Tinselman

The Wonderful World of Color

There are those who have a desire, or rather an overwhelming obsession, to see a thing... fulfilled. So it is with Danielle Jacqui and color. For her, painting on canvas is not enough – so instead she covers everything in sight in an overwhelming spectacle of color: walls, shutters, chairs, sinks, counter-tops, even her own clothes. You can get a glimpse into her exotically fashioned universe at documentdartistes.org.

See also:

• Danielle Jacqui

Ambo Public Radio!

Stop by NPR's Open Mic website sometime tomorrow (Aug. 31) to listen to the song "Ever After You" by featured recording artist Ambo.

Ambo is, by the way, myself and Keith Moore, a good friend of mine. We recently recorded an album together called "1000 Years and 1 Day". It's available on Itunes and a few other online stores. The CD is currently available for purchase at CDBaby. 

In the photo, above, you can kind of make out the blurry image of the studio in which we recorded – the keyboards, racks and computer (toys and stuffed animals) – it was all crammed into a small room in the corner of my house. In the foreground, you can see a mic: the picture was taken from inside of the room's tiny closet, which we used as a soundroom. If there is such a thing as a soundroom from hell, then this was it. No light. No heat. No air. Not even enough room to comfortably hold a guitar. Somehow that worked well for us. You tell me.

(Click on the image above for a larger version)

Listen to "Ever After You" and other Ambo songs at our Ambo webpage.

Garden of Eden, USA

Adam and Eve welcome you to the Garden of Eden, Lucas, Kanas, USA. Where cement snakes arch above you, where cement animals frolic around you, where cement demons tempt you with cement apples. And watching over all is the cement Eye of God. It took 22 years, 113 bags of concrete and immeasurable passion for Civil War veteran Samuel Perry Dinsmoor to build this fantastical garden (and house) – today, the Garden of Eden is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is host to more than 10,000 visitors a year.

If you're lucky enough to ever visit the garden, you'll receive a special suprise treat: a glimspe of its creator! One of the last things Dinsmoor built, before his death in 1932, was his own 40-foot-high limestone mausoleum. Inside he rests, embalmed forevermore in a glass coffin (Snow White style!). There you can see him, face to moldering face.

Additional Garden of Eden Links:

• Official Garden of Eden website
• Lucas Kansas Official Website (very cool)
• Garden of Eden

Communicator II

The Star Trek communicator is finally a working reality! And there's only one of them – only one – in the entire world! It was built by Jamie O'Brien and it works via a bluetooth link to your celphone... no wires involved! No need to ever answer the cel phone again: just open the communicator, Captain James T. Kirk style.

Oh... never mind. It already sold.

Pine Branch

By Eyvind Earle, Oil on Panel

See also: Behind the Scenes of Sleeping Beauty

Nature Mutated

"These images are meant as metaphors to the dilemma of our modern existence... we are consciously or unconsciously aware that the world is suffering for our success..."

– Edward Burtynsky, Photographer
 

Pele Beckons

 

This is where I've been. Hawaii. Too beautiful for words. I'll try to get some posts up, but I may be busy daydreaming about waves and sand and eternal sunshine for awhile.

Four Years of Freedom, Part II

Are you still dreaming of visiting the long-extinct Freedomland? Now, through the miracle of technology, you can do more than dream. You can visit Freedomland, just by watching this Freedomland "moving-picture" (with original music!). It will take to back to the early 1960's: the heyday of that most wondrous of freedom-themed parks.

(thanks iain)

Tirana-rama

What happens when an artist becomes a mayor? The city becomes his canvas. This is the unique case with Edi Rama and Tirana, Albania, where he, quite literally, has painted the town.

Rama feel that he makes his decisions from an aesthetic point of view. So, feeling it was time to brighten up those dull communist-era grays (and they can be really depressing, if you've ever seen them in person), he ordered what he called an "intervention" and had all those old buildings painted like giant abstract paintings. Then he had trees planted. Then trash cleaned up. And that's just the beginning. Evidently, there are many more Rama-esque changes to come. He says that being mayor is the "most exciting job in the world, because I get to invent everyday and to fight for good causes everyday. Being the mayor is the highest form of conceptual art. It's art in a pure state."

To be fair, Rama does has his critics.

More links links on Tirana:

• World Mayor 2004 - Edi Rama, recipient
• Photos of Tirana – people
• Photos of Tirana – painted buildings
• Trendy Tirana? – The Christian Science Monitor
• Styling Edi Rama (photograph)
• Google Maps view of Tirana
 

Your Cadaverous Pallor Part II

Still interested in the Haunted Mansion? Here's more...

• Doombuggies – An Unofficial Tribute to Disney's Haunted Mansion (and very highly recommend!)
• Grim Ghosts – Provides visual walk-throughs of all the Haunted Mansions.
• Our Haunts – A website run by the inhabitants of the Mansion
• Haunted Mansion Map
• Haunted Mansion Blueprints – For sale on eBay (3 days left – I may not be able to resist this one!)