R.I.P. Marcella Hazan

Marcella Hazan, a chain-smoking, determined former biology scholar who reluctantly moved to America and went on to teach a nation to cook Italian food, died Sunday at her home in Longboat Key, Fla.

I keep a couple of her wonderful cookbooks within reach in my kitchen and I have made many of the authentic recipes they contain.

I was glad to see that despite being a smoker, a drinker and a lover of good food she lived to the ripe old age of 89.

Read more at the NYTimes.com

Camping Trailer Hotel

Base Camp Bonn Young Hostel in Germany is billed as "the world's first camping trailer and Pullman coach hostel". It opened in August of this year in a former storage facility with 15 vintage camping caravans, two former railway Pullman coaches and four used U.S. Airstream trailers all with shared washrooms.
Each trailer was individually designed by film and TV outfitter Marion Seul.

Hotelier Schloesser sits on a sofa in the yard of the Base Camp Bonn Young Hostel.
WOLFGANG RATTAY/REUTERS

A couple explores a vintage camping caravan at the Base Camp Bonn Young Hostel
WOLFGANG RATTAY/REUTERS

A general view shows the Base Camp Bonn Young Hostel at night in Bonn.
WOLFGANG RATTAY/REUTERS

More at Totally Cool Pix
Via Presurfer

If you like this sort of thing you might want to take a gander at The Shady Dell, a retro-cool trailer park in Arizona that is very much my cup of tea.

Copywriter Creates ‘Ad-Free Version’ Of VOGUE Magazine

The September issue of fashion magazine VOGUE is said to be  “the most important issue of the year” as it’s always released in time for the spring-summer pret-a-porter shows in New York, London, Milan and Paris.
What makes it important? Surely not the 70% of the magazine that is devoted to ads!
Singaporean copywriter Joseph G Davies, modified a copy of the magazine with a penknife and a black permanent marker to illustrate what an ‘ad-free version’ of the VOGUE US September 2013 issue looks like.

More at  DesignTAXI.com 

Merveille de la mode

I should dress Mr. Nag like this when we travel. We'd never get lost.

(Sorry, could not find the original link. If you know the origin let me know)
Via

Edit: Thanks to PricklyLegs who found the original link. 

Secret Hiding Place Scarf

I want this clever and stylish infinity scarf with two hidden zippered pockets that discreetly carry your phone, cash, credit cards, and other essentials hands-free.

Link
Via bookofjoe

Abeego Update

In June I mentioned that I'd ordered a set of fabric covers from Abeego and said I would give an update. They arrived two days later. The covers are made from a hemp and cotton fabric infused with beeswax and jojoba oil that is pliable at room temperature, then becomes rigid and holds its shape when cooled down.

They come in three sizes. I use the smallest one most often to wrap half an onion, a lemon or something like that.  If I have leftover salad I just cover  the bowl it's in and don't have to use a second container so the dishwasher doesn't fill up as fast. They wash up easily with a bit of environmentally friendly detergent and are still going strong. 

The main advantage is not having to use cling wrap. I've given them a fair bit of use and they are holding up well. A set of three different sizes is $15 and they are Canadian made. 

It’s Decorative Gourd Season, Motherfuckers.

Image

 I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to get my hands on some fucking gourds and arrange them in a horn-shaped basket on my dining room table. That shit is going to look so seasonal. I’m about to head up to the attic right now to find that wicker fucker, dust it off, and jam it with an insanely ornate assortment of shellacked vegetables.

More at McSweeney’s Internet Tendency

Happy National Coffee Day

I'm a practical and hardworking double espresso kind of gal.

Link 

Vasily Visits America

This is a sweet story directed by Alexander Khudokon.

Vasily from STEREOTACTIC on Vimeo.

Esquire's (Russia) September issue is about common and ordinary people, not celebrities. This is the story of Vasily Ilyn, a retired farmer from the village of Ryshkovo, on a first time journey to see the world, New York, the ocean, and a cover photo shoot for Esquire.

Thanks Bruce!

Sweetheart Pincushions

Some British soldiers turned to embroidery during WWI and made pincushions like these to send home as touching gifts to wives, sweethearts, and mothers.

"Nancy Mambi, librarian at the Textile Center in Minneapolis, Minn., which mounted an exhibit featuring sweetheart pincushions last year, says that the tradition began in the nineteenth century with Queen Victoria. The Queen was an amateur practitioner of textile arts, who thought that soldiers might find quilting or needlepoint a great distraction while far from home."

Link
Via Blort

Here's How Sagrada Familia Will Look In 2026

In 1926 architect Antonio Gaudi died while he was building the magnificent Sagrada Familia basilica in Barcelona. Eighty-six years later, the church still isn't complete. When I was there about 7 years ago I was surprised at the amount of work left to do on this architectural masterpiece.
Jordi Fauli, the current architect says it will be finished by 2026. Here is what it will look like:



More at Gizmodo 
Via Presurfer

Make a Realistic Makeup Compound Fracture

Add a bit of panache to your zombie costume this Halloween. Make a realistic compound fracture from materials that can be found in your local costume shop, Halloween Store or online. It's sickening!

Learn how at Instructables
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TomTato™ !

Mr Nag and I just dug out a new vegetable patch and I want these!
Since tomatoes and potatoes are part of the same family it was possible to graft this cherry tomato plant onto a potato stem. I think they must feed them an awful lot to make them so productive.



They are currently available in the UK exclusively through Thompson and Morgan. I hope they come to Canada soon.

Via

Charles Gute Tweet Telegrams

Charles Gute  reformats random tweets as Western Union telegrams.

Via Coudal

Bird Flipbook Machines by Juan Fontanive

Ornithology, 2013 flip book machine from Juan Fontanive on Vimeo.

More at Artist's site
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The Other F Word

Once they were teenage anarchists .... then they had kids.

"Two dominatrixes on my arm. How do you explain that to a kid?"

Thanks Bruce!

Film of Dublin children playing in heatwave

"I think the point of the film is that everyone was giving out about these kids, saying they were up to no good, but really they’re just having a good time and not really causing anyone else any trouble.”

More at Independent.ie

Don't Use Hashtags #You Just Sound Dumb

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Radio Free Gunslinger

Frequent contributor Bruce introduced me to this fabulous site. Radio Free Gunslinger is the official podcast of that wonderful blog If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger, There'd Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats. It's described as a "guided tour through the chthonic regions of 20th century Western culture and the society it reflected."
Each  podcast is "hosted" by a famous personality - everyone from Huey Newton to Mr. Rogers to Vladimir Nabokov - and the music they might have put on their own mix tape if they made one.  Give it a listen.

Ink Carpets

Jonathan Brechignac makes large drawings of Muslim prayer carpets using ballpoint pens. It takes him up to 8 months to finish one drawing.

Link 

Richard Crawley's Story Of His Iconic Photo of Mick Jagger

The SLR camera that captured the Rolling Stones on stage, the shot of a lifetime from ABC Open South West Victoria on Vimeo.

In some cases, it seems like the stars align, the sea parts and the universe itself conspires to help you get the perfect shot. That’s sort of what happened to photographer Richard Crawley when he attended a Rolling Stones concert in the 1970s and wound up with the most famous shot he would ever take.

Link

Portraits Of Nigerian Monarchs

Photojournalist George Osodi captures Nigerian royalty in all its brightly colored glory, combining traditional kinglike regalia with contemporary touches like convertibles and spiffy shades.

Via

Abandoned Victorian Treehouse

This two-story, child-size replica of a Victorian-style home was photographed by Florida-based photographer Drew Perlmutter who only reveals that the treehouse is in South East Florida. It must have delighted some lucky children once upon a time.

More at Messy Nessy Chic

Total Bummer, Man!

It's the end of an era. The last Volkswagen "hippie bus" is due to roll off an an assembly line in Brazil on Dec. 31. It was the longest produced model in automotive history, having been introduced 63 years ago in Germany.

Volkswagen Brazil is turning the final few into special editions. They'll come in sort of robin's egg blue with white trim. Inside: "Special vinyl upholstery" with those colors and blue curtains on the windows.

More at NPR

Nobody Waved Good-bye

This coming of age NFB film spoke to a generation of young people.

Nobody Waved Good-bye by Don Owen, National Film Board of Canada

In 1984, the Toronto International Film Festival ranked Nobody Waved Good-bye number 9 on their list of the top 10 Canadian feature films of all time.

Read more at the NFB.ca blog

WHITEHORSE - Wisconsin

I love these two.

WHITEHORSE - Wisconsin from Southern Souls on Vimeo.

Breaking Bad Auction

Grab yourself a piece of Breaking Bad! Many props from the show, including those below, will be going on the auction block from 9/29-10/8/13.

Los Pollos Hermanos

Walt's Aztec

Hector's wheelchair

Breaking Bad Screenbid
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Newspaper Blackout Tumblr

This site is a companion to the book Newspaper Blackout by Austin Kleon who creates his poetry with a newspaper and a black marker. It's a place where anyone can share their attempts at blackout poetry.

“In your wardrobe,” a newspaper blackout by Austin Kleon (@austinkleon)

“Home is me and you in any town,” a newspaper blackout by Austin Kleon(@austinkleon)

Darwin’s Women

Darwin's Women from Cambridge University on Vimeo.
During his lifetime Charles Darwin corresponded with over 150 women, scientists, political agitators as well as family members (including his daughter who edited much of his work). What he has to say to them is something of a revelation, as is the respect and deference he shows them as intellects (indeed scientists) in their own right. This might be surprising to readers of The Descent of Man which cast women in a less than flattering light.

Via Kuriositas

Tiny Steampunk Sculptures

New Jersey-based artist Sue Beatrice makes lovely steampunk sculptures using repurposed watch parts. They can be purchased at the artist's site.

Slideshow: Imgur
Source

Thanks Bruce

The Mystery Of Picasso

Watch  Picasso creating entire paintings:

This particular sequence became the trailer of Clouzot’s 1956 documentary The Mystery of Picasso. The paintings in it, we read at the end, “cannot be seen anywhere else. They were destroyed upon completion of the film.”
The French government has taken over the preservation of the original negative and has declared this film a national treasure.

 Link
Via Blort

You dead yet bitch? @BettyMWhite

If you don't mind bad language this is hilarious.

The Real Jessica Rabbit

Did you think Veronica Lake inspired the vampy Jessica Rabbit in the movie "Who Killed Roger Rabbit"? Well think again. 

Miss Vikki Dougan was the 1950s ‘It girl’ who inspired the iconic cartoon sex bomb, Jessica Rabbit. Vicki earned herself the nickname, “The Back” in 1950s Hollywood for so often wearing her outrageously provocative backless dresses. But her fame was short lived and by 1959 her back end loaded career was over.

More at Messy Nessy Chic 

Terrible real estate agent photographs

Trying to sell your house but not getting any bites? Could it be because the listing photographs look like these?

Terrible real estate agent photographs is a Tumblr with inexplicably bad property photographs. It's that simple.

'Bohemian Gravity' Is Smartest Queen Parody Ever

Timothy Blais decided to step up his Master's thesis ( "A New Quantization Condition for Parity-Violating Three-Dimensional Gravity") with a musical version set to Queen's classic anthem "Bohemian Rhapsody.


Link 
Via

The Pixies ‘unplugged’ at the Newport Folk Festival

The full set!

Via Dangerous Minds 

BatDad

He's a pretty cool dad.

In Morocco

Morocco from the Coast to the forest regions of the Middle Atlas, from the hectic Medinas of Fes and Marrakech to the high mountain ranges of the High Atlas, and finally to the dunes of the Sahara Desert.

In Morocco - 2013 from Vincent Urban on Vimeo.
Via Blort

See You Soon.

I'm taking a short vacay and might not be around here for a few days.

What High Heels Do To Your Feet

Being vertically challenged, I wore heels a lot when I was younger to put me on a more equal footing with others of my species. Now I don't care if people look down on me and wear flats almost exclusively.
This Washington Post infographic illustrates how wearing high heels affects posture, bones and muscles. It highlights the pressure they put on your joints, the muscle strains they cause in your calves and the dreaded "pump bump" that develops near your ankle.

click here to enlarge

Link

Forrest Gump's Briefcase

In the spring of 2011 Wayland High School in West Roxbury, Boston was preparing to move to a new location and Kevin Delaney, head of the history department, had to decide which of the department’s materials would make the move. He unfastened the lid  of an old gray briefcase in the department's storage room and began to page through the documents contained inside. What he found there astonished him: the papers of Martin W. Joyce, a long-since deceased West Roxbury resident who began his military career as an infantryman in World War I and ended it as commanding officer of the liberated Dachau concentration camp in 1945.

Delaney couldn’t have imagined when he first popped open the suitcase that day, Joyce would turn out to be something akin to Boston’s own Forrest Gump—a perfect set of eyes through which to visit America’s past.

The Briefcase is the story of how the class uncovered the story of Joyce's fascinating life. It's worth the read.

Thanks Bruce!

How To Make A Classic Manhattan

Summer is gone and it's time to switch from clear cocktails to something with a bit more colour.
More at The Joy of Drinking
Via

Famous Artists Drew Maps Of The U.S. From Memory

A 1971-72 art project by Hisachika Takahashi asked famous artists to draw a map of the U.S. from memory. He kept the works in his archives.

Juan Downey

Joseph Kosuth

Now the images have been compiled into a show, titled From Memory, which opens today at the Sean Kelly Gallery in New York City and will run through October 19. The group of map-creating, well-known artists includes Jasper Johns, Joseph Kosuth, Robert Rauschenberg and Gordon Matta-Clark.

See a slideshow of the maps at Gadling.com

Living, Breathing Food ?

This project by designer Minsu Kim builds on synthetic biology to create three dishes that act like living, breathing creatures. Frankly I prefer sedentary food that doesn't live and breathe but this is kind of lovely to look at.

Via  Food Republic

Marked Up Photographs Show How Iconic Prints Were Edited in the Darkroom

Pablo Inirio is a master darkroom printer at Magnum Photos New York headquarters. His marked-up photos, like the one of James Dean above, show just how much work goes into producing some of history’s most well-known images. Unfortunately this kind of painstaking work is a dying art.

Read more at PetaPixel

Behind the scenes of ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ with ‘Mia and Roman’

“Mia and Roman” was made soon after the film had wrapped production and features lots of behind-the-scenes footage. Director Roman Polanski discusses what is important to him as a director and describes how he likes to watch the actors block out their scenes without any suggestions from him before he decides where to place his camera. Mia is lovely but a bit of a space cadet.

We also see Polanski driving race cars and fencing. Farrow lists all of the animals she has in her menagerie and spouts some “love and peace” stuff that she’d learned hanging out at the ashram with the Maharishi and the Beatles. Farrow says that she and Polanski just “groove together".

One of my aunts took me to see this movie when I was just a little kid. It scared the life out of me. I've seen it a few times since and I still find it terrifying.

More at Dangerous Minds

The Littlest Hobos

These two gorgeous one month old kittens were found sealed in a boxcar from Chicago to Edmonton without food or water. Found Tuesday by an Edmonton man in a warehouse, the kittens are recovering after the five-day, 2,600 kilometre journey. The shelter where they are being cared for has named them Chicago Joe and Boxcar Willemina.

Link

Joking Bad

Mr. Nag sent me this one:

Rare Tin Gunthermann Felix Carousel Wind-Up Toy

This sweet Felix Carousel Wind-Up Toy went on the auction block in April and fetched $37,200.00. At that price you wouldn't want children playing with it.

Made in Bavaria, Nuremberg. Working. This is one of the rarest comic character toys ever made and is extremely desirable. This toy is one of only two or three known examples. Marked "SG" for Sam Gunthermann. Depicts Felix the Cat riding in an automobile and on a zeppelin that are attached to the carousel. There is also a figure of Felix that cranks the carousel once the toy is wound on the bottom all while a plink-plink noise is emitted. When carousel is in operation, the depictions of Felix around the top appear to be running in a flip-book-type motion.

Via The Queen is not Amused...but I am.

A Flag For Canada

Until February 15, 1965 Canada used the Canadian Red Ensign featuring a Union Flag and the Coat of Arms of Canada as its flag. A 1958 poll showed that 80% of Canadians wanted a distinct Canadian flag. The issue was big enough that Lester Pearson promised a new flag within two years as part of his 1963 party platform.
In 1964, after much political wrangling, a committee invited ordinary citizens to submit their vision of a brand new flag. Students across the country (including a much younger Nag) put Crayola to paper to create designs. There were 3541 official submissions. The simple maple leaf pictured above won the contest. Here are some of the losers:

The "let's include everything but the kitchen sink" design

The "we love you Beatles, oh yes we do" design

The "I'm not sure what this is supposed to be" design

More designs at  Mental Floss

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Lamps Made from Carved Eggshells

Vietnamese artist, Ben Tre, uses a tiny dentist's drill to carve intricate designs on eggshells that he then illuminates.

Via  Neatorama

UCLA's 1948 Thinking Machine.

Computers, the early years. Turn on the integrator units and get the brain cells working.

UCLA's 1948 Mechanical Computer from Gizmodo on Vimeo.

Thanks Bruce!

Blue Ghost Fireflies

A forest floor in North Carolina is traced with the movement of blue ghost fireflies in this time-lapse image by Spencer Black

Via Curious History

Happy 75th Superman!

The Royal Canadian Mint is selling seven Superman coins, each depicting different moments in the superhero's history, to celebrate this special anniversary. I like this $20.00 silver coin, in full colour, featuring The Man of Tomorrow standing guard over the city of Metropolis.

The coolest thing about these coins is the engraved message reading "75 years of Superman" in the character's native language, Kryptonian.

Via