things you don't think about in a hurricane....

where do the dolphins go?

As Katrina approached, three Atlantic bottlenose dolphins were evacuated from
the Marine Life Oceanarium in Gulfport, Miss., to a hotel pool.

as charming as that photograph is...Hurricane Katrina is devastating the Gulf of Mexico...and the already tragically poor areas of coastal Mississippi and Louisiana.

What so many don't know (and are just now hearing) is that the City of New Orleans, more famous for laissezing the bon temps roulet, is actually one of the rare cities in the world that is built below sea level. I heard on NPR this morning that the city has never been hit full on with a Hurricane this strong (the last one they've seen was Hurricane Betsy in 1965). Their luck has run out today...and Katrina has hit ground hard. To quote a friend, "What little nothing they have is being washed away."

New Orleans is one of the country's most impoverished cities...huge numbers of residents in the surrounding area are without running water and electricity on a good day. Today, the 9,000 refugees that had moved to the Superdome had a scare when Katrina tore away part of the roof of the stadium...not nearly the worst of her work--much of the city is already in shambles.

In his AP article, Adam Nossiter offers some tragic accounts of people battling the category 5 (now 4) storm--I would quote, but they make me sad...so you can read for yourself. I will add this, however:

Seventy-three-year-old Josephine Elow of New Orleans pressed her weight against the broken doors of the hotel Le Richelieu as a hotel employee tried to secure them. "It's not life-threatening," Mrs. Elow said as rain water dripped from her face. "God's got our back."

Here's hoping she's right...

Fix your jones for information about the glory of the Big Easy @ madere.com & neworleansonline.com
Fix your jones for info on Katrina @ wikipedia & nola.com & hurricanecity.com

**new orleans sites are getting slammed today...so apologies if any of these are down.

Posted by sarah t. at 3:21 PM 1 comments

Unique Regularly Scheduled Programming

For those moments when you're jonesing for something clever (say...biting satire on urban stereotypes?) on the tube...and not even TiVo can help...

Through the genius of the guy over at Worship the Glitch (via the guys over at TiVo and the guys over at Blip.tv) comes GlitchTV, a free subscriber service that takes cool video in the public domain and aggregates it for your TiVo viewing pleasure. Glitch P-udding himself explains it better than I ever could:

WTG will be programming a daily "TV Station" for your TiVo called GlitchTV." Once you're set up, the only manual labor you'll endure is plopping down on the couch, hiting the TiVo button, and reading the list of what's on. We'll try to have a variety of programming and we're open to suggestions regarding what to program and how much TiVo space and download time is reasonable.

GlitchTV is filled with everything from old cartoons to bizarre community access television...but back to my point about urban stereotypes...

Last night, my TiVo presented me with Metropopular (2001):

an animated short film about what the cities of America would say to one another if they could talk. Frantic about a popularity contest in which these cities are competing, they jockey for top position while arguing between themselves. Highlighting their separate personalities, each city had his or her own reason why they should be ''America's favorite city.''

For anyone who's ever generalized about the entire population of a city...and believed it...this hysterical 3 minute short is totally for you.

Not a TiVo user? Check out metropopular over at Blip.tv...

Fix your jones for unique TiVo programming @ worshiptheglitch.com
Fix your jones for urban stereotypes (in Quicktime) @ metropopular on blip.tv

Posted by sarah t. at 1:03 PM 0 comments

the heartbeat of american kitsch

inspired by the latest curb your enthusiasm ads on the new york city subways, i've a hankering for a rousing game of knock down clown....which, in new york, means a trip to coney island for a day of nathan's original hot dogs, the death-defying cyclone, and an endless supply of carnival games i just can't win.

so...in preparation for a saturday shrouded in the delectable seediness of coney island--a place that, though it sparks my fear and loathing, i secretly adore:

first stop, nathan's original hotdogs, on surf and stillwell avenues, was founded by nathan handwerker in 1916... and quickly became a vile mecca for anyone looking for good, cheap eats. according to history of amusement parks, good old nate sold his garlicky dogs for 5 cents a piece...and the recipe hasn't changed. now, if you can survive the lines in the sweltering summer heat, you can reward yourself with a hotdog and a giant lemonade. (even better...nathan's is now open 24/7...for the midnight snacker in you.)

but after eating too many hotdogs, there's nothing like a ride on the jewel in coney island's crown--the cyclone. built in 1927, the cyclone is one of the oldest wooden roller coasters in the world--you're strappend into the car by a bar of and there's nothing quite so thrill-inducing as feeling the car you're barely secured into (i've seen sturdier plastic wrap) lift from the track as you're careening down the first drop. honestly? you could die on it...but that's part of the fun.

for the visual learners in the crowd, check out the PBS film Coney Island: The Ups and Downs of America's First Amusement Park.

Coney Island is the story of a tiny spit of land at the foot of Brooklyn that at the turn of the century became the most extravagant playground in the country. In scale, in variety, in sheer inventiveness, Coney Island was unlike anything anyone had ever seen, and sooner or later everyone came to see it. "Coney," one man said in 1904, "is the most bewilderingly up-to-date place of amusement in the world." Coney Island is a lively and absorbing portrait of the extraordinary amusement empire that astonished, delighted and shocked the nation -- and took Americans from the Victorian age into the modern world.

between the coney island mermaid parade, a must attend new york city event, and this guy...the self-proclaimed mayor of coney island and founder of the Coney Island Circus Slideshow (starring insectavora for the time being)...it's a pretty bizarre place...but worth every second...as long as you only go once a season, and disinfect thoroughly when you get home.

fix your jones for all things coney island @ astroland, coney island info, the coney island history web site, and the flickr feed of mermaid parade pictures.

Posted by sarah t. at 10:18 PM 1 comments

wear them while you still can...

for anyone who has ever thought about wearing political clothing, but hasn't found that shirt that's cool enough...meet reason8...Combining Fashion, Art and Activism.
From gay marriage to the current administration to homeland security to social apathy, reason8 takes a stand, and encourages you to with clever, unique, wearable mass disruption.

going under the radar and along the way, reinventing the medium known as “message clothing”, Reason8 lends a voice when others are silent. Reason8 blends image and word in an ongoing quest to invent a language that describes our primal need to fulfill “possibility” and challenge a corrupt paradigm that prevents it. Fear is the real enemy. By insinuating ourselves into the fabric, onto the fabric – that is our social conscience, we intend to be a thorn in the flesh of Authority.

extreme? maybe. intriguing? absolutely.

fix your jones for wearing your politics on your sleeve @ http://www.reason8.net/

Posted by sarah t. at 5:45 PM 1 comments

the endless search for the perfect card...

a confession...i jones for paper products. hardcore.

today, i discovered quite possibly the most fun cards i've ever seen...simple, fun, and just perfect for nearly every woman in my life...and some of the men too. the fantasticly whimsical sharpie and paper creations at girlywhirly.com and fantasticaly snarky sharpie and paper creations at a sister site, surlygirly.com, are worth a look...and worth your opening your wallet.

straight from the mouth of the whirlygirly herself:

girlywhirly.com greeting cards are just for fun! girlywhirly.com is committed to creating greeting cards, invitations, announcements and other paper designs in the most environmentally friendly and earth-nurturing way possible.

****

for those unwilling to compromise on fun, but searching for something a little more elegant...head on over to everyiota.com and search out a retail store in your neighborhood that sells iota cards. tucked into their uniquely curvy envelopes, these cards are bound to be a hit with your fans....iota is a wholesale paper retailer, but if you're willing to spend $100 on all your upcoming paper needs...they'll take your order.

We are purveyors of original, colourful, affordable, and recycled stationary products, inviting you to ponder the small, enjoy the quip, send a message, convey an emotion. In every iota lies the opportunity for connecting people. The little things - every jot, every speck, every gesture - make a difference. So collect your thoughts, put pen to paper, exercise your writes and give an iota. Every iota makes a difference.

fix your jones for the best cards around @ http://www.girlywhirly.com/ and http://www.everyiota.com/

Posted by sarah t. at 3:50 PM 2 comments

man's best friend...

living in new york city, it's tough not to love the idea of being a dog owner...dog run culture here is intense--and it's not uncommon to meet friends or couples who got their start when their dogs met. between puppy play dates and doggie day care...the pampered pooch has become a new york staple.

boxers and standard poodles and pugs abound in my neighborhood...they seem to be the breeds of choice out here...but i confess to being a little irritated by all this purebred obsession. it's insane how many dogs there are in shelters and at the nyc pound--all of which need just as much pampering as the paris hilton set. why adopt from a specialty breeder in jersey when you can get a gorgeous, character-laden canine from bide-a-wee, the aspca, or mighty mutts?

the argument is so often that "with a breeder, you know where the dog came from." it's not a car, people...it's a dog. ironically enough, mutts seem to be smarter, healthier, and calmer than their purebred peers...and consider this: while a designer pooch may make you feel pretty, rescuing a loving pup from certain death makes you feel pretty terrific.

fix your jones for the perfect pooch at: bide-a-wee, the aspca, or mighty mutts.

Posted by sarah t. at 4:22 PM 0 comments

be my little baby....

for anyone who ever owned the dirty dancing soundtrack and listened to it until the tape wore out...for anyone who went through an "oldies" phase....or for anyone who enjoys the history and deconstruction of classic pop songs....this article from the salon.com masterpiece series is fabulous: "how the genius of phil spector and ronnie spector met and created a song of magnificent carnality." The ultimate jones, if you will...

There's generosity in a glance, just as there's generosity -- a willingness to lay yourself bare -- in the first line Ronnie sings: "The night we met I knew I needed you so." It's both pleading and brazenly confident, a declarative sentence with a question mark built in. (The pause she inserts between "I" and "needed" represents the terrifying but essential gulf she needs to cross even just to get started.) Ronnie was a woman, not a girl, when she cut the record; like a method actress, she's playing a character that isn't herself, but must certainly contain elements of herself.

fix your jones for the ronettes @ salon masterpiece

Posted by sarah t. at 5:36 PM 0 comments

white tube socks

they may come in pairs...but a white tube sock is a white tube sock.

fix your jones for mismatched socks @ littlemissmatched.com

Posted by sarah t. at 7:26 PM 0 comments

genesis

and so it begins...

Posted by sarah t. at 5:22 PM 0 comments