Everything Matters

cassel: amyvernon: THIS IS A CAT. DRESSED LIKE A SHARK. ON A...

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:54:39 -0500

cassel:

amyvernon:

THIS IS A CAT. DRESSED LIKE A SHARK. ON A ROOMBA. CHASING A DUCK.

timeshaiku: A haiku from the article: Sunday Dialogue: What Is...

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 15:25:53 -0500

timeshaiku:

A haiku from the article: Sunday Dialogue: What Is That Art Worth?

Everything Heinz : Daniel Eatock

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 14:41:40 -0500

Everything Heinz : Daniel Eatock

pbsthisdayinhistory: Mar 27, 1912: The First Japanese Cherry...

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 16:47:48 -0500

pbsthisdayinhistory:

Mar 27, 1912: The First Japanese Cherry Blossom Trees Are Planted in the U.S.

On this day in 1912, the first two Japanese cherry blossom trees were successfully planted by First Lady Helen Taft and Viscountess Chinda on the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C. Japanese Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo gave the U.S. over 3000 trees to demonstrate the growing relationship between the U.S. and Japan.

Every spring, Washington D.C. commemorates the initial planting through the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

As we wait for this year’s blooming period, treat yourself to this delicious spring recipe!

Image: Cherry blossoms in Washington D.C. 2013 (Diana Alvarenga)

Many likes for this.

Good food news: Texas Monthly Hires Full-Time Barbecue Editor -...

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 12:19:31 -0500

Good food news:

Texas Monthly Hires Full-Time Barbecue Editor - NYTimes.com

Most important, he [Daniel Vaughn, who has eaten at more than 600 barbecue places since 2007] had just decided to take a sizable pay cut and quit his job as an architect at a respected Dallas firm to devote all of his time and gastrological energy to writing about Texas barbecue.

bookriot: This subway library has posters of books and...

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 20:27:00 -0500

bookriot:

This subway library has posters of books and scannable barcodes—zap ‘em with your phone to get a 10-page preview while you ride!

A cool project proposed by a group of Miami Ad School students. Commuters who scan a book’s title not only can read the first ten pages of that book, but can learn, via near-field communication (NFC) technology, which nearby library has the book. Read more about the idea on Design Taxi here.

Gotta say, this is a leading contender for bookshelf of the week.

murketing: Yesterday I tagged along with Lorna, from Knits For...

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 08:13:00 -0600

murketing:

Yesterday I tagged along with Lorna, from Knits For Life (my sister!) while she installed this super awesome iphone yarn bomb on this sad looking pay phone. As you can see in the before above, the receiver is gone so this is a definite upgrade. I wanted to ask her a few questions about the idea and her process

Read it here: The Dapper Toad: iPayPhone Yarn Bomb)

I really like this, and have just lately been thinking about abandoned pay phones and booths. Who owns them, exactly?

Anyway this is a cool project. Via No Expectations.

Today, in urban intervention love.

pergoogle: “Willow Pattern,” Google Image search by Rob Walker,...

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 13:22:03 -0600

pergoogle:

“Willow Pattern,” Google Image search by Rob Walker, February 19, 2013

Blue-and-white transferware. <3

In landmark art preservation news: It’s hard to miss the...

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 09:57:23 -0600

In landmark art preservation news:

It’s hard to miss the 70-foot-tall blue saxophone as you drive down Richmond Avenue [in Houston].

Its name is Smokesax, and it has been at that location on 6025 Richmond for the past 20 years. But Wednesday, the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art, a local folk art organization [mentioned previously here], announced it is going to acquire the oversize horn, which is made out of car parts, oil field pipes and a surfboard, as well as an entire Volkswagen Beetle that forms the U-joint at its base.

The big brass was built by legendary Texas artist Bob Wade as a special installation for Billy Blues Bar & Grill. It was fully restored three years ago, and the current property owners, Kensinger Properties Ltd., said they wanted the Orange Show to ensure the piece would be preserved for future generations.

The saxophone will be removed from its current location at 10 a.m. on Feb. 28. The process to remove the massive piece will take a full day. Then, Smokesax will begin its 13-mile journey from Richmond Avenue to Munger Street. Artist Bob Wade will be overseeing the entire removal and transportation. Once at the Orange Show, it will be housed in the organization’s warehouse until an exact location has been chosen for permanent display.

(via Orange Show Center for Visionary Art to acquire Smokesax - Houston Business Journal)

Missing today’s Houston Social Media Week #Instacrawl. Instead,...

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 14:07:00 -0600

Missing today’s Houston Social Media Week #Instacrawl. Instead, I’m hanging out with great City of Houston staff and talented Houston-area students who are interested in learning more about recycling. We’re judging students’ work in using salvaged materials to decorate recycling carts. Love this one covered in plastic bottles and cardboard. Not a typical Saturday, but a good one!

❤ y’all.

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 09:43:19 -0600

❤ y’all.

murketing: (via Photos of People Wearing Clothing That Blends...

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 13:08:59 -0600

murketing:

(via Photos of People Wearing Clothing That Blends Into the Surroundings)

digg: Oreo won the Super Bowl blackout. Agreed. Also...

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 22:40:00 -0600

digg:

Oreo won the Super Bowl blackout.

Agreed.

Also noteworthy: At the end of Oreo’s library-centered “Whisper Fight” commercial (anyone else turned off by the violence in it?!), viewers were driven to Instagram.

However, on Instagram: Oreo’s recreating Instagram fans’ photos into either cookie or cream renditions — in conjunction with fans tagging their Instagram photos with #cookiethis or #cremethis? That’s just weird.

May I present, from Oreo’s Instagram gallery, exhibit A: Oreo’s photo of an Instagram user’s mouth … rendered by Oreo in “Oreo creme.”

Um, weird, right?

I rest my case.

By tomorrow afternoon (well, actually, 12:35 p.m. Central...

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 21:20:00 -0600

By tomorrow afternoon (well, actually, 12:35 p.m. Central tomorrow), if all goes according to plan (not my plan, mind you, but the property owner’s plan), the Ben Milam Hotel in downtown Houston will be reduced to a big pile of rubble. (Think dynamite + implosion.) The 10-story brick hotel opened in the 1920s to house travelers who visited Houston via Union Station (which sits across the street and now is a part of Minute Maid Park, the Houston Astros’ home field). When the building goes down tomorrow, so will two of Houston’s few remaining ghost signs. I’m posting this photo as kind of a memorial to a piece of Houston history, I suppose. RIP, Ben Milam. (posted via Instagram at Inn at the Ballpark)

Old Styrofoam packing peanuts = new garland for City of...

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 17:09:00 -0600

Old Styrofoam packing peanuts = new garland for City of Houston’s “Holiday Trees: Artistically Upcycled” exhibit.

How To Sell A $1 Snow Globe For $59: The Real ROI Of Brand Storytelling | Fast Company

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 13:49:55 -0600

How To Sell A $1 Snow Globe For $59: The Real ROI Of Brand Storytelling | Fast Company:

The founders of the website Significantobjects.com, a site devoted to quantifying the bottom-line power of story at a product level, say, “Stories are such a powerful driver…that their effect on any given [product’s] subjective value can be measured objectively.” The website is home to an experiment that goes like this: the founders buy thrift store, garage sale, and flea market products, always cheap, no more than a couple dollars at most. Then, they hire a writer to compose a fictional story about the product, imbuing it with heritage, history, and ostensibly, value. The once-valueless products, accompanied by their new stories, are then sold auction-style on eBay. The difference between the original purchase price and story price is recorded as the objective value of that story.

The takeaway results for the first 100 products bought, storied, and then resold on eBay are poignant and telling. On average, the original product price was $1.29. But the average resale price after a story was added grew to a staggering $36.12. All in all, the experiment shows that even at a micro level, story can increase product value by a whopping 2,706 percent (or more, in the case of this snow globe).

thingsmagazine: London Buses, a collection by Kate Farley,...

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 13:21:45 -0600

thingsmagazine:

London Buses, a collection by Kate Farley, presented at Obsessionistas, a website about collections

Obsessionistas is a cool site. Have a collection (of whatever)? Submit stuff here.

washingtonpoststyle: People have been lining up outside The...

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 19:37:40 -0600

washingtonpoststyle:

People have been lining up outside The Washington Post to buy today’s print edition.

Because you can’t make a keepsake out of a Web site.

Confession: I have a crush on Newark Mayor Cory Booker.

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 17:09:00 -0600

Confession: I have a crush on Newark Mayor Cory Booker.

sandykatrina: Calvin was living Uptown before Katrina. He was...

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 17:16:24 -0500

sandykatrina:

Calvin was living Uptown before Katrina. He was evacuated to seven different cities starting with San Antonio, TX. But, he managed to get back. After he did he opened his own barber shop. When asked what he would say to New Yorkers, he paused for a minute before he said it’s not about the material things…