Metropolitan lights during steep banked turn, raising from LaGuardia in a Canadair regional jet.

"Light painting" by Sean McCormick, photographer in the last issue of online photo zine, 28MM. Edited by Rachel James, this was an online photography magazine that was published from June, 2002 until October, 2004. Some great photography all in one neat little site.

Update: after some exploration, I also came across this interesting resource.

[via Josh Rubin: Cool Hunting]

Homage to Richard Avedon, born NYC, 1923 -2004. Photo: Ronald Fisher, Beekeeper.

Painting by Jonathan's father, Richard Lethem. Creativity must run in the family.

[via Lethem In Landscape]

Motherless Brooklyn

"Context is everything. Dress me up and see. I’m a carnival barker, an auctioneer, a downtown performance artist, a speaker in tongues, a senator drunk on filibuster. I’ve got Tourette’s. My mouth won’t quit, though mostly I whisper or subvocalize like I’m reading aloud, my Adam’s apple bobbing, jaw muscle beating like a miniature heart under my cheek, the noise suppressed, the words escaping silently, mere ghosts of themselves, husks empty of breath and tone."

Lionel Essrog is the narrator and protagonist of what is both a satisfying private eye novel, and a "serious" novel about betrayal, lost innocence and the struggle to make sense of an alien world. One of four orphans taken in by a Brooklyn Mob "wise guy", Lionel and his cohorts move stolen goods and provide other services to the Mob. When their boss is murdered, Lionel alone is compelled to find the truth.

Lethem has created a most unlikely hero for a hard-boiled crime novel, except in a post modern sense. You can't think about Motherless Brooklyn without thinking about Lionel's Tourette's Syndrome. Lionel's Tourette's has been used masterfully to create a frenetic gritty atmosphere, advance the pace of the novel, and to give Lionel a depth and reality that most contemporary characters lack.

Never one to plod along the ruts of conventional literary genre, Lethem has turned the detective story on its head in a way that should satisfy both noir private eye fans as well as fans of Lethem's other novels.

While not everyone liked it, many reviewers liked it a great deal.

You can buy it here.

If you like this one, be sure to check out Gun, With Occasional Music, another satisfying genre bending private eye/SF novel, Lethem's first.

Motherless Brooklyn, new noir classic by Jonathan Lethem.

Oscar Leker, gluebook from China.

Blow Your Mind, With Glue

Oscar Leker is a twenty something guy who lives in Lyon, France and glues stuff he finds into books. He creates incredibly varied works with found pictures, paper, writing, trash and things he creates himself. He's traveled extensively, creating works that are deeply influenced by his locale.

While Oscar is an enigma, he is collaborating with two other artists, Feike Kloostra and Linda Zacks who are a bit more accessible. After looking at this troika's work, I'm reminded of FOUND Magazine.

Check out Oscar's site, Blow Your Mind. He's got links to some other very interesting art sites.

[via Neurastenia]

Felke Kloostra, gluebook collaborator.

Linda Zacks, gluebook collaborator.

Jeff Roysdon is a comic artist with some way out art at reasonable prices. He's also got some cool Flash animations. (Since his site is all done in Flash, I can't provide a link -- you'll have to go to his site and find it yourself.)

[via Raymi]

Yeah! Raymi is back, mostly. She's not quite so obsessed these days -- she's got a job, living large and doing "wedgaoke". Rock on!

Almost 4 years ago a coworker showed me this. I was blown away by the flamboyance and style.

Coming across his site years later, I'm glad to see that he's still among us. He's won a Webby Award, raises donations for the recent hurricane victims.

Any cute girls who are looking for an imaginative free spirited guy should click here.

Dog blog Friday seems to have petered out, but here's another one of the beast.

Mingo dining room--note garage door, its wonderful in the summer.

Mingo kitchen crew.

Mingo bar.

Amy, Mingo waitperson extraordinaire.
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Beaverton Fine Dining -- Mingo

Yes, Beaverton and "fine dining" is an oxymoron, but Mingo certainly justifies the term. Opened a little more than a year ago, Mingo has become my favorite business dinner place. Mingo is a spin-off from Caffe Mingo located in the Pearl district of Portland. On several top-10 lists, the mother ship Caffe Mingo is sadly not perfect.

I've never had the pleasure of eating at Caffe Mingo, but I've found Mingo to be consistently good. Mingo is off of Hall Street north of the Beaverton/Hillsdale Hwy, in The Round. With a nice bar, interesting glass partitions, hand made paper lamps and one long wall made up of a few glass paned garage doors. My last visit a couple weeks ago, was Last Tuesday, and a beautiful Indian summer evening with the garage doors open to outdoor seating.

They have a great wine list with a number of smaller production wines. We had a very nice 1998 Barbaresco. My favorite appetizer is a great salad with thinly sliced cured beef and agrugula salad. There are lots of good main dishes, the halibut, and penne with a rich Chianti and espresso-braised beef sauce. My last meal was the lamb steak with roasted vegetables--not quite as tender as a chop, but much more flavorful. The daily special ravioli and risottos are good too. I've had the squash ravioli and it was great. The two best deserts (IMO) are the chocolate mouse and the panna cotta, especially the panna cotta . They also have good gelato.

While some have received less than perfect service, that's not been my experience. Amy was our waitperson on my last visit; she was knowledgeable, personable and efficient.

Secured bike, Dublin.