grocery Outlet (she calls it "the used foods store") and bought some for me. Nom nom yum!

Good news for Mother's cookies fans: in early December Kellogg announced that they have acquired the trademark and recipes from Mother's Cookies. We could be seeing these little pinks and whites back on the shelves later this year. Yay!
Check your used food store in the meantime, or get this t-shirt to let the world know about your cookie love.