We have come to drag days

Mm Mm Good

2011-04-29T13:34:00.003-04:00

Had this last night, first of the summer, and decided I didn't want to eat anything else ever again. So yes! We've almost made it to May, people. The long winter has ended. We are off to Iceland in July (fingers crossed). Lots to look forward to.

"I'm Dreaming of a Green Summer"

2010-12-15T08:50:00.002-05:00

My uncle John and his granddaughter Clare mowing the lawn on his riding mower. What a happy moment captured!

The soul is the weariest part of the body

2010-12-12T21:45:00.004-05:00

“Because we don’t know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. Yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number really. How many times will you remember a certain afternoon that’s so deeply a part of your being that you can’t even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four or five times, perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless.”

-The Narrator (Paul Bowles), from the film, The Sheltering Sky

Butt wait, there's more! (Yeah, I really just named the post that)

2010-12-09T11:28:00.002-05:00

My friend's mom breeds Corgis and every time there's a new litter she sends weekly update photos of the pups. This one is killing me. Mama had 9 pups!!

Ten Things I was Really Into as a Kid

2010-12-08T15:14:00.008-05:00

In keeping with the nostalgia theme, I present to you "Ten Things I was Really Into as a Kid". I apologize for how boring this post is. But it was a nice trip down memory lane. What were some of the things you were into? Let me know!

1. All the "Fairy" books. The Blue Fairy Book, The Red Fairy Book, The White Fairy Book," etc. They were sort of messed up fairy tales, too. The illustrations were amazing. Look for them in your library some time! 2. The Beatles movie, HELP! My brother and I still quote this movie. We used to watch it alll the time.

3. Kaleidoscopes. I used to collect them. I have no idea why.

4. Carousel Horses-OBSESSED. I used to collect them, too. I would make lists of all the ones I wanted to buy and show my mom frequently.

5. The Disney movie Alice & Wonderland. I liked to hang upside down from the couch and look through the mirror and pretend I was in a backwards, inverted world resembling the rabbit hole.

6. MTV VJ Martha Quinn. She rocked and will always rock.

7. The show, Rhoda. I used to race home from the pool to watch this show. Again, I have no idea why.

8. Spy vs. Spy. I used to draw them all the time. They intrigued and scared me.
9. The OZ books. So awesome! I love them still.

10. Goonies II for NES-It is actually killing me that I can't play this game right this very second. I used to wake up in the middle of the night thinking of how to advance to the next screen ("oh yeah, I can use the jumping shoes!") Looooved this game.

Ha ha?

2010-12-08T13:23:00.003-05:00

I have this like/hate relationship with mumblecore movies. Mumblecore refers to a form of cinema verite characterized by cheap/low production and lots of talking and improvisation. The “plots” (term used loosely) generally focus on malaised, artistic twenty-somethings who, depending on who you ask, you can relate to or you want to punch in the face. The films don’t really have plots like traditional cinematic storytelling; they’re full of lots of squirmy interactions strung together with socially awkward, yet realistic individuals. Some of my friends absolutely hate these films and though I kind of understand their frustration and boredom, I’m often drawn in by the realism. My biggest complaint of these films is that the characters take themselves sooo seriously. Real life can also involve much humor!

I guess you could argue Richard Linklater sort of popularized this genre with his early films, like Slacker, but today Andrew Bujalski and the Duplass brothers (Mark & Jay) are probably the strongest examples of the movement. I couldn’t really get into the Duplass brothers’ films, but I’ve seen a couple of Bujalski’s--Funny Ha Ha and Mutual Appreciation. The latter stars Justin Rice (lead singer of the band Bishop Allen) as a broke musician who’s moved back to NY and as much as the film sort of irritates me, I find Rice charismatic and likable so I got caught up in his story despite myself (see above photos 1&2). And Funny Ha Ha (see above, last two photos) was like peering into a window of my life as an awkward twenty-something—the actress reminds me of my younger self so much (way more than Laura Dern!). I even dressed like her through college and after (her uniform-an ironic t-shirt paired with corduroys and some cool kicks.) I could totally relate to her shuffling aimlessly through temp jobs and romantic encounters all the while obsessing over her ambiguous relationship with her close, platonic guy friend love interest (yeah, had a few of those). What do you think, does she look like me? Look at that chin! :)

But what really initiated this post today was listening to Terry Gross’ interview with Lena Dunham, auteur of the new “mumblecore” film Tiny Furniture. I was on the fence about seeing this film, but this interview really cemented my desire to see it after hearing how thoughtful and insightful Dunham is. Stay tuned--next post will be about Dunham and this interview!

(Also, below I’ve posted the trailer to another Justin Rice film called Harmony and Me which verges on mumblecore, but I think is way funnier and more accessible. Also it stars Kevin Corrigan who is awesome.)

Tis the season for fuzzy...uh...what?

2010-12-07T20:36:00.015-05:00

In the spirit of the holidays, I decided to review some of my most beloved presents through my years...growing up during the wonderful eighties! First up we have the Easy Bake Oven! Hey Mom and Dad, want this plate full of mush that's been sitting next to a 100-watt lightbulb for an hour? Mmmm! I loved "cooking" with this thing despite the fact everything turned out pretty gross. Look at it, though! It's a marvel. It looks like something that should be in Tron. It looks fairly terrifying actually.

Next up we have the fantastic Snoopy Snowcone Machine! Look at that funny little guy from the band Devo on the left there. Actually Snoopy has the same hat on, too. Hm, which came first Devo's song Whip It or the Snoopy Snow Cone Machine?

I always crack up Gabe while retelling the story of this toy. I would try to turn the ice crank but as I was a tiny toothpick I was never strong enough of course, so I'd make my dad turn the thing who all the while would be swearing JEEZUS! trying to get the crank moving. Good times!

Okay third we have the fantastic...wait for it... Fuzzy Pumper Barber Shop. Huh? It was really called that?? It sounds like a brothel or something.

This thing was so fun! Even though I don't think this barbershop ran as smoothly as the above photo depicted. So the way this worked--you put your little guy in the chair, turned the crank (an obvious theme in my childhood toys) and Play-Doh would come out of the holes in their heads. You could coif their hair using a plastic perm mold or trim it. I'm not making this up! Fuzzy pumpers. Yep.

Last, but certainly not least I give you...Fashion Plates! The inspiration for this blog post, really. I had a dream about this toy; a toy I had long since forgotten but was obviously imprinted in my brain forever. It was my absolute favorite. Sort of like making paper dolls. You chose which plates you wanted to combine to create a swanky lady and outfit. The backs of the plates had patterns on them so you could get your outfit together and then color the clothes plaid, polka dotted or starry.

Obviously I am not the only thirty-something lady dreaming about this toy because they sell on ebay for like fifty bucks! Ah the expensive price of nostalgia!

Kewpie

2010-12-06T22:13:00.005-05:00

I've in the past blogged of one of my favorite girls, Sibel (my friends Tim and Sita's adorable daughter) and I'm thinking now that I'm overdue in posting a more recent photo. Isn't she a doll!?

And she's now living in Germany so she will potentially be trilingual (since Mom speaks Danish to her and Dad speaks English). Actually she signs, too, so will that make her... quadrilingual?

And if I broke your heart last night, it’s cause I love ya mo-ost of all.

2010-12-06T14:04:00.003-05:00

Oh Ryan Gosling. You sure do know how to pull my heart strings with those sad eyes of yours. (Yeah, I’m not talking about that Notebook movie.) Half Nelson slayed me--it was so damn sad. And Lars and the Real Girl was sweet; sure maybe a little contrived, but I still loved it and got choked up watching that, too.

But this new film Blue Valentine with Michelle Williams might be his most heart-wrenching yet. I think Williams is a really amazing actress, too. I suspect it’s going to be a little like an “Eternal Sunshine” storyline—a nonlinear tale of a couple’s deteriorating relationship made all the more tragic with the juxtaposed images of a simpler time when they were delighted by each other.

God, all you’re really watching in the trailer is a bleary-eyed, sad couple, yet I feel like slumping over my desk just watching it. And I just can’t get the song out of my head...

What's a Girl To Do?

2010-12-03T11:11:00.006-05:00

I’m lucky to have many talented, artistic friends whom I should blog about more often. So with that, I wanted to give big props to my friend Ben, whose latest comic, The Incredibly Fantastic Adventures of Maureen Dowd, is blowing up all over the place (Gawker, The New Yorker, The Atlantic... even Fox News!). I can’t wait to read it!

Here’s a great review/plot description from Robot6:

Told in Marra’s inimitable, po-faced ’80s-trash throwback style, TIFAoMD’s preview pages exhibit Dowd — winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary and recently named the eighth-largest hack in journalism by Salon’s Alex Pareene — lounging in lingerie, battling burglars, flirting with fellow Times columnist Tom Friedman, and trying to blow the lid off the Valerie Plame scandal before her huge date with George Clooney. And for a political junkie like me, it’s basically heaven.

Ben’s an amazing illustrator (his other comics include the awesome Night Business and Gangsta Rap Posse) and you’ll see I posted some examples of his art below. I think his work has a heartbeat, albeit an irregular, pounding one. His style jumps out at you immediately—colorful, shellacked, hyper-muscular figures that pulse and breathe with life. His subject matter includes Sci-Fi, Blaxploitation, Sexploitation, Epic Hero tales and Fantasy (and now apparently the D.C. political scene). But he’s not just talented. He’s warm and totally hilarious and charming. You can’t help but want to be around him. So I’m so glad he’s finally getting the recognition he deserves! Check out more of his work at his website www.benjaminmarra.com.

Intermission: Where is YOU?

2010-12-01T13:52:00.003-05:00

Well, here I am. I’m going to try to include more of myself in my blog (which admittedly has the potential to end up boring and disastrous, but oh well here goes?). Last night, the rain was so loud on my skylight that I couldn’t sleep at all. As I lay in bed, I tried to think of topics to blog about. And I guess lying in bed lent itself to thinking about dreaming and how strange and interesting dreams are. It’s obvious how much of our dreams are remnants from our day. We weave together unresolved arguments and worries, fragments of images we saw on TV, people we passed on the street. But what struck me as interesting is how our waking lives sometimes mimic our dream states.

DC was a strange period of my life. Moving to a new city is always a challenge, particularly when you’re an adult settled in your life with your friends. I was comfortable in Pennsylvania, but too comfortable, and going back to school was a needed change (or at least I thought so at the time). I tend to have a lot of dreams where I’m exploring, so living in a new place and exploring new surroundings tends to automatically remind me of my dreams. Anyways, I was thinking last night of this odd freelance job I took while I was in DC with a mapping company based in San Francisco. My job was to literally “ride the rails”: each week I visited a list of metro stations and took notes mapping the exits, the number of elevators, accessibility for the disabled, etc. I found the task surreal and dreamlike because I rode up and down different lines without a real destination. Never mind the fact that the DC metro is one of the craziest, most awesomely dreamy and futuristic-looking transit systems around! I’d get out at the stations and maybe poke my head outside occasionally, but in general I spent most of my time riding the train or waiting at the station for the next one to arrive. Sometimes I’d be stuck waiting for a half an hour at a station. So I would read articles for school when I was feeling industrious, but often I just caught myself people watching and thinking.

Maybe these waiting periods were also what seemed so dream-like to me. In some ways, really, our dreams are our waiting rooms until we wake. Our lives are our waiting rooms before we die. And then maybe we hit another waiting room after we die ...?

Cute (nerd) boys alert!

2010-11-30T10:35:00.002-05:00

My nerd boyfriend introduced me to the blog nerdboyfriend.com. One can peruse photos of cute boy celebrities wearing looks from all different eras and then follow the links to the contemporary clothes and accessories that would let you recreate their looks. I like Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill hanging out at what looks to be their grandmom's house.

Pardon me, but could you happen to tell me how to get to Scarborough Fair?

2010-11-29T10:41:00.011-05:00

Don't all these monsters look like they're asking for directions? My friend Dylan clued me in to this great artist. Very Edward Gorey in the fine ink detailing (and creepy/comic subject matter).

BORN IN DENMARK 1978. I WRITE AND DIRECT TELEVISION SHOWS FOR KIDS. I HAVE A SET OF TWINS AND NOT MUCH TIME FOR ANYTHING. BUT WHEN I HAVE TIME I DRAW MONSTERDRAWINGS ON POST-IT NOTES...IT IS A LITTLE WINDOW INTO A DIFFERENT WORLD, MADE ON OFFICE SUPPLIES.

(from the amazing mind/imagination/blog of John Kenn )

Delightful Voluptuousness

2010-11-28T18:07:00.002-05:00

Looove this cookbook! Sophie Dahl is just adorable first of all. She was beautiful when she was big and voluptuous and she's beautiful skinny (and uh, still voluptuous).

Does she still model? I'm not sure, but I think she's found a new calling. Here's a soup that's cooking on my stove right now. The cookbook has great recipes and, as a bonus, some great storytelling by Miss Dahl (yep, she's also a writer taking after her grandpa, Roald Dahl).
Spinach barley soup
Recipe by Sophie Dahl from Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights
Serves 4-6
-3 tablespoons of olive oil
-1 onion, chopped
-2 large fresh sage leaves, chopped
-6 1/2 cups of vegetable stock
-6 cups of spinach, washed and chopped
-3/4 cup of pearl barley
-Salt and pepper
-1/2 cup of grated Parmesan

Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed pan, put in the onion and sage leaves and cook n a low heat for about 5 minutes. While that's cooking, heat the stock in another pan. Stir the spinach into the onion mixture and cook for another few minutes. Pour in the hot stock and cook, covered, on a low heat for 10 minutes. Add the barley and leave it cooking for another half an hour or until the barley is soft. Season to taste. When it is ready, ladle into bowls and sprinkle the Parmesan on top.

Vertical Swiping

2010-11-28T15:14:00.001-05:00

I want him to wrap me up in that moustache. The end.

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang

2010-11-24T09:54:00.000-05:00

I was sort of mixed on the film The Brothers Bloom, but I really loved Rinko Kikuchi's stylish and quirky character, Bang Bang.

Bang Bang is a demolition expert and all-around cool girl. She even looks good in goggles.

A little trivia for you--in the movie, Rinko speaks only three words (aside from when she

sings in Japanese at the end). But this was not the first non-speaking role for Rinko.

Previously, she played a heartbreaking deaf-mute teenage girl in the film Babel. And for her performance, she became the first Japanese actress to be nominated for an Oscar in 50 years!

Confessions of an American Blog Writer/Reader

2010-11-24T09:37:00.002-05:00

Looks like I've found more fodder for my voyeuristic tendencies at

http://www.dailyroutines.typepad.com/

You too can experience the quotidian quirks of your favorite writers and artists! Maybe you will find a kindred spirit who shares in your neuroses.

Mr Campbell, for one, (see below) sounds like a man after my own heart. I generally admit this to only a chosen few, but when I have alone time on the weekends I like to divide my day into a series of "units" (as Will refers to in About A Boy). Fifteen minutes of reading, 15 minutes of yoga, 15 minutes of movie trailers, whatever. It's totally neurotic and totally pleasant to me because it makes the day feel stretched out so long!

Joseph Campbell

So during the years of the Depression I had arranged a schedule for myself. When you don’t have a job or anyone to tell you what to do, you’ve got to fix one for yourself. I divided the day into four four-hour periods, of which I would be reading in three of the four-hour periods, and free one of them.

By getting up at eight o’clock in the morning, by nine I could sit down to read. That meant I used the first hour to prepare my own breakfast and take care of the house and put things together in whatever shack I happened to be living in at the time. Then three hours of that first four-hour period went to reading.

Then came an hour break for lunch and another three-hour unit. And then comes the optional next section. It should normally be three hours of reading and then an hour out for dinner and then three hours free and an hour getting to bed so I’m in bed by twelve.

On the other hand, if I were invited out for cocktails or something like that, then I would put the work hour in the evening and the play hour in the afternoon.
It worked very well. I would get nine hours of sheer reading done a day. And this went on for five years straight.

The Brides Have Hit Glass

2010-11-23T15:14:00.002-05:00

Title of this blog entry is the title of a GBV song and I can't help but think Bob Pollard had Marcel Duchamp's piece "The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors" in mind when he wrote it. I dunno, maybe I'm wrong about that. But who knows? Bob might surprise you sometimes.

Speaking of Duchamp, if you ever want to read a great autobiography, pick up Duchamp: A Biography by Calvin Tomkins. It is a really, really interesting recounting of his life and the modern art movement.

Ten decisions shape your life, you'll be aware of five about...

2010-11-20T16:41:00.006-05:00

Is there anyone cuter than Elle Fanning? I'm pretty excited for Sofia Coppola's Somewhere starring Elle and Stephen Dorff (yes, Stephen the Dorff, Dorff) who plays Elle's sad-eyed, sleazy and breezy moviestar dad. Elle's character is reunited with her dad after her mom deposits her on his doorstep and they proceed to spend some time doing what looks like some awfully adorable father-daughter bonding.

I think she's such a great foil to Stephen Dorff. She exudes this fresh-faced innocent optimism and he just looks so haggard and beaten by Hollywood, but also sort of kind and wiser.

Sofia sure has a knack for discovering the nubile, lithe, porcelein beauties. Dear lord, is Elle missing a tooth in one of these photos? Could she be that young? She'd definitely be the cause of Humbert Humbert's undoing.

Mamika the Great!

2010-11-19T10:29:00.010-05:00

This is pretty awesome.

My friend recently posted about an artist whom, after hearing his 91-year-old grandma was feeling depressed, decided to create for her a superhero alter-ego by posing her costumed in a series of spectacular photo portraits. The artist is Sacha Goldberger and his grandmother Frederika was a superhero in her own right who hid 10 Jewish friends from the Nazis during the war.

Frederika's alter-ego is named Mamika, but it sounds to me like she's not so much an "alter"ego, but the distilled essence of a brave, cool woman. Apparently, her grandson's plan worked because he said she's not shown signs of depression since the four years the project has been running. She even has her own myspace page http://www.myspace.com/frederikagoldberger!

Tossed salad and scrambled eggs? None for me, thanks.

2010-11-18T15:56:00.009-05:00

My stomach is behaving badly. Wretchedly in fact. I've been holed up on the couch watching Parks and Recreation, which is quite funny and addictive, on my new ROKU player, which is serious and addictive. I should say, seriously addictive.

But, I needed a break so I started perusing the fashion photos I had saved to my desktop. Nothing like a nice cup of ginger tea and some lovely looks captured by The Sartorialist. These particular ladies have me drooling over their slouchy style and killer bags.

On an unrelated note, huddled on my couch I hear the frenzied yipping of my neighbor's three Westie Terriers. They are named...wait for it...Niles, Daphne and Frazier. On her door, it says her last name (forget what it is off the top of my head) and "Crane residence". It's as if the dogs were born with the last name Crane to begin with, so she couldn't very well name them anything else. Except they weren't, and she could have. Hm...

Why hello again!

2010-11-16T11:25:00.002-05:00

If Gabe were a dog, I think he'd look like this little fellow. He is my dream dog (perhaps because he too has a little beard).

So, hello! I'm going to try and start blogging again now that there's a chill in the air (more opportunities for mind wanderings while hibernating). Speaking of mind wanderings, I've been reading Proust's Remembrance of Things Past, the ultimate documentation of a wandering mind! (That guy sure did love his momma, huh?)

March showers bring April flowers. And allergies.

2010-04-01T08:47:00.002-04:00

Sibel and Tim are excited about spring! Are you?

The lights of Hammerfest

2010-02-01T20:26:00.006-05:00

An aurora is a natural display of light in the sky that can be seen with the unaided eye only at night. An auroral display in the Northern Hemisphere is called the aurora borealis, or the northern lights. A similar phenomenon in the Southern Hemisphere is called the aurora australis. Auroras are the most visible effect of the sun's activity on the earth's atmosphere.

Most auroras occur in far northern and southern regions. They appear chiefly as arcs, clouds, and streaks. Some move, brighten, or flicker suddenly. The most common color in an aurora is green. But displays that occur extremely high in the sky may be red or purple. Most auroras occur about 60 to 620 miles (97 to 1,000 kilometers) above the earth. Some extend lengthwise across the sky for thousands of miles or kilometers.
(excerpt taken from http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/aurora_worldbook.html)

In Bill Bryson's travel memoir Neither Here Nor There, he begins his journey in Hammerfest, Norway, "the northernmost point of the European mainland", with the hopes of witnessing the spectacular display of the Northern Lights.

He describes Hammerfest as a quaint and quiet little town where not much happens. He becomes a regular at the local coffee shop and hotel bar and spends most of his time waiting for the magical lightshow to appear. Eventually, more than two weeks in he gets his wish.

I think his descriptions of Hammerfest totally intriguing. I finally googled some images of the city (shown above) and was rather shocked to find it so picturesque. I guess that shouldn't surprise me as the Scandinavian countries are known being pretty nice, huh. I like the idea of escaping anonymously for a month to a place where, after a while, your routine makes you feel like a native rather than a stranger.

Picture : © Samuel Blanc / http://www.sblanc.com/

Go ahead and....Might as well...

2010-02-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

Photographer Philippe Halsman believed, "When you ask a person to jump, his attention is mostly directed toward the act of jumping and the mask falls so that the real person appears." His Jump Book, published in 1959, features 178 photographs of "celebrity jumpers." Pictured below are the Duke and Dutchess of Windsor, Audrey Hepburn, and of course, Marilyn Monroe and Richard Nixon.

When I finally break down and buy a new camera, I want to make my own jump book starring my friends and family. I can't wait!

The Professional Dreamers: Encounters at the End of the World

2010-01-31T14:49:00.004-05:00

Werner Herzog (Filmaker, Badass): And how does it happen that we are encountering each other here at the end of the world?

Stefan Pashor (Philosopher, Forklift Driver): I think that uh (chuckling) that's a logical place to find each other because this place works as a...almost as a natural selection for people that have this intention to jump off the margin of the map. And we all meet here--where all the lines on the map converge.

(from Werner Herzog's extraordinary documentary on Antartica Encounters at the End of the World)

Chris Eigeman quotes-part 3

2010-01-31T14:48:00.000-05:00

Barcelona-Fred Boynton
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred: "Yankee" and "gringo" are obviously pejorative, but it's the standard dictionary term that's the most insulting of all. "Estadunidense." Dense. D-E-N-S-E. It's the same spelling. Dense: thick, stupid. Every time you hear it. Estadunidense-dense-dense. It's like a direct slap in the face. It's incredible.

Montserrat: I think you are too sensitive.

Fred: Oh great, now we're too sensitive.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred: You think wedding vows are going to change everything? God, your naivete is astounding! Didn't you see "The Graduate"?

Ted: You can remember "The Graduate"?

Fred: Yeah, I can remember a few things. Apparently you don't. The end? Katharine Ross has just married this really cool guy - tall, blond, incredibly popular, the make-out king of his fraternity in Berkeley - when this obnoxious Dustin Hoffman character shows up at the back of the church, acting like a total asshole. "Elaine! Elaine!" Does Katharine Ross tell Dustin Hoffman, "Get lost, creep. I'm a married woman"? No. She runs off with him - on a bus. That is the reality.

J.D., we hardly knew ye

2010-01-28T13:19:00.000-05:00

"We're freaks, that's all. Those two bastards got us nice and early and made us into freaks with freakish standards, that's all. We're the tattooed lady, and we're never going to have a minute's peace, the rest of our lives, until everybody else is tattooed, too."

-J.D. Salinger, Franny and Zooey

R.I.P

Pleased to meet you

2010-01-14T13:01:00.003-05:00

So uh, I might have found my nirvana. Walking home from work yesterday, I passed a doggie daycare (on 12th street I believe?). They were so well-behaved! They all rushed up to the window to say hi, but they didn't bark. They just stared. Being all cute and stuff.

I think the woman who worked there thought I was a loon. I couldn't stop grinning and waving at the dogs!

January BLAHHHHHHS

2010-01-13T14:23:00.003-05:00

"I have of late -- but wherefore I know not -- lost all my mirth, foregone all custom of exercises; and indeed, it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame the earth seems to me a sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire -- why, it appeareth nothing to me but a foul and pestilent congregation of vapors. What a piece of work is man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god: the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals! And yet to me what is this quintessence of dust?"

-W. Shakespeare, Hamlet

(Painting by Ed Ruscha)

Lost a friend to the sea

2010-01-10T13:35:00.002-05:00

See more paintings by Kris Lewis here: http://www.krislewisart.com/

A "crunchy" start to 2010 (no I'm not talking about hippies)

2010-01-08T14:34:00.004-05:00

Photo montage from our low-key New Year's Eve dinner. I've included the recipe for this amazing simple yet delicious salad we made. (P.S. I know it looks like I'm trying to slip Gabe tongue in that one photo on the top right. I was. My apologies.)

(Jamie Oliver's) Moorish Crunch Salad serves 4

Ingredients
300g carrots, peeled
150g radishes
2 crunchy eating apples
1 small handful of raisins or sultanas
1 handful of fresh parsley, roughly chopped
1 handful of fresh mint, roughly chopped
4 tablespoons sherry or red wine vinegar
8 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon tahini
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted in the oven

First of all, finely slice your carrots into matchstick-sized batons. Finely slice your radishes – you can leave a little of the tops on if you like. Quarter your apples, remove the cores and finely slice. Add all these to a bowl with the rest of the ingredients, apart from the sesame seeds. Toss together, carefully checking the seasoning, and serve with the sesame seeds sprinkled over the top. Eat straight away.

Try this: Turn it into a warm salad by adding some pan-seared chicken, prawns or scallops which have been dusted with a little paprika.

And this: Make it more of a snack by frying some halloumi cheese until golden with some chopped fresh chilli and crumbling this over the top.

Or this: Grill some pitta bread and serve stuffed with the Crunch Salad. Crumble in some feta cheese too. Lovely.

There's a place for us.

2010-01-05T22:21:00.001-05:00

Somehow we gotta get these kids together in the new year! Dontcha think??

2010 is the future

2010-01-05T13:36:00.002-05:00

For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.

~T.S. Eliot, "Little Gidding"

Chris Eigeman Quotes-Part Two

2010-01-02T08:08:00.004-05:00

Kicking and Screaming-Max
1.
Max: I'm too nostalgic. I'll admit it.
Skippy: We graduated four months ago. What can you possibly be nostalgic for?
Max: I'm nostalgic for conversations I had yesterday. I've begun reminiscing events before they even occur. I'm reminiscing this right now. I can't go to the bar because I've already looked back on it in my memory... and I didn't have a good time.

2.
Max: What I used to able to pass off as a bad summer could now potentially turn into a bad life.

Victorian Photocollage

2010-01-02T08:04:00.002-05:00

Overview: Sixty years ahead of the avant-garde, aristocratic Victorian women were already experimenting with photocollage. The compositions they made with photographs and watercolors are whimsical and fantastical, combining human heads and animal bodies, placing people into imaginary landscapes, and morphing faces into common household objects.

With sharp wit and dramatic shifts of scale akin to those Alice experienced in Wonderland, these images stand the rather serious conventions of photography in the 1860s and 1870s on their heads. Such images, often made for albums, reveal the educated minds as well as accomplished hands of their makers, as they take on new theories of evolution, the changing role of photography, and the strict conventions of aristocratic society. Together they provide a fascinating window into the creative possibilities of photography in the Victorian era and enduring inspiration for photographic experimentation today.

(Playing with Pictures: The Art of Victorian Photocollage on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art February 2 – May 9, 2010,)

It's gonna be a good year.

2009-12-31T11:06:00.001-05:00

The Walkmen. Filmed in one continuous shot on August 14, 2009 at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. (Thanks Laura for the link!)

A dishonest man lives here

2009-12-30T16:23:00.002-05:00

Been watching the Mad Men these days. For those of you familiar with the first season, here is a list of "hobo" signs as referenced in episode 8, "The Hobo Code".

(Dishonest Man is third from the right, bottom row)

Ode to Chris Eigeman: Part One

2009-12-30T16:02:00.004-05:00

Oh Chris Eigeman, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

No one can pull off delightfully self-hating, uppercrusty, quasi-bourgeois, sincerely sarcastic yet slightly feigned outrage like you. I will be posting some of my favorite quotes from your oeuvre, starting with The Last Days of Disco.

The Last Days of Disco-Des McGrath

1. "Group social life has its place, but at a certain point other biological factors come into play. Our bodies weren't really designed for group social life. A certain amount of pairing off was always part of the original plan."

2. "You know that Shakespearean admonition: "To thine own self be true"? It's premised on the idea that "thine own self" is something pretty good, being true to which is commendable. But what if "thine own self"is not so good? What if it's pretty bad? Would it be better, in that case, *not* to be true to thine own self?...See that's my situation.

Wow! Lobster Clobster

2009-11-22T18:17:00.003-05:00

There are some many things right with this kid that I don't know where to begin.

Jeepers Creepers, Where'd You Get Those Peepers?

2009-11-16T11:12:00.006-05:00

I know I have a penchant for puppies, but I'm changing gears tonight and entering The Realm of Cute Little People (yes, it's an actual realm).

I would like to introduce the world to lovely little Sibel the Glo-Worm. She clearly doesn't miss a minute of the world! I can't wait to visit her someday and her mom and dad, Sita and Tim in DC. My lovely friend Ann-Marie is holding her in the third photo. Too cute.

Wherever you go, there you are.

2009-11-11T19:59:00.005-05:00

A suitcase city! This is so amazing. I can't read Swedish I'm afraid, so I'm not sure if the blogger is also the artist. But I believe it is--the blog is run by Fideli Sundqvist.

I expect to see Beetlejuice lurking around one of the corners! (Does that ruin it for you :)? I'm sorry, but I do love that movie and I love the model they make in the movie. And I love cute little Alec Baldwin in the movie. Yep, I said it. Isn't it weird to think he grew up to be Jack Donaghy? )

Link is courtesy of the lovely Camilla Engman's blog.

Grumpy Old Men

2009-11-11T19:49:00.002-05:00

Aw, actually they don't look all that grumpy to me. Just pensive maybe.
My friend Leslie is babysitting these two cuties for a couple months and I couldn't resist sharing this photo she sent around. What a dynamic duo! Every time I see a picture of these guys I crack up. They just seem to me like they have an opinion on the matter, you know?

It's autumn. And thoughts turn to nesting. Or is it jesting?

2009-11-10T16:12:00.004-05:00

My dude and I decided we would be super geeks and together form a little book club to read Infinite Jest (members: me and him). It's my favorite novel, and he's never read it, and I've never read it with someone else, so I think it's going to be pretty fun.

Just to whet the appetite I thought I'd flip the book pages, open to a random page, and type whatever sentence my eyes happen to fall on. I like to do this with books as a way to tell one's fortune for the day. Am I the only one who does this? It's also a great party icebreaker.

Ok here goes!!!

My fortune: Ok wait, false start, this sentence was really crap...

MY FORTUNE!!!: "I commit no illegal or degrading acts. But I will, if forced, beg."

Whoa. That was pretty intense, no? I think we all know what that means!

Just kidding I don't really know. But I am all the more excited to start reading this book again.

Him?

2009-11-10T16:01:00.002-05:00

I love this chick's style. Kind of like if the Newsies were ladies, too.

And then I remembered where I saw her before! Really, Irina? She does look a lot like Kate in that photo. I guess the dude's got a type.

Hello my friend, hello.

2009-11-08T21:58:00.011-05:00

Alright. A bout of illness is as good a time as any to regroup, refocus, begin anew, etc, etc. Here are some of the things that have been occupying my time as of late.

Reading:

Watching:

Listening to:
(Above: White Denim)

(Above: Neon Indian)

I feel like I've been really out of the loop lately and for some reason all of these entertainments are helping me come back to life. More later...

Happy Friday of the Long Weekend Variety!

2009-09-04T13:00:00.000-04:00

"New Amsterdam it's become much too much..."

2009-08-30T08:21:00.005-04:00

I've been absolutely glued to my seat for this 8-disc documentary on New York that I recently Netflixed (directed by Ric Burns). I'm only on Episode 1 which tells of NY's founding by the Dutch, its beginnings as a commercial melting pot, its gruesome history with slavery, the crucial battles that took here during the Revolutionary War and the city's near complete destruction, its rebuilding/reinvention by a young Alexander Hamilton and his bargaining with Thomas Jefferson to relinquish NY as a "federal capitol" in exchange for "beaucoup capital" to relieve the city's war debts...anyways I could go on and on.

I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who, like me, has aspirations of filling in woeful gaps of historical knowlege, but doesn't really know where to begin. It's really a great start! :)

Hold on to summer! Hold on tight!

2009-08-27T15:03:00.003-04:00

Borrowed vacation image from this lovely blog http://camillaengman.blogspot.com.

Don't you wish you could talk to dogs so you knew what they were thinking?

A good and decent man

2009-08-26T13:37:00.002-04:00

Ted Kennedy’s Eulogy for Robert Kennedy
"My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life, to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it."

Simple and elegant words that I think can be applied to all the Kennedy brothers, but maybe most of all you, Ted. RIP

James Ensor

2009-08-25T10:21:00.003-04:00

I became intrigued with James Ensor after reading a blurb about him in New York magazine. The MOMA is now showing a retrospective of Ensor--an avant-garde Belgian painter from the late 1800's. His paintings are amazing! Such vivid colors and wild subject matter. The above painting is titled Skeletons Fighting Over a Pickled Herring (1891).

Blackblack Black Black

2009-08-23T23:26:00.007-04:00

I've been checking out this adorable band, Blackblack recently--en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackblack

"Diva Dompe started the band in 2004 with her sister Lola and boyfriend Alex Greenwald, who performed as his alter-ego "Clark Schädelkopf" in the context of the band. Schädelkopf means "skullhead" in German. The Dompe sisters are both daughters of Bauhaus drummer Kevin Haskins. They have channeled their fantastical and sci-fi leanings into their shows. Prepping for past gigs included dressing as if they were starring in the Ice Capades, crafting massive Native American headresses, and making vats of theatrical blood in the Dompe family kitchen for a Carrie-themed summertime barbecue at The Echo in Echo Park."

They sing simple songs about feeling lazy and depressed. What's not to like?

This band is not to be confused with Black Black chewing gum from Japan, which I also want to see in person. According to Wiki, the gum includes such unusual ingredients as grape sugar, oolong tea extract, ginkgo extract, chrysanthemum flower extract, coloring agents (cacao, gardenia) and caffeine. "The packaging contains some strangely phrased English on the label that reads, "HI-TECHNICAL * EXCELLENT TASTE AND FLAVOR". Some sticks also say "YES, CHEWING!"

I, for one, like my gum highly technical.

Speaking of men who can wear a suit...

2009-08-20T22:09:00.004-04:00

(and who are also aging quite well) Wayne Coyne is no slouch either. I've been listening to a few new Flaming Lips songs and I'm really into them. I would love to see them if they weren't playing at that little cesspool they call Penn's Landing.

I am not Jesus, though I have the same initials.

2009-08-20T22:00:00.000-04:00

Those are lyrics from one of my favorite Pulp songs "Dishes". Okay, so I don't have the same initials, BUT my parents were named Joseph and Mary.
I had wanted to post this entry on the eve of my 34th birthday, but had had some trouble. I 'd been humming it all week long especially the line, A man told me to beware of 33. He said, "it was not an easy time for me". I guess it won't be quite as poignant tonight as I am no longer 33 (yes, the age Jesus was when he died).
That Jarvis Cocker--such a wordsmith. And so foxy to boot. I posted the whole song after some photos of Mr. Cocker at his finest. That man can wear a suit.

Dishes-Pulp
I am not Jesus though I have the same initials -
I am the man who stays home and does the dishes.
And how was your day?
Is that woman still trying to do your head in?
A man told me to beware of 33.
He said, "It was not an easy time for me" but I'll get through

Even though I've got no miracles to show you.

I'd like to make this water wine
but it's impossible.
I've got to get these dishes dry.
Ah...

I'll read a story if it helps you sleep at night.
I've got some matches if you ever need a light.
Oh I am just a man
but I am doing what I can to help you.

I'd like to make this water wine
but it's impossible.
I've got to get these dishes dry.
Ah...

And I, I'm not worried that I will never touch the stars
'cos stars belong up in heaven
And the earth is where we are.
Oh yeah.

And aren't you happy just to be alive? Anything's possible.
You've got no cross to bear tonight. Ah.
No not tonight, Ah.
No not tonight, Ah.
I am not Jesus though I have the
same initials.

The Picture of Dorian Gray (Fox)

2009-08-20T14:12:00.002-04:00

I love these handmade brooches from a chica in Spain! See her website here: http://depeapashop.blogspot.com/

Peeg!

2009-08-14T15:30:00.004-04:00

Oh my god. This makes me miss Wink!!! Why did we never dress him up like this. I know--animal dignity, blah blah blah...

(photos courtesy of cuteoverload.com)

Festival!

2009-08-14T15:27:00.004-04:00

Gabe and James and I are goin to see Dungen tomorrow night! YAW! It's about time I saw some Swedish rawk. I'm listening to them as I post this. When I listen to this band, I imagine playing the drums. And I rock it. Hard.

"Love Is...

2009-08-12T09:00:00.002-04:00

If you grew up in the seventies, you probably remember these little glasses (based on a comic strip I guess). We had a couple at our beach house and they were my absolute favorite. It's so nice when you are little to have special things that you only use at the place you're visiting (like the beach, or your grandparents' house).

"Someday we'll find it...that evil government chemical conspiracy connection."

2009-08-11T22:38:00.005-04:00

Thanks to my friend Zach for this brilliant post.

"What is oozing out of our ground?????"

I would love to carry you until you can walk again

2009-08-10T19:15:00.003-04:00

Oh my lord I am so in love with this artist, Sophie Blackall, and her brilliant illustrations of "missed connection" ads.
Check them out on her blog: http://missedconnectionsny.blogspot.com/

Can't see the forest for the sands

2009-08-09T20:30:00.004-04:00

Try as I might, I can't seem to get back to my blog these days. Maybe because I'm so computer-weary by the end of the day. Maybe because I'm out more these days 'cause it's summatime. I don't know. I feel sadly a little uninspired these days. A little lost. Maybe it's that I'm almost 34 and I'm trying to come up with the meaning of life. Or maybe just the meaning of my life? Sigh. Well, to lighten my mood, I thought I'd post some of these lovely pieces by artist Lauri Faggioni, possibly best known for her work in The Science of Sleep. http://www.laurifaggioni.com

(P.S. If this post had a soundtrack I think it would be Forest and Sands by Camera Obscura).

I'm swooning. Literally swooning.

2009-07-07T09:42:00.002-04:00

My friend Lucia's mom raises Corgis. Little Boo-seriously? So you're like trying to kill me with the cuteness??

Reprise

2009-07-04T19:44:00.003-04:00

I just wanted to give a nod to one of the best films I've seen all year. It's a Norweigan film called Reprise. I don't feel like giving a full review, but let's just say it's about writing, success and failure, madness, love and friendship. It's hilarious at points, meditative, intelligent, tender and sad. Sort of shot in a way that reminds me of Run Lola Run, but really none of this does it justice. It really resonated with me and I highly recommend it.

Where the Wild Things Are

2009-07-02T10:55:00.004-04:00

Say hello to Laura's canine companion Max! (Otherwise known as Maxim Gorky, Maximus Prime, etc...). Me loves!!!

Hello Sunshine

2009-07-02T10:36:00.002-04:00

July 4th Weekend Resolutions-

Start blogging again!
Start learning French and German!
Start playing guitar-first learn the song King of Carrot Flowers by NMH!
Start petting people's dogs when they aren't looking!
Start eating more gelato!

P.S. Harvey Pekar's ancestral line continues! James spied a little guy hanging out in the petunias. S/he was sooooo soooo tiny and skipped out of the plant when it was watered. Cutey cute cute.

Free

2009-06-18T07:23:00.003-04:00

I think this is one of my favorite photos ever. It's of my adorable little cousin Clare. I think it's the tiny pink fingernails that slay me.

Tehran, Iran: Pro-reform Protest

2009-06-11T14:44:00.004-04:00

Awesome.

Wishlist

2009-06-11T13:24:00.001-04:00

A flag necklace from "Scout Holiday"...so adorable...

The Fiery Furnaces (will not be setting me on fire this evening)

2009-06-10T10:35:00.003-04:00

Oh balls. Why wasn't I paying attention? I had been planning on going to see these guys for the past few weeks. I should have gotten tix a long time ago. Damn...

Surfwise

2009-06-08T13:36:00.003-04:00

I watched this great documentary the other day (on my teeny laptop thanks to Netflix's cool "watch instantly" feature) called Surfwise. It's the story of Dorian "Doc" Paskowitz, his devoted wife, and his brood of nine surfing children who travel the country in a motor home catching waves and living in "simple harmony."

These days, people who live off the beaten path can be found with increasing frequency, but Doc was a sort of trailblazer who gave up a successful and profitable medical career, his house and possessions, and the conventions of a "normal life" in favor of a pure existence in communion with nature and free of material possessions.

I found this story so profound and thought-provoking. On the one hand, I was awed by Doc's ethos and thought his kids had to have been the coolest, most fearless and free badasses ever to roam the country. On the other hand, his insistence on bringing up nine children in a cramped trailer with none of the comforts of the modern age, moreover without a choice in the matter (the kids could not attend school even when they begged for it), made him seem like a megalomaniacal dictator.

Ultimately though, this is a really compelling story about life, love, family and freedom and I guarantee that by the end, no matter how you end up feeling about Doc, you will want to tap into a little bit of what he's got.

I is bored at work

2009-06-04T11:46:00.000-04:00

The wind started picking up and the hairs on her arms stood up straight. Ellen rubbed her arms and absentmindedly ran her fingertips over the tiny bumps and follicles. Balancing on one foot, she shuffled the other one back and forth on the sandy gravel producing a musical rhythm like maracas or a symphony of cicadas. She paused for a moment, looking out over the cliff. Pinching her fingernails together, she plucked a tiny hair from her chin; a satisfying habit that her friend had once advised her was not at all becoming.

Staring above from this great height, the city looked static and uninhabited like a child's diorama. The scene triggered a flashback to a time in middle school when she had had to build a scaled replication of her neighborhood. Her project had been an artistic but sloppy affair, while her neighbor and classmate Amy's model had had the professional precision of an architect's. Amy had glued tiny houses from a Monopoly game onto cut squares of fake grassy turf and used strips of dark grey sandpaper for the roads. Amy's model had a neat, tight look. She was the type of girl who recieved "A's." Ellen, by contrast, was used to B+s.

As the sun started to lower, the city lights blinked on one by one giving the sky a pearlized glow. She checked her phone for the time and then, surveying the scene below one last time, she went back to her bike and clumsily pushed the kickstand up with her flip-flop.

To be continued?

Life

2009-06-01T20:46:00.003-04:00

Cutest baby ever award--introducing Mr. Cole Connors. Yep, as my friend James likes to say, "That kid came out of the womb with a hairstyle." (And he's sporting the Joy Division onesie I got him! His 'rents like their Joy Division :) )

Leah

2009-05-24T13:38:00.010-04:00

I had some heartbreaking news yesterday about the loss of a really inspiring, sweet and genuine person, my friend Leah. Leah was working in Ghana doing development work for the research institute where I used to work in DC. She was involved in a car accident in Ghana and didn't make it through.

I am so saddened for her family and friends and having a hard time thinking of consoling thoughts at this time. Her life was cut so short and I find it devastating to think what a great loss this will be to everyone who knew her. The only thing that brings a little comfort to me was that Leah was truly living her life with great passion and joy. She was so dedicated to her work and so excited to be living in Ghana and traveling throughout Africa. And despite her serious work ethic, she was a totally fun and spirited person to be around. I will be thinking of her today and reflecting on the way she lived her life and how inspiring she was. And how sad it is that there never seems to be enough time...

Why I'll be eating only rice for the next two weeks...

2009-05-23T13:02:00.002-04:00

My new blonde hair!

Just because...

2009-05-20T09:23:00.003-04:00

it's Wednesday and I love you, I present to you Harry the Wonder Dog! (I love how perplexed he looks that his human friends find this so impressive.)

Addendum: Speaking of dogs and canine tricks...here is a photo of one of the helpers of the Top Dog Competition in Wayne, PA, my old stomping grounds. Yes, it is me. I was so excited to hand out dog biscuits to all the lovely canine competitors! This year I'm totally going to teach one of my friend's dogs to sneeze and blow away the competition (pun intended!! ha ha!)

Who are the people in your neighborhood?

2009-05-19T11:41:00.003-04:00

Oh my goodness! Look who dropped in to say hi to me today. Why it's Oscar the Grouch's dear friend Slimey! Well how de do, sir! Who knew Slimey was not a worm at all, but a delicious cheesy curl...

I'm a wheel watcher!

2009-05-18T23:18:00.002-04:00

This past weekend was Kensington's 3rd annual Kinetic Sculpture Derby and also the Trenton Ave. Arts Festival. To sum it up: the Derby is a parade of solely manpowered creations, usually involving bikes. Participants are judged in different categories like overall design and engineering. The fun culminates in a mud pit. Enough said really.

It did not disappoint! There was so much good energy out there. It really made me love our fair city. Here are some videos I swiped from youtube (thanks for letting me share, videographer people!). I was going to just post photos, but that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me because we are talking about "moving" sculpture after all. The thrill is watching it in action.

Harvey come back! You can blame it all on me.

2009-05-15T09:21:00.004-04:00

I've been bad at blogging lately. Mostly because I've been dying of swine flu (actually a respiratory infection), but hopefully this will be rectified soon as I got a prescription for Amoxicillin yesterday. The doctor prescribed the highest dose available, twice a day, which is twisting my stomach in knots, but hopefully killing off all the nasties!

Anyways, on a happier, and completely unrelated note, we have started planting in the pots on the deck. Some heirloom tomatoes and peppers, cilantro and other herbs... I'm excited already! It made me think of last summer and I remembered my friend Harvey Pekar the baby praying mantis who took up shop in the mint. He looked a little like this:

One day he just disappeared though. I was terrified the next time I saw him he would be full-sized, peering around the tomatoes (I'm not so much into the mantises when they are huge), but I think he just left for greener pastures. Maybe one of his kin will come back this year, though!

Go on, Jeffrey!

2009-05-14T09:47:00.001-04:00

In which Jeffrey explains a little about Dracula...

Gelflings.

2009-05-12T14:56:00.000-04:00

Uh, yeah. I was just thinkin about Gelflings. Hm.

Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde

2009-05-08T11:08:00.010-04:00

Today is the anniversary of my mom's death...I guess it was almost 20 years ago today? I was thinking of her and trying to think of a suitable blog post to pay tribute to her on this beautiful (sunny?!) May morning. I thought maybe I could post a photo of her favorite flowers, or maybe a link to a song she liked, but instead I've decided to talk about...a Pacman puppet show!

Let me explain. So, we had these fuzzy Pacman finger puppets (the above photo doesn't cut it, but it's the best I could find) that we got for Christmas one year. And I don't know how it started, but my mom would put on these puppet shows for my brother and me in which the plot was always the same. Each ghost would introduce himself and state his name, "My name is Inky, my name is Blinky, etc., but when she got to Clyde, he would bewilderedly pause, forgetting his name, and then yell, "so my name must be Stinky!" and all the other ghosts would shake their heads and say, "NO, NO, NO" and pandemonium would erupt and my brother and I would grab our toes and literally roar with laughter. And this never got old--we would ask her to put it on again and again.

And that is how I would like to remember my mom today. Someone with infinite patience, warmth and kindness as well as a penchant for silliness (not to mention impeccable comedic timing!) which I can only hope to emulate someday. She probably would be surprised that a Pacman puppet show is one of my fondest memories of her, but I think even a small, loving gesture can have a lasting impact on someone's life. So remember that. Go forth and be love. What are you waiting for?

Make sure the government runs good

2009-05-03T20:29:00.006-04:00

This may be my favorite Drunk History of them all! For those of you not familiar with these web shorts, the Drunk History series reinterprets a famous historical event, or biography of a famous personage, through the hazy recollection of a drunken storyteller. SOOO freakin great. This one features sweet potato Paul Schneider. I lurve him.

Goodfellas Peanuts

2009-05-01T08:52:00.001-04:00

La Bella y La Bestia

2009-04-30T21:32:00.000-04:00

From a back issue of Vogue Italia...reinvented fairy tales. Bellissima!

Still-life with Quaker Oats

2009-04-30T11:15:00.001-04:00

(Alternate title: Oatmealgate 2009) In which Olivia attempts to put an ice cube tray back in the freezer and in the process knocks over the Quaker Oats container, and all its contents, onto the kitchen floor. Better to laugh it off than let it ruin my mood.

L'espirit d'escalier

2009-04-29T09:28:00.004-04:00

I've been intrigued by the story of artists Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake ever since I read about them in New York magazine.

Their's is a tragic tale full of exhuberant love and joie de vivre, but also conspiracy theories and loads of unanswered questions. The biggest question of all--why did they both decide to end their lives while in their prime? Theresa killed herself first (pills) and a week later on the way to her funeral, Jeremy took off all his clothes and walked into the sea. His body was never found.

There are tons of articles on their story which detail their artistic endeavors, their migration from the east coast to L.A., their paranoia that Scientologists were sabotaging their careers and their increasing reclusiveness after their ultimate return to New York prior to their deaths.

Theresa kept a really terrific blog entitled "The Wit of the Staircase" or "L'espirit d'escalier" (which is a French idiom that describes the moment you think of the perfect zingy rhetort to an earlier conversation while on your way up to bed). It's a great blog for those who like a little sophistication in their lives (as opposed to inane posts about snuggies and freezy freakies. ahem.) You can find it here: http://theresalduncan.typepad.com/ She inspires me to explore more archane subject matter. (Also, I really like her reviews of perfumes.)

Happy Tuesday (Redux)

2009-04-28T11:39:00.002-04:00

This is my sister-in-law and my niece when she was a puppy. It is one of my favorite photos of all time and I look at it at work when I'm feeling blah. Can you feel the love?

Keep the wrong one out

2009-04-27T21:45:00.006-04:00

Can't stop thinking of this film that I finally saw after my friend Dylan's urging. A vampire movie from Sweden unlike any you've seen before. Dark and puzzling and full of ambiguity. I have a new theory on it every day... Go rent it!

PS It's sort of funny how this post is like the bizarro world opposite of the other post. I guess I am in an interesting place on this fine Tuesday...

Fish and Kicks

2009-04-27T08:58:00.002-04:00

Went to see Quintron and Miss Pussycat from New Orleans, LA last night. Puppet show and rock show for the price of one! It was really fun. Small crowd, but lots of dancing. Quintron is known for his musical inventions including a rotating drum machine that is activated by light--so cool! My friend took photos from the show so I'll post them when I get them.

Also this weekend--shad fest (in which they ran out of shad a few hours in! Boo Hiss!).

Happy? Lucky! Go!

2009-04-21T12:38:00.003-04:00

Feeling a little blase these days? Fake spring got you down? Go rent this movie, Happy-Go-Lucky! It is so nice. At first you may feel a little hit over the head by Poppy and her good cheer, but the film, and Sally Hawkin's (Poppy) performance really turns out to be subtle and surprising. True to life and moreover life-affirming...

Another jolie laidey whom I love...

2009-04-20T20:48:00.013-04:00

Ah Sofia... (And while we're at it, I like your foxy baby daddy from the band Phoenix, too...)

I love this last photo taken while she was shooting The Virgin Suicides. I remember being very curious about Sofia's directing debut. First of all, poor Sofia had gotten a bum rep from her disastrous acting turn in that uh...rather famous movie her dad directed. And second, The Virgin Suicides was a seminal novel for me growing up. I read it over and over, hanging on every phrase, so the idea of a movie adaptation drew skepticism along with the curiosity. I was actually thinking of the author's (Jeffrey Eugenides) descriptions of the foul, fermenting and decaying house the family holed up in while I was watching the movie Grey Gardens the other night (The Grey Gardens house was a real life version of the Lisbons' house). Ah, but I digress...

It's Friday. I ain't got shit to do.

2009-04-17T10:13:00.004-04:00

I know this image and blog title are pretty incongruous. But I was thinking wistfully of New Orleans (where I took photo) and wishing I was traveling somewhere exciting this weekend. It's going to be the first day to break 70 in an awfully long while and I find myself in the unusual position of having NOTHING going on this evening! Nada! None of my frenz are around. I want to go celebrate with drinks outside somewhere, but I fear that will not be happening. So what' s a girl to do. Well, I suppose I will rally and do something solo! After all, these are the zero zeros. Or the oughts. (As in it's 2009. 2-0-ought-9. Yea, while we're on the subject is that what they call the zero zero years? It just doesn't have as much punch as, "After all these are the nineties, or the fifties, etc. Okay, I think I'll quit while I'm ahead/behind.)

Happy Tuesday

2009-04-14T19:00:00.001-04:00

The Glow Pt. 2

2009-04-13T12:04:00.003-04:00

The Glow Pt. 2 (by The Microphones)

i took my shirt off in the yard
no one saw that the skin on my shoulders was golden
now it's not
my shirt's back on
i forgot my songs
the glow is gone
my gliding body stopped

i could not get through september without a battle
i faced death
i went in with my arms swinging
but i heard my own breath
i had to face that i'm still living

i'm still flesh
i hold on to life with feelings

i'm not dead
there's no end
my face is red
my blood flows harshly

my heart beats loudly

my chest still draws breath
i hold it
i'm boiling
ooh oh oh
there's no end

When you believe in things that you don't understand...

2009-04-07T11:35:00.001-04:00

This is so absolutely insanely cool. I guess I was just in the mood for it.

Bartender, make mine a Walt Whit

2009-04-05T20:43:00.011-04:00

Had a lovely day of lounging in the park while my friends Jim and Malachy played wiffle ball.

We declared the afternoon was not unlike a Manet painting. 'Cept for we weren't wearing our Sunday whites and I forgot my parosol. And instead of tea we had beer. And instead of a steam train (is that the right time period??) there was...the el. Anyways, by god there was poetry. I read aloud inspirational excerpts from Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" from Leaves of Grass. The cajones on this guy!

I'd like to share some passages that are particularly yawp-inducing (re: Dead Poet's Society).

Seriously though, I urge you to imbibe the Walt Whit, reader! Drink up the lines and let them dribble down your chin--this song is for you! Celebrate yourself! Life is fleeting--open up and sound your barbaric yawp to the world!!!

"I CELEBRATE myself, and sing myself,

And what I assume you shall assume,

For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you."

"I am of old and young, of the foolish as much the wise,
Regardless of others, ever regardful of others,
Maternal as well as paternal, a child as well as a man.
Stuff'd with the stuff that is coarse and stuff'd with the stuff that is fine"

"Having pried through the strata, analyzed to a hair, counsel'd with doctors
and calculated close,
I find no sweeter fat than sticks to my bones."

"In all people I see myself, none more and not one a barley-corn
less,
And the good or bad I saw of myself I say of them."

"One world is aware and by far the largest to me, and that is
myself,
And whether I come to my own today or in ten thousand or in ten million years,

I can cheerfully take it now, or with equal cheerfulness I can wait."

NB:

Below is Philly Brewing Company's lovely ode to the old bard. Give me a slice of lemon and send me to summer, please!

Friday Night Lights

2009-04-05T19:58:00.004-04:00

Had a nice first friday. First there was a superhuge rainbow. I mean superhuge, full arc. Then went with some pals to see this cool installation(?) of a room with large waves drawn on the surrounding walls. They looked like they were drawn in graphite maybe. A tiny Obama was surfing the enormous tidal wave. I wonder what the underlying message was?? Hmmm.

Below those are some shots of a lit tunnel next to the gallery. Also an installation of sorts. I was playin around with the camera.

Uh uh you can't tell me nothin...

2009-04-03T14:39:00.003-04:00

I am having a terrible day and now have conflicting urges to both hibernate in my bed and get wasted. My friend Laura, with deep understanding of this sentiment, came up with a new slogan for me and for my fair city to abide by.

Philadelphia: Get sh*tbricked and nap your troubles away.

Ah. Yes. In the meantime, to cheer myself up and spread joy throughout the land I am posting one of my favorite videos, starring (my love) Zach Galifinakis and Will Oldham and their rendition of a Kanye West song. I want to be a milkmaid on Zach's farm if you get my meaning. HA HA-ew, I'm kidding, I kid!

La petite Amelie-tres tres mignon

2009-04-02T18:15:00.002-04:00

All that we see or seem, is but a dream within a dream

2009-03-31T20:43:00.010-04:00

Im crazy about this film and lately I've been in the mood to rent it again. Picnic at Hanging Rock, directed by Peter Weir, is based on the novel of the same title and tells of the mysterious disappearance of a group of Australian schoolgirls in 1900. The girls completely vanish while hiking on a day trip to a rock formation in the Australian bush. Weir's film is famous for its unresolved ending and the eerie undercurrents that run throughout.

The cinematography is quite beautiful. I can't help but think Sofia Coppola must have seen the film because I think there's a strong influence in The Virgin Suicides. The girls loll about in white dresses looking beautiful and serene, but there is an underlying tension lurking beneath the surface. "The contrast between transplanted English tradition with the ancient, spiritual wilderness of Australia permeates the film" (explained in Wikipedia--spot on).