October 31, 2011

304: Witches' Brew

Back in the old days, we used to sing this in music class with Mrs. Ryan every Halloween, and everyone loved it.  So in the name of nostalgia, have some "Witches' Brew."

Also, 20 years ago today, we were buried under three feet of snow and I was dressed up as a princess. In snowpants.  Happy Halloween/Blizzard Anniversary!

October 30, 2011

303: Portal

Photoshopped?  Sure.
Still awesome?  Obviously.

October 29, 2011

302: Goldy

The athletic fellows from my alma mater apparently beat Iowa today, but the real entertainment -- for me, at home, on Twitter -- was Goldy Gopher's Halloween costumes:
First quarter: Buzz Lightyear

October 28, 2011

301: Color wheel

Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2006.

Old, old photo from some event at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

October 27, 2011

300: Everything is better in noir.



If the first episode of Downton Abbey were a film noir.
Otherwise known as "misuse of Photoshop"

October 26, 2011

299: Cooper

I got fancy with Photoshop today.



Somebody really ought to revoke my animation privileges.

October 25, 2011

298: Tourism flashback

Flatiron Building, New York, 2010.

This was taken the day I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge up to Midtown Manhattan.  It was also the day I discovered I had the wrong lens on my camera, which is why this one turned out looking...odd.  I think I was standing a block and a half away and could still only get this much of the building.  Ah, well.  These things happen.

October 24, 2011

297: Buy a vowel


I enjoy Scrabble and Words with Friends, I do, but these tiles were just ridiculous.

October 23, 2011

296: Main Street

via siftingforseeds on Tumblr
Milwaukee Street in Minneapolis.
I've never seen it in person, but maybe I'll go snoop around this fall.

October 22, 2011

295: Bibliophile

2011.
The local library's book sale was today.
Beat-up copy of To Kill a Mockingbird and a collection of detective stories from 1929: a grand total of $2.00

October 21, 2011

294: Timesuck


THIS GAME IS SO ADDICTIVE.
SEND HELP.

October 20, 2011

293: Vélo

2011.
Playing with shadows.

October 19, 2011

292: Spiral

More architecture envy.
I love those windows on the tower.  Spiral staircase?

October 18, 2011

291: Golden Gate

San Francisco, 2008.

Taken from a boat in the San Francisco Bay.
I may have posted this before.  Oh, well.  I still like this one.

October 17, 2011

290: Chores

2011.
No longer on the trees.  This took about three hours to get in bags.  Still not done.
Pass the aspirin.

October 16, 2011

289: Puppies.



click photos for sources.
I watched Downton Abbey and now I feel empty inside, so I'm going to look at puppies for a while.

October 15, 2011

288: LP


I'm digitizing LPs for my mom today.  Lots of Leo Kottke, a little of The Carpenters.
Why?  Because vinyl will always sound warmer than anything on iTunes.

October 14, 2011

287: White Collar

Because I don't watch enough television (HA), I started watching the first season of White Collar this week.  Three episodes in, it's the perfect blend of drama and comedy, and a cross between the buddy-cop show, straight up procedural, and Burn Notice-style crime caper.  I love some fun, creative criminals (e.g. Danny Ocean, Michael Westen) who get to be the protagonist instead of the elusive bad guy, and man does Neal Caffrey ever fit the bill.  It doesn't hurt that Matt Bomer is ridiculously pretty:
click for source
 Of course, the FBI gets to be fun and very competant as well, which satisfies my procedural crime drama-loving heart.  It helps that Tim DeKay is so lovable as Agent Peter Burke, and that the chemistry between DeKay, Bomer, and Tiffani Thiessen (as Burke's wife) is great.  It's a fun show that fits right into the USA Network stable of light-hearted procedurals with a twist (the aforementioned Burn Notice and Covert Affairs, for example).

The only problem now is the length of the waitlist to check the DVDs out of the library.

October 13, 2011

286: Bus stop



Downtown Minneapolis, waiting for the bus.

October 12, 2011

285: Hemingway


Yes, as a matter of fact, Hemingway is the best thing about Midnight in Paris.

October 11, 2011

284: Curb alert


I did a Craigslist "curb alert" today for an old bike we've had in the garage for years.  It used to be my mom's, but she quit using it when a dent in the chain ring started making the chain fall off anytime you tried to change gears.  I stuck it out by the mailbox after lunch and it was gone in about ninety minutesI don't know if Craigslist people even got a shot at it, or if someone in the neighborhood picked it up.  I'm still shocked it was gone so quickly.  Never underestimate the allure of the word "FREE" on a piece of cardboard.

October 9, 2011

282: I don't even know

...
Never leave me alone with a camera and a photobooth app.

October 8, 2011

281: Penguin

 I love the clothbound editions from Penguin Classics.

October 7, 2011

280: Autumnal

2011.
Backyard foliage.

October 6, 2011

279: Interest-ing

Let's talk about a new fall TV series.  Of the shows I've checked out (New Girl, Pan Am, Person of Interest, part of Suburgatory) Pan Am is the winner in terms of quality (after two episodes), and I still have hope for New Girl, in spite of literally cringing at some of Jess (Zooey Deschanel)'s antics.  But I'm most interested in the world and mythology of Person of Interest.  A show about preventing violent crime in post-9/11 America using stolen information from a government threat-assessment computer?  A J.J. Abrams project with Lost veteran Michael Emerson as one of the stars?  I was all in from the get-go.  The fact that Jonathan "Brother of Christopher" Nolan, co-writer of The Dark Knight, is the creator is just icing on the cake.
Person of Interest's Reese (Jim Caviezel) and Finch (Michael Emerson)
via TV Fanatic
Here's the short version of the premise: in the wake of 9/11, a rich genius computer programmer (Michael Emerson) built the U.S. government a Big Brother machine to identify potential terrorist threats.  The machine, however, identified all potential violent crime, so the "irrelevant," small-scale crimes are disregarded -- and sent to the programmer, Finch.  He gets a list of Social Security numbers of people who will be involved in crimes, either as a victim or perpetrator.  Finch recruits an ex-CIA agent, John Reese (Jim Caviezel), to do the boots-on-the-ground work of preventing these crimes using a combination of technical savvy and old-fashioned brute force.

Much more under the jump. (I started rambling. Whoops.)

October 5, 2011

278: Pioneer

The Apple homepage is a simple (and somehow poignant) tribute:


Rest in peace, Steve Jobs.

October 4, 2011

277: OMG indeed

via OMG that dress
As someone who enjoys Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire, and Downton Abbey as much for the costumes as anything else, OMG that dress! is a how-did-I-not-know-about-this discovery.  I'll just be off scrolling through the archives now.

October 3, 2011

276: Grenade

Yeah, I like The Sing-Off.  What of it?

October 2, 2011

275: Sunday Sunday

A Cup of Bokeh, please?

Can't bear to think about the Vikings anymore.
Just staring at pictures that make me happy.