I just got back from the US Post Office. Here in Williamsburg area, population 11,793, we are blessed with at least five of them. Th…
I just got back from the US Post Office. Here in Williamsburg area, population 11,793, we are blessed with at least five of them. That’s right, five, and that’s just the ones I know about. There may be one or two on the other side of town that I don’t know about because the town is made up of two different counties, James City and York. The post office is a tiny little place just down the road. So small, that there is only one person working there at any given time. The one downtown is larger. It has two windows open at all times. Gee, the growth, I can’t stand it. It must be all those William and Mary students. You would think that they could change the blown light bulbs at least once a year. Anyway, I digress. Yesterday, I had to stop at the one downtown. I have my PO Box there, as I used to live near it. I was expecting my alimony check, actually had been expecting it for the last week, but it never came. In case it wasn’t there, I had a letter all ready to send to my lawyer. So naturally, I had to stand on line to get stamps. Now the clerks there are nice enough to me. They distrust the local cops too, so we have something in common. On any given day, I know that I can count on hearing a new stupid cop story from one of them. Like the time one came in without her ID and wanted the clerk to get her mail from her box for her. When he refused, she threatened to do something drastic, to which he told her “Go ahead, you work for the city, I work for the FEDS.” That shut her up. Digression strikes again. Yesterday, when I was in line, someone asked for tape to be added to a package. The clerk leaned across the counter and announced in his best stage whisper “They won’t give us tape anymore”. He pulled himself up to his full 5’4” height to make sure everyone had heard, and they did. Every head in line shot towards the announcement. Looks of disbelief abounded. We had always counted on the niceties of our post office. The woman next to me turned and declared “What’s next, the Chip and Dale furniture?” Yes, dear readers, we are blessed with a Chip and Dale dinning set, real mahogany no less, at which to sit and address our certified mail. Today, still not having gotten the check, I went to the Norge Post Office, the one woman place. When I entered, I was greeted by the familiar sound of tape being ripped from the dispenser. Not just the sound of the usual desk size, but the giant industrial kind. The sound astounded me. “I love to tape” Maggie, the clerk, declared. With that, she merrily added more to the package. In fact, I don’t think she stopped until the entire box was encased in tape. When the next person in line asked her to weigh a greeting card, she happily replied “Sure and I’ll add some tape to the back. You never know about these things. Sometimes they open up in the handling. “I’ll put two pieces on it.”Rip, rip. The next person in line (it was a busy day today) was there to pick-up a package. Upon receipt of it, she stepped to the side and opened it. “Oh, good, it’s the quilting supplies I was waiting for.”To wit, Maggie excitedly turned and said “Here, Mrs. Turner, let me put some tape on that for you. You don’t want to lose anything on the way home.” Rip, rip, rip. My turn at the counter finally came. There was no one behind me. I handed my gentle Post Office Clerk the certified letter to my ex. “You want tape on this?” / “Maggie, what gives?”I asked in an astonished voice. “I thought you guys weren’t allowed to tape anything anymore.” “We’re not.” she stated as a sly smile crossed her already jovial face. “Just ask the guys down at Monticello. They’ll tell ya to go buy some from their fancy Post Office Store.? Her fingers shot up in the sign of quotation marks. “They’re all rules down there. It won’t be long before UPS puts them out of business. Not me, I plan on bein’ here a long time. The customer is entitled to a little tape, and I’m gonna’ give it to um.” I thanked her for her service and turned to leave. As I did so, another patron stepped inside and greeted Maggie, handing her a legal size envelope. On departing, I heard Maggie inquire “You want tape on this? It could come open, ya know? Rip, rip, rip. Anarchy, you gotta love it.—Mother Toad As is and will always be, I have changed the names to protect those who have “gone postal”
I have just sold my 10th t-shirt of my Toasted design! THANKS MUCHLY GUYS WHOEVER YOU ARE!!!!! It really makes my day. That desi…
I have just sold my 10th t-shirt of my Toasted design! THANKS MUCHLY GUYS WHOEVER YOU ARE!!!!! It really makes my day. That design is pretty much the only thing i have ever sold and this was helped along by being featured too. _ That’s all folks!
Warning: This is meant to be humorous, but, truthful. Sometimes I get asked that, but, most people do not understand, or accept, the …
Warning: This is meant to be humorous, but, truthful. Sometimes I get asked that, but, most people do not understand, or accept, the answer. I suppose what they really mean to ask is what ethnicity my blood is and was I raised with any of the stereotypical/traditional values of persons from such ethnicities. Still, culture is what they asked, so culture is what they got: I’m Alaskan I wear flannels, by choice. Duct tape is my friend! Racists are for pointing at and laughing about, but not a good reason to leave a party! Unless they are really nasty about it, and won’t shut up, and try to kill people. Then they have to leave the party! So, see? I am Alaskan. That is my culture. It isn’t just where I was raised, but how I was raised, and what land and weather patterns and mixture of other cultures that were brewed together there helped to raise me. We are not like the people from Georgia, Alabama, Texas, California, Florida, etc. And, while I am mostly Irish by blood, I am certainly not just like the Irish from Ireland or the Irish-American sort, either. I wasn’t raised to be any of those things, or American, or anything but myself and in Alaska. That’s what makes me Alaskan. More on racism: Rocks will be thrown at heads. This is why you jump in the ditch. It doesn’t matter if it’s Natives throwing them at white people or vice versa: ditches are your safety zone. It’s not racism, unless children, elderly, or invalids are attacked or until they hunt you down after you jumped into the ditch, or they refuse to even drink with you. If you don’t like it, tough: it’s not your culture! On dress codes: Bunny Boots are to be worn to the Opera, Rock concerts, movies, romantic dates, casual family get-togethers, and the birth of your first child. No, you don’t have to wear them, but if you are wearing them, people should look at you with envy or amusement. If they don’t, it’s proof positive they aren’t Alaskan enough to matter. Only Alaskans can wear ‘Alaska’ t-shirts. We are not Calvin Klein, marking our territory and claiming ownership of people. If we wanted slaves, you’d be allowed to wear the t-shirts; but, as it is, we are the only ones that should be labeled as Alaskan. Go wear a t-shrt that labels you as being from Texas or wherever it is you came from! Exceptions, possibly, are for Hawaii. Yes, we will wear your t-shirts, but only as a joke and a bit of a culturally based Dare. It makes our skin crawl, and that makes us laugh. Exceptions are still, possibly, for Hawaii. D.D.T. is necessary and any environmentalist who does not concur should be immediately shoved into a nearby stretch of woods without it. Dynamite and machetes, both, are tools in the hands of Alaskans. They are not weapons and we do not care about the impact of either on the environment. The fact is, when a 2 ton, or so, enraged bear is coming after us, we want to make an impact on the environment. We don’t care about your silly, puny, little Elephant guns. Get it through your head that we usually stop playing with cap pistols by the time we are five or so! It’s not a blizzard, just because the roof blew off the house and you can’t find it, now, because of the snow that fell in the ensuing two minutes. It’s snow and wind! If it was a blizzard, you’d be in Michigan or someplace like that where they believe in blizzards! Rain is good! Rain means less dust in the air, less mosquitoes in the air, and less smoke from forest fires in the air. The only time rain is bad is when there is ice on the roads! It is not child abuse to walk with your child in the rain, without rain coats or umbrellas. It is child abuse to never let them out in it! Children should work. Adults should play. Also, vice versa. These are some of the many, varied social laws that make up the Alaskan culture. Another one is that only Alaskans are allowed to know these things, as stated herein, so, if you are not Alaskan, you must stop reading and erase your memory of this posting STAT.
Recently i participate in a collective expo in Tenerife Spain, the subject of the expo was based on make a design for cassettes yes the o…
Recently i participate in a collective expo in Tenerife Spain, the subject of the expo was based on make a design for cassettes yes the old ones, which i found very cool and interesting to see how they look, lucky me my CMYK SKULLZ where there at the event. So i can say im pleased for that and wanted to share this with all you RB friends, anyways if you have the time you can check the myspace page of the guys who made possible the event. / Cheers! friends! http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=334928770
AAAahhhh Yeaaaah! Talk about a “Rock’in” Home Page!!! Sweet! / I just wanted to say “Thanks” to the powers that be for featuring my desig…
AAAahhhh Yeaaaah! Talk about a “Rock’in” Home Page!!! Sweet! / I just wanted to say “Thanks” to the powers that be for featuring my design Extinct Sounds on the Home Page! I was thrilled to see that and honored to be a part of the stellar line up. Congrats to ALL that got featured and thanks for the LOVE RedBubble!! ;D XOxoxoXo
I made a shirt with the slogan “would you like to ride my moustache” just as a joke between my boyfriend and me…and someone bought it! ...
I made a shirt with the slogan “would you like to ride my moustache” just as a joke between my boyfriend and me…and someone bought it! / Someone out there in internet land thinks they have a moustache worthy of riding and it would make my week if i knew who. Do they REALLY have such an impressive piece of facial hair that they are willing to wear it on a shirt and show the whole world (or the ten people who have a second take look in the street) how proud they are of their mo? / Do they even have a moustache at all, beacause THAT would be even funnier! / Whoever they are, i thank them and i will continue to make shirts that make no sense whatsoever… / Oh and i never would have thought that a photo of tapes jumping out of a toaster would be so popular…..i just thought it up while off my nut on cold and flu meds one night. Now i have sold like 40 of them! Weird people are out there…and i am here to cover them up! Cheers, Steph.
I might be weak and dainty / But I can still get painty / To stimulate my mind / As I pass the waiting time An update on my latest self p…
I might be weak and dainty / But I can still get painty / To stimulate my mind / As I pass the waiting time An update on my latest self portrait: / that thing on my head & my voice on tape I recently ventured / Into the realm of podcastin / There were zombies & strippers / Click here to listen: / So Bad It’s Good Podcast
Currently I’m reading a softcover called “Cassette Mythos,” from 1992. According to the receipt, I picked it up used in ‘95. I can vaguel…
Currently I’m reading a softcover called “Cassette Mythos,” from 1992. According to the receipt, I picked it up used in ‘95. I can vaguely remember it coming out, because I collected a lot of cassette culture cassettes and demos, and made a couple, and was getting through the end wave of mail art that flooded my po box for years on end. The book sat on my shelf for 13 years because I couldn’t bear to open it. I wished I opened it a bit sooner – it would have synced nicely with the “images of cassettes” trend in graphics a few years ago. However it is still interesting to read because some music copyright/license issues then have been recycled over and over again since the Napster era – who owns what, should manufacturers pay a flat tax to RIAA or whoever to redistribute to musicians, the concept that copying is in 1-to-1 ratio to lost sales etc. Some of the art is cool; other pieces shlocky. Almost all involve pre-computer collage/juxtaposition of black and white images—no photoshop, cut-and-paste xeroxing was primary method during this micro-era. I finally cracked this open because I was directed to a handful of “album blogs” that are constantly uploading cassettes from the ‘80s to rapidshare, sharebee, and other large file-sharing sites. For the last few years I wanted to digitize my “good” cassettes before they rotted, and then this trend of album blogs doing the same thing appeared. Music on the internet may act as a great copyright destroyer to some, but it is also becoming a massive archive of disappearing stuff—great cassettes, crappy cassettes, limited run LPs that are impossible to find, your friend’s LP, and so on. Enough post-coffee tangents: many of the musicians and compilations in this book are re-appearing on the album blogs; I remember when making collages was so much easier, quicker, and rewarding; I feel spurred on to: / 1] digitize my tapes before they turn to static; / 2] go back to completing music; / 3] try to make collages again, completely by hand; / 4] actually dub the 30 minutes of outdoor samples on my digital recorder to my computer, and dump them into garageband; / 5] sleep more, floss, read, exercise, and go to bed on time This book is on amazon, usually about $3. Later I will post its ISBN, as well as links to the blogs mentioned above.
Front page on MSN today: / Update your Facebook privacy settings – now...
Front page on MSN today: / Update your Facebook privacy settings – now / Posted: Thursday, 17 December 2009 2,504 Steps to Closing Your Facebook Account Front page on MSN today: DIDN’T YOU KNOW? FACEBOOK IS FOREVER / Posted: Friday, 20 February 2009 at 05:00 am CT by Bob Sullivan on MSNBC The Red Tape Chronicles
Ron Mueck’s work is always show-stopping, and trying to capture it in a way that’s a little different was my aim. !http://images-1.red…
Ron Mueck’s work is always show-stopping, and trying to capture it in a way that’s a little different was my aim. I used a handmade lens that Scott built for me, using the instructions that Matt supplied in his journal. Unfortunately the bendy boots we sourced were not quite the same size as the originals I’d received from Ran, so we have been trying to find a new way to hold the loupe in place. My temporary solution is to use duct tape, but Matt has come up with a couple of other suggestions to try. Hopefully we’ll get it working soon. Here’s another one I shot, which I’m quite happy with, cos Ginge HATES having her photo taken :) / Of course the biggest problem is finding bendy material that will do the job…no one makes bicycle fork rubbers anymore….another challenge for me :) You should have seen the security guards face when I asked if I could shoot The Stags and then showed him the lens…
Tone has journaled about Ken Duncan having a spra…
Tone has journaled about Ken Duncan having a spray regarding the rules and regulations confronting photographers in Australia at the moment…as Ken states, there’d be much less tourism without the photographers…. This is a very interesting read….especially to those who are being accosted more and more by self righteous worriers who seem to think we’re all there to photograph their children, and paste them all over the internet….or dare to show off the beauty of our country…
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