Author: Ted Hope

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Bowl Of Noses

Recommended Reading



We gave the cousins all eight volumes for the holidays and were told they were the same smash hit there as in our house. Everyone we have ever mentioned this to, has come back and thanked us. Osamu Tezuka created ASTROBOY and for that he will forever be thanked in our house (where would robot culture be without Astroboy?!!).

Tezuka’s masterwork is The Adventures Of Buddha. Sure, it gets a bit racy at times, and it definitely gets silly. Some adults may quibble at the liberties taken, but the story and the drawings are fantastic. But the whole reading experience and sense of accomplishment one has on completing the eight volumes is unmatched. Suffice it to note that we finished all eight in between Harry Potter 2 and 3.

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These Are Those Things

Music Videos For Airports

I travelled again last week, and although I wasn’t stuck on the tarmac for 4.5 hours this time, I did have a cancelled flight and several hours delay.  Brian Eno’s music needs an update.  Life in airports has changed.  It does feel like a bit like this great video though.  Somehow I found the ending quite sad.  

There’s also a good little interview with Cornelius at the Mangobot blog.

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Bowl Of Noses

Cool Buildings, Cool Homes


Why live in a home like everyone elses?  Surely, there are numerous discarded things that would make a swell home, or at least a swell clubhouse.  This woman lives in a jet plane (a Boeing 727), and it cost here far far less than a normal house would.  The original rest rooms still work, and the fold down stairs evidently work with a garage door opener.  She’s even put a jacuzzi bath tub into the cockpit.  If you are in Benoit, Mississippi, stop by and say “hi!”. (tip WebUrbanist)

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Bowl Of Noses

Not Your Parents’ DOCTOR WHO


Two holidays ago, we encountered Theo, an eight year old boy in a spiffy suit with a great Brit accent.  When we asked about his get up, he told us of Doctor Who, whom he was playing homage to.  We are forever indebted to Theo.

 The BBC has completely reinvigorated this series, with great scripts, actors, and CGI special effects.  Yes, it’s creepy.  Yes, it’s sometimes scary.  And yes, it’s generally mind-blowing.  We think you need to be seven years old to get the permit to watch it.  But Netflix has the entire series run (they are now up to Season Four).  And they have pretty darn good website too!  Check it out.
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These Are Those Things

Art From Waste: Chris Jordan



I stumbled upon Chris Jordan’s work last year and sent it around to friends.  I just went back to his site and was completely blown away again.  Running The Numbers, An American Self-Portrait is the work.  It “looks at contemporary American culture through the asustere lens of statistics.  Each impage protrays a specific quantity of something.  Statistics canfeel abstract and aneshtetizing, making it difficult to connect with and mke meaning of 3.6 million SUV sales in one year, or 2.3 million Americans in prison, or 32,000 breast augmentation surgeries in the U.S. every month.”

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These Are Those Things

… that I love & that I am inspired by

These are crazy times.  There is so much out there, so much that is available to us.  Yet somehow it seems harder to find.  Maybe there really is too much and we need some kind of filter.  Or maybe its that its really hard to be heard above the din.  So much money and effort is spent trying to make us care about things that we shouldn’t.  We need the amateurs to speak up, those that do it out of love and true passion.  

These Are Those Things is dedicated to the things that brighten our day: the good work, the original work, the work that strives and does not settle.  The work that is not afraid to fail and not afraid to reach, to move into uncharted terrain.  These are those things that make me want to keep working, to keep creating, to keep sharing.  
Thanks for taking a look.
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Bowl Of Noses

The Fifty Greatest Cartoons Ever!


The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals is a 1994 book by animation historian Jerry Beck.  Five of the top fifteen are up on the internet for you viewing pleasure, including one of our faves Duck Amuck.  Porky In Wackyland is so great (and not available on line).  If you don’t have the Looney Tunes Collection, we recommend a netflix order or purchase.  Vol. 1 has Duck Amuck.  Vol. 2 has Porky In Wackyland.  No life is complete without having seen Wackyland.  Seriously.  You have our word.  Check these out online.

2. Duck Amuck (1953)
6. Gertie the Dinosaur (1914)
9. Gerald McBoing-Boing (1951)
13. Steamboat Willie (1928)
15. Bad Luck Blackie (1949)