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Balloons for Monday Morning
Over the weekend Half/Dozen gallery in Portland presented a one night show of giant pink helium* balloons, entitled High Hopes. Gorgeous. I love how they used the traditional balloon ribbon in such enormous quantity. Click here for more photos.
*which brings me to the recent sleeper news item: how bizarre is the looming helium shortage? (Sorry that’s a USA Today link, but I like their tone for this extremely threatening issue.) Does anyone want to think about life without balloons?
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Collections
I follow (on my trusty google reader) A Collection a Day, where Lisa Cogndon shares a new photo every day of small collections she has gathered.
Sometimes she draws collections, ones that don’t actually exist. I like this one of Jonathan Adler lamps, because it is exactly what the collection would look like anyway.
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No kidding
I mentioned on Twitter last week that I’m Here, Spike Jonze’s new short film, is now available online to watch in full. But after finally watching it myself, I’ve now realized that was not sufficient as a recommendation. You should definitely mark off the next thirty minutes as cozy-movie-time and watch it now. And thank Absolut for their sponsorship by buying a bottle of Absolut Boston. And then debate whether to have it with ginger ale or tonic, both being nice options.
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Inspired Campaign
Cole Haan’s Inspired Life Campaign. Photographed by the guy who gets us behinds the scenes in all sorts of people’s lives– The Selby. Real people models, who actually look happy to be there. Plus, he gave each “model” a handwritten questionnaire, which they responded to in kind, and really, how often do you see actual handwriting these days?
I particularly like the ones of Harley Viera-Newton because she can write in hyrographics which would have won me over for life when I was twelve. If you are into athletic blonds who bake cookies, you will melt equivalently at the Maria Sharapova shoot.
First saw the campaign on Valet’s daily dose.
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Lundi Marti Lenti
What comes after Valentine’s Day but before Marti Gras? Lundi Gras! (at least this year it does) So today I have the double benefit of the day off and the time to make something delicious for our church‘s Lundi Gras Potluck tonight. I think I’m going to make the black gold brownies that Luisa just posted about over at the Wednesday Chef (I make almost anything Luisa recommends, really it’s sort of pathetic.) and some homemade bread. Joe gave me My Life in France by Julia Child for VDay, which my friend and fellow Bostonian Birgit has said she loved, so if I have time I’ll be curled up with that.
Lundi Gras means Lent is coming, and speaking of books, I’m giving some serious thought to a new discipline/change for the season of Lent.
- No more facebook?
- Less time on the internet?
- More time reading?
- Write a letter a day?
- Give a dollar to everyone who asks?
So..are you guys thinking of anything? I know Lenten disciplines can be a little suspicious, a little too like New Year’s Resolutions, but no matter what I chose to do, I always struggle with remembering to do it everyday, which reminds me of how genuinely hard it is to be disciplined, which reminds me of why it would be hopeless if I had to make my own way into heaven, which reminds me of why I’m so glad the whole idea is all building towards Christ dying and letting us in anyway. Probably more thoughts on this later, but keep me in mind if you see any good meditations on Lent out on the inter-world.
(this print is by the woah-talented Jane Mount, some of her prints are sold on 20×200, wouldn’t a personalized one of these make the best gift for new babies? “Great Aspirations!” the card could say.)
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The Martyred Saint: Cards
The grim news is that Mr. Valentine was actually martyred on February the 14th, which is why he is a saint, despite the catholic effort to get him the h. away from the PR department. Fortunately, as you read this, you still have two weeks to figure out what you’re going to do in his honor. Please don’t take this posting as a suggestion that I have my act together, because I notoriously show up with my perfect gift two weeks late, and no one can remember why I’m giving them a gift. (In my defense, it really was the perfect gift at the time.)
For the last couple years Kate Spade has had all sorts of special-artist-designed Valentines. The one above was one of my favorites, an everyday-love-message. I’m hoping they are going to release more selections this year, but no news yet!
I think Julia and Paul Child’s card is a great illustration of the useful art of stamping, and I would like to rework it as a Christmas card, without creeping out my entire extended family when they get it in the mail.
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Valentine’s Day: Public Art
For Valentine’s last year, Joe put up a handmade banner in our living room using baker’s twine and pre-printed pennants (I don’t have a photo, but I can tell you it was set in Futura). Of course I was completely wooed and impressed and had to run back into our bedroom to write three more eloquent poems to make up for my lackluster card.
But I think banners are remarkably successful at catching our eyes and emotional attention. “Make an Encouraging Banner” is one of my favorite assignment’s of Miranda July’s wonderful Learning to Love You More project. You can go to the site and click through the dozens of reports from people that completed the assignment. Here are two of my favorites.
Natalie Jost kindly explains for the rest of us how to crochet your own banner on her blog. Below is her example. Wouldn’t it be nice to make one that always came out of storage for people’s birthdays?
Three years ago I sent a dozen pre-addressed and stamped envelopes to You Are Beautiful with my friends’ addresses on the envelope, so they each unexpectedly got three You Are Beautiful stickers in the mail out of nowhere. (you can still do this, and it’s very karma-exciting to know that your friends are anonymously receiving encouragement.) I think their shipshape silver-and-black sticker is perfect for making the phrase seem matter-of-fact and completely legit.
Finally, speaking of locks, it possibly does not get more publicly romantic than the padlocks left by lovers around the world who want to make a public fixture of their current affection? The New York Times has published a couple articles about one of the popular locations in Rome, but the lovers’ locks can be found across europe and asia. The photo below is from Hungary. I think we need more of these in over in the US, if only to balance out how frequently we have to hear the annual depressing divorce statistics.
this photo was taken by Jarod Carruthers, who then loaded it to flickr to share with us.
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Magic Markers
I did a little babysitting today and left reminded of the satisfaction of coloring with magic markers. (It’s remarkable how the trademarked adjective “Magic” is the only established name for those things.) So when I was checking tonight to see what new delights the folks at The Curiosity Shoppe were purveying, I thought this European vehicle coloring book was particularly tempting. It’s possible, but not likely, that coloring a Vespa line drawing might make up for not actually owning a Vespa.
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A Few Good Party Supplies
In my Saturday morning sporadic and incomplete reading of the New York Times, I found this hazy picture of a wedding reception held in a Chrysler car dealership showroom in 1984. Balloon arches! When was the last time you were treated to that sight?
Though I don’t see this much in Boston, in the Midwest I used to drive past car dealerships regularly, and even though they are not very popular right now, dealerships really are the last businesses to believe in the power of a few good party supplies.
They use flag banners in multiples,
and splurge on big balloons,
and even have the occasional festive penguin.
#1 from HereontheRoad, #2 from Samlanterman, #3 from DianaLBrks. Click on the photos to go to their sites on flickr.
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Finding Espresso
I am often mourning the trouble one must go through to find a good espresso in America. I know that’s very obnoxious to complain about. “Oh great,” you’re probably thinking, “now I have to pretend to agree that coffee is bad here.” And really I can’t complain because I live only a twenty minute walk from the North End, where you at least strike a good chance of running into spectacular espresso.It’s not that it is bad it is just that it is unreliable. How many times have you counted on a delicious cappuccino and then the barista was harried and when you finally got your drink, it tasted totally different than you expected? But that all makes sense once you watch the video below, because it is hard to get a good espresso when there are twenty people in line, all of them glaring at you while you try to focus on the art of it all.
[vimeo 8709313]
Photo #1 is the menu at Zibetto Espresso Bar, 6th Ave, by Arancia Project. Zibetto is a delicious cafe in New York City and even has its menu in Italian, but can often be found swamped by men in black suitcoats in the late afternoon because it’s right near central park and fancy hotels. The video is from a link by Chris Glass.