27 July 2010

What if you crowd-sourced your dating life?

A friend, Brian, I met while waiting online at the MoMa during the Abramovic exhibit is doing just that..
So ladies, if you're single.. you know what to do



You can sign up and track his progress on site. After each date he posts a video that normally ends with a message from the girl. This last date has had the most chemistry so far.

25 July 2010

Six Items Or Less

Some but mostly no one actually noticed that I participated and continue to do: Six Items or Less

Here's the NY times article and video:



Here's the website: http://sixitemsorless.com/

Backyard Farming, Day 13


A quick update from our parking space turned miniature garden: Things are going well!


These are the pepper (poblano, I believe). They're coming up slowly, but surely. Hopefully there's enough time to harvest them before the cold sets in.
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This is the zinnia, one of two flowers we planted. Both the flowers are growing faster than the herbs and vegetables, so even if we have an early cold spell this year, we can still pull a bouquet out of this tardy experiment.
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This is the marigold, the second variety of flower. Like I said, growing pretty quickly.
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Is catnip also a variety of flower? If so, my whole "flowers grow faster than herbs and vegetables" theory is shot 'cause, as you can see, there's nothing here. You can't make it out from the photograph, but there are actually really tiny green tendrils just barely poking out from the soil. So it's not completely fucked, just retarded.
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The last pot/plastic mail crate stolen from USPS: On the left we have basil and on the right we have oregano. Both are working their way up to being pizza toppings.
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Well, that's all for now. 'Nother update in two weeks?

-Arv
Twitter.com/ToImpale

20 July 2010

Taco Bell > Facebook

Only days before Facebook can hang up an "over 500 million served" sign, the survey found abysmal approval ratings for Facebook and other big-name social-media sites.
Seen on Flavorpill - 50 companies America likes better than Facebook.

13 July 2010

Chuck E. Cheese Day

In the spirit of eating overpriced frozen pizza and being surrounded by toddlers that'll kick your shins over to Siberia if you take too long at the air hockey table, Arvind and I decided to take my 11-year-old sister Gabriella to Chuck E. Cheese's. It was really the other way around, but who'd let a 6 foot tall bearded Muslim into the ball pit (which there was none!) without two little Jews at each of his sides?


Arvind disappointed by the lack of cheese oozing off of his pizza slice.

Many of our childhood memories of going there as youngsters were drowned in the actuality of our tiny past statures, along with our countries obsession with large flat screens.

Currently, the arcade is the main selling point for the store, but years back, the spotlight beamed on the animatronic band shows which were known as "cabaret's."


Chuck E. Cheese's cabaret show circa 2006.

Whereas character cabaret shows stood tall for what Arvind and I remembered as children, those shows have been long replaced with monstrous television monitors, lighting hocus pocus, and highly impersonal interactive elements. Clearly, I'm in grief.

After eating and complaining over our nostalgic disappointments, we set out to play some games. It was difficult to find any that kept our minds satiated for more than 30 seconds, but one Western, hoedown of a shooting game stole our fingers and won best of show.

Arv and Ange Shoot: Chuck E. Cheese Series, July 2010








Gracious curtsies (everything is cuter with an 'ie') to Gabriella for the photos, and for putting up with her mature sister and her adorable boyfriend.

-Angela

P.S. We were too pooped by the end of all of our play to stand in line and redeem our prizes (WE GOTS 26 TICKETS!), so if anyone's up to going with us and possibly getting kicked out hood-rat style, let's do it.

12 July 2010

Backyard Farming, Day I



Maybe a little over a year ago I told Olek that I was really interested in starting a rooftop garden. He thought about it for a second and said that he pictured roots tearing through his ceiling, eventually caving the house -- and that he was totally down for it. But, as most half-baked ideas go, rooftop gardening was never actualized.

Then Angela came over a couple of days ago and noticed all of the ceramic pots in my backyard that my step-dad used to grow basil, peppers, and lettuce in. Since he's moved out, all of it has lain fallow and become overrun with weeds. Angela mentioned wanting to grow something and gardening -- though not of the rooftop variety -- was back in motion. Seeing Tim's mom's herb garden on Friday redoubled our resolve, and we set out for Home Depot earlier today in search of seeds.



Unfortunately it's mid-way through summer, so we basically missed the entire planting season. The only seeds we could find that would grow before the cold dashed our harvest were peppers, basil, and oregano. We also decided to pick up two varieties of flowers (marigold and something else I can't remember) and catnip for the family of strays who have taken over my backyard.

Because Angela and I haven't planted anything since beansprouts in elementary school, we basically made up the farming method as we went along:



First we broke up and de-weeded all the dirt. My step dad actually bought soil for all of the pots and only used them for one summer, so I'm pretty sure it's still packed with nutrients. (Also, we found a turnip when we were digging around, which is a pretty good sign, I think.)



Then we dug little troughs and sprinkled in the seeds.



I found some Miracle-Gro, so we tossed that on to ensure that our plants will be super buff. Then we watered the concoction, covered it all up with an inch of dirt, and soaked it through and through.



And now we play the waiting game.

-Arv
Twitter.com/ToImpale

Make Love Not Porn


I realize that blogging can be a very personal act and it can be hard to engage or take interests in what others have to say or share, but I share these things with you because I'm sure you'll find some aspects of it relevant and interesting. Found the video here

11 July 2010

Article roundup!

Interesting article on personal responsibility and effect on the environment.

Childish Gambino - Got This Money (Acoustic @Ace Hotel)

Got This Money (Ace Hotel) from Donald Glover on Vimeo.

Donald Glover (who goes by Childish Gambino musically) was an RA in my dorm way back in freshman year. He did Hammerkatz improv in college, then help create Derrick Comedy. As he graduated from school, he wrote for 30 rock (you'll notice a lot of similarities between Tracy Morgan's character and some of Donald's mannerisms in his own skits). Derrick comedy put out a feature film called Mystery Team. Now he stars in Community and puts out music. His latest album is Culdesac. You can check out his first two mixtapes (I Am Just a Rapper 1 & 2) on his website childishgambino.com

Got This Money from Culdesac

Fuck It All from Culdesac

The Real (Infinity Guitars) from I Am Just a Rapper 2

Entrance Romance- Ryan McGinley


(xposted to my inspirandom blog)

08 July 2010

Fourth of July, 2010



2tor decided to have an Independence Day bash at our office in Chelsea Piers. There was free beer, mini-hamburgers and pigs in a blanket, and a really great view of Macy's fireworks show on the Hudson. We went to the driving range next door, laid on the AstroTurf and watched the night sky light up.


The driving range prior to the show


A tiny burger for tiny Angela


My coworker Todd reading the Declaration of Independence



In an attempt to capture the awesomeness of the spectacle, someone blurted out, "IT'S LIKE THE INTERNET!"

-Arv
Twitter.com/ToImpale