Rittenhouse Square Yarn Bomb

I wrote about the odd and surprisingly popular phenomenon known as yarn bombing once before, and got quite a few hits on the blog because of it. Naturally, when I saw this picture, which was taken yesterday by my friend Kurt (so you can't use it without paying him -- you can send me the money and I'll be sure to get it to him), I felt that I should, you know, try and get some more hits. (Speaking of which, no noticeable uptick in hits from Joe Jonas fans. Explains his album sales, I suppose.)

This statue is "The Sundial," and it's in Rittenhouse Square. With a chill in the air, some thoughtful person decided to help these frolicking naked children keep warm. Well, one of them, anyway. Well, for the kid's head, at least...wait, what horrible creature saw these poor naked kids and decided to torture them by leaving just one hat for the two of them?

NOT Street Art

One of the local blogs I check out (and follow via Twitter) is Streets Dept., which features photos (and sometimes video) taken around the city, focusing on things like fashion, art, things happening on the streets, or just some nice scenes. (See what I did there? Photos, video...focusing...there's no "off" position on my genius switch, I tell you.) Often you will see on the blog examples of street art -- stickers, graffiti, wheat pastings, even that yarn bombing stuff that seems to be so popular that it still brings some hits to my blog.

I bring this up because (1) I wanted to give a shout out to Streets Dept. and (2) to point out that the picture you see here is NOT street art.

I found a number of these stenciled onto the sidewalks around center city the other day. The Philadelphia Soul is our Arena Football team (in other words, not real football since they play it indoors on the floor of the hockey rink with artificial turf laid on top). They used to be part-owned by Jon Bon Jovi, and they won the league's championship in July 2008. A Philadelphia team winning a title (remember, this was before the Phillies broke through in October of that year) so freaked out the powers that be that the league went out of business, denying the Soul an opportunity to defend their crown. That, and they mentioned something about the economy tanking.

The league came back in 2010, but without the Soul. However, this year...well, you can see from the picture when they return to action. Before they were shut down, they did get some good crowds to the CoreStates First Union Wachovia Wells Fargo Center. We'll have to see if the buzz picks back up after two lost years and one departed rock star/owner.

As for those stenciled ads? I'm assuming this weekend's rain will have washed that stuff away.

From 2010 To 2011

Since I'm starting this before midnight and will continue on it after midnight, this will become the blog post that took two years to write! (And it's definitely the post with more links than any other.)

I suppose I could just repeat most of what I wrote at this time a year ago. Much of it still applies, and certainly my closing advice -- "(I)f you want your life to change, do it. Don't just talk about it. Do it. Do it, do it, do it. Stop talking about it and DO IT" -- is still pretty smart, if I do say so myself. But unlike last year, I feel like looking back a little tonight.

In January I learned that there was a full-length version of the "Mad Men" theme. I started doing volunteer work, doing tax returns with the Campaign for Working Families. I took a shot at Perez Hilton (an easy target). I complained about politicians. (Haven't we all? And it continued all year.) I scooped the local media with the story of former Phillies coach Steve Smith's participation in "The Amazing Race." (And ended up doing recaps of the season that got more detailed as it went on, even after Smith and his daughter were eliminated.)

February brought me lots of snow and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. I found out that "Daria" was being relased on DVD (I eventually bought it when the price was seriously marked down.) I compared Tiger Woods to Andy Reid(!). And my scoop of the media re: Steve Smith and "The Amazing Race" was acknowledged in the newspaper!

More Randomness: Phils, Birds, Softball...Yarn? Chicken?

Submitted for your approval...or not...

• The Phillies finally had a day off after 24 games in 23 days. In that stretch they went 15-9 and have regained the NL East lead for the first time since May. The lead is now a game over Atlanta. Still, with Brad Lidge having elbow issues and Jimmy Rollins leaving their last game with a hamstring problem (that Charlie Manuel says wasn't serious and was due to dehydration; of course, he also said Ryan Howard's ankle injury wouldn't cause him to miss any games just before Howard went on the disabled list for nearly three weeks), and Placido Polanco's saying his elbow is broken (though he continues to play), and the team's general inconsistent hitting all season, it won't be smooth sailing the rest of the season.

• Meanwhile, the NFL is back. The Eagles start on Sunday, and that day they're wearing 1960 throwback uniforms as part of the commemoration of their 1960 championship team. Yes, that was 50 years ago. And yes, that was the last time the Eagles won a championship. So if you wonder why Eagles fans get a little (a lot) crazy, wonder no more.
  
  
  
  

Yarn Bomb!

While I was doing the Mural Mile tour last month, I happened upon an example of yarn bombing. I'd never heard of it before I read some posts about it on the Philthy Blog, which focuses on the local scenes in art, music, fashion, etc. Yarn bombing is like graffiti or street art, except instead of paint, the artists use yarn. There are a number of examples of local yarn bombs in these archived Philthy Blog posts.

I took these photos on South Street. That is quite a way up that pole. I wonder how the artist managed to do this without being stopped by the police or someone else? I would think a ladder would be needed. I also wonder how well these yarn bombs can last, between the rain and the hot sun and idiots who can't resist yanking at it. This one's been up since at least mid-May, when it was featured on a Philthy Blog post. Hmmmm...maybe I should make a return trip and check it out?