Bird Mail 029
Collage by David Figueroa
Bird Mail Club, hello. I wrote this for you mostly from coffee table and floor; mostly for a change of scenery from the desk neé dining table. I hope you are finding a few changes of scenery in your day too. Your images today are from my bike-friend, and fantastic collage-maker, David Figueroa. You can check out more of his work on his Instagram stories and later this year he will have more of these works for sale.
Bird Mail is a collection of internet ephemera, gathered and preened for you and served up here. If you’re new, welcome. If Bird Mail has become too much to bear in your inbox, it’s alright, you can unsubscribe at any time.
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Friday night, Bird and I were watching the first episode of Waco on Netflix on a lark and at one point in the episode there is a cut to the J. Edgar Hoover building and somehow, simultaneously, in the same voice, we whispered, “BRUTALISM!” Brutalism is an often controversial style of architecture, but it is one I am quite fond of. I spent most of my, rather limited beach time, as a child, building simple, haphazard drip castles. I wish I’d learned how to make brutalist sand masterpieces like this artist who shares my younger brother’s name. For the time being, I might have to settle for digging out my old LEGO and building a tensegrity sculpture for my desk.
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You’re probably familiar with Little Free Libraries, but have you ever seen a bird library? No? How about Piip Show? If your backyard views are limited, you can always do your birdwatching here. It’s not the same as getting outdoors to spot your favorite painted bunting, but sometimes, it will have to do.
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If you are finding that all the weights and exercise equipment is still sold out, but you want to get your workout in, while improving your winter wood-cutting form, might I recommend Chopfit. Yes, this is real. And yes, you, too, could spend $140 on a FOUR POUND fake axe to swing in the comfort of your home. At $35 per-pound, this may be one of the most ridiculous pieces of "exercise" equipment you could purchase.
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I have been trying my best to keep Bird Mail largely COVID free, though it seems to be infiltrating everything we read, do, and watch these days. So much of the news is grim, but there is a lot of good to be found too. It feels like you might have to look a bit harder, but it is there. There are many things to be hopeful about too. Even before shelter-in-place, my job as a sales engineer has been conducted almost entirely remotely. My success is predicated on my ability to present, and look presentable, via a webcam, microphone, and screen share—something we have all become far more familiar with of late. Though I have admittedly been wearing more lounge shorts to conduct my tele-meetings, I have been thinking about how fashion, my fashion in particular, might change. #Menswear 2.0 seems imminent. Cam Wolf’s take certainly seems hopeful. And I so appreciated his inclusion of Michael Williams from A Continuous Lean. I quite look forward the revival of the suit and other forms of slightly less ostentatious fashion—I am not a fan of the chunky sneaker phenomenon.
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Kevin Kelly, co-founder of Wired Magazine turned 68 this year and wrote down 68 bits of unsolicited advice. Kelly’s The Inevitable is also a fantastic read and a great look into what technologies will be vital in the future.
Now, go out and look at the birds.
Your friend,
Bruce
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