Bons Mots - by Andrew Bonventre

On the expectations of others

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:46:38 -0500

My looming fear of letting go is not fueled by the uncertainty of what is below, but by my consistent belief that someone is holding on to me.

From Honest Movie Titles: Oscars 2010

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:21:37 -0500

From Honest Movie Titles: Oscars 2010

"Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding."

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:00:00 -0500

“Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.”

- Kahlil Gibran

This is me. I get excited easily as you can tell.

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:29:20 -0500

This is me. I get excited easily as you can tell.

to the floor

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:14:00 -0500

I’ve taken out my contacts because remember that extended period of time during high school when I would sleep in them but they weren’t supposed to be worn all the time and my optometrist lectured me well OK she only said maybe one sentence about how it was bad for my eyes plus it’s uncomfortable anyways. Now I’ll pull off my shirt cross-armed at the base instead of by the collar because the collar gets stretched that way and that’s the way the attractive men with girlfriends do it in the movies it’s kind of warm and I can never fall asleep when I’m hot so just boxers will do good god I’m hairy maybe I should do something about that no that’s so superficial and ludicrous I should be happy with every facet of myself OK where do I put my shirt?

I don’t feel comfortable folding it it’s been worn and probably has unscented deodorant I don’t want to have too many conflicting smells on me because I read in a magazine that it was bad to have too many smells on you and plus it’s been stretched out a bit with the collar and everything I can’t just put it with the other clean stuff it’s not really clean. Relegating it to the “dirty” bin this early in its newly washed life seems like such a waste plus I’ll probably wear it again before the next wash and I don’t want it touching my gym clothes that I’ll probably wear again before washing regardless but it would be gross to have them together but I don’t want to fold it because it’s not really clean because the collar is a little stretched and smells a bit of my cologne man I can’t remember the name of the guy in the ads for my cologne but I wanna be like him he was awesome in that movie to the floor it goes.

Transition

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 14:09:00 -0500

During practice last week, I made the decision to run my last three intervals—one thousand meters each—completely barefoot. My feet felt like they were slipping around within my flats as I was making the turns on the banked, indoor track so I stripped them off to complete my workout.

It felt fine, even better to run my intervals shoeless and my times didn’t suffer for it. What I discovered when I crossed the line after my last one, though, was that I had an exposed blister the size of a watch face on my left foot as a result. I wrapped it, ran my cooldown and went home.

I couldn’t put proper weight on it for over a week.

Did this stop me from trying to run? Of course not. The very next day I ran an easy 70 minutes, each step trying my best not to compensate or alter my gate as that could lead to another injury. It was painful as hell, but I got my run in. The next day I even tried to complete a fast session on the track (in shoes this time) but was in so much pain I had to stop in the middle. I finally relented after that track workout and decided I would simply bike until it healed. I hate the stationary bike, so that lasted all of one day. My place reeked of NewSkin with bandage wrappers littering my coffee table as I walked on my heals at home, limping like Dr. House at work.

It took about a week for me to be able to walk normally again. The second I was able to, though, I was psyched to lace up the shoes and go for a relaxing hour and a half around my hometown. The weather was perfect, I didn’t feel any pain and equilibrium was restored. Then came Christmas day.

For whatever reason, the day was so busy that I couldn’t manage to get a run in. When I finally realized that a run wasn’t going to be possible for the day, I went into full-blown withdrawal, got extremely depressed and grasped for a free minute alone. I sat at the edge of my bed, unable to write, debilitated and close to tears. For what? Because I couldn’t run that day? It was Christmas and I was almost crying because I couldn’t exercise. The concept seems remarkably absurd, but a competitive runner (or an obsessive compulsive like myself) rarely works within the realm of rationality when it comes to these types of things.

Without getting into the discussion (or admission, for that matter) of exercise addiction, the perils of overstretching oneself or the negative effects it’s had on my relationships, the short conclusion is that the energy that I’ve normally spent on running will now be more broadly dispersed throughout my life. I’d like to gain some weight back, learn guitar, write more, cultivate my relationships instead of blindingly relying on them only when needed. Balance my life. Running will always be a part of who I am and I don’t expect to forego jaunts with friends through the park or solo time to think as I maneuver the construction along the west side, but for now I’m clearing some space to be filled with some new addictions to be passionate about.

me: it was stupid. not what i was supposed to do

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:00:19 -0400

me: it was stupid. not what i was supposed to do
her: you were trying to impress yourself
me: i was trying to impress others
her: did you succeed?

(via swissmiss)

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:07:45 -0400

(via swissmiss)

snehakochak: (MINI)malism The biblical tale of David versus...

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 15:43:38 -0400

snehakochak:

(MINI)malism

The biblical tale of David versus Goliath gets a fuel-consumption re-visioning in this viral spot for Mini Cooper directed by Jochen Hirschfeld with animation by Weirdoughmation in Germany.

via FEED

Thanks, Eli.

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:57:57 -0400

Thanks, Eli.

Anyone who’s ever watched [adult swim] is undoubtedly...

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 21:08:00 -0400

Anyone who’s ever watched [adult swim] is undoubtedly familiar with the interstitial text clips that they display before and after commercial breaks. They’re simplistic, witty and always have some eclectic beat to accompany them. I was no doubt in want of these beats for my life’s interstitial ether, but could never find them. I don’t know how long they’ve been up there, but now you can download or buy a lot of them at their site.

The one above is Night Court by Mux Mool

I love this short video with graphic designer Milton Glaser done...

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 20:56:08 -0400

I love this short video with graphic designer Milton Glaser done by Adobe. Worth the six minutes of your time…

(via chrbutler)

Solve it!

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 03:19:00 -0400

I went home a short while ago to visit family and reminisce with friends, during which I found myself rummaging through my stored book collection in hopes of gathering a few to bring back to the city with me.

One of the books I found amongst the shelves was Solve it! by James F. Fixx (also, oddly enough, the author of The Complete Book of Running), which is “a perplexing profusion of puzzles” according to the text on its bright yellow cover. I’m absolutely terrible at brain teasers and puzzles, but I figured the best way to improve was to practice, so I spent my bus ride back to the city limping through the most basic problems and getting my ass kicked as I progressed to the more difficult ones.

The interesting part, though, was that in the beginning he outlines a series of ten mental “rules” for solving the puzzles in the book that I feel apply for most of the everyday challenges I face that ultimately require creative solutions:

Study the question carefully.
Confidently start work.
Appraise the context.
Relax.
Expect to wait.
Don’t accept unnecessary limitations.
Yesterday’s problems may help.
Change the problem.
Ask questions.
Time brings all things.

He gives detailed context for the reasoning behind each rule in his book, so I can’t say that the list above does his writing justice, but I find myself referring back to these simple points often when I feel stuck or frustrated while learning, creating, fixing or solving in my day-to-day. I never expected inspiration of that nature to spawn from an aged puzzle book written in the seventies, but such a thing is rarely attained intentionally through a specific agenda. I’m happy to have lucked out in this case.

Now I just need to get better at solving puzzles.

iTunes link

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:25:36 -0400

iTunes link

There are aspects about this vert I like and some I don’t...

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 21:53:00 -0400

There are aspects about this vert I like and some I don’t like:

The nasal voiceover tacked on at the end is superfluous. It makes the ad tacky.
Dancing professional volleyball players are always welcome on my television or computer screen.

iPhone Stencil Kit (via buzzandersen)

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 23:10:23 -0400

iPhone Stencil Kit

(via buzzandersen)

Video

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 13:20:51 -0400

The best kind of text msg

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 12:59:30 -0400

”Hey, so I guess I have to cancel our plans. I’m going to jail tomorrow. I’ll call you in three months. Have a great summer. -H”

okay then.

(via malty)

Well shit. Better get crackin’, then. Thanks, Tumblr, for...

Sun, 31 May 2009 12:00:27 -0400

Well shit. Better get crackin’, then. Thanks, Tumblr, for letting me know.

(via athertonbartelby)

Tue, 26 May 2009 15:11:17 -0400

(via athertonbartelby)