Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Mr Obvious



Max really thinks a bird is going to land while he's waiting right under the bird feeder. He's losing his touch. He kept moving his head around, too, such stealth.

local cutie patooties






We leave our door open to the porch as much as possible. I love inviting in the friendly bugs, the mosquitoes and flies ( unfortunately for them) get caught and fed to our house spiders. We are such weirdos, I know. My father makes a pity face at us whenever we talk about how cute they are, or the babies that emerge. I know he's thinking: these two need a kitten, or even a human baby.

Thankfully, our neighbor has an indoor/outdoor cat (he is only one of two of our neighbors grandfathered into the no cats policy) in which to indulge our need to coo and pet and fuss. Max is street smart, he never seems to venture far, just around the complex, and through the field, I mean, his field. He will not tolerate any other animal in there. We've finally sweetened him up enough to come in and hang out (tuna always helps). Sometimes he even takes a 1 minute kitty nap in the homemade meant for shelter animals cat bed I made.

Here he is:


We get tons of ladybugs, endlessly circling the edge between the wall and the ceiling. I've finally started taking pity on them and moving them outside. Here is a photo montage of my releasing her, using macro on my digital camera. She went under the teeny tiny maple tree (I think) to hide and drink some moss water.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

HIPSTER

Hipster: The Dead End of Western Civilization | Adbusters Culturejammer Headquarters
I‘m sipping a scummy pint of cloudy beer in the back of a trendy dive bar turned nightclub in the heart of the city’s heroin district. In front of me stand a gang of hippiesh grunge-punk types, who crowd around each other and collectively scoff at the smoking laws by sneaking puffs of “fuck-you,” reveling in their perceived rebellion as the haggard, staggering staff look on without the slightest concern.

The “DJ” is keystroking a selection of MP3s off his MacBook, making a mix that sounds like he took a hatchet to a collection of yesteryear billboard hits, from DMX to Dolly Parton, but mashed up with a jittery techno backbeat.

“So… this is a hipster party?” I ask the girl sitting next to me. She’s wearing big dangling earrings, an American Apparel V-neck tee, non-prescription eyeglasses and an inappropriately warm wool coat.

“Yeah, just look around you, 99 percent of the people here are total hipsters!”

“Are you a hipster?”

“Fuck no,” she says, laughing back the last of her glass before she hops off to the dance floor.

Ever since the Allies bombed the Axis into submission, Western civilization has had a succession of counter-culture movements that have energetically challenged the status quo. Each successive decade of the post-war era has seen it smash social standards, riot and fight to revolutionize every aspect of music, art, government and civil society.

But after punk was plasticized and hip hop lost its impetus for social change, all of the formerly dominant streams of “counter-culture” have merged together. Now, one mutating, trans-Atlantic melting pot of styles, tastes and behavior has come to define the generally indefinable idea of the “Hipster.”

An artificial appropriation of different styles from different eras, the hipster represents the end of Western civilization – a culture lost in the superficiality of its past and unable to create any new meaning. Not only is it unsustainable, it is suicidal. While previous youth movements have challenged the dysfunction and decadence of their elders, today we have the “hipster” – a youth subculture that mirrors the doomed shallowness of mainstream society.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Cardboard kitty cat chaise lounge

Surprise porch visitor

Two nights ago, I turned on our porch light at 800pm in order to collect bugs for our pet house spiders (more on that in another post). Around 930pm my boyfriend comes in from his cigarette and asks:

"Do you want to see the cutest thing in the whole world?"

Of course!

I immediately went to the porch rail and looked over, thinking it was either baby skunks or neighbor cat related.

He said, "No, turn around."

And, on top of one of our plastic porch chairs (we're on the second floor) was the brightest green tiny little frog. It had to be only 3/4" long. This was the best pic we got with his iphone, it's very grainy.
It was sitting so calmly, seeming to stare at the outside walls, where all the bugs were. My bf tried to pick it up, but it just moved sideways. It was fearless. We picked bugs off the wall and put them very close to him. I missed the first chomp, but he took a little squiggly black bug we'd put in some water on the top of the chair. He slowly advanced about two steps, frozen in between, like a cat, then glomped his mouth right over it. We've been inviting him back, calling to him over the field next door, but nothing. He was seriously the tiniest cutest thing I've ever seen in New England. I'd never seen a bright green frog before.



Kind of crafty: Project Runway

I'm trying to catch up on Project Runway (US) without cable tv. I found tudou.com, a Japanese (?) website that has tons of tv shows on it. So far, it's lasted two seasons without being shut down.

Project Runway 5 正在播放-视频-在线观看-土豆网

As of episode two, I of course like the dowdy shy girl from a small town in Italy's fashions. Plus many others, like the retro gal with the hair pieces. I can't remember them all right now. I'm just about to start watching episode three.

Fabric dollhouse tutorial

UK lass in US: Fabric dollhouse tutorial
I've always wanted to make one of these. The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston had a gift shop in the mall near my hometown. They sold these intricate gorgeous fabric creations similar to this dollhouse: a barn, a mother goose with the fabric stories in pockets in her wings, and more that I can't remember. That shop closed, and I haven't been to the one in Boston in a long long while. Even if I did, they were at least $50, I think even $85 for the Mother Goose, so I couldn't buy one to copy. I did buy one of each for two little girls in my family. I had a squirrel log home half fabric, half fake wood plastic, that was my most favorite toy as a child. My next project will be this beautiful dollhouse from uklassinus.


Saturday, August 16, 2008

Monday, August 4, 2008

frictionizes bittersweet

that was the subject of what I believe to be a website for viagra for women. spam.
I love needlefelting, can't really do it because of my rsi hands. If I could, I'd buy my supplies from this friendly woman's colorfully huge wool roving shop in Easthampton Mass:

New England Felting Supply
feltingsupply.com