May 17, 2004

Spring Upkeep

I managed to get around to some long overdue site updates and maintenance this weekend, and now have some treats for your viewing pleasure.

A new set of photos called Procession of Saints which were taken this weekend in Bella Vista (in South Philadelphia) during the Bella Vista Festa. The Procession of Saints is a parade of sorts where a throng of churchgoers hoisting large wooden statues of saints are led through the streets by a marching band. What’s more, people are invited to pin monetary donations to the statues for prayers and such. This was truly a odd spectacle to behold and even more fun one to document. I am told this stuff goes on in Italy just about every weekend.

I have also updated my portfolio with some new projects. First up is Sideshow, which you may have already seen. If not you can read more about it here. Second is the Funk Brothers microsite promoting the release of the Funk Brothers documentary DVD and subsequent live show last week. The Funk Brothers are the studio band responsible for some of the greatest songs of all time. More on that here. Lastly, something new I have been wanting to try, displaying some designs that were shot down or retired early, Unselected Designs, vol 1. It always bugs me when I design something I really like and it never sees the light of day. No more! This is where my good, rejected, designs go to die.

Finally, I have installed Jay Allen’s much ballyhooed MT plugin, Blacklist. Thanks to Jay’s work, my site has blocked over 30 spam comments in the last 3 days. Jay has said he plans on porting Blacklist over to MT 3.0. Considering I have heard that people have still gotten spam comments in 3.0 (even with TypeKey), the day Jay updates Blacklist will probably mark the day when I will make the jump over. Until then, I can’t help but feel a bit bad for all of the penis enlargement pills that will go unsold.

Commentary (8):

1. Rob Weychert says… may 17, 2004 | 7:20 am

The Procession of Saints pictures look awesome, but I can’t believe you didn’t get a picture of Vincent Corleone killing Joey Zasa!

2. Rob Weychert says… may 17, 2004 | 10:39 am

Or, for that matter, Vito Corleone killing Don Fanucci.

3. Peter Santa Maria says… may 17, 2004 | 1:10 pm

favorite quote from the Parade of Saints yesterday was this little old lady who was helping to carry the Mother Mary statue: (said in a voice that sounded like she had just inhaled 5 packs of cigarettes) “Cough up your money! You don’t want to make the Mother Mary cry, do you?!”

Also, Isgro’s Pastries unveiled the world’s largest canoli yesterday, It was a little over 2 feet.

“I *guess* that’s *kinda* big.” - Homer

4. Scott Boms says… may 17, 2004 | 11:15 pm

The Funk Brothers rock and definitely deserve significantly more recognition for their part in making R&B/Funk (whatever you want to call it) what it was and still is.

Oh, and very nice micro-site :)!

5. ACJ says… may 19, 2004 | 6:36 pm

Good stuff, Jason. I’ve so much stuff to do on my website at the new URL. My weblog is actually the only thing that is fully functional now. :p

6. Aaron Cain says… may 19, 2004 | 8:07 pm

Absolutely love the Funk Bros. microsite, fuckin’ beautiful!

7. Jason says… may 20, 2004 | 12:12 am

This was a very meaty post full of great things to see. Love the Philly parade pictures. Love that people still do these things. LOVE the idea of the design afterlife. . . I agree, there is something so painful about a creation that you believe in not getting the recognition it deserves. . .

8. Jocke says… may 21, 2004 | 3:57 am

Love this post. “Take the first step, click here”. Tell me that lovely box of art got through to another project (Unselected designs vol 1). It was so beautiful.

And I love the cannoli-stuf so much I ‘have to’ bring you a (well known) cannoli-quote.

Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.

I had this quote for my audio email alerts back in the days when you got three emails a day… (those days are long gone of course…)