Last week, the hilarious comedy troupe Improv Everywhere hijacked a carousel. I am a devoted fan of Improv Everywhere, who have pulled off such stunts as a public figure-skating display during which one man slips and falls all over the ice while romantic music plays, and the invasion of a subway car by Darth Vader and assorted characters from Star Wars.
"We try to keep the focus on doing something positive rather than something negative," says founder Charlie Todd. "We want to create scenes of chaos and joy."
The carousel, however, has a magical, feel-good quality that seems exceeds all others. Why is that? Is it simply by virtue of the fact that a giant bunny wins a horse race? Is it the dramatic slow-mo finish? In the other videos, I noticed there's a period of adjustment during which the crowd of adult spectators need to observe, digest, and understand that what is happening is a public prank. Then and only then do they react with laughter. But in the carousel scene, the adults plunge into the spirit of the enterprise almost immediately even more so than the kids, who seem perplexed, but willing to go along, slapping their animals into "galloping."
There is something so wonderful in watching grown-up people play as if still in preschool, where all of us were allowed to be firemen or doctors everyday. I plan on spending the rest of the afternoon at my desk with a thick layer of sunscreen on my nose and my sunglasses down over my eyes, playing lifeguard-at-the-beach.
Read More: Laugh Until You Laugh... What's Your Emotional Age?
The carousel, however, has a magical, feel-good quality that seems exceeds all others. Why is that? Is it simply by virtue of the fact that a giant bunny wins a horse race? Is it the dramatic slow-mo finish? In the other videos, I noticed there's a period of adjustment during which the crowd of adult spectators need to observe, digest, and understand that what is happening is a public prank. Then and only then do they react with laughter. But in the carousel scene, the adults plunge into the spirit of the enterprise almost immediately even more so than the kids, who seem perplexed, but willing to go along, slapping their animals into "galloping."
There is something so wonderful in watching grown-up people play as if still in preschool, where all of us were allowed to be firemen or doctors everyday. I plan on spending the rest of the afternoon at my desk with a thick layer of sunscreen on my nose and my sunglasses down over my eyes, playing lifeguard-at-the-beach.
Read More: Laugh Until You Laugh... What's Your Emotional Age?
 | I
want the tree that stands / in the earth for the first time / with the sun
already / going down / and the water / touching its roots / in the earth full of
the dead / and the clouds passing / one by one / over its leaves — W. S. Merwin |  |
Lernert & Sander: Natural Beauty on Nowness.com.
Ever wonder how much makeup you slather on in a year? Two Dutch artists--Lernert and Sander--set out to answer that question by directing a short film entitled, "Natural Beauty," starring Belgian supermodel Hannelore Knuts. They applied 365 layers of Ellis Faas makeup in one day. It took seven bottles of foundation, two bottles of cream shadow, three lip glosses, and two bottles of liquid blush, and NINE HOURS of non-stop work to get the job done. (Knuts--with her head fixed between two panels--drank her yogurt lunch through a straw all in the name of beauty and art).As I watched the layers of foundation melting off her face I wondered--do I really use this much makeup over the course of the year? How much do I actually pile on every morning in an attempt to look like I'm not wearing any at all? If only I had kept a tally of how many bottles of tinted moisturizer I'd gone through in 2010. (I'm just about at the bottom of my first bottle for 2011). What are we really trying to cover up? Why do we feel the need to mask our natural beauty on a daily basis?
What about you? Where do you stand after watching this? And what makes you feel beautiful?
Keep reading:
11 Ways to Feel Beautiful (And not one involves more makeup)
[via Nowness]
| Photo: Thinkstock |
Wrong, wrong, 500 times wrong, says Kelly Reynolds,
Ph.D., an assistant professor of microbiology at the University of
Arizona. While the
floor may be crawling with 1,000 bacteria per square inch, the sink
typically
hosts around 500,000 bacteria per square inch -- and she's seen sinks
that had
millions more than that. "The sink is a ready source of bacteria just
from
washing off hands as well as food, which may carry fecal bacteria." The
number of bacteria it takes to make us sick depends on the type, but
Reynolds says that it takes between 100 and 1,000 bacteria to transmit
salmonella, which is the most frequently reported cause of foodborne
illness.
Reynolds says our kitchen sinks are often dirtier than the toilets of public bathrooms, which may be regularly scrubbed with powerful disinfectants. "If you dropped something in the toilet at the gas station, would you rinse it off and eat it? Use the same mentality for your sink."
[Next: What to do if you drop food in the sink]
Men! What are they thinking? We can't always answer that, but we'll be posting our favorite glimpses into their world in this space every Thursday.
* We were already plenty impressed with the contents of Daniel Radcliffe's bookshelf, and now the Harry Potter star has impressed us with his candor and maturity about giving up drinking in August's U.K. edition of GQ: "There's no shame in enjoying a quiet life, and that's been the realization of the past few years for me. I'd just rather sit at home and read, or go out to dinner with someone, or talk to someone I love, or talk to somebody that makes me laugh." (via Salon)
* If you, like Englishman and baseball infographic king Craig Robinson, find America's pastime "endlessly fascinating," look at a few of the stunning images included in his new book, Flip Flop Fly Ball. (Deadspin.com; Amazon.com)
* We dare you not to smile while watching this video of a recent U2 concert in Nashville, where Bono pulled a blind fan from the audience to play "All I Want Is You" on guitar. (The Vancouver Sun)
* "It's more like I'm having an experience than making a picture." — Cy Twombly, RIP (NYTimes.com)
* We were already plenty impressed with the contents of Daniel Radcliffe's bookshelf, and now the Harry Potter star has impressed us with his candor and maturity about giving up drinking in August's U.K. edition of GQ: "There's no shame in enjoying a quiet life, and that's been the realization of the past few years for me. I'd just rather sit at home and read, or go out to dinner with someone, or talk to someone I love, or talk to somebody that makes me laugh." (via Salon)
* If you, like Englishman and baseball infographic king Craig Robinson, find America's pastime "endlessly fascinating," look at a few of the stunning images included in his new book, Flip Flop Fly Ball. (Deadspin.com; Amazon.com)
* We dare you not to smile while watching this video of a recent U2 concert in Nashville, where Bono pulled a blind fan from the audience to play "All I Want Is You" on guitar. (The Vancouver Sun)
* "It's more like I'm having an experience than making a picture." — Cy Twombly, RIP (NYTimes.com)
| Photo: Thinkstock |
| Love cannot survive if you just give it scraps of yourself, scraps of your time, scraps of your thoughts. — Mary O'Hara | |
| Photo: Getty |
The New York Times today reported on a story that makes you want to go up and down the sidewalks, shaking people's hands saying "Thank you. Thank you very much for being human." (One day, I am going to try this and see how it turns out.) Because no matter what we think about ourselves, there are people out there who change the entire futures of others.
Mariah Stackhouse, the only African-American qualifier in this week's U.S. Women's Open, started out her career as a middle-class youngster in Atlanta—which meant that she couldn't practice on the kind of expert, varied terrain that she needed to experience in order to improve. Enter 72-year-old Ralph Boston. Boston was a three-time Olympian in the long jump back in the '60s—when country club membership required not just money but also white skin.
"When I met Mariah, there was a lady running through my mind—my mother, Eulalia," says Boston. "She'd always tell me, 'Whenever you can open a door, you do it.' So basically I had to help Mariah, because people helped me."
So he enrolled Stackhouse as his "granddaughter" at the Canongate chain of private courses. From there, Stackhouse made a name for herself, earning her own club membership and entrance into Stanford University.
Which just goes to show you: Your mom may still nag you about wearing slippers in the winter. Your mom may fill up your voice mail, worried about buying Christmas pageant tickets in the merry month of April. But when it comes to the big stuff—changing the world, giving not just when it's convenient but when it costs you—moms are the world champions.
| Photo: Courtesy of Sheyna.com |
Making your own jewelry can be a chance to express your creativity and personal style. But for those of us who don't have the dexterous hands of a jeweler, securing a clasp or tying a microscopic knot on a homemade bracelet or necklace can be more frustrating than stress-relieving. If you fall into the latter category, Sheyna.com, a design-it-yourself jewelry site, might be the perfect solution. With over 5,000 chains, charms, beads and stones to choose from, ranging in price from $5 to $5000, you can get your arts and crafts vibe going at any price. The best part: Clicking and moving your mouse are the only skills needed to design your dream jewelry. Just select individual pieces from the gallery (or a ready-made design from the shop that you'd like to alter) and pull them onto the drag-and-drop digital sketchpad. This tool even builds your jewelry on a budget—pricing out your bracelet, necklace or earrings as you make each addition. Blossoming jewelry designer? After you've finished your sparkly masterpiece, you have the option to publish it and share with other shoppers, or keep this one-of-a-kind creation for yourself. Sheyna's pieces are handmade by artisans from around the world and arrive on your doorstep ready to wear. It's official: DIY has never been easier.
Other DYO (design your own) jewelry sites we like:
- The bracelet building function on Pandora.net is particularly fun, and you can create everything from watches to rings.
- Charmed by Ingrid Anne offers adorable necklaces at affordable prices—the perfect personalized gifts for your friends.
What, you might ask, does all this have to do with making new friends? (And by friends we do not mean the ladies in your book group or the mothers of your children's friends or your neighbors or co-workers of your spouse. We mean grown-up, intelligent, just-for-you women who might just chat with you "about books and art and really mature things like slow cookers.")
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