January 6, 2010
Roger Duvoisin, Petunia. 1950. I’m culling images today from the Scans folder I keep to stock this. Tragically, my eight-year-old niece is already uninterested in this series I found at the library, having now moved on to chapter books. Two winters ago we both loved these—Petunia’s a clever but bossy goose whose obstinacy (*cough*nooneIknow*cough*) perpetually lands her in trouble, but her animal/human pals help out and all’s right in the end. The illustrations of rural life are absolutely charming, they’ve got a saturated color and appealing lines that are gorgeously midcentury-Euro. More from the Swiss-born Duvoisin here.

Roger Duvoisin, Petunia. 1950.
I’m culling images today from the Scans folder I keep to stock this. Tragically, my eight-year-old niece is already uninterested in this series I found at the library, having now moved on to chapter books. Two winters ago we both loved these—Petunia’s a clever but bossy goose whose obstinacy (*cough*nooneIknow*cough*) perpetually lands her in trouble, but her animal/human pals help out and all’s right in the end. The illustrations of rural life are absolutely charming, they’ve got a saturated color and appealing lines that are gorgeously midcentury-Euro.
More from the Swiss-born Duvoisin here.

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January 1, 2010
A random sampling of email subject headings in my Inbox/Outbox from 2009, arranged in alphabetical order and presented without comment: About the Sugar Hill Gang format Benshetrit Blergh Chance is now on Dogbook! Depressed Cats Details! Final obligatory Roxy Music-related post of 2009 Francis Drake I wish I’d written this headline Last night Love Marshmallows, OMG! Mmm, sausage! More on subheads Non-Dirty Stuff OH NO One lonely astrophysicist left Oops! Pluggy things Pool time RIP YSL SGML coding SNADAR (Siamese North American Defense Aerial Radar) This is what happened to the guy who burned down the Federal’s stores WTF WTF? Your future exwife (2009 calendar image via Mibo Lighting & Homewares, download 2010 version here. Also found some delicious 2010 calendars here. Happy New Year!)

A random sampling of email subject headings in my Inbox/Outbox from 2009, arranged in alphabetical order and presented without comment:

About the Sugar Hill Gang format
Benshetrit
Blergh
Chance is now on Dogbook!
Depressed Cats
Details!
Final obligatory Roxy Music-related post of 2009
Francis Drake
I wish I’d written this headline
Last night
Love
Marshmallows, OMG!
Mmm, sausage!
More on subheads
Non-Dirty Stuff
OH NO
One lonely astrophysicist left
Oops!
Pluggy things
Pool time
RIP YSL
SGML coding
SNADAR (Siamese North American Defense Aerial Radar)
This is what happened to the guy who burned down the Federal’s stores
WTF
WTF?
Your future exwife

(2009 calendar image via Mibo Lighting & Homewares, download 2010 version here. Also found some delicious 2010 calendars here. Happy New Year!)

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December 31, 2009
My First Full-Size (Albeit Faux) Xmas Tree I think I did an ok job, except for the fact that I inadvertently located it in a spot where, in order to plug the lights in/unplug, I need to crawl deep underneath flat on my belly. I bought some glittery things at Michael’s for 39 and 59 cents each, 25% off, and the star is a paper light fixture I bought at this amazing Boston store then spraypainted copper metallic. To find lights (there was a shortage this year, did you know?!) I went to three Target stores, two Walgreen’s, a Lowe’s, then finally my overpriced neighborhood hardware store, where I picked up the penultimate strand. I found a huge black wool circle skirt for a dollar at a nearby church thrift shop and simply ripped it down the middle for a makeshift skirt-skirt/pet-hair magnet. I’m bummed already about having to dismantle it. The tree’s a gift from my friend’s mom, who was moving out of state last summer, and she gave it to me in exchange for “helping” with the move, by which I mean vacuuming a couple of rooms. Thanks, CC!

My First Full-Size (Albeit Faux) Xmas Tree
I think I did an ok job, except for the fact that I inadvertently located it in a spot where, in order to plug the lights in/unplug, I need to crawl deep underneath flat on my belly. I bought some glittery things at Michael’s for 39 and 59 cents each, 25% off, and the star is a paper light fixture I bought at this amazing Boston store then spraypainted copper metallic. To find lights (there was a shortage this year, did you know?!) I went to three Target stores, two Walgreen’s, a Lowe’s, then finally my overpriced neighborhood hardware store, where I picked up the penultimate strand. I found a huge black wool circle skirt for a dollar at a nearby church thrift shop and simply ripped it down the middle for a makeshift skirt-skirt/pet-hair magnet.
I’m bummed already about having to dismantle it.
The tree’s a gift from my friend’s mom, who was moving out of state last summer, and she gave it to me in exchange for “helping” with the move, by which I mean vacuuming a couple of rooms. Thanks, CC!

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December 28, 2009
Camille Pissarro, Les Boulevards extérieurs. Effet de Neige. 1879. Oil on canvas. Today is Octidi, 8 Nivôse of the Year 218 in the French Republican Calendar.

Camille Pissarro, Les Boulevards extérieurs. Effet de Neige. 1879. Oil on canvas.

Today is Octidi, 8 Nivôse of the Year 218 in the French Republican Calendar.

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December 25, 2009
Veselé Vánoce! My earliest Christmas-related memory is coming home with my dad on Christmas Eve. I have no idea where the other three were, but at least one or two may have been with my mom, who used to go to Midnight Mass with her sister. My aunt lived in Warren and hosted a big Christmas Eve dinner, and they may have gone all the way down to St. Cyril’s in the old neighborhood near Harper & Van Dyke. Anyway, I did know it was imperative to get to bed because of the Santa thing, but I convinced my dad—who was likely halfway wasted, because I remember him not being able to open the back door with his key very well—that I still needed my usual milk-and-cookie bedtime snack. Which is hilarious because I assuredly had already loaded up on goodies at my aunt’s and my mom never in a million years would’ve acquiesced to such a request. I knew even at this age of four or possibly even three I was getting away with something. (I know, I see it as I write it! Thus begins a lifetime pattern of determined chocolate-snacking and manipulating men when their guard is down. Sigh.) Merry Christmas to all!

Veselé Vánoce!
My earliest Christmas-related memory is coming home with my dad on Christmas Eve. I have no idea where the other three were, but at least one or two may have been with my mom, who used to go to Midnight Mass with her sister. My aunt lived in Warren and hosted a big Christmas Eve dinner, and they may have gone all the way down to St. Cyril’s in the old neighborhood near Harper & Van Dyke. Anyway, I did know it was imperative to get to bed because of the Santa thing, but I convinced my dad—who was likely halfway wasted, because I remember him not being able to open the back door with his key very well—that I still needed my usual milk-and-cookie bedtime snack. Which is hilarious because I assuredly had already loaded up on goodies at my aunt’s and my mom never in a million years would’ve acquiesced to such a request. I knew even at this age of four or possibly even three I was getting away with something.
(I know, I see it as I write it! Thus begins a lifetime pattern of determined chocolate-snacking and manipulating men when their guard is down. Sigh.)
Merry Christmas to all!

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December 22, 2009

Found these and lots more tubed up in the front closet, rolled between NYT dated April 16, 1994. Bizarre!

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December 21, 2009
Almost! (Illustration from Komako Sakai’s The Snow Day, Levine Books, 2009).

Almost!
(Illustration from Komako Sakai’s The Snow Day, Levine Books, 2009).

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December 19, 2009

Put Your Fin in Mine!
My job, I love it. Every day I come across the most amazing stuff that consistently reaffirms the old saw You Can’t Make This Sh*t Up.
Other days, I rediscover things I’ve long forgotten, like this movie. I saw it on TV when I was a kid and LOVED it, I remember thinking it was like an underwater version of The Jetsons. Improbably, it’s today’s work-related research on Italian neorealist cinema that led me to Hello Down There. Here’s a great synopsis.

It’s true, that is indeed Richard Dreyfuss. AnswerGirl has not been able to determine who is actually singing—the voice possibly belongs to John (“Welcome Back”) Sebastian—but has deduced that this gem was first broadcast on TV the week of May 26, 1974.

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December 18, 2009
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

“World Destruction”
Time Zone featuring John Lydon, 1984.
I forgot about Retro Thursday! I was out replenishing Chance’s excursion-related stock of plastic bags.
Today’s is Copenhagen-related. The fabulous Afrika Bambaataa/Johnny Rotten single. Kaboom!

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December 10, 2009
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

Back to 1997 for Retro Thursday!
God I love the Dandy Warhols. When Dig first came on Sundance, my friend came over to watch it and we were completely enthralled by the combination of amazing music/dual narratives of rock stardom vs ego-driven record label disaster/(for me, personally) close-ups & long shots of Courtney Taylor-Taylor. Then we waited for it to come on again that night and watched it all over again.
Another friend actually got the DVD as a wedding present and kept watching it on his honeymoon.

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December 4, 2009
Occasionally I fantasize about doing a backyard rink. I know this is possible because my (extremely un-DIY) mom used to do one, and recalled she would actually make middle-of-the-night appointments to stand out there with the hose to get it right. (This was before my time; we put a pool in when I was three). There’s a ton of options available online, but this is the simplest how-to I’ve found. It’s from the GM Canada site, which in itself is kind of funny. I’m not a very good skater, but I do a lot better when I have a hockey stick in my hand (and thus not overthinking the thing). And yeah, I wear totally non-girly hockey skates.

Occasionally I fantasize about doing a backyard rink. I know this is possible because my (extremely un-DIY) mom used to do one, and recalled she would actually make middle-of-the-night appointments to stand out there with the hose to get it right. (This was before my time; we put a pool in when I was three). There’s a ton of options available online, but this is the simplest how-to I’ve found. It’s from the GM Canada site, which in itself is kind of funny.

I’m not a very good skater, but I do a lot better when I have a hockey stick in my hand (and thus not overthinking the thing). And yeah, I wear totally non-girly hockey skates.

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December 1, 2009

And I can see it from my office!

And I can see it from my office!

There. Now I feel 94% more festive.

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November 23, 2009

Tom Ford’s A Single Man, based on the Christopher Isherwood novel. Release date: December 11, 2009.
Oh man do I want that sectional.

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Keep Calm and Keep Buying

From today’s NYT.
I absolutely love it when this happens, but I stand corrected in my assertion they were “ubiquitous.”

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November 19, 2009
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

It’s Retro Thursday.
MOEV’s “Yeah Whatever,” title track from 1989 Atlantic release.

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