Discriminating Weirdos

Spring is a'Coming!!!!

I'm a little excited.  I know my friends and family back in northern Minn are still dealing with whole bunches of horrible weather, and I really feel bad for them.  Honestly I do. 

But I do have to indulge in a little gloating. 

Spring is gradually coming to Chi-town.  There are signs.  One of the first signs is that Adam and I are feverishly working to get ready for TWO count 'em TWO SHOWS:

The aptly titled Spring Show on on April 19, 10am-5pm at Architectural Artifacts Inc.,  4325 N. Ravenswood, here in Chicago.  And the St Paul Craftstravaganza on Saturday, May 2, in St Paul, Minnesota.  You will hear lots more about both of these in the weeks to come!

But I've been taking pictures of some of the other signs.  Enjoy!

I'm always excited for the daffydills.  We used to have hundreds of them in our lawn back in Grand Marais.  It was beautiful.  They've got a very soft place in my heart. 

This is the first one in our condo-yard.  Isn't she beautiful?

While technically not a sign of spring, a dang funny sign nonetheless.  How would you describe a lost wedding band?  Would you sing "You are the Wind Beneath My Wings" over the phone?  Adam suggests this as a perfect opportunity to Rick-Roll you, but I wouldn't do that.

Not me.

This is the start of a nice bird habitat that I'm trying to put in the back courtyard of our building.  We got a pair of purple finches on our feeder yesterday and they came back this morning!  Yea!  The wreath is nesting material, done up all festive.  There's a sparrow that seems derned curious about it all. 

We went to a garden center this weekend for a walk-around, and came across this beautiful girl with her flat of pansies.  She was very excited to get her picture taken.  Sorry it's a little blurry.  Think of it as an impressionist painting.  Girl with Pansies.

And my biggest victory yet.  Three, count 'em three, of my fancy morning glory seeds actually sprouted.  I have no idea what to do now, and I must admit that my very flesh colored, very non-green thumbs are a bit terrified.  But aren't they lovely?   I'm going to try really really hard not to kill them. 

So there you have it.  If you are south of us, I'm certain none of this is of very great importance to you.  But if you are north....  (gloat gloat gloat)

(Emily)

Shadow Puppets

I remember my first experience with shadow puppets.  I was in third grade, and some friends and I made a big shadow theater in the back of the room where we performed a bunch of Halloween stories and poems with shadows.  Our teacher must have been pretty cool, because she let us do all of this on our own time after our work was finished.  I still remember one of the poems:

I'm the local skeleton who walks this street.

This is my beat.

Beware!

I'm not very hairy, but I scare everyone I meet.

OK, so it wasn't great art, but it showed me that you could hold the attention of a class of third graders with nothing but a sheet, a strong light bulb, and some paper cut-outs.

There are some Etsy shops that apparently have the same soft spot for shadows.  Take Orange Moon Toys for example, a shop entirely dedicated to making and performing with shadow puppets.  I couldn't resist posting this group of puppets from the Undead set they sell.  These could really have upped the ante on our third grade Halloween program, that's for sure.  And as a big fan of all things zombie, I'd have to say this is the set for me.

Orange Moon Toys also sells sets of sticks and supplies for creating your own puppets, a nice addition to a really cool little shop.  Imagine getting together with a group of people and making a shadow play... Throw in some good music and a bottle of whiskey, and it sounds like a fun evening.

Speaking of third grade, I'm also a big fan of this set from Invisible Plum Designs.  It's called Five Little Monkeys, and for some reason, it makes me want to play.  It's obvious that none of these shadows has been created by a monkey that's sitting still, and that at least four of the five are up to no good.  We all have a little bit of mischievous primate inside, and this shadow set seems like a healthy, non-destructive way to let some of that energy out without hurting anyone, breaking plates, or hurling excretions of any sort.

And who knows?  If an infinite number of monkeys with an infinite number of typewriters can eventually type the works of William Shakespeare, maybe five monkeys could eventually come up with a good blog entry or a decent limerick.  (ADAM)

Rock On Chicago. The Wesley Willis Tower is Watching Over You.

Last week, Adam did a bang up job of explaining this Wesley Willis thing to the uninitiated. 

Thing is, I'm not entirely sure it's possible to explain the reason Wesley Willis to anybody.  He's not like Bruddah Iz.  Iz has the dulcet tones of an angel, and anybody with ears can hear that he's clearly the voice of the divine. 

You gotta buy this awesome button to support the cause from Beck's Buttons on Etsy

Wesley Willis in a weird sort of way was too.  Kinda. Sorta.  At least he thought he was.  And he actually DID touch a whole lot of people in his life.  Yes, he was some sort of cult figure in Chicago, selling out shows here.  But I heard his music in Minnesota, and I know lots of others that did.  Hell, we've been quoting each other like some sort of crazy liturgy since this thing took off.

It whipped the llama's ass. 

Osama bin Laden was a big jerk.

Rock over London.

Rock on Chicago

(insert ad here.  personal fave: Walgreen's the Pharmacy America Trustsess)

So now "they"'re renaming the Sear's Tower, and what the hell.  Willis whatever-the-hell-corporation had no idea what they were starting.  Anybody who knows will leave the corporate dogs with their naming rights and all that bullshit to work themselves out, and we will accept that Wesley Willis is watching over us. 

Yup.  Sears Tower begone.  It's the Wesley Willis Tower from now on. 

Rock on Chicago. 

(Emily)