52 Projects

To Check Out, May 2, 2008

BookLust.

More Ways to Waste Time (found via Sweet Sassafras).

Book Review of Magic Pattern Vol. 1 and 2 at Sweet Sassafras.

Thanks a lot to Midtown Lunch for this one -- McDonald's Attempts to Bring Chick-Fil-A to Manhattan. (Of course I had to run out and try one).

Fork New York (found via Midtown Lunch).

Naturally Carolicious.

Craft and Found.

For The Love of Light -- A Tribute to the Art of Polaroid.

'Roid Week 2008

Damn, I missed it! How did that happen? And I have easy access to a scanner again. Damn! Anyway, you can check out all the cool submissions here.

Kim From Cube News on The Rumor Mill

Matt Taibbi's The Great Derangement

Asian Tapas at Kuma Inn -- Delish

Excellent food, great restaurant. Could not stop eating, even though I was totally full. Highly recommended. More info on Kuma Inn, which is located in NYC's Lower East Side, at Yelp.

To Check Out, April 30, 2008

Chelsea Creature.

Love Surface Design.

Film Is Not Dead It Just Smells Funny.

Average Jane Crafter.

62cherry.

Notebookism.

CF52 -- Weekly Illustrations by Craig Fraizer.

Like A Rollling Stone Book Party

Great launch party at Arlene's Grocery in NYC's Lower East Side last week for Steve Kurutz's Like A Rolling Stone, a book about the strange life of a tribute band. The Rolling Stones tribute band The Stoney Rollers rocked the house. More pictures of the event can be seen at Maryanne Ventrice's Flickr page.

Sites To Check Out, April 29, 2008

Moonlight Ambulette.

Counterbalance.

Bead Porn Flickr Group.

La Fovea (found via Moonlight Ambulette).

If Anyone Asks.

Sunday Choices

Even though I stayed up late, I still got up pretty early this Sunday morning. We didn't even go out on Saturday night, but I bought a whole bunch of songs off of iTunes, such as "People Like Us" by the Talking Heads and "You Are The Everything" by R.E.M., and then I made a Playlist of even more songs, and the next thing I knew, I was blasting this music and doing some writing / reminiscing about these songs / livingroom grooving, and yes, of course, drinking some beers (5? 8? Who knows.), and damn did it get late. Then, looking for something to watch on TV, I went thru the list of shows we have saved on our DVR, saw that we had recorded Sixteen Candles (even though we own the DVD), and started to watch the movie, and I'm sorry, but if you grew up in the 80s and you are now old, old, old, there is just no way you can STOP watching this movie once it starts, especially if it's late and you've been drinking and don't have to get up early the next day.

But I got up early anyway (Choice #1), and I sensed that maybe I should try to get some more sleep, but fuck it, let's pretend I've still got that energy that I used to where I just didn't need that much sleep. I made coffee, flipped on the computer and did some writing. I'm working on transitions between chapters in my novel. It's like putting together a puzzle, and you're not even sure if you've got the right pieces for the finished puzzle on the box (Yep, it's that much of a mess... Not a good sign).

The plan was to see Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay at 11 a.m. But the wife woke up and suggested we catch a later show. I wanted to stick to the plan. I was dying to see the movie, and I also worried that if we saw a later show, I would just sit around and watch the Sunday morning news shows ("Obama is most probably going to win the nomination, Hillary has no way to mathematically surpass his numbers, but Hillary is a real fighter, blah blah undecided superdelegates this, blah blah blah, superdelegates that, blah blah blah"), then go see the movie in the middle of the day, and then not do anything else. So I lobbied hard for sticking with the plan (Choice #2), and boom, we were out the door to see the continuing adventures of good ol' Harold and Kumar. Hilarious stuff. I am already awaiting their next adventure with bated breath.

After we got home, I did some more writing. I started to feel really tired. I could barely keep my eyes open. I felt a very strong urge to take a nap. This would most likely mean that I would not go for a run, even though I've committed myself to running on both days of the weekend. Oh, but how glorious a nap would be, I thought to myself. But I shutdown the computer, laced up the shoes, and went for a run (Choice #3). My God was I running slow at first. My legs felt like cement blocks.

But before long, I hit my stride. I shook that tiredness right off. I left it behind. And with every step, I seemed to pick up steam.

Part of it was witnessing the emergence of the beautiful green leaves in the trees.

Stumbling upon the energizing, uplifting jam sound celebration that is the Hungry March Band helped me pick up the pace even more.

And of course, seeing more stunning proof of Spring really opened up my eyes.

Lessons (re)learned on Sunday choices: Get up early. Stick with the plan. Don't nap.

To Check Out, April 27, 2008

We See Movies.

SleepyUrbanite.

Sarah Disgrace.

The TV Addict Previews Battlestar Galactica Prequel Caprica.

Danny Gregory on Why?

Sheasy Time.

Create-a-Day.

What Ansel Adams Saw Through His Lens.