updates on the situation in new orleans

Breaking stories here and here and here and here.

Pictures here and here.

fun with flickr

A couple of creative new uses for flickr:

* spelling with photos (via Ianqui)

and

* fighting back at subway wankers and other creeps (via Boing Boing)

UPDATE: the subway wanker has been arrested.

seattle: of arts martial and marital

The next morning found us sipping espressi at Zoka, a bitter rival of Espresso Vivace's. A dispute erupted between Michael and me over which cafe had prettier latte art--a dispute which could only be resolved through a jeet kune do grudge match!


Michael flashes the gang sign of the Zoka clan.

Andy, Grand Master of the ferocious Green Beetle clan, offered to convey us to an appropriate fighting ground...



...the cemetary containing the mortal remains of Bruce Lee!


This shot of the grudge match was captured without our knowledge by one of the many papparazzi that were constantly tailing us.

After several hours of intense fighting, a couple of cracked ribs, and some broken bones, Michael and I decided to call it a draw, agreed that both Zoka and Espresso Vivace have very pretty latte art, and proceeded to the sacred nuptial union of Jean and Dan.

Half of the wedding guests showed up in semi-formal attire...


Notice how Michael's tie matches Samantha's dress which matches the state fish of Washington. [Okay, so the state fish is actually steelhead trout. But there is a lot of salmon to be had in Seattle.]

...while the other half just wore their bathing suits.


The Pacific Northwest is pretty casual.

The bride blushed.



The groom was debonair.



And this dude slipped us some weed.


He wore shades to keep it on the DL.

Afterwards, Jean and Dan got jiggy behind a tree...



while Michael fired off the traditional twenty-one anti-aircraft gun salute.



The reception was held at the promisingly named MOHAI, where we learned a lot about snoeshoes...



..and hatchets...



...and did our best to ignore the diabolical gleam in Jean's eyes.

seattle: for the curios

After the coffee run pictured below, Samantha and Michael and I wended our way over to the neighborhood of Ballard, where we spent a pleasant afternoon eating and lechant les vitrines. On Tamar's good advice, we sought out the excellent Thaiku, which served up a delicious lunch in a soothing space.


A not-entirely-soothing-yet-pretty-cool carved wooden deer's head at Thaiku

In the back of the restaurant we discovered the gorgeous Doctor Fu Kun Wu's Cocktails and Herbal Apothecary, which could well have been designed by Wong Kar Wai (whose intriguing, frustrating, and elegant new film, 2046, I saw last night). We hoped to return for cocktails with Tony, Maggie, Zhang, and Gong, but didn't get around to it. Next time.


"Summer afternoon, dragon breathes fire in my eyes, o mojo juju."

Of the numerous quirky little shops and galleries, our favorite was a true modern-day Wunderkammer, which Tamar had aptly described as "like the inside of the owner's brain." Anybody with an interest in artistic arcana and ephemera should seek this place out.


Samantha examines the curiosities in the cabinet.

Let's take a peek inside those drawers with her, shall we? Remember, you are looking inside somebody's brain.

geeking out

Just for the hell of it, here's a little photo-chronicle of our day so far in Seattle. We are such fucking geeks.


Michael and Samantha are "sleepless in Seattle" after a crystal meth binge. I'm having a Nan Goldin moment. [Note: Michael and Samantha are not actually into crystal meth. In fact, neither of them has ever done anything harder than crack.]



Flowers at Pike Place



Our already great breakfast at Lowell's was enhanced by getting to watch footage of surfing mice on Faux News.



Taking photos of latte art at the legendary Espresso Vivace. The coffee here is freaking amazing.



This is Michael and me right now.

"something between a pointillist masterpiece and a chaotic disaster"

Jeff Stark and those wacky folks at Flux Factory invite you to make art with guns this Saturday at 8:00PM at the Flux lair in Long Island City. The party is free and will include live music, DJs, dancing and refreshments.

Paintball by Numbers is an interactive mural and an ongoing public performance. It begins with a large black-and-white mural on the side of a building. We will reproduce a classic landscape painting, approximately 10 by 15 meters. Picture a freshly painted white wall with black contour lines.

As with a traditional paint-by-numbers painting, numbers on our mural will designate the various colors that, if applied correctly, would bring the painting to its full-color reproduction.

Of course that will be near impossible. Festival-goers will be invited to help complete the mural, but not with brushes or spray cans. They will take aim at the painting with four separate custom air guns, placed 20-30 meters from the wall, and fire various colors of paint balls at their corresponding numbers on the wall.

The paintball guns themselves will be fantastical sculptural constructions, created from recycled and scrap materials on site. Imagine designs incorporating the imaginary armaments in Dr. Seuss's Butter Battle Book, the rusted machinery of the Road Warrior, and outdated World War II weapons. Each gun would be better understood as a sculpture itself, climbable, kinetic, and pneumatic.

emily's boulicious birthday blowout!

Click here for a full account.

in memoriam

Hiroshima: 237,062+ killed by U.S. atomic bombing
Nagasaki: 100,000+ killed by U.S. atomic bombing

rest in peace

Benjamin Byung Nak Park
September 28, 1942 - August 3, 1996

Temporary Landscape: A Pasture for an Urban Space

Temporary Landscape: A Pasture for an Urban Space
Uploaded by penguinrocket.

This is a test of Flickr's "blog this" feature.

Temporary Landscape: A Pasture for an Urban Space is an installation by Brooklyn artist Julie Ferris, on a 1,300 sq. ft. vacant lot located at 206 Columbia Street.

"the world needs more saris"

According to the experts at Core77. I couldn't agree more.