List

Love the image from Elle Decor UK (June 2012) styled by Tina Hellberg, The poster by Redouane Oumahi is especially nice.

The importance of not knowing

Play and curiosity is where everything happens. It's where everything occurs.  And you can't play and you can't engage with your curiosity if you're worried about being wrong or you're worried about messing up or not making something perfect.

— Andrew Zuckerman

A walk in the park

Although her romantic comedies are iconic, when I think about Nora Ephron's screenplays, I especially like the dialogue between friends. That silly, sometimes emphatic banter of people who have known each other through bad jobs, bad hairstyles and bad relationships. It can take a long time to become fully formed, and there's real humor along the way.



What I will miss

My kids
Nick
Spring
Fall
Waffles
The concept of waffles
Bacon
A walk in the park
The idea of a walk in the park
The park
Shakespeare in the Park
The bed
Reading in bed
Fireworks
Laughs
The view out the window
Twinkle lights
Butter
Dinner at home just the two of us
Dinner with friends
Dinner with friends in cities where none of us lives
Paris
Next year in Istanbul
Pride and Prejudice
The Christmas tree
Thanksgiving dinner
One for the table
The dogwood
Taking a bath
Coming over the bridge to Manhattan
Pie


From her book, I Remember Nothing and Other Reflections

Quite crazy

Circa 1949. Walter Trier finds children's book characters (I spy Struwwelpeter) quite crazy.

I like it

 Frank Chimero

Anthony Burrill

Ingredients

Vintage German nutrition charts. When you need to know the water, fat and protein content of your potatoes, apples and bread.

Girls on the bridge

If you're lucky enough to be in London this summer, the Tate Modern has a major exhibition of works by Edvard Munch. Several significant motifs Munch explored devotedly are included; The Girls on the Bridge and The Sick Child. It's so rare to see a series in sequence, and follow the artist's process in revealing a story.

 1899-1900

 1901

1905

This magic moment

When I look at photographs, I'm drawn to images that have little to do with technical knowhow, fantastic locations or beautiful subjects. The pull for me is definitely quiet serendipity; a random, diaphanous moment captured by the photographer.

 2010, Kim McAlear

 2009, Rick Alfaro

 2009, Ann It

2009, Stephen Little

From FILE

A Collection of Unexpected Photography

When we were young

In her memoir, Patti Smith paints a lush account of her early years in New York with her lover and muse, Robert Mapplethorpe.

We hadn't much money but we were happy. Robert worked part-time and took care of the apartment. I did the laundry and made our meals, which were very limited. There was an Italian bakery we frequented, off Waverly. We would choose a nice loaf of day-old bread or a quarter pound of their stale cookies offered at half-price. Robert had a sweet tooth, so the cookies often won out. Sometimes the woman behind the counter would give us extra and fill the small brown paper sack to the brim with yellow and brown pinwheels, shaking her head and murmuring friendly disapproval. Most likely she could tell it was our dinner. We would add take-out coffee and a carton of milk. Robert loved chocolate milk but it was more expensive and we would deliberate whether to spend the extra dime.

—Just Kids, Patti Smith

A Moveable Feast  was published in 1964, three years after Ernest Hemingway's death. His memoir of Paris in the 1920's with first wife Hadley and their young son, captures the romance of beginnings told in his crisp style with wonderful insight.

I had been stupid when she needed a grey lamb jacket and had loved it when she had bought it. I had been stupid about other things too. It was all part of the fight against poverty that you never win except by not spending. Especially if you buy pictures instead of clothes. But then we did not think ever of ourselves as poor. We did not accept it. We thought we were superior people and other people that we looked down on and rightly mistrusted were rich. It had never seemed strange to me to wear sweatshirts for underwear to keep warm. It only seemed odd to the rich. We ate well and cheaply and drank well and cheaply and slept well and warm together and loved each other.

—A Moveable Feast,  Ernest Hemingway

G is for Goliath

Are there any 'little' stories in the Bible?

Strike a pose

Like many aspiring actresses, Norma Jeane Dougherty worked as a model. In 1946, just nineteen at the time and working for the Blue Book Agency, she was hired by artist Earl Moran. Their pairing created many successful images; the two worked together for several years and developed a genuine friendship. Soon after meeting Moran, Norma Jeane's life changed dramatically; she started landing acting jobs. Though it wasn't her idea, and the new moniker wasn't to her liking, Norma Jeane changed her name to Marilyn Monroe.

Earl and Norma Jeane 

Emma

Silly things do cease to be silly if they are done by sensible people in an impudent way.

—Jane Austen, Emma

The dark side

The not-so-subtle symbolism of Janet Leigh's bra in Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film Psycho. Before stealing $40,000 from her employer's client, she wears innocent white, after taking the money and on the lam, she wears black.

Contact

Tiny Tim: singer, entertainer, ukelele player

 Tiny Tim (contact sheet), Diane Arbus 1966

In space

The original trailer for Alien, which opened in theaters May, 1979.

Thirty three years have passed, in which three sequels, a spin-off franchise (Alien vs. Predator) and a quasi-prequel, Prometheus were created. Still, Alien remains the most compelling chapter with its brilliant screenplay and profoundly effective pacing.

She's not a sidekick, arm candy, or a damsel to be rescued.

—Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer's of America president John Scalzi (on Ellen Ripley)

Above all, Alien introduced the world to Ellen Ripley. Originally written as a male character, casting made a bold decision and gave the role to Sigourney Weaver. At the start of the film, Ripley is a steely commanding officer, meticulously following protocol. In battling the Alien, she transforms to her truest self; a capable, fierce, intuitive being.  Ripley is currently ranked #8 at the top of the American Film Institute's list of 100 Greatest Heroes, outranking Superman, Obi-Wan Kenobi and George Bailey among others.

Coming soon

Building Stories by Chris Ware (October 2012)

A certain something

I love finding a jewel among vintage photos. The ones that pull at your sleeve with

their mystery; a snapshot of a particular story. But today, I still have John Fante on the brain.

There was also this passionate need for her. I had it from the first time I saw her. She went away that first time, she walked out of her aunt's house where we had met at tea, and I was no good without her, absolutely a cripple until I saw her again. But for her I might have lived out my life in other streams—a reporter, a bricklayer—whatever was at hand.

—John Fante, Full of Life

Spectacle

I can appreciate a great ad campaign; the colors, the design, the catchphrase, the humor. But it's oh so rare I ever want to buy the product. The L.A. Eyeworks ads were startlingly effective; everyone looked great and the few pairs that I (ran out and) purchased I wore for years and still treasure.

 Eartha Kitt

Ryuichi Sakamoto

 John Waters

 Philip Glass

Wilson Pickett

(Yep,  Mr. Pickett you sold me on that fab pair of cheaters!)

Collaboration

I bought a pair of shorts that I'll never wear. 

Produced in 1990 (for Bergdorf Goodman), the shorts are from Isaac Mizrahi's high-end ready to wear collection. Mizrahi collaborated with fellow designer (and friend) Maira Kalman, creating playful pieces with exuberant illustrations.  

Writing on the wall

I love this huge graphic wall piece. I believe the excerpt is from the short story, 

Strangers When We Meet by Hanif Kureishi.

Right now, I have John Fante on the brain. 

I could live with the following as a wall piece for so many reasons:

Los Angeles, give me some of you! Los Angeles come to me the way I came to you, 

my feet over your streets, you pretty town I loved you so much, you sad flower in the sand, you pretty town.

–from Ask the Dust