Hello, 2011!

Magnet #1044 - Gangbusters

My sister got me this Mad Men magnet for Christmas, let's hope it's true.

For some reason, I thought that 2010, with its even number, would be the most terrifical year, like ever. Since that wasn't true, I'm determined that 2011, with its odd number, will be the most terrifical year, like ever.

See you here next January 1!

"Retreat? Hell!"

Magnet #1043 - Retreat Hell!

The atrium of the National Museum of the Marine Corps (one of my favorites) is lined with several quotes attributed to various marines.

I promise, for as long as they have them in the museum's really great gift shop, I'm totally gonna get the whole set. This is number two that I picked up last year. It's attributed to Captain Lloyd Williams of the 5th Marines, during the month-long WWI Battle of Belleau Wood in June 1918.

This quote magnet gets the honor for the last day of 2010, because this year with its more downs than ups has done its damnedest to get me down, but you know what?

I'll be damned if I let it get me down and out for the count, thankyouverymuch.

Still, I am seriously looking forward to getting this year under our belt, on the history books, in my rear view mirror, and whatever phrase you have that means, please, let this crumtastic year end.

And how.

And bring on a better, brighter 2011!

Did you know...

Magnet #1042 - Michelangelo quote

Using this magnet that I got last year from the National Gallery, because my BIL (Happy birthday!) and I were listening to NPR on the way to pick up my sister from work yesterday. We learned about different not-so-famous Halls of Fame - some bricks and mortar, and some virtual.

I'm never one for listening to NPR, because really, it's more fun listening to music (you actually like), but my BIL brought up a good point - you learn new things that way. Which is funny, because my sister has been regaling us with new information on different subjects each day. She's on a kick to look up one new thing every day.

Who doesn't love to learn? I've always loved looking up and learning new things. When I was little, I'd run home to tell my mom and my dad (Happy birthday to you, too!) anything new I learned.

They'd nod their heads and get tickled about what I parroted off to them, because (and if you know me, this will not surprise you) it was always incomprehensible to me that I just learned something that everyone already knew. Like, how to use an apostrophe. Or how many planets there were. Or, what happened to Lincoln. Or Kennedy.

In fact, it's why I can't watch too many of those History or Discovery or PBS documentaries, because I have this need to spread whatever knowledge I've gained to whomever I meet. I'm weird that way. I can't help it.

Once, I watched a documentary in-flight, and my colleagues made fun of me, because during the whole (work) trip, every other sentence began with a "Did you know..." (that the average UK citizen will eat a bathtub full of beans in his lifetime, that the same average UK citizen will also eat 20,000 eggs, etc.).

And, sometimes, if you're lucky, I'll actually manage to give you the whole fact, and not just half-a-fact, which is my usual MO.

What? I just said I like to learn, I didn't say I learned every little detail!

Losing one's head

Magnet #1041 - Renzo Piano Museum Quote

Ya'll know I love my architecture. Ya'll know I love my museums. In Renzo Piano, I have a double-double!

Ask anyone and they'll tell you that Italian architect Renzo Piano is one of the premiere museum designers in the world.

I've now seen his work at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Morgan Library in New York, Centre Pompidou in Paris, and the Menil Collection and Cy Twombly Gallery in Houston.

Sadly, my timing was off to see the full renovation for the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and the forthcoming work at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.

I've yet to see anything of his that I don't like, but one wonders if it's because I'm just partial to museums in general.

Anyway, I picked this magnet up last week at yet another museum, the National Building Museum here in Washington, DC. Yes, I've been there before, and even blogged about it before, but they have some really great exhibits.

Currently, they have the Lego Architecture exhibit that I saw over at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry a couple of summers ago and a really interesting Palladio exhibit. They also have an ongoing Washington Symbols of Power exhibit, that I wish they'd add a panel to for the WWII Memorial story.

But, the piece de resistance for me and this museum right now, is their World's Fair exhibit, focusing on the America's World's Fairs held in the 30s. I rushed through it quickly last week, and then took a docent tour right afterward. But now, I'd like to go back this week to actually take my time walking through it. And that's when I'll actually do the magnet for it.

For now, Renzo Piano's words ring true for me - museums for me in the last several months have proven the places where I can definitely lose my head. Wandering around the hallowed halls of knowledge, art and history has been a soothing avocation to my usual daily job hunting.

What were the 80s like, Joy?

Magnet #1040 - Ms. Pac-Man

Bought this Ms. Pac-Man magnet at the Union Square Holiday Market, from a guy selling vintage-esque designed shirts, and now I can't remember what booth it was. Sorry!

Growing up, we never had video games in the house. In fact, it wasn't until my baby sister started whining about getting a Game Boy did my parents actually relent. But that meant that I spent all of the 80s sans video games. No Commodore 64. No Atari. No nothing. How uncool!

I think that's why my sisters (and BIL) love their current Wii games so much. They've now played all the myriad games they got this Christmas - from the crossbow game (with Link from Zelda!) to the Classic Mario 25th Anniversary to Amazing Race and Jeopardy!

By far, though, the funniest one to watch them play is Just Dance 2. Oddly, my BIL is the best dancer of the three, but it's superfunny how they close their blinds before starting the game. It totally makes me wonder what funny video game activities are happening behind other people's closed blinds.

So, yeah, even if I was deprived of all video games growing up, I went ahead and bought this Ms. Pac-Man, because lately it totally feels like the 80s are definitely back. Part of it is because the kids of today have no memory of why our fashions went away and they're bringing them back, looking just about as ridiculous as we did back in the day.

Or maybe it's just because Duran Duran released a new album called All You Need Is Now (that I would have blogged about, had I found the appropriate magnet), or because I spent a good portion of the holidays with my sisters working on a family pictures DVD for my parents (a good part of that were some really crazy-haired/-outfitted pix from the 80s), or it's likely because we've been doing a 21 Jump Street marathon (which is a total indictment of our 80s wardrobe), or simply because it's a proven fact that I love the 80s, just in general.

Eh, whatever. I admit it. I loved the 80s, with our Cold Wars and Reaganomics, and our Just Say No campaigns and our old-school babyfaced Johnny Depp. But mostly I loved it because of my Duran Duran.

eta: Bugger. This magnet will have today's date, because I spent yesterday catching up on joy magnetism and forgot to open up a new post for yesterday's date. Yes. That's the extent of my OCD, I can hold off on doing my blog for more than a week, but it drives me crazy if the dates are off.

What?

Warm Springs

Magnet #1039 - Warm Springs, GA

A friend of mind brought her husband to Warm Springs, GA, for his birthday, and brought me back this supercute magnet. They're the same friends I went with to Hyde Park, NY, so it's no surprise that they finally took advantage of being able to visit FDR's other place of residence just an hour south of Atlanta.

Back in the 1800s, Warm Springs had been known as a warm mineral springs resort, but by the time FDR had discovered them in the 1920s, it had already fallen on hard times. But, FDR believed the 88-degree waters helped his polio-related paralysis, and so he spent much of his time at the springs, and even kept a Little White House down there, where he supposedly did a lot of his New Deal work. On top of that, he also started the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation, still active today, a place where folks can go and partake of the therapeutic waters, but moreover, it's a place that strives "to empower individuals with disabilities to achieve personal independence."

The Little White House is a GA State Park site now, so you can visit it - it's been kept the same since FDR's death, and they have a couple of his special cars, and even an unfinished painting that he was sitting for.

Of course, now I have to go rewatch Kenneth Brannagh's Warm Springs HBO movie. Plus, I need to finally read the book I picked up at FDR's Library in Hyde Park, called FDR's Splendid Deception to get a better understanding of FDR and the massive effort to downplay, even hide, the extent of his polio-induced paralysis.

It's why I love this magnet, because one of the things I've never been able to get my head around is the public knowledge around his disability. Or rather, lack of public knowledge. Supposedly, no one really knew that he was paralyzed from the waist down, while FDR and his team went to extraordinary lengths to keep this "splendid deception." Ironic, that even on this magnet, from a place where he was trying to remedy his paralyzed legs, he's portrayed standing and waving from the back of the train.

And yet, of course, pockets of people knew. The press did what they could to downplay it - which is almost unheard of these days. The government knew. The servicemen and women he visited in a few hospitals knew. The folks of Warm Springs knew. People knew, and they didn't make a huge fuss over it.

I've always heard that if the average American public knew that FDR was wheelchair-bound, that he'd never have been elected. While that's probably true, I'd still like to believe that we'd have seen our way around it anyway. Otherwise, how vastly different would this world be?

Just. Behave.

Magnet #1038 - Don't Bother Me

I used to have this pin/magnet at my work desk, having bought it the day we went looking for button-making machines in the city.

Yes. Button-making machines. And that's not even the weirdest wild goose chase I've been on for work.

But, it's so true, this magnet.

When we were little, and we were having a crisis in the car (a mysterious odor coming from the engine - the fanbelt; the car exploding exploding - twice!; the car not starting, etc.) our first reaction was to immediately shrink back in our seats, and not make a sound.

Just. Behave. While the adults dealt with the situation at hand.

It's probably why you don't see my sisters or me in this picture, as my dad and BIL try to navigate this tree out of our driveway in the wee hours of the morning...