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09 Oct 20:26

Autumn resolutions

by Kristin

Summer officially ended two and a half weeks ago (and unofficially sometime back in August), but fall didn't feel real until last night. The mornings are cool. Sweaters and jackets abound. Boots have been toeing their way out of closets for weeks, but it wasn't until last night that the feeling struck and stayed. Autumn is here.

The evening wasn't particularly cool. In fact, it was warmer than the past few nights and I felt fine in a light summery sweater without a jacket. It was dark, but the hour was late. I didn't notice the sun setting earlier, and frankly, with a shift in my schedule, I might not have noticed anyway. Everything happens earlier in my life these days. It just.... It smelled like fall.

Something in the air around me evoked a million thoughts as leaves crunched underfoot. I imagined a hint of smoke in the breeze, fireplace smoke not barbecue smoke. Caramel apples. Hot chocolate. Football games, sweaters and blankets. Long nights. Crisp mornings and brilliant afternoons, warm and sunny with clear blue skies. Never really knowing how to dress for the day and layering anyway, carrying most of the layers home later.

Even as trees shed their leaves, birds migrate and bears hibernate, the world seems to start fresh in the fall, in the autumn. The feeling was nurtured into us through the education system. School years started in August or September.

For me, school always started the Tuesday before Labor Day followed by a three-day weekend and four-day week. The third week of school was another short one with a teachers' in-service day and the county fair. (It might have been the start of hunting season, too.) The first weeks were short, but everything started the Tuesday before Labor Day.

An early September birthday further entrenched that feeling, and last night, when I smelled autumn in the air, I felt a rush of exhilaration. Of anticipation. Of promise. A new year was starting.

I feel as if I should resolve to do something in the new year before me. January seldom finds resolutions from me; it really just feels more like the same. This year, the one starting right now, I plan to take better care of myself and do what I can to help the ones around me. I want to make the world a better place. I want to continue moving toward the person I want to be.

The last year was hard, but that's over now. It is time to turn a new (fallen) leaf and see what the world has to hold.
09 Oct 13:08

Memorabilia from the Shitwind collection.







Memorabilia from the Shitwind collection.

08 Oct 23:56

Lunar eclipse

by Kristin

There are distinct advantages to rising so early and walking to work - health, fitness, and peace of mind, not to mention taking advantage of early morning alertness. I rather like the shift in my schedule even as I continue to figure out how to fit the rest of my life around it and get enough sleep. Once in a while, though, the stars, sun and moon align to make the early hours even better.

From the moment I rose to a quick morning break around sunrise, walking west and stopping for pictures every three blocks, I saw the moon progress from full, fat and happy to a total eclipse and start her way back again toward full.

My pictures might have been better if I had a tripod. They might have been a lot better if I knew what I was doing and had gone out specifically to take pictures of the moon rather than trying to sneak them in as I walked, but I stopped every three blocks anyway.

At a corner near my house, a runner stopped me and pointed up.

"The eclipse," she said. "Did you see?"

At the office, much closer to total, I joined a dozen coworkers in staring up at a dark moon in a darker sky and as they snapped with their cell phones, I pulled out a rather large camera, played with the settings and tried to capture something I knew I'd never quite get.

All through the commute, the walk to work, I stared up in wonder at the moon and the earth's shadow that crossed her face. Our shadow. There. It didn't matter if I captured the image; somebody else would. I could find it later, but my picture would remind me that I was there. I saw it, and it was beautiful.

08 Oct 23:52

Interracial and same-sex marriage parallels

by Nathan Yau

xkcd on Marriage

xkcd doing what xkcd does. Randall Munroe charts a brief timeline of interracial and same-sex marriage, through the lens of popular approval and population.

Tags: marriage, xkcd

08 Oct 15:38

Skeleton Twins

by Kristin

In The Skeleton Twins, Saturday Night Live alums Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader reunite for a stark and darkly funny look at love, life and family.

“When estranged twins Maggie and Milo (Bill Hader) feel they're at the end of their ropes, an unexpected reunion forces them to confront why their lives went so wrong. As the twins reconnect, they realize the key to fixing their lives may just lie in repairing their relationship.”

Luke Wilson rounded out the cast directed by Craig Johnson in this comedy drama, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 18, 2014. It won the Screenwriting Award: U.S. Dramatic at the festival, and despite the humor, the film was dramatic at the core, with adult content and issues.

Sitting in a darkened theater, with my brother at my side, I wondered how a decade could pass between twins, how so much could change and how so much could stay the same. We each brought our own histories to the film, our own stories, and viewed it in the context of our own lives. We both enjoyed it.

The Skeleton Twins is not a film for the weak of heart or those seeking a quick comedy fix. It isn’t Bridesmaids. It isn’t SNL. It’s a beautiful, funny and bittersweet tale of love.
08 Oct 15:38

Balance

by Kristin

bal•ance
ˈbaləns/
noun

1. an even distribution of weight enabling someone or something to remain upright and steady.
2. a condition in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportions.


A few years ago, I spent much of a month taking Bikram Yoga classes. Three or four times a week, I would spend 90 minutes running through the same 26 postures in a room heated to 104 degrees Fahrenheit with 40 percent humidity. Theoretically, a warm body is a flexible body and more open to reshaping through yoga, and environmental aspects of Bikram help flush away toxins and impurities.

In hindsight, Bikram was a very bad idea. Heat and humidity exacerbate multiple sclerosis. The class could make me sicker, but I did not know I had it at the time. I figured everyone felt dizzy after an hour and a half in a room so hot and moist.

I had never sweated so much in my life.

Over the course of the month, I tried different days, times and instructors to figure out what worked best for me. The classes were scripted but each instructor taught in his or her own style. Some teachers seemed harder, others more comfortable, some rather awkward, and I did not know what it was. Timing? Tone? The space in between?

More than the instructors, I found that my body reacted differently at different times of day. After work on a Wednesday, practically running from office to studio meant that I could not hold a pose to save my life. My heart raced. My mind jangled with the projects I had been working. I couldn’t balance a stick to save my life. Conversely, early on a Sunday morning, in a mostly empty room, all felt right with the world.

In the end, a Toe Stand meant the end of Bikram for me. One particular instructor thought I could and should push myself farther. When I didn't, he pushed me. He thought I held back and he might have been right. I could go farther. I have hypermobile joints. My body has trouble distinguishing between "good far" and "bad far" with joints popping out. I ended up tearing something in my left knee. It hurt for years as the lessons of Bikram lingered.

Bikram taught me more than 26 poses and to listen to my body over the voice of an instructor. Bikram showed me a little of how stress impacted my body. I needed to let go of the things that my made my heart race and mind jangle after work on a Wednesday. I might never master a Balancing Stick Pose but it was a lot easier Sunday morning.

Most of the early exercises, the standing exercises, focused on balance - Standing Head to Knee, Standing Bow Pose, Balancing Stick, etc. – and each were performed on both sides of the body. I soon discovered that my left side was far less stable than right.

I had never really thought of internal imbalance before. I think I had assumed that my own body was balanced in strength and weakness (as imbalanced as it was), but it wasn’t. It isn’t. I am right handed and left brained. Scans of my noggin show greater damage on the right lobe and a spinal tap sent signals racing up and down the right side. My driver’s license shows an uneven smile and one eye squinting more than the other. Everything is slightly off kilter.

Somehow, I need to work within my own limitations to find balance. We all do. Weaker left side, off kilter smile and squinty eye, work and life, attention, diligence and distance, caring and letting go, somewhere in the midst of all that, we will find a way to remain upright and steady.

At the very beginning of Bikram, the first time I went, the instructor emphasized that the first thing anyone needed to master. Before trying any of the standing poses, before balancing exercises or poses that might strengthen our spines, we needed to figure out how to stay in the room. Maybe we could all learn from that.
08 Oct 15:38

The "What I Did to Recover" List Goes On!

by Brad Hoefs

You might have thought I was not going to continue with the “What I Did to Recover” list, since it’s been a number of weeks since my last post.  (Life was too busy for the last couple of weeks!) But, we still have a lot of things we can add that you and I have done to “recover” from bipolar disorder. 

 

So, here are more things we can add to the list:

·      I accepted that I was not the enemy; seeing the disorder instead as the enemy named the “mood monster.”

·      I stopped focusing on my mistakes and instead chose to learn from them. And I began to focus on the next right decision.

·      I decided I was not going to be victimized by bipolar.  Nor was I going to have a daily pity party over it.

·      I decided to love and care for myself the same way that I loved and cared for my grandchild.

·      I stopped waiting for the medicines to do something “magical” (i.e. “change everything”) and started working my recovery by taking one little step at a time.

·      I decided that my past did not define me; nor does bipolar.

·      I stopped looking for the passion to live again; rather, I decided to simply live again and look for passion along the way.

·      I stopped comparing myself to others. Instead, I started to compare myself to the “old-self” and with the better self I was becoming.

The list is so long that we are working on a website that has little “memes” for each item on the list.  Please add to the list. I am keeping track of all of your responses and adding them to the list for the website along with your first name.

08 Oct 15:30

mockeryd: I AM SORRY BABY HUMAN! DO NOT CRY ANYMORE! i SHALL...













mockeryd:

I AM SORRY BABY HUMAN! DO NOT CRY ANYMORE! i SHALL BRING YOU MORE TOYS

[video]

06 Oct 13:27

Early light

by Kristin

Rising early, I shower, dress and slip outside to walk alone in the dark. Unlike weekday mornings, I don't see people with dogs. No runners. Not yet. Closer to the Mall, I see a couple but even there the streets and the sidewalk feel empty.

Overnight rain and a low cloud ceiling made the sunrise less appealing. I realize that as I leave my condo but I am already out the door, so I keep going.

Those who know say that people should keep their weekday schedules through the weekend, especially those who struggle with fatigue. Besides, in the mornings, I feel best so I might as well take advantage of that. Walk. Train. Do something with my early waking hours, even if it means leaving the house at a half past five on a Saturday morning.

A few miles in, close to the Washington Monument, I realize the clouds are not solid. A lightening sky shows pink, light polluted clouds blurring fuzzily into a pale blue sky. Sunrise might be all right.

As I approach the Lincoln, I see a cluster of dark shapes on the stairs and my heart sinks just a little. Even if sunrise is spectacular, I will not capture it, not without a million other forms in the way, and I cannot edge in front of them, marring their shots with my bright orange sweater and red rain jacket. To be fair, any group of photographers out this morning is probably more serious than me, anyway.

Even closer, I see people sitting, not standing, and there is not a tripod in sight. Four military types run past me. Marines out for a run? They don't keep going; they join the group on the steps.

I take a seat far enough away that I might see something if the sun does peak through the clouds. (My hopes aren't high.) A man speaks to the group. I can't make out the words.

At seven, I hear first call, Reveille, from someplace close. Arlington National Cemetery? Fort Myer? Somewhere over the river.

The sun fails to penetrate the thick cover of clouds. I watch the sky anyway, and the group moves up in camo and backpacks, with flags and boots. All ages. Definitely military.

The man in charge hassles the group and those carrying flags. They should move faster, be at the front. They stop for a picture and he joked about his iPhone and the quality of photo they can expect. I get up and walk over to offer a shot of my own. Another girl offers an iPhone wide angle lens. Between us, we take the shot.

We talk, the man in charge and I. He gives me his email address and later I will send a picture. In the meantime, he tells me that the group has been moving all night, mostly former special ops. They do this all over the country. He gives me a card but I lose it and cannot figure out how to find more about this unique group.

Soon, they are gone. Me, too. It is a half past seven and I have more miles to walk and hours to give volunteering. The sunrise was singularly unspectacular but the walk with heavy camera was worth it.
04 Oct 23:59

‘A Kind of Secure Golden Key’

by John Gruber

The Washington Post editorial board:

How to resolve this? A police “back door” for all smartphones is undesirable — a back door can and will be exploited by bad guys, too. However, with all their wizardry, perhaps Apple and Google could invent a kind of secure golden key they would retain and use only when a court has approved a search warrant.

Just use their magic to help the good guys. Maybe if Apple and Google can’t figure this out, they can get help from the computer science department at Hogwarts.

04 Oct 23:44

Out of many

by Kristin

The National Portrait Gallery is (temporarily) changing the face of DC with the installation of six-acre portrait on the National Mall. From today through October 31, a landscape portrait made with topsoil and sand will fill the stretch between the World War II and Lincoln memorials along the south side of the Reflecting Pool.

"Out of Many, One," by Cuban American urban artist Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada, features a composite portrait of dozens of people photographed in Washington DC.

According to the museum, the interactive walk-through experience will also be viewable from the newly reopened Washington Monument to the east, possibly from passengers flying into or out of Ronald Reagan National Airport (depending on flight paths, time of day, seating, etc.) and from satellites in space.

The Smithsonian plans to offer opportunities to learn more about the project through programs such as a talks with the artist today at the National Museum of Natural History (3 to 4:30) and Monday, October 6, from 10:30 to 11 in the Einstein Planetarium at the National Air and Space Museum. Respectively, the talks will focus on the design process and materials chosen as well as the aerospace technologies (such as high precision GPS) that make the portraits visible from so high above.
04 Oct 19:03

alienpapacy: initiating MAXIMUM OVERBIRD



alienpapacy:

initiating MAXIMUM OVERBIRD

04 Oct 18:41

The Bitcoin Selloff Continues

by Alex Wilhelm
bitcoin-mountain Bitcoin, the best-known cryptocurrency, recently slipped under the $400 mark, a former price floor that some viewed as a bulwark against further price pressure. Currently trading for $338.83, bitcoin is down $29.06 in the past 24 hours, or around 7.9 percent. From its all-time highs, bitcoin is down around 70 percent. For historical context, here’s the chart, with the current price… Read More
03 Oct 20:54

Small changes

by Kristin

Walking to work, thinking back on the past couple of weeks, I think how everything is the same, but different.

A little over two weeks ago, I started a new medication, which made me alert for the first time in as long as I could remember (and tired in whole new ways). I started rising earlier, wide awake, without an overwhelming desire to crawl back into bed. I found more hours. I felt more alive. Of course, it also meant that I didn’t sleep for a few nights, lost several pounds (that didn’t need to be lost) and felt queasy more often than not.

I still do.

Two weeks ago, I sent my very last message bearing my daily schedule. I left a job that I loved and a company for which I’d worked for more than 12 years because the move seemed right. I sent in my schedule, submitted my hours and closed a chapter on my life.

Two weeks ago, I walked 30 miles in high temperatures and full sun to raise funds and awareness in the fight to end multiple sclerosis. Underslept, undernourished, aching and nauseated, I walked 20 the first day and 10 the next, making friends, swapping stories and finding comfort in a community of people who walked the walk and talked the talk.

Slightly less than two weeks ago, I started a new job, which was really the old job but slightly different. The dynamics had changed as well as the responsibility, reporting and hours. I shifted my schedule with the new role (and the new med) and started coming to work earlier. Hours earlier. I had yet to figure out how/when I needed to go to bed to make up for that, but I enjoyed the morning walk and the morning work.

Not sunrise, daybreak, first light or dawn, my morning commute occurred in the dark of night. Friends concerned for my safety asked about headphones and if I took precautions. They wondered aloud if my neighborhood was safe enough, but there was little trouble to be found at a half past five in the morning. Even mischief makers tucked into bed at some point.

The cafe on the corner wasn't open yet. A girl waited outside; she must have worked there.

“Time to make the cupcakes,” I thought every day as I passed her.

I walked along quiet streets, passing and passed by a few dogs with their owners and a handful of runners. The street near the Library of Congress inexplicably smelled like bacon. The Capitol glowed fat and bright against the night sky looking as if it were donning a corset with its layers of scaffolding. It just had yet to be cinched.

Buses outnumbered cars and even they seemed sluggish and half full. Closer to the office, federal employees poured from bus doors to start their own early days.

The panhandlers seen every morning over the past few months weren't out yet - not the man with the harmonica, not the man with tremors and cane. Leaving earlier in the afternoon, I saw a completely different set and received a hug and free newspaper from a familiar Street Sense vendor who complimented also my hair.

In the mornings, I had time to talk with the security guards, and they had time to talk with me. I spent more time with the quiet woman who sat by the windows and seemed to appreciate another face in the office so early in the morning.

Everything was the same - the work and commute, the colleagues and cube. Even my phone number remained unchanged. Somehow, though, it all seemed slightly different.

“Only two weeks,” I thought.

What would the rest of the month, year, my life bring?
02 Oct 21:11

Cartoonist Ellen Forney Documents Her Struggle with Bipolar Disorder in ‘Marbles’, An Illustrated Graphic Memoir

by Lori Dorn

BiPolar Disorder

Cartoonist Ellen Foley has illustrated her struggle with finding a way to treat her diagnosis of bipolar disorder without sacrificing her creative process in her self-described graphic memoir Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me.

Shortly before her thirtieth birthday, cartoonist Ellen Forney was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Flagrantly manic and terrified that medications would cause her to lose creativity and her livelihood, she began a years-long struggle to find mental stability while retaining her passion and creativity. Searching to make sense of the popular concept of the crazy artist, she finds inspiration from the lives and work of other artists and writers who suffered from mood disorders, including Vincent van Gogh, Georgia O’Keeffe, William Styron, and Sylvia Plath. She analyzes the clinical aspects of bipolar disorder as she struggles with the strengths and limitations of a parade of medications and treatments.

Crazy Artist

Bipolar Carousel

Mania Pole

images by Ellen Forney

via Huffington Post

02 Oct 21:03

Emergent

a bullshit tracker, like Snopes meets Twitter  
02 Oct 20:41

Rendering Chrome Letters the Hard Way

0glenweisgerber.jpg

One of the first things they taught us in ID Rendering 101 was about reflections: You need a sky and you need some earth, and placing these correctly indicates the contours of whatever you're drawing up. Nowadays software takes care of all that, but in the days of hand rendering, you created sky and earth with markers, Prismacolors, charcoal or an airbrush. And getting the gradations was just a matter of layering strokes and/or going over it with your fingers.

But in this video, hot rod artist Glen Weisgerber shows us how he does it "When the compressor goes down or the power goes out," i.e. not using an airbrush, but an actual bristle brush. At 23 minutes long, the demo isn't short, but it's worth a scan-through to watch him go from zero to done:

Am I the only one who got the design-school-flashback stress jitters while watching him? I almost found myself glancing towards my window to see if the sun was coming up yet.

(more...)
02 Oct 20:20

In season

by Kristin

About a month ago, I found myself traipsing through Croatia on a walking holiday. Olives and figs, forts and city walls filled my days. Sunshine. Rain. Food. On my birthday, we hiked around an island on the Adriatic, and that night, after dinner, I ordered myself a piece of cake.

"Is not season," the waitress shrugged.

"Season?" I wondered. "What is cake season?"

In the end, I settled for birthday pancakes (crepes) and decided that she meant that it wasn't tourist season so they hadn't baked cake. (That was all I could figure. In my life, it's always cake season.) A month has passed. I have eaten cake. Summer has ended and we have begun the transition into autumn and flu season.

For the past few days, the morning broadcast at work has sent me into a tizzy. Free flu vaccinations for employees! I’m an employee! After 12 and a half years of contracting, I can take advantage of some of the perks offered by the organization I have supported for so very long!

1. Are you allergic to , latex, chicken, chicken eggs, chicken feathers, or chicken dander?
2. Have you ever had a severe adverse reaction to a flu shot?
3. Do you have an acute febrile (fever) illness today?
4. Have you had Guillain-Barre Syndrome within 6 weeks after a previous flu vaccination?
5. Do you have an active neurological disorder?
6. Do you have thrombocytopenia or any blood disorder that would prohibit a shot in your muscle?
7. Females: Are you pregnant?
(If yes, you must provide a note from your Obstetrician approving vaccination prior to receiving the flu shot.)

Or maybe I can’t.

According to my doctor, the CDC and a number of other websites, I can get a flu shot. In fact, I probably should get one because the side effects of getting a shot are nowhere near as complex as the side effects of getting sick with an autoimmune disorder. If I get sick, my body will attack my brain. I need that shot! I just cannot get it at work.

Looking at my local pharmacy, I see another consent form and scan through the questions, pausing at one: Do you have a seizure disorder or a brain disorder? No. Yes. Maybe? It shouldn’t matter because I don’t need a Tdap (I had a Tdap five years ago.) I need a flu shot. Not mist. Shot. And I resent that I cannot have one for free like all of my other coworkers.

Pregnant ladies can get a note from their doctors; why can’t I? Is this discrimination? Help!

Alas, flu season is a lot longer than cake season and I have plenty of time to figure it out.
01 Oct 18:47

Reddit source code

Comments
30 Sep 18:41

With $50 Million From Top Investors, Reddit Plans Cryptocurrency

by Jordan Crook
reddit Reddit, the so-called front page of the internet, has raised $50 million in Series B on a $500 million valuation with intentions to give back 10 percent of the round’s equity to the community. Somehow. The round is led by Sam Altman, CEO of Y Combintaor, with participation from Andreesen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital, as well as individual investors like Peter Thiel, Ron Conway, Jared… Read More
30 Sep 18:18

Help from my friends

by Kristin

A year ago, a little bit more, I got locked into a park. Technically, the park was closed by the time we got there but the gates were open and we didn't actually know the closing time, something we discovered about three minutes after walking back toward the entrance to find the gate closed and locked.

A bulletin board near the trail listed the park hours, opportunities to volunteer for trail clean up and a number to call in case a visitor happened to get locked into the park. (Apparently, this had happened before.)

My friend called the number; nobody answered. She left a message. I called and did the same. Over and over again, we randomly dialed as we assessed our options.

The park was on an island on the Anacostia River. It didn't offer much in the way of options for getting off or getting out, and even though my friend thought she could climb the 14-foot fence, there was simply no way I could do it. My balance was bad, at best, and I hadn't the strength to haul myself anywhere.

The mosquitoes grew fierce as the sun dropped lower and out of the sky. The foxes that had seemed so very charming two hours earlier lost their appeal as another crossed my path in the twilight.

"I could call my neighbors," I thought. "Friends. They would totally bring bug spray and a sleeping bag. A sweatshirt."

I could survive a night in the park but it would be easier with a few creature comforts, including fewer creatures. I made a list inside my head as I slapped, scratched and shivered, and my friend headed back into the park to explore. I called the city number again. I waited.

Eventually, we got a call back and found our way out of the park. We quit our training walk there and bellied up to the outdoor seating of a bar on the way home.

"We got locked into a park!" we told the bartender.

Later, when I told my neighbors the same, they replied, "Of course, you did."

Something like that fit with my life.

"I almost called for bug spray and a sleeping bag."

"A sleeping bag? We would have brought bolt cutters."

Bolt cutters. Why didn't I think of that?

I laughed as I realized how lucky I was to have friends like that, people who knew what I needed more than I did and were willing to break a (minor) law to deliver.
30 Sep 18:10

How Hong Kong Protesters Are Connecting, Without Cell or Wi-Fi Networks

Comments
27 Sep 16:39

Kevin Francis Gray Sculptures

by Daniella

Kevin Francis Gray est un artiste irlandais qui a exposé à la Pace Gallery de New York une série de sculptures de forme humaine. La particularité de ses oeuvres faites de marbre et de bronze réside dans l’aspect brillant des matériaux et le souci du détail. A découvrir dans la suite.


Kevin Francis Gray Sculptures-11 Kevin Francis Gray Sculptures-10 Kevin Francis Gray Sculptures-9 Kevin Francis Gray Sculptures-8 Kevin Francis Gray Sculptures-7 Kevin Francis Gray Sculptures-6 Kevin Francis Gray Sculptures-5 Kevin Francis Gray Sculptures-4 Kevin Francis Gray Sculptures-3 Kevin Francis Gray Sculptures-2 Kevin Francis Gray Sculptures-1 Kevin Francis Gray Sculptures-0

27 Sep 16:22

Dupont Circle WeWork

by Jeremiah Britton
Dupont Circle WeWork

some QUICK badge options for WeWork Dupont Circle in Washington DC.

27 Sep 16:18

Corcoran

by Kristin

Washington art lovers have one final weekend to visit the Corcoran before it closes for a year of renovation.

Current exhibits include landscapes as seen from the air with Mark Tribe’s Plein Air and Terra Firma with pieces from the museum’s Photography and Media Arts collections. American Metal presents a retrospective survey of the art of metalsmith Albert Paley, and progresses from his work as a jeweler through recent, large-scale sculptural projects. Additional exhibits include An Intimate View: European Art from the Collection, Ideal Busts, Modern and Contemporary Art Since 1945, American Journeys – Visions of Place, and Sol Lewitt’s Wall Drawing #65 on loan from the National Gallery.

As of Friday, August 22, 2014, admission to the gallery is free. The change in pricing reflects a much larger change in structure with an agreement between the Corcoran, National Gallery of Art and George Washington University. Ownership of the Corcoran’s historic 17th Street building and the College of Art and Design will transfer to GW and of custody of the art collection to the National Gallery of Art.

The 17th Street Flagg building, will be dedicated to arts education and used for the operation of the College and for museum exhibition space. The National Gallery of Art will showcase temporary exhibitions of modern art there, and the “Corcoran Legacy Gallery” will be housed within its walls. Joint advisory committees with GW, National Gallery of Art and Corcoran representatives will consult and advise on programs and activities in the building.

After this weekend, after September 28, the gallery will close for renovations while the College continues to operate. The building is expected to be renovated in stages, allowing for classes to continue.

No artwork will be sold. Works not accessioned by the National Gallery of Art will be distributed by the Corcoran to other art museums with a preference given to those in the DC area.GW will assume custody and care for artwork that will remain permanently in place in the Corcoran building such as the Canova Lions (in front), the Salon Doré (originally from the hôtel de Clermont and acquired by Francophile Senator William A. Clark) and the French Mantle.

The Jean de Caumont stained glass window will return to the abbey in Belgium from which the work was removed. (They have asked for it back.) The work will be repatriated by the Corcoran subject to the town’s agreement to pay all costs, including the installation of an appropriate replacement window for the 17th Street building.

This weekend will be the last chance to see the Corcoran before these changes take place.

27 Sep 14:08

Listen to The Beatles’ isolated vocal tracks for Abbey Road medley

by Michael Roffman

beatles abbey road Listen to The Beatles isolated vocal tracks for Abbey Road medley

Ed Note: Today, The Beatles’ Abbey Road celebrates its 45th anniversary. In light of the occasion, we’re republishing this story, which was originally posted in September 2013.

A few years ago, we named The Beatles’ Abbey Road as the greatest album of all time. Follow our breadcrumbs of reasoning and you’ll read about Paul McCartney’s final swan song: the medley. It’s a religious experience with an ensuing legacy that continues to influence musicians both new and old. Now, someone’s stripped away all the music and, instead, left its vocal tracks. What one should take away here is how synonymous the Fab Four really were, even amidst their forthcoming demise. “Match made in heaven” comes to mind, and really, aside from The Beach Boys, The Temptations, and The Bee Gees — it doesn’t get better than this. Stream below and lose yourself in the process.

 


24 Sep 18:57

The Doll Hospital, A 101-Year-Old Doll Repair Shop in Sydney, Australia

by EDW Lynch

The Doll Hospital in Sydney

The Doll Hospital is a Sydney-based repair shop for dolls, teddy bears, and other toys that was founded back in 1913. The shop’s employees (there are up to 12 at any one time) specialize in various aspects of doll and toy repair, including hair restoration and limb repair. The busiest period in the Doll Hospital’s history was World War II, when import restrictions caused a surge in repairs for old toys. At its wartime height, the shop had 70 employees and 6 workrooms. Photographer Jason Reed shot photos and video of the Doll Hospital for a fascinating Reuters feature.

The Doll Hospital in Sydney

The Doll Hospital in Sydney

The Doll Hospital in Sydney

The Doll Hospital in Sydney

photos by Jason Reed

via Juxtapoz

23 Sep 22:11

Weather or not

by Kristin

Somehow, I seem to have morphed into someone who talks about the weather.

I don’t know how it happened. One day, I focused on whether or not I needed an umbrella for the commute, and the next, I was following local forecasters and sharing their predictions with friends and family, through social media, at work, and with strangers on the street. I started offering inane observations such as “It looks like it’s going to be another beautiful day” and “I hope you have a chance to get out and enjoy it,” and I really meant it.

Growing up, I am sure I believed that the weather fell in the purview of crotchety old folk without much life - stories, yes, but no plans for the foreseeable future but sitting on a porch, rocking and watching days unfold. I never imagined myself in that role or that the weather could be so interesting.

In the past couple of years, we have learned the meteorological aspects of terms such as “derecho,” “polar vortex,” and “thundersnow.” The labels themselves are kind of sexy and relatively fun to drop into conversation not to mention the fact that we have seen the impact of violent weather. We share in experiences of surviving such things as Snowmaggedon (aka the Snowpocalypse of 2010). We have stories, photos and shared memories.

On a less volatile basis, I spend more time outside than the average office worker. I walk my commute and spend at least an hour and a half out in the elements every day. The weather directly impacts my comfort, my choice in clothing and footwear, and even my life, but I think it might be something more.

In my mailbox, I have a message about a workshop on fall prevention to keep me upright. I have another suggesting medicine that applies to me; though, it increases my risk of getting a rare brain infection – called progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) –that usually leads to death or severe disability. (There is no known treatment, prevention, or cure for PML.)

In the past year, I have hit most of life’s major stressors (personal health, family health, moving, break up and changing jobs) and quite a few of the minor ones, too. I have survived, if not exactly thrived in, each of these situations, but I really don’t want to think about them. I want to think about watching the sun rise on my walk to work and taking the time to go outside at lunch.

Today’s forecast included such words as spectacular, beautiful, and fantastic, sunny and breezy. I am going to milk that for all it is worth. I hope you have a chance to get out and enjoy it. I really do.
23 Sep 15:43

The Shawshank Redemption, 20 years on

by Jason Kottke

The Shawshank Redemption came out 20 years ago and promptly bombed. Now it's one of the most popular movies of all time. Here's how it came to be made.

Filming on location is often something to be endured, and Shawshank's schedule was particularly brutal: workdays were 15 to 18 hours, six days a week, over three humid months inside the former Ohio State Reformatory, in Mansfield, and on nearby constructed sets, which included the huge cellblock. "We were lucky to have Sundays off," says Darabont.

A bakery in Mansfield now sells Bundt-cake replicas of the Gothic prison, which these days is a tourist attraction that draws Shawshank pilgrims. But in 1993 the defunct penitentiary-closed three years earlier for inhumane living conditions-"was a very bleak place," according to Darabont. Robbins adds, "You could feel the pain. It was the pain of thousands of people." The production employed former inmates who shared personal stories similar to those in Shawshank's script, "in terms of the violence of the guards and throwing people off the top of cellblocks," says Deakins.

Robbins remembers "going to that place inside for three months. It was never depressing, because Andy had this hope inside. But it was, at times, dark because of the situations that the character goes through." Deakins confirms that working on the film was "a very intense situation. Sometimes the performances really affected me while I was shooting it." The scene that gave Deakins "a tingle down the spine" is also Robbins's favorite: the prisoners drinking beer on the sunny license-plate-factory roof. Coming more than a half an hour into the movie-and two years into Andy's sentence-it's the first bright spot in a film heretofore gray in palette and tone. Andy risks being thrown off the roof by Captain Hadley in order to procure a few "suds" for his fellow prisoners-a moment when the character shifts from victim to burgeoning legend. That Andy himself doesn't drink is beside the point.

The scene was shot over a "hard, hard day," says Freeman. "We were actually tarring that roof. And tar doesn't stay hot and viscous long. It tends to dry and harden, so you're really working. For the different setups you had to keep doing it over and over and over and over and over."

I was one of the few who saw Shawshank in the theater (I watched at least two or three movies a week back in those days) and loved it immediately. (via @aaroncoleman0)

Tags: movies   The Shawshank Redemption
23 Sep 15:23

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