10.30.2010

sanity restored!

Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, Washington DC, October 30,2010

The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear


Rally To Restore Sanity And/Or Fear

Join Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and 150,000 250,000 (500,000?) in Washington DC (and millions the world over in spirit) for the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. Who cares if it has anything to do with decorating? Decorate this, baby! You can rally along right now with live streaming. Enjoy!

Watch film clips from the rally

In closing, Jon Stewart had this to say: "We know instinctively as a people, that if we are to get through the darkness and back into the light we have to work together. And the truth is there will always be darkness. And sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel isn't the Promised Land, sometimes it's just New Jersey, but we do it anyway, together. You wanna know why I'm here? And what I want from you? I can only assure you this. You have already given it to me. Your presence is what I wanted. Sanity will always be and has always been in the eye of the beholder, and to see you here today and the kind of people that you are has restored mine. Thank you."

Rally sparks spontaneous spin-offs in 84 countries


10.27.2010

painting the windows

The year's first frost is upon us this morning. It's certainly upon me, in my last-gasp effort to finish painting the porch. If the weatherman is right and the temperature does reach the sixties, I might get the job done. Cross fingers. Or rub together vigorously, as needed.

If Jack Frost isn't available, here are a few other ways to frost a window:
DIY from Design Sponge
Ideas from Apartment Therapy
Emma Jeffs' Modern Window Film
Brume's Window Film Collection
Window Film World

Andrew Herron

10.13.2010

yosemite

Just got back from a few days in Yosemite. Still unpacking the memories.

Melanie Renn

Melanie Renn

10.09.2010

imagine

After years of training as a classical pianist, at the age of 14 I heard I Want To Hold Your Hand played twice in a row over the radio. It was January of 1964 and the radio station was playing it for the first time. I was hooked. I was one of the first Beatlemaniacs. I screamed at their movie. I screamed at their concert. They affected me profoundly for the rest of my life. Today would have been John Lennon's 70th birthday. Imagine.

they say it's your birthday
John Lennon 'unseen'
celebrating in Central Park
Inside the Dakota
Yoko Ono Official on Flickr

John Lennon

John Lennon at home playing his white piano

This room slowly evaporates every day

John and Yoko

John Lennon at home on the telephone

John and Yoko in their studio

John and Yoko in front of the Dakota



10.06.2010

sleeping beauty

The art world is beside itself over the recent discovery of an unknown Boldini. Yes, exciting. Very much so. But is anyone else excited over the discovery of a beautiful Paris flat locked up in a time capsule since the Belle Époque? Just raise a gloved hand.

Marthe de Florian by Giovanni Boldini

Mrs de Florian, a 'demimondaine' never returned to her Paris flat after the war and died at the age of 91 in 2010 Photo: Getty Images

Mrs de Florian, a 'demimondaine' never returned to her Paris flat after the war and died at the age of 91 in 2010 Photo: Getty Images


Parisian flat and €2.1 million painting lay untouched for 70 years

For 70 years the Parisian apartment had been left uninhabited, under lock and key, the rent faithfully paid but no hint of what was inside.

By Henry Samuel in Paris
The Telegraph U.K. Published October 4, 2010

Behind the door, under a thick layer of dusk lay a treasure trove of turn-of-the-century objects including a painting by the 19th century Italian artist Giovanni Boldini.

The woman who owned the flat had left for the south of France before the Second World War and never returned.

But when she died recently aged 91, experts were tasked with drawing up an inventory of her possessions and homed in on the flat near the Trinité church in Paris between the Pigalle red light district and Opera.

Entering the untouched, cobweb-filled flat in Paris' 9th arrondissement, one expert said it was like stumbling into the castle of Sleeping Beauty, where time had stood still since 1900.

"There was a smell of old dust," said Olivier Choppin-Janvry, who made the discovery. Walking under high wooden ceilings, past an old wood stove and stone sink in the kitchen, he spotted a stuffed ostrich and a Mickey Mouse toy dating from before the war, as well as an exquisite dressing table.

But he said his heart missed a beat when he caught sight of a stunning tableau of a woman in a pink muslin evening dress.

The painting was by Boldini and the subject a beautiful Frenchwoman who turned out to be the artist's former muse and whose granddaughter it was who had left the flat uninhabited for more than half a century.

The muse was Marthe de Florian, an actress with a long list of ardent admirers, whose fervent love letters she kept wrapped neatly in ribbon and were still on the premises. Among the admirers was the 72nd prime minister of France, George Clemenceau, but also Boldini.

The expert had a hunch the painting was by Boldini, but could find no record of the painting. "No reference book dedicated to Boldini mentioned the tableau, which was never exhibited," said Marc Ottavi, the art specialist he consulted about the work.

When Mr Choppin-Janvry found a visiting card with a scribbled love note from Boldini, he knew he had struck gold. "We had the link and I was sure at that moment that it was indeed a very fine Boldini".

He finally found a reference to the work in a book by the artist's widow, which said it was painted in 1898 when Miss de Florian was 24.

The starting price for the painting was €300,000 but it rocketed as ten bidders vyed for the historic work. Finally it went under the hammer for €2.1 million, a world record for the artist.

"It was a magic moment. One could see that the buyer loved the painting; he paid the price of passion," said Mr Ottavi.


The Complete InComplete Works of Giovanni Boldini


We might not be able to afford €2.1 million for a rare Boldini, but how about a reproduction of a bistro table in one of his paintings?


Conversazione by Giovanni Boldini

10.04.2010

happy trails

Now way back, when Michael was a little boy, his parents took him to visit a friend of the family who had a thirty foot trailer at a lake. That's when it started. He must have had a pretty good time there because for ever after he wanted one. Well, he got his wish because, here we are, living in our doublewide. And that's okay. But since we got this place he's been talking about retiring to his real dream home - the kind you travel around in. Million Dollar Travel Trailer, oh look out.

1970s Trailer Trash
1970s travel trailer ad