for the good idea book
February 29, 2012
File under: ideas to be executed by others.
1. Nathaniel Hawthorne Theme Park. Now, I can’t remember why I originally thought this idea would be so funny awesome but it came out of Peter and Claire reading The House of the Seven Gables while we were camping last year. The Nathaniel Hawthorne theme park would have lots of dark clothed dour people in it, creepy old houses, major guilt trips, and of course the main attraction, the Tunnel of Adultery ride. I’d have to actually read some Hawthorne to come up with other ride ideas but realistically you can expect visitors to want to ride the Tunnel of Adultery at least three or four times, right? So that’s a mini goldmine right there.
In researching this article, staff at jodi’s weblog have discovered that this idea is such a good one that apparently there is a Nathaniel Hawthorne Theme Park already! But sadly no Tunnel of Adultery. So clearly there’s some room for improvement here.
2. Neko Case and Neil Young should trade bands for one album (each) and accompanying tour (each). Just think of it: Neko Case and Crazy Horse; Neil Young and Her Boyfriends. That idea is PURE GOLD you guys.
3. Along the same lines, Meatloaf should record a cover of Total Eclipse of the Heart and Bonnie Tyler should record I Would do Anything for Love (But I Won’t do That). Besides the fact that they’re so perfect for one another, check out the videos for the songs: they are practically the same. And that lady in the Meatloaf video is wearing Bonnie Tyler’s dress. Bonus if these two tracks are released together on a 7″ single.
4. Peter and I recently had a great idea for a supergroup, originally inspired by Jian Ghomeshi interviewing an asexual activist named David J. on Q, who is apparently NOT the David J. from Bauhaus. BUT: Davy Jones, David Bowie and David J. I know, right? Sadly we just heard that Davy Jones passed away today, so this is just another guaranteed platinum idea that will have to be shelved.
5. Jones is also sadly now out of the running for the other supergroup idea we’ve been working on here at jodi’s weblog (yes we are working on it shut up): the one made up of Last Surviving Members. So far this group consists of Tommy Ramone, Otis Williams, Michelle Phillips and Betty White. With luck Ringo Starr will be freed up to join soon and then this band is a go.
Posted by jodi on February 29, 2012 at 7.14pm
helvetica
February 28, 2012
Still plugging away at this big production commission for Broken City Lab. We’re in the thick of the tedious part, making letters and making letters and making letters and yet there are still more letters to make. Deadline is the end of this week.
Posted by jodi on February 28, 2012 at 7.06pm
ambassador bridge, winter 2011
February 25, 2012
Shot with the Holga and Lomography CN 100 film.
Posted by jodi on February 25, 2012 at 7.24pm
athens georgia, february 2011
February 24, 2012
Shot with the Holga and Lomography CN 100 film.
Posted by jodi on February 24, 2012 at 8.41am
notes on mustard, volume 8
February 21, 2012
It’s time for first! instalment! of 2012! in the ongoing chronicles of Homemade Mustard Adventure Time. Don’t act like you haven’t been on the edge of your seat waiting for this, now.
Our latest mustard, known henceforth by the clever name of Strong Mustard #4, is yet another slight variation on the Kenelm Digby recipe. After this mustard was all potted up ready for its six week rest, Peter expressed surprise that this batch didn’t follow the tried-and-true, reproducing our most popular of the strong varieties to date (Strong Mustard #2), of which since The Giftening we only have one pint left. So we’ll probably put up another smaller batch of that next just to be sure we never run out.
This is way too much mustard ingredients for one blender. FYI.
Notes for Strong Mustard #4 (a double batch):
-instead of using all brown mustard seed, this batch uses half brown and half yellow (or rather, half rai kuria, which is basically the same thing only with the skin removed, and was the only yellow mustard seed our local Indian grocery had).
-ground mustard seed was soaked overnight in white wine vinegar, while the onion and horseradish was soaked in red wine vinegar.
-honey was used in place of sugar (I’d like to try maple syrup but after the disastrous result of using bourbon in Lombard #4, I’m scared).
-for blending, a few splashes of red wine vinegar were used followed by lots and lots of white wine (Pelee Island Chardonnay, again), pretty much all of the wine that was open in the fridge. I didn’t measure but it was probably about 1 1/4 cup.
-finely ground almonds were used to thicken. Some of the Lombard mustards were a bit chunky due to insufficiently grinding the almonds in the blender, so this time they were done in the coffee grinder that is reserved for spices (and mustard!).
Just look how pretty.
Posted by jodi on February 21, 2012 at 3.11pm
first shots with the fisheye
February 20, 2012
Peter gave me this camera for my birthday in December 2010 and the first two rolls of film have finally made it through the scanner. Here are the first two pictures shot with it pretty much as soon as it came out of the box:
Jesus and Pookio, all got up in their birthday finery. Fuji S400 film.
Our sweet Cleo, in her birthday finery also. Fuji S400 film. You can see in both of these that the placement of the internal flash in relation to the lens is a bit of a problem with this camera, the very large lens casting its obtrusive shadow over everything. Next time this camera is used indoors it’ll be with an external flash.
A few more shots from later on in the spring:
Discarded mattress in our alley. Fuji S400 film.
Michael Snow’s geese at the Eaton Centre in Toronto. Same film roll as above.
And from Pennsic, a couple of shots on Lomography Redscale 400 film:
House Redhair gate, sheet wall and pheons;
And that familiar Cooper’s Lake treeline.
Posted by jodi on February 20, 2012 at 9.57am
first shots with the voltron starshooter camera
February 19, 2012
I’ve finally gotten around to scanning a backlog of film negatives, with photos taken as far back as October 2010. I’m only halfway through scanning the images from the first roll of expired Fuji 110 film with the Voltron Starshooter, and so far it’s proving to be much more than just a silly novelty camera that transforms into a robot.
The Ambassador Bridge, which is the first thing I photograph with almost every new camera. Sorry about the spots; I cleaned up some but not all, and I think most of it is actually coming from inside the slide scanner I’m using (if anyone has tips on how to clean dust out of a Nikon Super Coolscan 5000 without opening it up, I’m all ears) (it doesn’t belong to me).
Here are a few taken during our October 2010 visit with friends in Milwaukee:
Lake Michigan, photographed right behind the Milwaukee Art Museum, which, incidentally, was a shooting location for the Transformers movie. Which I’m guessing probably had Voltron in it, although I haven’t seen it.
Our friend Michael, the Coolest Guy in the World, behind the Frank Lloyd Wright house he took us to see. Only half the house was completed before the original owner ran out of money in 1956, and Michael is standing in the area that was supposed to be/will someday become the bedrooms wing. If his friend who owns the house can afford to finish building it, that is. It’s already a million dollar half a house (and pretty amazing as-is). Anyway that’s why the outside wall is all insulation and tin or whatever, because it’s an unfinished wall.
Discount Liquor, a favourite place to visit when we’re in Milwaukee:
BONUS: a couple of shots of the Voltron camera hanging out in front of the Milwaukee Art Museum (which have been published here before, but whatever), the first taken with the Maxim camera and Lomography Redscale 200 film, the second with the boring old point and shoot digital. I don’t know why I didn’t take a photo of the museum WITH the Voltron; it feels like the nerdy meta-ness only came 3/4 circle.
Posted by jodi on February 19, 2012 at 9.32pm
photo
February 18, 2012
It has been a while but I’ve started drawing in these drum leaf sketchbooks again.
Posted by jodi on February 18, 2012 at 6.46pm
internet called: we need to bump up our cancon
February 17, 2012
Which is an excuse to post this fine screen shot of everyone’s favourite log scavenging bum for you:
(Robert Cloutier as Relic)
It’s taken from a 1975 episode of The Beachcombers that you can watch on the CBC website in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the show’s inception. What we here at jodi’s weblog think CBC should really do is air the entire run of the show in the middle of the night so that people can DVR it. Because we’d happily watch it all again.
BONUS! Robert Cloutier was a bomber pilot in WWII. And here is a picture of him with his squadron, looking adorable. Of course I had to check and see if the flying school he trained at was the same one which later became my hometown after decommission: sadly, it was not.
Posted by jodi on February 17, 2012 at 8.30pm
today in the studio
February 16, 2012
A friend of mine needed a white, fancy summer dress for a tropical beach wedding, but try and find such a dress in Canada in the middle of February (even if you are that person who easily fits into anything off the rack, which my friend, like almost every person in the whole world, is not). She found an almost suitable dress that we made some minor changes to in order to make it perfect. It’s a bridal dress (the idea of wearing a bridal dress as part of someone else’s wedding party thrills me, as I’m not really all that big a fan of marriage in general). I forgot to get real “before” shots, but here it is with the hem and the two long back ties shortened from floor-length to knee-length:
Then I added a layer of organza fabric, pleated on underneath the bodice band and finished off at the bottom edge with a narrow serged hem. So pretty!
Posted by jodi on February 16, 2012 at 8.55pm
