Happy Halloween

Stunning

This crayon art is the work of a woman named Diem Chau. Wow. I love it. Image courtesy of http://www.notcot.com/archives/2006/10/carved_crayons.html#comments

Bingham Bears

From 1985 to 1992 I attended Indianapolis Public School 84, also known as Joseph Bingham Elementary School. Marilyn Quayle, Dan Quayle's better smarter half which aint saying much, is an alum. And while we're on GOP politicians who attended IPS84, we also have DICK LUGAR. Okay, I have to admit here that Dick Lugar is one of the few Republican politicians I can stand to look at much less vote for (since he ran unopposed in this election, I managed to vote for him on my absentee ballot this morning). But I appreciate that he is one of the few GOP who doesn't always toe the party line. I like that he tried to deal with suburbanization way back in the 70s, even if he didn't really pull it off. And I like that he's willing to criticize the Bush administration's handling of Iraq, even if he's supportive overall. Weak praise I know, but it's a lot coming from me.

School 84, on the other hand, I can praise endlessly. 1) I learned how to graph sentences. 2) I got Spanish lessons everyday from 1st grade to 6th. 3) My 6th grade and gym teachers had a fairly public Boston marriage going on. The 6th grade teacher loved me, the gym teacher hated me, just as it should have been. 4) I walked to school. 5) We could go home for lunch. 6) The building, as you can see above, was gorgeous. And only slightly falling apart. 7) I knew the words to "Lift Every Voice and Sing" from 1st grade on. 8) I received an amazing amazing education. All that said, there were problems, namely involving bussing. But I still hold it very dear. Yay Joseph Bingham.

Hope chest

I always liked the idea of a hope chest. I assume I heard about this through Little House on the Prairie, though I don’t have the one where Laura gets married here so I can’t look it up for sure. Apparently I’m not alone because Sylvie’s character in Me and You and Everyone We Know also has a thing for the hope chest. At any rate, I was a bridesmaid in my friend A’s wedding this past weekend and as part of her wedding gift, I made a sort of written hope chest. Instructions for knitting, embroidering, recipes, reupholstering, etc. Anyway, this is what it looked like.

So weird, very cool

http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2006/10/good_news_day.html

Goat graffiti

If I were insanely rich . . .

I recently played a game with someone called "If I were insanely rich. . . " At the time, I had trouble deciding what I would get if I were insanely rich. Beyond more of what I already have: food, books, dvds, clothes, and toys. But that would happen if I made an extra $200 a year. The only example I can remember from the original game was one person wanted a grand piano.

What I want:
Those heated kitchen floor tiles. Talk about decadence. My mom has a cousin in Boston who has these tiles and they are the best thing of all time. So there you go. That's what I would want if I were insanely rich. How about you?

Terry in NY

I did my BA thesis on Milton Caniff's Terry and the Pirates, one of several comics featured at two exhibits in NYC. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/13/arts/design/13comi.html

Danger, high voltage

Argh! I just lost a whole post that started out being about tv shows I love at the moment that may get cancelled and ended up being a post about class on tv shows. I guess I'm going to try to resurrect that post. At least this time, I know what it's about from the get go.

1) Deadwood. I'm only partway through season 2, but I love this show. First, it's about the old west. Second, acting, writing, etc. I had heard it accused of misogyny before I began watching it, but I don't see this at all. In fact, I like the way that the women on the show on occasion are able to relate to one another on the basis of their gender--ie on the basis of their relationship to the men on the show--but more often are divided by really explicit class differences. This is already cancelled, but supposedly has two movies in production to provide some closure. Thank you HBO!

2)Veronica Mars. Again only partway through season 2, but not due to lack of trying. Stephan and I spent the majority of last weekend watching this, sacrificing both sleep and work time. It was totally worth it. Even more than Deadwood, VM is explicitly dealing with class. I especially like that in season 2, it's the working class AND the solid middle class that are hurt by the ultra-rich (I'm thinking of the finance teacher guy here). I also appreciate that they position VM in the lefty middle of the class warfare. This probably makes me a bad marxist, but I think that if violence could solve this easily, class issues would be solved already. VM only got ordered up for a short season, but supposedly CW is pleased with the numbers following Gilmore Girls. YAY!!!!

3)Friday Night Lights. I'm not entirely pleased with the race stuff so far compared to the movie, but I do like the class stuff. It's almost documentary style--upper, middle and working class households and HOUSING(a personal hobby horse of mine) all explicitly juxtaposed. Plus it's super cheesy ending made me sob like a baby. Stephan told me that its ratings are awful and that it's pretty doomed, which I hate.

former favorites I'm down on:
Gilmore Girls--The new guy isn't my favorite so far. He gets some stuff--Paris--but not all of it --Emily. I don't like the actual plot lines so far, especially the Christopher bullshit and Lorelai's "realization." Too sitcom-y in a bad way.

Lost--Wow, I'm totally down on Lost. I never thought that would happen. And really, I promise it's not because it's not about class. Actually I think it sometimes tries to be about class. But fuck that, I need some awe. TWOP juxtaposed the reveal of the first episode(Henry is Ben!!!) with some of the earlier reveals (Locke! Ethan wasn't on the plane!) and man, fuck the new stuff. It's just not as good.

former favorites I still love:
The Office. Ummm, yumm. South Park. Hi-larious.

former favorites that are holding their own:
ANTM, Project Runway, Degrassi

*The image is an image of 'class warfare' I stole from another blog http://www.carcosa.net/jason/blog. He seems to appreciate the violence a bit more than me, but does believe in the ethical treatment of animals, which I support!

Design movies

Apartment Therapy has their top ten "decor inspiration films." I very much need to see some of these, including Contempt and the Party. On a sidenote, we actually have this Amelie image over our couch. It used to be over our bed in our old apartment, but the ceilings are too low in this one. Ha! http://la.apartmenttherapy.com/la/inspiration/top-10-decor-inspiration-films-013345

The Wooden Wagon

Angry Chicken(http://angrychicken.typepad.com/angry_chicken/) referred me to the best site ever today: http://www.thewoodenwagon.com

My mom actually owns much older versions of a lot of the wooden folk items here, so partly I think I'm in love over nostalgia. But I'm also particularly fond of the Ostheimer figures, which she doesn't have. I really need Little Red Riding Hood above and the owl below. In fact I may actually buy an owl and their felted finger puppet kit.

In other shopping news, I also want a dress pattern from Plain Mabel.

Delicious mail

I received two amazing packages a couple weeks back that I haven't posted yet. Here are some pics of parts of both. Thank you R and C!!!!

Gloria's house

New York magazine has a series on vintage celebrities in their homes. As the article points out this is Gloria Steinem, with her cat and her miniskirt. Madonna in her kitchen is pretty sweet too, as is the one with Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller.

Eyebrows

This is a feature from the NYT from a few months ago. I have a somewhat tense relationship with my own eyebrows, so I was amused to see this history of other people's relationship with theirs.