ile st. louis
We are in Paris - sort of an impromptu visit considering we made our plans about three weeks before we left! Try tracking down an apartment in Paris during June. Not an easy feat. We got seriously lucky with a petit studio on the Ile St. Louis, a little island (that I had no idea existed) in the middle of the Seine not far from Notre Dame. It’s almost like a little country village in the center of Paris - very peaceful and much lower key than the rest of the city. Most of the buildings are 17th century, including the one where we’re staying on Quai D’Anjou. You can see our “hotel,” the french word for townhouse, pictured in the historic print below - pretty cool. I’m completely charmed by this building, the apartment and its gigantic windows that open up to the Seine (and the trees along the bank whose leaves whisper us to sleep at night.) I never want to leave and we only have three days left! Hope to post more pics soon… and to share a bit about why we’re in Paris (exciting news, at least for me!)
asperatus
“Asperatus clouds over Cedar Rapids in Iowa. Gavin Pretor-Pinney, founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society is working with the Royal Meteorological Society to get them officially designated as a new cloud type.”
(Photograph: Jane Wiggins)
lucky spot
Fantastical crystal installation created by Stella McCartney (called “Lucky Spot”) made from thousands of hanging Swarovski crystals.
(Via Design Crisis, via Designalogue)
{artist} augustin lesage
Bewitched by the work of French painter Augustin Lesage. (Thank you to but does it float and Shawna-bo-bonna’s flickr for the discovery.) Lesage was a coal miner who did not begin painting until he was 35 (supposedly, just after attending some séances.) Apparently, he was working down in the coal mine when he heard spirits tell him that he would become a painter and that they would “guide his hand.” He painted 57 paintings in 10 years time. The first two paintings are named “The Symbolic Composition of the Spiritual World” and the fourth is “The Mysteries of Ancient Egypt” - such incredible miniaturized detail and the color composition is gorgeous. Lesage believed that he was the reincarnation of an Egyptian painter. I think so too.
food, inc.
Viva la food revolution!
With a constituency limited to anyone who eats, “Food, Inc.” is a civilized horror movie for the socially conscious, the nutritionally curious and the hungry. Yes, it has a deceptively cheery palette, but helmer Robert Kenner’s doc — which does for the supermarket what “Jaws” did for the beach — marches straight into the dark side of cutthroat agri-business, corporatized meat and the greedy manipulation of both genetics and the law. Doc biz may be in the doldrums, but “Food, Inc.” is so aesthetically polished and politically urgent, theatrical play seems a no-brainer, though it won’t do much for popcorn sales.
[...]
Disturbing as it is, “Food, Inc.” doesn’t present some doomsday scenario. People can make a difference, it says: After all, look what happened to Big Tobacco.
- Variety
age of consent
Just filched this old pre-release trailer for Sophia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette from The Rich Girls Are Weeping. Remember this? Perfection!
woodland house
I’ve been obsessed with this house for sometime and have probably posted pics of it before, but it was only this week that I came upon its story and the man behind it, Simon Dale.
It was built for £3000 (!) with an estimated 1250 man hours of labor. Here is what Simon says about the house: “This building is one part of a low-impact or permaculture approach to life. This sort of life is about living in harmony with both the natural world and ourselves, doing things simply and using appropriate levels of technology. These sort of low cost, natural buildings have a place not only in their own sustainability, but also in their potential to provide affordable housing which allows people access to land and the opportunity to lead more simple, sustainable lives.”
For an explicit look at how the house was built (with lots of pics) and a short interview with Simon Dale (who’s philosophy about the world and the future or civilization is right-ON) go here. It’s really worth taking a look!
