Convergence
I'm reading the NYer article about Pope Benedict and what should come on the ipod but the Prince song "Pope". This is also right after I send a TXT message with the emoticon for the Pope: +-(:-)-|-<
mike sold out at - 20:35
3.25.2007
Yikes!
So as the few avid readers of Word Up know, I have applied to urban planning/policy grad school. The decisions are coming in, and are almost all positive. Now I have a very tough choice about where to go the next two years of my life!
Two of them involve leaving NYC, which I really don't want to do, but are very challenging and excellent programs. One is about an hour from NYC, the other is four hours. The other five are in NYC, two of which are high priorities on my list.
Any advice you folks may have would be appreciated.
mike sold out at - 23:07
3.20.2007
Sheesh
On behalf of my native state, I apologize in advance to my adopted city. Sometimes Virginia even votes for Democrats.
VA Gun Dealers Taunt NYC Mayor
Amid the Confederate flags, anti-Yankee bumper stickers and Civil War relics on display at Bob Moates Sport Shop, a counterattack against the North is under way.
"Ask about the Bloomberg Gun GiveAway" reads a sign taped to the gun shop's register, beckoning customers to enter the drawing named for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose federal lawsuits against gun dealers in five states have drawn the wrath of Virginia's gun enthusiasts.
Though to be fair, this is up there with a sign I saw in a convenience store in Orange County, NY comparing slackers to terrorists: "The real enemy is Osama Bin Loafin'"
mike sold out at - 10:39
3.19.2007
Poor-quality cameraphone pictures
I have neglected to download them in a while...
I guess this is street art in Greenpoint
Lake Anne in hometown of Reston. It's all crazy modernist concrete architecture, but a really nice mixed-use plaza. It looks a lot like Roosevelt Island.
Kit-kat, the family cat, in her Halloween getup. Although she didn't resist, she wore it far from willingly.
Now this was the title plaque for a nearby piece of art titled "Skyline", but I think that it would totally be brilliant if someone actually put a plaque down on a prominent viewing point of Manhattan wherein they took credit for the actual skyline.
The inside of some fancy art near Seņor "Skyline".
Lil' cousin Sam, aka Sam-bo-bam.
Unisphere in Flushing Meadows/Corona Park on that beautiful Saturday in December when it was 70 degrees.
mike sold out at - 20:22
3.16.2007
Blast from the Past
I'm sorry, but when did Fred Fielding become the White House Counsel? He was deputy to John Dean, White House Counsel during Watergate, who was ordered to execute part of the cover-up of the burglary & CREEP's activities. Dean notably turned whatever you would call "State's Evidence" in a Congressional investigation, but I'm not aware of Fielding doing anything as noble that.
A related old story: The Onion: '80s Retro Craze Sweeps Executive Branch
mike sold out at - 15:17
Why?
Dear Evangelizing Yelling Lady on the A Train This Morning:
Why do you feel it necessary to yell at a subway car full of sleepy, annoyed people for at least 6 stops about how they are going to hell? I understand you feel responsible to spread The Word to save people, but no one has ever been voluntarily converted by spending 10 minutes yelling at them when they are trapped inside a speeding metal box. In fact, you are turning people off from your ideas.
If you had a gun, I could see you bagging at least couple successful conversions per car. You wouldn't even have to yell all that much, and you might even save some time. If you need style tips to make yourself more noticeable while brandishing your gatt, check out Medea's wardrobe in Diary of a Mad Black Woman.
Just trying to give you some helpful feedback.
-Mikebot
mike sold out at - 15:05
3.14.2007
Media Consumerism (Part I)
Rather than doing a rote list of what I watched/read recently, I'll give you some highlights of the past few months from Netflix
(highlights from the Brooklyn Public Library/My Bookshelf(TM) to follow)
Movies/TV
Five Stars:
The Battle of Algiers- a 1965 black and white reenactment of the Algerian independence movement. The French Army wins the battle, but loses the war.
Gandhi- Ben Kingsley does his thing in style. A few self-acknowledged historical fudges, but otherwise really good.
An Inconvenient Truth- Missed it in the theaters. Glad I watched it at home, because there was a half-hour extra on the DVD that gives a bunch of updates.
K Street- A short-running TV series with 10 episodes about lobbyist in Washington, starring James Carville and Mary Matalin. Reminds me of my work as a public interest lobbyist (google me- I'm a registered lobbyist in NYC), but about 100x more exciting and 1000x more intrigue. Oh, and their clients are way sketchier than our constituency.
Freaks & Geeks- Why did they cancel this show after one season? Amazing.
Four Stars:
Bridge on the River Kwai- A classic about British and American POWs in WWII Burma. It's a nail-bitter up to the last seconds of the movie.
Brother From Another Planet- A deaf, black alien with mad repair skillz lands in 1970s Harlem.
On the Waterfront- A little slow-paced by today's standards, but the waterfront in the 1950s is totally fascinating. Mostly filmed in Hoboken, though it's based on Red Hook. There's also apparently some subtext about being pro-Hollywood blacklist (as Eli Kazan testified in front of HUAC), but it's pretty muddled in today's viewing.
The Player- Irony strikes multiple times in this Robert Altman send-up of the movie business. The movie they make at the end is the best movie ever made.
Reconstruction: The Second Civil War- High school history class did not do justice to Reconstruction. Of course, I learned it in Virginia, but at least we still called it the Civil War and not "The War Amongst the States" or worse yet, "The War of Northern Aggression".
mike sold out at - 23:04
3.13.2007
Workin' It
Historical work in Brooklyn: WorkLore
mike sold out at - 16:52
Hmmm
Apparently if you say something from a podium at a public event, it shows up in a newspaper the next day.
On Tour With PlaNYC
mike sold out at - 10:52
Credit where credit is due
3.12.2007
DIY Restaurant Inspections
The New York Sun goes off the deep-end on the NYC Health Code, by suggesting that restaurant inspections be done away with entirely. Now I like eating E. Coli just as much as the next guy--which is to say, not at all--but perhaps this is one place where libertarianism should acknowledge the effectiveness of government.
mike sold out at - 15:06
Credit where credit is due
[Sic]
Would you trust a scaffolding company called "Safway"? Is the missing E for savings?
mike sold out at - 08:35
3.11.2007
Craftin'!
"I also like to design and build furniture and then to have a discussion about where it could be placed in a room."
-Apu
I have been on a building spree lately.
First, two CD shelves (yet to be painted) for my room, built on President's Day. I'm thinking some dark red/yellow-orange combination.
Next up, a big desk/dining room table from a salvaged table top found and recovered with the assistance of my friend Bex. In the image below is the top with the leaves laid out.
I held the whole thing together with two 2x4s
Searched most of Greenpoint and then the Bowery restaurant supply district for table legs to buy, but ended up getting these for $65 total at Surprise Surprise in the East Village:
I attached the legs at a point where they would support the weight evenly:
The finished product. Still left to do is to paint the 2x4s dark brown so they are camouflaged and to maybe paint the legs a bluish gray metallic color to give it some contrast.
Also I got a guillotine paper trimmer (which is awesome!) and some dry mount tissue, which allowed me to use my heat press for the first time. The results is a frameless photo mounted to matte board. I think I'm going to mount a series of my photos to foam core board for the walls.
mike sold out at - 22:29
Dude, High Five!
What will you be doing April 19th?
National High Five Day
National High Five Day falls on the third Thursday of April each year, which falls next year on April 19, 2007. The holiday originated at the University of Virginia in 2002, and has since spread across the nation, and around the globe.
mike sold out at - 18:54
Credit where credit is due
3.08.2007
How dirty is your gas?
From the Sierra Club:
Pick Your Poison
These [oil] companies are among the largest and most powerful enterprises on the planet. The complexity of their organization and activities, the vastness of their reach, and the huge number of variables involved make objective ranking difficult. That said, it is possible to lump them into three general categories, as Sierra editorial interns Robynne Boyd and Sarah Ives do below: the "bottom of the barrel" (ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips), the "middle of the barrel" (Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, Valero Energy Corporation, and Citgo), and the "top of the barrel" (BP and Sunoco). But you don't have to take our word for it:
Review the information we've gathered, and make your own choice.
mike sold out at - 16:06
3.03.2007
Of Trolleys and Rabbits
Did you know that GM & a few other automotive-related companies formed a bunch of front companies to buy and kill trolley systems throughout the country? It's true.
If you haven't heard this before, but it sounds vaguely familiar, there is a good reason. Because they made a movie where the plot is about the conspiracy: Who Framed Roger Rabbit?.
