Saturday, December 29, 2007

Bring it on - Happy New Year 2008 !

2007 is almost history. So looking forward to a brand new, fantastic 2008! KormaCurry and I will ring in 2008 in the winter wonderland of Mt. Baker @ a fantastic Chalet, near the little town of Glacier, with some good friends, drinking Washington wines & eating fine belgian chocolates. Doesn't get much better than that.

Bring it on....2008!
Wishing everyone an amazing & prosperous New Year.

LINK: Swiss Tony - pg13

Photo Courtesy: David Koontz

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Grandpa J turns 94!












Yes, my grandad is 94 today!

Eat your organic spinach, climb a few
mountains & you also will live to be 100.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Maynard Kennan's Winery.

One of my all time favorite bands is Tool & I was surprised when I stumbled upon Maynard's vineyard website. Yes, he sells his product online. He has apparently been writing a blog for the "Wine Spectator" for sometime that chronicles the process of starting a vineyard in Arizona.

LINK: INTERVIEW
LINK: CADUCEUS CELLARS
LINK: TOOL MUSIC


Image Courtesy:
www.viewimages.com
www.flickr.com

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Barbie & Ken Jewelry.













Finally someone has found a useful way in which to recycle old Barbie & Ken Dolls. All I want for Christmas is the "barbie arm necklace".

Link: www.margauxlange.com

Bonny Scotland 2.


Village of Luss











Island of Cumbrea











Loch Lomond

Prowl of the Week.




A side window was shattered between 12:30 and 6:30 a.m. Nov. 15 to get into a Land Rover in the 2400 block of Westlake Ave. N. Stolen were a $450 GPS unit, the SUV's registration, an insurance card and $10 worth of dog biscuits. - Russ Zabel, Queen Anne News, Police Log

Note: Russ was a local & frequented our old watering hole "The Mecca" in Seattle. He would share with us the preposterous stories from the police blotter.

LINK: Queen Anne News

Monday, December 10, 2007

Twisted Tales.

Create your own twisted fairy tales using the Proppian Fairy Tale Generator.
Here is part of a tale that I created:
One of them who came forward looked nothing like the others. She was dressed in white fluff and smelled clean. Her eyes were like a child's. "I'm in need of assistance," she said softly. "I need some help and I think you can help me."

MicroKangaroo.












They have been tracking this little guy in China.
He hops like a kangaroo and is called a Jerboa.

Link: Jerboa Video

1000 HITS MONDAY!

Friday, December 7, 2007

Chopra Comics!

Deepak Chopra & his son have teamed up with Virgin Comics to produce a comic called "Indian Authentic", that tells the stories of classic Indian Mythology. Wicked Illustrations.

Thursday, December 6, 2007

r o a d k i l l t o y s . c o m

Gravenhurst.

While cruising around sightseeing with the gang in Scotland, DJ Neeps was playing the great beats, as usual. Never heard of them until now, but I will mostly be listening to Gravenhurst this winter. Dreamy, space music with beautiful & haunting melodies.
Me like...

Site Link

Back in Za Hood.

Back in za hood...but stay tuned as I have returned from Europe with lots of blog fodder.
Good to be back home.

The Temple, Manchester.










Located on Bridgewater street, this kool pub is a converted Victorian toilet. The prudish Victorians called the loo, "temple of convenience", hence the name. It is a tiny pub, warm and cozy with coral walls and candlelit tables with tulips in lambic bottles. It is the small details that count. Great bitters and German beer on tap-jukebox playing all our favorites, including a bit of Spiritualized.

Saturday, December 1, 2007

Madchester...

Love this city. Manchester has a great vibe. It is a great modern city. They have revamped the canal areas and old factories are now swanky pubs...a great mix of modern and old worldy. It is also home to Manchester University, so being a college town, it has super diversity and a great collection of public art.


Bonny Scotland...

In Glasgow now. Enjoyed a bit of DragQueen Karaoke last night at the local community center. Her lady was dressed in blue sequins from head to toe and had a great schtick. On the walk home last night...stumbled upon the gallows square and also the amazing Royal Dalton Fountain that was a tribute to the Empire. Off today West to the Scottish Isles and a Locke or two.


















Sunday, November 18, 2007

Rodin Visits Malaga.

KormaCurry & I took a great daytrip to Malaga, Spain. It was a lovely, sunny day. We walked into the old town and amazingly enough, saw that the street was blocked off, looked up and saw The Thinker, a very famous Rodin bronze and many others on loan from Paris. We stumbled upon a little square where we had a tapas break and an amazing glass of Northern Spanish Rose'.

Window Scenes from Amalfi

































Thursday, November 15, 2007

Sun, Sand and more sun...


KormaC and I have been enjoying copious amounts of beachtime here in Torremelinos. It has been beautiful and sunny, the waters of the Med, a beautiful deep turquoise. Andalusia is beautiful, the white stucco, Spanish buildings, sprinkled with groves of olive trees and orange tree lined streets on the prominade. We are also in a ceramics area. Lots of tiled street murals, courtyards and buildings, in the traditional arabic style.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

When I die...


...bury me here please. We are back in Amalfi, it feels very dream-like. A tiny town built into the cliffs, KormaCurry & I stumbled upon this town in 2003 and never wanted to leave. We thought one day we would return, but did not know it would possible so soon, thanks to all of the cheap air carriers now. Lemon Groves, vineyards, epic sea views and rocky cliffs that plunge right into the aquamarine sea. The hospitality of the Amalfian people is neverending. Amalfi is where all of the Italian potter's live and create. All of the duomos are multicolored tiles and marble. The cliff towns are full of ceramica painted brightly with designs. The cemetery is high on a cliff with
24-7 candlelight... Need I say more?

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Halloween Roman Stylee...

KormaCurry and I arrived in Rome just in time for lunch. We found a lovely restaurante' and both dove into some amazing wood-fired pizzas, ensalada & some fabulous local vino rosa. Since we had flown out of Manchester at 3am, we settled into our space age come oppulant roman B&B for a nap. Gussied up and went on a lovely stroll to the Trevi Fountain, now restored back to it's original waters...Happy Halloween my fellow Pagans, witches, ghosts and goblins....

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Little Horror on the Prairie?!!























Yes, I loved 70's tv, Little House on the Prairie, growing up.
I have to say though, this cast looks much more interesting than the original cast.

Photo Credit: ANON

Social Stress + Darkness = Increased Anxiety

Just in time for Halloween, researchers are releasing new data that show darkness increases the impact of social stress, in an article scheduled for publication in the November 15th issue of Biological Psychiatry. As children and adults alike gear up for the anticipation and excitement of this "spooky" holiday, this study lends a further understanding to our inherent fear of the dark.

Link: Science Daily

Amy Winehouse Ashtray.


Amy Winehouse is releasing a Combo edition of her new live DVD I Told You I Was Trouble, which comes complete with a pint glass and an ashtray, both engraved with her name.

Link: www.amywinehouse.com







Monday, October 22, 2007

RIP Paul Raven.

The Wolverhampton musician's body was found on Saturday in Geneva, Switzerland, where he was recording. Raven earned his stripes in local punk band, the Neon Hearts. Raven joined Killing Joke in 1982 as the bassist, and later Ministry.

Album: Extremities Dirt & Various Repressed Emotions - Killing Joke
Link: Killing Joke Live
Link: Tribute Website


Canned Silk Worms.

Want to try something different for your next party?

Wired Magazine has an awesome gallery of strange canned food stuffs.

Link: Wired Magazine

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Trevi Fountain Waters now Red.

KormaCurry & I fly into Rome for Halloween and plan to be at Trevi Fountain. Some "Futurist Movement" guy dumped dye into the fountain and ran into the crowd. Hopefully the nutjob did not use toxic material.

The Roman Aquaducts are apparently some of the only in the world with pure water you can still drink.
Link: Roman Aquaducts
Story Link: www.lifeinitaly.com

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Rockstars in Cartoonland

Red Hot Chili Peppers
Rollercoaster of Love- Video









Beatles
Yellow Submarine - Movie








Radiohead
SouthPark - TV Program








LINK: Rockstar Cartoon Slideshow
Photos: New Music Express

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Devandra does Joplin...

There is nothing better than the psychedelic licks of Devandra B singing "Summertime" with the added bonus of a handsome hippie boy in boxers dancing on the sidelines.




Link: Devendra Banhart MySpace

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Quite a Saucy Prince...


















Love this mag cover of the beer swillin' Harry.
www.radar.com

Friday, October 12, 2007

White Stripes Cameras?

















Yes, the Lomo lives. I had a few friends in Seattle that took some pretty kool pictures with their Lomos in the 90's. I was reading through the New Music Express and came across this interesting bit of news...Meg & Jack custom lomo cameras. If you are not familiar with Lomo Photography here are some links.

Meg & Jack Cameras
Lomo History
Lomo Site
The White Stripes

Platinum, diamonds & human teeth.


Part of Damon Hirst's latest exhibition. "For the Love of God" is a life-size cast of a human skull in platinum, covered entirely by 8,601 VVS to flawless pavé-set diamonds, weighing a total of 1,106.18 carats.

The skull sold for $100M

For the Halloween Baby...












No need for words.
Link: www.buycostumes.com






Amalfi, here we come...

We visited Amalfi, Italy on a whim in 2004, a tiny, jewel of a town, built into the cliffs. Amalfi Coast is where all of the Italian ceramics are made. The cliff towns in the area have brightly colored tiles on the duomos. Via the Tourismo office, we were hooked up to stay in a family’s home. The family was lovely and so was the stay with a private terrace all to ourselves, where we ate lunch & had vino every night gazing at the sea. The man of the house is from generations of ceramic artists in the area. His art was displayed all over their home. We are headed back to Amalfi in a month…we will visit our friend at her café, eat at our favorite places, take walks amongst the lemon groves, drink the local wine and chill the heck out…One of my top "destinations to see before you die"...

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Kurt Cobain: About a Son

Journalist, Michael Azerrad was granted several midnight to dawn interviews with Kurt C between December 1992 & March 1993 which has been made into a film. Cobain on "Aliens"...
"I always wanted to think that I was an alien. I used to think when I was young that I was adopted by my mother because they found me and a spaceship let me off. I was from a different planet. I wanted to be from a different planet really bad. Every night I used to talk to my real parents and my real family in the skies." ~ K.C.

Photo & Content: SeattlePI

Grim Autumn Haiku.

Insomnia has taken hold, so I am keeping amused with a bit of haiku. I have not written poetry since high school & you will soon know why. My inspiration for this or lack thereof, is that we have had literally, no summer here in Vancouver this year and now it is fall...

Trees of fiery red
Leaves tumble down
Summer is gone.

Made in Vancouver... Lightning Dust.

I have been listening to Lightning Dust, a side project from Black Mountain's psychedelic duo, Amber Webber & Josh Wells. Fav new tune is "Listened On".

Link: Lightning Dust MySpace

~ Photo: Tyee.ca

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

DIY Dead Disk Chair.

Yet another amazing use of those disks that go awry. This chair looks quite comfortable. "Panda Chair" was designed by Belen Hermosa.
Photo: Gizmoto.com
Previous Post: DIY Dead Disk Mobile