I’m feeling well rested after a long weekend of Frisbee-and-badminton-in-the-park, BBQ-eating-on-a-Monday, hikes-in-woods, Brooklyn-Bridge-walks, opening-night-of-off-off-off-Broadway-plays and everything-else-that-happened-this-weekend. Not too bad. A good way to start the new season.

So what do you plan to do this summer? Things are starting to shake up over here. Music, beaches, all sorts of fun stuff. I really should get my act together and write everything down on my calendar. The time for big plans is now.

All my friends keep doing inspirational stuff. Two of my friends have just pulled off a really good musical, albeit far off Broadway. Another has been recommended by Dave Eggers to be the managing editor of the hipster DIY magazine, Readymade. I have friends doing abstract art and friends doing figurative art, both very well. And sooner of later, one of my music friends may just get their 15 minutes of fame.

Well, that makes me exited. It's time to make some stuff! I have this new idea for t-shirt I am going to make. It’s going to have 26 images selected from the Merriam-Webster dictionary, one per letter… If I like it, maybe I’ll start up my own t-shirt line. Heck, now that I just finished my new brand new design of Allantartan.com I can start my own company. Too bad that tartans and silkscreens are as about as compatible as milk and lemon juice. Oh well.

Posted by Colin J Allen at 5:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's been a cold week folks up here in New York. This has been a bit of a bummer after I got my hopes up with all the nice weather in the last few weeks. I've been forced to bundle myself up to go out, when all I really want to do is wear flip-flops.

But the forecast is bright. It is supposed to be all nice and cheery for the Memorial weekend. Thank God for that. It looks like I'll be spending most of the weekend out doors either hiking or BBQ-ing in the park. Yay for three-day weekends!

As I feared in a previous post and as you probably know by now, the last of the Star War prequels is the best of the three, but there are better ways to spend your time. Like watching another movie.

Posted by Colin J Allen at 10:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So, um, how about that new Star Wars? Before you go see the movie, I wanted to share with you the most brilliant movie review I have read in a while.

Please take a sec and read it. LINK

Of course I am going to see Lucas's latest—it's mandatory right?—but a part of me wishes that these prequels were never made in the first place. It is time to move on Lucas.

Posted by Colin J Allen at 9:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Made it to down to Coney Island this weekend, before the place before it all gets crowded. Ah, the lovely beach. The water is still too cold to jump in so, instead of getting hypothermic, B____ and I went to the Aquarium. It's worth the visit. It has the usual fun and exciting sea fare that one expects; sea otters, sharks, turtles and the like, carefully partitioned to prevent one from eating another. Those guys were great to see, nevermind that unnerving feeling that I get in zoos that the animals, at least the smart ones, have figured out that despite the free food and all, they won't be getting out of their cage anytime soon.

The best exhibit was of jellyfish. My good friend Eric had made some paintings based off these jellyfish and I wanted to see what moved him so much to put brush to canvas. After visiting the exhibit, I can see why. These creatures are utterly beautiful and thoroughly odd. They are these undulating blobs of symmetry that just sort of hang out, eat the neighborhood's microorganisms, and sting the shit out of anything that comes near it. Simple, beautiful and violent to boot. How could you not be fascinated? You should see the jellies if you get a chance.

Also, I checked out the movie Crash this weekend. Good stuff. You should check it out if you are itching to make it into the theater before all Star Wars takes over all the theaters in the world.

Posted by Colin J Allen at 12:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There was this website that I signed up for a while back called dodgeball that had this nifty idea. Say you are out on the town at a bar, but you wanted to see if any of your friends were nearby, so that you could meet up with them. You flip open your cell phone, type in the appropriate message, and voila, you can find any of your dodgeball friends in a 10-block radius.

I like Google as much as the next guy, but I can't help to be moderately concerned that this very smart corporation can track my physical location. I bet with some quick coding, you could pretty easily align dodgeball with google maps and, voila! Colin-maps is alive.... All you have to is type my name and you can find me wherever I am, map and satellite image included (my girlfriend would LOVE this...) . They just did this in 24—but that was one, a tv show, and two, the military. To be able to get tracking services online and probably without charge would just be pretty nifty—and a little disturbing.

Posted by Colin J Allen at 4:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ah yes, Mexican revolution day. Good times. Good times. I always seem to forget to celebrate. It's not as if it's hard to forget when it is celebrated, but somehow I almost always manage to let the day slip by. But not this year. I will remember today, or should I say, I have remembered today. The remembering part is the hardest.

Same goes with Mothers Day, which I may point out is this Sunday. Plus, lest you not forget that this Saturday is your best opportunity to drink Mint Julips, with the big ol’ horse race down in Kentucky.

But before I stray from my point, we are talking about Mexicans and revolution here. I am about to go off and have a burrito for lunch, and I wanted to tip my large hat towards Mexican independence. Sure, it's not my liberty I'm celebrating, but why not have a Corona in the name of independencia, libertad and soberanía?
¡Viva el Andrés Manuel López!

The next 05/05/05 is in 100 years....

Posted by Colin J Allen at 1:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Alas, I have forgotten any profound thoughts of the day. But at least I found a few cool things online that I wanted to share.

Not to be a nerd or anything, but I must recommend that you play around with Google maps. The nerd community is all about this newish Google offering and a few programmers have already taken it to the next level. For one, one witty chap has taken the house listings from Craigslist and mapped them, so that you can see where that deal of an apartment really is. Or if you happen to be more in the mood for sightseeing, have a look at Google Sightseeing. I’m temped to look up where I used to work in New Mexico. (That’s Baldy Mountain, for those who know Philmont.)

I think that it’s time to see if I can scroll around the world. North Pole anyone?

Posted by Colin J Allen at 4:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Allen Tartan dot com is a go.

I am proud to report that I successfully acquired the package of tartan supplies yesterday from a surly FedEx worker, preventing it from being shipped back to Arizona yesterday. What a relief.

I now have in my possession more Allen tartan ties and scarfs than I know what to do with. I almost feel obliged to wear something tartan wherever I go. Maybe I'll get a designer friend of mine to make me a Kango-esque golf hat. I suppose now a fabric distributor, I can have the factory do it. What a novel idea.

Posted by Colin J Allen at 9:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Box number 838911571335 is sitting in a FedEx building waiting for me to get her today. At least I hope so. I almost lost her today at 9:07 AM when she was re-enumerated and assigned to return to the Arizona she came from. After a few frantic calls to FedEx, I talked them into holding my box for one more day. Lets hope that inertia, or the lack their of, wins out over FedEx's swift and efficient transportation system.

I have been foiled in getting this box of mine because I was helping a friend of mine haul his boxes from his old house to new one. My weekend was consumed by hauling his house innards across four states. (Let me remind you that this is the East coast we are talking about, one quick nap and you'll find that you completely missed a state.)

The move was actually was pretty fun. Good people, not too much stuff, and I got to drive the car. I wish the best of luck to Andrew, as he and his good friend start their very own design company, Rubber Steak. It looks like I may be heading up the web side of things, so you will probably hear more of this non-edible meat product line in the future.

But nevermind all that now. There must be something on your mind right now. What is in the box you ask?

Tartans!

We all love tartans. And if your last name is Allan or Allen—like most of my readers—there is now an easy one-stop shop for all your tartan supplies. Give thanks to my skilled mom for stepping up for all us Allens/Allans who never had anything to wear anything on tartan day.

Celebrate today and check out www.allentartan.com and www.allantartan.com. If I get the box today, then I'll be ready to take orders. Cross your fingers...

Posted by Colin J Allen at 3:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)