Wednesday, February 25, 2009

ich bin ein berliner




While I still fantasize (often) about picking up & moving to Berlin again, it's with the knowledge (already acquired on my second trip there) that it will not be like it was. This post on a much more studious blog really gets some things right: Speaking about Tacheles, he says,

After the initial excitement of chancing upon some sort of liberated space, you soon realise there's not much going on here except the similarly egoistic gestures of tagging and extremely bad neo-expressionist painting - and even more than the rest of Berlin, it always seemed to be almost entirely populated by expats from the USA, UK and Japan, and a Berliner here is as rare as a Dutchman in an Amsterdam 'coffee shop'.


Ah, yes, that Berliner art... But the bad art is part of the charm of the city! But being overrun with other Americans, hmm.... not sure I'd be as accepting about that. Because, of course, I pretend I was there first. OG.

*L

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Thursday, February 19, 2009

pop up ad


..aah, this just popped....it's so schlocky and ridiculous. ( shirt+apple+4 to take a screen capture in mac) Juxtaposing Obama, a yes/no on the economy, free stuff and that it is a pop up I found a pretty insulting interruption, you know? thought I'd share it.
folks click to share their dazzling insights and be heard , score a free t-shirt and get a $50 restaurant gift card...maybe. (site owner) testing to see if folks will click on free dirt, if their voice is counted.
Oh. I am cranky an getting a cold.


what are you two up to? I am excited for spring. Spring forward March 8!

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Paper cuts



I think I mentioned these to L (?) and I thought some fuzzy pictures would help to visualize the project. I made these tables while snow bound in December. In each the table legs or support are made from folded magazines. Not sure how obvious that is from the image.

I found the glass in the old flat's recycle room and toted it around for a year until I finally put it to use. Below is a broken guitar that got turned into a table; rather crudely too so I'll be re-doing this at some point. I couldn't keep Forrest away so that's him on the right giving the illusion of speed. It's not entirely level, but mostly so and the price was right; and looks great against the blue walls.

making nickels scream, k




Tuesday, February 3, 2009

oh, metrology


The US is hanging tough with Liberia and Myanmar as the three pillars of darkness, only countries not to have not formally adopted the International System of Units (metric) as their official systems of weights and measures.

Liberia folks.

Hopefully the graph is not too hard to read; click and make larger.
above graph and cartoon from USMA






road sign from Averill Hecht
I find this pretty interesting and want to learn more about the metrication push from 1975 to 1982 that I can't remember (and I know L &J can't either). It was largely resisted and ineffective and finally done away with by Reagan in March 1982 to "reduce government spending and its streamline operations." Stop you're killing me.

Later in grade school, I remember a perceptibly half-hearted effort to teach the metric system; it was pretty crude and as inexact as possible: a meter is like a yard, a kilometer is about 200 school buses holding hands, you are not a litre- and other equally useless equivalents. C'mon you gotta know this stuff.

k