An art show titled Manifest Hope featuring work from the likes of Shepard Fairey and Ron English, ran during the DNC last week. “Art plays a pivotal role in creating cultural momentum. The Manifest Hope Gallery celebrates that role and shines a spotlight on artists across the nation who use their voices to amplify and motivate the grass roots movement surrounding the Obama Campaign. The Manifest Hope Gallery highlights the central themes of the progressive grass-roots movement- Hope Change, Progress, Unity and Patriotism.” The official site showcases the work, but click on Geoff Allen (The Kitchen Table) ...

Because I was vacationing in Puerto Rico, I missed the kick off meeting and first 3 rehearsals of HMS Pinafore. So tonight was my first rehearsal.I had recognized several people on the cast list and was happy to see some familiar faces at the vocal rehearsal tonight. I've done enough shows to know the early signs drama and obnoxious personalities (there is one person in the cast of "CHESS" which stands out as being an exceptionally obnoxious person…) OK. I just met the men tonight, but I can imagine us being a cohesive group. Many people were laid back, outgoing, ...

Muxtape is (still) unavailable while the company sorts out a wee problem with the RIAA. Repeated requests for an interview with Muxtape founder Justin Oullette by various news sources have fallen on deaf ears, details regarding problems are sketchy at best. Oddly enough a legal decision favoring the video sharing site Veoh might provide sites like Muxtape with a blueprint for legality. In the meantime, Wired presents 5 alternative services to help fill the gaping muxtape gap. ...

An interesting lists of companies and landmarks that we commonly think of as being quintessentially American but are actually owned or managed by international conglomerates. I was surprised to learn that Trader Joe’s is owned by the German company ALDI, 7-Eleven is a subsidiary of the Japanese company Seven and I Holdings, The Indiana Toll Road is owned by Macquarie Infrastructure Group of Sydney, Australia, and the Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte of Madrid, Spain. The Chrysler Building’s was purchased by the Abu Dhabi Investment Council’s sovereign wealth fund. ...

Ecologiae sempre grazie a adamo ...

The tough side of the green movement, Mother Nature fights back! Eco-terrorists prep knux-jewelry to put the beat down on opponents of global warming. ...

Ranching Culture in Northern Nevada, 1945-1982. The Buckaroos in Paradise Collection presents documentation of a Nevada cattle-ranching community, with a focus on the family-run Ninety-Six Ranch. The documentation was largely the work of the Paradise Valley Folklife Project (1978-1982), a research initiative conducted by the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. This collection presents 41 motion pictures and 28 sound recordings that tell the story of life and work on the Ninety-Six Ranch and of its cowboys, known in the region as buckaroos. Please note, the above photograph is NOT part of the series, ...

Random Francois Sagat photograph. ...

Unmentionables from Luis Medina and Kathleen Orazio of Shinebox Print, a pre-printed mini booklet of cards with cute/mean monsters with pithy sayings like; ‘Can You Repeat That, I Was in A Coma’, ‘Now I Know Why The Bitch Slap Was Invented’ and ‘You Need a Mute Button’. Via NotCot. ...

Stephen Fry is wowed by Nintendo’s magical Wii and discovers it’s little extras;”If your wife, mother or lover has a china ornament you have always hated, make sure it is within a 10-yard radius of the TV and you can be sure it will be smashed within a fortnight. Another Wii service for which we can all be truly thankful.” ...

The only thing that would make you happier than the demise of IE6 is world peace and You’ve had a client that insisted on using the font “Papyrus,” and you had to hold in your barf as you prepped it [the design] for printing. 25 MORE Reasons You Might Be A Hardcore Graphic/Web Designer from BittBox ...

25 Countries, Six Continents, from MatadorPulse, “As President George W. Bush nears the end of a mostly disastrous eight-year term, he too should be given credit for public appearances overseas. Traveling by air — er, compressed air, that is and landing on everything from brick walls to telephone poles to the doors of trash chutes, Bush boasts a presence in just about every last nook in the world. ...

Jimmy Smith, king of the Hammond organ in the 50’s and 60’s. According to All Music; “He provided walking bass lines with his feet, left hand chordal accompaniment, solo lines in the right, and a booming, funky presence that punctuated every song, particularly the up-tempo cuts. Smith turned the fusion of R&B, blues, and gospel influences with bebop references and devices into a jubilant, attractive sound that many others immediately absorbed before following in his footsteps.” Click for some full funky flavor. ...

You may know David Duchovny as Fox Mulder, one of the two FBI agents from the television series X Files. The movie came out this summer with an apathetic fanfare. Now, Duchovny, 48, has followed the footsteps of so many other Hollywood stars and entered rehab.But he's not an alcoholic or cocaine junkie. Duchovny has a sex addiction.In an ironic twist, this year Duchovny won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of a sex-addicted struggling writer on Californication. Sometimes, life imitates art.Duchovny is asking for people to respect his privacy at this time. It has been ...

Mr. Frog says, "where is my pond?"  We've been working on our new pond since Tuesday pretty much straight through except for rainy Wednesday.  We got the old one taken down, dug out the new one and leveled everything, got the liner in, put in the mechanicals, and today worked on the waterfalls.  We are totally whooped - I figure we've put in about 60 hours so far.  More tomorrow!  Hoping to get the waterfalls squared away, and maybe do some more of the edging and get all the rocks in place.  In the meantime, Mr. Frog is watching ...

Banksy has posted his new work, this time with commentary from his recent visit to New Orleans. The artist’s statements filled me with a sort of poignant anxiety, or distress; seeing as Hurricane Gustav is scheduled to hit Louisiana on Monday morning. For the record the above piece reads; “I looked out the window of the taxi on the drive into New Orleans and remarked ‘There’s still so much devastation - I can’t believe they haven’t cleaned this mess up’ to which the driver stared at me and said ‘This part of the city wasn’t affected by the hurricane ...

John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin “a two year governor of an oversized igloo” as his Vice Presidential running mate is framed (quite hilariously so) as a chick flick by Maureen Dowd of the New York Times; “…the former beauty queen shaking out her pinned-up hair, taking off her glasses, slipping on ruby red peep-toe platform heels that reveal a pink French-style pedicure, and facing down Vladimir Putin in an island in the Bering Strait. Putting away her breast pump, she points her rifle and informs him frostily that she has some expertise in Russia because it’s close to ...

Without a doubt, the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania is one of America's most haunted locales. During the pivotal Civil War battle of 1863, the town saw the largest number of casualties of any campaign. It has since become a major tourist attraction, not only for the history but the ghosts as well. One such haunted site is a quaint, lesbian-owned inn on the southern end of town: Battlefield Bed & Breakfast.The house was built out of fieldstone in 1809 by Cornelius & Anna Houtelin. A barn followed in 1820. It remains largely unchanged from its original design, ...

The Five Stair Steps - Ooh Child On the 45th Anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) delivered his nomination acceptance speech during the final day of the Democratic National Convention at Invesco Field at Mile High August 28, 2008 in Denver, Obama makes history as the first African-American to be officially nominated as a candidate for U.S. president by a major party. I’m thinking that The Five Stair Steps - Ooh Child (1970) might just be on Obama’s playlist this morning. Oh, take part, make history, free campaign stickers from MoveOn.org. ...

British street artist Banksy has painted several murals in New Orleans to mark the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The majority of the work relates to Hurricane Katrina and its disastrous aftermath, while others poke the infamous “Gray Ghost” Fred Radtke, the New Orleans anti-graffiti crusader known for his practice of covering over graffiti with gray paint. For a closer look check out John d’Addario’s Banksy Does New Orleans Flickr stream, Toaminorplace’s photostream and Anthonyturducken’s Banksy Set. ...