ABCs of Art

Final Pick - Walter the Farting Dog: Trouble at the Yard Sale

Holiday Pick Number 7 -LA County Coroner Gear

Holiday Pick Number 6 - Magnetic Rocks


My kids love these rocks. They sell them by the bag at the gift stores of the New York Hall of Science and the Museum of Natural History. The rocks are highly magnetic, and will snap together from surprisingly far distances. Makes a great stocking stuffer.

Holiday Pick Number 5 - The Complete Brooklyn Egg Cream Kit

Holiday Pick Number 4 - Knitted Digestive System

I don't know how to knit, but if I did, I would make this for someone. Matie Trewe from Eugene, Oregon, designed a digestive system that you can knit yourself. She posts a preliminary pattern on her website, Strange But Trewe. She has other projects too, including a knit donut and a slit-throat choker (see the Crafty page of her site). The digestive system is my favorite.

Note: There are a few techinical problems with the site, which Matie explains under Frequently Asked Questions.

Holiday Pick Number 3 - Republicans for Voldemort T-shirt

Bob owns this t-shirt. The weird thing is that when he wears it, people often assume that he is really a Republican.

Anyway, you can get your Republicans for Voldemort T-shirt or bumper sticker at goats.com. The slogan comes from this comic strip, which I think is not as funny as the shirt.

Holiday Pick Number 2 - James the Bookend

Holiday Picks

It's Black Friday! In honor of this day, I've decided to spend the next week describing my holiday picks for 2007. For my first pick, I give you the Madame Alexander dolls from the movies Psycho and The Birds. These unusual dolls are part of the Madame Alexander 2006 Hollywood Collection. Also notable are the Lollipop Munchkin and the Kong the 8th Wonder of the World dolls. (The Lollipop Munchkin doll is from the 2007 Collection.)

Letter Y

I used "Yabba-Dabba-Doo!" for Y. "Yabba-Dabba-Doo!" was number 9 on TV Land's list of the 100 Greatest TV Quotes and Catchphrases.

Sesame Street Old School: Not for Children

Sesame Street episodes from 1969 - 1979 are now available on DVD. However, according to this article, the volumes contain this warning:

Dexter

It appears that Doakes is closing in on Dexter. And as predicted, Lila has become more trouble than she is worth. I hope that Dexter takes care of both of them in the next episode. Which is to say that I hope he kills them both.

In the book, which I still have not read, Doakes apparently suffers an exceptionally hideous fate. It will be interesting to see if the show follows the book. In the last few episodes, Doakes' behavior has been erratic enough to allow for the possibility of Dexter framing Doakes' for the Bay Harbor Butcher crimes. At the very least, the Department may suspect Doakes of planting the evidence that Doakes found in Dexter's apartment. Or better yet, Doakes will not turn the evidence over to the Department, but will instead confront Dexter directly, and Dexter will kill Doakes in the confrontation. So many possibilities.

Regardless, it is interesting to me that Dexter seems to genuinely care about Rita now. I was half expecting Lila to pull a Fatal Attraction type stunt in Rita's kitchen, but she didn't. At least not yet.

Letter X

The Exuberant Funeration



This Edward Gorey tribute was also a final project for a college animation class. (Written and directed by Zane Graves; produced by Andrea MacDonald, Anita Ochoa, and Zane Graves).

The Tuning Fork by Edward Gorey



Animation student Sara Hasz created an animated version of Edward Gorey's The Tuning Fork as a final project for an After Effects class.

Steig Exhibit

We saw the William Steig exhibit at the Jewish Museum today. The exhibit is fun and worth the trip. To me, the most remarkable parts were as follows:

1) At the start of the exhibit, there is a glass showcase full of black and white doodles that Steig gave to his daughter. His daughter made a small cardboard box to hold the drawings, and the box is included in the display. It appears, though I couldn’t tell for sure, that the box still contains more doodles. I was desperate to see what remained in the box.

The doodles are quirky and whimsical, and I love that he made them for his daughter. I checked the bookstore to see if there was a catalogue available of the entire doodle collection. I couldn’t find such a catalogue, but someone should make one.

2) Steig, who is left-handed, made a quite passable drawing with his right hand (see above picture). I’m not sure why he did this, but it is impressive nonetheless.

The exhibit also contains some of Steig's New Yorker Cartoons and children's book illustrations (i.e. Abel's Island and Shrek ). I much prefer Steig's Shrek drawings to the 3-D Dreamworks animation. I would be interested to see the Shrek movie reanimated using Steig's illustrations.

Poster Sighting



We saw my NYC poster at Junior's Times Square. They have two copies displayed - one in the main restaurant and one in the take-out bakery. I obtained permission from Junior's to use a variation of their logo as the letter J of my poster. When I printed the poster, I sent some courtesy copies to the Junior's corporate office as a thank you. I was delighted to learn that they used the posters.

My favorite Junior's item, besides their cheesecake, of course, is their egg cream recipe glass. The directions and measurement marks for each ingredient are printed on the side of the glass. The egg cream itself is good, but I especially love the glass.

Letter W

I used "Wowzers!" for W, as exclaimed by Inspector Gadget.

I am now down to my last three letters. This pleases me, because it means I can start working on my Museum of Bad Art submission soon.

Still More Frank Gehry

Creative Inspiration



In this clip, Frank Gehry describes a wastebasket as a source of creative inspiration.

M.I.T. Sues Frank Gehry

This article amuses me more than it should. M.I.T. is suing architect Frank Gehry for design flaws in the Stata Center, "a building celebrated for its unconventional walls and radical angles." The article is especially funny when you contrast it with the press release that MIT issued in 2004 at the time of the building's dedication ceremony. During the ceremony, MIT president Charles Vest told the audience that "Computers and ways of thinking and crumpled paper and ideas slowly became a design." I can't think of a more perfect way to describe Gehry's architecture.

An unrelated yet interesting fact about Frank Gehry: he played himself on both The Simpsons and Arthur. In The Simpsons episode, Gehry designs a concert hall for Springfield which goes bankrupt after one night. Mr. Burns then assumes the debt of the hall and converts the building to The Montgomery Burns State Prison. Here is a clip from The Simpsons episode. The clip is in Spanish (I couldn't find it in English), but still note the crumpled paper reference.

Ed's Debut

La Moustache Show

We went to La Moustache show last night, where a good time was had by all. Some people actually wore some very clever mustache disguises. Unfortunately I didn't photograph them, so you will just have to take my word for it. Thanks again to everyone who came!

La Moustache Reminder

Methinks Presents La Moustache this Friday! Here are the details again:

When: Friday, November 2, 9PM - 4AM
Where: Hope Lounge
10 Hope Street, Btw. Roebling & Havemyer Streets
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Admission: Free

Hope to see you there.