Have you seen the new five dollar bill? If not have a look. I am happy to see new and exciting colors and bigger faces on American currency. I think it is great to have something more aesthetically pleasing in my back pocket. I dare say, the old greenback was not known for its looks. However, as much as I am pro-redesign, there is one thing that I think does not work with this new bill:

The big red five. That sucker is huge, twice the size of all the other 5's on the bill. It fills up nearly half of the available vertical space. And it is Helvetica, as if it needs to be any more omnipresent than it already is.

When I think of American money, I do not think Helvetica. I think of that curvaceous script font used for the other numbers. I would be happier if they tripled the size of one of the other 5's. What about something more like this:

Now doesn't that look better? Color it some bright color, and it would be good to go. I hope that the next redesign does not fall into to the helvetica trap. Fortunately, there are no san-serifs in the one dollar bill.

That's my two cents.

Posted by Colin J Allen at 12:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yes, yes. It has been a while since I have written in here. There is much to catch you up on. I have a few images and videos that I have wanted to put up here, but the files were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I have everything gathered now so you can have a look.

I have not told you very much about my house, so I feel that I should start with my back window, and my Pavlovian pet. A while back I made a video about it:

The other day, after tossing a snack to the dog, I looked down into my neighbors back yard and I saw an entire side of beef, or perhaps pork. I took a picture, as it is not often I see a half carcass, let alone one that is not in a butcher shop.

I read recently that ordering in bulk is the most economical way to buy meat, but a side of an animal seems like a logistical nightmare. If a recipe calls for a side of pork, just imagine how many eggs you would need. Perhaps this a large family gathering?

To leave things on a more spring-like note, I make it to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens this weekend with Christy and we enjoyed the cherry blossom excitement. I am happy to see that spring is here. Best time of the year.

Posted by Colin J Allen at 11:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday at lunch, at one of my usual local midtown lunch spots—the ever-yummy Empanada Mama—my waitress asked me if I lived in Greenpoint, the Polish neighborhood where I do reside. Apparently, she saw me on the train to work last morning. She is one of my fellow commuters.

I mention this because I have been recently thinking about my morning commute. It is, in some ways, the highlight of my work day. For one, it is quite likely for me to see someone I know on the way there. To date, I have seen: Abby, J.R., Linsey, Cara, Matt, Kim, Sam and Sophie. Every morning there is a good chance that I'll have to put aside my paper and catch up with the latest with happenings.

And that is the people that is just the people I actually know. There are the others, the characters who commute with me, as we all wordlessly travel up to Queens and over to midtown. There is the girl who looks like Carin, who could quite possibly could be her. There is mustache dude with the impressive but unsightly handlebar number. The small-headed girl with the brown bob. The tall, somewhat annoying, over-talkative hipster guy. And so on...

I suppose I may be overstating this a little bit. Along with these familiar faces are hundreds of people who remain unnoticed, little more than obstacles on my path to work. It is with them I feel like part of the herd, all of us headed off to Manhattan for one more work day. To counter that, I have the comfort of having these people whom I recognize, the individuals in the faceless group, who remind me that I'm not the only one out there who does this commute thing. And I'm glad they ride with me.

Posted by Colin J Allen at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have a question that I ask people. It is a good question, because no matter what, no matter how much you resist, you get sucked into a long and drawn-out discussion, that is almost guaranteed to be entertaining. It is, in short, the perfect question. But all things have an expiration date, and it is time that this one goes on the shelf. I am retiring my favorite question.

It all started with a This American Life show on superheroes. In it, one of the TAL reporters, John Hodgman—more popularly known as the PC guy in the Mac ads—had this question that he would ask at parties. Ask the question, and just like water to a sponge, the conversation blossoms. Let's get this question of of the way right now. The question is:

Given the choice between flight or invisibility, what would you choose?

If you have not heard this question, you must now take a break from this reading and go ask someone this question. Go right now, and ask someone, ideally a random stranger, and come back when you have an answer. Really, go do that right now, and come back when you are done.

Wasn't that fun? Wasn't that so much better than asking about work, majors or, not to put too fine a point on it, most anything else you can thing of? This is the allure of the question.

I've toned down the use of this question, but it came up twice this week in passing. On one occasion, I was talking about the purchasing process at thesuperhero store in Brooklyn, where you have to say your superhero name to buy things, and hence you need to have a some sort of moderate background story to support that name. So when I buy my McSweeney's, I tell them my name is Subway man, and I have the power to control all the trains in New York. While I think that this is a suitable superpower, the crowd was unimpressed, which lead to a general superpower discussion, and inevitably, the question.

Last night I was telling my friend how I got called on this question—someone actually had listened to the above radio show—unfortunately, one of the people in the group had not heard it, and we got sucked into the conversation again. My poor girlfriend and one of my best fiends had to again be sucked into the unavoidable superhero discussion. And for that, I am not proud.

I am sad that there exists not a better question, but I've tapped this question out. I vow from here on out to not ask anyone the question.

Posted by Colin J Allen at 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Another big Tuesday vote day tomorrow, and I have this feeling that it will decide nothing. I do not mean this in the Russian sense with the token Medvedev election last weekend. No, I mean that tomorrow will be another gut-wrenching example of a full-on contest that is going to go on till every state has voted, and then maybe a bit more than that, just for good measure.

This morning I was talking to one of friends about how I am feeling about this never-ending best-election-ever situation. I came up with an analogy: this Democratic nomination is like The Ashes if the cricket match were to last, say, months, and I were to care about cricket. Both have oblique and seemingly non-sensible rules and it is hard to tell who is winning, even if you know what is going on.

Even though I know the race will go on, I still have a knot in my stomach because I want my side to win. Tomorrow will not be the end of the game, but the score will be different, and that my friend, is exciting. I best get some sleep so I can see how my old state votes. Don't mess this up, Texas.

Posted by Colin J Allen at 11:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I'll leave all the facts and figures to the news organizations, but I would like to put it out there that Super Tuesday officially marks this as the best election ever. This is the first time that I can remember where I am going to be fully satisfied whoever wins the Democratic nomination, and I have a gut feeling that whoever wins will be rallied behind by most everyone in the liberal spectrum.

What is going on here? Where is the usual liberal splintering and disillusionment that I have grown so accustomed to? What, is there no Deanesque— or should I say Huckaberryesque&mdash:candidate to siphon off the party's enthusiasm? How the heck did MoveOn choose a candidate that could actually, realistically, win the nomination? By some great stroke of luck, the famous Democratic tendency towards self-destruction has been corralled and transformed into a positive force. More voters and more excitement is now being put into the selection of one of two very similar, mainstream candidates.

And you know what? I know that it'll get ugly one of these days, but it is great to see an election being played by increasing the vote count rather than dropping it.

This makes me feel better about not being confident of whom to vote for the morning I woke up. I have been leaning towards one candidate, but I am not at all upset to learn that my state was won by the candidate I did not vote for. I can be happy with the outcome, whatever it may be. Guilt-free wonkness. Awesome.

As far as the Republicans go, there nomination process looks very similar to what lead to John Kerry. I will be interested to see if they can rally behind a moderate. Stranger things have happened, but the one of biggest lessons of four years ago is that people vote for candidates, not against the alternative. Obama or Hillary hate alone will not be enough to win the election.

Comments anyone?

Posted by Colin J Allen at 10:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Now that there has been a day for everyone to absorb one of the best Superbowl games ever played, I just want to put it out there that I am very let down by the poor ads this year. I will admit that dinosaur size pigeons were pretty good, but all said, the ads were all a bit timid and stale. The just keep going down hill in quality, in general goodness.

Where is the Bud bowl of today, I ask? Beer cans playing football, that is all I ask for. I fear that the Bud Bowl would never make the cut. Is it too risky in this post-wardrobe malfunction era for a beer company to so directly advertise its wares?

Time to move on. Big day tomorrow. Election post to come soon.

Posted by Colin J Allen at 11:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

One of the interesting things I read today, alongside a tragic Hollywood death, the distinct possibility of global economic mayhem, the painful slow-motion collapse of lower-tier presidential campaigns and a new and shocking reaction to collective punishment upon a nation-state, is this article I read about how some of the highest quality fish out there, bluefin tuna, is filled with high levels of mercury.

On a personal level, Sushi gives me much joy, it saddens me to read that some of the best tasting items on the sushi menu are bad for you. Take away the thermometer fixings and the whole menu happens to be both good tasting and good for you. If the best of the best has quicksilver in it, I can't but wonder if the fish in my pay-scale come equipped with some type of heavy metal. One more thing to keep in mind for this omnivore's dilemma with seafood. (Say, for example, that whole, we-humans-are-eating-too-much-fish issue.)

What got me thinking is this nifty graph that came with the article. To research this, I suspect that the reporter used this as an excuse to eat at some of her favorite sushi joints at lunchtime. I envision her walking around midtown and snaking on an apparently dangerous number of bluefin nigiri, for a few weeks , all the while pocketing one or two pieces from each joint to give to the scientists. Doing this on a reporters budget, she'd probably skip the amazing places like Masa, and stick to the places that are either good or excellent....

I decided to make the following mashup to see if my theory is correct:

Quicksilver and Stars, an Unscientific Survey & Mashup

After doing all that cutting and pasting, I'll let you make your own conclusions.

Posted by Colin J Allen at 3:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The couch is in the house, and it is a great thing. It is big, it is soft and it is unquestionably the highlight of our rumpus room. Looks like I need to spiff up the rest of the house, just so the couch does not stick out as out as one nice item in the house. That is a problem that I am happy to have, as I am sure that my swaddled pillows contraption came with no notions of comfort, let alone class.

Well, here it is:

Yes, that is fake stone behind the couch. A good number of our walls are going through some sort of identity crisis. Another entire wall in the rumpus room has transformed into a mirror. That's right, floor to ceiling for a good two to three meters in width. (I did my best to cover most of it, but a full length mirror does come in pretty handy.) In the kitchen, the wall above the oven is pho-brick. That is, they took real bricks, cut off the brick's face and glued them upon the wall in a brick-like pattern.

I love the walls. In fact they are one of the bigger reasons we took our flat. I have no idea why I like them. Maybe it is just that they are so different from all those other walls out there. People just don't seem to put in as much effort into walls as they used to. It's a damn shame, too.

Posted by Colin J Allen at 4:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

If you read this site, you probably know that I am dating this girl Christy for a long time now. And if you know that, then you probably know that she spends a much of her time making art. I have been asked by many of you readers what this work looks like. Well, I now have an answer for you.

We have collaborated to make an official Christy Powers website, and it is now all spiffed up and ready for you to visit. All of the images have been loving optimized for your viewing pleasure. You can now make that Christy Powers studio visit from the comfort of chair where you now sit. I am betting that the site will inspire a few of you to come over to Brooklyn and check out her studio.

She loves to have guests come see her latest work. Feel free to drop her a line and make some plans.

Without any more delay, here is the link:

ChristyPowers.org

Posted by Colin J Allen at 11:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)