Big Mac-O-Lantern

I did not carve a single pumpkin this year! I have some out on my back porch for decoration, but not a single cut has been made! I am not sure if you can consider this a lantern as it does not seem to light up. But who cares…it is quite a treat!

I like big buttons and I cannot lie!

In the fashion District of New York, is a BIG button, with an equally big needle through it. I wanted to see it. So we went a walking. A loooooong walk it was. Finally we asked a guard at FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology) located at 29th and 7, where it was. She laughed and said it was up at 57th and 6th! Oops! But that did not sound right and Craig could not possibly be THAT far off! So we figured we would find it the next day.

A little Googling later, we found it to be at 39th and 7th, rather close to the Roosevelt Hotel! What was that guard thinking? It was 10 blocks north of where she worked?!

Evacuated!

The fire broke out just before 3 p.m. in the basement of the building at 630 S. Wabash Ave. The response rose through several alarms and was upgraded to a 4-11 alarm fire around 4:45 p.m. and then to a 5-11, the highest level for the department, around 5:15 p.m. Our building, 623 S. Wabash and seen in the photo, is directly across the street. We were finally told to leave the building around 5. The HVAC systems were turned off due to smoke coming into the building through them.

Fall color

Now you can add purple and celery to the pallette.

Illustration Friday - ghost

boo!

Even a piece of paper wants to be something!

"A common, ordinary brick wants to be something more than it is." It was Louis I. Kahn (1903-1974) who first posed a question in the early 1970s that has since attained legendary status within architectural circles: "What do you want, brick?" The answer, according to Kahn, is that brick wants to be an arch and not merely an infill or cladding material with no structural role.

I say the same holds true for a piece of paper. I am sure some paper dreams of being a great novel, a piece of monumnmetal legislation, or even art. Peter Callesen lets free all a piece of paper wants to be!

Summer 2016

Chicago’s 2016 Olympic bid has a new visual component, as officials unveiled a logo that features a torch with a flame representing the city’s skyline.

The orange flame, with a Sears Tower-like look, is meant to represent the city’s style of architecture while evoking “a city that rose from the ashes” in the wake of the Great Fire of 1871, according to a statement from the Chicago 2016 Committee, the local group leading the bid. The torch’s body is colored blue, in a nod to Lake Michigan, and green, to represent the city’s park system.

Even if the games don’t wind up here, the city hopes to reap a little cash from its Olympic bid. Merchandise featuring the logo will go on sale “soon,” the statement said.

The logo was created by VSA Partners Inc., a Chicago-based design studio.

Mayor Richard M. Daley and Patrick Ryan, chairman of the 2016 committee, presented the logo at a news conference last Thursday in Millennium Park.

Chicago is battling with Los Angeles and San Francisco to be the United States’ nominee to host the 2016 games. The U.S. Olympic Committee has not yet decided if it will nominate a host city.

Start the week with a laugh!

These guys are funny!

They were discovered on YouTube and now have a deal with NBC.

Check the video section out at their website Barats and Bereta.

Birds Do It. Bees do it. Part III

Even folks in furry animal costumes do it.

I first saw the fetish of "Plushies" on an episode of CSI. Then a student shared with me the work of Michael Cogliantry. Then a coworker told me of an artist she knows who does portraits of plush animals.

You can find the images of Furry Kama Sutra in the recent projects menu of his site.

Red Ice

The finished product of Chilean-born Danish artist Marco Evaristti's 'Ice Cube Project' is seen in Ilullissat, Greenland, March 24

An artist with 780 gallons of red paint, three fire hoses and a 20-member crew at his disposal went to Greenland in search of a blank canvas large enough to accommodate his creative impulse.

The result is a blood-red iceberg now sitting off the country’s western coast.

Evaristti and his crew sailed in two ice breakers from the small town of Ilullissat, Greenland, on Wednesday, and zigzagged among icebergs for about 30 minutes before they found the perfect frozen canvas.

Working in minus 9 degree weather, it took about two hours for the 40-year-old artist to paint the exposed tip of the iceberg, a volume of nearly 10,000 square feet.

The team sprayed the iceberg with the same dye used to tint meat, diluted with sea water, Evaristti told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Ilullissat, which means “Icebergs” in Greenlandic.

The town of 4,000, a tourist destination because of its scenery, sits at the mouth of the Kangia fjord, which is 25 miles long and five miles wide.

The fjord is filled with hundreds of icebergs— previously all of them white.

Just how Greenlanders view his masterpiece isn’t clear yet. There was no immediate reaction from authorities, who are generally very protective of their unspoiled environment.

Creepy Crawlies!

Looking for a cool gift? I found these little guys a couple years ago at a street fair. And every year I seem to find another person who needs a spider. They will custom make one for you or you can look through their photo album here.

The one above is perfect for Halloween but there is also a story about a Christmas Spider that makes these perfect for holiday giving. They make a unique ornament, decoration or can even be worn as a pin!

To get one you either have to find them at one of their shows or email them at lil_somethin_or_others@yahoo.com.

Nip/Tuck

Another or better Hungerectomy?