Building and Sky

“Cheater” Mole

INGREDIENTS
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried cilantro
1/8 tablespoon dried minced garlic
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed tomato soup
1 (4 ounce) can diced green chile peppers

DIRECTIONS
Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat, and cook the onion until tender. Mix in cocoa powder, cumin, cilantro, and garlic. Stir in the tomato soup and green chile peppers. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 10 minutes. Transfer to a gravy boat or pour directly over food to serve.

Painting, Day 4

Okay, I’ve been slacking on the painting… I know. Darn those adult responsibilities! Job? Kids? Laundry? Pssht! Where are my priorities?

Anyway, this is the time in every painting where results seem so slow. I’ve been working on the orange crane on the left side of the painting.

Mario Suite for Piano

I am so impressed!

Peace Crane Project

This is why I love my job — I get to do silly things like this!

This is a commercial of sorts, made to play at the CCHS Student-Made Film Festival to get kids interested in the Peace Crane project. It’s my first-ever attempt at stop-motion animation, and it probably stinks, but I had fun so it’s all good.

Incidentally, there will be a crane-folding workshop for the Peace Crane Project tomorrow (Friday) at 3:00 at Ellen’s Ice Cream on Capitol Street. The cranes will be used in an installation by artist Amy Williams at Taylor Books to promote a peaceful end to the war in Iraq.

You know, if you fold 1,000 cranes, you get a wish. I lost count. Do you automatically get the wish when you get 1,000 cranes, or do you have to fold 1,000 and then make an official wish?

Neocon Bingo

Boingboing always has the coolest stuff!!!

While looking for something to blog about, (yeah, I know, I should be painting… I’ll get on it, promise) I found this:

It’s Neocon Bingo!!! Here’s how to play:

* 1. Tune into CSPAN, PBS, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, the Fascist News Netw…errr, FOX, or even one of the traditional three networks.
* 2. Wait for a NeoCon or proxy to appear at a speaking engagement, press conference, interview, or talking head confrontation.
* 3. Mark off squares as buzzwords are used.
* 4. Celebrate any 5 in a row by shouting “I am not a terrorist” loudly enough that the perfectly legal wiretaps can pick it up.

Here’s a link to the full bingo board.

Personal Trains on Abandoned Light-Rail Tracks

I always wanted something like this as a child!

The French association, Hehe, has come up with some concept “personal trains” intended to be used on abandoned light-rail tracks. They have several concepts and even some prototypes that are in the works. My favorite is the flying carpet design by Tapas Volant (picture above.) You can see a video of it in use here. It’s so funny watching peoples’ reactions as he rides his little cushion through town.

Thanks to Boingboing for the info!

The Be Good Tanyas

A college friend (Hi, Christina!) turned me on to this group last weekend. I love them! Warning: this song will be stuck in your head for the rest of the day. (Guess I should have put that warning at the top of the post, huh? Bet you’ve already clicked!)

Doug Aitken MOMA exhibit trailer

From MOMA: Artist Doug Aitken transforms midtown Manhattan with seven monumental projections on the exterior facades of The Museum of Modern Art. Actors Donald Sutherland and Tilda Swinton, musicians Seu Jorge and Cat Power, and actor/street drummer Ryan Donowho star in the interlocking vignettes, visible from the street. sleepwalkers leads viewers on a journey through the city fabric, from an abandoned subway tunnel to the neon lights of Times Square. January 16-February 12 Nightly 5-10 p.m. Free

Painting, Day 3

It’s been a crazy, hectic day, and I didn’t get done as much as I wanted to. I did get to work on the black crane in the bottom left corner and I added a yellow crane head on the right bottom to balance out some of the yellow I added yesterday on the left side of the canvas. Some of the cranes on the right side of the canvas are supposed to be unfinished and I need to work on those next week. The idea is that peace is a work in progress — it takes a lot of work to fold a crane, and it takes a lot of work to create peace. At any point during the process of creating either, you might find yourself saying, “this isn’t working out the way I wanted it to,” and wanting to give up. Then you try again and wind up with something beautiful … or not… but it can be achieved with a little persistance and creativity.