JOURNAL
documenting
&
discovering joyful things
The human calendar
Once upon a time, I went a-visiting to the website of someone who had left a comment on my blog. (I always try to visit your site if you leave a link to it when you comment). Anyhoo, this particular site was called Hivenn and it turned out the blogger was a sweetheart of a young, blue-haired gal from the UK who took some quite lovely photographs. One of them struck me as particularly moving and I wanted to tell her so, but I couldn't find out where to leave comments.
BUT while I was searching for a comments option, I found this human calendar at the bottom of the page. The little folks inside the boxes will even figure out what day it is on your side of the world and switch places and signs accordingly. Things like this make me embarrassingly happy.
The city's soundtrack
Remember iPods, antique iPhones without the networks: remember those things? I wasn't an early adopter but can I tell you, when I was given my first iPod that baby changed my life. Suddenly, my days had a soundtrack. Even something as mundane as walking to work became a swim in an ocean of my favourite music.
But have you ever wondered what anybody else's soundtrack is? Tyler Cullen hit the streets of New York to open up the city's soundtrack. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFTpV8ZB-38&w=853&h=480]
The end of love
I can't get this slow-burning song out of my head lately. It haunts me. I love how it builds and builds and builds. It is so familiar, that breakup ache, the confusion, misunderstandings, lost tenderness... but Gotye makes it beautiful. Every time the song ends, I feel like it has broken up with me. I am undone.
Favourite things: I heart
1. Melty crayon art You can buy this from JK Create on Etsy, OR make your very own using a box of crayons and a hairdryer, thanks to the pioneering experiments of Tracy on Naptime = Craft time. Let me know if you try it!
2. Fashion time machine [vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/28753875 w=525&h=295]
100 Years Style East London from Jahbit on Vimeo.
100 years of East London style in 100 seconds. I watched this yesterday and I was blown away. Then I watched it again. Then I clicked "favourite."
3. Free postcard apps
Seriously: the thought of combining my instagram addiction with my addiction for all things postal is making me a little light-headed! Take a look at these five free iPhone apps for sending postcards.
4. Magical floating Ferris Wheel
In this video project, artist Maider Lopez made all the structures of a Ferris Wheel in Austria seem to disappear, creating a magical, floating world.
5. Imogen's imagination come to life
There's a bit of a story to go with this one. Do you remember a while back when I introduced you to Rachel of "i make. you wear it.", who is making a dress a day for charity? I showed you her incredible postcard dress...
Around about the same time that I discovered Rachel, my friend Ruby had also shown me a number of amazing dresses designed by her eight-year-old daughter Imogen. Imogen has a wonderful sense of colour and form. I thought there were some synergies between Rachel's and Imogen's aesthetic, so I showed Ruby the site. She got in touch with Rachel, who has just spent the past week making Imogen's dress designs a reality.
Isn't that wonderful? And how talented is Imi! How awesome is Rachel!
Rachel is doing this project to raise funds for The Starlight Foundation, which brightens the lives of seriously ill children. So if you like what you see, I do hope you'll consider making a donation.
Swing from a crooked tree
I really needed to hear this today. The person behind the sentiment is children's book author Dallas Clayton. I discovered Clayton while browsing yet another of my favourite bloggers, Danielle of Sometimes Sweet, who reads Clayton's books to her baby boy Henry.
Clayton wrote his first book for his son. It was about dreaming big and never giving up. Now he's a bona fide author, and a philanthropist to boot, giving away books and reading to children all over the world.
And how about today's quote?
I don't know about you, but sometimes I am so afraid of the potential for danger that I miss out on the very real potential for joy. My girls are lucky that I inherited them half grown, or it's entirely possible they could have spent their childhoods in a bubble.
What is an acceptable risk? How do you balance safety with adventure? For yourself? For your children?
Typewriter magic
Look closely at the pictures above. They are entirely made up of typewriter letters and symbols. Imagine what vision and patience it must take to be able to create these beautiful works of art, line by line. Then take a peek at this short video to watch Keira at work. She makes it look so easy! [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJdNsXCz-X8]In case you are reading, dear millionaire Great-Aunt Tessa who I have never met and who possibly may not exist but who wishes to buy my love in order to make up for a long absence from my life (because I am inside a Famous Five book right now)... In case you are reading, dear Auntie Tess, a piece of typewriter magic would make an excellent start. My birthday is in October.
ps. Thanks to Honestly WTF for the tip-off. Yet another nice find, ladies.
Say something nice
I saw this great "Say something nice" video over on Black Eiffel on the weekend, a public project sending positive vibes out into the city of New York. And of all times, I reckon New York could do with some positive vibes right about now. I hope it brings a little bit of positivity to your day, too. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwEYYI-AGWs]
Tom's midnight garden (NYC)
I couldn't stop staring at it.
Did you ever read Tom's Midnight Garden as a child? It is a beautiful story. When an old grandfather clock mysteriously strikes 13, Tom goes outside his grandmother's flat to find that it has been transformed into a beautiful garden. He has been taken back through time, and urban congestion melts away into trees and clover. That is how I felt while looking at this map of NYC.
I lingered in the shop, entranced, and traced my fingers over the drawing. The New York traffic, buildings, people, even the very streets faded and vanished and I stood in an unfamiliar garden, blinking and trying to find my bearings.
There, somewhere in those green fields, or perhaps closer to that river (where did the river go? Does anyone know about a river around about West Houston today?), now stands 68 Thompson Street, the place I used to call home.
Yet nothing of what I know exists on this map. None of the street markets where I would buy cheap art and jewellery, none of the tiny basement venues where I would go to hear my talented friends sing, none of the restaurants where we would eat and drink and laugh and celebrate. There is no such thing as West Broadway, let alone the little cafe on the corner of West Broadway and Grand where I met the man I now call my husband.
It is all forests and a patchwork of fields.
I can recognise Bowery, called Bowery Lane, which merges into something simply labelled "Road to Albany and Boston" (written as Bofton). In what we now know as Downtown, there is a short road called Broad Way. It ends at a little triangle square of green in which is written "The intended Square or COMMON." You and I know this square better as City Hall.
The map cuts off at Greenwich Village, and the only named road up there is labelled "Road to the Obelisk." I did a bit of research. A little later, this road was also known as "Monument Lane," and until the 1770s, it did indeed lead to an obelisk, a memorial to British Major General James Wolfe, who died in the Battle of Quebec. Today you'll recognise this lane as Greenwich Avenue, and the site of the obelisk (now long gone, nobody knows exactly when or why) is Jackson Square Park.
Is this all boring you? I am so taken up in the magic of a world I know but completely don't know, that sometimes I forget I'm a bit of a nerd about these things, and not everyone shares my passion for finding links to the past.
I'll stop now. I promise to resume our regular programming tomorrow.
ps. You better believe I bought the map (it's a facsimile not an original, so I didn't have to sell Mr B's firstborn to buy it).
Dance for joy
Happiness is infectious. Just seeing someone else's joy - like the little girl in this picture* - makes me grin, and a little of her happiness rubs off on me.
Once, on the bridge in Avignon, France, I danced in public too. I knew I was supposed to dance, because the French song from my childhood told me so. Sur la pont, d'Avignon, l'on y dance l'on y dance, the song goes. (Rough translation: "On the bridge of Avignon, one dances, one dances." Please excuse my French spelling if it is off, it's been a decade or two.)
After this video became a bit of a YouTube sensation, Matt managed to get funding for a couple more world journeys, just so long as he was willing to dance in public again. Take a look at wherethehellismatt.com to find out more about his story.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WmMcqp670s] Now tell me: when joy takes you, just takes over and you are truly happy, what do you do? Me, I want to go sing with a camel.
*This image is all over the Internet, but I can't find the source to link to it. Does anyone know?
Favourite things: small packages
If you’ve been reading my blog lately you’ll know that I’m about to make my third interstate move in 12 months. As usual, we seem to have accumulated at a rate that would make even the most seasoned capitalist blush. I’ve been playing Tetris with our belongings to try and make everything fit. Wouldn’t life be easier if at least part of it could be shrunk down? Today I wistfully bring you these five artistic things in perfect miniature.
1. Miniature sculptures on crayons, by Diem Chau (found via Honestly WTF) and on the tips of pencils, by Dalton Ghetti
2. Miniature books. Printstagram puts your Instagram photos in print. My favourite has to be this adorable miniature book. It's like a coffee table book for Thumbelina. You better believe I'm doing this. (Thanks to Poppytalk for the tip-off.)
3. Miniature literary figures. Debbie of Uneekdolldesigns makes the funniest miniature dolls inspired by literary and film characters. If you didn't recognise them, these two are Pip and poor, crazy old Miss Havisham (complete with tragic wedding dress), from Charles Dickens' masterpiece, Great Expectations.
4. Miniature perspectives. At a first glance, Scott Moore's paintings look hyper-real. But wait - is that a PERSON in this scene? Miniature people, just going about their daily lives inside our own (relatively giant) lives. (Found on My Modern Met.)
5. Miniature gardens. This is Cockington Green, an entire village in miniature, just outside of Canberra, Australia. It's open to visitors, so you can go see it for yourself if you like. Why did they build it? Erm, some people are just strange, I guess. But I think that's a good thing. Don't you?
Let's imagine you have access to Wayne Szalinski's gun from Honey I Shrunk the Kids. What will you shrink?