Tetris Art

Congrats for turning 25 and still being just as awesome! Thanks for inspiring artists to make sculptures that I want to take photos of. And thanks for the hours of addicting entertainment you have provided to me and many friends. Listen to the theme music for old time’s sake. Other Tetris theme songs.

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From Russia with Fun Media Coverage:
25 Years of Tetris: From Russia With Fun! (TIME)
Have a Block Party: Tetris turns 25 (Chicago Tribune)
Tetris: Rock around the Blocks (Globe and Mail)
Computer game Tetris celebrates 25 years (Telegraph)

What is a hero if he is not rich?

Create your own work of art with internet magnetic poetry.

Execute. Meaning. Fun.

What will your 3 words for 2009 be?

This is Art - Thao and Vanessa at the Waldorf Astoria

Last Tuesday, Thao invited me to attend the Project ALS gala held at the Waldorf Astoria. Since she works for Viacom, sometimes these random opportunities appear out of the blue. Ben Stiller was hosting and it sounded like a good time plus we both got to get dressed up!

Though the subject matter was quite sad, Ben Stiller and Sarah Silverman were hilarious, the food was good, and the wine flowed unceasingly. After the event, Thao and I wandered the halls of the Waldorf Astoria, literally, and took a bunch of photos. I hope you enjoy the photos of our drunken wanderings as much as we enjoyed taking them!

At first, Saturday morning was dreary and rainy.  I was disappointed because I’d hoped Justin and I would make our way to Red Lodge and to the Beartooth Mountains.  I knew there was hiking around and supposedly Red Lodge was a cute little town.  Everyone told us to go there on our first trip to Montana in June, though the pass was still closed due to snow.

Despite the weather, we decided to head toward Red Lodge anyway.  We had a delicious lunch at a pizzeria in Red Lodge.  Slowly but surely, the day began to improve!  We browsed in the local shops and Justin tried on, decided to buy, and then deciding not to buy a coat from an antique store.  The store also had a really rad German hat from WWII but it was super tiny and wouldn’t fit my gigantic head, so I didn’t get it.  We noticed intermittent patches of sunlight and decided to continue on our way to Beartooth Highway and the Beartooth Pass. I’d heard it was beautiful, but words could not express the truth of the beauty of this place.  Check it out for yourself – captions and photo notes accompany the images: Photos of Snow, Hiking, Chipmunks and Kisses>>

After a lovely day of exploring a new town, a scenic drive and a bit of hiking, Justin and I relaxed in the hotel room, watched some TV, and noshed on hamburgers at Fuddruckers for dinner.  We also played a hunting video game where we shot moose – that was a blast!  Justin won (but I still killed more turkeys on the bonus round!).  I love you, sweetheart.  Thanks for coming out to Montana and showing me one heck of a good time. :)

Val!, Karen and Mike - Pink Pony Luv

Val!, Karen and Mike - oh the masquerade!

Love you guys!!! And I miss you! XO XO

Nessy

PS: If anyone out there wants to take silly photos and email them to me, that’d be awesome too! :)  Maybe we can get Peanut in on the action… She kinda looks like she is “E” shaped in the photos below. :)

Update: Another one!  I love this one! The lighting is great! Look how long and pretty Karen’s hair is!  I definitely dig everyone’s expressions on the “N” here.

Val!, Karen and Mike - Stinky feet!

I want to create and live off of my creations. I want to create by myself. I want to create with other people. I want to write, sing, make movies (documentaries for now). I want to help others get published and get published myself. I want to take photographs and sell them. I want Justin and I to take photographs together and travel the world. I want to make videos with Val! and have a following of people that are genuinely interested. I want us to be able to sustain a nice living off of these projects. I want to create, love and be happy – and I want the same for my loved ones and all those that want this for themselves, too.

I want life to be “how it should be.” A community of good people, good friends, creating, enjoying, being out there in the world and really living and experiencing it all.

Thanks for the thunderstorm the other night. That was a great birthday present. And thanks in advance, for the future.

Love,
Ness

“one of these days all we’ll do is create and live off of it, and travel and enjoy it all”

I just wish that Ruritania and Papyrus had been represented.

Justin and I got back from a weekend in Puerto Rico late last night. We had a blast!!!! We took one of his coworkers (Alex) and his friend (Marisa). They said it was one of the best trips of their lives (and they’ve been all over the place). This is how our trip went:

Day 1: Breakfast at Casa Cubuy in El Yunque, hike through the rain forest and swim in a variety of pools. Get back to the hotel and discover there are masseuses-in-training just down the street. We each get a 1 hour massage for $20! Drive to Naguabo and go out with Capt. Paco to see Monkey Island and snorkel. Capt. Paco was super busy so he dropped us off on our own with a kayak and supplies! We snorkeled out there – just us, monkeys, fish and seagulls for almost 2 hours. It was great!!! We even got to take turns kayaking. We also saw lots of starfish.

It was amazing. Return to Naguabo and have dinner. Head back to the hotel with a stop to grab rum and mixers. Sit outside for hours talking and drinking before hitting the hay.

Day 2: Breakfast at Casa Cubuy then head to the end of the road, where no cars are allowed. We were informed of a neat hike that takes you across a metal bridge (actually, not so much a bridge as a big pipe over a river). We were the only ones on the trail (actually – on both days!). Hiked for a while and came to a beautiful scenic overlook. On our way back, Justin suggested we head down to the river. We found and amazing lagoon at the bottom of a treacherous looking waterfall! Marisa kept climbing up rocks and finding neat places to jump in from.

There were lots of tiny little fish and even some prawns! Leaving El Yunque, we stopped at a beach on the way back to San Juan, walked along it, and spotted some hermit crabs. Back in San Juan, we bought some food to take back to the airport with us (I got amaaaazing camarones enchilados – shrimp in hot sauce, and beans) and stopped for pina coladas at Barrachina – of course!!! We made it back to the airport just in time to get on the flight!!! All in all, an action packed, exciting weekend. :)

There were only 2 minor hitches and they both worked out. 1) Our camera tumbled into raging water and somehow we managed to find it. The memory card compartment came open during the fall and somehow we managed to find the Flash card, too! 2) Alex forgot his wallet at a gas station on the way back to San Juan when he was changing in the bathroom. This morning he spoke with a woman there that found it and is FedExing back to him free of charge! So nice!!!

Re-reading my entry above, I feel kind of like I am reading a diary entry from when I was a little kid. I was pretty much never patient enough to go into things in depth. I guess that isn’t really a bad thing. :) Photos to follow. <3 :D

Photo Update
Ness’s Flickr Photo Gallery
Justin’s Facebook Photo Gallery

Justin and I had a really nice time having Thao and Katie over for dinner Thursday night. Thao shared with us a lot of her photos from Kenya (you can see them here) and narrated as she walked through the different experiences. Justin hooked my laptop up to our TV so we had a good viewing arrangement. It was so neat. I definitely want to go to Kenya now! If I can get a detailed itinerary of Thao’s journey, I’ll put it up here. She visited beautiful, deserted beaches; lovely, cheap inns; took a self-guided driving safari with some friends; took children to a giraffe feeding/petting area (not only did she escort these children, but she helped raise money so they could go in the first place – right on!); and all the while got around in bizarrely decorated buses. It looked and sounded like a lot of fun. She also brought me back salad spoons with rhinos on the ends! I love them :) Thanks Tizzle! :)

It was nice having Thao and Katie over… I just feel bad they got home so late on a Thursday night! Tonight, Val!, Justin and I went to Hill Country. A new friend of Val!’s, Chris, met us as well. The wait was an hour and a half but we had a good time. We sat there talking for hours and then for another half an hour on the sidewalk once we’d decided to leave. I pronounce “Friendship Friday” a serious success! :)