Bonne nuit, rêves doux

I know someone who would love to have this Dreaming of Paris pillowcase set - me!

Via

Dark Side of the Moog

The Boxing Lesson - Dark Side of the Moog a psychedelic video from Eric Power (Waking Life)

One Hundred Photographs

BY EVENTUAL profession, Bruce Bernard was a writer, compiler and editor of books about painting and photography. By longer social reputation, he was a well-known figure in Soho in the decades when its pubs and bars were frequented by painters and writers, and by those who nearly were or wanted to be.

Bernard had no academic qualification and gained his considerable knowledge from many years spent in the company of painters and photographers, and by looking at pictures in galleries and in photogaphic archives spread across the world. He was a passionate discoverer, particularly of neglected documentary photography from the 19th and early 20th centuries, and arguably the finest (certainly the most decisive) judge in this country of what makes a good and interesting photograph. More

In 1996 Bruce Bernard was commissioned to create a collection of photographs for an eminent private collector. After several years of trawling through galleries, art fairs and auction houses he settled on 100 images that "truly stimulated and satisfied" him. One Hundred Photographs is a wonderful book of those images. I found it yesterday among the zillions of books at The Book Depot and couldn't put it down. It was tough to choose which of the hundred photos I'd scan and post. They're all so good. Bernard's insights on the photographs are fascinating but you'll have to buy the book to see them.

Eve Arnold (b. 1912)
Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable on the Set of The Misfits (1960)

Detroit Photographic Co.
Mississippi Cotton Gin at Dahomey (1899)

Felice Beato (c.1834-c.1905)
A Yokahama Beauty in the Snow (c.1868)

Supreme Cat Show

Supreme Cat Show competitors Slide Show

Here are cats – 1,455 of them in total, presented throughout one giant arena in cages and on judging platforms – who like being stroked backwards, cats who wouldn't know a shrew or vole if it bit them on the tail, cats that look like Benicio Del Toro, cats that appear to have been squeezed from a tube, fully formed.

Buffalo’s Architecture

Buffalo is just across the river and I used to go there often to shop at Premier Gourmet, to visit the excellent Albright-Knox Gallery or to eat at my favourite Italian restaurant. When the Canadian dollar was in the cellar I stopped crossing the border and never got back in the habit. This article has me hankering to shuffle off to Buffalo.

Inside Mr. Burnham’s Ellicott Square Building.

Slide Show

Nicolai Ouroussoff writes: Buffalo is home to some of the greatest American architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with major architects like Henry Hobson Richardson, Frederick Law Olmsted, Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright building marvels here. Together they shaped one of the grandest early visions of the democratic American city.

Cairo To Toronto

CBC Radio, bless its heart, has been playing Maryem and Ernie Tollar's Cairo To Toronto CD a lot. It's a world/jazz mix. I like it and you can listen to their Glenn Gould Studio concert here.

Is that a spanner in your pocket...

Slideshow of porn film opening scenes

From mourners in a funeral parlour to a delivery boy and his "big sausage pizza", why is it so easy to spot the opening scenes of porn films, asks Tim Dowling.

Face the Music

Rolling Stone's Rock Star Mug Shots
That's Jim Morrison's mug shot above. He was arrested in 1963 for drunkenness and petty larceny.
Via

The Seven Deadly Sins for Kids

Lovely illustrations from an old kid's book depicting the Seven Deadly Sins - from Rev Guzman's photostream. The sin pictured above is Gluttony.
Via

Artists in Their Studios

From the sumptuously furnished studios of the late 19th century to the austere workrooms of the present day, studio spaces have played a dynamic role in the history of American art-not simply reflecting aesthetic visions, but informing them. This look at artists in their studios, through photographs and documents from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art, offers a behind-the-scenes view into the life of American artists and their unique work spaces.

Jackson Pollack is pictured above holding a can of paint circa 1950.
See other photos from the 2006 exhibit