(photo credit)

I have become obsessed with pinball. No, really. It’s a tactile, sensual, exhilarating experience. It can be a natural, zesty enterprise; an addicting, magnificent, dominatrix of a mistress and I hate and love her so very much.

I’ll try any table any time… in fact it’s my goal to try them all. So far my experience lies mostly with Medieval Madness. Consensus is that this is one of the best pinball experiences out there, and coincidence has it living comfortably in the game room at Paul’s workplace.

It has two (2) pop-up wise-cracking trolls, a ton of multi-ball action, a destructible phallic castle with moving parts, giggle-inducing sound bites, and hilarious table art that rewards you for paying attention… ‘course you can’t really see the details while you play ’cause you’re too busy then!

Paul fanned the flames of his own pinball passion at this year’s NW Pinball and Gameroom show, and I can’t wait to see it for myself next year.

Since that is FOREVER away, I’ll probably force everyone to go with me to Shorty’s for my birthday in November.

As I explore, you’ll probably be seeing rants, reviews and relentless love shouting about this, the game called pinball.

To the normally fun loving, semi-gamey people who about pinball say “Eh… it’s just those flippers flipping and the ball zipping around, a bunch of noise and then down the drain goes the ball and my quarters with it,” I offer you:

How You Can Stop Not Loving Pinball

1. Pick a game at your local Pinballateria

2. Put in at least 3 games worth of moneys

3. For the first 2 games, you MUST allow the ball to bounce off the flippers at least once before you take action EVERY SINGLE TIME. (Like this: ball flies around, ball bounces on the flipper while you do literally nothing, ball rolls around, ball hits flipper again and THEN you may flip it. Repeat.)

4. Breath deep

This plan will help you see that in pinball as in life, good and bad things happen due to deliberate action, deliberate inaction, and gravity.

If this doesn’t work, call me up and we’ll go play together because I want to share with you the good news… the good news about what a relationship with pinball can do for your life.

Update: I’m a dork check out my cool chart:

Pinball resources after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

Ever wish you could see what it’d look like if you encountered a violently angry 4 foot tall Cookie Monster straining to take a crap in a winter wonderland full of toddlers? Sure, we ALL do. Let me make it about to happen:

clicky.

Believe it or not, i found these several clicks after a “Tom Waits” search… shrug.

UPDATE – Paul Googled Monsieur Weathers and found this beautiful thing right here:

If you do a lot of shipping, I suggest you read the rest of this article from the Consumerist. Straight from a Postal worker’s mouth, there’s advice to keep yourself from getting wallet raped at the Post Office.

Another random find from the “Everyone’s Uploads” section of the Flickr home page.

It’s not just the shirt, or the beer, or the scar that makes New Santa great. It’s that I think he’s leering at unsuspecting females that kicks this one into fabulous. Clicky.

Inspiration to combine my love of shiny garbage and broken toys with felting has had some interesting results. This guy is just a sneaky peek at what I’ve been working on.

That’s a discarded pinball lightbulb in his head, and a nut (sans bolt) on his tummy.

One of the challenges and biggest learning opportunities of these mixed-media pieces has been to secure all objects only with the needle and wool. I’m going to have to start calling myself a fundamentalist at this point with the crazy obsession with the “purity” of my work. I’m oddly dedicated to the exclusion of sewing, embroidery, glue, etc, which means keeping the foreign objects securely in the sculptures has been work… but well worth it.

More to come.

Thanks for coming everyone. We had such a good time! Thanks also to Stitches for hosting this Urban Craft Uprising and Schmancy sponsored Craft Magazine spectacular.

See more photos on Flickr!

Come play with us as Urban Craft Uprising hosts our very first CRAFT magazine release party! Join us Sunday, September 7th, 12 – 3pm ahem, 1 – 4pm, to celebrate.

CRAFT 08 has a focus on weaving, so we’ll be right at home at Stitches – the ‘not just your typical fabric store’ in Capitol Hill. We’ll have free hands-on craft projects including paper looms from the mag and Kristen Rask from Schmancy will be there to teach us how to make button rings. (I’ll be doing demos of my Felted Flower Flair Kit, also featured in the magazine.)

When you add in the snacks, door prizes and the irresistible fashion fabrics, notions, and yarn at Stitches, you have a must-attend event on your hands! We hope you’ll stop in, have some nibbles, and CRAFT with us.

i found a bag of airport, government and various municiple toy vehicles at goodwill. i peeled off the decals of the now-defunct airline, grabbed up some sharpies and went to town.

now when i put on arrested development, i can play too! wanna hop on?

what is in these chips
that i’d cheapen my blog with
snack food poetry?