December 25

"Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind." - Mary Ellen Chase

Happy Christmas

1953 Christmas ad for Kentucky Club Tobacco. Via Plan 59.

Finally

The Freedom Tower begins to rise up at the former site of The World Trade Center, New York.

Photo

From the series "2 Nelson" by Charles Freger.

Short Film

Video directed by Matei-Alexandru Mocanu.

Recession Visualized

Not pretty.

Marijuana Farming

A slideshow.

Tiger Woods Incident

As portrayed in this fantastically odd Taiwanese computer generated animation.

Los Angeles Empty

A great series by photographer Matt Logue.

Ignoring The Moderates (Again)

Ten Commandments released by the GOP. If a candidate doesn't meet eight, they get NO FUNDING.

Here they are:
(1) Smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits and lower taxes by opposing bills like Obama’s “stimulus” bill
(2) Market-based health care reform and oppose Obama-style government run healthcare;
(3) Market-based energy reforms by opposing cap and trade legislation;
(4) Workers’ right to secret ballot by opposing card check
(5) Legal immigration and assimilation into American society by opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants;
(6) Victory in Iraq and Afghanistan by supporting military-recommended troop surges;
(7) Containment of Iran and North Korea, particularly effective action to eliminate their nuclear weapons threat
(8) Retention of the Defense of Marriage Act;
(9) Protecting the lives of vulnerable persons by opposing health care rationing and denial of health care and government funding of abortion; and
(10) The right to keep and bear arms by opposing government restrictions on gun ownership

Number 1 is the opposite of number 6.
"Market based energy reform". What is that exactly?
Number 6. Afghanistan, maybe. But Iraq?
Number 7. Does "effective action" mean we attack Iran and North Korea? What does that mean for Number 1?
Number 8. These folks just can't handle the gays.
Number 9. What about health care rationing or denial in the "market based" private sector. Also, when they say "government-run", that really means "public option". Look close. The second word is "option".

I would like to see some positive ideas about how to solve real problems. Count how many times the word "oppose" appears on the list.

My list is better.

If The Earth Had Rings

Book Launch Coming Soon!

Cellophane66 is busy working on a book project for kids due out before the end of the year. There will be a little less blogging as the publishing nuts and bolts are all worked out. Final revisions on the text and illustrations are underway with a release to follow soon.
Here is a quick preview of the cover:


Click on the "Look For The Chicken" button in the sidebar for more info!
Website launch coming soon....
For now, look for Jimmy The Chicken on Facebook.

The Afghanistan War

A dramatic series of photos taken by AP photographer David Guttenfelder .

Baby Elk And Puddle

Caption

"Say Bob, would you mind spanking me with that spatula?"

Graphic

Photo

Short Film

The Body Morphic from Indelible Dance on Vimeo.

Aliens Don't Have Cable Yet

What aliens will be watching on TV tonight. Via Strange Maps.

Best Of Craigslist

From An Old Woman To A Young Woman.

Balloon Boy Plus Hitler Equals....

You gotta love the internets. Video.

Kinderkreis

This is so...German.



More super fun time here.

Nujabes / Luv (Sic)

Nujabes MySpace.

Short Film

From the streets of Brooklyn.

Fifty People, One Question: Brooklyn from Fifty People, One Question on Vimeo.

Obama's Nobel Peace Prize

I was going to turn on Fox News just now, but I don't want to watch people with blood squirting out of their ears.

Clown News

Street Art

By L.E.T. Via Wooster Collective.

Lego History

Via CR.

Lighthouse Storms

Photo

"Uday's Palace" by Richard Mosse. More here.

Typhoon

Quote

"Happiness is beneficial for the body but it is grief that develops the powers of the mind." - Marcel Proust

Burning Man Time Lapse

From this year's Burning Man. Wonderful....

Evolution (Burning Man time lapses) from Delrious on Vimeo.

A Ray Of Light

“I am not going to give into sentiments that I think degrade the office of the president and that degrade the debate and the culture of our country. So if you come up to me calling the president a socialist, a Muslim, you’re talking to the wrong guy," - Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC).

1980's Ghana Movie Posters

More via ephemera assemblyman.

Graphic For 9/11

Via Plan 59.

Photo

From Natalie Conn and Peter Smith.

Joe Wilson Breaks A Rule

The representative from South Carolina breaks Rule #1 for a GOP comeback.

Video

The Lost Levels 'The Early Sheets' from RadarMusicVideos on Vimeo.

Short Film

One spooky apple.

Ecological apple (experimental short) from Andreas Soderberg on Vimeo.

Quote

"Youth is not a time of life - it is a state of mind. It is not a matter of red cheeks, red lips and supple knees. It is a temper of the will; a quality of the imagination; a vigor of the emotions; it is a freshness of the deep springs of life. Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over a life of ease. This often exists in a man of fifty, more than in a boy of twenty. Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years; people grow old by deserting their ideals." - Samuel Ullman

Animal Cameras

The Museum of Animal Perspectives has a great Flickr page of video from cameras mounted on animals. A great time killer.

Photo

Rare Helen Keller Video

With her teacher Anne Sullivan from a 1930 Vitaphone newsreel.

Where Writers Write

More photos here.

Les Paul

A rock icon dies.

GOP Comeback! A How-To Guide In 12 Easy Steps.

1) Lose the anger and resentment. Talk politics without getting a nosebleed.

2) Restore the GOP as an intelligent movement. Joe six-packs with common sense don’t always make great leaders. It’s okay to aim higher.

3) Have faith and be spiritual, but don’t ever use religion as a weapon against people you disagree with.

4) Restore good sense, responsible spending, and the reward of hard work as the primary party message – not morality narratives.

5) Stop suggesting that anyone who opposes you isn’t patriotic or doesn’t believe in God.

6) Appeal to young people.

7) Accept that America is a constantly morphing cultural mixing pot. Don’t lose your noodle just because there are a couple of Puerto Rican kids on Sesame Street.

8) More William F. Buckleys and George Wills - people who can sway you with ideas. Less cable news circus clowns.

9) Stop blaming the media for all your problems. If you can’t figure out how to deal with the press, get out of politics.

10) Win elections by bringing people together, not driving them apart.

11) Acknowledge that the scientific theory of evolution makes at least a little bit of sense.

12) Don’t ever carry a sign that reads: God hates fags.

Photo

Read about this accidental photo via Neatorama.

Video

Bugs under lights.

flight patterns from Charlie McCarthy on Vimeo.

Graphic

Circa 1970's announcement for opening of PATH train station beneath newly completed World Trade Center, New York. Via Abandoned Stations.

When The Fringe Begins To Define You

Every time Sarah Palin makes a speech referring to people in small towns as "real Americans", I always think, "Jeez, that's a pretty quick way to alienate a lot of voters." It takes only a simple Internet search to see that 80 percent of Americans live in cities.
The suggestion that all these citizens are somehow not real, not patriotic, or not American is patently absurd. Tell a mother in New York City who lost a child on 9/11 that she hasn't sacrificed for her country and watch the look on her face.
Americans - small town people, big city people, white, black, Hispanic are all Americans.
There is an excellent post today at the Daily Dish that is an accurate description of what's been going on in this country for the last six months - and it's well worth a click on the link.
I too wonder why more conservative politicians have not stepped forward to say, "Hey, calm down." I have a feeling the first one who does could make a fresh new leader for the Republican party. Someone who is ready to shed the resentment, anger and fear that has come to define the new conservatism. But where is this person?

Yas Marina Circuit

A graphic illustration made available by the Formula 1 Etihad Airways-- shows a rendering of the Yas Marina Circuit that will host November 15, 2009 the season-ending finale to the Formula One calendar.

Film Family Portraits

Paintings by Kirk Demarais. More at Creative Review.

Photo

Quote

"There is always room at the top - after the investigation." - Oliver Herford

Lightning And...

This photo was taken Thursday night, April 2, 2009 by a photographer on an oil rig south of Ft Stockton, Texas who thought he was capturing a shot of lighting. He didn't know what was next to it.

Video

Astronomy Class - Where You At? Featuring Vida-Sunshyne & Kween G from Elefanttraks on Vimeo.

A Soldier's iPod

An iPod music player is attached to the tactical vest of a U.S. soldier of 3rd Platoon from the 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division as he drives to the site of a roadside bomb explosion in the mountains of Wardak Province in Afghanistan July 11, 2009. (REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov). Via The Big Picture.

5 Year Old Gets The Blues

Photo

Photo by David La Spina.

Longest Eclipse Of The Century

Enjoyed in Asia:

Newscom / Wu Huang / ChinaFotoPress

105 Days

And the Russians emerge.

Good Grief

"Chuck Brown", an illustration by artist Tim O'Brien.

My Favorite Link In Weeks

Don't understand this photo? Click here for more.

Grand Canyon Photographer

What some photographers will do for the perfect shot (in this case: carrying gear and wearing flip flops). The following pictures were taken by Hans van de Vorst from the Netherlands at the Grand Canyon, Arizona. The identity of the photographer in the photos is unknown. According to Hans, he climbed up safely.

Art: Mother's Clutter

Here's a good slideshow over at The New York Times. The artist Song Dong turned the contents of his mother's former home in Beijing into an installation titled "Waste Not."

From The Venice Biennale

A detail of "A football match of June 14th, 2002" by Chinses artist Huang Yong Ping at the Punta della Dogana in Venice on June 3, 2009. (ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty Images) Via The Big Picture.

Photo

A work from Martin and Youle.

Narcotecture

Homes in Kabul built with drug money. Not the nicest places on the block. Via True/Slant.

Jackson Staples Memorial

Will Barack and Hillary sing "Ebony and Ivory"?

Relaxing And Celebrating

Cellophane is celebrating America away from the usual technological advances and will return soon with fresh batteries.

Let The Circus Begin

AP photo of portable bathrooms being delivered at Neverland Ranch.

Michael Jackson

Part tribute. Part instructional.


Famous Dance Moves: How To Pull Off The Michael Jackson Circle Slide

Photo

From photographer Kevin Landers.

Another Update

Not a digital attack. Another familiar culprit - an overwhelmed server.

Update

Apparently, The Daily Dish link just suffered from some kind of digital attack that they are trying to get out from under. A new kind of information warfare it seems. The censors attack and the techies fight back.

Streaming Out Of Iran

As dramatic events unfold on the streets of Iran, it is apparent that all the technology available today makes it nearly impossible for any society to remain closed off from the rest of the world. In the old days, press would be banned, newspapers and TV stations would be taken over, and it would be hard to know what was happening.
Live blogging, twittering, and quick uploads of raw video are available worldwide in an instant - an amazing sign of our times. Good live blogging information at the Daily Dish.

This Blog's Namesake

A creepy bygone ad via copyranter that had to be posted here for obvious reasons.

Not So Happy People

Via Happiest People Ever! Photos of people forgetting to smile.

American Socialism?

Not even close. Chart via The Atlantic.

Photo (Planet Of The Apes)

Via Magnum Photos from a series of photos taken in 1960s California by Dennis Stock. Above: On the set of Planet Of The Apes.

George Bailey Vs Mr. Potter

Run, Bodybuilder, Run

When the doping officials show up, it's time for the big men to flee.

Collapsed Tunnel Beneath WTC

Some eerie photos taken at the collapsed Cortlandt Street subway station beneath the World Trade Center, New York. Via Abandoned Stations.

Quote

"No one knows what he is doing so long as he is acting rightly; but of what is wrong one is always conscious." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Jet Pack Test

One Russian's View Of Future America

Seems like wishful thinking on the part of one Russian professor. One of the map's several highlights is the claim of central states falling under the influence of Canada. Via Strange Maps.

Quote

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein

Texas Hospitals

From a collection of postcards depicting various medical buildings in Texas 1904-1985.

Boy, The Irish Can Drink

Just read the story of Michael Malloy.

Largest Model Rocket Ever

At Higgs Farm in Price, Maryland, Steve Eves entered the history books as the person who flew the largest model rocket in history. Video via LiveLeak.

Bionic Flying Penguins And More

Geek Stories

Check this great site called Pathetic Geek Stories - hysterically sad true-life tales told in comic book form...a real gem. Here's a sample.

Street Art New York

Artist Ji Lee.

Bonnie Prince Billy

Reagan On Torture

Reagan's signing statement from the UN Convention on Torture in 1984:

"The United States participated actively and effectively in the negotiation of the Convention . It marks a significant step in the development during this century of international measures against torture and other inhuman treatment or punishment. Ratification of the Convention by the United States will clearly express United States opposition to torture, an abhorrent practice unfortunately still prevalent in the world today.
The core provisions of the Convention establish a regime for international cooperation in the criminal prosecution of torturers relying on so-called 'universal jurisdiction.' Each State Party is required either to prosecute torturers who are found in its territory or to extradite them to other countries for prosecution."

Cheney

From The Daily Dish:
"It is very rare to get someone with the same stratospheric levels of arrogance and incompetence as you find in Dick Cheney. Let's go to the tape: A war launched on false premises, a trillion dollar debt in a period of growth, a destruction of America's moral standing, the loss of one major city (New Orleans) and the devastation of another (New York City), two horribly bungled military campaigns that have trapped his successors for decades, a political party decimated for a generation, his closest aide in jail for obstruction of justice, his own daughter and grand-child targeted by his own party as second-class citizens in the state they live in. And a war criminal. Did I miss anything?"

Photo

Via Square America.

Headline Mash-Up

Malawi court to hear Madonna adoption appeal May 4

Father attempts to sell 'Slumdog' actress - caught in child slavery sting.

Mash-Up: Madonna buys 'Slumdog' actress.

Lost Airfields Los Angeles

This one was at the corner of Wilshire and Fairfax. Details at BLDGBLOG.

Texas Secession Thought

I think a lot of people in Texas would say there's nothing more American than Texas, right? Well if the state secedes, they'll be as American as Canada - or Mexico. C'mon, enough already.

Titanic Iceberg

Photo believed to be of iceberg that struck the Titanic on this day 1912.