Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Bon Nappétit!"- Because who doesn't love a nap?

--"Bon nappétit!": French expression for “have a good nap!”

My dad loves naps. So much so that he has created a whole new vocabulary of nap-associated words. They are fairly ingenious. Anyway, here are some Nappetizers for you.



--Nappetizing: (adj.) appealing to one's inclination for a nap. E.g., "That couch looks really nappetizing."

--Unnappetizing: (adj.) tending to counteract one's inclination for a nap. E.g., "This constant phone ringing is very unnappetizing."

--Nappetizer: (n.) a short nap. E.g., “I enjoy a nappetizer each afternoon.”

--Nappetite: (n.) one's inclination to nap. E.g., "I have a voracious nappetite for at least an hour long nap." "These interruptions are the reason for my loss of nappetite."

--Nappliance: (n) a device designed to facilitate napping. E.g., a couch.


--Napademic: (n) a widespread outbreak of napathy.

--Napathy: (n) "needing" a nap’ Napathetic: (adj.) ready to enjoy or "needing" a nap. E.g., I am feeling napathetic."

--Napparition: (n.) appearance in a waking state of someone thought to be taking a nap; also, a dream experienced while taking a nap.

--Nappendectomy: (n.) premature awakening from a nap. E.g., "Unplug the phone. I don't want to have a nappendectomy."

--Naptitude: (n.) natural ability for napping.

--Naprodisiac: (n.) something that creates a desire for a nap. E.g., "I find red wine an irresistible naprodisiac."

--Napkin: (n.) a relation (brother, sister, etc.) who likes to nap

--Napaholic: (n.) someone who is addicted to naps.

--Napa (California): (n) famous for its naprodisiacs and a favorite vacation spot for nappers





White et al.




Via Vice

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Puberty


For most people, puberty involves pubes, periods, and prostates. The combination of which is generally awkard. Somehow, Dakota Fanning skipped all that and came out of the process absolutely stunning.

Baby Giraffe!

from Zooborns

Excuse I: A Strongly Worded Letter to Whoever the Hell Runs New York


New York, I love you. But right now you are pissing me off. A well functioning and affordable mass transportation system is essential to New York.  The State Senate's failure to levy tolls on the remaining toll-free bridges around Manhattan will punish millions of New Yorkers that rely on public transportation and encourage private auto-usage, which brings congestion and poor air quality.

 Our political leaders have been patheticly short sighted and ineffective at making these key decisions, and I have no doubt that their refusal to save the MTA will have massive negative ramifications. LOBBY YOUR REPRESENTATIVES!

I pose the question, why doesn't New York City just secede from the state? In return for our tax dollars, they give us shit.  

I have much more to say on this subject, but I think the New York Times editorial staff can say much better.  Please read it, its really important. 

Monday, March 23, 2009

The Coolest Building Never Built: Newton's Cenotaph

Étienne- Louis Boullée designed this structure as an homage to both Newton and The Age of Reason. He writes, "I conceived the idea of surrounding thee with they discovery and thus, somehow, surrounding thee with thyself." The building was so large and his techniques so innovative that the mere idea of this structure challenges the idea of the construction of space.

It is a bohemoth of a building; a perfect sphere, to represent nothing less than the absolute truth of Newtonian science. The scale is giant- really giant (in the image below, those are fully grown trees encircling the building). Visitors enter from the bottom of the Sphere, first through a tunnel and then entering into the giant space.

But here is the kicker.....

During the day, the interior would be dark but illuminated by holes in the walls- THAT SIMULATE THE STARS- to represent the night sky. The confines of the space would disappear and the visitor would be engulfed by the vastness of the universe. 

And then I got high. And then I got high. And then I got high.



At night, the space is filled with a lamp that radiates light and simulates sunshine. Of course, Newton's sarcophogus would be the only material object in this perfect world.



Basically, the world needs more transcendental architecture. And planetariums.


Sunday, March 22, 2009

The Dorothy Project


I had a sudden urge to listen to the Wizard of Oz soundtrack.

What makes the elephant charge his tusk,
In the misty mist or the dusky dusk?
What makes the muscrat guard his musk?
Courage.

But then I got stoned, and was more intrigued by the plethora of Dorothy costumes. This is but a sampling.

Friday, March 20, 2009

FuNk you: The Best Free Download of Your Life

When I asked my music guru, Bill Carbone, to hook me up with some funky beats he told me to check out Daptone Records, touting them as "The Grand Puba of nu-retro-funk." Basically, this collection of bands is the best thing to happen to music since the invention of the wheel. It's the kind of tunes that make you tap your foot, bob your head, shake your ass, and just get groovy. 

You will feel like you've heard them before because they are so good, and with someone this good, how can you have not heard them before? The record label boasts such acts as The Sugarman Three, The Budos Band, The Poets of Rhythym, and the standout Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, plus more. 

Sharon Jones began her career as a prison guard and initially had trouble finding singing gigs. In an interview with Spinner Mag, she says, "Earlier, in the '70s and '80s -- and early '90s -- I was told, 'You didn't have the look,'" she said. "It had nothing to do with my vocals. I still got that same look. Now, I'm much older, still short, still pleasantly plump." Trouble no more.

Download from Amazon for FREE. click HERE.  As Bill Carbone said," If you don't get it there's clearly something totally wrong with you."

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Monday, March 16, 2009

Erotically charged nostalgia


Posing with Antlers in 100 Year Old (Haunted Cabin) 2004

Hernan Bas loves pretty boys. I love pretty boys. He paints pretty boys. And I love his paintings.

If the band The Decemberists was a gay painter, the paintings would look like work of Hernan Bas. I first saw his work this weekend at the Brooklyn Museum after braving the chaos of weekend subway ride. Ken Johnson, art critic for the New York Times writes, "Hernan Bas paints and draws storytelling images of winsome young men in homoerotically charged situations...Combining loose, tradtitional draftsmanship, expressionistic brushwork and sometimes garish color, Mr. Bas creates pictures resembling illustrations for old-time boys’ adventure novels, but with a gay twist. A mood of romantic yearning prevails."


The Blue Line 2005-2006

Ocean Symphony 2007
This is a still image from a video installation of mermaids, that me and my friends found particularly hypnotizing. His work often uses images of the ocean and nautical life to harken back to a romantic past.


Saturday, March 14, 2009

Wookieepedia


Wookieepedia might change your web browsing procrastination habits forever. All of your Star Wars dreams, fantasies, and realities come to life on one incredibly dorky website. Like did you ever know Hutts (think Jabba) are immune to Jedi mind tricks, can regenerate body parts, and wait for it... "were hermaphroditic, and as a result, gender was more of a case of a Hutt's deliberate decision or a viewer's deduction." Whoever said they didn't swing on Tatooine? 

This is a baby Hutt. Named Rotta. Really.



More star wars creatures to come....

Thursday, March 12, 2009

If I had a billion dollars... I'd build a Phantasy Landscape Visiona II



Needless to say the designer is Scandavian. 

I had the opportunity to go inside this room at the Whitney's exhibition Summer of Love: Art in the Psychedelic Era... it was joyous

 Verner Panton designed the Phantasy Landscape in 1970 for the Visiona II exhibition.  It is a rubber foam room full of rainbow colored spaces to sit/ lay/ kneel. Basically, if you ever wanted an orgy, this would probably be the place. 

I also think this chair is pretty sweet. Same designer. Of course. 
Actually, it was built in 1973, so post Phantasy Landscape. Hm

Images from NyTimes and Arcspace

La Gloria Taqueria


A color scheme if I ever saw one



]
Taqueria numero uno- Santa Barbara
Good cheap eats: Pork tacos
But no fish tacos!

Now I think I've covered all the topics I've set out to- sex, fashion, art, and tacos!


Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Baby Gorilla!


Image via jezebel.com

The eeriness of light





The real genius of the family is NickShepard.com (don't forget the .com) Anyhow, it is my brother who has inherited the real artistic talent. He can take photos and do graphic design like nobody's business! More images to come.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Marc Jacobs SUCKS!

Marc by Marc Fall 09
Marc Jacobs Fall 09... I mean wuz going on here?

I don't understand everyone's obsession with Marc Jacobs, whose designs have seriously gone downhill, even as he has taken over half of Greenwich Village real estate. Marc by Marc always has a weird bow or frill. If I wanted to look like a doily I would have just gone to urban outfitters. And this latest show of his Marc Jacobs line was just bad... Two examples of ugliness from the latest show...

Shoulder pads

Marc Jacobs Fall 09
Balmain Fall 09
Nina Ricci Fall 09
Balmain SS09

I was totally blown away by the pseudo-armor, pseudo- future, pseudo-80's looks walking down the runways at NY fashion week. I am waiting for erroneous translations of them to pop up on the sidewalks. The question remains, however, are shoulder pads back?


Sunday, March 8, 2009

Dogging it






These photos are quite provocative, to say the very least. But I think they are pretty rad. I got them from V magazine. Check check check it out at V mag

First Post

This is my first post. Post.