2 Things

First, I must have this couch by ddc.

Then I will buy this wine necklace so I don't spill on my new couch.

both items via thegloss.com

An Ode To My Bicycle

My bike is one of my most prized possessions.  She's pretty junky, but I love her.  Biking can totally change your relationship to the city you live in. It opens up your senses and allows you to experience so much more than you can in a car.  It allows you to really understand distance and space and the actual structure of the city.  David Byrne spoke at the Uptown Theater last month about his book "Bicycle Diaries" which is all about his adventures travelling the world on his bike.  I am now 50th in line to check it out from the Hennepin Couty Library system.  Why do you have to be SO literate, Minneapolis?

Unbearable

Oh, Gunnar.

New McQueen

Alexander McQueen Resort 2011, the first collection since McQueen's death, is out and it looks great.  Especially the Joan of Arc jacket on this one.  I PINE!

Bean Salsa

What follows is my Aunt Kathy's recipe.  She made it for my brother's birthday a few weeks ago and I HAD to make it today.  It is so fucking good and I am so fucking proud of myself.

Combine 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar and 1/2 cup sugar.  Bring to a boil; cool.

In a large bowl, combine

2 cans small white beans, rinsed and drained

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can shoepeg corn (You can use frozen corn or another variety if you can't find this.)

3 peppers - red, yellow, and green, diced

1 red onion, diced (I used about half a large onion.)

Pour vinegar mixture over the vegetables and stir to coat.

I just used green peppers because they are cheaper.  Look!  I diced that!  

The final dish.  It's as beautiful as it is delicious.

Minneapolis: A Picture Essay

Minneapolis is way underrated.  I'm talking the fucking city, though, suburbs are hell.  Yes, downtown smells like poop wrapped in lunch meat and the transit is just a joke.  But there's nowhere I'd rather be living today and I'll tell you why.

This building.

I don't know what's in it but it's real big.  It's at like 2nd st and Hennepin.  I think the sun likes the shape of it too because it lights it up real pretty.

Try listening to "You Make My Dreams Come True" by Hall and Oates while looking at this fountain and not smiling.


Moments after this picture was taken I saw a bicyclist spit on a car for cutting him off.  Just like life.

They've been working on this church on Hennepin for a while and someone must have tagged "Free Thought" on the scaffolding.  The workers don't seem to care, maybe because they agree with the message?

Lake Calhoun is overrun with creepy tan half-naked old dudes, but it's still a boss lake, and pretty damn clean, considering.

And falling asleep next to it with some Hemmingway in the hot afternoon sun is pretty boss too.

Sometimes Minneapolis can seem a little too comfortable and boring, and then your friend invites you to her awesome condo with a view full of this.

Sometimes ducks follow you home.

Karate masters sweep their own stoop here.

You can always see this hanging at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, for FREE.

Although this city is definitely built for cars, there's still room for pedestrians and bicyclists.  Even more now, since the city put in these.  I ride my own bike, but I really love this anyway, for many reasons.

After being over-served 2 for 1 glasses of wine...

...Minneapolis looks just as pretty and blury as a picture taken from a moving vehicle.

Cover Girl

It's hard for a girl to cover Kid Cudi, let alone MGMT and Ratatat, but this girl did good.  She did good.

Hands on the wheel, get drunk, high hat

Best Outcome of Kagan Confirmation Hearings

If I had to endure a committee of old white men who love the sound of their own voices discuss a topic on which they have no education, I would be doodling too.

Good Job Franken, a nice likeness of Jeff Sessions, although I think you left out the devil horns.

Can't Stop Replaying

Although the whole "dancing on my own" is a bit "dancing with tears in my eyes", no?

Agreed

-Via This

Duke, Duke, Duke

So many things.

First, the intro guys face when the music starts
White people were all bad dancers in the 60's, weren't they? Even the professionals
The costume is very James Brown with the cape, no?
One of the greatest riffs comes in at 0:48, 1:24 and 2: 01

In Defense of Objectification

According to jezebel, Why shameless objectification can be a good thing.  They've been doing a series on sexy World Cup soccer players.  Like this one.  Thighs like tree trunks, I am a fan.

1) Context matters.
In our current universe, men do not have trouble being taken seriously based on their looks or perceived sexiness, nor is their worth in society primarily judged by them. Our drooling over Benny Feilhaber isn't just a drop in the bucket — it also won't contribute to the overall oppression of men, soccer playing or otherwise. They will not be told their primary value is based on whether women want to fuck them. They will not be paid less on the dollar or subject to violence in representation or acts. They will not be treated like meat or chattel. Period.

2) These guys are healthy and at the peak of fitness.
The culture at large is celebrating these men's bodies for their skill, agility, and strength — achieved partly through genetic blessing, yes, but also through training and hard work. It's true that this is setting up an ideal that most men cannot and do not achieve, but as ideals go, one achieved through activity and, it seems, fun isn't so bad. And presumably no unhealthy starvation or surgical enhancements were involved.

3) At the World Cup and elsewhere, ogling knows no borders.
The other day, a reader remarked on a photo of a North Korean player that it was rare in Western culture to see an Asian man celebrated as being sexy. Other objects of our admiration have come from every continent. Even though they share certain body traits based on their training, these guys come in all colors and facial features and national origins—just as hotness does.

4) They're having fun doing what they love.
This needs little explanation. No sexyface, no corpse-like poses, just spontaneous shirt-shedding and teammate grabbing.

5) Women also like to look.
Everyone keeps telling us that women aren't visually stimulated and are cuddly balls of empathy and need a narrative. I suggest they check out some of the comment threads on #shamelessobjectification. There is something liberating about a woman expressing her pleasure in looking at a man's body as she sees fit.

Midair

Ending a job in a half hour.  Starting a new (better?) job on Thursday.  Between then I'll be midair.

Menswear

5 o clock in downtown Minneapolis is a sea of pale blue button down shirts.  Do all these guys realize they are wearing the same god damn shirt?  Did their mothers purchase it for them?  How many of them do they own?

Golly.  There is just so much you can do with menswear and still be professional.  I saw one middle-aged gentleman yesterday wearing a suit with caramel leather oxfords and a straw fedora.  He looked so boss. I'm such huge fan of oxfords, trousers, suspenders, bow ties, and pork pie hats.  I wish I could pull off the menswear look but instead I just add pieces in here and there.  My penny loafers are one of my most prized possessions. 

If you've ever browsed through the sartorialist, you know what I mean.

Both Can Be Both

I tried to write a post about The End of Men article by The Atlantic earlier this week.  I couldn't.

Instead, listen to Ms. Steinem.


Watch CBS News Videos Online
Men can be nurturing.  Women can be authoritarian.  Both can be both.