A little bit of cuteness
Via Creativity Bites Back!
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
How to recycle your mobile phone
Ever wondered what to do with your old cell phone when you've moved on? You could throw it in a landfill (bad idea), donate it to charity (good idea) - or plant it. Researchers in England have come up with a way of burying mobile phones and watching them grow into flowers. See more at Been-Seen.com
The other Marilyn and her dogs
Maf (above) was a little white French poodle who was given to MM in New York by Frank Sinatra. Sinatra had purchased the dog from Natalie Wood’s mother.Marilyn named the dog “Maf” because of Frank Sinatra’s alleged mafia connections.
See more pics at The Pet Blog
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Montreal by Night
My hometown (before I was born, of course).
Montreal by Night by Arthur Burrows, Jean Palardy, - NFB
This short film showcases the city of Montreal on a summer's night. What was once a small Indian village is presented as a pot-pourri of contrasting sights and sounds. It is North America's second largest port and, after Paris, the world's largest French-speaking city. With its warehouses, offices, homes, clubs and amusement parks, the city serves as a bright backdrop for a happy couple out on the town.
Montreal by Night by Arthur Burrows, Jean Palardy, - NFB
Scientists meet to save Lascaux cave from fungus
Scientists meet to save Lascaux cave from fungus:
"Geologists, biologists and other scientists convened Thursday in Paris to discuss how to stop the spread of fungus stains — aggravated by global warming — that threaten France's prehistoric Lascaux cave drawings.
Black stains have spread across the cave's prehistoric murals of bulls, felines and other images, and scientists have been hard-pressed to halt the fungal creep."
Wet Plate Photographs
This is Mark Katzman’s camera, which has a portrait lens made in 1860.IN THE FALL OF 2006, NOTED ST. LOUIS PHOTOGRAPHER MARK KATZMAN decided to use an obscure photographic process called “wet plate” collodian process to photograph the people on the street outside his studio. Many of the people he photographed were on their way to or from the St. Patrick Center (a homeless shelter) just down the street. When I asked Mark about this series, he said: “You know, I was overlooking the fact that some of the greatest faces I had ever seen were right here—walking past my studio every day.”Read more
15 Must-See Endangered Cultural Treasures
I haven't seen any of these but driving Route 66 has been a secret dream of mine. Anyone up for a road trip?
"Some of the world's most precious historic and artistic sites can be visited today—but might be gone tomorrow" Smithsonian Magazine
"Some of the world's most precious historic and artistic sites can be visited today—but might be gone tomorrow" Smithsonian Magazine
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
You Look Good Enough to Eat!
I love these!
Via
You Look Good Enough to Eat! expands upon Nouar’s character-based aesthetic. A feast for the eyes in the most literal sense, her highly stylized, crisply rendered figures depict a variety of edible subjects, personified and bursting with life. The artist’s work is reminiscent of—and inspired by—vintage imagery that encompasses post-WWII era animation, packaging and advertising art, particularly of the food industry. Paintings in this show are tied together by theme, and presented in a vibrantly appetizing color palette. The tasty treats wear big smiles and are often accompanied by hand-lettered type.
Via
Artistic chess sets
Above- Italian artist Maurizo Cattelan, famous for his installation of Pope John Paul II squashed by a meteorite, has made a chess set populated by good and evil figures. On the black side are Adolf Hitler and Cruella deVil, opposed by Martin Luther King and Mother Teresa, among others.
A house that celebrates diversity
One of the National Trust's most recent properties is located at a surprising address: London's Wandsworth Road. Behind its unassuming Georgian frontage lies exiled poet Khadambi Asalache's utterly unique and beautiful work of interior design mixing Islamic, English and African influences.
Read more about the man and his fantastic house here.
Bourdain visits Adria
I visited the Costa Brava last year and was within a stone's throw of El Bulli but did not eat there. Not only had I not reserved a year in advance, I was absolutely intimidated by the idea of dining in such a place.
Via 3quarksdaily
Via 3quarksdaily
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
It's Mardi Gras!
It's party time again. People all over the world, from Haiti to Brazil and France, are taking to the streets to celebrate.
Are You the Favorite Person of Anybody?
This is a simple, poignant short film, shot on a budget of $150: a man with a survey stops passersby and asks them, "Are you anybody's favorite person?" What a heartbreaking question, for somebody who DOESN'T come first in somebody else's heart! Miranda July, who wrote the short story this is based on, had just finished shooting ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW and made this film in the week between shooting and editing the first rough assembly. Miguel Arteta, who directed, was still in love with her at the time, and in an interview with WHOLPHIN said, "The shoot was painless but sure enough, by the time I started editing, we were broken up. This little short is like a rear-view mirror that survived a fabulous, painful crash.
Via
Monday, February 23, 2009
David Byrne, Benaroya Hall
My real friends know that I am David Byrne's most ardent fan. In fact I have been teased about my devotion to him. I loved the big white suit in Stop Making Sense and, if possible, I love this tutu even more. This man has got to be very emotionally secure.KEXP 90.3 Blog
Matt Held wants to paint your facebook portrait
Brooklyn-based artist Matt Held wants to paint your portrait. There's a catch though, he wants to paint your Facebook portrait.I wonder if he'd want to paint mine. Here I am with Mao outside the China Gold exhibit in Paris last September.
Via Double Takes
The before took us right up to the after
Sally Van Doren's poetry gathered in Sex At Noon Taxes, both a palindrome and the title of a painting by Ed Ruscha, is everywhere alive. There are no dead moments, no fill: even the conjunctions, prepositions and assorted connectives carry a charge. The language is alive. The movement of language is alive. The mind at work here is at all points quick, full of play and bite. …Her poems are delicately made, intriguing in conception, unpredictable, balletic and swift in their turns, altogether most stimulating and memorable, and very much her own.
Al Filreis
Thanks John
Sunday, February 22, 2009
How to cook steak ala Toulouse
In a deleted scene from the previously aired Channel 4 art documentary, Toulouse-Lautrec: The Full Story, Waldemar Januszczak takes us through how Henri used to prepare steak ala toulouse for his friends and family.
Via
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Dinner with a Stranger
An absolutely fascinating illustrated story. After reading it I think I'd be more open to a similar proposal.
Franke James Dinner with a Stranger
Via
Franke James Dinner with a Stranger
Via
Forklift that carrot, bulldoze that mashed potato!
Construction Eating Kit
These construction equipment eating utensils are aimed at kids but I think I might like eating with them too!
via
via
Friday, February 20, 2009
Lego Fallingwater
I could never afford to build the real thing but this construction is definitely an option.
Via WRECK & SALVAGE
Via WRECK & SALVAGE
Great Depression Cooking
91 year old cook and great grandmother, Clara, recounts her childhood during the Great Depression as she prepares meals from the era.
Via
Endangered Languages
199 languages have fewer than ten speakers and 178 others have 10 to 50. Among the languages that have recently become extinct, it mentions Manx (Isle of Man), which died out in 1974 when Ned Maddrell fell forever silent, Aasax (Tanzania), which disappeared in 1976, Ubykh (Turkey) in 1992 with the demise of Tevfik Esenc, and Eyak (Alaska, United States of America), in 2008 with the death of Marie Smith Jones.
The World’s Magnificent Diversity of (Endangered) Languages
Browse UNESCO’s Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
I Heart Ricky Gervais
Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington discuss eating slugs, the price of pineapples and why a mirrored wall is better than art. Great little audio
Thursday, February 19, 2009
The Sketchbook Project
The Sketchbook Project is kinda like a concert tour, but with sketchbooks.
They send you the Moleskine, you make the art. Then Art House is taking all the sketchbooks on a 6 city tour to galleries and museums across the U.S. The goal of the exhibition is to encourage anyone to create artwork and build a collective of sketchbooks made by artists from all over the world.
Vintage chemical attack survival posters
In 1938, the Japanese Red Cross worked with government authorities to create a series of posters to teach the public about the new Anti-Aircraft Defense Law, which was enacted in seeming anticipation of air strikes following the outbreak of the Japan-China War (1937-1945). Among other things, the law required citizens to take protective measures against gas attacks and prepare for disinfection, evacuation and relief. For the government, one purpose of the posters — which were created as part of a military exhibition at the Red Cross Museum — was to instill a pattern of “anti-aircraft defense thought” among the population.The other day Mr. Nag and I were talking about the school bomb drills we had to participate in during the Cuban Missile Crisis. I still recall the fear induced by the air raid sirens. The Japanese population must have been terrified during this time.
See more at Pink Tentacle
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Items from London Transport Lost Property
As well as the hundreds of rucksacks and umbrellas that have ended up at Transport for London's lost property office, there have been breast implants, crutches and a stuffed puffer fish.The Guardian
Me, I'm partial to the stuffed snarling fox and the suitcase full of dentures (above). What would induce a person to leave such treasures behind - or, for that matter, to possess them in the first place?
Top 10 Common Medical Myths
The List Universe presents some common medical myths. I've heard them all before and have long been skeptical of some of them. When my boys were little I remember feeling sorry for kids who weren't allowed to have a slice of birthday cake because their mums said it made them hyper. I want to drink more water but never get around to it and somehow I've survived. However I still stubbornly believe that it is easier to gain weight than to lose it. That myth,alas, feels all too true to me.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Michael Jackson is selling a lot of ugly stuff
In April, an auction by Julien's Auctions at the Beverley Hills Hilton will provide an unprecedented look into the private world of Michael Jackson. Observer Music Monthly has obtained this world exclusive preview of some of the items going under the hammer.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Blogging and guzzling
Mr. Nag knows roses rule; as does the roasted tomato and bocconcini pizza he is preparing as I blog and guzzle red wine in front of the fire.
Architect, 101, denied chance to add final flourish to city he created
It is probable that at 101 years old, Oscar Niemeyer, the guru of modernist architecture whose greatest project was the city of Brasilia, is old enough to withstand disappointment, even as large as the one he has just suffered. He thought he was on course to adorn the city’s skyline with one last flourish. But now, suddenly, he isn’t. Read more
See some examples of Niemeyer's wonderful architecture here:
Friday, February 13, 2009
Rushdie and the fatwa
Twenty years on, we look back at events surrounding Ayatollah Khomeini's fatwa against Salman Rushdie, and how they shaped multicultural Britain. See the Video
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Little Man by Cinematographer Rasmus Heise
Cinematographer Rasmus Heise
CICFF 2007, Chicago
Giffoni Film Festival 2007, Italy
Kurz Film Festival 2007, Germany
Thanks, Miss C
Global Street Food
Creative director Mike Meiré of Meiré und Meiré and Andreas Dornbracht of kitchen and bathroom brand Dornbracht explain Global Street Food, an exhibition of improvised street kitchens collected from around the world. Via Dezeen
Museum of Broken Relationships
A Box made of Matches
1973-2000
Maribor, Slovenia
1973-2000
Maribor, Slovenia
A box – Jelka, Vlado, November 15, 1975. Vlado made it after the wedding, when he was in the army. After 18 years of marriage he left me for another woman; we officially divorced after our 25th wedding anniversary. I decided to surprise him for the anniversary. I ordered a cake with the number 25 written on it and the pastry shop cut it in half. I sent him the half with the 25. Our sons celebrated our anniversary first with me and then with their father. He and his girlfriend were very shocked but they ate the cake anyway. The cake is gone and so is our marriage. I still have the box, two sons and a lot of memories…
Museum of Broken Relationships
Via
Darwinpalooza
In honor of Charles Darwin's 200th birthday, Smithsonian Magazine takes a look at the impact of Darwin's life and research on modern day science, and how the 19th century naturalist still remains relevant in the 21st century.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Devolve me
Ready to journey back in time? Use our fun tool to see yourself as you would have looked as an early human. When you've finished, why not share the results with a friend?
Upload your photo and see yourself travel back through the evolutionary timeline... it's not an exact science but it is a lot of fun! Charles Darwin - The Open University
I went from this:
To this:
Some would say that it was an improvement.
Via
Sex education films: they don't make them like they used to
There can't be many new DVD releases of short film anthologies which are unstintingly riveting all the way through. But here's one. For the past couple of days, I have been glued to the BFI's incredible collection The Joy of Sex Education, which is a compendium of sex education films from 1917 to 1973. They have a weird similarity to old-fashioned stag films, not merely because of explicit content, but because they are designed to be watched in a semi-clandestine world: created not for cinemas or television but for a private clientele in church halls and classrooms and family planning clinics.
More
Liz Wolfe Stirs Up Trouble in Candy Land
Vintage Valentines
I sent a few of these cards to my classmates when I was a little girl. I guess that makes me "vintage".
Valentine's Day cards set
Via
Valentine's Day cards set
Via
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
All The President's Limousines
From Taft to Obama: celebrating 100 years of presidential autos.
1964 Cadillac owned by PreJsident JohnsLater sold to Liberac
Westminster Dog Show
Doyle New York, is auctioning Trish Biddle's original artwork used for The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show 2009 poster on Ebay. The oil painting entitled Westminster: There's Only One depicts breeds from all seven dog show groups, plus the 2008 Best in Show winner, Uno, the champion Beagle. In the background is New York’s iconic Empire State Building lit in the Westminster colors of blue and gold.
Via Dog Art Today
A Very Haeckel Christmas
Nimble Pundit saw my post on Ernst Haeckel and thought I might like this Flickr set.
I like it enough to post it off-season.
I like it enough to post it off-season.
Ernst Haeckel's 1904 "Kunstformen der Natur" [Artforms of Nature] is a classic of biological illustration. What is less generally known is that the artist started as a Christmas card designer. The book was originally simply an album of holiday designs.
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