Baltimore - 3rd Worst Dressed!

The only surprise is we weren't number one.

I'm pretty sure Mullets are still popular in some Northern Bmore areas....

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Tardis in Hampden?

I dunno...can't imagine it'd be this conspicuous ...

Taken in around the corner from my house!

Hellooooo David Tennant!

The Typeface LOVE Connection!

Please, fonts have feelings too you know! They also have personalities.
(Except for Comic Sans and Papyrus - they are each dumb as bricks).

So what happens when a font gets lonely?

Enter the Type Connection! As her final thesis for a M.F.A. from MICA, Aura Seltzer designed an online dating game for typefaces!

From her site:

Type Connection is an online game that helps users learn how to pair typefaces. Like a conventional dating website, Type Connection presents potential “dates” for well-known, workhorse typefaces. Users are matchmakers. They decide what kind of match to look for by choosing among several strategies for combining typefaces.

Brilliant! The accompanying exhibit is now closed, but the website is still up.
Help out some wanting typefaces!

And here's the story behind the project at Felt & Wire!

Bmore is Hipster Heaven!

Well, okay, maybe No. 24 in all of America - but it mentions Hampden! Woo!

From Travel and Leisure:

No. 24 Baltimore

The Station North area has long been the city’s arts district, but you might find more of Baltimore’s quirkiness around Hampden. It’s the site of bar Rocket to Venus, shoe-and-chocolate emporium Ma Petite Shoe, and Atomic Books, where veteran hipster and filmmaker John Waters picks up his fan mail.

P.S. Number 1 is too Mainstream.

Via KIM!

Mmm...Beer Floats and Boozie Popsicles!

I like Guinness. That and Smithwick's are my most favorite dark beer to curl up with in the winter. Something about the stew-like consistency warms my heart when it gets chilly outside!

But now that's it's summer (hello 80º!) what's a girl to do?

What about a Guinness Beer Float!
Or perhaps a Witbier with Raspberry Sorbet?
This and 5 other tasty float recipes are listed on the Kitchn site!

Or better yet, "Dirty Pirate Popsicles"!
Made with Coke, Rum and Kahlua!

I tell you what... if our Hampden Ghetto Ice Cream Truck (TM) carried either of these babies, I'll be running after the truck like my life depended on it (instead of running in fear....)!

Both via 
Oh, and here's a posting of the Hampden Ice Cream Truck driving by...
And the Hampden Ice Cream Truck twitter feed...

Get on da bus! The Go-Go thrifty shop bus!

Photo by Andy!

Completely caught off guard to get my picture taken... but Stacy is a natural!

This image from Baltimore Sun

My early Saturday mornings usually consist of not washing my hair, putting on some schlubby clothes and dashing my Etsy goods to the post office unseen by the public. So when, bleary-eyed, Andy and I stumbled down the avenue,  it took a few minutes to register what I was looking at.

This was no fuzzy nightmare of middle school...this was a fantastic school bus filled with thrifty goodies! Swoon!

Now I'm a pretty bouncy person, but the owner, Stacy, completely eclipsed me. Maybe it was because she just quit her day job? (YAY!) or because she had the most adorable puppy-in-a-basket to keep her company!? Either way, I had a great time browsing through the awesomeness. Even Andy enjoyed his time by petting the pooch and adding dry erase graffiti on the ceiling!

Check out the Go-go's Retread Threads bus stop schedule here!

Some other linkies:
Go-go's bus at Honfest! And at Hampdenfest! (How did I miss this!??? Oh wait... I was probably highly intoxicated. Nothing says "Yay Neighborhood" than drinking in public!)

Did I mention I love how random Hampden always seems to be?

National Pinball Museum is Open for Business!

After relocating from Georgetown and months of waiting, the greatness has happened!
The National Pinball Museum Grand Opening is Today!

Where you can bask in the greatness of the best pinball machine there ever was: Addams Family! You know what I'm talking about. Thing that jumps out and grabs the ball? The Electric Chair? The "Oh, Gomez"? The crazy setup? Excellent.

They've got others, but who cares about Avatar Pinball. Can I dig for unobtainium? No? Not interested.

But can you hear the choir? Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Poop Coffee at Zeke's this Weekend!

By now you've probably heard of Kopie Luwak-civet coffee... the MOST EXPENSIVE COFFEE IN THE WOLRD! No? You mean you haven't heard of the Monkey poop it comes from?

I kid you not.

Let me tell you a little story of the Asian Palm Civet (the monkey culprit above). This scavenger scours the jungle eating the sweet red coffee beans he finds....then, yep! Poops out the undigested coffee beans!  Then some entrepreneurial genius gathers the poop, cleans it (tho never enough for my tastes),  grinds the digested coffee beans and charges outrageous amounts for it! Joy!

Boing Boing describes it best:

humans discovered that the enzymes in the civets’ tummies break down the coffee’s bitterness, leaving behind an extremely delicious pooped bean. 

I tell you all this because Zeke's, the best coffee in the known universe, is having a Tasting Event for Kopi Luwak this weekend!

I may need someone to come with to hold my hand...

And because I may have inadvertently destroyed your appetite, here's a cute kitty in a coffee cup as an apology:

Mr. Alamo Drafthouse Goes to Washington!

DiG just sent me over the good news!

Alamo Drafthouse is planning on opening a location in DC!

Huzzah!

We love them because:

a) They have silly clips before movies, like this one with Monkeys!

b) They sometimes do a Rolling Roadshow, like the Dusk till Dawn Bad Taste John Water's Marathon in Bmore!

c) They LOVE stupid people!

A bit about them from their site:

The Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas provides a unique combination of theatre and restaurant, showing first-run & independent films and special programming events with an extensive menu made from scratch in a state-of-the-art culinary kitchen. Customers order all food and drinks from servers who quietly attend to them throughout the movie.  Handcrafted, specialty beers are available on tap, including The Drafthouse’s own signature ale brewed locally. 

Customers are encouraged to arrive early to enjoy the pre-show entertainment. Instead of a barrage of advertising, a pre-show of rare and hilarious clips are shown that change on a regular basis, often tailored specifically to the feature film. The pre-show adds to the overall Alamo experience where patrons can look forward to arriving early to catch it.

This is THE place to visit in Austin, where Weird Al, Elvira and Broken Lizard regularly visit and the Butt-Numb-A-Thon is held each year!

Wonder what the first movie will be....

Link

Kitchen Nightmare comes to Cafe Hon!

Am I gonna watch THIS!!!

Image Stolen from City That Breeds

Gordon Ramsay is coming to Cafe Hon to whip it into shape! Yeah. Don't know how this is gonna work, since... oh.... Gordon can be a bit, uh, "confrontational" and Denise is a bit "stubborn". And by confrontational and stubborn I really mean this is gonna be no holds barred, beast vs. beast, all out war!

On the airing date, I'm planning on going to Hon Bar, drink a resurrection, put my feet up and watch the place burn. Gonna be an awesome night!

Link to Sun Paper
Link to City that Breeds (excellent reading btw)

Hurricane Irene? Such a wuss.

For those on the East Coast, thought I would share some gems:

Reporting from 1/2 mile from my house, this girl sums it up just right. via


As always, the Oatmeal is RIGHT on target:

Hope everyone is okay and your internets are back up!

Lost City Diner is FINALLY Open!

Score! Remember that boarded up corner of Charles and Maryland? Near the Depot and Charles Theater? You know, the one for years looked like a bomb shelter or foggy real-estate deal gone sour? (See original Google Street View below).

Well, according to Facebook and Shine Collective, the Lost City Diner has finally strut it's stuff!

Shine goes on to suggest "they were waiting so long because every piece in the restaurant had to be authentic to the 30′s Sci-Fi theme". I don't know if I believe it, but this Culture Vulture is gonna go check it out! B-more needs more places like this!

P.S. top photos from Shine Collective!

Tomorrow is Etsy Craft Party!

Awww yeah! It's an all out Etsy party across the globe!

From Etsy:

It's time to celebrate! Last year's first-ever global Craft Party was so much fun, we've decided to orchestrate it again this year on Friday, June 10, 2011. No matter where you live or what you love to make, you are invited to participate. Musicians, painters, sculptors, photographers, farmers, hackers, gardeners, designers, jewelers, bookbinders, printmakers, teachers, makers and doers of all stripes, as well as art enthusiasts, curators, vintage lovers and supporters of the independently made, we're calling on you! We challenge you to meet your neighbors and come together to make something surprising.

Me and some craft-time buddies will be at the Baltimore Meetup at MICA - you should come too! (Not to worry if you don't have crafts, Etsy will be supplying some fancy schmancy bmore projects like "funky make-your-own hon glasses"...)


Details:

• Friday, June 10, 2011

  5:00 PM
  

  Selected by: Jen Menkhaus

• MICA, Fox building, rooms 214, 215 & 218

  1300 W Mt Royal Ave, Baltimore, MD 21217
  

  Selected by: Jen Menkhaus

Links:
Etsy's Party Info / Bmore Etsy Meetup / Party Goodies! Etsy Craft Party Kit

Food Trucks Hit Baltimore!

Finally catching up to the Food Truck craze, albeit a few years later, Miss Shirley's will soon scoot around town!

From the BBJ:

...the truck will eventually begin to set up shop in the surrounding Baltimore suburbs. The truck will feature Miss Shirley’s menu items, such as crab cakes, sweet potato fries, Maryland omelets, blueberry pancakes, California chicken BLT and fried-green tomatoes.

The daily location of the food truck will be announced on the restaurant’s Facebook page.

And because it's Baltimore, there's a controversy. OH BOY!

Actually, I'm pretty excited. The food is amazing and the lines to get in are always ENORMOUS ('specially since they stopped allowing the FourSquare Mayor to be seated right away.... balls).

Thanks Howard for the link!

Small Foods 2011!

It's a Food Party Ya'll!

Baltimore's best and only celebration of the delicious world of petite edibles, the annual Small Foods party, is Saturday, FEBRUARY 12th, 2011! Please bring your Small Foods offering with enough to share, and any beverages you wish to consume. Have fun experimenting in your tiny kitchens!

In addition to food samplings from you and your Baltimore friends, there's prizes! Like... The Golden Toothpick (mini-sized versions of real foods), Bright Idea (most creative) and Yummo! (deliciousness) Awards.

A video and Some pics from last year:

My stomach is rumbling for teeny food! Must devour SMALL ITEMS.
Where?

The Whole Gallery
H&H Building, 405 West Franklin St.
Baltimore, MD


More info:

There is no need to sign up, just show up! We only ask for a very small suggested donation of two dollars, so that we can throw the band and the space some thank you money! A couple of helpful tips: 1. Make as many of your Small Food as possible. The more people get to try your entry, the more people will want you to win! 2. Judging will begin promptly at 9:30. No entries will be accepted after this point! Make sure to arrive early enough for folks to get a taste!

See you there!

Beef and Pie Productions: Drs. Woolf & Woolf Animated Eyechart!

Really wonderful graphics from Beef and Pie's latest and greatest commercial for Drs. Woolf & Woolf Optometrists! Makes me think of vintage diners and great eyecare ;)

Here's what Beef & Pie has to say:

So Beefy’s Dad is an optometrist. His grandmother and grandfather were optometrists.  Beefy’s brother is an optometrist.  Beefy was supposed to be an optometrist. Now he just makes ads for optometrists.

Animating an eye chart was an ad idea kicking around in his head for years.  But it was Christian Helms’ design and Brandon Thomas’ animation that made that glimmer in his eye a reality.

It's always impressive to see what they're up to down in Austin. 

Def check out the whole animated enchilada on Beef & Pie's Site Here

And you may recognize the T-Shirt winner of 2007....

As of Last Thursday... "HON" is trademarked...

Hey Hon!

If you're at all familiar with Hamdpen, you're familiar with "our" colloquial term: Hon!
As in...

These are Hons:

This is Cafe Hon:

And this is Denise Whiting, the owner of Cafe Hon... 
Who just trademarked the three magic letters h-o-n.

So now anytime Baltimore, MTA, or really any non-profit wants to use the term "Welcome to Baltimore, Hon!" They now owe to the lady!


Smart financial move? Or has she finally gone too far?
(she's already on a Bmore s*** list for the flamingo shenanigans)

I plan on Trademarking "Hi there!" and "Sweetie!"
Don't be a hater cause you didn't think of it first.

Crap...does this mean since I used "hon" in my post, I owes royalties to Denise?


Article on Explore Baltimore via Andy!
AMAZING Baltimore Sun Article
Counterpoint Article from Benn Ray (of Atomic Pop) 


photos via / via / via 

All About Evil was All About Awesome!

In the true form of Midnight Movie Camptastic-arie, "All About Evil" spewed blood and comedy, as only drag queen Peaches Christ can!

I usually don't do "movie reviews" but, after just watching this movie at the Creative Alliance, I felt it was my duty to spread a little praise!

Going in, I knew nothing of Peaches Christ or her Midnight Mass in San Fran. The aeronautically tattooed girl next to me filled me in on the 4-D revelry at those "events" (we're talking live actors and clever antics). Whatever my expectations were, I was not disappointed! We saw dance numbers and characters interacting with the audeinece. And with Peaches (a.k.a. Director Joshua Grannell) being from Maryland and Mink Stole being in attendance, we gave them a hearty Bmore welcome!

The movie itself was camperific. Reminding me of the low-budget films of the 70's, the acting was way over the top! It was funny to see Cassandra Peterson (Elvira!) play a mom (which was a clever inside joke we COMPLETELY missed until they rolled credits). And Natasha Lyonne was hilarious as a complete nut-case inspired by great leading ladies (look for Mae West and Bette Davis as inspirations!).

There were some great scenes about "silencing your cellphones" and Winter-Summer relationships (say what?). All in good fun! We found ourselves bouncing out of there with smiles on our faces. Can't wait to see Peaches next movie. Count me in!

Oh, and by the way, don't drink the kool-aid offered. You'll thank me later!

Selfish Post of the Day!

Feeling Opinionated?
Want to share your Bmore viewpoints?
The Baltimore City Paper just opened voting for Best of Baltimore Ballots!

Besides spots for "Best Politician in Need of a Slap Upside the Head" and "Best Drag Performer"...there's a special spot under News & Media:

BEST LOCAL BLOG!

Uh..yeah. Please vote for us.

(voting ends Sept 1!)

< ----- end selfish transmission here ----- >

Corrupt Politian Slinging Pizza at Tov Pizza!

Ahh... the spiraling celebrity downfall. Or in this case a corrupt politician.

Jack Abramoff, accused of defrauding Indian tribes out of "tens of millions of dollars", has come to Baltimore! Why? Something about a half-way house? But if you enjoy looks of disdain and shunning, I suggest celebrity stalking at the VERY orthodox Tov's Pizza.Just make sure you're fully covered...better yet, if you're a chick, send in a man instead.

(or am I getting this place confused with the shunning at Caramel's Pizza?)

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