i before e

Here's looking at you

2012-02-01T09:36:00.001-06:00

Breaking the fourth wall in horror.

Kevin McCarthy, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Janet Leigh, Psycho (1960)

Anthony Perkins, Psycho (1960)

Brigitte Helm, Metropolis (1927)

Martin Stephen, The Innocents (1961)

Bela Lugosi, Dracula (1931)

Controlled flame

2012-01-31T17:40:00.001-06:00

I am learning to weld (as in metal sculpture, not auto body repair). With the smoke, the sanding and grinding, when I leave class, I'm absolutely filthy. What fun!

Poetry in paint

2012-01-30T17:41:00.000-06:00

The world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful.

— e.e. cummings

Poet e.e. cummings also painted. I love the vibrancy of his work, and his wild use of color.

Playset

2012-01-29T11:46:00.001-06:00

Maybe it isn't obvious. Maybe you have to look long and hard to differentiate. Neatoshop has a variety of playsets including (pictured in order) B-movie victims, Paparazzi, and Glow-in-the-dark zombies. For the easily amused, collect em' all!

Desperate things

2012-01-28T09:12:00.000-06:00

April 1985; Coca-Cola makes a major announcement concerning a change in their product. Pepsi-Cola executives respond immediately, posting their company congratulatory letter as a full-page ad in The New York Times.

To All Pepsi Bottlers and
Pepsi-Cola Company Personnel:

It gives me great pleasure to offer each of you my heartiest
congratulations.

After 87 years of going at it eyeball to eyeball, the other guy blinked.

Coca-Cola is withdrawing their product from the marketplace and is
reformulating brand Coke to be "more like Pepsi." Too bad Ripley's not
around...he could have a field day with this one.

There is no question the long-term market success of Pepsi has forced
this move.

Everyone knows when something is right it doesn't need changing.

Maybe they finally realized what most of us have known for years.
Pepsi tastes better than Coke.

Well, people in trouble tend to do desperate things...and we'll have to
keep our eye on them.

But for now, I say victory is sweet, and we have earned a celebration.
We're going to declare a holiday on Friday.

Enjoy!

Best regards,

Roger Enrico
President, Chief Executive Officer
PepsiCola U.S.A.

Nearly three decades later, sales of carbonated soft drinks decline steadily as people opt for healthier beverages. Still, Coca-Cola continues to lead Pepsi-Cola in popularity.

Warm-up

2012-01-27T11:39:00.000-06:00

1963 - The Rolling Stones opened for The Everly Brothers

1975 - The Talking Heads opened for The Ramones

1976 - The Clash opened for The Sex Pistols

Love, Min

2012-01-26T09:40:00.001-06:00

While musing on relationships, Daniel quoted a Marianne Faithful lyric from Strange Weather:

And a love like ours, my dear,

Is best measured when it's down.

And I never buy umbrellas,

For there's always one around.

Last night, I happily attended the Barnes and Noble signing for Why We Broke Up. Turns out, Daniel Handler and Maira Kalman first met a while back at a celebratory dinner that took place at the Bologna Children's Book Fair in Italy. They shared a love of food and humor and despite living in separate cities (San Francisco, Manhattan) decided to collaborate on a project. Their first project was the picture book, 13 Words, followed by the young adult novel that portrays the doomed romance of high schoolers Min and Ed. A slideshow was followed by a brief quiz. The highest scorer of the quiz received an onion ring from Maira's personal collection. Everyone received a red comb.

Pocket book

2012-01-25T11:12:00.001-06:00

I'm not one to carry a clutch, but oh, Olympia Le-Tan's meticulously

embroidered recreations of classic books (with original covers) are terrific!

In the beginning

2012-01-24T06:35:00.010-06:00

Dear Mr. Brando,

I wrote a book called THE GODFATHER which has had some success and I think you’re the only actor who can play the ~~part~~ Godfather with that quiet force and irony the part requires. I’d love you to read the book and like it well enough to use whatever power you can to get the role. I’m writing Paramount to the same effect for whatever good that will do. I know this was presumptuous of me but the best I can do by the book is try. I really think you’d be tremendous. Needless to say I’ve been an admirer of your art.

Mario Puzo

Bouquet

2012-01-23T08:20:00.002-06:00

Lovely flower still lifes from Lulie Wallace.

The Seven Samurai

2012-01-22T14:36:00.003-06:00

Passion. Dynamism. Force. Exhilaration. Speed. Terrible beauty. These are among the many words that come to mind when I think of Kurosawa's cinema.

—Martin Scorsese

The Seven Samurai (1954) - Akira Kurosawa

Like Luke

2012-01-21T06:17:00.007-06:00

How do I love thee?

Discovering London

2012-01-20T06:03:00.003-06:00

Circa 1978. Beefeater? check, red double-decker bus? check,

Dinosaur hobo...wha? Margaret Pearson, you have my attention.

Best alone

2012-01-19T09:40:00.002-06:00

A few Steve Wozniak quotes, from the book, iWoz.

"Later, much later, I found a group where being a nerd was cooler.”

“Most inventors and engineers I’ve met are like me – they’re shy and they live in their heads. They’re almost like artists. In fact, the very best of them are artists. And artists work best alone – best outside of corporate environments, best where they can control an invention’s design without a lot of other people designing it for marketing or some other committee. I don’t believe anything really revolutionary has ever been invented by committee. Because the committee would never agree on it!”

“It’s so easy to doubt yourself, and it’s especially easy to doubt yourself when what you’re working on is at odds with everyone else in the world who thinks they know the right way to do things. Sometimes you can’t prove whether you’re right or wrong. Only time can tell that. But if you believe in your own power to objectively reason, that’s a key to happiness. And a key to confidence. Another key I found to happiness was to realize that I didn’t have to disagree with someone and let it get all intense. If you believe in your own power to reason, you can just relax. You don’t have to feel the pressure to set out and convince anyone. So don’t sweat it! You have to trust your own designs, your own intuition, and your understanding of what your invention needs to be.”

“And if you don’t enjoy working on stuff for yourself – with your own money and your own resources, after work if you have to – then you definitely shouldn’t be doing it!”

Bringing humor to fine art

2012-01-18T06:59:00.001-06:00

Wayne White, doing what he loves, and it shows.

Pure light

2012-01-17T06:41:00.029-06:00

JUSTICE for John and Yoko!

John and Yoko add a great voice and drive to this country's so called

ART INSTITUTION/They inspire and transcend and stimulate and by doing

so, only can help others to see pure light and in doing that, put an end to this

mild dull taste of petty commercialism which is being passed off as Artist Art

by the overpowering mass-media. Hurray for John & Yoko. Let them stay and

live here and breathe. The country's got plenty of room and space.

Let John and Yoko stay!

Bob Dylan

In the early 1970's, John Lennon was living in New York and showing up regularly at rallies, vocal in his opposition to the Vietnam War. The Nixon administration responded by ordering Lennon deported. Bob Dylan had John Lennon's back.

The final frontier

2012-01-16T11:07:00.003-06:00

Great writing requires polishing: the opening narration for Star Trek was a collaborative effort.

Space ... the final frontier. These are the voyages of the

Starship Enterprise, its five-year mission:

... to explore strange new worlds ...

... to seek out new life and new civilizations ...

... to boldly go where no man has gone before.

Word

2012-01-15T10:13:00.000-06:00

Artist Wayne White paints on prints and canvases he finds in thrift shops.

It's a plane

2012-01-13T10:36:00.002-06:00

David Hertz Architects 'Wing House' in Malibu, California. Harvesting materials from a retired 747 airplane (the wings were used for the roof) the sleek structure seems to have only momentarily landed.

Question mark

2012-01-12T06:13:00.003-06:00

A faint echo of yesterday's post; the fine vintage cover for 96 Tears. That is a smashing question mark...I'd love it filling an entire wall.

Magical thinking

2012-01-11T14:03:00.001-06:00

In his wonderful TED talk, writer/director/producer J.J. Abrams used an unopened Tannen's Mystery Box to illustrate the idea that mystery is the catalyst for imagination; it represents possibility, hope and potential.

Pairing

2012-01-10T08:19:00.000-06:00

Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley

David Bowie and Bing Crosby

Tony Bennett and Amy Winehouse

Spotty

2012-01-09T11:06:00.000-06:00

Yayoi Kusama's installation at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art: a white room transformed by a group of children armed with a mass of colored stickers.

Channeling Robert Lopshire, Put Me in the Zoo

Feral

2012-01-08T12:32:00.001-06:00

Nakata takes his work seriously as a finder of lost cats.

Paw Paw, a rescue cat, muses on the meaning of life after becoming a catalyst in the upset between a young couple looking to improve their lives.

Breathless

2012-01-07T14:01:00.002-06:00

When I was seventeen and in full obedience to my heart's most urgent commands, I stepped far from the pathway of normal life and in a moment's time ruined everything I loved - I loved so deeply, and when the love was interrupted, when the incorporeal body of love shrank back in terror and my own body was locked away, it was hard for others to believe that a life so new could suffer so irrevocably.

—Scott Spencer, Endless Love (Chapter One)

Sometimes heartbreaking, definitely unforgettable, first love can define or change the trajectory of one's life. Dismiss the awful movie and the schmaltzy Diana Ross/Lionel Richie duet; Scott Spencer's novel Endless Love captures the dizzy exhilaration of young passion with remarkable clarity. The exquisite ending is startling in intensity, truly one of the best.

Cover girl

2012-01-06T06:40:00.004-06:00

Lovely cover illustrations by Leanne Shapton

En pointe

2012-01-05T09:39:00.000-06:00

104 vintage tops made my day.

Favn

2012-01-03T11:52:00.000-06:00

In any color or setting, the Favn sofa is a knockout.

(designed by Jaime Hayón for Fritz Hansen)

You are born

2012-01-01T12:49:00.001-06:00

Before you were born

there was a world

with leaves in it

and people whispering

and you were not there.

The world was minus you.

Before you were born

there was not you

walking down the hall.

Bouncing a red ball.

Eating chicken soup

in the kitchen.

You did not (yet) throw a ball

at Arnie Charnick and

break his tooth.

That was (would be) later.

Then light, blinding dazzling crash of light.

You are born.

You were not. Now you is.

Maira Kalman, Chicken Soup, Boots

Happy new year!

Velveteen

2011-12-31T10:58:00.001-06:00

William Nicholson

Maurice Sendak

Gennady Spirin

David Jorgensen

Will the real Velveteen Rabbit please step forward?

Architect

2011-12-30T06:18:00.009-06:00

Philip Johnson, PPG Place

I.M. Pei, Pyramide du Louvre

Philippe Starck, Nani Nani Building

Cesar Pelli, Carnegie Hall Tower

Serious men with a great sense of humor.

Photos: Josef Astor for Vanity Fair 1996

Staircase

2011-12-29T09:51:00.001-06:00

Nude Descending a Staircase No. 2, Marcel Duchamp, 1912

Duchamp Descending a Staircase, Eliot Elisofon, 1952

Stay glad

2011-12-28T10:59:00.001-06:00

Woody Guthrie's New Year's Rulin's, 1942

Work more and better

Work by a schedule

Wash teeth if any

Shave

Take a bath

Eat good - fruit - vegetables - milk

Drink very scant if any

Write a song a day

Wear clean clothes - look good

Shine shoes

Change socks

Change bedclothes often

Read lots good books

Listen to radio a lot

Learn people better

Keep rancho clean

Don't get lonesome

Stay glad

Keep hoping machine running

Dream good

Bank all extra money

Save dough

Have company but don't waste time

Send Mary and kids money

Play and sing good

Dance better

Help win war - beat Fascism

Love Mama

Love Papa

Love Pete

Love everybody

Make up your mind

Wake up and fight

Hot air

2011-12-27T09:41:00.001-06:00

Tony Sarg loved to draw. As a young man, he illustrated advertisements and drew jokes for magazines, but that would change once he was introduced to puppetry. Sarg designed marionettes, opened his own theater and even toured. He is credited with designing the (amazing) flying helium balloon characters that singlehandedly made the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade an epic event.

Balloons Over Broadway, the children's book about Tony Sarg and his fantastic balloon inventions, is a mild introduction to Sarg and his work. The watercolor illustrations don't do justice to his spectacular creations.

Excellent pics

2011-12-26T10:49:00.000-06:00

National Geographic Magazine sets the bar in photography that captures the world's people and places with amazing detail and dazzling color. Their annual photography contest winners reflect the shared passion for culture, history and the places of the earth we call home.

The 2011 winners have been selected. My favorite image; people going about their day in a monsoon, received an honorable mention.

10 List: Jeff Bridges

2011-12-24T09:37:00.003-06:00

One of my favorite actors, Jeff Bridges, has great presence and subtlety. Several of his best performances were directed by first-time filmmakers, which says a lot. The following films are for me, his finest work:

With Cybill Shepherd in The Last Picture Show

The Last Picture Show, Peter Bogdanovich (1971)

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Michael Cimino (1974)

Starman, John Carpenter (1984)

The Fabulous Baker Boys, Steve Kloves (1989)

The Fisher King, Terry Gilliam (1991)

Fearless, Peter Weir (1993)

The Big Lebowski, Joel and Ethan Coen (1998)

The Door in the Floor, Tod Williams (2004)

Crazy Heart, Scott Cooper (2009)

True Grit, Joel and Ethan Coen (2010)

Starman

Fearless

Night girl

2011-12-23T09:42:00.002-06:00

Constance Towers as Kelly, the new girl in town

A beautiful bald woman beats a drunk man with her shoe to the strains of jazz horns. Every whack of her merciless stiletto in the deliriously brutal opening seconds of Samuel Fuller's film, The Naked Kiss pummels the viewer with; Who is she? What led up to this moment? Where are we going? Pure lurid pulp, the film is among the titles available from the film aficionado distribution company,
The Criterion Collection.

Magic

2011-12-22T06:09:00.032-06:00

And above all, watch with glittering eyes

the whole world around you

because the greatest secrets are always hidden

in the most unlikely places.

Those who don't believe in magic
will never find it.

—Roald Dahl (The Minpins)

There is magic in the illustrations of the late Rokuro Taniuchi (1921-1981).

Division of property

2011-12-21T06:09:00.064-06:00

Why We Broke Up, written by Daniel Handler, Illustrated by Maira Kalman

Little, Brown Books (2011)

Min Green has broken up with her boyfriend, Ed Slaterton, and writes a long letter explaining all the reasons why, which she will include with a box of mementos from their brief yet poignant time together.

Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry written and illustrated by Leanne Shapton

Farrar, Strauss and Giroux (2009)

Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris have ended their relationship. A catalog of the items accrued during their romance is the evidence of the giddy high points and the bitter low points of four years together.

New York Look

2011-12-20T06:05:00.025-06:00

In the 1940's Stanley Kubrick was living in New York City, working as a

photographer for Look magazine. Several of his extraordinary images are

currently available (as digital prints) at

V and M.

She can't help it

2011-12-19T09:31:00.002-06:00

There are two things you can't help noticing about Gilbert Hernandez's inimitable character, Luba.

Her figure of course, and the hammer she carries everywhere.

Charles and Ray mashup

2011-12-18T13:58:00.000-06:00

Before moving into rap music, Ice Cube studied architectural drafting.

Pining

2011-12-17T12:08:00.002-06:00

Waiting for a new season of Breaking Bad or Mad Men is a palpable ache. To fill that Walter White or Don Draper sized hole in your heart, look back.

Vince Gilligan, creator (executive producer and writer) of Breaking Bad got his start as a writer on The X-Files. Of the 30 episodes he wrote or co-wrote, Bad Blood, Drive and Pusher are among the best of The X-Files nine seasons.

Scully and Mulder interview Walter Modell in Pusher (The X-Files, 1996)

Matthew Weiner, creator/executive producer/writer of Mad Men, worked as a writer and producer for the HBO hit, The Sopranos. The Blue Comet, an episode which Weiner co-wrote with series creator David Chase, is a masterful mix of tension and carnage. What may slip under the radar is Weiner's comedic writing for Andy Richter Controls the Universe. The show was cancelled due to poor ratings, but there's a whole lot of funny in its nineteen episodes.

Run for your life in The Blue Comet (The Sopranos, 2007)

Dress code

2011-12-16T06:51:00.008-06:00

How to wear a suit with sneakers

(Fa fa fa fa fa)

Stay hungry

2011-12-15T12:47:00.001-06:00

The quotable Steve Jobs

available here

Collected

2011-12-14T10:29:00.006-06:00

I enjoyed all of Malcolm Gladwell's books, and passed my copies on to friends and family. There's a new boxed set
of three of his bestsellers, adorned with lively illustrations by Brian Rea. These I'd keep!

Solo traveler

2011-12-13T07:24:00.002-06:00

American Girl in Italy, 1951 Ruth Orkin

The reaction to the iconic photo of a young girl making her way through what seems a sea of leering men is visceral; the anxiety is palpable, the contempt for their brutish behavior is instantaneous. Photographer Ruth Orkin's photo American Girl in Italy is her best known image. The model, 23-year old Ninalee Craig, was traveling solo in Italy when she met the 29-year old Orkin. The two adventurous women shared stories with one another about their travels when Orkin suggested they'd create images of what it was really like to travel alone as a young single woman. Orkin shot photos of Craig for several hours, asking for directions, shopping, flirting and sightseeing. "We were literally horsing around," Craig said. "It's not a symbol of harassment. It's a symbol of a woman having an absolutely wonderful time!"

(photos, Ruth Orkin)

sad-sweet

2011-12-12T12:46:00.001-06:00

Missing

2011-12-11T13:51:00.007-06:00

It's been over a decade since the highest-value art heist in history took place at the Isabella Gardner Museum in Boston. Two men dressed as police officers gained entry into the museum after midnight, tied up the museum guards, and in a brisk pace, gathered a small group of pieces with a combined value of nearly $500 million dollars, and left by car.

So much time has passed without a call for ransom, or any mysterious appearance for private sale or auction. Has a wealthy collector with exacting tastes built a private viewing room for the stolen treasures? Was the culprit one of the disguised police officers? Were those two hired exclusively for the heist? If so, have they stopped looking over their shoulders and settled into legitimate trades?

The Concert by Johannes Vermeer

(one of only thirty-four paintings he completed in his short lifetime)

The paintings were cut from their frames

The Gardner Museum is offering a reward of five million dollars for information leading to the recovery of their artwork. The stolen work; a Vermeer, a Manet, three Rembrandts, five Degas sketches, a Chinese vase and a bronze finial remain missing.

From their website:

The museum continues to issue the call to the holders of the works to conserve them in recommended temperatures and humidity levels.

Staff picks

2011-12-10T11:47:00.002-06:00

You work with someone long enough, you get to know their pet peeves.

You work with someone long enough in a children's bookstore, you get to know their pet peeve titles.

S. took issue with Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree

"So I should give and give until I'm a stump?"

L. and J. shared the same disdain for Robert Munsch's Love You Forever

Mommy as a spying stalker

Rocking with old Mommy

SM was genuinely puzzled by the popularity of Taro Gomi's Everyone Poops

27 pages of WE GET IT!

For me, Marcus Pfister's The Rainbow Fish was the pebble in my shoe. Supposedly promoting sharing and kindness, the fish has to give his shiny scales to the other fish in order to be accepted and liked

(buy your friends and forget about being unique).

Overhead lighting

2011-12-09T20:57:00.000-06:00

I'm loving the lighting at the newly remodeled

Pump Room at the gorgeous hotel, Public, in Chicago.

Ludwig

2011-12-07T11:03:00.001-06:00

Electric

2011-12-06T10:30:00.001-06:00

What is soul? It's like electricity - we don't really know what it is, but it's a force that can light a room.

—Ray Charles

Novel idea

2011-12-05T11:40:00.002-06:00

Yes, the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. My wife and I went up there in October. It was their last weekend of the season, so the hotel was almost empty. They asked me if I could pay cash because they were taking their credit card receipts back down to Denver. I went past the first sign that said, Roads may be closed after November 1, and I said, Jeez, there's a story up here.

—Stephen King on writing The Shining (Paris Review No. 189)

When I placed my head on the pillow, I did not sleep, nor could I be said to think...I saw - with shut eyes, but acute mental vision - I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life, and stir with some uneasy, half-vital motion. Frightful must it be; for supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavor to mock the stupendous Creator of the world.

—Mary Shelley, on her dream that inspired her novel, Frankenstein (preface, Frankenstein)

One night, I was lying in bed and I was channel surfing between reality TV programs and actual war coverage. On one channel, there's a group of young people competing for I don't even know; and on the next, there's a group of young people fighting in an actual war. I was really tired, and the lines began to blur in an unsettling way. That's the moment when Katniss's story came to me.

—Suzanne Collins, on writing The Hunger Games (School Library Journal)

In 1964 I'd read a story about a man catching a 4,550 pound shark off Long Island and thought,

'what if a shark that size showed up and wouldn't go away?'

—Peter Benchley, on writing Jaws (interview, Ft. Meyers Magazine)

Voyage

2011-12-04T10:45:00.002-06:00

Filmmaker Georges Méliès (1861-1938) was a magician by training and

fascinated by the new world of cinema.

This is only a short clip of Voyage to the Moon/Le Voyage dans la Lune, which runs a full 14 minutes.

Filmmaking

2011-12-03T09:26:00.001-06:00

Flowcharts from the French television company Canal+

Make your mark

2011-12-02T06:27:00.003-06:00

Talent hits a target no one else can hit;
Genius hits a target no one else can see.

—Arthur Schopenhauer

Water play

2011-12-01T08:45:00.000-06:00

Early Jantzen swim ads by Pete Hawley. A girl really can have it all in modest swimwear.

Talk therapy

2011-11-28T06:59:00.008-06:00

Sigmund Freud's sofa

Cozy or claustrophobic?

Bestest

2011-11-27T06:05:00.004-06:00

I just love this image of Jimmy Stewart. He's sitting with his Oscar (the Academy Award for his performance in The Philadelphia Story) and a clutter of coffee cups and water glasses. He isn't draped by gorgeous women or glad-handing other tuxedoed glitterati; he looks so relaxed, just taking it all in.

Journal

2011-11-26T06:55:00.005-06:00

Pages from the diary of Peter Beard

Deb

2011-11-25T06:45:00.005-06:00

Debutante Brenda Frazier, 1938

Brenda Frazier photographed by Diane Arbus, 1966

Thank you Supes

2011-11-24T06:33:00.014-06:00

We should always be thankful for Superman making an appearance at Macy's Thanksgiving parade.

Journey

2011-11-23T06:14:00.010-06:00

Annie Leibovitz photographs sacred places and things in Pilgrimage.

Emily Dickinson's dress

Annie Oakley's heart target

Follies

2011-11-22T06:03:00.012-06:00

The lovely chorus girls from the Ziegfeld Follies (1907-1931).

The theatrical extravaganzas were based on the Folies Bergére of Paris.

Criminal mindset

2011-11-21T10:48:00.003-06:00

Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb after their arrest.

Describing the motive for the murder of 14-year old Bobby Franks: It was just an experiment. It is easy for us to justify as an entomologist in impaling a beetle on a pin.

(Leopold quote, Chicago Tribune, 1924)

My Dear Madame

2011-11-20T09:32:00.003-06:00

I'm glad I purchased this poster from the Skirball Cultural Center exhibition of Maira Kalman. It's either sold out or no longer available.

I love her handwriting and the absurdity of the quote.

A place in the sun

2011-11-19T06:39:00.005-06:00

No need for introductions.

Fine motor skills

2011-11-18T09:25:00.001-06:00

Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Man Ray

Alfred Steiglitz

Michelangelo

André Kertész

Robert Mapplethorpe

Busy hands

2011-11-17T09:16:00.001-06:00

Oliver Jeffers multitasks.

Children's books

Fine art

Jewelry design

Unfinished

2011-11-16T10:08:00.001-06:00

Gustav Klimt died at the young age of 55 during the influenza epidemic of 1918. He left a large number of unfinished paintings which illustrate his process, and wonderfully loose drawing style.

Portrait of a Lady

Eve

The Bride

Portrait of Maria Munk

Chasing rabbits

2011-11-15T09:59:00.002-06:00

"One side will make you grow taller, and the other side will make you grow shorter."

"One side of what? The other side of what?" thought Alice to herself.

"Of the the mushroom," said the caterpillar, just as if she had asked it aloud; and in another moment was out of sight.

—Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Who Stole the Tarts? by Salvador Dali

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has been analyzed and interpreted for hidden meanings and symbols for decades. One common theme is the subliminal reference to drugs, specifically hallucinogens that alter perception.

In 1969, surrealist Salvador Dali illustrated his version of the classic children's book. His wild images seem to reiterate what the Cheshire Cat told Alice:

"We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."

Candid

2011-11-14T06:19:00.013-06:00

It's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.

—Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe, by Roy Schatt, 1955

According to writer/photographic preservationist David Wills, there are more books about Marilyn Monroe than any other woman in history. Undeterred, Wills has curated a collection of photographs and poignant quotations from Norma Jean and her circle in a new hardcover coffee table book; Marilyn Monroe: Metamorphosis.

Lisa and Lisa

2011-11-13T11:04:00.001-06:00

Lisa Fonssagrives photographed by Horst P. Horst

Vogue, UK 1940

Vogue, USA 1940

Life

2011-11-12T06:58:00.004-06:00

Long before it evolved into a news magazine with an emphasis on dynamic photojournalism, Life featured general interest articles adorned with lush illustrations.

The grip of randomness

2011-11-11T11:52:00.000-06:00

The story I heard over dinner: S. notices that the young man in front of her has dropped his wallet. She stops to pick it up, but now the traffic swells, the man has crossed the street and she must wait for cars to pass. With his wallet in hand, she hurries to catch up. The man is walking so quickly, she begins to run. Finally, she follows him into a doorway and calls out. He is surprised and grateful. The end. It could easily have been a great beginning to a much bigger story. I was disappointed the story didn't continue, didn't grow more detailed and colorful and complex. I'm fascinated by the role of randomness in our lives.

I've just started reading the magical work of Haruki Murakami. His ability to graft randomness (often surreal) into his work is addictive.

Below, four excerpts from separate short stories in the collection Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami.

He had a really nicely shaped ear. It was on the small side, but the earlobe was all puffy, like a freshly baked madeleine.

A friend of mine has a habit of going to the zoo whenever there's a typhoon.

Thinking about spaghetti that boils eternally but is never done is a sad, sad thing.

The two of us simply held each other in the darkness, sharing that enormous ice, inside of which the world's past, millions of years' worth, was preserved.

Reduction

2011-11-09T14:44:00.000-06:00

It takes a lot of tomatoes to make a little sauce. Homemade is a bit more tangy

compared to store-bought, and well worth the effort!

Poetry of rain

2011-11-08T10:17:00.001-06:00

Robert Doisneau

Brassai

Josef Sudek

Alfred Stieglitz

At long last

2011-11-07T10:48:00.001-06:00

Doc Films is currently showing a Woody Allen film series at the University of Chicago. I'm always surprised when I hear anyone dismiss Woody Allen as anything but great.

He often pays homage to the greatest writers, directors and performers.

"You have to have a little faith in people. " (end of Manhattan)

"Yes, I can see now." (end of City Lights)

Safe house

2011-11-06T09:20:00.001-06:00

The winning entry for the 2011 Zombie Safe House Competition. Like most people, you may not be prepared for the apocalypse but there are others that are thinking ahead.

Bigheaded

2011-11-04T10:30:00.001-05:00

The man who moves a mountain, begins by carrying away small stones.

—Confucius

When a sculptor works with stone, he studies the different elements of the rock, its veins and graininess, before taking a first blow with his chisel. Gutzon Borglum thought bigger. On horseback, he scouted the area of Harney Peak in South Dakota, looking for a mountain big enough to support the figures of the sculpture he envisioned.

When he saw the granite peaks of Mount Rushmore, the tallest mountain in the region, with the sun hitting it just so, it was love. His mindset was that his portraits of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln (each six stories tall), like American history itself, would be magnificent and endure.

Construction began in 1927, and was completed in 1941, the year of Borglum's death. 400 workers cleared 800 million pounds of rock over the course of 14 years, fulfilling a preposterous idea by
one impassioned dreamer.

Before and after

The original design was more fully rendered.

Lack of funding determined the completion date.

Ninety percent of the monument was created using dynamite.

No one died during construction.

Mugs

2011-11-03T09:44:00.001-05:00

Firmly established as a genius for his lush portraits, John Singer Sargent was financially set and hungered for new artistic challenges. But what to do with the long line of patrons who pestered him with requests for a sitting? He agreed to simple charcoal sketches, completed in roughly about an hour, which he called 'mugs'. Hundreds of these sketches exist, despite their simplicity and lack of color, Sargent's ability to flatter the sitter is unmistakeable.

Reasonable

2011-11-01T13:47:00.005-05:00

In his portraits, Benjamin Franklin looks so mild and plain but his legacy is one of amazing accomplishment.

His colorful life included serious work as an inventor, scientist, printer, postmaster, author, diplomat and musician.

In 1727 (at 21 years old), Franklin created the Junto (Latin for 'meeting') group. Originally comprised of twelve members from diverse backgrounds, the Junto met on Friday evenings and discussed a wide range of topics including business, ethics and politics in the spirit of improving the self and the community.

Benjamin Franklin's 12 Rules of Management:

Finish better than your beginnings

All education is self-education

Seek first to manage yourself, then manage others

Influence is more important than victory

Work hard and watch your costs

Everybody wants to appear reasonable

Create your own set of values to guide your actions

Incentive is everything

Create solutions for seemingly impossible problems

Become a revolutionary for experimentation and change

Sometimes it's better to do 1001 small things right than one large thing right

Deliberately cultivate your reputation and legacy

How to Recognize a Witch

2011-10-31T09:51:00.017-05:00

From The Witches by Roald Dahl (excerpt Chapter 3)

The next evening, after my grandmother had given me a bath, she took me once again into the living-room for another story.
'Tonight,' the old woman said, 'I am going to tell you how to recognize a witch when you see one.'
'Can you always be sure?' I asked.
'No,' she said, 'you can't. And that's the trouble. But you can make a pretty good guess.'
She was dropping cigar ash all over her lap, and I hoped she wan't going to catch on fire before she told me how to recognize a witch.
'In the first place,' she said, 'a REAL WITCH is certain always to be wearing gloves when you meet her.'
'Surely not always,' I said. 'What about in the summer when it's hot?'
'Even in the summer,' my grandmother said. 'She has to. Do you want to know why?'
'Why?' I said.
'Because she doesn't have finger-nails. Instead of finger-nails, she has thin curvy claws, like a cat, and she wears the gloves to hide them. Mind you, lots of respectable women wear gloves, especially in winter, so this doesn't help you very much.'
'Mamma used to wear gloves,' I said.
'Not in the house,' my grandmother said. 'Witches wear gloves even in the house. They only take them off when they go to bed.'
'How do you know all this, Grandmamma?'
'Don't interrupt,' she said. 'Just take it all in. The second thing to remember is that a REAL WITCH is always bald.'
'Bald?' I said.
'Bald as a boiled egg,' my grandmother said.
I was shocked. There was something indecent about a bald woman. 'Why are they bald, Grandmamma?'
'Don't ask me why,' she snapped. 'But you can take it from me that not a single hair grows on a witch's head.'
'How horrid!'
'Disgusting,' my grandmother said.
'If she's bald, she'll be easy to spot,' I said.
'Not at all,' my grandmother said. 'A REAL WITCH always wears a wig to hide her baldness. She wears a first-class wig. And it is almost impossible to tell a really first-class wig from ordinary hair unless you give it a pull to see if it comes off.'
'Then that's what I'll have to do,' I said.
'Don't be foolish,' my grandmother said, 'You can't go round pulling at the hair of every lady you meet, even if she is wearing gloves. Just try it and see what happens.'
'So that doesn't help much either,' I said,
'None of these things is good on its own,' my grandmother said. 'It's only when you put them together that they begin to make a little sense. Mind you,' my grandmother went on, 'these wigs do cause a rather serious problem for witches.'
'What problem, Grandmamma?'
'They make a scalp itch most terrible,' she said. 'You see, when an actress wears a wig, or if you or I were to wear a wig, we would be putting it on over our own hair, but a witch has to put it on to her naked scalp. And the underneath of a wig is always very rough and scratchy. It sets up a frightful itch on the bald skin. It causes nasty sores on the head. Wig-rash, the witches call it. And it doesn't half itch.'
'What other things must I look for to recognize a witch?' I asked.
'Look for the nose-holes,' my grandmother said. 'Witches have slightly larger nose-holes than ordinary people. The rim of each nose-hole is pink and curvy, like the rim of a certain kind of sea-shell.'
'Why do they have such big nose-holes?' I asked.
'For smelling with,' my grandmother said. 'A REAL WITCH has the most amazing power of smell. She can smell out a child who is standing on the other side of the street on a pitch-black night.'
'She couldn't smell me,' I said. 'I've just had a bath.'
'Oh yes she could,' my grandmother said. 'The cleaner you happen to be, the more smelly you are to a witch.'
'That can't be true,' I said.
'An absolutely clean child gives off the most ghastly stench to a witch,' my grandmother said. 'The dirtier you are, the less you smell.'
'But that doesn't make sense, Grandmamma.'
'Oh yes it does,' my grandmother said. 'It isn't the dirt that the witch is smelling. It is you. The smell that drives a witch mad actually comes right out of your own skin. It comes oozing out of your skin in waves, and these waves, stink-waves the witches call them, go floating through the air and hit the witch right smack in her nostrils. They send her reeling.'
'Now wait a minute, Grandmamma...'
'Don't interrupt,' she said. 'The point is this, when you haven't washed for a week and your skin is covered over with dirt, then quite obviously the stink-waves cannot come oozing out nearly so strongly.'
'I shall never have a bath again.' I said.
'Just don't have one too often,' my grandmother said. 'Once a month is quite enough for a sensible child.'
It was at moments like these that I loved my grandmother more than ever.

Food rules

2011-10-30T16:27:00.002-05:00

I just ordered Michael Pollan's book, Food Rules. I am sure he has many interesting things to say about the food we eat, the places we shop and healthy diets. But really, I love the art of Maira Kalman, whose illustrations grace the pages. Pollan chose wisely. Maira's work is full of humor and vitality and thoughtfulness and deliciousness!

Scribble

2011-10-29T08:25:00.000-05:00

Generally, coloring books are dull. The quirky drawing

and coloring books by Taro Gomi spark the imagination and tickle

the funny bone.

(use numbers to make pretty patterns on the dress)

(draw mosquito bites)

Silence and waiting

2011-10-28T11:04:00.001-05:00

In his review of Paranormal Activity, the 2007 low-budget horror film, Roger Ebert mused, "It illustrates one of my favorite points, that silence and waiting can be more entertaining than frantic fast-cutting and berserk f/x. For extended periods here, nothing at all is happening, and believe me, you won't be bored."

The Shining is scariest when the Overlook Hotel seems creepy, but we don't know why.

You must first suffer with Chris MacNeil(Ellen Burstyn), desperate to solve her daughter's deteriorating condition with hapless medical procedures, before you meet The Exorcist.

Reporter Rachel (Naomi Watts) is determined to understand the connection between a surreal

video and a series of mysterious deaths in The Ring.

Subway

2011-10-27T10:03:00.001-05:00

Photographer Bruce Davidson captures the distinctive semblance of the subterranean world.

In the fold

2011-10-26T11:56:00.002-05:00

Mom didn't see the point or get the humor, but bought me comics anyway. With Mad Magazine, the descending order of interest:

Mort Drucker's spoofs of popular movies (Balmy and Clod = Bonnie and Clyde, Blue Eyed Kook = Cool Hand Luke, Rosemia's Boo-Boo = Rosemary's Baby etc.)

Spy vs. Spy

Al Jaffee's Fold-In

Now, the attractively bound Fold-In collection is available here.

Measuring True Grit

2011-10-25T15:48:00.000-05:00

It turns out that predicting outstanding achievement is a formula much

more complex than adding natural born genius with nose to the grindstone.

Oh, if talent were enough.

The complete test is here.

Wheels

2011-10-24T08:01:00.000-05:00

Eugene O'Neill

Jack Dempsey

Georgia O'Keeffe

John F. Kennedy

Miles Davis

Spin

2011-10-23T11:59:00.001-05:00

I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any

other way—things I had no words for.

—Georgia O'Keeffe

Albumin, Human, Glycated (1992) Damien Hirst

Twister (1966) Hasbro

Beautiful Cyclonic Bleeding Slashing Hurrican Dippy Coward's Painting (1992) Damien Hirst

Magic Spin Art, RoseArt

Cruel irony

2011-10-22T09:01:00.000-05:00

Atomic bomb toys for the special children in your life.

It's over

2011-10-21T08:21:00.001-05:00

I worked with someone that was just starting out as an actress. She performed in industrial films as a way to earn extra money, confident that no one would ever see the end product. You know, those awful films you're forced to sit through in Driver's Ed, or at your office so that you can recognize whether someone is harassing you or your co-worker.

Another venue that actors find work is modeling for stock photos; the photos you'll see illustrating an article, not to be mistaken for commercial or fashion modeling.

The images here are from a Tumblr-blog titled, Women Looking Dissatisfied in Bed. The sheer number of these stock images on Google, with every version of the clueless partner is surprising. Or maybe not.

Underdog

2011-10-20T09:54:00.000-05:00

Robert Mitchum: actor, author, composer, singer

You can run

2011-10-19T09:41:00.002-05:00

Season 2 of AMC's The Walking Dead premiered Sunday night, watched by 7.3 million viewers, breaking the basic cable ratings record. That's a lot of zombie love.

Frank Darabont, the original showrunner (also credited as writer and executive producer) has been replaced, creating a lot of buzz about the future of the series. Fingers are already pointing to the unevenness of the first episode, What Lies Ahead, with mixed reviews on everything from the gore, to the believability of Andrew Lincoln's southern accent.

I can't think of a better vehicle for over-the-top acting, hammy accents and extravagant blood and guts than horror. After watching the supersized 90 minute episode, my nephew's response was, "too scary." Yes, and I loved it.

Shelf life

2011-10-18T10:42:00.002-05:00

For several months now, I've been volunteering at a nonprofit group that provides programs to promote literacy, serving students across Chicago. In order to volunteer for the reading and writing programs, a commitment of at least a semester, though preferably one full school year is understandably expected. For those unable to devote their time long term, there are other ways to help, one of which is working in the bookstore. The pool of volunteers is an impressive bunch; many have backgrounds in teaching and business, and some are finishing their degrees in writing or education. A surprising number of them want to work in the bookstore.

I think a lot of people share the fantasy of working in a bookstore. Is it the idea of doing something small, yet brainy and noble? Or maybe there's something adorable in being bookish? Or maybe, with bookstores fading from our landscape, the experience will be historical?

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Notting Hill

Funny Face

You've Got Mail

I worked in a bookstore for many years. I am now living the fantasy of working in a book warehouse.

Rolling stone

2011-10-17T07:43:00.000-05:00

Jules: First, I'm going to deliver this case to Marcellus, then basically, I'm just going to walk the earth.

Vincent: What'cha mean "walk the earth"?

Jules: You know, like Caine in Kung Fu: walk from place to place, meet people, get into adventures.

Vincent: And how long do you intend to walk the earth?

Jules: Until God puts me where he wants me to be.

—From the film, Pulp Fiction

Photographer Jeroen Toirkens follows the last nomadic people in the

Northern Hemisphere in his book Nomad.

You, only better

2011-10-16T08:36:00.003-05:00

It's been twelve years since Dr. Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas) lost his wife as a result of a fiery car crash. After the tragedy, the distinguished plastic surgeon is determined to develop a new, more durable skin that might have saved her. If 'Dr.' means mad scientist, and 'develop' means holding a woman hostage for the purpose of performing secret surgeries, then 'determined' can surely stand-in for obsessed. Pedro Almodovar's new film, The Skin I Live In will likely be compared to the 1962 French film, Les Yeux Sans Visage (Eyes Without a Face) directed by Georges Franju. Although their stories differ, both films explore the nature of beauty, longing and revenge.

The book, the movie

2011-10-15T06:02:00.013-05:00

Since discovering the striking work of street photographer Vivian Maier, John Maloof has championed her artistry. A documentary film is currrently in production, two gallery shows are scheduled for 2012 in New York and Los Angeles, and in November, powerHouse Books will release a hardcover monograph, Vivian Maier: Street Photographer.

Vivian Maier: Street Photographer Book Flip from powerHouse Books on Vimeo.