My friend Stacey lives in Minneapolis and luckily was not on the bridge over the river at the time of its collapse.

Which reminded me of the footage I’ve seen of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge (also known, ominously, considering its fate, as “Galloping Gertie”) tearing itself to pieces in a high wind in 1940.

I leave town for a week, with scant computer access, and it feels like my arm is missing or something. I guess that I could have sent short blog entries via my phone, and although at times it is satisfying to crystallize my thoughts into a 50-character limit, sometimes I just need free reign to blab.

Like now. So here I go.

First of all, I have some fun links to share. This is courtesy of Brett, who has been keeping up with my love-hate relationship with my treadmill. These dudes are infinitely more coordinated than me; it made me feel queasy just watching them. Also, notice how the film was shot in one take. Imagine how many times they must have practiced those moves and how many flesh-squished-underneath-treadbelt injuries must have occurred during said practice sessions…

Too bad this is already over… I think we might have been up for the challenge of making a 5 minute film entitled “Motherf***ing Wombats on a Motherf***ing Segway.” Thanks once again to Brett, who it seems is becoming a purveyor of all things hilarious on The Internets.

And from Leslie, The House on the Rock. Here’s the official website, but this photo gallery paints a much better picture of what it’s all about. I’m thinking that we need to plan a Crazy Shit Across America road trip.

I also want to share some nifty art that I found. The first image is from an artist named Karen Eastman, who does some really nice abstract nature-themed art. Some of it reminds me of my own art, some of it seems influenced by Georgia O’Keeffe.

This next artist, Philip Straub, does gorgeous digital paintings and illustrations. A lot of his work seems to illustrate magicial fantastical realms. It’s amazing eye candy. I could look at it for hours.

And last but not least for tonight, proof! I say PROOF! that playing Dungeons and Dragons is hazardous to your health — nay, your very LIFE and ETERNAL SOUL! Witness the following grainy image showing four innocent teenage girls on the path to darkness! You might want to shield your childrens’ eyes before looking!

This artist takes photographs of whole cities, composed of scale models of buildings that she builds out of jello.

this is real. it is not a joke, a hoax, a fabrication, or a composite image. it doesn’t exist yet, but it’s going to.

a glass-bottomed bridge will be built over the grand canyon, arcing 60 feet out with no support beams, letting visitors look straight down beneath their feet to the colorado river more than 1 km below.

yes, i totally understand the principles of cantilevering (thanks, frank lloyd wright) but that doesn’t make any difference when you’re 60 feet off the edge of a cliff with seemingly nothing holding you up — a la wiley coyote.

doc said “Just for fun, I would be likely to jump up and down on it to see how much it moved… But thats just me.” i reminded him that all spouses have a few “the hell you will” cards over the course of their lifetimes, and this would be one instance in which i would pull one out and play it.

suddenly, my idea about a glass bottomed airplane doesn’t seem so crazy.

My hip has been hurting for a couple of weeks now. You know that feeling when you use a muscle you haven’t used in a while, and afterwards it’s painful and sore? This is kind of the way my hip feels, except it’s really deep in there, right on the side of the bone; it feels like it’s maybe bruised on the bone or something. I don’t know if bones get bruised; it doesn’t feel like a pulled muscle, or a pinched nerve (believe me, I’m all too familiar with that). Anyway, it’s been hurting steadily for a few weeks, especially when I walk down stairs, or lie on that side. I wonder if I should get that looked at.

My desktop background right now is of a sunset scene on a beach in Australia, with cloud-to-cloud lightning in the distance. There’s a little strip of beach along the bottom of my screen, and my two printer icons look like they’ve been thrown off the back of a truck, sitting on the sand, waiting for the tide to come in and pour salt water into their little electronic guts.

So I get this catalog from a store called Design Within Reach. It’s home furnishings and furniture… all very modern… much of it retro/futuristic… all of it designed by famous designers… most of it made of plastic and u-g-l-y… and I’m not exactly sure whose “Reach” they’re referring to but you can buy what looks like a middle school plastic orange chair with metal legs for $200. Oh, excuse me, it’s a Herman Miller Eames chair, how hoity toity. Basically this stuff is supposed to be high end and high design, but it looks like crap you’d find at Eurway, and five times the price. It’s ridiculous. I mean, I’m all for good design, but I’m also all for comfort, good materials, and practicality. Call me lowbrow if you will, but I can’t see the value in a $400 set of plastic orange shelves , a $750 plastic outdoor sofa, or a $7000 white plastic chaise lounge. I am not completely biased, though; I do like the Akari freeform floor lamp (but $750? for fuck’s sake!) and a few other items.

I guess I’m just not a big fan of plastic fantastic, the savior of the 1950s, the modern space age material.

…and the Number 1 Sign You’ve Hired the Wrong Interior Decorator…

Thanks to Escher & Sons, you can no longer find your bathroom.