Two posts in a row bearing titles that begin with the word “happy.”

I couldn’t help but post photos of the shoes that I wore out last night. Yes, two photos of my shoes.

“What is happening to this blog?”, a reader might be asking themselves as they scroll down from one photo of green shoes to the next. The answer is– I don’t really know what is happening to it. The story behind the shoes is: Reagan picked them up for me last summer at one of the Bottega Veneta sample sales that she goes to. They have been sitting in my closet since then. I had only worn them once before last night. In fact, I had kind of forgotten about them. Then, last night as I was debating on what to wear out, there were the loafers blinding me with the green light that was reflecting off of that patent leather. Hahahaha. It was like destiny. Since I don’t own the green Rolie from the previous post, I had to rock some green loafers instead.

Now that the nonsense is out of the way. Let’s get down to brass tacks. As we all know, things are still not going well at all for the folks in Japan. There are a lot of bloggers who are doing this day of blog silence thing, which I think is cool. But, I have decided go a different route in acknowledging that I am still thinking and worrying about the Japanese. Similar to last Friday, I’m going to share some links that I found inspiring, relating to the events that are unfolding in Japan. Maybe someone else will also be inspired.

• This is probably my favorite one. An 85 year old woman escaped the tsunami by riding her bike to safety when she heard the warning sirens going off.
• Boston Globe Big Picture March 17
• Boston Globe Big Picture March 16
• Boston Globe Big Picture March 15
• Boston Globe Big Picture March 14
• Boston Globe Big Picture March 13
• Photos  from Operation Tomodachi– This is a Flickr set that the US Navy Published documenting their disaster relief mission in Japan called “Operation Tomodachi.”
• And finally, here is an article that the NY Times published about the initial 50 volunteers who stayed behind when the Fukushima Plant was evacuated. I feel like the facts in this story could very easily become a movie. I was very affected by the courage of these workers. I feel like their willingness to stay behind really epitomize the selfless solidarity that is associated with Japanese culture.

On a more lighthearted note, don’t miss the “Super Moon” this weekend. I’m hoping for clear skies on Saturday night.  Don’t get me started about how excited I am for GP on Sunday. Have a great weekend!

I have written about Os Gemeos before. They are a Brazilian duo that does street art. When I say duo, I mean twin brothers. Os Gemeos actually means “the twins” in Portuguese. There is a very distinct look to the art that they do. They use a lot of bright yellows and reds. I first learned of Os Gemeos on some graffiti documentary that I watched with Reagan. It had footage of them touching up a piece in Sao Paulo. The cops showed up and one of the twins went over to deal with them while the other kept painting. The dialogue was something like:

Cop: “Do you have a permit for this?”

Gemeo: “No, no we don’t need one. We had one when we originally painted (probably BS). But today we are just touching it up”

Cop: “Who issued the permit?”

Gemeo: “Oh it was for charity. You know… for the kids and stuff (probably BS)”

It was a lot like watching Obi Wan do Jedi mind tricks on storm troopers. Aaaaaanyway– the shot above is one that I took last fall, of a mural that Os Gemeos painted on Houston St., when Dash Snow died. The installation is currently covered by a temporary wall featuring Shepard Fairey’s May Day mural.

Os Gemeos recently started keeping a blog. It features their work, as well as cool stuff that they come across in their travels. They just barely launched the blog a few months ago. I have really enjoyed following it. You can find it at osgemeos.com.br. Check it out.

I absolutely love MotoGP. I love it more than pretty much any other televised sport, besides the Winter Olympics. Actually, maybe even more than that. When I first started following the sport, a few years ago, I was really into riding sport bikes. Reagan had a Vespa, and I had my sport bike, and we would go for Sunday rides together up and down the north shore of Long Island. It must have been quite a peculiar sight, hehehe. Anyway, now that I have been bike-less for three years, I like MotoGP even more, because it is almost like a vicarious release for me. If I can’t go fast on motorcycles, at least I can watch others do it, a few times per month Hehehe.

Back in the day, the MotoGP site was kind of sub-par. But in recent years, it has been upgraded. It now has daily articles that are also published via RSS, etc.. I have to be careful around the weekends when there is a race, though. Because, since the bulk of the races take place in Europe, the US generally is relegated to broadcasting a tape delay. So, there have been a few times where I accidentally read the outcome of a race, before having seen it. I hate that.

Whether you are into motorcycles or not, the site is worth taking a glance. The photographers are super-craque, and the images they shoot transcend the realm of moto. There is some seriously artistic material on there. I am a nerd. The end.

Ladybird hails from Norway. She writes about women’s fashion and travel. First of all, I love Scandinavia. Not just because our house is furnished with mostly Ikea. Hehehe.  I have Danish roots on both sides of my family. I didn’t get the blond hair or the smooth legs. So I feel kind of cheated, in those areas. Ok, I don’t mind not having blond hair. I did get the height gene and green eyes though. Anyway, Reagan and I are kind of obsessed with northern Europe/Scandinavia, for various other reasons, as well. So I thought it was pretty cool when Ladybird and I became blog friends. Plus, you don’t have to speak Norwegian (even though you probably wish you could [I do]) to read her blog, because she writes in English and Norske. Below are a couple of photos from her recent travels.

One of the amazing things about the interwebz, and more particularly the blog-o-sphere (oh how I hate that term), is the way that it shrinks down geography. For example, I have never been to Oslo, or Berlin. But, I am eating up photos and day to day narratives of some pretty amazing people who live there. I’m going to highlight a few of them on Jakesnewblog.

I have chosen just.ekosystem.org to kick off my “Internacionale” tangent. I discovered this blog, not too long ago, when I was checking out some images of some cool street art from Berlin.

This dude’s (or woman’s, I suppose)  images are insane. He or she apparently has a close relationship with Krink, and several international street artists. I feel like this site is what graffiti research labs wishes it was. Anyway, feel free to check it out. I’m going to sharing a few more of the images from their site in the future, for a street art post. Dig it.