John Lonsdale is an architectDid you know there’s a blog dedicated to cupcakes?
My friends can tell ya: I love cupcakes. It’s my favorite dessert. I like all kinds: mom + pop 3rd grade platters, gourmet bits in well-lit shops, and the weirdly plastic kind in grocery stores.
Need some cupcakes to swoon over while watching Cinema Paradiso?
Don’t worry: there are Caramel popcorn cupcakes!
Little Cakes from the Whimsical Bakehouse via Cupcakes Take the Cake
There are Oscar Night Red Carpet cupcakes.
THERE ARE EVEN HARRY POTTER INSPIRED CUPCAKES.
I would feel guilty eating any of these cupcakes.
OH WOE IS ME: my stomach is not worthy of Hedwig and other frosting-based feats.
I suggest you check out the blog.
In college, my friends and I often joked about reconvening and spending our days living in a glorious treehouse. AS can back me up on this: she’s the point person/floor plan designer.
Linda Aldredge’s treehouse retreat.
And of course, there are more options. Want to rent a treehouse? Well, you have the chance.
Outa the Woods is a rentable treehouse on the eastern edge of British Columbia, built 15 feet above the ground on seven trees. While unique, the fully-furnished vacation spot is also a study in green, compact living.
Instead of a hotel suite, you can stay in this treehouse’s sleek bedroom.
Do you want to build a treehouse?
"Heightened language—one possible or partial definition of poetry—isn’t the first thing one associates with comics. Yet comic book artists take into account the way words appear on the page to a degree poets will find familiar. How many lines should accompany each image? How high should the dialogue balloon float? The ratio of printed words to blank space plays a role in whether a poem or strip succeeds."
How smart is this? Melding comics and poetry?
I’d use the word genius if I believed in the word.
Think about it: the line is integral to each genre.
Panel six of A.E. Stallings’s poem as interpreted by R.Rikuo Johnson.
Click away: The Poetry Foundation by way of Poetry Hut Blog.
If you want to see Stallings's poem in its original format: Click Here.
Want more? I do.
Gabrielle Bell and Emily Dickinson
Go see Paul Hornschemeir and Ted Hooser’s take of “The Giant Slide.”
The Guardian has an interesting discussion of his work. I thought it was respectful, engaging, and though-provoking. An excerpt:
“…why shouldn't Von Hagens merchandise his corpses? If Damien Hirst can stud a dead man's cranium with diamonds, why shouldn't Von Hagens give us whole cadavers kicking footballs or dancing the tango? Apparently, all Von Hagens' deceased performers gave their permission for his use of their bodies, even the young woman who died with an eight-month foetus in utero.
From the beginning of western civilisation, people have gone to great lengths to recover their dead and give them a decent burial. Soldiers take risks to recover the bodies of their fallen comrades under fire; people bereaved by natural disaster spend weeks and months hunting for their dead. When the body of Antigone's brother Polynices was left on a Greek battlefield, she defied the royal edict to bring it back for honourable burial and was punished with death.”
All work (and images) belong to Gunther von Hagens and are from his website. His life is also fascinating; I suggest you read his bio.
"The Poker Playing Trio"
"Gorilla"“Saying he has a mandate to make poetry more accessible, P.E.I.'s poet laureate has launched a website where Islanders can share their work. Nearly 40 poets from across P.E.I. have already posted to the new "community website," which was launched last week.
David Helwig, appointed in January to a two-year term as poet laureate, said he hopes as many people will read the website as post to it.
"There's a danger in this world that there are more people that want to write poetry than want to read it," said Helwig.
"But you know there are lots of people sending in poems. I hope lots of people will click on it."
The website allows for several methods of navigation, by current or historical poets, poetry for children, or allowing the site to select a random poem for you. The site also includes suggested readings, and audio and video clips of poets performing their own work.”
Source via Poetry Hut
“Paul Curtis aka Moose is no regular graffiti artist. In fact, he’s the reverse-graffiti artist. He created his street art by *cleaning* the dirt and grime off of surfaces!
Authorities are baffled: is selective cleaning a crime?
The tools are simple: A shoe brush, water and elbow grease, he says.
British authorities aren’t sure what to make of the artist who is creating graffiti by cleaning the grime of urban life. The Leeds City Council has been considering what to do with Moose. 'I’m waiting for the kind of Monty Python court case where exhibit A is a pot of cleaning fluid and exhibit B is a pair of my old socks,' he jokes.”
Sourcing is Sexy (and so is Awesome Alliteration)But yeah:
I like this project and NPR agrees with me.
Harry Potter is in Da House:
“A HARRY Potter fanatic is hoping to net a magical £40,000 by selling off his collection of 553 first editions.
Tim Toone began his quest to find a copy of every version of city author JK Rowling's works in October 2002. The 33-year-old, from Cambridgeshire, has a collection of books in 63 languages, as well as Braille, Latin and ancient Greek versions of the books.
Roddy Newlands, of Bloomsbury Auctions, said: "No one has ever amassed such a collection. It's almost obsessive."
The auctioneer will host the sale in London on February 28. Last month, seven Potter books signed by Rowling raised almost £7000.”
Source
Why am I sort of in awe of this? Why do I wish I was a member of Dumbledore’s Army?
off to think about Neville Longbottom’s fierceness
Daily Lit. is love. Background
We created DailyLit because we spent hours each day on email but could not find the time to read a book. Now the books come to us by email. Problem solved.
How It Works
DailyLit sends books in installments via e-mail or RSS feed. We currently offer over 750 classic and contemporary books available entirely for free or on a Pay-Per-Read basis (with sample installments available for free). You can read your installments wherever you receive e-mail/RSS feeds, including on your Blackberry and iPhone. Installments arrive in your Inbox according to the schedule you set (e.g. 7:00am every weekday). You can read each installment in under 5 minutes (most folks finish in 2-3 minutes), and, if you have more time to read, you can receive additional installments immediately on demand. Our titles include bestselling and award winning titles, from literary fiction and romance to language learning and science fiction. DailyLit features forums where you can discuss your favorite books and authors. We also have a gift service, where you can send books via DailyLit to friends, with installments starting on any date you choose (even that very day - perfect for last minute gifts), and each installment comes with a personalized message written by you.
How hot is this? Can you imagine?
I can’t get enough.
The blog these photographs originally came from is also amazing.
Rosa Loves (!!!)
Limited edition cute t-shirts where the proceeds benefit lovely (and specific) causes?!
Each shirt is especially designed for a cause or purpose (and no: not one of those lame and ignorant causes like “Save Africa.” Don’t you just want to smack people who talk about A.I.D.S. in Africa and ask them to what part of the country they’re referring? This is clearly another rant for another day).
The picture listed above helps the Sharkar family. Here is an excerpt of their story.
[Clickity Click to Read More About the Family and See the Website.]
“Through our friends at Rosa Loves and IIRD, we are now planning to aid the Sharkars. We plan to purchase a rickshaw for Babul, repairing and extending their current house, and providing Mrs. Rita Rani with a livestock-rearing program. In addition, the community will receive a Child Development Center to help educate first and second grade students. This will include Kobita and Shanto, as well as Purnima once she is of age.
We hope that through these initiatives the Sharkar family will experience economic and social opportunities that will allow them to choose a better life. We pray that this will fulfill Mrs. Rita Rani's wish that her family could gain the security needed to live in peace.
While working with IIRD, we came across the Sharkar family. They were a family of seven residing in the Rouha Union in Netrokona, Bangladesh. Here over half of the population subsists in extreme poverty. Both Hindus and Muslims live in the Rouha Union, where they struggle as day laborers and rickshaw pullers in order to provide for their families.
Life had not always been this way for Mr. Sharkar. He used to work as a rickshaw puller spending his days transporting villagers throughout Netrokona. Back then, he could work with dignity earning a living wage and providing for a growing family. Unfortunately, two months ago Mr. Sharkar was forced to stop pulling his rickshaw due to the growth of a tumor on the right side of his throat. His older son, Babul, had to take over his father's job of pulling a rented rickshaw. Babul pulls this rented rickshaw three days out of the week earning a mere 97 cents per day minus what he owes the rickshaw owner. Now the family relies on Babul to bring enough income to provide for the seven member family.
After we met Mr. Sharkar, his wife Mrs. Rita Rani arrived along with the rest of the Shorkar family: Babul, Noyon (a ten year old boy), and Purnima (a one year old girl). Through speaking with Mrs. Rita Rani, we became saddened to learn that the entire family had not been able to eat proper meals, resulting from the lack of income. She is so malnourished that she cannot even lactate to breastfeed Purnima. Malnourishment is the overriding reason why Babul can only work three days out the week. He simply lacks the energy and proper nutritional diet to pull the rickshaw. She further told us that Noyon also contributed to the family by fishing at the local pond, but seldom is successful.”
Re-Shirt Makes Me Whistle and Clap!
“The Re-Shirt is different from its used compatriots in that it has a story to tell. It all starts with a T-shirt that someone associates with a special memory: an important career step, an unforgettable football match, a demonstration in Guatemala, the feeling of an entire stage in their life. These shirts are collected, quality inspected, and put on display at www.re-shirt.net. When one of these shirts is purchased, it is given its very own orange Re-Shirt Label, a number is printed on it, and it begins a new registered life. Every future owner can now document the experiences they have with their Re-Shirt online and continue the story of this piece of clothing."
My friends can tell you that I’m prone to clapping my hands when I like things. I sometimes even look like one of those silly seals from cartoons or like one of Eddie Murphy's characters from the Nutty Professor-like films. I think it’s the fact that I’m a ten-year-old inside (4th grade was a very good year for me) and that I spend my summers working at a camp for inner-city/at-risk/some other term (i.e. kids who need the time and space to be kids). Uh oh -- my soap box is flashing!
What do I clap my hands about?
Found Poetry Using the Names of Viruses (in Flash! Form!).
Source: Boing Boing incites daily hand claps (for realz).
Avoision.com has lots of cool flashy things.
Sourcing is Love: http://www.boingboing.net/
I love this, and I want it for myself.
What is it?
AN IGLOO BOOKSHELF TO SURROUND YOUR BED?!
(The interrobang was made for this.)
This is enough to motivate me into woodworking/whittling classes.
I’m selfish: I want it. 
