New Blue Devil Mascot Suit
Photo by News&Observer’s Chuck Liddy
At last night’s Duke Football game, a new Duke Mascot made his first appearance. I didn’t even know a new one was in development, but I am sure the current suit was pretty ratty. When I was in school, I considered trying out to be the Devil, but one of the requirements was that you needed to be six-feet tall. I am not.
Blue Devil 1930
Duke University Archives. Durham, North Carolina, USA.
Blue Devil 1970s
Duke University Archives. Durham, North Carolina, USA.
Blue Devil 1995 (large foam head appeared in 1981)
Duke University Archives. Durham, North Carolina, USA.
Jewno
from Mahalo.com: Jewno is a short trailer parody of the film Juno. It is about a Jewish girl who gets pregnant, wants to have the baby, and give it to a Chinese family. The trailer is produced by Makor, an internal group of the 92nd Street Y to promote a Purim Festival featuring Lewis Black.
YouTube 1985
Here’s a rare video of the early YouTube business model. It took some time to get it going.
Food Blogging
I was at a recent gathering of bloggers and we started talking about food blogging. There are lots of local bloggers who eat out, photograph and write about their meals. There have ever been local food blogger events where groups of bloggers eat and blog in tandem. Anyway this inspired me to take a picture of a recent meal (step 1), and write about below.
I am slowing trying different restaurants and shops in my new part of town (SW Durham bordering Chapel Hill). The other night I went to Peony Asian Bistro at Patterson Place. I was expecting a fast food level place, as that is more keeping with strip mall where they are located. I was pleasantly surprised to see an understated Asian restaurant decorated in reds and blacks. I was coming for takeout, so I did not have a chance to enjoy the atmosphere, but I am sure I will return for a sitdown meal.
The menu features a full complement of standard Chinese fare (with vegetarian options), an extensive sushi menu, and a small sampling of Japanese and Thai entrees. I ordered the Pad Thai (pictured above). I have already been told that takeout food does not photograph well, which I suspect relates to the fact that it has not been properly plated. It was generous portion of very flavorful noodles, vegetables, tofu, egg, and chicken. Beef and shrimp versions were also available. My only complaint was that some of the onions should have been cut into small pieces. I ate about half of it, and had the rest for lunch the next day.
I plan to go back soon and try the sushi, and other Asian cuisine.
On a side note, they need to hire a native English speaking proofreader for their takeout menu. Under the address it says, We On The Right Hand Side of The Kroger At Patterson Place.
Film Directors Stage Operas in LA
Film Directors David Cronenberg, Woody Allen and William Friedkin are all directing operas in this season’s slate of performances at the LA Opera. Most notable is the staging of Cronenberg’s 1986 film, The Fly, as an opera. Read more from the LA Times.
Thoughts and Images of Back to School
Earlier this week, kids everywhere went back to school. In our area, Monday was the first day of school. I took pictures of my kids on Sunday, just to document them at the beginning of 3rd and 5th grade. There are certain moments that just require documenting, and back to school is one of them. I even saw a dad with a video camera on a tripod walking away from a local elementary school on the the first day of school. A tripod seems a bit much. I posted on Twitter that handheld video was probably okay for junior’s first day of kindergarten.
When I realized that many others were also documenting their kids on the first day of school, I went searching on flickr for tagged photos. Below is a slide show of photos tagged “first day of school.” I have no idea who any these of kids are, but they are all going back to school.
I even have a friend, Whit, who wrote a poem to document his son’s first day of school:
Second grade with Mrs. Gustafson?
I hope it will be lots of fun.
I think no classmate of yours will be a newt.
So recently you were just a larva.
And now you have become a marva-
Lous young man. What a hoot!
College Freshman Mindset List
Every year, for the last 11, Beloit (WI) College has published the College Mindset List, a list of pop culture and society references that relate to the incoming college freshman class. This year’s college freshman were born in 1990, a time with headlines similar to today, according to the list makers, of rising fuel prices affecting the airline industry, trouble at America’s big three car makers and a President named Bush increasing troops in the Middle East.
Here’s the first ten items:
1. Harry Potter could be a classmate, playing on their Quidditch team.
2. Since they were in diapers, karaoke machines have been annoying people at parties.
3. They have always been looking for Carmen Sandiego.
4. GPS satellite navigation systems have always been available.
5. Coke and Pepsi have always used recycled plastic bottles.
6. Shampoo and conditioner have always been available in the same bottle.
7. Gas stations have never fixed flats, but most serve cappuccino.
8. Their parents may have dropped them in shock when they heard George Bush announce “tax revenue increases.”
9. Electronic filing of tax returns has always been an option.
10. Girls in head scarves have always been part of the school fashion.
Continue to the rest of the list.
White People Like Facebook
from the site Stuff White People Like:
Social Networking sites have been embraced by white people since their inception. Because these sites use profile pages, white people can more efficiently judge friends and future friends on their taste in film, books, music, and inspirational quotes. Advanced level white people, fearful of being judged on their tastes from last week, will often only list one or two ironic things as their favorites. For example under music they would simply list “P.M. Dawn” or under films they would choose only Armageddon. In both cases these ironic answers serve as protective shields from the harsh gaze of other white people.
Guitar Hero as a Pop Culture Reference
From traffic control to feminine products, Guitar Hero has truly become part of pop culture. Anything that combines primary colors, lights and music is sure to be popular.
Downtown Durham Architecture
On Saturday I went on a walking tour of Downtown Durham, North Carolina. The architectural tour was sponsored by the Preservation Society of Durham, and included lots of history of my new town. No history of Durham is complete without either the Dukes or tobacco, but we also learned that the above building (Hill / CCB / SunTrust, depending on the time you came to Durham) was designed by the same firm who created the Empire State Building. We learned about Parrish Street, which was known as the Black Wall Street, due to its thriving black-owned businesses and professionals. The variety of buildings downtown is tremendous. Styles from Art Deco to Beaux Arts to Georgian to Neo-Classical to Romanesque to Modern, and even Post Modern are represented. And that doesn’t even include all the times that buildings had their roof and facade re-done to match the prevailing style of the times.
Here is a link to my photos from the tour. Details about each building is included with the photo, plus a link for more information, if it is available. Some of this information was twittered while I was on the tour, and I did get feedback from followers who were interested, but the majority of information comes from the fantastic website, Endangered Durham. Every post on this site is chock full of history, photos and the perspective of time. I am envious of this on-going effort.
The Preservation Society has other tours, so I will try to make those too.