it's the weekend, 'bout to have me some fun

Big weekend staring me in the face [my friend is turning the big 3-0], and I can't get R, Kelly's "Ignition" out of my head.

so...dirty....but so... catchy....

UPDATE: I hope my new white trunks don't turn see through when wet. WWRKD? what would r kelly do? Stay tuned.

after & after

Sifting through my rss feeds, I ran across my [talented] ex gf and her work on Design Sponge.

weird. and, big ups.

Dyson Fan Video

Dyson engineers put together this cool Rube Goldberg-ian balloon course to promote their new bladeless fan.

If I lay an Ok Go song underneath this, will it be the #1 video on YouTube this week?

Museum of London's StreetMuseum app

The Museum of London has developed an iPhone app that, among other things, uses geo tagging and Google maps to overlay historic paintings and photographs from their collection onto your iPhone as you walk through the city. So cool.

MOCA or LACMA - a little love?

Update :: An open letter to Eli Broad

Dear Mr. Broad,

A downtown Los Angeles version of this iPhone application would be a great way to promote your new museum. In addition to historic photographs and paintings, previz renders of your forthcoming structure could be overlaid in the app.

All of our best,

The staff at Helms-a-Lee

more than just tall white guys in short shorts

[from left to right]

+ Don Nelson - winningest coach in NBA history

+ Bill Bradley - Rhodes Scholar, three-term US Senator

+ Phil Jackson - all time leading coach with 10 NBA championships, currently at the helm of another Laker run

+ John Havlicek - 8x NBA Champion as a player, 13x NBA All Star

++ all four - in the Hall of Fame

New Edition + Lakers

New Edition wants you to root for the Lakers tomorrow. Virtuoso acting performances by Magic Johnson and Pat Riley start a minute and a half in.

Do Bell, Bivins, DeVoe, Tresvant and Brown still want to be the new Jackson 5?

Did weird tan vignettes = filmic language for dream sequences in the 80s?

Does Bobby Brown still do spontaneous split jumps when walking down the street?

Was Magic Johnson lip syncing or was that a deft slo-mo cheat of a "wooo!" by the editor?

Tomorrow, if it's all tied up at 124-124 with :12 left to play, will Phil Jackson ask Ralph Tresvant to suit up?

Happy Friday

Incomplete update to my SS10 soundtrack vetting process: Beach House's Teen Dream is officially in. I still can't get enough of it.

Photographer :: Lauren Steinberg

Friend of Helms-a-Lee Lauren Steinberg was asked to show a photograph of hers at Smashbox's group show MOPLA. One of the curators liked her piece enough to buy the print. Congrats, Lauren!

Numeral Delivery

I ran across this picture on Woodtyper. It's the "1" and "0" of "2010" being delivered, via pedicab, to Times Square for last New Year.

Just the Good Ol' Boys

Never meanin' no harm,
Beats all you've ever saw

Been in trouble with the law

Since the day they was born

we played Ninteeeeendoooooooo

For some reason this song has been stuck in my head the last couple days. Helms-a-Lee is taking it back to 1990.

It cracks me up that Another Bad Creation, Bel Biv Devo's protégés, were basically BBD, but 20 years younger. BBD dressed ABC up the exact same, did their hair the exact same, taught them the same sweet-ass danced moves, and so on.

Boys II Men, ABC, BBD, the east coast family. Never skipped a beat while coolin on South Street.

little gestures

My mom sent me this picture of a glass full of cherries in our backyard that my dad surprised her with this weekend. Her 'first cherries of Spring 2010'. They've been married for 45 years.

Speaking of the Ace..

Word on the street is that this picture I took of Ryan and Chad playing ping pong at the Ace last summer has been reposted all over the blogosphere. I've run across it on one blog. Funny how once you add something to the internet ether, it becomes everybody's.

Hey, if you're listening, I'm flattered.

Ace Hotel, here I come

I booked my room last night. The twins are turning 30. God help us.

oh la la!! regardez ça! regardez ça!!!

Last night, the Lakers' Shannon Brown came painfully close to making one of the most impressive dunks in recent memory. His hops are almost supernatural.

..which made me think of Vince Carter's dunk when he was on Team USA and he...jumped...over....a seven foot man and dunked . I love the French announcers... oh la la! regardez ça! regardez ça!

Something Else

Op-ed for NYT by Rick Moranis.

And now this is basically the only thing above the fold on Helms-a-Lee.

where cursors come from

Hank Jones 1918-2010

Reaching for superlatives, critics often wrote that Mr. Jones had an exceptional touch. He himself was not so sure.

"I never tried consciously to develop a 'touch,'" he told the Detroit Free Press in 1997. "What I tried to do was make whatever lines I played flow evenly and fully and as smoothly as possible.

"I think the way you practice has a lot to do with it," he explained. "If you practice scales religiously and practice each note firmly with equal strength, certainly you'll develop a certain smoothness. I used to practice a lot. I still do when I'm at home." Mr. Jones was 78 years old at the time.

From NYT

bless weekends like this

Friday

+ made dinner

++ ricotta and mint stuffed squash blossoms

++ rosemary and thyme rubbed filet

++ swiss chard and negi onion sauté

+++ thank you slake farms

+ out and dancing

Saturday

+ four hours of stand up paddle boarding

+ ping pong at the jack spade opening, Abbot Kinney

+ dinner in the hills

+ early to bed

Sunday

+ not so early to rise

+ NBA playoffs in bed

++ baked kale chips [toss in oil - i did sesame this time, salt, 350 for 13 minutes]

++ french pressed coffee

++ baked collard green chips [figured why not]

+++ thx slake farms, again

+ an IPA at LA Mill with ryan

+ walk around the reservoir

+ dinner on the west side with the crew at Paco's

+ early to bed

Monday

+ early to rise

no sailing this time, but here's to the weekend

cutting edge

only 15 lbs!

Knot Throwing

a quick way to tie a knot.

via Reference Library.

Nike's air is from top athletes

Pig Vomit

i'm going to stop there.

Thug Life

Very cool little site. First Born Multimedia lets you do pretty slick, live image texture mapping. You can control scale, opacity, redness, pics, designs.

From my friend Fred's blog.

Places in America Print

I just bought this print of a hand painted map of 'merica.

It comes with 100 orange pins to mark where I've been, one red to mark where I live, and one blue for where I'm from. What color do red and blue together make?

This is going either above my dresser in my room or in my office. We'll see where I'm inspired to pin it.

The Drums

if i saw these guys play live, i'd be a sweaty puddle of dance by the end.

spotted on South Willard

roll call y'all

The "Music" section on my myspace page (seems like ages ago) was always written in the style of WLUV's Mister Señor Love Daddy's roll call in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing. What a @*#!% good film.

Here he is, paying homage to artists who make our lives just a little bit brighter.

From your toes to your temples

I stand up paddle boarded for four hours Saturday. I earned this damn cookie and beer.

mugshot

from Take the Money and Run

High five! Very nice!

As our days get warmer, my thumbs are getting greener.

Last weekend, I built a little terrarium for my office, made collard green wraps and a kale/jicama/beet/turkey sausage/braggs stew, and sailed (that part's not necessarily 'green thumb').

This weekend, I'm attending a workshop put on by the lovely Tara of Silverlake Farms on how to build a Vegetable Garden at home. A party at the beach is also in the plans. Perhaps stand up paddle boarding in the Marina again.

[ click to see this animated gif in all its glory ]

Eno x Grizzly Bear / Phoenix

Fun idea.

Phoenix was asked by Grizzly Bear to remix "Foreground". They decided to leave it up to us to mix it with Brian Eno's "Canon in D Minor".

click here for a good time.

Up There - Hand Painted Murals

This is a good little documentary on the fading art of hand painted advertising murals. I love that we still have a lot of these LA.

Up There is a nice slice of life with a compelling story, and the cinematography is gorgeous - hit pause, and you're probably looking at a viable, printable photograph. However, the same guy directed, DP'd, and edited the piece, and this is a prime example of why you shouldn't try to do it all. The edit isn't near the level of the photography and direction. That being said, this is very much worth your 10 minutes!

UP THERE from Jon on Vimeo.

cupcake cannon

just b/c

+ slow motion video

+ 120 psi cupcake cannon

+ kickin beats

are fun