should have roofs? Sort of neat in concept, beautiful in execution, but in practice…? Kinda funny.

The New York Times recently invited readers to submit poetry using the financial crisis as inspiration. A few of my favorites:

Last weekend
i wanted to buy something
spend a grand or two.
But then I remembered what the tv said
about the future
about tomorrow
about how I may not have a job.
So I sat by the window
and watched
the snow fall instead.

— Thomas Bernard, Charlotte, N.C.

Got no money coming in
so easily we turn to sin
Every day we reminisce
how did life end up like this.

Winters death lets hibernate
wake with spring to meditate
On what is real and what is fake
No more shopping for goodness sake
Back to the land, back to the earth
lets show mother nature what were worth.

— Christopher D Hayward, Southampton, NY

Newly poor
the well-to-do’s
concern about poverty
is sparked anew.

— Gerry, Brooklyn

Beautiful stop-motion video for Oren Lavie’s Her Morning Elegance.

There was an article in New York magazine recently about the tech wizards at the New York Times Online finally getting their time in the sun (and desks at the main headquarters) for keeping the paper afloat and being largely responsible for infusing the Online edition with heart, art and depth. They were behind the even-handed, mesmerizing, often-shocking Word Train on the day of the election:

but have really been crafting amazing interactive graphics for a good while now. Like many a media-obsessed New Yorker/workaday procrastinator, I trawl the Times Online for interesting bits and bobs throughout the day and I’ve been especially impressed by my findings as of late across all sections of the paper. There was this lovely blog post (if you can really call it that) by Maria Kalman following the inauguration:

or today’s Abstract City post: I Lego NY (I love this!):

It’s nice to see a touch of whimsy these days when everything else seems to be doom and gloom with a side of gloom. Keep it up, NYT.

This astute little commentary on men’s modus operandi just came my way: “I do understand a bit about how they operate…at least ones as highly evolved as I am.  We continue to communicate [with women] like mice circling a cheese-filled maze looking for a doorway in.  When no one answers we eventually move on to another maze. If we find a weak floorboard, though, we keep nosing at it until it gives way and we gain entry.  In the meanwhile we share emotions and try to make them laugh.  It breaks down the natural defenses and before you know it we are munching cheese…”

- Anonymous mouse

What newfangled innovation will the Dutch come up with next? This simple little font from Netherlands-based agency Spranq uses 20% less ink which means fewer ink cartridges end up in landfills. Not as nifty as the iPhone level app but still pretty neat.

Portland, OR band Horse Feathers’ newish release, House With No Home. A little light acoustic guitar and violin to ease us all back to the grind.

In no particular order and attributed to no one in particular for these purposes…

- Be less judgmental

- Get out of debt (for real this time)

- Quit smoking

- Get a job

- Prove that cigarette smoking is healthy in the New England Journal of Medicine

- Get married (just kidding!)

- Get a divorce (within reason… welcome to America)

- Be better about posting things of worth to my blog

- Listen to my heart

- Stop picking on [my boyfriend] for his clothes and oversized jackets

- Quit fucking smoking

- Get a job

- Keep things I’m proud of going (maintain)

- Figure it out (!!)

- Stop taking work so personally– less anxiousness and terror

- Continue to grow

- Live fearlessly

(an aside: I have no idea what the above picture was doing on my phone. I think it might have something to do with being intoxicated and feeling sorry for myself. And maybe a little bit curious about what happens to people’s taste when they get engaged: does it disappear overnight like their ability to make out with randoms on New Year’s and go to sleep when the sun comes up…?)

Love ya, Linds.

These are mine.

(Oh hush, they were on major sale.)