Thursday, December 17, 2009
Advertisting IS Graffiti.
Thinking on my post from the other day I can't believe I didn't admonish the outdoor advertisers for their graffiti as well. Billboards do not enhance a community. They only clutter our sight and space.
This is a great post on the great NY Street Art Takeover. Those bills and flyers at eyelevel in NYC are illegal and a group of people decided to do something about it. From AntiAdvertisingAgency.
Finishing up grades and then cleaning house a little bit.
Last night at dinner in an oversalted chain restaurant after doing some trampolining at Jumpstreet, a really cool trampoline video game inflatable play area store/activity center, where I almost landed my front flip and probably bruised my sternum attempting a back flip, everyone said goodbye around 9 and I thought to myself "I don't have to get up and go to work tomorrow!" and it made me smile.
Off to finish grades and think about ways to save money and make our house a little more sustainable, so that maybe I can have the "I don't have to go to work tomorrow" feeling everyday!
This is a great post on the great NY Street Art Takeover. Those bills and flyers at eyelevel in NYC are illegal and a group of people decided to do something about it. From AntiAdvertisingAgency.
Finishing up grades and then cleaning house a little bit.
Last night at dinner in an oversalted chain restaurant after doing some trampolining at Jumpstreet, a really cool trampoline video game inflatable play area store/activity center, where I almost landed my front flip and probably bruised my sternum attempting a back flip, everyone said goodbye around 9 and I thought to myself "I don't have to get up and go to work tomorrow!" and it made me smile.
Off to finish grades and think about ways to save money and make our house a little more sustainable, so that maybe I can have the "I don't have to go to work tomorrow" feeling everyday!
Labels: yarn grafitti
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
I am Jack's nasal cavity.
I can't remember the last time I've done this but I read an entire book yesterday. And if you know your pop literature and/or Brad Pitt/Ed Norton movies you correctly deduced the book I began and finished was "Fight Club" by Chuck Palahniuk. I'll link it because I got it from the library, so I'm at least supporting Chuck a little bit.
I'm a fan of graffiti. Not all graffiti, but graffiti that is more of a mural and helps the community instead of just some lame tag or your name in bubble letters. As J points out, she could do that easily. So far we haven't been affected too much, besides the van that is medium abandoned in our alley being tagged roughly on Nov. 20 or Nov. 27. DD Larue is a Denver artist who delved into tagging in the mid 90s. I couldn't find a picture of her cheshire cat but I'll try and upload one. She originally started tagging as a way to brighten up her alley and dumpster. Note not to prove she's a bad ass and put her name on things that don't belong to her but to improve her community. She got out of it when the city started cracking down on taggers and didn't differentiate between the gang-like tags and community building "paintings", if you will.
But wait! Now there is more than one way to beautify your community and get in a healthy dose of civil disobedience and better yet, it doesn't piss people off! It's called yarnbombing or yarn graffiti and it's glorious! A few adventurous souls decided to improve their community without waiting for red tape and are doing it by knitting. Yes knitting, just like grandma used to do but grandma never knitted leg warmers for a cold statue.
At least I don't think she did.
In Denver we have our own society of yarn taggers, the Ladies Fancywork Society. Better yet they already have a sister city and clan in Amsterdam, so keep your eyes open Denverites and Amsterdamians! You might run across some of their handywork and hopefully it makes you smile. At the very least I hope it doesn't make you angry because it isn't permanent and can very easily revert back to harmless yarn.
Another photo, just to show you how awesome our Ladies Fancywork Society really is:
Downtown here in Denver, we have 2 giant statues that are supposed to represent ballerinas or something, but everyone calls them the "Dancing Aliens". Our Ladies thought their legs weren't warm enough and knitted a seven foot leg warmer! There's also a video. Legendary Leg Warmers
For all you Londoners, yes you have your own yarnbomber over at Knit the City.
I have never been more interested in knitting and crocheting than ever before! I want to knit massive leg warmers or tree warmers or creatures of the night like Knit the City's Yarn Corps:
I'm a fan of graffiti. Not all graffiti, but graffiti that is more of a mural and helps the community instead of just some lame tag or your name in bubble letters. As J points out, she could do that easily. So far we haven't been affected too much, besides the van that is medium abandoned in our alley being tagged roughly on Nov. 20 or Nov. 27. DD Larue is a Denver artist who delved into tagging in the mid 90s. I couldn't find a picture of her cheshire cat but I'll try and upload one. She originally started tagging as a way to brighten up her alley and dumpster. Note not to prove she's a bad ass and put her name on things that don't belong to her but to improve her community. She got out of it when the city started cracking down on taggers and didn't differentiate between the gang-like tags and community building "paintings", if you will.
But wait! Now there is more than one way to beautify your community and get in a healthy dose of civil disobedience and better yet, it doesn't piss people off! It's called yarnbombing or yarn graffiti and it's glorious! A few adventurous souls decided to improve their community without waiting for red tape and are doing it by knitting. Yes knitting, just like grandma used to do but grandma never knitted leg warmers for a cold statue.
At least I don't think she did.
In Denver we have our own society of yarn taggers, the Ladies Fancywork Society. Better yet they already have a sister city and clan in Amsterdam, so keep your eyes open Denverites and Amsterdamians! You might run across some of their handywork and hopefully it makes you smile. At the very least I hope it doesn't make you angry because it isn't permanent and can very easily revert back to harmless yarn.
Another photo, just to show you how awesome our Ladies Fancywork Society really is:
Downtown here in Denver, we have 2 giant statues that are supposed to represent ballerinas or something, but everyone calls them the "Dancing Aliens". Our Ladies thought their legs weren't warm enough and knitted a seven foot leg warmer! There's also a video. Legendary Leg Warmers
For all you Londoners, yes you have your own yarnbomber over at Knit the City.
I have never been more interested in knitting and crocheting than ever before! I want to knit massive leg warmers or tree warmers or creatures of the night like Knit the City's Yarn Corps:
Labels: Denver, yarn grafitti
Saturday, December 05, 2009
Semester's over! Seriously.
First semester is basically under my belt. Exams are given, just need to grade them, input grades, go to a Christmas party and that's about it.
Things on my To Do list for the um, Winter Break, we'll call it:
Professional development: 1)work on "active learning" classroom activities, studies keep showing that traditional lecture is not the best way to learn for most people
2)keep fingers crossed that I get the full time gig at CCD
3)look around for grants and research ideas for non-traditional undergrads
4)write grants and work on my professional writing
5)put together a blog for my classes which will contain assignments, downloadable assignments, syllabus, class info, interesting links to Youtube videos, lectures, etc.
6)update resume and apply for traditional and non-traditional chemistry jobs
7)increase my online professional presence-google page, Linkedin profile, hmmm, any others that I'm missing?
Personal development: 1)finally update this blog-best of, template change, etc.
2)READ! Also I'll be keeping a list of books I've read and some reviewish ideas and impressions
3)get used to exercising in the snow or do more indoors-get into skiing shape which mainly involves developing stamina in my quads and core
4)use my free time efficiently
5)keep developing the budding friendships we've made in Denver so far
6)keep nurturing friendships with friends who I don't live near anymore
7)begin each day with a something physically stimulating, even if that's taking a walk outside
Other fun stuff:
1)watch gobs of college football bowl games, predominately online: thanks Justin.TV and CBS sports!
2)probably watch some movies
3)probably play some video games
4)fix the problems that Focus is having (freakin' suspension rattle) and change Tercel's blown lightbulbs
5)work on my winter driving
6)go back to Alabama for visiting family!
That's enough for now. My December 2009 resolution is to take a huge chunk out of this list.
I'm watching the Clemson Tigers hopefully win the ACC championship right now! Go Tigers!
Things on my To Do list for the um, Winter Break, we'll call it:
Professional development: 1)work on "active learning" classroom activities, studies keep showing that traditional lecture is not the best way to learn for most people
2)keep fingers crossed that I get the full time gig at CCD
3)look around for grants and research ideas for non-traditional undergrads
4)write grants and work on my professional writing
5)put together a blog for my classes which will contain assignments, downloadable assignments, syllabus, class info, interesting links to Youtube videos, lectures, etc.
6)update resume and apply for traditional and non-traditional chemistry jobs
7)increase my online professional presence-google page, Linkedin profile, hmmm, any others that I'm missing?
Personal development: 1)finally update this blog-best of, template change, etc.
2)READ! Also I'll be keeping a list of books I've read and some reviewish ideas and impressions
3)get used to exercising in the snow or do more indoors-get into skiing shape which mainly involves developing stamina in my quads and core
4)use my free time efficiently
5)keep developing the budding friendships we've made in Denver so far
6)keep nurturing friendships with friends who I don't live near anymore
7)begin each day with a something physically stimulating, even if that's taking a walk outside
Other fun stuff:
1)watch gobs of college football bowl games, predominately online: thanks Justin.TV and CBS sports!
2)probably watch some movies
3)probably play some video games
4)fix the problems that Focus is having (freakin' suspension rattle) and change Tercel's blown lightbulbs
5)work on my winter driving
6)go back to Alabama for visiting family!
That's enough for now. My December 2009 resolution is to take a huge chunk out of this list.
I'm watching the Clemson Tigers hopefully win the ACC championship right now! Go Tigers!
Labels: blogs, preview, teaching
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