Monthly Archives for February 2009

Recommended by a very happening guy in the neighborhood…

I love this strategy to live well, cheaply:

Have a person who knows stuff do a collective bulk buy on the best stuff, crafted by the best people, on behalf of a community.

For example, with this purchase of five gallons of super-premium coconut oil, 20 people can get a quart each for $12.50. All each person needs is a mason jar to pack it into…

centrifuged_coconut_oil_5gal_lg

Coconut Oil, Extra Virgin, Certified Organic, Centrifuge Extracted, 5 gallons

The info from the maker, Wilderness Family Naturals:

HOW OUR CERTIFIED ORGANIC CENTRIFUGED COCONUT OIL IS MADE
Our Centrifuged Coconut Oil is USDA Certified Organic by ICS (Internation Certification Services). It is made from fresh coconuts that are shelled, chopped and then gently expeller pressed. The temperatures of the coconut flesh and the resulting coconut milk emulsion are carefully monitored to insure they do not exceed 25° C or 78.8° F (room temperature). Once the coconut is shelled, it takes less than 45 minutes to produce the milk. The resulting coconut milk emulsion is then chilled slightly to 10° C (50° F) so that the oil will “pull out of solution” and separate. Next, the cooled milk, by use of a large centrifuge, is separated into a pure oil and a “skim” coconut milk. the milk is discarded and the oil is placed in drums for shipment to the US. The centrifuge works like a cream separator used for separating cream from cow’s milk. It requires quite a few passes through this chilled centrifuge to obtain pure oil, but the result is absolutely fabulous.

TASTE TESTING
In performing blindfolded taste tests with a selected panel, we have now sampled over 50 different virgin coconut oils here at Wilderness Family Naturals. We initially sold a Traditional Philippine virgin coconut oil made by fermentation, then we sold a South Pacific virgin coconut oil (DME, direct microexpeller) . We have also sold certrifuged coconuts from other sources. Through the years, we have discontinued carrying these oils after finding new virgin coconut oils of higher quality. We always like to know which oils come out the winner in blindfolded taste-tests. In addition, we look at laboratory analysis data and certificates of analysis on every oil submitted to us. It is our desire to only carry the highest quality virgin coconut oils, with the longest shelf life and purest taste.

Our current centrifuged, virgin coconut oil is creamy and smooth when it is in a semi-solid state. It is completely clear like spring water when it is in a liquid state. It is pure white when it is in a solid state. It has a very mild, light coconut taste. This oil consistently rates number one every time it is taste-tested. However, our Cold-Pressed Virgin Coconut Oil now rivals it. The main difference between the two oils is taste/flavor with the Cold-Pressed Virgin Coconut oil having more of a sweet coconut flavor. Those who eat coconut oil raw or in raw treats may prefer the Cold Pressed Virgin Coconut oil. Those who use coconut oil in a variety of applications for cooking may want a milder coconut flavor and prefer the Centrifuged oil. They are both wonderfully delicious oils.

ELFWORLD: You may already live there…

A piece by Tom and Barbara (Elfworld) now available on their Etsy page…

floatingbaskets

Their description…

“Floating baskets” 36.5″x48″
A truly collaborative piece by Tom and Barbara inspired by Britta water filters? No really, this painting is inspired by quilted textile designs, basketry and the motorcycle riders of Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.

Tom and Barbara have a show on right now at Space 1026 in Philadelphia. Here’s the promo text…

Elf World: Inneractive Apiecolypse

1026 Arch Street (2nd Floor)
Philadelphia PA 19107
Opening February 6th, 2009 7-10pm
show runs through February 28th

Nomadic peoples pulled by yaks and holding candy colored machine guns. Skulls of past histories hold secrets of future breaths. Pie, cake, tea, food for the spirits. New visions in an ancient mind. Natural blessings in artificial spaces, welcome to the Tree Cafe.

Sweetness reins as the colors engulf the soul. Sadness take hold of a still installation representing the presence of peoples hanging onto dreams of natural worlds. Community gathers to nourish the holes of torn dreams and sweet hearts.

Sugar cakes and fruit tarts washed down with a cup of hot tea is sure to appease the gods and grant us forgiveness from our ancestors. Come join us in mind, body and spirit in the beginning of a new age.

Tom and Barbara have been living in Bedford Stuyvesant, NY for the past seven years. Barbara enjoys making one of a kind garments for her company, Bobbi Clothes, making music with the experimental group, Animental, and hanging out in parks with Jimmy, the dog. Tom enjoys fishing, reading Native American poetry as well as playing music with theusaisamonster and Elvish Presley. This is Barbara and Tom’s second collaborative art show. The first being, New Wijiji, New Age Frontier shown at Mountain Fold gallery (mfoldgallery.com) in September. 2008.

Please check out our etsy site, www.elfworld.etsy.com!

And here’s another painting available from their Etsy page…

kindling

“Kindling the frontier fire”
acrylic on canvas 36″x27″

This painting was created while living in the woods in upstate NY. We were lucky enough to set up our studio in a large tent on a friends land.
This painting depicts life on the New Age frontier highly recommended for those inspired by firelight.

DAILY MAGPIE – Sunday, Feburary 8 at Family in LA: Silkscreened Posters + Vibes

from our friends at FAMILY:

Come to the opening of Boom! A silk-screened poster show at Family featuring:

Misaki Kawai
Shara Hughes
Hisham Bharoocha

Denise Kupferschmidt
Patrick Walsh III

David Aron

Espen Friberg
Brooke Inman
Ryan Waller
Adam Kaufman
Ted McGrath
Maryam Nassirzadeh
Anna Lowe Gustavi
Holly Stevenson

Family is proud to present Boom, an exhibition of two color silkscreen prints by artists from Europe and the US. The prints are deftly hand silkscreened, the two-color limit lending to experiments with multi-colored pulls, varnishes, and neons. Produced at the Lower East Side Printshop in the tradition of Barbara Kruger and Kara Walker.

The opening will include the debut performance of Vibes (members of Pocahaunted and Robedoor).

You may know Holly Stevenson from her book of drawings, Mexican Love Story, published by Nieves.

More images at the Family events blog.

DAILY MAGPIE – First Saturday of the Month – YO DOO at The Cake Shop

Hear ye, hear ye! As the saying goes, “Our shop is your shop” at YO DOO, a new record/comic/small press/art fair happening EVERY MONTH on the first Saturday of the month at The Cake Shop. The fair’s organizers are currently looking for people who wish to sell their wares (record labels, self-publishers, comic book artists, printmakers and crafters of all kinds). Your ship of opportunity has arrived – jump on! The fair lasts all day, followed by live music and a party after night falls.

Date & Time: First Saturday of every month, Noon – 7pm
Venue: The Cake Shop
Location: 152 Ludlow St. (N.Y.)
Price: Free

For more info on renting a seller’s table, visit http://myspace.com/yodoonyc

R.I.P. LUX INTERIOR

verybadpeople

Above: A clip of The Cramps performing at California’s Napa State Mental Hospital. Yes, this really happened.

Andy Giles points out that the Chunklet guys have posted mp3s of the Cramps’ “Ohio demo”…

Here’s the Feb 4, 2009 Statement from publicist:

Lux Interior, lead singer of The Cramps, passed away this morning due to an existing heart condition at Glendale Memorial Hospital in Glendale, California at 4:30 AM PST today. Lux has been an inspiration and influence to millions of artists and fans around the world. He and wife Poison Ivy’s contributions with The Cramps have had an immeasurable impact on modern music.

The Cramps emerged from the original New York punk scene of CBGB and Max’s Kansas City, with a singular sound and iconography. Their distinct take on rockabilly and surf along with their midnight movie imagery reminded us all just how exciting, dangerous, vital and sexy rock and roll should be and has spawned entire subcultures. Lux was a fearless frontman who transformed every stage he stepped on into a place of passion, abandon, and true freedom. He is a rare icon who will be missed dearly.

The family requests that you respect their privacy during this difficult time.

Lyrics to The Cramps’ “Garbageman”:

you ain’t no punk, you punk
you wanna talk about the real junk?
if I ever slip, I’ll be banned
cuz I’m your garbageman

well you can’t dig me you can’t dig nothin’
do you want the real thing, or are you just talkin’?
do you understand?
I’m your garbageman

yeah, somethin’ from the garage and down the driveway
now get outta your mind and get outta my way
now do you understand?
do you understand?

louie, louie, louie, lou-i
the bird’s the word and do you know why?
you gotta beat it with a stick
you gotta beat it ’til it’s thick
you gotta live until you’re dead
you gotta rock ’til you see red
now do you understand?
do you understand?
I’m a garbageman

aw, jump on and ride

yeah it’s just what you need when you’re down in the dumps
one half hillbilly and one half punk
big long legs and one big mouth
the hottest thing from the north to come out of the south
do you understand?
do you understand?

woo, I can’t lose with the stuff I use,
and you don’t choose no substitutes
so stick out your can
cuz I’m your garbageman

now do you understand?
do you understand?
do you understand?
all right, hop off

DAILY MAGPIE – Feb 7 – Sauce on The Side at Lumenhouse Gallery, Brooklyn

otherwiseyoucanseeit1

Intrepid Arthur Intern Camilla Padgitt-Coles didn’t want to shamelessly promote herself on the blog, but i will.

spaceshipearth_web

Sauce on the Side opens Saturday the 7th at Lumenhouse in Bushwick, Brooklyn with a free opening reception from 6-9pm.  The exhibit features work by Padgitt-Coles, Tony Luib and Zaun Lee.

Take a walk through the blowing black plastic bags and trash of Bushwick, where strange things await behind rusty metal doors.  Lumenhouse is at 47 Beaver St, by the Flushing stop of the J,M train.

2009 LUNAR CALENDAR

lunar_digi

“hand pulled silkscreen… numbered edition of 555… phosphorescent ink illuminates in darkness.” It’s the size of two record album covers and it’s a beaut. Calendar printer Jeremy Rendina still has a few more to sell. Just click on the image above to go to his site…

DAILY MAGPIE – Mycologist Hero Paul Stamets in NYC this Friday

Visionary mycologist Paul Stamets is giving one of his totally awesome mushroom workshops tomorrow (Friday, 2/6/09) at the Community Church of NY; 40 East 35th Street, Between Park and Madison Avenues. It’s $20 and — if you’ve got it — well worth it.

Full details at New York Open Center. More about Stamets after the jump.

Continue reading →

Pot Activists to Obama: Legalize Today, Get High Tonight, Right?

First, President Obama’s Kenyan half brother gets arrested — in Kenya — for holding, like, one joint. Then over the course of the last week the DEA busts a series of medical marijuana clinics across California. Then cops in Fontana — formerly a hub of the pig farming industry and now a dismal commuter suburb of LA — discover 1,800 pounds of weed being smuggled inside … wait for it … concrete lawn donkeys. “Drug mules,” geddit? (At least those pickup truck rampin’ Mexican cartels have a sense of humor, right?) The next thing you know, Obama’s bro is out on the streets again, all charges dropped. Coincidence, or…? Connect the dots, friend.

You know who doesn’t have a sense of humor? All the marijuana activists that were blowing up yesterday across the internet over the DEA raids on medical marijuana clinics that took place from South Lake Tahoe in Northern CA to Venice and Marina Del Rey down here in Los Angeles County. Do you know the reason why they are so itchy about these acts of Federal aggression? Because back in March and May of 2008 Obama said some evasive but still encouraging shit to two Oregon newspapers: Southern Oregon’s Mail Tribune and the The Willamette Weekly — an alt-weekly — about basing policy on science when it comes to medical marijuana. And we block-quote the Weekly:

Would you stop the DEA’s raids on Oregon medical marijuana growers?

I would because I think our federal agents have better things to do, like catching criminals and preventing terrorism. The way I want to approach the issue of medical marijuana is to base it on science, and if there is sound science that supports the use of medical marijuana and if it is controlled and prescribed in a way that other medicine is prescribed, then it’s something that I think we should consider.

Then, as if to confirm any suspicions that the casual reader might have about the Lollapalooza-types one might find staffing an Oregon alt-weekly, the interviewer asks Obama if he would get a tattoo were he placed “under duress.” That is certainly an imaginative question. But we digress …

As of January 28, Hopey’s man Eric “Lando” Holder is running the Justice Department, thus everyone from the libertarian burners at Reason to the up-against-the-wall muckrackers at Counterpunch to LA Times haberdashery columnist Patt Morrison (we kid we kid Morrison is oft very clever and funny) is like, “Lay off already!”

Get your summary of the day’s chatter after the jump.

Continue reading →

Hello BlackBerry, Goodbye Blackberry

Oxford University Press — the home of the OED, the only $1000 dictionary you’ll ever need — has united religious conservatives and environmentalists the world over by swapping out words relating to religion and nature for technological and pop culture terms in the latest edition of its Junior Dictionary for children 7 and up. This whole thing broke in the UK back in early December, and the story just now seems to be infuriating “green” parenting bloggers here in North America (tho we read about it first at Next Nature), who are all posting pictures of dandelions and quotes about the power of language.

The OUP argument, which is interesting while also being terribly depressing, basically says that their job is to reflect language as it’s used, and most kids these days live in cities and spend their time hankering for MP3 players, thus they need to get the definition of “bullet point” and “block graph” early, because MP3 players are more expensive than, say, almonds or dandelions. Don’t want the kids to be confused when it’s time to get their TPS report cover sheets in order.

Of course the religious douches came out in force, starting off saying good things but quickly getting it wrong and detouring into lame culture war throwbacks, like blaming the whole thing on political correctness and the influence of multiculturalism. It’s Britain, so of course these losers are HIGHLY concerned about the swap of “celebrity” for “monarchy” — though of course you’d never hear an American religious authority lamenting the loss of words like “elf” from a kid’s dictionary, cuz of the witchcraft. From the Rev Canon Jeremy Haselock in The Telegraph, re: his church’s new Conservapedia-sounding website:

“Thank goodness our stunning new website is unafraid to use vocabulary I have always been naïve enough to believe was basic, and thank goodness it includes an on-line glossary which I now officially designate a non-politically correct, non multicultural supplement to all future editions of OUP’s colourless and romance-free publications.”

We’ve never used the Junior Dictionary — it’s a UK-Canada thing, we guess? — but the update makes it sound like they’re turning an idyllic primer of classic Britannia into a consumer electronics catalog. And while children in the UK will have an even harder time figuring out who’s who in Wind In The Willows (they’re cutting “weasel” AND “stoat”?), perhaps the addition of nature words like “drought” and “allergic” will be more useful after all.

Find the whole list of swapped words after the jump.
Continue reading →