You guys, WBSC has a big announcement to make on Monday. Clues on Twitter.
If you don’t ask, you don’t get.
— Richard Saul Wurman, who coined the word “information architect” and founded TED.
NYS Senator Diane Savino speaks on the Marriage Equality bill. And now I’m tearing up at work again. Thanks a lot Senator Diane Savino.
P.O.B. - People On Bikes
Made in Minneapolis. Take that Portland! (via Matty Lang)
In the “culture of use,” as Bourriaud aptly phrased it, artists were attempting to make socially relevant art outside the constraints of the market, pitting commodified objects against the slipperiness of a post-Duchampian Conceptualism that broke the logic between labor and exchange value, production and worth, use and uselessness, author and audience, centralized power and autonomous agency. The artists of relational aesthetics critiqued the power of the State and of capital by emphasizing the power of the crowd that participates in and completes their artworks. Yet it is becoming ever more clear today that there is another category of art that offers a different way to define artistic work in relation to social praxis and the issue of identity: an art that focuses not so much on the social relations of the artist and audience but on the atomized power of individual relationships within the social whole; an art focused not only on the artist’s autonomy but also on the contested idea of the self in our post-Fordist era.
Afternoon reading.
Mulligan Stu’s Do-Over Revue
A night of poetic whoopsies, epistolary flubs and other creative bloopers.
Mulligan Stu’s Do-Over Revue is a new monthly variety show a bunch of us are working on that invites courageous individuals on stage to share their most cringe-worthy artistic output in front of their sure-to-be-entertained peers. Teenage poetry, embarrassing diary confessions, Keith Sweat-heavy mix tapes, unsent love letters, pop star-inspired collage and other bad creations. Call it a celebration of misguided creativity or simply an exorcism of bad art. Whatever you do, don’t call it good. Because it’s not, and that’s the point.
Our house band is Seasonal Concepts and the song above is a rough cut of their MSDOR theme song.
Yeah, this is gonna kick ass.
@ The Nomad World Pub (map) tonight at 7PM // $3 Cover // Beer specials // Hilarity // Join the FB group // RSVP for the event (not reacquired!)
1) Live in Seward.
2) Always carry quarters.
3) Have a bit of luck. (Or at least a very lucky girlfriend.)
Email me for specifics.
I was at Give and Take last month, where they focus on what people know and what they want to know. There’s a section in the middle where they ask people to share what they want to know, in the hopes that someone attending can help them. One guy said, “I want to know how to be happy in Minneapolis.” There was some awkward laughter, and a woman chimed in, “It takes five years.”
The exchange stuck with me because when I thought about it, it’s taken me about five years to get to a place where I feel like I can stay here comfortably. This is the first November that’s gone by since I moved back after college that I haven’t been aching to get the hell out. Maybe it’s just the warmer weather this year or maybe I’ve just resigned myself to sticking around, but I’d like to think it’s a little more than that. It was just at the beginning of the year that I resolved, “make the absolute best of things here, or move already.” And I think I’ve done pretty well with that.
So, some tips. This is not to say that I’m an expert, but here are some of my ideas along with tips I’ve gotten from friends. They’re always needed more in the winter, it seems.
- Get outside, even if it’s cold or dark. Staying inside often seems like a good idea, but the outdoors can make you happier, even if it’s just for a little bit.
- Dress appropriately. Whenever I think back on times where I was extremely uncomfortable, it usually revolves around being cold. Get some warm socks, wear a hat, let fashion suffer a little bit (but not too much, layers are always in!).
- Be active. I hate to be harpy about fitness, but it really does work for decreasing stress and making you feel awesome.
- Be active, while outside and appropriately dressed. The happiness trifecta. Even in winter. Snowshoes, anyone? Sledding?
- Want to make new friends? Align yourself with people who want to do the same. Not going to lie, making friends can be hard…until you find that niche of people who are on the same page. So when you meet them, and you say, “You know what would be awesome? If we _________.” And then they’re like, “Yeah, ______ would be awesome!” Now, don’t stop there. Fill in the blanks and actually make it happen, instead of simply talking about things that would be awesome.
- Get out and do things, even if you have to go alone. Because doing things beats not doing things. And there are a lot of things to do.
- Avoid rush hour traffic. If at all possible, align your commute in such a way so that you’re either not behind the wheel at all during rush hour, or not for very long. Long commutes have been proven to increase unhappiness.
- Get out, even if it’s to someplace colder. Even a weekend trip to Lutsen can be oddly restorative.
- Make the best of it. Once again, I don’t want to sound too Pollyanna or like I’m endorsing The Secret or whatever, but outlook is key. My thinking on winter is: winter can really suck, so let’s try and make it not suck as much as possible.
What are your secrets?
Oh wow. Oh wow oh wow oh wow. (via kavalierandclay)
Bedroom/Jungle
Emergency measures were taken this weekend to save our 15 year old ficus tree. We don’t think it was getting enough light in our living room so we moved it to the bedroom, which is also a four season porch/sunroom and becoming more and more jungle-like. Which is awesome.
Real Good Coffee // Bare-faced Lie
Last night I dreamt that I met Jesse Thorn, America’s Radio Sweetheart, and he complemented me on the wear patterns on my 501 STFs. (Damn right they’re good, I wear them every day.)
On a related note, you should really check out his new project, Put This On. It’s a webs series for men about dressing like a grownup. The first episode, above, is about denim.
