I don’t know if you could completely see this ad for Gold Peak Tea, but you can see the large feet in the corner, right? The words next to those large feet are “The Way Tea Should Taste.”
It’s really hot outside. I don’t know about you, but I could go for a refreshing gulp of relaxing male feet fresh from the ‘fridge.
The ad was on the side of an innocent New York City bus, but it follows me everywhere I go. **Thanks to Allison for capturing it and sending it in**.
(Do you have an odd picture? Send it to non dot cultured at gmail dot com !)
OK, so the title of this post is pretty awful. Kids are great, of course — how could you not love ‘em?
So cute & innocent.
In fact, I once read that babies’ proportions have evolved so that adults cannot resist the urge to care for them: babies have big heads in relation to their bodies, big eyes in relation to their heads, and, oh, that sweet baby smell (well, um, sometimes)!
However, it’s scenes like this that make me think parenthood is a little like living under a tyrant:
I was on the E subway today, on my way from Manhattan into Queens. Across the way was a family: 2 little girls, a Mom, a Dad. One of the little girls — maybe 7 years old or so — kept on putting her feet in Mom’s lap, for her Mom to rub.
The girl would put a foot up on her Mom’s lap. Mom would rub it. Girl would switch feet. Rub. Switch feet.
And, of course, this scene rates a big ZERO on the spectrum of disgusting that that Mom has probably done for her daughter — over and over and over again.
But, of course, it’s all probably worth it for the cute ‘n innocent little task-masters. Right?
There’s a grass-roots movement now to do just that, begun by Dave Bruno. It’s sort of a backlash against American consumerism. Bruno documents such questions as if a pair of shoes constitutes 1 item or 2 on his blog and how many jeans is absolutely necessary at www.guynameddave.com
I don’t know how I feel about that: it’s rather drastic, isn’t it? I mean, simplifying your life by that much takes a lot of effort in itself — a lot of thought about what is important and what isn’t. Like trimming a bonsai tree, keeping your items under 100 needs a constant attention — a constant weighing of one’s possessions.
Might be better to go for a sort of moderate materialism, know?
Click in the box below for a video I made in about 10 minutes, with the help of my new favorite site called Animoto.com and members of Culture for the Non-Cultured Meetup who took pictures of some of the cultural events we have been on in New York City over the past 2 years.
Scroll down after the video to see how simple putting it together was …
And it was soooo simple to put together. You just upload your pics, pick the music, then the site analyzes your images and the music. And you get a cool video that the site helps you to upload to youtube, share on MySpace, whatever.
Gail was volunteering through New York Cares, an organization that offers people opportunities to volunteer on various projects in the community. She had a 10-week commitment to teach computers to the elderly in Harlem.
There was one woman, Ruth, who was having a particularly tough time getting used to the computer, until my friend stepped in. Gail patiently helped Ruth, and the two became close as the weeks wore on.
Ruth was attending the class so she could communicate with her son and daughter-in-law, who were stationed in Iraq. The family had grown while the war raged: Ruth had a grandchild who lived with his mother on an army base. The baby was born there, and Ruth had never seen him.
As the class continued, Gail helped Ruth hook up a camera to her computer. Ruth’s son arranged it so he could come off the battlefield and onto the army base where his wife and baby resided.
… and on the last day of class, Ruth looked at the computer screen to see her son holding up her grandbaby.
As many of you know, for the past 2 years, I have organized a large social group in New York City called Culture for the Non-Cultured Meetup. We attend cultural events around the city — theater, museums, walking tours, baseball games, and more — in groups of 20-60 people. Events are usually held 3-4 times per week. Afterwards, we eat together, because nothing builds community quite like sitting around a table full of calories.
Upcoming events that are already announced on the Meetup site are
And, this is NOT announced on the site yet, but we are going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a self-guided tour on July 12th. The event will probably be officially announced tomorrow.
Here’s the exhibits we shall see there (for more information on each of the exhibits, please visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art website):
1. “Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy,” which explores “fashion and its ability to empower and transform the human body.” Come see what Superman, Wonderwoman, and the Hulk wore, and how their fashions are reflections of art and culture.
2. “Pop Art: Works on Paper,” an American art movement that began in the 60’s and appropriated images, techniques, and materials from mass-media and popular culture and presented them in bold, graphic formats. Notable members of the movement included the painters Robert Indiana, Roy Lichtenstein, James Rosenquist, Andy Warhol, and Tom Wesselmann, and the sculptor Claes Oldenburg.”
3. “Jeff Koons on the Roof,” If the weather is good, we’ll go up on the roof to see Jeff Koons’ sculptures — there’s even one that looks like one of those dog balloons that clowns make — and take in the gorgeous view of Central Park and the Manhattan skyline.
Time Warner Cable tried out charging users in Texas when they exceeded a certain pre-set limit, Comcast is slowing down the connections of the heaviest users.
Time Warner Cable, Comcast, please, please, please, bandwidth is an engine of procrastination like none I have ever known. Do not charge me whenever I want to rev it up!
I never, ever understood the draw of roller coasters, although I grew up right near Great Adventure. I think I’m missing the I-want-my-stomach-to-lurch-through-my-throat gene that so many people have.
But, if you have the gene, you can now go to Hershey Park and ride on a new roller coaster called Farenheit, which is simulated on the video at the end of this post.
Farenheit features
– A 97-degree angle – more than vertical.
– As you face downward on the drop, the track actually disappears.
– The ride hits you with 4 Gs of force, more than what NASA astronauts experience.
Mamma Mia is based on the long-running Broadway show that uses songs from the Swedish band Abba to tell the story of a girl trying to identify her father before she marries. Ikea, of course, is the Swedish discount furniture store which requires you to assemble your own furniture.
Besides bonding over their shared Swedish-ness, Ikea is partnering with the movie to provide entertainment for people who come from far and wide to shop within its walls.
And entertainment there will be:
– In-store trailers hyping the Universal Pictures release
– Abba sing-alongs at every location on four different weekends in June and July
– And, if you happen to be in Burbank, California on July 17th, there will be a mass wedding of 20 couples at the Ikea there in what the store calls its “Ikea ‘I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do’ Want to Get Married at the Mamma Mia! Wedding Event” Couples Search.” (Say that one 10 times fast, willya?)
Yay! Sing-alongs! Marriages! And, the Gothamist reports that Ikea will be providing FREE water taxis from Red Hook to Manhattan to ease traffic congestion!
Oh, yeah, more traffic: well, as my Mamma Mia always says, there are advantages and disadvantages to everything.
Here’s the preview for the new movie, Mamma Mia (hit play in the center of the screen to view)
Some of my favorite art just appears not in galleries, but on random street corners, like in the photo below.
According to the photographer, Dave Beckerman, “in the early morning light, these menus at the local Jackson Hole Burger joint look (to me) like an exotic flower.”
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