Sticking it to the Ad Agencies

The brilliant Anti-Advertising Agency has come up with their latest subversive message: the "You don't need it" sticker. The guerilla group sticks the signs on ads as a statement against our consumer culture. You can get a free set of stickers by following the link.


Full disclosure: I am the child of a man with a "kill your television" bumper sticker.

Save those pennies

Remember what I said? Always save those coins! This man bought a car with his.

Random Manta Ray Found On Busy Street

The Experience Project writes about a manta ray sighting on a sidewalk in downtown San San Francisco. Apparently the ray gathered quite a crowd and no one knows how it got there. Weird!

Relish Victory

Relish takes the gold at the half-time condiment race at the Brooklyn Cyclones game!

Shortie Gets her Shortening

At this year's Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, hometown girl and Olympic silver medalist Shawn Johnson will be memorialized in butter, according to the local paper. "Butter Johnson" will be displayed alongside the traditional butter cow. Hmm...maybe you have to be from Iowa? I'm speechless.

re: Dan Aykroyd

By the way, after I mentioned the former SNL actor in a previous post, it turns out the actor now has his own Ontario-based winery and wine label. The Blues Brother went from bass milkshakes to Sauvignon Blanc -- go figure!

Eel-fated New Product

I'm having deja-vu. Ever seen Dan Ackroyd blend a live fish on the Bassomatic 76? Tokyo-based Japan Tobacco Company has introduced Unagi Noburi, a new drink that promises to boost your energy and keep you cool in summer. It's made out of ground up eel parts. All I can say is: "Wow that's terrific eel!"

Three things I want to do before summer is over:

The Public Theater's revival of HAIR in Central Park's outdoor amphitheater.

Rooftop Films

A Brooklyn Cyclones game at Coney Island

And looking forward to fall:

A free tour of the Steinway Piano Factory in Queens

Klondike Rage

Seen this completely ridiculous Klondike Bar commercial? A guy keeps his eyes on his wife even as a pretty young thing walks by their table. The punchline? This guy deserves a Klondike Bar. And apparently, so does the guy in another inane ad, who actually listens when his wife talks. He "deserves" a Klondike, too. The fact that they are making these out to be exceptional or difficult tasks for which men should be rewarded much the way a skinner rat is rewarded with a piece of cheese makes me sick!

What are these people thinking? I always loved Klondike Bars as a kid and haven't had one in years. Guess they've decided their target audience is men. Or male chauvinist pigs. I won't be having one anytime soon after that marketing campaign. How insulting to both men and women. Yikes!

Squid mania

In case you didn't know, I'm a giant squid freak. That's why I was morbidly fascinated by this video of a giant squid dissection in front of a live audience. Gross, but it's so great to be reminded that the stuff of legend actually does exist.

On a somewhat related note, according to an interesting article by the AP, another creature of lore, the yeti, a sasquatch-like creature, is losing its place in the cultural memory. As the once-isolated nation of Bhutan modernizes rapidly, legends like the yeti are no longer as central to the belief system. I say the yeti lives! And the abominable snowman, too. Good thing we still have our squid!

The Now

She calls herself a Navy wife. I call her my sister. She teaches me every day about patience and care, routine and flexibility. About living right now.

When we care for children, in a sense, we become children. We inhabit a world in which time doesn't exist. I watched my sister become a mother and I learned from her that we only have the now. We can only do one thing at a time.

We must plan and prepare for the future, devise a reasonable schedule, have expectations, but be ready at any moment to change when, for instance, your son doesn't take a nap when he's supposed to or the U.S. government screws up your health insurance. You must roll with it, glide, like we did when we were kids sliding across linoleum in socks.

As caregivers we are right in this moment of spilled milk and bruised knees. And we are constantly doing laundry.

Solar powered purse

They start at $330, which basically makes them untenable, at least for me -- but check out these neat purses from noon solar. A solar panel on the outside of the bag charges a battery inside the bag that will connect to your cell phone, iPod, etc. What next? And, if you think about the price many people are willing to pay for say, a Coach bag, this is a drop in the bucket and saves electricity, too!