The Godfather as Lifestyle Movie

Long before Nancy Meyer's movies' beautiful interiors (Something's Gotta Give, It's Complicated) sent fans in search of perfect croissants and casual flower arrangements, the Godfather's rich images of food, family, and religion sold viewers on an idealized Italian-American lifestyle (with a generous side helping of vengeance). I rewatched the Godfather last night for the first time in years and, as a nesting thirty-something, was much more taken with the lifestyle side of the movie than I was with the themes of honor and revenge, which for some reason captivated me during my late teens and early twenties. So, dear readers, here are a few of my favorite Home and Gardens moments from the 1972 Oscar winner:

Lovely Tudor-style home (filmed on Staten Island)

Luxist.com

City gardening, complete with wine and fruit

from the Godfather wiki

Hats

mptvimages.com

Travel

Interesting post about Bar Vitelli here

Unforgettable cannoli

(Apparently an improvised line--read more here)

Italian cookies (served at Connie's wedding)

from the We Love Astoria blog

And, of course, a spectacular wedding

1972 Paramount Pictures

Paris vs New York

I might be late to the game, but I LOVE these prints by French graphic designer Vahram Muratyan in which he cleverly compares Paris with New York. So vibrant. So cool.

(I do, however, have to admit that I would love to see someone do something like this with a non-glamorous town and make the locals proud. Fuquay-Varina, NC anyone? Can I hear it for Hoboken, NJ? Even with other - less popular - world capitals would be awesome).

Images via Paris vs New York blog and shop.

arts for transit

"Astoria, Queens" by Barbara Friedman (1995)

I love these vintage NYC transit posters (are they vintage if they're from the 90s?). I remember seeing these up in the subway stations back when I lived in NY and loving how different they were from one another as well as reflective of their respective neighborhoods. Glad to see you can buy them now to celebrate your own favorite New York neighborhood!

"New York Harbor" by Richard Bosman (1994)

"Park Slope" by Gregory William Frux (1996)

"Long Island City" by Ann Schaumburger (1996)

"Soho Neighborhood" by Stephen Johnson (1997)

quilts, quilts, and more quilts

I'm in New York for a few days to visit family, but I did get in some museum time too and was able to hit one of my favorites, the American Folk Art Museum, where they are having not one but two quilt shows! (1 and 2). Such lovely handiwork to admire especially when one needs a quiet and calm moment away from family (and New York) nuttiness.

all images via American Folk Art Museum

Love

"Romeo and Juliet" sculpted by Milton Hebald, Central Park, NYC via flickr

So, we are coming to the end of February. Did you know that February is "Creative Romance Month", "National Mend a Broken Heart Month", and "Relationship Wellness Month"? -that is all in addition to being the home of Valentine's Day of course. I decided the last post for the month should be about love (seems only fitting given February's credentials).

I am not a poetry person and I can say this even with an English degree under my belt. I do have two very favorite love poems though and, yes, they could be considered trite, but they get me every time..... and isn't that the point really?

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

my heart)i am never without it(anywhere

i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done

by only me is your doing,my darling)

i fear

no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want

no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)

and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows

higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

e.e. cummings

*********************************

somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look will easily unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully,mysteriously)her first rose

or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully ,suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;
nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility:whose texture
compels me with the color of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens;only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands

e.e. cummings

PS 22

You've probably seen this New York City chorus from Staten Island's PS 22 already (they've been everywhere from NPR to Perez Hilton), but I just thought that today would be a good day to share their beautiful singing and sweetly expressive faces.






Their website: tp://ps22chorus.blogspot.com