Oh boy, look what the Fedex man dragged to my front door: a DVD copy of my 1997 appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show.  In light of her announcement that she’s ending her show with the 25th season, I thought how fitting to share this.

This week at Daily Danny seems to be a video montage week, first with the Method parody commercial of Scrubbing Bubbles, and now a blast from the past: my 19-year-old self on Oprah when she launched Oprah’s Angel Network.

12 years ago, I appeared on Oprah to share how I raised $30,000 in less than 30 days to sponsor the Baltimore Habitat for Humanity Oprah House.    I was given a challenge from a producer at the show: raise $30,000, don’t mention the name “Oprah” when fund-raising, and then come on the show to explain how you did it so others watching might be able to do the same thing.

I haven’t seen this video in over a decade and a lot things come to mind.  But I thought it would be something fun to share with you so you can see my teenage self was trying to save the world even way back then. 

Enjoy!

My friends over at Method Home recently  uploaded this hilarious video to YouTube.   I wanted to share it with you because A: it brings home the point that the traditional smell of “clean” is really chemicals, B: those chemicals linger and stay with you in your bathroom and C: we really need Senator Al Franken’s Household Product Labeling Act to pass.

For those of you not familiar with the Household Product Labeling Act, it’s pretty simple:  The bill (if it becomes law) would require that household cleaning products and similar products bear a label that contains a complete and accurate list of all the product’s ingredients.

From Organic Authority:

Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) has introduced The Household Product Labeling Act (S. 1697), which would require household cleaning products to carry labels that list all of their ingredients.

“Moms and dads have a right to know whether harmful chemicals are present in their kitchen cupboards,” Franken says. “When my wife, Franni, and I were raising our own kids, we were constantly concerned with what we used to wash their cribs, their pacifiers, the floors and surfaces they played on. This is just a commonsense measure to help parents keep their kids safe and healthy.”

Current law requires product labels to list immediately hazardous ingredients, but there is no labeling requirement for ingredients that may cause harm over time.

Toxic chemicals in household products produce harmful health effects—the main reason we recommend natural and organic options.

The bill would make information readily available to consumers. HR 3057, the House companion bill, was introduced by Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY).

I for one think this bill is really the way to go and that consumers deserve full transparency on what chemicals are in their everyday household cleaning products.   Maybe this will make the big conglomerate manufacturers finally disclose what we’ve all suspected all along: that smell of “clean” is really dirty after all.

I don’t know what it is with me and airports and acting like I’m at an art gallery or museum.   This will officially be my third post on creative reuse that I spied at an airport.  This time: Philadelphia International Airport.      The artist: Mark Khaisman.    The theme: Tape Noir.

Mark uses translucent packing tape as his medium, snipping, cutting, folding and twisting tape a certain way to manipulate it as if it were pieces of stained glass.  The end result is something that appears as cubist photography, an Amber glowing portrait that comes together with light poring through the back of it.     

From his website:

How would you describe the style of your work?

My works are large archetypal representational images, made from layer upon layer of translucent packing tape, applied to clear Plexiglas and placed in front of a light box to give the image shadow and depth. I see my tape art as a form of painting. The 2-inch tape acts as a wide brush, and the light behind the panels as an alchemist’s luminous blending medium. In working with tape, like in painting, accident and control are always present.

How you came to working with tape?

My Tape Art is a conversation with light. I started it like a traditional stained glass artist, but with tape: I found I could continue my conversation with light, but in a more expedient manner. I might have never thought of this “medium” if not for my working in stained glass. Yet, tapes happened to be much more than just a replacement of the stained glass medium. It miraculously bonded together all my previous experiences. 

Here’s a more detailed shot of the portrait.  You can see layer upon layer of tape, some areas thinner than other parts to create contrast.  Usually, when I study a finished “project” long enough, I can figure out a way to replicate the idea at home (if I was so inclined).  Here, I’m stumped.   It’s brilliant, really.

www.khaismanstudio.com/

Congrats to my friend and client Kerry Washington.   Her latest film "Lakeview Terrace" opened at #1.   I haven't seen it yet, but I heard rumors she's reading my book "Simply Green Parties" in the movie.  Love you, Kerry.