the people's republic...a photo blog

strange happenings in IC

2007-12-05T08:23:00.000-06:00

the other night, i decided i was going to cook dinner for us. this is a somewhat rare occurrence as i am generally relegated to prep work and R&D (finding new recipes), while M works her magic. well, i was in the mood for something spicy and decided to make my patented pad thai. to make this a reality, i was going to have to run to New Pi for a few things. this is all well and good, particularly since the Co-op is only about four blocks away, but it was raining/freezing outside. no big deal, i thought, just strap on the shoe chains and walk on down the road. trudging through the ice-covered sidewalks, even with chains, was truly an arduous task. as i was about a block away from home, i saw this brilliant flash of light across the sky - first turquoise, then red. at first i really thought i was hallucinating or something, but then it happened again. it was so bright that it reflected off the newly-fallen snow/ice in front of me. it was completely indescribable. seeing as how it happened just near sunset, i figured it was some phenomena related to that. i watched the news and searched online for any mention of it and there was nothing. very weird indeed.

anyway, i picked up what i needed and headed back home only to realize that i'd forgotten cilantro. shit! everyone knows you can't make pad thai without a little (or in my case, a lot) cilantro. M, like the trooper she is, said that she would be fine without, but i wasn't having it. so, given the difficulty with which i made the trip on foot, i decided to take the SUV (Specialized Über Velo?). now, i realize ice biking isn't for everyone, but it sure is a blast! i made the trip in a fraction of the time and kept reasonably dry, thanks to the good ol' Freddy Fenders. to make this 2nd trip even more worth it, i picked up some hot thai peppers to go with the cilantro. dinner was tasty and spicy, just how i like it. i decided to go with tofu this time instead of chicken and was glad i did. not only did i not miss the chicken, but not having to completely sterilize your cutting board/knives is sooo nice. cheers!

(here's a quick snap of the snow rig outside the Co-oP. no time for composition or quality when there's thai to be made.)

saturday afternoon bliss out

2007-11-21T11:36:00.000-06:00

every so often, i will set out on the bike with no particular destination in mind. with headphones and camera in tow, i'll just wander around and really take in the sights and sounds. i find this to be an activity best experienced alone. last saturday was just such an occasion.

boris

2007-11-07T13:20:00.000-06:00

this is Boris. he's a muskrat (or is he a groundhog? - you be the judge). his name is taken from the Melvins song of the same name. i'm pretty sure he's the one who has been eating our tomatoes all summer, judging by the guilty look on his face (and the half-eaten green tomatoes he was nibbling on just before i shot this picture a few weeks back). he's rather overweight and furry and sort of reminds me of a rodent version of Smokey. i haven't seen him around since this pic was taken, so i hope he's doing well - wherever he is.

stc

2007-10-02T08:43:00.000-05:00

here's a pic of Smokey doing whatever it is he does. wish i was doing that right now. i stayed up late last night trying to install fenders on my bike and i'm definitely feeling it this morning. i still couldn't get the rear one on right, but the front looks good. i'm hoping a little peaberry will change my outlook on the day. we shall see.

emperor tomato ketchup

2007-09-21T09:04:00.000-05:00

here's a pic of the latest batch of tomatoes from the massive garden we maintained this year. we planted seventeen tomato plants, a mix of heirloom and non, six thai chili plants and two habañero plants. the first frost of the year will inevitably come sometime very soon, so we're probably nearing the end of garden season, sadly. the farmer's market is still going strong though. and then there's the dozen or so jars of tomatoes we canned a while back, just waiting in the basement for their time to shine. how nice will it be to crack one of those babies open this winter when everyone else has to make due with the stuff from the supermarket? very nice, that's how.

food court

2007-09-20T08:25:00.000-05:00

in an earlier post, i said i would post follow up pictures of Mondough's renovations to the food cour...,er, i mean Ped Mall. well, here you go. the pics are of rather poor quality, but i thought that fitting. there, now don't you feel more "cosmopolitan"? i know i do.

i don't have anything further to say about it, so i'll just let you judge for yourself. it turned out just about as i thought it would. Here's the "before" photos for you to compare.

in an unrelated note, in the unlikely event you haven't heard the track "Paper Planes" by M.I.A., you should check it out, as it absolutely slays. i've been addicted to it for a while now. here's a video. you just can't beat a well placed Clash sample, now can you?

finally!

2007-09-13T08:33:00.000-05:00

beer enthusiasts all across Iowa have been waiting for this moment for what seems an eternity, myself included. no need to fill the trunk of your car with six packs when you head out of state on vacation anymore, for New Belgium Brewing has finally begun distributing in our fine state.

i can't remember when it was that i first had a Fat Tire or a Sunshine Wheat, but i think it was probably sometime around 1994, possibly while on Dead Tour. i remember how exotic it all seemed to me then, particularly the fancy bottles and elaborate designs on the labels. since then, i think i've tried nearly all of their brews and can say without exaggeration that they consistently brew some of the very best beer in the nation. my personal favorites are the Sunshine Wheat and the Abbey Belgian Ale.

for the first few months they're only selling a few varieties, and only in the "bomber" (22 oz) bottles. the Fat Tire bottles have a special Iowa-related label that reads, "FIGBRAI", or Fat Inaugural Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, a reference to RAGBRAI. soon, though, they will begin carrying a greater selection of the beers, including six packs, cases and kegs. hooray!

R.I.P. Michael Jackson, (1942-2007). i raise my glass to thee.

oh, and extra points to the first person who can correctly guess the (specific) location of the first picture.

the wrath of grapes

2007-09-07T09:07:00.000-05:00

do you ever notice how many wild grape vines there are in downtown Iowa City? it seems as though every old house downtown has some somewhere on the property. ours is no exception. in fact, we have some rather hearty grape vines of our own growing on an arbor in our backyard (these first pictures were taken a few months ago). i'm not sure how long they've been there, but the main stems are very woody and thick and they certainly produce a lot of grapes. when we moved into the house last year, i was concerned that the tornado damage might have wiped them out. thankfully that wasn't the case though. if anything, i think it just scattered more of them around the neighborhood. now they're all over the place and i find myself constantly having to remove them from the various new spots where they're trying to establish, the little bastards.

a few weeks ago they started falling off the vines with more regularity. it got to the point where you couldn't walk on the path connecting our patio and garage without smashing a ton of them under your foot. eventually, it started to smell like stale wine bottles back there and was attracting legions of flies, bees and wasps. something had to be done, so i got a step stool out and picked about seven gallon buckets of them this past monday. here are a few pics taken just before i picked them.

so, what are you to do with seven gallons of concord grapes, you ask? make grape juice, of course! how do you make grape juice? well, you just wash the grapes, squish 'em, cook 'em for about fifteen minutes, squish 'em some more, strain 'em through a metal screen and then through cheese cloth. all in all, it took the greater part of the day, but was well worth it. cheers!

FHP - Belle Plaine House

2007-08-07T08:44:00.000-05:00

for the past year or so, i've been volunteering with the Friends of Historic Preservation - Iowa City. specifically, i go out with the salvage crew to houses across the area that are going to be taken down and help with the salvage of floors, doors, hardware, tubs, sinks, light fixtures, built-ins and even entire staircases. anything and everything that can be of use is taken back to the Salvage Barn to be inventoried and priced for the public to buy.

most often, the houses where we do these salvages are far out in the country and often they are very old. many of the ones i have been involved in were over 100 years old. recently we finished up salvage on one near Belle Plaine. the house was vaguely Queen Anne-esque, probably built sometime between 1890 and 1910. we took up almost all of the flooring (some was unsalvageable due to recent water damage from flooding), many doors and even the upper windows, casings and all. here are some pictures for your perusal. oh, and if this sounds like something you might be interested in, please contact FHP via the link above. we always need more volunteers.

front corner

front

front/left side

left side

back

bundled flooring

wildflowers

Ped Mall Prevarication

2007-07-27T07:41:00.000-05:00

As you may or may not be aware, Jim Mondanaro, owner of such restaurants as Givanni's, Mondo's, Bread Garden, Joseph's and the newly-opened Saloon (among others), has petitioned the Iowa City Council to allow him to essentially replace one of the planters down in the Ped Mall with a seating area for the Saloon. You can get all of the details here, here and here. I just thought I would provide a few pictures of the area in question for those of you unfamiliar with the location.

Here you can see the planter in question, with The Saloon in the background:

And here you can see one of Mondanaro's other restaurants, Givanni's, directly opposite The Saloon:

As you can see, the two areas possess their own unique atmosphere. The former is a public green space (albeit more actual plants would be nice), available for anyone to enjoy, free of charge. The latter space no longer functions as a public area. And, when the restaurant is closed, in essence serves as a storage area (or, more accurately, pile) for patio furniture.

As a resident of Iowa City and frequent patron of the Ped Mall, the precedent this would set really bothers me. As myself and others have argued, the Pedestrian Mall, essentially the main public forum for residents of Iowa City, is an area where we can all sit and enjoy ourselves, free of charge. The issue isn't about what percentage of sales from the Saloon come from alcohol vs. food, or how nice the area might look (as Mondanaro has suggested). The issue is about losing part of this public "forum", the heart of Iowa City, to the private business interests of one man.

If you care to voice your opinion on this issue, please come to the Downtown Association Public Form at 3:30-5:30 on Wednesday, August 1st. The meeting will be held at the Iowa City Chamber of Commerce, 325 E. Washington St. (across from The Picador).

cubicycle

2007-07-24T07:52:00.001-05:00

top o' the mornin' to ya, Schwixxy. stopped off at the Co-op for coffee i see. what's that, you haven't had your coffee yet? i'll make sure to keep my voice down then. looking forward to another action-packed day here in the ol' cubicle i trust? heh, yeah, tuesdays suck.

more blurry concert photos

2007-07-16T09:44:00.001-05:00

here's a pic from the Derek Trucks Band playing Jazz Fest a few weeks back. it was really jamtastic and smelled heavily of patchouli.

this pic is from Saturday night at the Picador. Owen, from Casiotone For the Painfully Alone, is playing us another sad song here (Toby, Take a Bow i think). this was the second time i've seen him play. if you aren't familiar with his music, you can give a listen here. a little background info here.

tinnitus

2007-06-27T11:33:00.001-05:00

Tinnitus (IPA pronunciation: [tɪ'naɪtəs] or ['tɪnɪtəs],^[1] from the Latin word for "ringing"^[2]) is the perception of sound in the human ear in the absence of corresponding external sound(s).

Tinnitus can be perceived in one or both ears or in the head. It is usually described as a ringing noise, but in some patients it takes the form of a high pitched whining, buzzing, hissing, humming, or whistling sound, or as ticking, clicking, roaring, "crickets" or "locusts", tunes, songs, or beeping.^[3] It has also been described as a "whooshing" sound, as of wind or waves.

Why I need to start bringing earplugs to shows:

Melt-Banana, last night at The Picador

lolmoths

2007-06-22T09:12:00.000-05:00

WE'RE IN UR YARD
DEFILIN UR MULCH LOL

fountain

2007-06-19T09:04:00.001-05:00

an empty pedestrian mall this morning. i like it this way. there's no drunk jackasses yelling aloud, no sorority girls shouting into cell phones, nobody puking.....almost perfect.

robusto

2007-06-13T10:32:00.000-05:00

here's a (perhaps) slightly more robust, unbespectacled, quasi-angry, Vegas version of me lifted from the nether reaches of the web. thanks to Kirk Burge for the link.

spring flowers, part 6

2007-06-12T13:00:00.000-05:00

so i'm thinking this is probably the final installation in the spring flowers "series". these are heady times, my friends. since summer is nearly upon us, i felt the need to purge my camera of these images. i hope somebody enjoys them.

all of these were taken outside AC's place, near Burlington and Summit.

bikes and beers

2007-06-01T11:02:00.000-05:00

you know, there are few things that i enjoy more than stopping by the local brewery on the ride home and imbibing a mug or two of their fine brew. couple that with soaking up some rays out in the beer garden with friends and you have yourself the makings of a truly enjoyable Thursday afternoon.

bike rack, Iowa City stylee

biergarten folk:

chivecore

2007-05-21T13:37:00.000-05:00

roight....some chivers from the yard, innit?

bjork "post"

2007-05-17T10:09:00.000-05:00

so, i was lucky enough to finally get to see Bjork live at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago last weekend, with opener Ghostigital. needless to say, the show was amazing. the music was intense, her voice was studio quality good, she was supported by the legendary Mark Bell (aka LFO) and it was all just plain over the top.

now, over the years, there have been a lot of acts that i thought i'd never have a chance to see in person, but finally did. The Pixies, Big Black, Scratch Acid, Slint....Bjork. i can now rest just a little easier knowing i've crossed another one off "the list".

for anyone who cares (assuming anyone reads this in the first place), here's the setlist and a few pics not taken by me (i'm violating my one personal blog rule here, but i'm fine with that). Also, there's some great videos of the show here.

01. Cover Me
02. Earth Intruders
03. Venus As A Boy
04. Aurora
05. Unison
06. All Is Full Of Love
07. Immature
08. Pleasure Is All Mine
09. It's Not Up To You
10. Pagan Poetry
11. Army Of Me
12. Innocence
13. Bachelorette
14. Wanderlust
15. Hyperballad
16. Pluto

encore
17. Oceania
18. Declare Independence

hardrokkelgänger

2007-05-15T12:27:00.000-05:00

pictured here is my bike (foreground) and some sexy imposter (background). i have to admit that i was quite surprised to see another, nearly identical bike to mine parked outside the library the other day. i almost felt like leaving her owner a message, but decided that would be kind of weird.

late 80s Specialized Hardrock: check
milk crate: check
Planet Bike Freddy Fenders: check

spring flowers, part 5

2007-05-04T10:13:00.000-05:00

one of the lilac bushes on the side of our house. it's too bad you can't smell them over the web.

spring flowers, part 4

2007-05-02T10:30:00.000-05:00

here are some more specimens from the front yard. to hell with mowing the lawn. it's a goddamned botanical wonderland out there.

spring flowers, part 3

2007-05-01T13:55:00.000-05:00

happy May Day everybody! and with that, we have this pic of the crabtree out front of our house (at least i think that's what it is). in any case, this is my favorite time of the year for a number of reasons, foremost of which being the weather. this is one of the two relatively short windows we, here in Iowa, have between the bitter cold of winter and the oppressive heat/humidity of summer. for those in the area, get outside and enjoy it while it lasts. for a little background on Labour/Loyalty Day, check here.

spring flowers, part 2

2007-04-30T11:21:00.000-05:00

these little wildflowers are coming up next to our front steps. i'm not sure what they are, but i like them.

buildings of the republic, part 1

2007-04-26T08:35:00.000-05:00

the Iowa Advanced Technology Laboratories, pictured here, was built by good ol' Frank Gehry in 1992. now i'm normally no fan of Gehry's style, so-called Deconstructionist architecture, but i must admit that i have grown accustomed to seeing this structure perched, as it is, on the east bank of the Iowa River. i find it to be a nice contrast to the numerous drab, Brutalist-style buildings that dominate this area of town (i'll get to those in due time). i snapped this on one of my many wild and zany rides along the local MUP.

AC makes time travel possible/1.21 Gigawatts

2007-04-20T09:59:00.000-05:00

"Don't worry. As long as you hit that wire with the connecting hook at precisely 88 miles an hour, the instant the lightning strikes the tower... everything will be fine!"

moving shadow

2007-04-17T10:26:00.000-05:00

on the way to work this morning, going over the tracks on S. Dubuque St.

it is done

2007-04-12T09:23:00.000-05:00

When the last living thing
has died on account of us,
how poetical it would be
if Earth could say,
in a voice floating up
perhaps
from the floor
of the Grand Canyon,
“It is done.”
People did not like it here.

-Kurt Vonnegut: "Requiem"

dusk till dawn

2007-04-02T10:02:00.000-05:00

i snapped this the other night as i was out for a stroll around the neighborhood. the observant iowa citians among you will notice Seashore Hall in the lower right of the picture.

this morning, looking east from our backyard.

"What were the skies like when u were young?
They went on for ever and they when I we lived in Arizona and the skies
always had little fluffy clouds and err.. they were long and clear and there
were lots of stars, at night.
And errr when it rain it would all turn, it, they were beautiful, the most
beautiful skies as a matter of fact, the sunsets were purple and red and
yellow and on fire and the clouds would catch the colours everywhere,
thats, its neat because I used to look at them all the time when i was
little. You don't see that."

-Little Fluffy Clouds - The Orb

spring flowers, part 1

2007-03-27T13:29:00.000-05:00

we noticed these little guys growing in our backyard the other day. spring is upon us here in iowa city.

college street bridge, this morning

2007-03-23T09:21:00.000-05:00

Slow down, you move too fast.
You got to make the morning last.
Just kicking down the cobble stones.
Looking for fun and feelin' groovy.
Ba da, Ba da, Ba da, Ba da...Feelin' Groovy.
Hello lamp-post,
What cha knowin'?
I've come to watch your flowers growin'.
Ain't cha got no rhymes for me?
Doot-in' doo-doo,
Feelin' groovy.
I've got no deeds to do,
No promises to keep.
I'm dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep.
Let the morning time drop all its petals on me.
Life, I love you,
All is groovy.
-Simon & Garfunkel - 59th Street Bridge Song

red fixie/canadian tuxedo

2007-03-22T13:05:00.000-05:00

i don't really understand this locking technique, but to each their own. the observant among you might also notice the guy in the denim body suit, sporting the latest in urban street fashion - the white plastic trash bag. take that, messenger bag!

gordon

2007-03-21T12:18:00.000-05:00

"smoothest most mixable"

apparantly, bums have taken to congregating out in my driveway, imbibing some of that sweet, sweet gordon's vodka. "when hawkeye vodka just won't do......there's gordon's to the rescue". did i mention it's the smoothest? oh, right. here's looking at you, Kentucky Kid.

i kind of got caught in a bit of a downpour on the way in to work this morning. i stopped and took some shelter for a few minutes.

i had to park my ride while i ran into the coop for some hummus. granted, their lime and green chili stuff isn't nearly as good as our homemade chipotle, but it's better than nothing. and i was too lazy to make any last night. as you can see, the coop is a popular place for the ic bicycle massive, even at 7:00 on a wednesday morning.

log 1

2007-03-20T13:55:00.000-05:00

and so it begins. i have decided to begin an Iowa City-related photo blog. as far as i know, none such blog exists as of yet, though i could of course be wrong. the inspiration for this is mostly from the demise of the wonderful OIFS blog, put out by good ol' Jim. i won't pretend that this will be as good as that, only that it is what it is. i plan to upload new pics as i have time, possibly accompanied by some brilliant and/or witty remarks on my part. seriously though, i think we should all just be satisfied with the pics. here are a few to get us going.

i picked up a few new cycles over the weekend. what can i say? i'm just feelin' the pink and celeste green lately. the first is a '91 Cannondale SR600 and the other is a pristine Bianchi Brava of unknown year. together, they cost $250. thank you, craigslist! oh yeah.......i realize this post doesn't really have anything to do with Iowa City per se, so you can just keep your snarky-ass comments to yourself.