Solstice Party

Summer solstice is fast approaching this week (although you wouldn't be able to guess that summer was on it's way based on the weather in Seattle). Fremont hosted it's celebration of summer this past weekend with the Fremont Solstice Parade and Fair. I also hosted my own celebration...a pre-parade/birthday breakfast party for Ali. It was a lot of fun with crepes and mask making. I've included some examples of the wonderful works of art that were created and then worn down to the parade. We lucked out weather wise that day because it didn't rain, and in fact the sun came out for most of the parade! I guess it helped that the parade was shorter this year...and there were no steel drums :( in fact the music overall was lacking in funk and good beats...except for a great rock band float, they were pretty good. Well, enjoy the masks...i'll try to post some pics of the parade soon...but look for them on the other blog I contribute to: aimless wanderings cubed.

Also, I cannot forget to thank Naomi for these pics...she did an awesome job documenting our crazy masks :-)

Free Art!

The Henry Art Gallery is celebrating it's 80th year and is opening it's doors all summer for free...80 free days to celebrate 80 years. So if you're in the Seattle area between today and Labor Day, be sure to stop in at the Henry to check out some contemporary art or just stare up at the sky in the Turrell Skyspace.

Moving on....

Here are some pictures from the Norwegian parade in Ballard on the 17th. A great time was had by all...especially the people standing around our small group of trouble makers. For those of you who have never been a Ballard parade it's important to know that Ballardites are very proper, sombre and quiet at these types of events (which is why Fremont is better). And then there are those crazies who start making lots of noise, clapping and shouting and generally carrying on...that would be oonams and friends. My dad was even there, clapping REALLY loud whenever he especially liked a float or drill team performance...meanwhile, no one else around us was emitting a single squeak, let along whisper. Great fun!

I Heart SIFF

It's that time of the year again! The Seattle International Film Festival is gearing up and getting ready to begin! The schedule comes out today and for the next couple of days members will get first dibs on tickets (which I am one of this year....finally I don't have to freak out about buying my tickets the second they come on sale for the general public, just to be sure that I get into my top film choices!). The best part is that there are a lot of French films this year...including Paris je t'aime, which I have been waiting to see for ages now! I haven't had a chance to look over the entire schedule yet (I have to work after all)...but I'll post a more detailed list of what looks good to me later on once I've had to time to peruse the full schedule. And if anyone out there has any suggestions for me, by all means send them my way!

Georgia Does Not Rule

Here's just a quick post to let y'all know that the film "Georgia Rule" is a terrible terrible movie. Don't bother going to see it...especially don't bother paying money to see it. Granted I didn't really read anything about it before seeing a pre-screening last night, but I was under the assumption that it was a comedy...some sort of feel good thing where three generations of women in a family work out their differences and come together with lots of laughter and merriment for the audience. Um...not quite. It's sort of like that, but add in a really bitchy Lindsey Lohan who was basically playing herself in the movie...and then add in a story line about Lohan's character having been sexually molested by her stepfather (who happens to be Westley from Princess Bride....he's not supposed to be the bad guy!!! Even if he has added a few pounds since his "asssss yoooouuuuuu wiiiiiissssshhhhhh" days). Anyway, the whole thing was terrible...even though I will fully admit that there were some scenes that were funny, and that kept me engaged. But really, I could only stand so much of the weird acting, editing and overall strange handling of the sexual abuse storyline. I went with Jonah to see the film, and we both agreed that overall the stepfather totally got away with being a skeezy bad guy and wasn't even punished for his crimes! In fact it seemed like the movie was placing the blame on the women in the film for the stepfather's criminal acts!!! Not cool. Really, really not cool!!!

So yeah, don't go see this movie.

Happy May Day!

In celebration of the first day of May I've included some pictures of Lilly of the Valley flowers to share with you all. Since I can't give all of my friends the flower itself as a celebration of May Day you'll all just have to do with looking at a picture of them. And for all of you who like to study botany I've included the image below (thanks wikipedia). I'm very sad, however, on this 1st day of May, because usually I can pick Lilly of the Valley from my garden...but apparently the plants were either accidentally dug up...the squirrel got them...or the other plants suffocated them...but we no longer can find the flowers! So sad!!! I tried to buy some new plants but so far all I've found are the stupid little miniature pink variety. booo! Oh well, I guess I'll have to look harder next year. And for those of you out there that have today off in celebration of Labor Day, enjoy!

The results are in

All I have to say after the first round of voting is:

Non Sarko, Oui Sego!

4 times the fun!

I got a great gift from my dad this year for my birthday....a four lens lomography camera! I had quite a bit of fun using it at my birthday party, and wandering around Fremont. I'm still getting used to using it since it's basically like a box with four lens...no flash...nothing. Picked up some 800 speed film (FILM...what the hell is that anyway?!?!?!) so that should help out some. Anyway, here are some examples to titillate the masses....ENJOY!

aimless wanderings cubed

yimfay, wunderhund and I have merged our brains into one cohesive blogging element. Hmm, that sounds weird. What I meant was that we have joined forces to write on one single blog. I'll still be writing here, but check out our new space as well for more random things to read:

aimless wanderings cubed

And as soon as I get around to downloading some pictures I'll have a new entry for this blog as well! Promise!

Moisture Festival

Last night I had the best time at this great event that happens a stones throw from my house every year (and to which I have never gone before last night cause apparently I'm lame). Anyway, this fun time to which I have alluded was at the Moisture Festival, which takes place in the back of Hales Brewery every year in March. It's this great evening of comedy, music and variety show.

My favorite act was Godfrey Daniels (see the above image). He totally reminded me of my childhood on Linden Ave. when we used to have our street parties (the birth of the Fremont Solstice Parade). We used to have big puppets like him that would wander around during the street parties. Those were some great times. The other fun connection between those parties and last night was that there were quite a few faces in the audience last night that I remember from my childhood...it was like we had all gotten back together again after all these years :-)

For anyone in Seattle who hasn't been to the Moisture Festival before (like me), I highly recommend it!! So check it out!

Examples of Spring

I realized that I needed to post some pictures to prove that spring really is here...so on my walk in to work this morning I got some shots (even though the sun is now gone and it's raining again..but that's ok since it's still relatively warm and not super freezing like in New England today). So here are some flowers for you all to look at, enjoy!

Spring!!!

Spring is here! The temps are in the 60's today in Seattle...all the cherry blossoms are in full bloom and the spring flowers are starting to bloom. The sun is out, the skies are blue and it's really really really hard to be at work right now in our dark cave of a studio. We have the front doors wide open, but that kind of makes it worse since then the beautiful weather seems just out of reach. The sun is mocking me!!

Even though I'm stuck inside, I still have to say that this weather rocks! I remember when I was on the east coast at MHC and my parents would call me around this time of year while there was still winter weather all around me and they would start listing off all the flowers in bloom in our garden. It used to kill me! They were so mean. New England definitely has the best fall season...but the lack of spring always made me sad. I can deal with the rain and cloudiness as long as I know that we'll be getting these kinds of days...not to mention the incredible summers :-)

Sasquatch!!!

I just purchased tickets for the Sasquatch Music Festival at the gorge on May 26th! So excited cause I'll FINALLY get to see Manu Chao perform live!!! Can't wait!!! There are other groups I'm thrilled to get to see live such as Bjork and Arcade of Fire...but really the only reason I'm going is to see Manu Chao...Bongo Bong Baby! ;-)

Some Guinness Fun

And no, I'm not talking about the beer...I mean Guinness, Super Dog! He has finally updated his blog with some Valentine's Day pictures...so check it out!

Cupid Vomited On My Desk!*

As my friends know, I don't like pink...and I'm not one of those who likes all the hearts and flowers of Valentine's Day. Too Girly. Which is why when I walked into work this morning the first thing I said was not a cheerful "hello" but instead was a four lettered profanity beginning with an s ending with hit. There are no words for what my desk looked like this morning...you'll have to just admire it yourselves. Unfortunately my dazed reaction to what I discovered upon getting to work is immortalized on camera because Craig was soooo sweet (NOT!) and hid a video camera and caught every single swear word and glazed over look. No, JJ...this video WILL NOT GO ON YOUTUBE.COM!!! And as for you, Josh...you got me good this time..but could we just stick with roses in the future? Actually don't even bother answering that question, I already know what you'll say. *sigh*

*Ali's description...not mine, however I felt it was quite fitting.

lime in da coconut

Youtube.com is an evil evil site...hours can be spent watching video after video. However, there are some really great videos to be found. One that I just found is the original video made to the lime in the coconut song by Harry Nilsson. I recommend you all check it out for a good laugh and enjoyment. Harry Nilsson was brilliant...absolutely brilliant :-) Be sure that you watch it all the way through...my favorite part is at the very end with the coconut.

Things we learned in Hong Kong*

*Please see the other half of this list on yimfay's blog



1. Beware of Stairs
3. Skinny girls have jiggly legs.
5. Puffy pantaloon shorts are in (the ones made from jeans are extra gross).
7. Guys in HK like/have "messy" hair.
9. KFC is everywhere...seriously, everywhere!
11. When entering the subway you walk on the left (cars drive on the left too).
13. There are glass wall barriers in the subway so that no one will fall in the gap (phew!)
15. You'd better know how to use chopsticks...or else.
17. Toothpicks are everywhere...and are used after every meal.

Snowshoeing!!!

Craig, from work put together a snowshoeing outing over the weekend...which was SO MUCH FUN! I am now completely addicted to snowshoeing. In fact I'm going to have to purchase some for myself! It's just so great to be able to go hiking up in the mountains in winter and not have to worry about falling through the snow or slipping and sliding down hills. We went out with a pretty good sized group, I think there were seven of us and two dogs (Guinness, of course, and Ali's dog Sam) and we went up the Denny Creek Trail. We didn't quite make it up to the top of the trail, which brings you up to an alpine lake, but we did see a beautiful creek and pretty big waterfall. We also had lunch on a large snow field which was pretty spectacular. One of the best parts of the day was coming back down the mountain cause it turns out that Ali is just as crazy as I am...we both love racing down after a hike! And with our snowshoes we were able to run down the ice and snow without fear of falling..it was AWESOME!!! So of course, now we're starting to talk about the next snowshoeing adventure :-) But this time we're thinking of going off trail. Can't wait!! In the mean time here are some pictures from this latest outing:

Ali and Sam:


Some waterfall action:


The snow was a wee bit deep...this is a foot bridge across the stream, just to give you an idea of what we were walking on:


The group hiking up the trail before we needed snowshoes:


Craig on the BIG snowfield where we stopped:

The Soccer People

I was just eating my lunch and reading some articles online when I came across this one by one of my favorite bloggers: Rootless Cosmopolitan

It's awesome, and if any of you follow international sports, especially soccer (or football as the rest of the world calls it) you should enjoy this article as much as I did.

Duh!

This cartoon brought to you by David Horsey and today's issue of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.