It's Fat Tuesday!

Go, be gluttonous and unruly.

Pretend you're in N'Awlins with Baltimore's most raucous Dixieland horn-blowers, Sac Au Lait, tonight at the Windup Space. 9 pm!

C'est free!

Happy Thought Chocolate

Hershey's got you bogged down by negative corporate consumer energy? Lindt infusing your subconscious with airs of snobbery and greed?

This Valentines Day, let your chocolate bring you closer to enlightenment.

You need chocolate that's been blessed by monks!

Calling themselves "a leader in the revolutionary field of intention-enhanced food," Intentional Chocolate offers such chocolate products as truffles, bars, and hot cocoa--every bit of which has been infused with the prayers of Tibetan monks.

All chocolate products at Intentional Chocolate is embedded with this intention:

“Whoever consumes this chocolate will manifest optimal health and functioning at physical, emotional and mental levels, and in particular will enjoy an increased sense of energy, vigor and well-being for the benefit of all beings.”

No word on whether "optimal health and functioning" means avoidance of weight gain when consumed in excess. I'll keep you posted.

Thursday Things

Tonight's looking interesting.

7:00 at the Windup Space is Ignite Baltimore, an urban forum of sorts that gives 16 Bmore influencers 5 minutes and 20 power point slides each to speak about a topic that's meant to "ignite Baltimore." Looks like it's sold out, but they're inviting people to show up at 6:00 to try and reserve a spot. I also heard a rumor that Joe Squared will have free pizza (which very well may be too good to be true).


And then,

Heard from a friend that Ben Frock and the Subatomic Particles, the avant gardeiest of jazz quartets (who recently released a new EP), will be playing tonight at Hon Bar--my favorite neighborhood bar that serves Resurrection on tap. This will likely happen laterish, probably after 10:00.

And then tomorrow's Friday!

I LEGO N.Y.

Chirstoph Niemann's Abstract City blog for the NY Times was my favorite thing about today.

http://niemann.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/02/i-lego-ny/

Urbanizing Amish Country

Back in December, an Urbanite article took me out to the quaint and colorful Lancaster, PA to dispel the popular myth that it's a tired town with nothing but women in bonnets selling shoofly pies (mmm). In fact, it's a city with galleries showing hot pictures of Debbie Harry, whose mayor drops the F-bomb!

Read the article in the actual magazine--it's free!--or online HERE.

Below are photos.

[Lancaster Market--Romanesque revivalized]

[Where the art is]

[At one stall, Dan Stoltzfus stood behind his baked goods. Tall, dressed in a blue collared shirt and black pants, he toted a straw hat and wore a long gray beard, sans moustache—a married Amish man’s tag. He tensed a bit when he saw my camera and notebook—many members of the Amish community are wary of camera-toting tourists and reporters looking for colorful features—then pointed to a large jar full of pickled vegetables. “Chow-chow,” he said. “It’s our best seller, won a blue ribbon. Take a picture of it,” he added. “Just leave me out of it.]

[Pretzels, apples, Things in Jars]

[Facades, facades, facades]


[Green and crafty]


[Post industry]