When I saw this I thought of the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
It's in a downtown park, nowhere near outer space or chimps with sticks.
31 January 2011
The Monolith
When I saw this I thought of the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
It's in a downtown park, nowhere near outer space or chimps with sticks.
21 January 2011
17 January 2011
13 January 2011
Crazy Kid vs. Arts Education
What we have here is graffiti art by grade schoolers in Columbus, IN. As you can see, it is a scene in which an alien is greeting a girl... a girl who happens to have facial vitiligo and antennae coming out of her head. Furthermore, the girl lacks a normal shoulder joint and instead her arms hang from her hips. And they are not even arms, they are ostrich legs.
While I concede that such a girl may actually exist in central Indiana and other places with environmental mutagens and poultry farms, we must also consider the possibility that this visage is the result of inadequate arts education funding.
On the other hand, I suppose it is possible that this painting's bizarreness is one of those genius bizarenesses, like Dali, and not a bizarre bizarreness (like Vinh Bui's Australian Idol audition). I'll follow FOX News's example and just report it and let you decide.
(But in the true spirit of FOX News, I'll report it by saying arts education warps our childrens' minds at taxpayer expense and by also reminding everyone Hitler was once an art student).
12 January 2011
Greg Harris Leaving Cincinnati... Sort of
CityBeat reports that Greg Harris has accepted a job in Detroit. This is good news for him personally but bad news for Cincinnati. Harris is knowledgeable about urban affairs and a proponent of smart growth and progress. It would have been great for Harris to run and (finally) win a council seat. Of course, he would already be on council if Laketa Cole had appointed the bestest person instead of the blackest person. But that's another story.
I expect his new gig will be a tough one and I wish him all the best. Cincinnati's loss is Detroit's gain.
I expect his new gig will be a tough one and I wish him all the best. Cincinnati's loss is Detroit's gain.
10 January 2011
13 December 2010
A Ghost Sign and So Much More
This is a ghost sign in the industrial part of the West End:
What intrigues me about ghost signs is that they are snippets of history that leaked through time. In a way, they offer a title that makes one wonder what the story was at that place in another time.
Thanks to the Cincinnati Historical Society archives, I found out that this was the home of the Werk Soap Company (barely readable at the top) around the turn of the century. Here is what prominent Cincinnatian Cornelius Hauck said about the area in his 1965 "Memories of Dayton Street" talk:
This area was the scene of the celebrated "Tanyard Murder Case," which brought fame to Lafcadio Hearn, the new reporter for the Commercial. Many remember the old Michael Werk home on the southwest corner there, where his friends gathered on weekends to taste his "Nue-wine" (new wine), made from his own grape arbors. The soap and candle industry then used the by-products from the meat-packing plants... (soap & candles were made from animal fats back then)
It was a dream of many a youngster watching the cattle driven past his house in those days, to have the position of the driver of the "hog-wagon" at the end of a drove. He rode tall and erect on a high, front seat, wearing an old army uniform, with a large, colored cockade on his high hat. He was ever ready to pick up any squealing tired hog that could not make it to the packing yards below Dayton Street.
It's cool to be in that area, now home to Ollie's Trolley and the Samuel Adams brewery, and imagine hogs being driven through the streets while neighbors enjoyed their wine party. And the Tanyard Murder Case? WOW.
SOAPS CANDLES GLYCERINE
What intrigues me about ghost signs is that they are snippets of history that leaked through time. In a way, they offer a title that makes one wonder what the story was at that place in another time.
Thanks to the Cincinnati Historical Society archives, I found out that this was the home of the Werk Soap Company (barely readable at the top) around the turn of the century. Here is what prominent Cincinnatian Cornelius Hauck said about the area in his 1965 "Memories of Dayton Street" talk:
This area was the scene of the celebrated "Tanyard Murder Case," which brought fame to Lafcadio Hearn, the new reporter for the Commercial. Many remember the old Michael Werk home on the southwest corner there, where his friends gathered on weekends to taste his "Nue-wine" (new wine), made from his own grape arbors. The soap and candle industry then used the by-products from the meat-packing plants... (soap & candles were made from animal fats back then)
It was a dream of many a youngster watching the cattle driven past his house in those days, to have the position of the driver of the "hog-wagon" at the end of a drove. He rode tall and erect on a high, front seat, wearing an old army uniform, with a large, colored cockade on his high hat. He was ever ready to pick up any squealing tired hog that could not make it to the packing yards below Dayton Street.
It's cool to be in that area, now home to Ollie's Trolley and the Samuel Adams brewery, and imagine hogs being driven through the streets while neighbors enjoyed their wine party. And the Tanyard Murder Case? WOW.
11 December 2010
Holiday Happy Hour!
We face challenging times, my friends.
Our sagging local economy may force us to lay off police who direct traffic at the stadium that we also have to pay for even though it is owned by a pompous asshole who mismanages an embarrassingly underperforming franchise that he has no intention of reforming.
We have an incoming Governor who has destroyed jobs before they even existed and managed to do it before even taking office.
We have city council members who think the best way to handle a crisis is pandering to the group most in need of anger management.
Yes, these are challenges. But let us not forget that our fathers also faced challenges before us, and their fathers before them. And also mothers at some point. And if history has taught us anything, it is this: when the going gets tough, the tough go out and drink.
Therefore, I call your attention to the Cincinnati/Tri-State Blogger Holiday Happy Hour and business meeting (there's a write-off if you say that) to take place Thursday, Dec. 16 from 5-9pm at Mayday in Northside. Mayday is a great bar and serves a variety of gourmet hot dogs (locally made by Avril's). And speaking of gourmet dogs, Mayday will extend their Dog-N-Draft special (dog + draft for $7.50) for this event. Try asking for that at Senate.
This year's keynote address (again, the write-off) is "Don't Let the Wrong Font Reduce Your Revenue" by J. Maxwell Nerdington, who brought down the house with last year's "Sit on Your Ass and Count the Cash."
There is a Facebook page for this event but it inevitably missed a lot of people invitation-wise. So if you are reading this, you are invited! Feel free to bring both your friends.
Our sagging local economy may force us to lay off police who direct traffic at the stadium that we also have to pay for even though it is owned by a pompous asshole who mismanages an embarrassingly underperforming franchise that he has no intention of reforming.
We have an incoming Governor who has destroyed jobs before they even existed and managed to do it before even taking office.
We have city council members who think the best way to handle a crisis is pandering to the group most in need of anger management.
Yes, these are challenges. But let us not forget that our fathers also faced challenges before us, and their fathers before them. And also mothers at some point. And if history has taught us anything, it is this: when the going gets tough, the tough go out and drink.
Therefore, I call your attention to the Cincinnati/Tri-State Blogger Holiday Happy Hour and business meeting (there's a write-off if you say that) to take place Thursday, Dec. 16 from 5-9pm at Mayday in Northside. Mayday is a great bar and serves a variety of gourmet hot dogs (locally made by Avril's). And speaking of gourmet dogs, Mayday will extend their Dog-N-Draft special (dog + draft for $7.50) for this event. Try asking for that at Senate.
This year's keynote address (again, the write-off) is "Don't Let the Wrong Font Reduce Your Revenue" by J. Maxwell Nerdington, who brought down the house with last year's "Sit on Your Ass and Count the Cash."
There is a Facebook page for this event but it inevitably missed a lot of people invitation-wise. So if you are reading this, you are invited! Feel free to bring both your friends.
07 December 2010
03 December 2010
God, Me and Strip Clubs
In this photo one can see the light of Heaven shining upon Newport. Looking closely, it appears the brightest beams shineth specifically upon THE BRASS ASS on Madison Monmouth Road.
This visage, when considered in the context of my previous whorehouse-related experience, is a sign that the Lord has a mission for me, and that mission is to be the king of Northern Kentucky strip clubs.
This visage, when considered in the context of my previous whorehouse-related experience, is a sign that the Lord has a mission for me, and that mission is to be the king of Northern Kentucky strip clubs.
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