Two years ago, as Rory and I were walking through the park that surrounds the American Museum of Natural History, I was struck by a lavender tulip all by its lonesome in a large bed of red ones.
I blogged about it here, in fact.
Rory and I found ourselves in the park again today, and the tulips were out in full force. And wouldn’t you know?
A ‘single lady’ was back again as well.
Welcome!
Posted in Humor, Life, Museums, Nature, Walking
Tagged American Museum of Natural History, blogs, dog walking, flower child, flowers, Humor, lavendar tulips, life, museums, nature, parks, red tulips, single lady, tulips, walking
Happy 40th Birthday, Cellphone!
That’s right. Forty years ago today, Motorola engineer Martin Cooper made the first cellphone call — to one of his rival engineers at Bell Labs, no less — and made telecommunications history.
Looking at your ‘baby photo’ at left — a cellphone model that I see turn up in old movies and television sitcom reruns all the time — I can honestly say…
You look even younger today.
(You really do.)
Posted in History, Humor, Life, Museums, Technology, Television
Tagged 40th birthday, baby photo, Bell Labs, cellphone, engineer, history, Humor, life, Martin Cooper, mobile phone, Motorola, museum, old movies, redial, technology, telecommunications, television reruns
How do I spell ‘ugly?’
P-E-G-O-M-A-S-T-A-X
Actually, I just started spelling it that way today…when I spied a photo online of this two-foot, bristle-covered dinosaur.
And you know what he said?
No, really — do you??
(I feel like he deserves a rebuttal.)
Posted in Animals, History, Humor, Life, Museums
Tagged animals, dinosaurs, history, Humor, in the eye of the rebuttal, life, museums, pegomastax, rebuttal, ugly dinosaur
Welcome to Fun Fact Friday!
I just invented it because I ran across a fun fact on Google that I wanted to share. It is, in fact, a fun fact about Google…which makes it even more fun.
Well, at least, to me.
Anyhoo, here is your promised fun fact –
Google has a pet dinosaur. His name is Stan. He is a T-Rex.
His skeleton was unearthed near their headquarters, authenticated and later adopted by Google. Now Stan is kept on a fairly short leash outside Building 43.
Are these Stan’s real bones or a scale model? This fact I do not know. But having a dinosaur as a pet?
Very cool. And very Google.
Posted in Animals, Business, Humor, Museums
Tagged animals, Business, dinosaurs, Friday, fun fact, Google, Google campus, Google search, headquarters, museum, pet, pet dinosaur, scale model, sit stay good boy, skeleton, Stan, T-rex
Do you know what this is? I’ll give you three guesses.
Kaleidoscope?
Origami sculpture?
Re-tooled DNA?
Times up.
It’s actually the central vault above the atrium of the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha.
But I’m pretty sure the artist had one of those three items in mind when he was creating his masterpiece.
Either that, or he was staring at his blue eye a bit too closely in the mirror.
I think I need more sleep.
Posted in Art, Design, Humor, Life, Museums
Tagged art, artist, design, DNA, Doha, Humor, kaleidoscope, life, masterpiece, museum, Museum of Islamic Art, origami, scuplture, three guesses
How often do we judge something as being good or bad without fully understanding it?
We’re all human, so I would guess…too many times to count.
It appears Anthony Burrill agrees. The English illustrator and designer is well-known for his posters, videos and 3-D pieces.
Check out his print below.
I love this.
(What is it?)
Posted in Art, Comedy, Commentary, Design, Humor, Life, Museums
Tagged 3-D, Anthony Burrill, art, comedy, commentary, design, designer, Humor, I like this what is it, illustrator, life, museum, posters, videos
You probably know someone who’s had a nose job.
I know two or three.
All were trying to take their too wide, too long or too bumpy noses and make them look more like some perfect version they had seen on a model or actress.
Hey, if it makes them feel better about themselves, I say go for it.
But take a look at these ‘nose jobs’ that went in the completely opposite direction — achieving perfection by being as unique as possible.
These are airplane nose jobs, by the way, in an exhibit of the same name at the Eric Firestone Gallery in Easthampton, New York.
Airplane nose art dates back to World War II. Firestone purchased scrap government-issued airplanes– DC7s to F106s — gave them to 22 artists and let them have at it.
There is no standard for these nose jobs — no model perfection. Each nose in the exhibit is as unique as its artist.
I’m sure there is something to be learned from all this.
I just like looking at the artwork.
Posted in Airplanes, Art, Commentary, Design, History, Humor, Museums, transportation
Tagged airplane nose, airplanes, art, art exhibit, art museum, artwork, commentary, design, Easthampton New York, Eric Firestone, Eric Firestone Gallery, Humor, model perfection, museums, nose job, perfection, plastic surgery, transportation, World War II, World War II airplanes
I’ve lived in New York City for almost five years now, and people still ask me if I like it.
I do. But, surprisingly, not for the reasons I thought I would.
Yes, I like going to Broadway shows whenever I want. I like being able to dabble in TV and film work (translation: audition a lot, get cast very little, do extra work a bit). I like having access to lectures and writers and museums and all the culture that New York City provides.
But what I love most of all about this city?
The characters you find here…and the city’s total acceptance of them.
Case in point: Yesterday I was on the 1 train coming back uptown from a meeting. A guy got on, turned on his iPod — playing the Star Wars theme for some reason — and announced “The king is here!” Then he started showing large photos to the car; in each one, he was posed with a different celebrity.
He wasn’t trying to sell anything. He just wanted to show people his pics. And he kept saying “The king is here” in a very proud way.
The people in the car? They just ignored him or smiled. One women talked to him and was quickly dubbed “The queen of the car!”
When he left a few stops later — saying “The king is leaving!” — folks just went about their day. There wasn’t any drama. No one was clasping their child in terror or calling a cop. He was just another character in the city that accepts them as their own.
Yep. I like it here.
Posted in Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Life, Movies, Museums, Television, TV
Tagged Broadway, commentary, culture, entertainment, Humor, iPod, life, Manhattan, Movies, New York City, Star Wars, Television, TV, writers
I could stare at this all day.
I took the photo myself — yesterday morning in fact — while I was walking Rory in the park surrounding the American Museum of Natural History.
(The one with the dinosaurs? Yeah, that one.)
The tulips in their border gardens are amazing this year. I’ve taken dozens of pics during our daily strolls. I especially like this shot because, in that particular flower bed, one lone lavender tulip has braved the red masses on the edge of the green.
Hey, it ain’t easy being lavender.
Of course, the color makes it stand out all the more, so he’s the one you notice out of all those flowers. Bet he never guessed that would happen when he was just a bulb….back when the red tulips wouldn’t let him play their “raindrop games.”
God, I’m a goof.
But it’s funny how a simple flower can evoke such memories of childhood. Being different — by choice or by design — and staying the course regardless of peer pressure or outside influences. And sometimes it’s nothing more than where you were planted in the first place. (I’m kinda liking this whole floral metaphor…)
So, let’s get out there today, and get our bloom on!
Posted in Beauty, Blog, Blogging, Blogs, Commentary, Dogs, Environment, Humor, Life, Love, Museums, Philosophy, Relationships, Walking, Writing
Tagged American Museum of Natural History, beauty, being different, blogging, blogs, commentary, dog walking, Dogs, flowers, Humor, inspiration, lavender tulips, life, Manhattan, museums, New York City, outliers, red tulips, Relationships, tulips, writing
Lady luck
When it comes to bugs, I earned my wimp card years ago.
I’m not a fan.
But the ladybug? That’s one very different beetle. It’s cute, it eats a lot of harmful insects and it’s lucky. (That’s a scientific fact.)
Look at that face.
And you might stop reading right now. Because the rest of this post on ladybugs will freak you out. It did me.
Hungarian Artist Gabor Fulop also likes ladybugs. A lot. So much so that he created 20,000 and hand-painted them.
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Posted in Animals, Art, Commentary, Design, Humor, Life, Museums, Shopping
Tagged animals, art, artist, beaded ladybug nightlight, bugs, commentary, design, Gabor Fulop, hand-painted ladybugs, Humor, Hungary, insects, ladybug sculpture, ladybugs, life, luck, museums, New York City, sculpture, shopping, Stoopher & Boots, Upper West Side New York City, wimp card