-
Discovering Persephone
Okay, what I’m about to write about I originally learned of from this month’s Vanity Fair, so I’m obviously a little late too hear about them. Print media (as much as I love it!) cannot claim first-name-dropping status anymore. I wouldn’t even bother to bring it up if it weren’t that I am so delighted by everything about Persephone Books.
Persephone is a tiny, woman-founded & run publisher in London, specializing in bringing books that have fallen out of print back into (lovely) print. My eye was caught by not just Virginia Woolf, but also Leonard Woolf. They cover all their hardcovers in signature dusty blue, and use period-specific fabrics (most of them gloriously floral) as their endpapers. You get a free end-paper matching bookmark with each book.
If I had only heard about them in December I would have probably signed everyone up for six month book subscriptions for their gifts, even my poor little brothers. If you go their website you can read their remarkably specific and promising gift guide.
photo #1 from Persephone #2 from Urban Junkies tour guide #3 from RaggedRoses
-
This American Life Logo
This American Life, a really wonderful radio show that I listen to more regularly than I call home (I’m not recommending that), has a new logo. They very nicely shared their rejected logos so we can all see their branding journey. I think the one framed with quote marks is very nice as well, though it reminds me of another logo, I just can’t remember what. If you go to the TAL website you can see the ways they are slowly integrating their new vertical style.
-
Practical Wishes
Looking through a wonderful preschool teacher’s blog, Preschool Daze, and I was struck by how similar her students’ hopes and dreams for 2010 felt to mine. I remember wishing for very comprehensive wishes like this: if I wanted to be that beautiful girl five years older than me, then I wanted to have her hair color, and her glasses, her braces; the whole deal.
My own wish, right after this…
-
NOW BOARDING
I sat around airports for a collective twelve hours over the holidays and I spent a far amount that time rustling around in my purse trying to find my boarding pass and thinking a number of things that mostly amounted to: “Why don’t these look better?” (But also: “Why aren’t these more festive?” and “Why don’t these have more fun facts about where I’m going?”) And here we have a lovely example of how nice they could look thanks Tyler Thompson. Even though JetBlue, master of re-imagining airline marketing, hasn’t made it over the hurdle of a better ticket model, they do have this rather clever beach towel for sale.
-
Great Ambitions
I like to learn about living life by closely inspecting how other people are living theirs. It feels like saavy short cutting. I examine people’s grocery carts while waiting in line. I quiz friends about what they had for dinner, and if I can’t imagine how it was done, then I quiz them about that too. I think picking up on what other people are doing might be secretly why I’m on twitter. So when the time comes for New Years Resolutions, I’m ready to hear everyone else’s. So far, the best idea I’ve come up with this year is using the “Somday” column on teuxdeux to remind myself of those things I’d really like to actually do someday.
If you think my resolutions are a little boring (and if you don’t think that, we’re probably painfully similar and should never go out to lunch) then I suggest spending five minutes with Monina Velarde‘s New Year’s Resolution Generator. My favorite was “Give more compliments.”
