Pigging out

Left: Porky neon fellow outside Au Pied De Cochon in Paris; right: cartoonish quadruped visible from the High Line in Manhattan.

The definition of Glamour (June 2011)

I used to like to read lady mags, but now I mostly enjoy cutting them up. Here's a little collage series I worked up last night with the help of the June 2011 issue of Glamour and a funky old copy of Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language from the 1970s.

From the top, and left to right: Glare of Glamor, Secondhand Secrets, Brassiere Bravado, Bright and Brisk, Pukka Pucker, Cheerful Chatter, and We'd Wedge.

For bonus points, here is June 2011 Glamour covergirl Olivia Wilde inviting you to take a peek at the magazine's new iPad app. There's something vaguely nightmarish about it to me, but such are the wonders of technological advancement.

Glamour June 2011 (iPad) The Secret Issue - Olivia Wilde from Fashion Copious on Vimeo.

Free in digital

Yale has instituted an "open access" policy to make its cultural collections available free online; the university added more than 250,000 public-domain images to a new catalog that can be searched anytime, anywhere. The undated Tucker Bobst lithograph above is just one of innumerable treasures to take in.

Is this the real life?

Connecticut artist Ted Mikulski (@TedMikulski on Twitter) illustrates tweets out in the wild world. I can only imagine how banal the illustration of my stream of consciousness would be; probably a placard pasted on the side of a bookshelf, or perhaps the New York Public Library.

Love, love, love

What's not to like about Guildor, a street artist based in Milan?

(Floating typography via Flavorwire.)

Fleeting: five or so weeks

Are you a writer or an artist (or a publisher or just an engaged citizen)? Contribute to a super-cool project to populate an independent bookstore that will inhabit, for four or five weeks, the shell of an abandoned Borders in Pittsburgh. From Fleeting Pages:

In essence, Fleeting Pages consists of taking over (taking back??) one of the spaces, left empty by a failed big box bookstore in Pittsburgh, for one month, starting April 30th, and filling it with independent & self-published work of all kinds, book arts, workshops, events ...

The idea is a result of a few things; the toll taken on local booksellers by big box bookstores, a concern for the cultural effects of big box stores in both their existence and their failure, a general frustration with the model of the publishing industry, and a great appreciation for independent and self-published works of all kinds, as well as for those who create them.

We felt compelled to do something. Fleeting Pages is what we came up with. It will test the theory that what is happening with “books” – creation, consumption, access – matters to many. And if given the opportunity to take over, or take back, one of these empty spaces they will. And in the most brilliant of ways.

The end result, what Fleeting Pages will ultimately become, is a beautiful unknown as it is dependent upon what others are willing to add. The framework is there – the space, the concept, and a few people willing to work their hardest in support of the project.

Fleeting Pages is in need of, and open to, work of all kinds to fill the shelves, ideas and people to create and run workshops, ideas for how to re-imagine the space, 30-days of events, people willing to come out and help at the space, partnerships, collaborations,….a community.

As of today, we have  5 weeks until the proposed opening day….. Let’s test what’s possible.

I'm thinking of pulling together some of my writing and photography from the last year and self-publishing something with the help of Lulu. Such a cool project!

Ice ice Buddha

This cell phone picture is admittedly terrible, but do not let that stop you: go, now, to the Rubin Museum and see the ice sculpture of the Buddha before it melts (the Rubin will be open all night, but who knows how long the piece will last?).

This piece, by Atta Kim, is Monologue of Ice, and if you so choose, you can leave with a little vial of the water that has run off the sculpture (we did!). Kim is a South Korean photographer whose work has frequently touches on Buddhist themes; he documents the sculptures (he's also done, for example, Mao in ice) as they fade away. It's really unbelievably cool, both literally and figuratively.

Helping hand

Although I advocate donating to the Red Cross or another vetted organization directly to help with relief in Japan, I am also heartened by the efforts of artists to raise awareness and lend a hand.

Flavorwire has a great gallery of artists selling pieces to benefit relief efforts in the wake of the country's devastating earthquake and tsunami. The print above, designed by Max Erdenberger of W+K Studio, is $25, and 100% of the profits go to the Red Cross.

I'm only happy when it rains

Umbrellas in Paris, looking down from the top of Notre Dame.

Intersections

From Paris, February 2011, where the Rue de Seine meets the Rue de Buc.