February 13, 2008
Posted by Patrick at 06:38 AM *
Happy birthday this coming Friday, Abi Sutherland!
(Co-conspirators in the above image: Serge, Mary Dell, and a cast of thousands.)
Now get going on that several-day-long, Internet-free vacation…
If I wait till Friday, is this still the first post?
I didn't think so. Happy Birthday already, Abi!
About to log off and go skiing, but I'm laughing too hard to click the mouse.
Thanks, guys!
Felicitous natal anniversary, Abi!
Happy birthday... may you have ten times as many to come.
Happy Birthday, Abi-Wan! If you follow the linked image, there's a related desktop wallpaper for you as well.
So, the real episode 1 poster says "Every Saga has a Beginning" at the top. We figure the fluorosphere could do better than that, but we had to come up with an alternative without you so we wouldn't spoil the surprise.
Now that we can ask, what'd'ya got?
Every ___________ has a ____________
Happy Birthday to, Abi. That is just a cool image. It really appeals to my not so inner geek. :D
So *that*'s how she makes all those computer systems crash. It's a jedi mind trick!
"These are not the escape characters you're looking for."
"Every rhyme has a reason"
(Will do that do, Mary?)
Happy birthday, abi, the Earth has rolled around once more for you. Long may you roll!
Beautiful work, Mary Dell, both posters. In answer to your question, "Every Year has a Beginning". Netter still, "Every Time has a Tester".
To carry that tester image one silly millimeter further: the motto of that angelic being who presides over and referees the games in the afterlife:* "These are the Trials that time men's souls".
* With apologies for the gender-specific language.
6: Every Penblwydd has a Hapus, EClaire? I'm not quite sure I get that.
Lovely posters! Way cool art!
Happy Birthday to abi! Breithlá shona duit!
(I think I may have used up my daily quota of !)
Serge @ 10 ... I'd think it'd be:
"Every reason has a rhyme"
(Happy (incipient) Birthday Abi!!!)
Is that one of those Imperial Flatirons?
(HB, A!)
Kip W @ 20... Yes, it is. And the Phantom Menace lurking behind AbiWan has been known to haunt the Flatiron Flagship.
Every ___________ has a ____________Every book has a cover.
Happy Birthday, abi!
Oooh, happy birthday Abi!
I'll go put the 16th on my calendar* as a day to celebrate. (And watch out with that light saber - its snow-melting properties wreak havoc on unsuspecting ski resorts... het Abiveld applied to the slopes rather boggles the minds...)
* which is hung in the traditional Dutch location for such things... ...occasionally horrifying and frequently amusing American visitors
Поздравлаю тебя с Днём Рождения!
And many happy returns of the day.
Dena Shunra: Why does it horrify them?
Oh, so so so cool! And the linked wallpaper is absolutely charming.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ABI!
Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Geburtstag, abi!
Happy Happy, Abi! Long may you wave.
Happy Birthdy, abi, and may you continue to grace the universe for innumerable further days!
(Which, now that I think of it is the inevitable outcome; you've leavened the world with such intense humor and humanity that the circles will spread until the end of time).
Happy Birthday, Abi!
From one crazy Aquarius to another. :)
Dena Shunra @ 27... What Terry Karney said @ 30... What is so dread about the Dutch calendrier?
Happy birthday, Abi-wan!
(Very cool poster!)
Happy Birthday!
That super star destroyer/building is amazing. People did an absolutely amazing job with that poster.
Spherical Time @ 39... Actually, Mary Dell deserves all the credit for creating this movie poster.
Hartelijk gefeliciteerd! En wens je een hele vrolijke dag toe!
#40 Serge, Then super kudos to Mary Dell for the awesome job.
Ajay @14 - no, I'm not sure every birthday has a happy. Although we certainly hope they do... It's better than the message I posted on a website earlier this year, wishing someone Nadolig Llawen in March because I got "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Birthday" mixed up. Which might be an argument for not pretending to speak a language you really don't have any grasp of, but then what would I do for fun?
Happy soon-to-be birthday, Abi! Hope the skiing was good.
Also: Wonderful poster, Mary Dell!
יום הולדת שמח, Abi! (is that short for Abimelech?)
Happy birthday, abi! You have fast become my favourite Making Light blogger.
happy early birthday, abi!
(be careful of trees. i have never been skiing & find the activity frightening.)
Happy birthday, Abi. Enjoy your skiing, and beware of the snow dragons.
Happy Birthday! Alppy Birthday Too
Happy Birthday, Abi! Have fun!
Mary Dell, spectacular work!
Thanks for the kudos, so glad you'all approve of the posters. Once Serge came up with his perfect puns, the rest of it was inevitable.
For the curious, here are the original images:
Abi,and Abi with Fiona (thanks, Martin)
Teresa (thanks, Patrick)
Yoda
Obi-Wan
Every shot of the The Flatiron building taken from the Empire State building makes it look like a star destroyer.
Dru Struzan's wonderful poster was, of course, the inspiration for the design.
Lastly*, how badly did I want to work this awesome picture in there? SO badly. But I couldn't make it work.
*Firstly, really, because the post with all of the source image links is being held for review, so this will post first. I only put 7 in it! That's not so many! None of them were for prescriptions or physique enhancers...I think.
Mary Dell @ 61... Is that Teresa's first-ever disemvoweller?
Doğum gününüz kutlu olsun, Abi
A fountain of joy
from deep waters, succor flows.
Hail Erato's heir!
Happy Birthday abi!!
Mary Dell #61 : also "Don't bite the editor"
We send birthday greetings to abi,
and hope the day won't leave her crabby!
(And we'll now run away,
though there's more we could say,
for this poem, though heart-felt, is shabby.)
Paul, your verse is fine and not flabby,
there's no call for naming it shabby;
it's quite plain to see
that all here agree
to wish Happy Birthday to Abi!
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Igor, would you mind telling me whose brain I did put in?
Igor: And you won't be angry?
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: I will NOT be angry.
Igor: Abby someone.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Abby someone. Abby who?
Igor: Abby Normal.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Abby Normal?
Igor: I'm almost sure that was the name.
(I'll try breaking this comment in 2 because it's stuck in the mod queue)
Thanks for the kudos, so glad you'all approve of the posters. Once Serge came up with his perfect puns, the rest of it was inevitable.
For the curious, here are the original images:
Abi,and Abi with Fiona (thanks, Martin)
Teresa (thanks, Patrick)
(above comment continued...)
Yoda
Obi-Wan
Every shot of the The Flatiron building taken from the Empire State building makes it look like a star destroyer.
Dru Struzan's wonderful poster was, of course, the inspiration for the design.
Mary Dell #72: I just want to say that there is a much cuter Flatiron Building in Atlanta. Just sayin'...
Mary Dell... Once Serge came up with his perfect puns, the rest of it was inevitable.
Tremble, you hapless weaklings! With these puns, I am unstoppable!!!
(I know I should stay away from any comic-book drawn by Jack Kirby. It has a bad influence on me.)
#74: Nice to meet you, Unstoppable. Have you been here long?
Ginger @ 75... Probably not for long since I am called the Unstoppable because I can't find the brakes.
Serge @ 76: Oh, you mean those brakes are fakes? For land's sakes -- I'd have the shakes. Come back soon! I'll wait by the lakes!
Since no one has answered, I'm just guessing: calendar above the potty?
Many happy returns, Abi! (And if that includes reincarnations, all the better.)
The Flatiron Building does not look like a space ship to me. I think it looks more like an ocean liner from one of those old travel posters.
Fragano @ #73:
I agree it's cute, but either the photo is deceptive or one of us has misunderstood what is meant by the term "flatiron building". (And, as is traditional, I don't think it's me.)
Fragano @ #69:
Yes, but I knew even as I wrote it that I could come up with something better if I had a bit of patience.
With delight, Making Light
hails Abi Sutherland:
book-binder, poet, and
coq malfaisant
Hail to you, abi, most
happybirthdayishly:
sit back, relax, and please
have a croissant!
Paul A #80: It's you, in this case....
http://glasssteelandstone.com/Images/US/GA/ATL/FlatironBuilding-001.jpg
That photo was from the Peachtree side. The link above shows it from the Broad Street side.
And here's another, from further up Peachtree:
http://www.homeandabroad.com/s/siteImages/46/51499_GaAtl_MF_FlatironBuilding_003.jpg
Happy Birthday abi!
Huzzah!
me @ #80: either the photo is deceptive or one of us has misunderstood what is meant by the term "flatiron building". (And, as is traditional, I don't think it's me.)
Fragano @ #82: It's you, in this case...
If you say so; you have more direct experience than I do. But if I've been wrong all this time about "Flatiron Building" referring to the fact that the building is triangular, what does it refer to?
Fragano @#73:
That's a nice one. Chicago also has its own Flatiron building up in Wicker Park, but it's eh compared to many cooler local buildings.
Paul A. @#84: It is triangular - here's the Wikipedia article on that building. Here's a head-on shot that shows that a bit better. If you get the right angle on a photo of one of these, it can make the building look like a long flat strip instead of a triangle (which is part of the fun). Here's one like that of the NY Flatiron.
Serge #74: I think you'd make a good batman villain (The Punster!). I'm trying to think of a costume and just getting vague memories of illustrations from The Phantom Tollbooth.
Mary Dell @ #86:
Ah, that explains it. Thank you.
See, for me Fragano's photo did make it look like a long, flat strip, so I thought "Well, it's not a triangle. Maybe he's calling it a Flatiron Building because it looks like it's been ironed flat?"
Mary Dell @ 87... The Punster? Does that mean I get to act like Frank Gorshin? And, if I were a villain in a Superman story, I'd be known as the Last Pun of Krypton. ("You will believe a pan can fry!")
Paul A #84: I see Mary Dell has found a definitively triangular photograph to settle the matter (thanks, Mary!).
Mary Dell #85: Interesting. I wonder how many flatiron skyscrapers there are in the US.
Mary Dell #87: I'm trying to think of a costume
I think I can hear you warming up the Photoshop machine already...
Fragano @#91:
Toronto has a nice example.
Wikipedia has a short list. There's a lot more than that, though, if you count non-skyscrapers (which the WP list does). Frex, the tall one in Chicago has a short one right opposite - it's at a multi-diagonal intersection.
Mary Dell #94: Wow! That's quite a few. So they're a Canadian invention, eh? I knew Atlanta's was older than New York's, because that gets mentioned in local guidebooks.
I think (knowing it jus from the ground) L.A. has one.
Fragano @#95:
So they're a Canadian invention, eh?
Seems like, but here's Caerlaverock Castle in Scotland. Although it's not quite flatiron shaped, it's pretty nifty.
Happy Birthday, Abi! Wishing you many, many more birthdays -- all of them surrounded by wonderful years.
Mary Dell #97: Nifty indeed!
bill wringe @ #65:
You're setting Cthulhu on Abi for her birthday?! Wow, no one ever got me a present like that!
(Happy happy Abi-Day!)
Ooooo, I'm not too late, I'm not too late!!!!
Habby, habby, Burfdae Abi!!!
Oops, late and sniping again, but Happy Birthday Abi!
And kudos to the graphic artists responsible for the image, too.
candle @ 103... All kudos should be forwarded to Mary Dell, she of the awesome Photoshop Fu.
But the idea, and key critiques that guided the image creation, came from Serge, he of the awesome Pun Fu.
Everybody was pun-fu fighting
Those cats were fast as lightning
In fact it was a little bit frightening
But they fought with expert timing
Wow. What a fun thread to come back to!
I am only just back, and have tons of things to do. But thank you, Mary Dell, Serge, Patrick, and all the sneaky sneaky people who arranged this. It was a fantastic sendoff.
Funniest moment of the ski trip, for me? Being in this bar, where everyone really does sing this song (loudly over beers), and having the DJ (prompted) announce that it was the birthday of "Abi aus Amsterdam, mit de† lekkere kontje*!" Many loud cheers and much laughter followed.
I managed to break no bones, either of mine or others. I did get a few bruises, and had to stop early because one of those bruises was making a tendon twinge warningly. I knocked over three fellow skiers - two in one go - but that was on the baby slopes on the first day, when a certain amount of clumsiness is expected.
There was much beauty, some of which will make it into prose or poetry, some into leather on books, and some just for keeping inside my head.
I also had a powerful mimetic cascade one sunny afternoon, which I will post here in a day or two for further discussion.
But now I am going to go to bed. Thank you, everyone, for the good wishes.
-----
† It should be "het", but he was speaking German, and what can you do?
* kontje does not mean the same as its English cognate. Much like fanny on the two sides of the Atlantic, it has migrated to the back and is a generally affectionate (if racy) term for one's bottom. It was a catchword of the weekend in many contexts, and is much less unreasonable in context than it sounds. Trust me; it was nothing but funny.
HPY BRTHDAYZ ABI!
I MADE YOU A CAEK...BUT I EATED IT.
So what does "lekkere" mean?
David @110:
Literally, "tasty"; by extension, various aspects of "nice" or "pleasant".
Welcome back, Abi. I'm glad to hear that your birthday was most delightful, and hope the coming year lives up to its beginning.
Welcome back, abi. Glad to hear you enjoyed your trip. Be sure to check out Teresa's latest discovery in the wonderful world of self-publishing in the "This can’t be good for one’s soul" thread
Mary Dell #94: Providence has several buildings with the flatiron shape, too. I imagine it's a natural result of crazy old-timey road patterns. And that one in Toronto is incredibly beautiful.
I'd also like to wish abi a belated welcome-back-I'm-glad-you-had-a-good-time.
ethan @ #114: Toronto's isn't necessarily incredibly beautiful, it's just incredibly Gothic Revival. And just because the turret windows are curved-sash, and just because the first three stories are the same height as a modern neighbor's first nine stories, well, that's just splendor. So never mind.
"Just splendor" is just fine with me.
It beats unjust splendor all hollow.