One monkey typing Shakespeare, one post at a time

I see by your outfit

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 18:44:46 GMT

Cabinet cards (and other photographs) from Tumblr collections

firemen

chauffeur?

I recently learned from a visit to the Guinness beer factory in Dublin that barrel-makers are called coopers and that it's a difficult and complex procedure!

gentleman cowboy?

the gaiters (lower leg guards) likely mean he's dressed for hunting

the spike-soled boots hint that he is likely a logger, or other outdoorsman

Memories of Easter

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 19:32:47 GMT

Not me -- found on the internet for illutrative purposes -- but it's close

Preparations usually started a few days before with the dyeing of the eggs, which I was never crazy about, since I hated the smell of vinegar, and, for that matter, didn't particularly like hard boiled eggs, either.

We wouldn't get whole new outfits, but my Mom would usually make some effort to buy me and my two sisters a new article of clothing, and dress us as nicely as possible. Which usually wasn't a good idea since the day's activities included a big dinner and running around in the backyard and kneeling on the grass looking for hidden eggs. Years later she wised up and let us change out of our clothes after church.

I never did understand or accept either of the stories about the crucifixion and resurrection or a giant bunny hiding eggs -- much less any connection between the two -- but I was grateful for the jelly beans and chocolate bunnies. Back then there weren't all those commercial Easter baskets (now with toys!) at every store, once or twice we got modest ones put together by our Mom. My favorite treat one year was one of those eggs made out of sugar with a small tableau you can peek at inside.

She would trundle us off to First Presbyterian church -- again, I was skeptical, since I had never heard of a Second or Third Presbyterian church, so why try and jack up the importance of your name? -- and we'd fidget through the sermon about resurrection and rebirth. For God so loved the world he sent His Son to suffer and be killed for our sins???!! -- not one bit of that made any sense then and it still doesn't today.

Then we would head to our Grandmother's for an Easter egg hunt and then dinner, usually ham or lamb, but since she learned to cook Italian for her husband, dinner would often include a dish of lasagna, and since she grew up in Jamaica, every meal also included their ubiquitous peas and rice side dish, which we always called rice and beans.

What few traditions I still observe about the holidays usually revolve around food and giving gifts. About the only thing I do each Easter is look for -- and it's very specific -- those mini speckled candy-coated chocolate covered malted milk eggs. I consider it a good Easter if I've found a package of those.

Bodybuilders of Yore

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 14:08:46 GMT

Cabinet cards (and other photographs) from Tumblr collections

Military Mustaches

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 19:15:41 GMT

Cabinet cards (and one tintype) from Tumblr collections

Bountiful Beards

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 14:50:55 GMT

Cabinet cards (and one tintype) from Tumblr collections

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:52:32 GMT

Super Noodle, West Village, NYC

Favorite Covers of the New Yorker 2012

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:31:30 GMT

This week's New Yorker anniversary issue cover of Eustace Tilley as a Brooklyn hipster reminds me that I have not yet put together one of my annual posts, with my favorite covers from that magazine for the previous year.

From last winter, this is possibly my most favorite of the year -- not only is it a striking composition of the Flatiron building seen through the fog with Madison Square Park's trees darkly in the foreground -- it is also because it is effectively my backyard -- we live a block from both the Park and the Flatiron building, can see them from our apartment windows, and this is the quality of light and color we see on the occasional foggy morning.

One of several political covers The New Yorker ran last year, Obama watching the frontrunners for the Republican nomination fight and fumble the ball for the magazine's Superbowl cover.

A Maira Kalman cover, this one for Easter (and Spring). New York still has a tradition of putting on special Easter hats (some of them quite fanciful these days), and parading up and down Fifth Avenue on Easter Sunday morning.

George Booth is one of The New Yorker's few remaining "old guard" cartoonists. Now 87 years old, his drawings of apoplectic people and dogs have graced the magazine's pages since 1969.

And another.

The fashionable return of beards makes a cover. The New Yorker used to have a cover every year for the start of the baseball season (where there is still a tradition of businessmen playing hooky from work to attend the opening game), but they don't anymore.

One of Bruce McCall's several covers, capturing the spectacle of travelers to try and cram bigger and bigger pieces of carry-on luggage into an airline's overhead storage (and possibly, cars getting smaller and smaller). I usually prefer to book my seat in the back of the plane, board as early as possible, and then sit back and watch the show. The amusement value is worth having to wait about ten minutes to get off the plane, time that is otherwise used standing around waiting for the checked luggage to be delivered anyhow.

In Brooklyn there is a tradition of "stoop sales," since the hundreds of thousands of brownstone buildings have stoops, but lack front yards or garages. You'll see many of these on fair weather weekends, walking around Brooklyn neighborhoods. Here, a dog sells off his worldly belongings.

Chris Ware's cover, for Mother's Day, observing the growing number of dads caring for their kids.

Commemorating Obama's "evolved" statement supporting gay marriage.

The New Yorker publishes an annual fiction issue, this year it was dedicated to science fiction. By indie cartoonist Daniel Clowes.

When 32-ounce sodas are outlawed, only outlaws will have 32-ounce sodas.

Another gay pride cover in less than two months, this one for Gay Pride weekend, as well as all June brides.

Obama gets his health care plan through Congress.

Although I saw this same joke already done by someone else for a Christmas card family portrait, it's still pretty funny -- and sadly true.

Commemorating the Summer Olympics in London.

Summer temps and global warming!

Tweaking the continued efforts by our Mayor Bloomberg to make New York City a healthier, greener place.

One of their very best covers of the year, for New York's Fashion Week circus.

Chris Ware does their back to school cover.

This similar cover was run this year, just four months later, and I didn't get its significance until I realized it was in response to the Newtown school shootings. As you might surmise, Chris Ware is now a father himself, with a daughter in the second grade.

The political conventions begin!

Who thought the class warfare rhetoric in the political campaign could be made funny?

Obama stumbles in the first debate, nicely referencing Charlton Heston's routine at the Republican convention.

This cover was supposed to coincide with the New York Marathon -- a very big deal here -- which was cancelled just days before the event because of the continued recovery efforts from Hurricane Sandy devastation.

A deft parody of Norman Rockwell's famous cover, skewering Romney's shifting positions.

Combining that week's election (like most magazines, the cover is future-dated a week out) with the fact that some communities were still without electricity and bailing out from the storm.

This one was hard to identify, then I recognized it was commenting on the widening General Petraeus sex scandal. The artist needs to paint camouflage better!

A summer beach scene oddly appearing in fall. Wayne Theibaud's food paintings are often given the Thanksgiving cover, this was likely timed to privately commemorate the artist's 92nd birthday (and still painting!), and career retrospective (with monograph) opening that month.

The New Yorker has often bought artwork (or these days, likely rights to artwork), then used it sometimes years later. From the archives, a Saul Steinberg work.

The Christmas cover. Now we know what games those reindeers play.

The Way We Wore - More uniforms and facial hair from the Library of Congress Collection

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 14:25:32 GMT

For more, click on the 'loc' tag.

Sun, 27 Jan 2013 15:46:38 GMT

Jacob Javitz Convention Center, NYC

More Uniforms & Facial Hair from the Library of Congress Collection

Sun, 27 Jan 2013 15:05:42 GMT

For more, click on the "loc" tag

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS POCKETBEAR?

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 14:31:25 GMT

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS POCKETBEAR?

ED LUCE and his partner Mark are visiting New York City next week, and would like to meet up with area friends. Thursday Dec 20 is the evening, so please comment below if you can make it.

The place is to be determined -- we're looking for places that aren't too expensive and that also offer vegetarian options -- so if you have any suggestions, please post them here.

Favorite Photos of the Week

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 15:15:42 GMT

kdotdammit

So many wonderful images, it was had to choose just these

bigjohnsf

bitterlawngnome

bougieman

buxus5

downshift

downshift

kdotdammit

kdotdammit

kdotdammit

kdotdammit

megazoid

megazoid

megazoid

mhgagnon

mikiedoggie

peppabear

quuf

sirpupnyc

sirpupnyc

sirpupnyc

sirpupnyc

subpoenacolada

subpoenacolada

KICK HIGHER!

Thu, 22 Nov 2012 16:06:21 GMT

Because of cancellation, I have two extra tickets to the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular for Friday, November 23, at 7:00 pm, if anyone can use them.

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 19:41:40 GMT

John Wayne Airport, Orange County, CA

Sun, 18 Nov 2012 13:37:17 GMT

Serafina Restaurant, NYC

New York in the dark

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 17:33:29 GMT

It always amazes me how the New Yorker, on occasion, can produce timely covers. The power outages started Monday night, and their magazine probably prints on Thursdays to reach newsstands and mailboxes on Mondays. And since Françoise Mouly and her husband, Art Spiegelman (both of whom started by publishing the famous RAW comics journal years ago, and Spiegelman, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his graphic novel Maus) started working/consulting there, the New Yorker also enjoys doing mash-ups on their cover, referencing two trending subjects.

The New York Times Sunday Magazine goes to press even earlier in the week, so their issue yesterday (much less the cover) didn't have any storm coverage. As such, next Sunday will be too soon for election coverage, but may feature storm aftermath/recovery content.

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 13:32:18 GMT

Harpa Concert Hall, Reykjavik, Iceland

for chrisglass

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 13:18:54 GMT

Some of the best naïve lettering I've seen in a while. And it only helps that the cab is orange. Taken at Union Station, Washington, DC.

Sunday Funnies

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 13:01:34 GMT

Home.

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 11:58:08 GMT

We're home. We were in Iceland for six days, and returned last Sunday night, with rain, but just before the storm's full ferocity hit. We returned via Washington, DC, with the intention of staying there a couple days before returning to NYC. That stretched into another six days, our apartment building was in the lower part of Manhattan without any power (and we're on the 26th floor!), so we waited it out in our DC hotel. Power was restored after four days Friday night, and Saturday we took a bus back home.

My sleeping is still all messed up because of the time changes and excitement, thus this pre-dawn photo. The skies are so clear today we can even see a planet, a rarity in NYC.

We are very happy to be home.

Favorite Photos of the Week

Tue, 30 Oct 2012 19:00:23 GMT

mikiedoggie

jcwolfe

mafuta67

mafuta67

mhgagnon

mikiedoggie

progbear

sirpupnyc

sirpupnyc

stumblingbl0ck

subpoenacolada

subpoenacolada

subpoenacolada

subpoenacolada

Favorite photos of the week

Sun, 21 Oct 2012 14:12:46 GMT

bitterlawngnome

bitterlawngnome

bitterlawngnome

bitterlawngnome

bitterlawngnome

goodolmike

kdotdammit

kdotdammit

kdotdammit

london1967

megazoid

mhgagnon

mhgagnon

mikiedoggie

notdefined

sirpupnyc

transairn

transairn

vernnyc

vernnyc

Sat, 20 Oct 2012 12:35:55 GMT

Purple Passion, NYC

naylandblake's big art party tonight in San Francisco

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 12:58:25 GMT

Here are a couple photos of the creation of naylandblake's new exhibition, FREE!LOVE!TOOL!BOX!, at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. It opens with a party Friday night, Oct 12, 8-11 pm, which is open to the public and free. One of the pieces in the show reproduces Chuck Arnett's mural for the Toolbox leather bar from San Francisco in the early 1960's (pre-Stonewall!), which has an interesting history of its own.

Be there or be normal!

Nayland's been compiling a tumblr for the show with a combination of notes and ideas, works-in-progress and past works, all a reflection of the percolation of thinking and playing that goes into the creation of this exhibit. Here are some of my favorite images from that tumblr:

Thu, 11 Oct 2012 13:55:33 GMT

Down & Dirty Mud Run, Pelham Bay Park, Bronx