Cat vs. Gator

Seriously. Amazing and brave cat. What was he thinking?



 

Robot Penguin Causes Mutiny

Only in Japan.



 

Listening to: Matthew Good - Weapon

 

Beautiful toilet paper roll art. Is it possible? It is.

 

6 year old skateboarder Asher Bradshaw at Venice Beach Skatepark.



 

Inhabitat Halloween Costume Finalists using only recycled materials. Don't forget the kids costumes. I like the Lego ones the best.

 

It Gets Better

Even Kermit says it's not easy being green.



 

Conan O'Brien's new show debuted on TBS on Sunday. Recently, I watched an old interview by Conan with the late Hunter S. Thompson. Thompson invites Conan to his ranch to shoot some guns.



A few weeks ago, Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas was showing on the tv. Johnny Depp is fantastic as Hunter S. Thompson. The movie does the novel justice. I have seen the film a few times and it still mesmerizes me to this day.

 

Dr. Popsicle teaches Rick Mercer how to escape a submerged car.



Some good tips just in case you are ever in a car being filled with icy, cold water.

 

Chris Roth was selected for jury duty. Here are some of his doodles while in court.

 

Seacompression

A few weeks ago, I went to Seattle for Seacompression's regional decompression. It was a sold out event with many art installations, theme camps, art cars, live music, performances and community-spirited people. It was great to reconnect with many beautiful people and it filled my heart with joy to further bond with new friends.



I also had the lovely experience of connecting with alumni and new members of Costco.

Some photos from the event:

Luke Me Up

Espresso Buzz and his amazing Panoramic Shot

Michael Holden

 

I also went to the Freemont Market for Tandoozy and Ebelskivvers. Delicious as always. We also went to visit the Troll.

I tried two new coffee houses that were both deeply savory Espresso Vivace in South Lake Union and All City Coffee in Georgetown, and Smarty Pants for lunch (tasty sandwiches) also in Georgetown.

I also had the pleasure of finally going to the the Seattle Art Museum with a lovely friend from San Francisco. The main exhibition was the Picasso exhibit showcasing many drawings, paintings and sculptures from the famed artist. The exhibit is on until January 17, 2011.

Some of us also visited the beautiful architectural Smith Tower in downtown Seattle. The building opened in 1914 and was the tallest building in the west for almost 50 years. For a small fee, a visitor can ride a historic elevator to a top floor to see sweeping views of the harbour and downtown Seattle. The penthouse floor ceiling is also decorated with ornate hand-carved wood imported from China.

 

This past Halloween weekend, I was estatic to participate as a pirate in the return of Public Dream's Parade of Lost Souls. A walking route was planned where community homes decorated, played music, created art and performed for people. It was so much fun! Some friends also performed a beautiful forest-themed fire show.

Listening to: Tonic - If You Could Only See

 

Baby I'm Amazed

A blind German dog uses his echo to navigate around. Rowan was born without eyes and was visually challenged until the leaves fell of the trees and discovered he could use his bark echo to figure out where he was. Since then, he has used his hearing to follow his owner on walks and at play.



 

Misery Bear - Dawn of Ted



 

Difficult

Uffie - Difficult



 

Katie Makkai's Pretty



 

Thoughts

So, I received an email message from Blogger (Google) that I was violating DMCA copyright protection law in my last blog post. I wrote and included links to 109 Cats in Sweaters and an Oatmeal comic. I asked for clarification from Blogger (Google) and received no response.

Here is the email message. I asked for a second opinion and was informed it was probably a scare tactic to promote chilling effects. So I am debating moving my blog to another server and network within my own country.


(Start of Email Message)

Blogger DMCA takedown notification

Blogger has been notified, according to the terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), that certain content in your blog is alleged to infringe upon the copyrights of others. As a result, we have reset the post(s) to "draft" status. (If we did not do so, we would be subject to a claim of copyright infringement, regardless of its merits. The URL(s) of the allegedly infringing post(s) may be found at the end of this message.) This means your post - and any images, links or other content - is not gone. You may edit the post to remove the offending content and republish, at which point the post in question will be visible to your readers again.

A bit of background: the DMCA is a United States copyright law that provides guidelines for online service provider liability in case of copyright infringement. If you believe you have the rights to post the content at issue here, you can file a counter-claim. For more information on our DMCA policy, including how to file a counter-claim, please see http://www.google.com/dmca.html.

The notice that we received, with any personally identifying information removed, will be posted online by a service called Chilling Effects at http://www.chillingeffects.org/. We do this in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). You can search for the DMCA notice associated with the removal of your content by going to the Chilling Effects search page at http://www.chillingeffects.org/search.cgi, and entering in the URL of the blog post that was removed. If it is brought to our attention that you have republished the post without removing the content/link in question, then we will delete your post and count it as a violation on your account. Repeated violations to our Terms of Service may result in further remedial action taken against your Blogger account including deleting your blog and/or terminating your account. If you have legal questions about this notification, you should retain your own legal counsel.

Sincerely,

The Blogger Team

(End of Email Message)

 

I saw the Female Character Stereotype Chart the other day while waiting for my turn to sing karaoke on the Wii. One of the best charts I have seen in awhile.



Banksy created a Simpsons intro that aired last Sunday. It was very controversial, mainly because Simpsons animation cells are now being outsourced in Korean. The intro nearly missed being produced, but the animators threatened to walk out. I do not know which freaked me out more: the Panda or the Dolphin.



 

Imagine

Happy 70th Birthday John Lennon



 

OK Go

OK Go's new music video for White Knuckles is filmed with rescue dogs. Man, these guys rock.



 

Apparently, the secret to happiness includes the following list:

Hours of uninterrupted sleep: 6hr 15min
Commute to work: 20min
Home-cooked meals: 5
Exercise a week: 2hr 45min
Time spent outdoors: 2hr 49min
Play with children each day: 2hr
Time with partner: 3hr 58min
Watching TV: 2hr
Nights out a week: 1
Alcoholic drinks a week: 4
Takeaways a week: 1
Weekend breaks a year: 3
Holidays abroad: 2
Hours at work a day: 7hr
15min Meals out a month: 3
Shopping trips a month: 4
Get home from work: 5.42pm

 

Cat's Meow

Simon's Cat "In A Box"



 

Shanghai World Expo

RMR: Rick at Expo 2010 in Shanghai



 

EXPO 2010 - Canada Pavilion



 

Circle of Life

The Life Cycle of A Plastic Bag, Majestic Plastic Bag narrated by Jeremy Irons



 

I Am the Walrus

The Walrus recently published the article Burning With Desire about the gifting, no commercialism culture of Burning Man.


Some of my favourite art installations this year were:

The Heart Machine by the Toronto Burners (see article above).

Ein Hammer, Flower Garden, Syzygryd,

and of course Bliss.




The Double Rainbow was fun too!

Burn night was fun, but I always prefer the Temple (Flux) burn.

 

Sorry, Flickr will not let me embed photographs from its web site anymore.

Listening to: Muppets - Lime In the Coconut

 

I Am Getting Excited

13 of the Coolest Art Installations in the History of Burning Man



Listening to: Télépopmusik - Breathe

 

Nora the Cat

Previously, I was fascinated by Nora the Cat who could play piano. Apparently, lithuanian conductor, composer and artist Mindaugas Piecaitis was too. Piecaitis has composed and directed a Catcerto for Nora. Nora, the soloist, was brought in by video.



 

Smash

Things being destroyed very slowly



 

Free Hugs in Sondrio, Italy



 

Bob Craig makes beautiful collages out of clippings from National Geographic magazines. I remember making collages as a kid with a paste made out of flour and water. His vision begins with imagination as he cuts out and organizes clippings by hue and texture. What begins as a rough drawing slowly grows into a beautiful mural.

 

Elmo interviews Neil Patrick Harris

"

 

Baby gets Excited Over Silly Dog

excited dog and baby @ Yahoo! Video

 

GPS Guided Walking Tours

Recently, I was contacted by GPSmyCity.com to use my photo of the Black Swan Pub in York, England. The company wanted to use my photo in their GPS walking tour of York. Too bad the app is only available for use with an iPhone.

 

Today, I looked at some photos from the G20 Summit in Toronto. I did not realize how violent and intense it was. It seems a small group of anarchists have escalated the peaceful protest to violence. Kind of makes me think the 1 billion dollars spent for security was a good move. I do not know all the details of what is occurring during the summit, and some of the money could have been better spent helping homeless or poverty, but it reminds me of the WTO protests during the Battle In Seattle.

 

70 days later and over 75 million barrels of oil release in to the Gulf of Mexico with no recourse in sight.



Listening to: Icicle Works - Whisper To A Scream