shamash says...

Digital Puppetmaster

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link via Elle

Stuck in France, Part II

“ExCUSE me, would you mind if we watched the fashion channel?” said Ash.

They slowly turned around to face us. “We’re both Dutch,” said the older one in a slow, methodical voice. “The Netherlands is playing Argentina in the World Cup Finals, and we’re not changing the channel.”

Ash has a dead-pan expression, unrivaled in any country. She looked perturbed. And just a bit bitchy. And, did I notice the beginnings of a pout?

Cherbourg, France: Wine and Time

“A day in France is just the thing you need,” said Sir Edward of Portsmouth. So, taking his kind advice, Ash and I hopped aboard the Cherbourg Express on the Brittany Ferry across the English Channel. Little did we know that a $20 roundtrip ferry ride would end up costing us close to $200 dollars each, and an unexpected overnight stay in a seedy hotel with condoms in the welcome kit.

Original photos by shamash

Football (a.k.a. soccer, for ye Yanks) Fever

This English teacher/computer geek who writes poetry in her free time is starting to like football. Put a small-town gal from the corn fields of America in the streets of Europe, and strange things happen.

Chagall’s Rosy Glow in Chichester, England

Don’t be scared away by this sinister statue of Sir Richard of Chichester, who looks more like Rasputin than a holy man.

Original photo by shamash

Tattoos and the Kindness of Strangers

It pays to know your tattoo artist.

Paul Harris, the guy who tattooed this body art, is my new friend.

What design should I choose?

image by Paul Harris

Post Secrets

"It all began with an idea Frank Warren had for a community art project. He began handing out postcards to strangers and leaving them in public places -- asking people to write down a secret they had never told anyone and mail it to him, anonymously."

I spent one hour at a bookstore.

I read but one book.

It made me cry.

Buy it here.

Read about it here.

So.

Much.

Honesty.

(image via Post Secret)

In Praise of the Bad Metaphor

Every year, English teachers from across the country can submit their collections of actual analogies and metaphors found in high school essays. These excerpts are published each year to the amusement of teachers across the country. Here are last year's winners.

Which one is YOUR favorite?

image via TechToons

There Are No Real Goodbyes

“I think if you have a meaningful experience with someone else, a true communication, they are with you forever in a way. We are all a part of each other in ways we'll never know.”

– from the film Before Sunrise

image by Anna Gaskell 2 from “Wonder ” 2001

via moon river

She Will Kill Mice

Is there a place here in the hives and pods of Pennsylvania for a lone cat such as me?