Todays Moment of Happiness - Bare Naked!

I wish this were an actual music video as it is one of my favorite Christmas covers ever: Bare Naked Ladies and Sarah McLachlan. Canadian's doing it up right. Turn it up and make some cookies!

End of the year update

I've been very quiet on this blog - having not posted since April. Part of the reason was my other blog that took precedent over the summer ( http://www.cocksauce.us/). It too was neglected after my partner came back from the trip and we got immersed in nesting in our new house.

I'm now in the process of re-thinking this blog, the other blog, and a potential new blog. To wit - do I want to blog at all? And, if so, should I restructure this one? Should I maintain two separate blogs each with its own focus? Why am I blogging in the first place? Can I maintain a commitment to it (or them)?

I hope to come to some decision this weekend so stay tuned!

April is Poetry Month Video Bonus #3

Taylor Mali "What Teachers Make."

I can't decide if this piece is passionate or pretentious. What do you think?

April is Poetry Month Video Bonus #2

"Man and woman in bed at 10 p.m" by Charles Bukowski.

Narration: Eitan Alon.
Animation & sound: Gal Weiss

April is Poetry Month Video Bonus #1

From Def Poetry Jam: Shihan performs "This Type Love"

Today's Moment of Happiness - The Killers

We watched Southland Tales the other night and, well, let's just say that half-way through the movie I got up and started balancing my checkbook. Do you know how rarely that happens? Anyway, parts of this song was used for one of it's musical interludes and it was pretty awesome.

Today's Moment of Happiness - Is there Life on Mars?

Beware the Brides of March!

What else are am I going to do on a Saturday night?

All these were taken by esspressobuzz. Check out the Brides photostream on Flickr as well as his other great pictures.

Today's Moment of Happiness - A little TLC

While having some poorman's noodles for lunch at Thai Tom the other day, they started playing TLC. They usually have a mix of stuff playing but that day they played the entire album, CrazySexyCool. For todays moment of happiness it was a toss-up between "Creep"and "Red Light Special". I went with the first cut off the album.

Cool mural

I found this wonderful mural over at Design*Sponge today. I especially like the owl with glow in the dark eyes.

Today's Moment of Happiness - Can I Get a Napkin, Please?

For more information on this mission and many others, check out Improv Everywhere!

The Golden Age of Children's Book Illustrators

Being sick allows for some unfettered internet trawling. One game I play is a mixture of hitting the "Next Blog" button at the the top of Blogger pages and following any interesting links that turn up. Today I stumbled on Nocloo.com and its treasure trove of Children's Book Illustrations - many of which I had not heard of or seen. Here are a bunch of new discoveries:

Here is an example of the work of Umberto Brunelleschi - from the book Contes du Temps Jadis:



A Harry Clarke illustration from Swinburne Selected Poems:


Warwick Goble from The Modern Reader's Chaucer:

Gennady Pavlishin from Folktales of the Amur:


Arthur Rackham is one of my favorites. This illustration for Little Brother and Little Sister was brand new for me, but you can get a good sense of how delicate his art can be:


Check out Nocloo.com for more. They are also offering glycee prints.

Today's Moment of Happiness - Tom and Janice

While looking for a birthday song for my sister (see below) I stumbled across this awesome performance of Tom Jones and Janice Joplin from his live 1969 show "This is Tom Jones". I so wish that I could have been one of those long haired dancing freaks in the background.

Happy Birthday, Paula!

Yesterday was my sister Paula's birthday. Because we are closest in age I have the least problem remembering her date of birth. Unfortunately, I'm still late with the birthday wishes. No surprise there, really :)

Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Behold Butters the Winnecycle!

According to Ivan, Butters won't officially become a Winnecycle (or a Bikabago) until it's fully loaded down for our trip, but I wanted to see what the title looked like in print.

I don't yet own Butters, but we went down to Angle Lake Cyclery - the only place in Seattle to get a recumbent - where I got on one and pedaled around for the first time. It was kind of scary at first. I didn't fall over or anything, but the shift in body position from vertical to semi-horizontal is off-putting. You have to move your body differently and the turn radius is larger than in a traditional diamond frame upright.

But both Ivan and Dale, the owner of Angle Lake who ran behind me for a while holding on to me while I got the knack, said I did really well for my first time and placed me high up on the learning curve. I was happy with the assessment because this isn't a cheap toy we're buying and I would hate to make the purchase and then discover that I have no aptitude for the style at all. Additionally, it struck me that, putting the trip aside, Butters will need to become my main bike to further justify the cost so I'd damn well better learn to love riding a recumbent. Since Ivan has accepted a position with the Fremont Solstice Parade this spring I'll have a good three months to both acclimate and get into shape as we won't be leaving now until July.

In the meantime, we went ahead and placed and order. A yellow Bacchetta Giro 26 (just like the picture) with a few modifications: wider handle bars; wider, tougher tires to handle the long miles; a rear rack; bottle rack, and clipless pedals (which are both a misnomer and scare the hell out of me.) With luck, it will be ready in a couple of weeks.

Today's Moment of Happiness - I'm gonna stop talking about hair now.

Seriously. This is the last of it.

Long vs. Short: The Finale

Sean and I compromised. He cut off the back and left the front and sides long enough to push behind my ears.

Today's Moment of Happiness: Long vs. Short, Pt. 3

Sometimes I need a little perspective.

Today's Moment of Happiness: Long vs. Short, Pt. 2

The other side of the argument. (Also? If it were the late 1960's/early 1970's I, too, would not kick Mick Jagger out of bed.)

Short vs. Long

long hair cow, originally uploaded by astrothug.

Me: Do like my hair better long or short?

Him: Short.

Me: Shorter than it is now?

Him: Yeah. I like it when it's off your face.

Me: Huh. (Considers effort it's taken to grow it thus far)

Me: Sean likes it short, too.

Him: Who's Sean?

Me: My gay hair dresser.

Him: Well, there you go. The two most significant men in your life.

Spring is for Biking

We took our bikes out for the first time this year (2008) on Sunday. We didn't go very far in our travels - from breakfast to coffee to REI to home - maybe about 5 miles but, man alive, was I exhausted from the moment I got home till I went to bed the following night! Perhaps it were the hills that did me in but I still felt like a complete loser for not being able to hack 5 measly miles. Jeez.

Well, whatever. I rode my bike to work this morning in preparation for the start of the Ride in the Rain challenge that begins next week. (We have the worst team name ever in the history of team names. It's so bad, I just pretend that we don't have one.) My ride will be a little over 6 miles round trip and the return home is all. up. hill. Tough but, if nothing else, my ass will look great and it is great incentive to start training for the big ride later this spring and the mountains we will surely climb.

Speaking of which, Ivan ordered two different sets of maps this weekend from Adventure Cycling so we can get a closer look at the two routes we're considering: the TransAmerican and the Northern Tier. I've decided to let him decide what route, or combination of routes, we'll take. I'm pretty jazzed just about doing the trip and doing it together that I really don't care what route we'll take because I can't imagine not finding all of it interesting. He's been a little more discerning about it, so I figure it should be his call.

I hadn't planned on getting my bike for the trip until early April, but Ivan pointed out that sooner is better than later as we may need to put in an order for what I want which may delay us in getting it. So we'll probably head down to Angle Lake Cycles in the next couple of weeks. At this point, we're thinking about getting the same model as his. We'll see if that'll work out.

Todays Moment of Happiness - The Shat!!!

The first few seconds of this was clipped but other than that? Ben Folds on keyboards, Joe Jackson on supporting vocals aaaannnndddddd.......The Shat!

Seriously, track down the album version of this. It's worth it!

What Every Woman Knows By Now

I'm really, really liking the feminist/fashion/pop culture blog Jezebel (link to the right). Today they posted an excerpt from an article from Atlantic Magazine printed in 1950 and, man, how things have not changed in the weird world of womens fashion magazines. I'm gonna post the entire thing below but a warning to dudes: you might actually have to be a woman to really appreciate the humor and irony here.

It is as much a source of amazement as of income to me that readers of the women's magazines have such an insatiable thirst for reading the same information over and over again, despite the fact that any one year's reading must inevitably give enough information about the technique of being a woman to see one through a lifetime. I have, then, no fear of spoiling the market, either for myself or others. Every subject in this symposium, given a snappy title and an angle that appeals to the editor, will still be worth a substantial fee.

ACCESSORIES
The simplest are in the best taste.
Men like women to be in the best taste.

BROKEN HEARTS
Find a new interest
Time cures all.
Men don't like women to ring them up.

CARE OF FACE
Remove old make-up with cream (dry skins), lotion (oily skins), or superfatted soap (if you must).
Then dab face with an astringent lotion.
Then pat in nourishing cream.
Blackheads are frequently due to internal causes. Drink lots of water.
Men are repelled by pimples.

CHARM
Charm is an indefinable quality.
Men like it.

CLOTHES
Choose the clothes that suit you.
You can be perfectly dressed at every income level.
Little touches of white must be immaculate.
Diagonal stripes are slimming.
Invest your all in one good little black dress (or tweed suit).
Don't go in for clutter but have lots of bits and pieces that will make one outfit do the work of ten.
Men like black satin, well-cut tweeds, floating tulle, utter simplicity, and don't notice what you wear anyway.

CULTURE
Read good books sometimes.
Men don't like cultured women much.

FIGURE
Figure deficiencies are frequently glandular. Consult your doctor.
A good corset can correct many figure faults. Have it fitted by an expert.
Good exercises can correct bad figures. Here are some.
Men like good figures.

FURS
If you can't afford good furs don't have any, but there are some awfully cheap ones in the shops.
Men are impressed by mink -- but then, so are you.

HAIR ON THE HEAD
The condition of the hair reflects the general health.
Massage with the finger tips stimulates the scalp.
Brush fifty times a day and wash at least every fortnight.
Choose the hair style that suits you and don't get into a rut.
No moral opprobrium is attached to dye.
Men love those gleaming tresses.

HAIR, SUPERFULOUS
In the armpits remove by depilatory.
On the legs remove by depilatory, wax, sandpaper, or razor; the last will coarsen the new growth.
On the face remove by wax (will weaken growth) or by electrolysis (will kill it).
If the growth is slight, bleach with peroxide-and-ammonia.
Men notice superfluous hair.

HANDS
Before doing rough work smooth a protective cream over your hands.
After washing, smooth a creamy lotion over your hands.
Make your hands flexible by shaking in one way or another.
File your nails to the shape that suits you.
Press back your cuticles after you've had a bath.
Chipped polish looks slovenly.
Men abhor scarlet talons.

JEWELRY
One big good piece is better than a lot of little cheap trinkets.
One big cheap piece is better than a lot of little good ones.
In fact, One Big Piece is Best.
Men are better if they like jewelry.

MAKE-UP
Smooth on foundation cream or lotion, not forgetting neck.
Add rouge where it improves the natural shape of your face.
Add discreet eye-shadow and mascara on the upper lids only.
Paint outline of lips with a brush, fill in with lipstick, blot on a tissue, powder, and add more lipstick.
Press in powder over face and neck; remove surplus.
Men don't like women to be obviously made up.

MANNERS
Be sweet to old people.
Be kind to his mother.
Be nice to other girls -- they have brothers.
Don't comb your hair or clean your nails in public.
Don't order direct from the waiter.
Don't swear or drink too much.
Men hate red marks on coffee cups.

MARRIAGE
Enter it joyously and proudly.
Remember you've got to take as well as give.
There are all sorts of compensations.
Men should be encouraged to wash up.

PERFUME
Choose the perfume that suits you.
Spray it onto your body but never onto your clothes.
Test new perfume by trying a drop on the back of your hand.
Have different perfumes for different moods or make one perfume distinctively YOU.
Men are enraptured by perfume.

SHOPPING
Either go with an open mind or with a rigidly-to-be-adhered-to list.
Either enlist the help of the shop assistant or don't let her make up your mind for you.
Either men like shopping or -- more usually -- they don't.

SHYNESS
Prepare a few conversational remarks to break the ice.
Try to put the other person at his ease.
Instruct yourself in current affairs.
Join a club.
Men like a woman to be a good listener.

SPECIAL OCCASIONS
Cream hands thickly and sleep in gloves the night before.
Try to fit in a facial and a hair-do.
Rest for an hour with your feet up and pads over your eyes.
Make up extra specially carefully.
Oh, men, men, men.

TOP SECRET
Consult your doctor.
Send us a stamped addressed envelope.
Men are beasts.

Headboard Drawers

Headboard Drawers, originally uploaded by Maryja.

We have our bed!

Craig finished it this past weekend and he and Ivan spent an entire afternoon transporting it to our place and setting it up. Doors had to be removed and shelves taken down to maneuver the 3 large pieces that comprise the entire unit into our bedroom where Craig then reassembled it.

We've both emptied our dressers (and purged some articles of clothing in the process) and still have plenty of room in the drawers which is good because we have laundry to do and will need the space.

Click on the pic to go to my Flickr page for shots of the entire bed.

Today's Moment of Happiness: Animated Gomez

Another fan video, but this one is all kinds of awesome. An animated dream set to "Notice" by one of my favorite bands, Gomez, from their album How We Operate.

Today's Moment of Happiness: Emma Bunton

Was never a big Spice Girls fan, but I love this song. So in honor of the end of the Spice Girls World Tour here is Baby Spice solo!

I'm Feeling Crafty, Part 2

I've taken a couple of steps in my great craft project. First, I braved the crowds at Ikea and purchased a Ribba frame in white so I can paint it if I want to. The last image in the mosaic above is the frame in black.

Next I did some research into craft paper. Since it's looking like this will reside in the bedroom I found a number of potential backgrounds at JCaroline Creative. I may end up buying all of the papers shown above and a couple of backup neutrals because I really don't know what will end up looking the best with our fuschia wall colors and the different gem stone colors in my necklaces. Maybe it won't matter at all, but it'll be nice to have options. More next weekend, I hope.

Rumi: Those Who Don't Feel This Love

Fan Dancers!

Literary update

It didn't take long to decide that Jane Boleyn was going to be kind of crappy so I returned it to the library and picked up a book from my own shelf to read. I have a number of books that I've purchased because they look interesting but have never read. Umberto Eco was the lucky bastard this time so last night I started The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana and already I'm feeling much happier and anticipating a good read. Links for both books are to the right.

Eight Drawers

Eight Drawers, originally uploaded by Maryja.

Moving into, and sharing, a small space means utilizing every square inch of available real estate. One way that we decided to do this in our bedroom was to have a friend who is a furniture designer and builder actually, well, design and build a storage bed that we could put two dressers worth of clothes into. We worked with Craig to figure out the unique properties of the room (long and narrow with a radiator) and designed the bed to function within those properties. It was a pretty cool and painless process.

Anyway, Craig is finishing up the bed today (drawer pulls that took forever to decide on) and it will be delivered tomorrow. I can't wait to see it! There are a couple other pictures of the bed in process on my flickr page. Hopefully, Ivan will remember to take lots of pictures tomorrow when he helps Craig load it up, transport it, and set it up.

I'll post more when I can.

Today's Moment of Happiness: Iron & Wine

A fan vid of still images set to "Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car" by Iron & Wine. I suggest cranking volume and pretending that you are listening to the radio.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Van Helsing.

Heh. The facial expression on Dracula's face when dealing with Van Helsing pretty much matches my own when thinking about him.

At long last, I finished Dracula last night and I'm glad to be done with it. I am generally in favor of Victorian romances counting Wilkie Collins' "The Moonstone" and "The Woman in White" among my favorites. In point of fact, Stoker borrowed heavily from "The Moonstone" by using multiple narrators and journal entries to weave his tale. Unfortunately, he lacks Collins' ability to create well rounded characters that are distinguishable from each other. This might not actually apply to Van Helsing but he insists in saddling the character with a weird 'pidgin' english (the character is from Amsterdam) and a propensity to go on at length that makes reading a tedious, tedious experience. And please, don't get me started on the whole religious aspect of the text.

Anyway, done now and on to an historical biography of Jane Boleyn (check out the link under Bedside Table). Unfortunately, at 4 chapters in, I am beginning to find the writer's style amateurish and the subject matter lacking any real meat. After slogging through Dracula till the bitter end I may give myself permission to drop this before finishing it.

Red Valentine!

Darryl Hall once pointed at me during a concert! Soooo dreamy...hee!

Happy Valentines Day!

Blue Valentine

Because all the best love stories have an element of sadness.

Today's Moment of Happiness - Saturday Night Version

We dodged a bullet, folks.

Is anybody else breathing a sigh of relief?

Pablo Neruda - Standard Oil Co.

I'm feeling kind of crafty

With all of the home improvements and decorating we've been doing since the fall, I've found myself itching to do some sort of craft project for myself. I didn't know what until I stumbled over some jewelry organization projects in Blueline/Blueprint via Design*Sponge.

I'm not a big jewelry wearer - rings and bracelets get in the way and I had a late in life brush with pierced ears that ended painfully and puffily. But I do love necklaces and I have several that meet my very particular tastes. However...they are all in a small box somewhere - out of sight and out of mind. Consequently, I rarely wear them.

So, once I saw the lovely DIY projects at Design*Sponge I knew what I wanted to do - make a lovely display box to feed my craft yen AND make my necklaces more than just a box warmer. First on my list - rustle up an appropriate shadow box or small glass front curio case. (If I end up putting this in the bathroom, I'll need something a glass door as it will need to be enclosed to protect them from moisture.) Next, decided on location: bedroom vs. bathroom. Third, make the darn thing.

Instructions from Blueprint are below:

Boxed Rings
If surface area in your bedroom is scarce, try a wall-mounted solution on for size. This jazzed-up shadow box, retrofitted with a variety of hooks and knobs, shelters delicate earrings and chains from possible entanglements while turning them into objets d'art. Small decorative bowls perched on the box's lower ledge corral rings, pins, and brooches and complete the charming trinket tableau.

Box How-To
1. Select a shadow box (or a small wine crate) with a back and sides that are at least 1/4 inch thick to accommodate the hooks. Sand and prime the box, then apply two coats of semigloss spray paint.

2. Cut a piece of decorative paper to fit inside the box, coat the back of the paper with spray adhesive, and press it into place, smoothing it from the center out to the corners with your fingers. Then lay out the jewelry where you'd like it to hang and screw in hooks at the appropriate points.

3. Finally, add two evenly spaced saw-tooth hangers to the box's back for a steady mount.

Credits: Shadow box, $12, frames-direct.com. Similar Berenson "Barcelona" knobs, $6 each, cdmcabinethardware.com. Rust-Oleum "Painter's Touch" spray paint in Seaside Green, $3, rustoleum.com for stores. "Nepal Fish-scale" paper, $5 per sheet, New York Central Art Supply, 212-473-7705

I'll be sure to post pictures when I have something.

Domino Bedrooms

Domino Magazine has a slide show of reader bedrooms and I've included four here that I like. They are in no particular order and I like them for all quite different reasons. For instance, the picture above. I like the cool blue and the simplicity of the design.

The white bedroom below I like for the horizontal planking on the wall, and the slightly bohemian feel. It may be a bit "Anthropologie" to my taste, but I think it could be a cool starting point.



Except for the reflection of Jesus in the mirror, there are a lot of things I like about the room below - especially the blue paint and the chalk like mural of tree and full moon. I don't think I'd ever get tired of looking at that.



The last room (pictured below) is meant for a child, and pink is not my favorite color. However, our bedroom is already painted dark pink with a pale pink trim and I have to admit it is pretty restful. But I would love to add some dimension to the room and I love the paper parasol display. No "Hello Kitty" for me but, otherwise, the fun in this room is infectious.

Happy Lunar New Year!

Today is Lunar New Years Eve, with tomorrow being the first day of the "Chinese" New Year which is, by the way, The Year of the Rat.

I find the Chinese New Year and by extent, the Chinese horoscope, to be incredibly complicated so I limit myself to knowing that I was born in the Year of the Sheep and that, in this year of the rat, love is going to be the theme.

However, I find these two bits of information to be really interesting:

According to legend, in ancient China, the Nián was a man-eating beast from the mountains (in other versions from under the sea), which came out every 12 months somewhere close to winter to prey on humans. The people later believed that the Nian was sensitive to loud noises and the colour red, so they scared it away with explosions, fireworks and the liberal use of the colour red. These customs led to the first N(ew Year celebrations. Guò nián, which means to celebrate the new year, literally means the passover of the Nian.

And this:

The first day is for the welcoming of the deities of the heavens and earth. Many people, especially Buddhists, abstain from meat consumption on the first day because it is believed that this will ensure longevity for them. Some consider lighting fires and using knives to be bad luck on New Year's Day, so all food to be consumed is cooked the day before.

Most importantly, the first day of Chinese New Year is a time when families visit the oldest and most senior members of their extended family, usually their parents, grandparents or great-grandparents.

You can find more information about the Chinese New Year here, and here.

Gil Scott Heron -The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

The revolution will be real...

Rejiggering the pokey

I spent a little bit of time playing around with the blogs layout and links section.

I wish that either Blogger had more flexibility in blog layout/design or that I had more (re: any) hacking skills to restructure and redesign the blog to my liking. But I don't so I have to content myself for the moment with temporary fixes.

What I've done is shorten the number of posts viewable by limiting them to the last three days of posting. I've also added and rearranged the Link sections over to the right. I've added a "Daily Links" section for the sites that I check out pretty much everyday starting with news/commentary, ending with design/small living and sandwiching some miscellaneous fun sites in between.

"Links" has been changed to "Friends of Rimer" to which I've added Espressobuzz' Flickr page.

I'm still undecided on the number links to include in "Turntable" and "Bedside Table" and probably will for awhile. It really doesn't matter how many links are there which makes it oddly hard to come to a decision about it.

"Archives" are at the bottom.

Update: Not able to leave well enough alone, I've also changed the font to 'verdana'. I think it reads easier now.

Today's Moment of Happiness - No Rain

Admit it, you're bopping around and singing, aren't you?

Mini Dracula review

I'm almost done reading "Dracula" for the first time. My brief review of the novel thus far is: Dear god, sit DOWN, Abraham Van Helsing! Sit down and SHUT UP!

Gina Loring: Somewhere there is a poem

Awesome, awesome, awesome!

BAA!

OK. See this picture of a map of the US with a red and blue line snaking across it? Well, keep this image somewhere in the back of your mind. It will be important in the very near future!

Green walls, yellow trim, jungle door

Green walls, yellow trim, jungle door
Originally uploaded by Maryja

Well, we got through most of the painting for the bathroom late last week.This shot shows all of the primary colors and the verra cool jungle motif that has been preserved through the last 3 paint colors including this one.

We are considering painting some trees, leaves, birds, flowers to cut down on the 'greeness' a little. Will post more if we do.

Also, the picture links to my Flickr account where you can see the paint process (of sorts).

Somewhat NSFW - Fuck Ashton Kutcher

Dave Chappelle performs two poems on Def Poetry Jam.

Love Poem

Valentine's Day is just around the corner. I generally don't embrace most holidays, but I do embrace love and poetry and Pablo Neruda.

Mr. Savage Goes to South Carolina

Speaking of The Slog, our very own Dan Savage, editor of The Stranger and it's nationally syndicated sex columnist, went on the road before the South Carolina Caucus and reported the story on Real Time with Bill Maher.

Tissues required

This was posted this morning The Strangers Slog. I'm not kidding when I say break out the tissues, you will need them.

Today's Moment of Happiness - Oblio!

Oblio, Arrow and the Land of Point. 'Nuff said.

Bathroom in bird form

We are in the process of (re)painting our bathroom and the little bird above, a Puerto Rican Tody, is almost exactly the shade of green about to go on the walls and the yellow of our trim. Before the primer went on the bathroom was a lovely, but really dark, shade of eggplant. However, the space is about 4' x 6' with only one light source above the mirror resulting in a really dark room in which my face would float ghost like in the mirror while every other part faded into the background. Seriously, I couldn't ever see my hair.

I think it's safe to say we won't have this problem for much longer.

Today's Moment of Happiness: Patty Griffin

Patty wrote for this her dog. Here's hoping that y'all have someone in your life, canine or otherwise, who makes you feel like this.