Sunday, December 25, 2011



A quick few photo-presents to add to your Christmas tidings...

These two photos were sent to me by two of my friends, who are themselves very close friends going way back to college study abroad days.

The photos are very similar in concept and amazing-ness.  Without further ado I present the images with special thanks and holiday regards to Christian and Matt.


This is a REAL screen-shot of a 'Words with Friends' game and these are the REAL letters that he got!!!!  Unfortunately 'Yinzers' is not a permissible word.  Phooey, you app makers!


Photo taken at the Pittsburgh International Airport last Thursday night!  What does the plane say?  I always knew I was good with kids but come on, I didn't know they were tagging my nickname on airport furniture!  (BTW, kids, not to be persnickety but it's MS. not MISS)

Congrats to Homestead Charlie on the win yesterday!  

Happy Holidays to all!  xoxo Ms.  Pittsburgh

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

NEW *BLING*





Catch All Post


Hello readers!

I'm sorry that my posts have been few lately. I've been focused on graduate school applications since September!

Did you see the Patriots game? How awesome and vindicating was that?



YEAH MIKE KNOWS IT!!!!







(get ready for the dark side of this question...)





Did you see the Ravens game? How wretched and intolerable was that?

I woke up to the New York City Marathon the morning of the Ravens game. The Marathon never ceases to amaze and create an acutely emotional state. For one morning only, the streets of the metropolis become a place of shared effort toward a common goal, and non-participants stand and cheer in support, offering positive vibes to total strangers as they stream past. Total opposite of the usual experience! I find it very, very touching and always seem to have a few tears on hand, welled up and ready to roll on Marathon day.

I received an image from my friend Shahin, who took an arbitrary shot out his front door to commemorate the race and upon close inspection noticed... THAT guy. You have to look real close...


Do you see him?  Running a marathon wearing a wig and twirling a T.T. no less!

What are the chances??? TO THE POLAMALU MARATHON RUNNER: If you are reading this, please contact me @ mspittsburgh@yinzyang.com!

Thank you, Shahin, for your impeccable timing and for bringing this bit of magic into the light!










Next to the Steelers v Ravens game at my aunt and uncle's house. The only shot I have from the whole game is this:


















SAD LOST PUPS, UNABLE TO PLAY. Heartbreaking. Like the game.
Actually the game hurt my entire network of nerves and my stomach more than it did my heart. The Ravens are so evil and vile that I have a hard time exposing my heart to the likes of Sugg's crazy double row of grinded-down hyena teeth and bloody lips, Ray Lewis' evil hero face paint, or the head coach who I think of as "the Fonz"-- looking much more like he should be running a pizza shop than an NFL team.  I always want him to be hit in the head on the sideline by a "foul ball".
Ugh, I find it all so hard to bear. To their credit.


Wednesday, October 5, 2011

"What's the deal..?"

"...with the Steelers?"

I've been hearing this question a lot lately.

Yesterday, I provided the following answer to a friend via email:

"The deal with the Steelers is lack of depth in the perennially bad positions, while the best players in some of the historically more solid positions are older and slowing down. Plus shortened training camp really hurt us; things were by all accounts really unfocused and disorganized in Latrobe (coaching weakness?). So...I don't know...Plus Tomlin looks like he's really taken to the new Pgh cuisine, maybe indulging in the offerings at the new How Lee a little too frequently. And somehow Dick still looking like he could slay a lioness without need for vision correction."

What do you guys think?

-Ms. Pittsburgh

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Terror-ifying Game

UGH

Today, for the first time in my life, I was scheduled to work through the first game of the Steelers season. Significantly, it is 9/11/11 and I work in downtown Manhattan. So there's a lot of things going on today--lots of events and speculations that are out of the ordinary. Of all the things that could have happened, the least likely in my mind was for the Steelers to play a real stinker of a game against the Ravens. Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened!

I received frequent text messages from my cousin Rachel describing something gamelike I could not really imagine. Troy throwing punches after the play? Ben not working at all (unfortunately that one is imaginable...)? NO SECONDARY??? My responses ranged from 'WTF???' to 'S*%#' to 'UGH f*#@!*' to 'Is anything working???!!!!', back to WTF!!!'.

I don't know what to say, other than "this sounds like the worst game of my adult life" AND "gee was I lucky to be scheduled to work during this game of all games". I think I was seriously spared some trauma. Most notable observation from the game 'highlights' on the internet is that Ben appeared to be passing to Ed Reed.

Cue magical thinking:
1. Maybe the Steelers have been watching too much True Blood?
2. Maybe Ben's off his stride after having an allegation-less summer?
3. Maybe the Ravens are going to win the Super Bowl and the Steelers just had their worst game of the season

Let's hope for a better game next week, when Ms Pittsburgh will attend the 2011 home opener at Heinz Field.

Remember: there is no Yinz without the Yang.




Wednesday, May 18, 2011

New Shirt!!!


We are pleased to present to you our latest design!!!  This one is particularly special to me because it's the first shirt I ever wanted to make, conceived of many years ago.  I think it turned out perfectly!  I mixed the ink by hand--a nice warm, brownish black--and printed the shirts myself, along with printing extraordinaire, Bill Connelly, of WPC Custom Printing.  Thanks, Bill!

This shirt is the perfect all purpose statement about Pittsburgh in my book. Available here in unisex sizes.
Printed in a limited run so pick one up today!

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Sent to the corner for bein good

I caught up on all the Steelers 2011 draft action in earnest this morning.  My greatest football wish through my adult life has been for the Steelers to draft a good cornerback.  Is this crazy to suggest?  This position, no offense--and anyone who has watched football with me in the last 8 years or so will attest to the intensity of my feelings about this--has been held by some of the biggest clowns the Steelers have ever seen.  I won't name names but I will say they're all graduates with highest honors from the Nate Washington School of Drama.  I understand that cornerback is the least important position in Dick's defensive scheme, which hinges on the blitz shutting down the passing game.  Linebackers and safetys are the most important, as is having 3 solid dudes up front (as evidenced by the Steelers' first round choice of Cameron Hayward at defensive end).  Only problem is we play against teams that are very successful in anticipating our blitzes, which puts all the pressure on the corner.  Then you end up with William Gay covering Randy Moss and it's a complete shit show.  Also, and perhaps of equal importance: in games where we really, desperately need a turnover, who's most often caught with an embarrassing case of butterfingers with an easily catchable ball?

I will disclaim at this point that this is my understanding of Steelers football as I see it.  I've never played football except in gym class, so feel free to comment and share your insights.

This year's selection of cornerback Curtis Brown in the 3rd round is the highest draft position that cornerback has received in recent memory so at least we've got that going for us.  Google image results for this guy are encouraging as he can actually be seen catching a ball.


Looking forward to seeing you do this in a Steelers uniform, Curtis!  Word on the 'net is that you are also a special star on special teams and lord knows the Steelers can use you there.

Just for kicks I decided to put the Steelers' cornerback choices out in plain sight, all lined up in decending chronological order.  Are there any unmemorables that I am missing?

Curtis Brown, 3rd round, 2011
William Gay, 5th round, 2007
Ike Taylor, 5th round, 2003
Deshea Townsend, 4th round, 1998
Chad Scott, 24th overall (???!!!), 1997

As super encouraging as this choice of Curtis Brown is, it is disheartening that Ike's future has not been secured.  Curtis will likely not be our top performer at corner for a couple of years.  So in the meantime, who will be?  Gay?  Maybe they should call me for a tryout.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Coming into the light



Now that it's truly, officially spring (seeing as our first 80 degree day is behind us), I feel ready to admit publicly that it took a lot longer for me to shake our super bowl loss than I imagined.  I thought this image would be a fitting return to the blog as it bookends immaculately with my last entry, composed and posted just minutes before kickoff of that fateful game back in February.  The residents of the apartment whose deck used to don adjacent GB and Stillers flags must have been feeling depressed too, or perhaps highly conflicted, or at the very least wary of the sensitivities that neighbors and passers-by might have to their long-standing message.  Maybe all of the above.  

Anyway here's to spring and sunshine.  In that spirit I welcome a new shirt to the Yinz Yang design line, should be up on the internet this week.  Check back!







Sunday, February 6, 2011

Longstanding public Steelers / Green Bay matchup prediction

I first saw these flags posted to a deck in Regent Square in 2004, and thought, "that's respectable".  I'd often wonder, as I passed the flags on my way to work, if there were multiple residents of this apartment who hailed from both cities, or if it was a couple with split allegiances; or if it was a Pittsburgher just putting it out there that these are the two respectable teams in the league.  Whatever the reason and whoever they are, these people have been predicting today's Super Bowl matchup for at least 7 years.


Respect to Green Bay
GO STILLERS!!!

Friday, February 4, 2011

Birthday!


Ms. Pittsburgh turned 30 this week!


You can find me somewhere in this video of "Steeler Shout-outs" produced by wpxi, filmed live in the Strip on Groundhog's Day!


http://www.wpxi.com/video/26732472/index.html   
CHECK THIS OUT.  I guarantee you will laugh!


That night, I attended the Pens-Islanders game.  Final score 3-0 with an amazing goalie fight in the final 30 seconds!  A rare, old-tyme hockey experience that this old-timer will never forget!

Special thanks to Brent Johnson, who's excellent goaltending made this game numerically congruous with my landmark age...and who's badass style flattened DiPietro with one left jab!!!!  AMAZING!



Monday, January 24, 2011

Bloggin about bein Blogged About II and AFC CHAMPS!!!

If you have a second check out this weeks' Q&A with Ms. Pittsburgh for the Readymade blog by Lily Kane.  Awesome!  Thank you, Lily!

Whew what a week.  I spent the last 4 days sick as a dogg in New York City!  I can't remember feeling worse, or more hopeless that my health would ever return.  Figuring that most obviously our O-Line was in need of a major boost, I came to the conclusion that the Steelers must be borrowing my life force for the game, and that they'd relinquish it to me upon its conclusion.  Once the game started and Mendenhall started getting ALL his yards after contact I decided it was he who had been channeling all my energy.  Well, either that or I got the flu at a Prince concert.

Photos from the big game:


Good game, Ike!
How funny was it that he seemed to stand like this for the last several minutes of the game.  I applaud your fan-like excitement, #24.


Poor Rexy when he realizes it's all over.  


ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE!!!  It works!!!
After the Divisional round, I asked via this very blog for some Steelers D in the press conference.  Here you go, Mr. Steelers D himself, right up there in the talking lineup with Tomlin, Roethlisberger and Mendenhall.  

Feelin the power of the Yinz Yang strong today!  And feeling healthy, miraculously!
xo
Ms. Pittsburgh

Sunday, January 16, 2011

That's a wrap!!!

Now that football is over for the weekend, what are we supposed to do?  Watch the stupid show about a CEO going undercover to see how badly/well their business is run, and how their pimped out, bloated lifestyle has made them out of shape and incapable of menial tasks?  NO.  I'm taking mild pleasure in knitting and watching the Golden Globe awards PLUS the Patriots' post-game press conference, revealing reciprocal opposites.  Overly planned-for acceptance speeches (on part of Hollywood), and overly unplanned-for defeat speeches (on part of the Pats). 


The funniest ones were from Robert DeNiro, who accepted some sort of lifetime achievement award and was seriously uncouth and probably drunk; and from coach Belichick, whose vocabulary and diction, in his absolute shock at losing to the Jets, was reduced to about 3 permutations of about 5 words.  Dude couldn't even congratulate the Jets or concede that the Jets may have had something to do with the outcome of the game.  Come on guy, show some maturity!

See ya next year Pats!  You played a good season.

On the topic of press conferences:




1) The gradation created by these three wardrobe choices is hilarious. 
2) Can we get a little Stillers-D represented at the press conference?


To the New Jersey Jets: see you at Heinz Field! 

 Get PSYCHED, Pittsburgh, it's rematch time!

"I'd rather have the game here, TRUE STATEMENT" --Sir James Harrison, locker room interview

I'm whole-heartily looking forward to your  TRUE STATEMENTS on the field next Sunday, #92.

-Ms. Pittsburgh

Friday, January 14, 2011

Yinz Yang (dare I say Holy?) Trinity of You Tube

As many of you may or may not know, when it comes to viral video trends my style is super behind-the-times.  I miss all the peaks of popularity and find things in the valleys of their popular disfavor.  For example, I discovered SNL's digital short, Dick in a Box, which as you'll recall enjoyed epidemic-like internet popularity, more than a year after it first aired on 12/16/2006.

Exhibit A (which contains a reference to Yinz Yang, then in its infancy!):



Upon discovering this comedic gem (and finding it difficult to contain my excitement), I asked all of my friends in turn, "Have you ever seen 'D in a B'???", to which the reply was something like, "Uh, yeah, like 10 years ago?!"  People were actively annoyed and frustrated that I was so excited about something that was so over.  I was made to feel like a silly immature teen who shows up after the party is over, barges into the house, raids the fridge, turns the music way up, and dances like a spazz.  Pssssh, whatever!  I've never been one to find value in novelty in and of itsself, in fact I might go so far as to say that I'm suspicious of the new so this really should come as no surprise.  What's interesting is how my time capsule 'tude creates or reflects (or both, who knows? its the chicken and the egg thing) my values.

I found 'D in a B' as I do all my internet discoveries: in the midst of some rogue, misguided, wayward-style internet wanderings.  Sitting down at the internet, not knowing which way to 'surf' feels to me like plugging my nervous system into a parallel and more anxious wavelength, or like the feeling of confronting an empty canvas (which ironically I am much more comfortable with!).   If I have time to waste, I never know how or where on the internet to do it, like how when you're at a bar with a million of the world's greatest and rarest beers and can't choose a drink; or when flipping through the milleu of pop music in a karaoke song book fails to yield an appropriate performance for the occasion.  I think the problem is that I don't get any feeling from the internet and thus can not be guided by intuition, just like a list of songs or beers does not reflect the respective sounds or tastes that said book(s) offer(s).

In attempts at time wasting I traipse the internet with the uncertain footing that might carry one through an abandoned steel town, down empty and deserted streets only to discover that there's an authentic Hungarian Restaurant complete with Grandpa who cooks up servings of delicious old world cuisine on styrofoam plates.  I seem to find things as archaeological discoveries long after the vitality of whatever might have originally drawn you there is dead and forgotten to the rest of the world.  This being the case, I'd argue that if something is good enough to withstand the test of my delayed timing, it's gotta be real good.  I've always championed survivors.  I'd definitely eat at that Hungarian restaurant, I definitely LOVE our Steelers D, and I definitely watch certain you tube videos hundreds of times at the cost of missing all the new and untested stuff.

(As a related aside: I acknowledge publicly that I have as of summer 2009 seen the Star Wars Trilogy in its entirety.  So for all of you who have ridiculed me for extolling the comedic virtues of Spaceballs my entire life whilst never having seen Star Wars, your trip is over.  I get the Star Wars references now, so we can all move on with our friendship in peace and mutual respect....of Spaceballs! EH OH ) 

Which leads me to my original reason for this post.  When I sit down at a computer to waste time, I want an iron-clad guaranteed good time!  After all, it isn't a waste if I enjoyed it!  I want to watch something that in and of itsself totally affirms, no, mirrors my values.  I want Heaven and Earth co-conspiring to produce the greatest cinema that could never be made because it is a documented, real-world event.   I want Truth in 8 minutes or less.  I want raw and absolute creativity, artistry, against-the-odds survival.  I want art, nature, and sports as raw metaphors for life in this chaotic, civilized world.  I want banal events and performances in which the underlying, invisible, and latent forces of our world rise up against the dominant powers to create absolute contradiction, blowing all expectations out of the water, leaving the opposite of what you expected to do what you expected or hoped for to begin with.  I want the Yinz Yang You Tube Trinity.  I give it to you here.  In ascending order.  May peace be with you and also with you, internet.

#3

#2


#1 





...Coming soon to Yinz Yang: The Blog:

Ms. Pittsburgh's Top Ten moments from HBO's Penguins Capitals 24 7 mini-series and new special edition Yinz Yang shirt soon to be released.  Check back soon!










Thursday, January 6, 2011

Happy New Year 2011!

Ms. Pittsburgh and Yinz Yang wish you all the best in 2011!

The end days of 2010 came and went in a flash.  If this blog were a movie, the following would be a dramatic montage set to something like Chariots of Fire.


(sorry Mr. Wollenberg)


At Heinz Field's "classy tap", Iron Mike (aka "Pops"), Amy, Ms. Pgh, and Greg find themselves caught in a Gerhard Richter painting.


Spotted en route to killing time before visiting the Miniature Railroad and Village at the Carnegie Science Center...For the masses of gambling bicycle activist-types in your life, there's a forlorn, token bike rack at Rivers Casino, just a football's throw from the Valet driveway!  I wonder if you could ask the valet to lock you up?... 


This tree wishes it looked this good

In the words of Marissa's wonderful friend Kate whose middle name is Munhall after the borough of the same name, I give to you my personal motto for 2011: "EVER FORWARD".  May it be a wondrous year for all of you, your families, and for your sports teams.