Holton Rower painting

i think it's interesting that watching the process is almost more engaging and aesthetically interesting than the finished product. thumbs up!

Dateline Long Island

I never had a picture perfect life on Long Island. Apparently such a life did exist at one point, but by the time I was growing up LI was an overpopulated shit hole. I'm sort of jealous of all the people who loved LI before it took a turn for the worst.

orange yogurt muffins

this is one of my all time favorite recipes. i thought it was lost forever, but it miraculously resurfaced and was mailed across state lines to make its way back into my recipe book. i'm not sure where it originally came from, but it was given to me by my old boss at the bed and breakfast i used to work at. these muffins are delicious! next time you feel like baking give these a try. you won't regret it.

the benefits of blogging

Sharon Butler gave this talk at TEDxOrlando on the advantages that blogging can bring to working artists. She also name dropped Habitat for Artists which I'm a pretty big fan of. Check it:

irrational thoughts should be followed absolutely and logically.

John Baldessari gives voice to Sol Lewitt's musings on conceptual art in a sing-song fashion.



what a couple of odd birds.

V.D. is for everybody.

while reading about america's cultural policy (or lack thereof), i learned that Woody Guthrie had been commissioned to write songs about venereal disease. apparently many of them were just plain raunchy. good for you, Woody.

anyway, that information led me to search for these raunchy PSAs. unfortunately i mostly came up empty handed, but the search did lead me to this:
The V.D. Radio Project. syphilis was a real problem back then.

and this:


and this, too:


...the more you know.

Mac Miller - Another Night

before i moved out to pittsburgh, a good friend told me that there was a talented young rapper from the area who i should make sure to check out. up until tonight i had completely forgotten to follow that advice. during an entirely unrelated conversation with a different friend (also not from pittsburgh), Mac Miller got brought up again. so i thought i should probably check him out.
i'm glad that i did, and now you can check him out too:


see his youtube channel here.

truth be told, i've been really curious about the hip hip scene in PGH. for example: there is no hip hop radio station in the city. how is that possible? it seems ridiculous. the closest you get is Kiss FM, and that is sad. aside from playing Wiz Khalifa's Black and Yellow over and over, local hip hop seems really hard to come by. what gives pittsburgh?

like boom boom boom

i'm a sucker for good pop music. lately i've been particularly into Rihanna, maybe because kiss fm is one of the only stations i listen to in pittsburgh, and their playlist is slim to say the least. but anyway, i like Rihanna. and while Rude Boy is probably not my favorite song by her, it's definitely one of the greatest and most ridiculous music videos i've seen in a while. truly spectacular.

i make awesome decisions in bike stores!

i love kanye west. i really do. his music is great (let's forget 808s and heartbreak). but part of what makes him so appealing is his flamboyantly crazy behavior. i appreciate that he puts this on full display on his twitter feed. and right now i also appreciate josh groban poking fun at it.

it's become self-aware

sort of creepy, but also adorable. the reasons to get a dyson just keep piling up.

Winter Tale (stop-motion animation) from Sergey Yazvinsky on Vimeo.