Cake or Death?

Autistic artist finds inspiration in New York skyline

Stephen Wiltshire took a 20-minute helicopter ride over Manhattan. Then he sketched the entire skyline from memory, and every building was correct and drawn to scale.

Amazing.

… you find yourself refilling your beer cup a shocking amount, at two house parties two days in a row, only to realize you’ve been filling the Solo cup less than halfway, to where the wine level should reach.

Joseph Conrad

Rosie the Riveter and Karl Lagerfeld, together forever.

From “The Insurrection,” fiction in Esquire

I just visited my old blog on the Wayback Machine and felt a burst of nostalgia. That quickly turned into melancholy. I often think I quit blogging too soon, especially considering what I’ve seen it do for many of the writers in my old blog-friends circle. I quit because too many real-life people were reading, but that really just boils down to a crisis of self-confidence. Why did I care who read it? Couldn’t I just own what I did? Apparently not.

But I was also struck by how creative that Wayback image seemed, in stark comparison to the creative output I’m generating these days (i.e., nil). It was creative for me, at least. Pithy little posts, some longer, more thoughtful posts, lots of links, lots of comments — blogging was good for me.

I remember also now more vividly that time in my life. And I’m struck by how much happier I was. How can I get back to that? I had a brief burst of happiness yesterday. I’d like more of those, and for them to be more consistent, to the point where they string together and last for most of the time. I’m working on it.

loveallthis:

Inspired by jeannr, I flowcharted the Beatles classic, ‘Hey Jude.’

Na, indeed.

COMBO: a collaborative animation by Blu and David Ellis (via Vimeo)

Really incredible.

20x200: think-make-think

theshalom:

Biggest, Tallest Tree Photo Ever

National Geographic sent Nichols to spend an entire year in California’s redwood forest. His mission was to capture the majesty of some of the tallest trees on Earth, some of which date back before Christ. And if you’ve ever photographed in a forest, you’ll understand the challenge this presented. There’s no capturing the awe one feels before these monoliths that measure, in some cases, upward of 300 feet.

In a recent lecture at National Geographic in Washington, D.C., Nichols described his frustrations. Eventually, though, he devised a way to do redwoods justice. It involved three cameras, a team of scientists, a robotic dolly, a gyroscope, an 83-photo composite and a lot of patience.

(via: NPR — Click through for more pictures/story/video)

This is ridiculously cool; watch the video.

FTC regulates our speech « BuzzMachine

I have an irrational fear that the soap I put in the laundry really just runs down the chute and I’ve been washing my clothes only in water all these years. The horror!

Also. Since my Twitter account is sort of for work stuff now, or, at the least, work people are reading it, I think I’ll use Tumblr again to share inane thoughts, such as the one above. You lucky dogs, you.

“Over the last 40 years or so, life is not trending toward more fulfillment for women; life is, in most ways we can measure, becoming more draining instead. To use Thomas Jefferson’s words, though women now have the liberty to choose whichever life they’d like, many are struggling in their pursuit of a happy life.”

I just got back from the farmers’ market, this time with plenty of cash and no groceries in my house, so I had given myself permission to run a little wild. I was there by myself and wasn’t hungry and didn’t need coffee, so I wandered as much as I needed to. I beat the crowds, and I got:

• Kale, for making kale chips
• Fresh black beans (not dried! not canned!)
• 2 pints of raspberries
• Seedless red grapes
• 4 apples, Golden Delicious and Honeycrisp
• A wedge of blue cheese
• A pint of pickles, bread and butter and Carolina lime chips
• A pint of pitted kalamata and green olives
• Tastes of butternut squash ravioli, bison burger with tomato chutney, and broccoli soup, thanks to this
• A free sage plant, due to my participation in above tasting event
• Peacock feathers
• Boston lettuce

I want to add a bullet point for “hope,” but even I am not that cheesy. (I’m close, though. I really considered it.) Still, the market really rejuvenated me this morning, after a terrible, busy, anxious week. Plus, all of that was only $45.

I keep thinking about the beautiful sheepskins, wool blankets, homemade benches and all of the produce I didn’t have room for: squash, corn, carrots, sprouts, purple cauliflower, eggplant, marinated mushrooms. Next week!