Awesome Video - Molecular Visualizations of DNA

As much of a word nerd as I am, some complex things are easier for me to understand with visual illustration. This explanation of DNA is especially cool. From the video's description:

Amazing CGI visualization of molecular biology's central dogma. It shows animations of DNA coiling, replication, transcription and translation. It was created by Drew Berry of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research.

See You When I See You

Lately I've been doing a lot less blogging that usual, partly because of the advent of Facebook and Twitter. Also, the world is changing, and I'm changing with it. My obligations and priorities are shifting. I'm getting more opportunities to do different kinds of things, and making clearer choices about what to invest my time in. I've also been slowing down to deal with some health issues - nothing life-threatening but still serious. This seems like more of a time for doing and less for reflecting.

Things are so crazy right now. We're still mired in this stupid, horrible war. Military suicides are skyrocketing. We've dug ourselves into a deep hole. The economy is a mess. We have a long, tough road ahead and a lot of serious challenges to step up to.

While oil companies are making plenty of money, the United States Postal Service is so broke it might have to cut out one day of mail delivery. That's like finding out they're going to move Sunday morning Mass to Tuesday mornings at the American Legion.

Jobless rates in Illinois are so high, there aren't enough people in the unemployment office to answer the phones. Almost 65,000 people called Monday, and over 57,000 on Tuesday.

A 14-year old kid successfully faked being a Chicago cop. The police spokesman described the situation using the unfortunate phrase "we dodged a bullet."

Not to mention Blagojevich, who, the day we unanimously kicked him out of office, told us (the people of Illinois) that he loves us now more than ever.

Hmm...I'm not really coming up with a nice wrap-up sentence for this post. I guess I'm just acknowledging that things are changing, and so am I. Blog atcha later!

(Also, at least one thing will always be true. Cute things rule. Photo from Cute Overload.)

Kumail on Last Night's Colbert Report

Beginning at the 3-minute mark! Kumail in an orange jumpsuit, pretending to be Omar, AKA Homer, a recently-freed prisoner of Colbert's desk. Amazing. You'd think I'd get used to seeing familiar faces on TV, but it's still screamworthy every time.

Obama's Inauguration Speech, Illustrated

An acquaintance of mine, fellow Chicagoan and creative Brandy Agerbeck, has a really cool job.

To quote her own website, "Graphic facilitator Brandy Agerbeck creates conceptual maps of conversations. Since 1996, her drawing and thinking skills have facilitated groups of 2 to 1000 across industries. Brandy's images help people navigate the complex world around them and bring clarity to their work."

At left is her representation of President Obama's, inauguration speech, which, as she explains here, took her about three hours.

My Pix From The Early Weekend Show, Jan. 22, 2009

Hey! I haven't been blogging much. Lots going on. I went to my friend Mike Lebovitz' stand-up show last night at the Holiday Club. Lots of fun!

All pix by me. Full set here.

Joe Fernandez:


Mike Lebovitz:


Cameron Esposito:


Mikey Manker:


Steven Gilpin:


Joe McAdam:


Drew Frees:


James Fritz:

Obama!!

Today's the day!!

Star Wars: Retold (By Someone Who Hasn’t Seen It)

Thanks to my friends at Schadenfreude for introducing me to this gem. So funny!

Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.

Frozen Chicago Playground on Tiltshift Maker

Put your own photos in the Tiltshift Maker to make your photos look like miniatures.

Check out my snow-covered playground pic, all tiltified.

Link from BoingBoing.

White and Drifting

We are under tons of snow. Might get 5 more inches before morning.

New Bella Rossa Header!

Yeah, so I put together a new header for my blog up there, using Apple's Comic Life (which is super fun) and a bunch of my favorite performance photos from the past few months. It was really hard to narrow down my choices because I have a million favorites, but I made sure I had my boyfriend, roommates, myself, and my co-producer Dan represented, and those plus a few other faves ended up with the lineup you see above.

From left to right: Bryan Bowden as Timekeeper Willis, Nellie Huggins as a bunch of grapes, me squinting in the harsh glare of the spotlight, Andrew DeWitt (and a Don't Spit the Water audience contestant), James Fritz and Bill Cruz enjoying a laugh, Teresa Lemaire as the Undead Bride, Peter Kremidas in an Impress These Apes performance, and my ChUC cohort Dan Telfer doing stand-up in character as a creepy, blood-and-tooth-spitting zombie. Yay for a little blog makeover!

Ensalada Bella Rossa Part Dos

Bryan shared a link to this NYT article about "The 11 Best Foods You Aren't Eating," and, since I was headed out the door to the grocery, I added some of them to my list, and to tonight's dinner salad.

Current favorite salad - spinach, broccoli, beets, sweet apples and/or pineapple chunks, and pumpkin seeds, with a dollop of good bleu cheese dressing, sufficient to bind all the chopped ingredients together. Full of vitamins and antioxidants - and really delish.

I'm obsessed with the idea of a perfect salad - that perfect blend of a powerful punch of mega-nutrition and truly enjoyable to eat - and my ideal evolves with time. I used to drop tuna or chicken chunks in, then for awhile I was tofu crazy, and now I leave the protein out of it, since I get that from my shakes instead. Yummm.

Also tried to find canned pumpkin (nowhere to be found, either at Jewel or Edgewater Produce), and grabbed a bag of frozen blueberries while I was at it. Also on the list was Swiss chard, which sounded too complicated (sautee? naw) and sardines, which Bryan (and my cats) love, and which I will never touch with a ten-foot pole. I know, a gripping and fascinating blog post, huh?

Elizabeth McQuern Photography Demo Reel

38 seconds of some of my favorite recent performance and promo photography for Chicago actors, musicians and comedians.

Featuring Tamale Sepp, Jeff Hansen, Eve Porcello, Chad Briggs, James Fritz , Becky Eldridge, Paul Sigwerth, Ricky Carmona, Prescott Tolk, Dan Telfer, Seth Williams, Cameron Esposito, Alan Metoskie, Peter Kremidas, Adam Burke, Jim Fath, Seth Dodson, James Asmus, Keith Ecker, Duane Freeman, Mike Ferbrache, Leigh Vandiver, Michael Stanley, Bill Cruz, Puterbaugh Sisterz, Michael Lebovitz, Brendan McGowan, Andrew Rollins DeWitt, Liz Bell, Bryan Bowden, Allison Leber, Teresa Lemaire, Nellie Huggins, and Ken Barnard.

Elizabeth McQuern Photography

I re-installed Comic Life on my Mac and toyed with it a little. Funs!

Lincoln Lanes Pin Resetter

The pin setter upper
Originally uploaded by bryan champ

...or whatever it's called. Bryan proves once again that we share the same brain. In the midst of New Year's celebrating, and preparing to perform in a comedy show, he stood quietly in the space behind the bowling lanes, taking a bit of video of the cool, mesmerizing pin re-setting machines.

Keith Ecker Promo Pix By Me

Keith Ecker. SO cute. Full set here.