it's best to catch him towards the weekend...

Robert Smith's calendar.

Need Private Jet

I'm trying to book a flight out to see Cheetah for Valentine's Day week. It's not easy having a transatlantic relationship. Isn't flying a service industry? Remember when they actually tried to serve you? Now we overpay to fly at awkward times for long layovers after having been treated like a suspect just to get on the plane. And while you're on there they won't feed you. You have to pay extra to actually have luggage. Pillows and blankets are verboten. What happened to the girls in mini-skirts and cute hats that would bring you a highball? I was promised girls in mini-skirts and cute hats that would bring me a highball.

I can't gripe too much though. Cheetah's more than worth the hassle. I just wish I had a private jet, with stewardesses in mini-skirts and cute hats that would bring me a highball, or maybe stand on the wing. I mean look at that. They're standing on the wing! I can't even unbuckle my seat belt without getting yelled at.

Beethoven to his 'Immortal Beloved'

Good morning, on July 7
Though still in bed, my thoughts go out to you, my Immortal Beloved, now and then joyfully, then sadly, waiting to learn whether or not fate will hear us - I can live only wholly with you or not at all - Yes, I am resolved to wander so long away from you until I can fly to your arms and say that I am really at home with you, and can send my soul enwrapped in you into the land of spirits - Yes, unhappily it must be so - You will be the more contained since you know my fidelity to you. No one else can ever possess my heart - never - never - Oh God, why must one be parted from one whom one so loves. And yet my life in V is now a wretched life - Your love makes me at once the happiest and the unhappiest of men - At my age I need a steady, quiet life - can that be so in our connection? My angel, I have just been told that the mailcoach goes every day - therefore I must close at once so that you may receive the letter at once - Be calm, only by a calm consideration of our existence can we achieve our purpose to live together - Be calm - love me - today - yesterday - what tearful longings for you - you - you - my life - my all - farewell. Oh continue to love me - never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved.
ever thine
ever mine
ever ours

Leather/Canvas 'Brogue'

Just got this proto back from China. Waxed canvas on burnished leather. Both parts interesting and peculiar. I don't expect it will make it out of the showroom.

Quod me nutrit me destruit...

this is what i've been doing for many hours every day for the past 2 months....outlining fluorescent sausages...otherwise known as mycobacteria. here, a sample of a frame from one of my time-lapse microscopy experiments attempting to create a microchemostat for controlling growth of bacteria using microfluidics and nutrient limitation, with analysis at the single-cell level. ultimately the point is to see how various cellular processes scale with changes in growth rate. the currently accepted beliefe is that bacteria are less susceptible to antibiotics when they are slowly growing or not growing, however no one has ever done any experiments to establish if this is true or why it would be true. part of my PhD thesis work in John McKinney's lab at EPFL, Switzerland...

The Second Law of Thermal Dynamics states...

that the entropy of an isolated macroscopic system never decreases, or (equivalently) that perpetual motion machines are impossible.

Bulleit Bourbon: Frontier Whiskey

I met this little feller the other night - Bulleit Bourbon. For those of you who like your bourbon, here's a nice way to wet some ice cubes. As the story goes, tavern owner Augustus Bulleit started experimenting with different batches of bourbon in 1830's Louisville, Kentucky. He was looking for something unique in flavor and what he finally settled on certainly is. Then, while transporting barrels of the stuff from Kentucky to New Orleans, Augustus vanished, never to be seen again. No one knows what happened to the man, but luckily in 1987 his great-great grandson Tom Bulleit revived the family's bourbon heritage. Bulleit Bourbon is still distilled and aged in small batches, filtered through Kentucky limestone and stored in smokey oak caskets. It's less sweet than a lot of bourbons and has a sharper taste than, say, Maker's Mark because of it's higher percentage of rye, but it's got a nice honey bite up front and a pleasing golden/orange color. At around $32 a fifth consider it a competitor of Woodford Reserve and Basil Hayden. It's 90 proof so it can sneak up on you. After all, no one is 'Bulleit-proof'. Also, the bottle is damned cool. There's even a little message from Tom on the corked cap where he uses the word 'reckon'.

Bulleit has only been back in the mix since about 2000, so not a lot of folks are aware of it yet. Be in-the-know and order it on the rocks next time you're about town. And if anyone should look at you funny, remind them that in 1964 Congress elected Bourbon as the official spirit of the United States of America. Someone salute.

shameless self promotion

don't expect anyone to really get what's going on here, but just posting this as evidence that i actually do real work. fruits of some of my labors after 3 years spent at Rockefeller...

Rrp17p Is a Eukaryotic Exonuclease Required for 5′ End Processing of Pre-60S Ribosomal RNA

Marlene Oeffinger, Daniel Zenklusen, Angelica Ferguson, Karen E Wei, Aziz El Hage, David Tollervey, Brian T Chait, Robert H Singer, Michael P Rout

Molecular Cell, Volume 36, Issue 5, 768-781, 11 December 2009

Summary

Ribosomal processing requires a series of endo- and exonucleolytic steps for the production of mature ribosomes, of which most have been described. To ensure ribosome synthesis, 3′ end formation of rRNA uses multiple nucleases acting in parallel; however, a similar parallel mechanism had not been described for 5′ end maturation. Here, we identify Rrp17p as a previously unidentified 5′–3′ exonuclease essential for ribosome biogenesis, functioning with Rat1p in a parallel processing pathway analogous to that of 3′ end formation. Rrp17p is required for efficient exonuclease digestion of the mature 5′ ends of 5.8SS and 25S rRNAs, contains a catalytic domain close to its N terminus, and is highly conserved among higher eukaryotes, being a member of a family of exonucleases. We show that Rrp17p binds late pre-60S ribosomes, accompanying them from the nucleolus to the nuclear periphery, and provide evidence for physical and functional links between late 60S subunit processing and export.

Figure 5.

Rrp17p Possesses a Highly Conserved Domain that Is Important for Its Catalytic Activity

i included this representative figure merely because i made all the mutant strains used and i'm shamelessly self-important...

Antique cars @ Fondacion Pierre Giannada (Martigny, Suisse)

visited the Fondacion Pierre Giannada in Martigny today to see an exhibit on Russian icon paintings. couldn't take pictures of those, but did hit up the permanent collection of antique cars. here's some photos of my favs.

this poster is dope.

this car has a belt!

vintage benz.

check out the horns shaped like snakes!!!

the boots that never were...

Poor Cheetah. Finding the right pair of boots isn't easy, especially if you want them to be around for a long time. The boots she chose will definitely get handed down. They're well-crafted American classics you can kick through a Buick with. In the end, she wins for doing her homework and taking her time. It's worth it.

I make a living as a shoe designer. Noticing a lack of *relevant* boots at the company I work for, I set about adding some to the line. Sadly, none of these made it into the salesmen's bags. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't force it to drink.

He was born with the gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.

Scaramouche (1952) - dir. George Sidney

I think my dad recorded this one onto VHS when I was a kid because I remember thinking Stewart Granger was the coolest guy around since about sixth grade. Based on the novel by Rafael Sabatini, Scaramouche takes place during the French Revolution. Andre Moreau (Granger) is the bastard son of a nobleman, unaware of his parentage. His best friend writes an incendiary manifesto criticizing the royal class and receives the business end of a fencing foil belonging to the Marquis de Maynes (Mel Ferrer), the greatest swordsman in all of France, who is in love with his cousin the Queen, who has ordered him to marry the ingenue Aline (Janet Leigh), who is falling mutually in love with Moreau, who may secretly be her brother. Right? Moreau swears revenge on the Marquis, but has his work cut out for him since he knows nothing of the sword. He takes up with his on again/off again girlfriend Lenore (Elenore Parker) and her troupe of traveling performers playing the masked Scaramouche. In secret he uses his revolutionist contacts to learn fencing from the Marquis' master instructor. You know how this must end, with probably the greatest sword fight ever caught on film. And, of course, some shocking twists!

Scaramouche kills it. Granger has some of the best written dialogue and timing you're likely to see (think of a more dashing, more poetic Bruce Campbell). Both he and Ferrar give amazing technical performances when it comes to the swordplay, doing their own stunts none the less, and with sharp swords. Ferrar moves like a dancer (he was). There's humor, history, horse chases, love triangles. The costumes are incredible and the music outstanding. Pops knew what he was doing when he dubbed this one on to the old yellow and black Kodak VHS stock. I'm glad he did. You should check it out if you get the chance.

trials and travails of boot shopping.

who knew it could take so long to find a pair of engineer boots? i've literally spent months scouring the internet and just returned from my trip to NY where i visited every good shoe spot i knew of, only to return empty handed.

(well not entirely, i did pick up these Maurie & Eve boots at Oak, a tougher version of an old Balenciaga boot)

i thought i had my heart set on a pair of Proenza Schouler motorcycle boots, but Barney's didn't have black in my size...at any of their stores that i contacted...and in the end i decided they weren't worth the money. they were honestly a bit girly, though i was into the shearling lining. i liked the look of Frye's boots, the engineers, not the harness boots, but they weren't tall enough. i wanted a boot that was at least 11" tall with a narrow circumference. after a lot of persistance and tenacious internet browsing i settled on a pair of classic men's Chippewa boots. almost 12" tall with a 13" circumference. perfect. it was a little bit of a challenge to locate a men's 5.5, but i did it. and all for less than 200 bones, including tax, shipping and the satisfaction that comes with purchasing a well-made American classic.

and because i'm just too tough to have only one pair of

tough boots, i selected a second pair, with the assistance of my personal shoe expert. another American classic. these are the original

10" Smoke Jumpers by White's Boots. they set the standard in the forest industry and have been imitated by virtually every boot manufacturer out there.

"White's Boot Company was founded in Virginia prior to the Civil War. Recognizing a need to provide loggers of the Northwest with hand stitched, high quality work boots, White's moved westward to St. Maries, Idaho in 1902 and then to Spokane, Washington in 1915."

this is my favorite part, so tough:

"In accordance with NFPA 1977-2005 Meets or exceeds requirements of NFPA 1977, Standard on Protective Clothing and Equipment for Wildland Fire Fighting, 2005 Edition"

can't wait to put together some smash hits with these puppies and fight some serious forest fires...

When they kick at your front door, how you gonna come?

personal style icon Paul Simonon. punk doesn't have to look torn and pinned.

Françoise Hardy

in an effort to improve my french i've been listening to Ms. Hardy. and between her and Ms. Karina i think i might need to cut my bangs again...

while we're on Godard...

"Photography is truth. The cinema is truth twenty-four times per second."

Anna Karina

love this quote...

"All you need for a movie is a gun and a girl." - Godard

gimme a gun and let's make a movie!

Victor Hasselblad

planning a purchase of a Hasselblad...film is not dead...and just in case, it does take a digital back.

american werewolf in paris.

dangerous.

Paris, Nov. '09