Here are some amusing links I’d like to help propagate throughout the internets that I stumbled upon in the last 48 hrs give or take a few. Many thanks to Felicia Day’s new Vlog for bringing a couple to my attention. Speaking of which, go check out Miss Day’s new youtube channel, Geek & Sundry.
One Tiny Hand. It’s amazing what the addition of a tiny hand to a photo can do. My favorite is probably a toss up between Kim Jong Il and Tony Montana.
Magical Game Time. I wish I thought of this first. Using animated gifs to gently add movement to a comic. Clever.
A cat’s ennui, documented:
Disappointed Animals. Cute and slightly discouraging, these animals are enormously disappointed in you and your poor life choices.
Yes! I do like the typewriters! It’s true. It all started when I came into contact with a delightful partially electronic typewriter my parents had in the early 80′s. Its buttons made a satisfying click. That click was the important bit. I push a button, click click, and a professional looking typed letter appears on the page. Fun for all ages!
And look, someone else likes them too. I noticed this sale on Fab, Kasbah Mod’s “Rejuvenated Vintage Typewriters“. Check out this bright, sleek gem from 1964, the Royalite:
…equals a pineapple almond tea cake that was ultimately served with tea to two of five people in this case. And, it was delicious. It’s an interpretation of an interpretation of a recipe from François Payard’s Simply Sensational Dessertsand went well with ti kuan yin oolong tea. Here’s what I did:
1 10 oz can almond paste
3 very heaping teaspoons apricot preserves
3 medium eggs
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
Fresh pineapple chunks
Turbinado sugar to sprinkle top (which will become bottom) of cake
Preheat your oven to 350ºF. I used a trois freres pan but this could be made as mini tarts or even cupcakes. Butter (grease) the inside of the pan and set aside.
Using an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the almond paste and the apricot preserve at medium speed until the mixture is smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, waiting until each one is fully incorporated into the mixture before adding the next. Add the flour next, making sure your mixer is set on low speed. Lastly, add the melted butter and mix until well blended.
Fill whichever baking vessel you use 3/4 of the way up. This recipe is barely enough for the trois freres pan…so maybe more like halfway up.
Place cubes of pineapple into top of batter in pan all the way around. Then lightly sprinkle turbinado sugar over the batter.
Bake for roughly 45 minutes (mini tarts will take about half the time I think). Bake until light golden brown and let cool on the baking sheet or on a wire rack. The cake can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week.
There was a time, not so very long ago, when you had to listen to the radio to hear new music (new music that met the radio station/music industry management’s ideals) or have a cool friend (usually with an older hip sibling) to teach you about the latest underground music. If you were really lucky, you’d have access to an indie zine (on actual, real paper) or have an indie local radio station that could play whatever they wanted (ever so rare, even now). It was nearly impossible for a band to make it without a label to promote them and in order to get on said label, that band would have to be at least reasonably commercially viable leading to the myriad of mass produced manufactured pop musicians. Those days are long gone thanks be to the internets and I don’t think the music industry is all that pleased.
Now that music is within the reach of anyone with a halfway decent computer and internet connection, the traditional music industry needs to rethink both its purpose and marketing techniques. Berklee College of Music just had a conference on this quandary called “Rethink Music” during which Amanda Palmer, Ben Folds, Damian Kulash, and Neil Gaiman ran an experiment. They got together with the goal of writing, recording, and releasing 8 songs in 8 hours. Neil Gaiman explains the project here. They asked their twitter followers to throw out ideas for inspiration and streamed the collaboration online for fans to watch. They ended up with 6 songs in 12 hours, released as “Nighty Night” by 8in8 and available to listen to for free or to download for $1 or more as you, the consumer, see fit.
Then, they asked fans to show off their creative skills and put together videos for the songs:
…and i personally challenge you to finish your video by the end of the weekend. best & fastest wins. go! go! go!http://bit.ly/get8in8
Here’s an amusing video that came out of this call for creativity:
So, without consulting a record company and wading through bureaucratic red tape, this small group of relatively well known artists were able to get together, write some music, and then record and release that music immediately. The public is able to download the album right away and use the music for their own imaginative ventures thanks to the creative commons license thus inspiring even more artistic ingenuity.
If this is the future of music, I’m all in. Imagine the possibilities for regular old normal people who happen to play a musical instrument rather well or have the ability to carry a catchy tune. Now they can put their music out there for any random person to discover. Likewise, imagine the possibilities for established musicians who now can put their industry unapproved pet project up on bandcamp with relative ease for their fans and not-yet-fans to (hopefully) enjoy. This new and uncharted world is full of promise and I, for one, love it.
I love the idea of kickstarter, a place where you can try to get your ideas funded by the masses and hopefully make them a reality. Here’s a fun example of a project currently looking for some money: the NovelPoster. They’ve created art out of words from both novels and tweets (evolution of the ‘written’ word?). If they make their monetary goal in the prescribed amount of time, the project goes forward. If not, the market has decided the project is a no-go and the contributors get their money back.
I came across and won an ebay auction for a couple of original Kenner Blythe advertisements from 1972. I love the eye color descriptions: ”Beautiful blue…bouncy brown…pretty purple…green eyed and groovy!”
I put the images up in the Blythe section to be enjoyed by all. :o)
I’m working on adding photos and information about all the random dolls I have…mostly Blythe and Pullip. Links are in the menu and more content will be added for each doll as I photograph more.
Speaking of Blythe, I came across this article about Junko Wong who was instrumental in re-introducing Blythe to the world as well as producing the neo-Blythes being made today in Asia.
I was in an oolong mood for my nightly giant mug of tea today and so grabbed my trusty stash of ti kuan yin. This particular tea is one of my teas from the internets…this delightful, smooth, and well balanced tea can be found at specialteas.com. It has a nice fruity/floral sort of nose and no bitterness in the taste. There is no reason to hide the tea behind sweeteners though I often have it with a little honey anyway as an after dinner treat. This particular oolong is actually subtly sweet on its own, I think.
Oolong is a partially fermented tea that is first dried and then oxidized whereas green teas are completely unfermented and black teas are fully fermented. The difference in tea type is not from the leaves themselves, it is a result of the processing of the leaves.
