Did you catch this?

The piece "Every Teenager Should Have a Summer of ’65"  by Joyce Wadler in the New York Times made me smile today. I loved the above illustration by Rebecca Mock that accompanied it as well.

college

I think it is a fairly common thing to think of your college days and miss them now and again.... that appealing limbo between being a grown up and childhood- so many learning opportunities at your fingertips, meeting people from all over and the first taste of freedom for many.

 I made some of my best, most treasured friends in college. I had the chance to take all sorts of courses and had a quite a few jobs (one of which would wind up being a career path), but when I think back on the experiences I am still grateful for today- I can't help but also miss the place.

I know I am bias, but my campus was/is beautiful. I am a little ashamed to admit it, but it was the viewbook sent to me via snail mail that first sparked my interest. It just looked idyllic. Lucky for me there was/is a fantastic education attached to this place.

Sometimes I wish I lived closer to the campus so that I could see how it has changed and visit it with my kids, but other times I just like to remember it how it was 20 years ago and be happy it was/is a part of me.

Images: businessweek, tumblr , 

tumblr, flickriver architecturerichmond

Transfer to Washington. Transfer to Jefferson. No one at Westerberg is going to let you play their reindeer games.

If you are familiar with the quote from the title of this post, then you must know the 1988 film Heathers. Something I bet you did not know (I wish I could un-learn it) is that Bravo TV wants to reboot the cult classic and pick up 20 years later, with a show focusing on the teenage daughters of the original movie's characters.
Can you imagine? Some things are better left alone!

Images: ohnotheydidn't, movieposter ,mamapop , neatorama

children's caves

I am such a fan of children's homemade (and sheet-made) forts and tents that the series of photographs by photographer Björn Ewers and STUDIO314 of children's "caves" made me quite happy and eager for the time when Sweet Pea can make this kind of imaginative mess out of our living room.

{discovered via a friend and PetaPixel}

Pooh

Image courtesy logoi.com

This Friday, "Winnie the Pooh" is back on the big screen. There is something sweet and lovely always about that 'silly old bear'. I do appreciate Disney's adaptation of the Milne stories (especially the fact they are respectful of the pacing and tender whimsy of the literary version), but I am a fanatic admirer of the E.H. Shepard illustrations.

The Shepard line drawings capture childhood imaginings and all of their gentle silliness, kindness and wonder. They are truly classic and, in my opinion, among the very best in children's book art.

Image courtesy of fortunecity
 

Image courtesy of BibliOdyssey

Image courtesy of BibliOdyssey

Image courtesy of childillustration.blogspot.com

 The following illustration is my favorite:

" He nodded and went out ...and in a moment I heard Winnie-the-Pooh
– bump, bump, bump – going up the stairs behind him."

"This original illustration is reproduced on page 159 of Winnie-the-Pooh and comprises a full-page illustration in the published volume. It represents one of the iconic images of Winnie-the-Pooh and comes from the final chapter in which Christopher Robin gives a Pooh party, and we say good-bye. " 

Image courtesy of BibliOdyssey

listography

Image courtesy of chroniclebooks

list: a series of items written together in a meaningful grouping.
-ography: a writing about or a representation of a thing.

Chronicle Books publishes this super cool series of listography books designed by Lisa Nola and Nathaniel Russell. They describe a listography as "a perpetual work in progress, a time capsule, and a map of your life".

The books provide the starting points for a collection of lists that come together to form an autobiography of sorts. There is not only the original listography, but volumes for specific topics such as-music, friends, my future, and kids' listography.

Each page in these funky journals prompts you with a subject/question/directions and leaves space for you to list your ideas and responses. The concept is simple and the format equally uncomplicated, but once it is all filled out- what an extraordinary way to record the details of life.

Images courtesy of listography.com

"Willie C.! Take care, man. Stay cool. Stay cool forever."

Every few months I come across the movie Beautiful Girls on television and I always watch it. It came out in 1996 and I don't remember ever hearing about it, but since then, during my absurd number of viewings, it has become one of my favorite comfort films. One of those movies I can watch over and over and I always enjoy it.

I will confess right now that a big reason for this is that the film takes place in a small New England town in winter and it is spot on. I love that everything takes place against a backdrop of near constant flurries and cold and the even the piles of old dirty snow that line the streets in certain shots make it feel like home to me.

The movie is about a group of high school buddies reconnecting for a reunion. It is a homecoming for one particular character, Willie, who now lives in New York City and makes his living as a jazz pianist in a bar. He returns home to Knight's Ridge where the rest of this group of close friends live and work...begrudgingly facing adulthood. He, too, battles with relationship and career decisions and the broader struggle of simply growing up.

Timothy Hutton is fantastic as Willie, but this film is really the definition of an ensemble. Matt Dillon, Michael Rappaport, Uma Thurman, and a young Natalie Portman round out a cast of endearingly flawed, funny, and real characters.

There are painful portraits of regret tempered with just the right amount of humor. It is like visiting with that group of good time guys from high school and seeing how it all played out- good and bad. It is nostalgic, immediate, and emotional- all that and worth the watch....every time.

Saul Leiter

Image courtesy of observatory.designobserver.com

I have been watching, or more like engrossed in, the "Mildred Pierce" mini-series on HBO. Even before the first parts aired, I watched "Making of Mildred Pierce", which was honestly nearly as interesting as the series itself , and it was the first time I had heard mention of the photographer/painter Saul Leiter.

Director Todd Haynes credits Production Designer Mark Friedberg with introducing him to the work of Leiter. According to Haynes, the photographer's use of reflection, use of windows or glass, seemed give a truer sense of being in a specific place at a specific time and that was the perfect feel for this period piece.

In a 2005 NYTimes review by Roberta Smith, she writes:

"Unlike such well-known street photographers as Robert Frank and William Klein, Mr. Leiter was a photographer less of people than of perception itself. His painter's instincts served him well in his emphasis on surface, spatial ambiguity and a lush, carefully calibrated palette. But the abstract allure of his work doesn't rely on soft focus, a persistent, often irritating photographic ploy, or the stark isolation of details, in the manner of Aaron Siskind or early Harry Callahan. Instead, Mr. Leiter captured the passing illusions of everyday life with a precision that might almost seem scientific, if it weren't so poetically resonant and visually layered."

I love that last part- poetically resonant and visually layered....When I did ultimately look up Leiter's work, I was moved and I could also see just how much his photographs informed Haynes and inspired his film making.

So if you have the opportunity, try to catch "Mildred Pierce" and if you don't- take in some of Leiter's work...

Image courtesy of vananodyne.blogspot.com

  Image courtesy of jacksonfineart.com
  Image courtesy of jacksonfineart.com
  Image courtesy of red-tshirt-blog.blogspot.com
 

Image courtesy of jacksonfineart.com 

 

Image courtesy of jacksonfineart.com

''I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was 12. Jesus, does anyone?''

Image courtesy of charlottekeiko.tumblr.com

I read in Entertainment Weekly that on March 22nd a 25th Anniversary Edition of the movie Stand By Me was released. This film, based on a Stephen King novella, not only seems to perfectly capture the feel and look of the 1950s- it has some pretty incredible performances by the four adolescent boys featured in the story of some friends traveling (by means of following the railroad tracks) to an adjoining town to see the rumored dead body found there by some older teens.

This is definitely one of those movies I can watch again and again and every time it ends in tears. Just as the reviewer Chris Nashawaty writes... "We've all been held hostage by coming-of-age stories that shamelessly cudgel us into sniffling submission. And while they might succeed in making us reach for the Kleenex, we rarely feel good about it afterward. Then there's a movie like Stand by Me (1986, R, 1 hr., 28 mins.), which gets your tear ducts working honestly."

If you are looking for a good cry....search no further.

desperately seeking

I do not know about you, but I have a list of certain things I am always looking for online. Once in awhile I will find one of them, only to lose it in a bidding war or because I spotted it too late. It is so disappointing and now I can not imagine ever actually getting my hands on one of the things from my list. I suppose everyone has a list like this or maybe I believe that because then I can seem less obsessive.

In any case, I am sharing the three things I am constantly hunting for -so if you spot one out there -drop me a line! The first is the Secret Garden CD single from Bruce Springsteen circa 1995. I covet this particular disc because the "b-side" is the most incredible live version of Thunder Road I have ever heard and because I had this cassette and promptly wore it out on my long drives back and forth to college my junior and senior years.

The second item is the book Pippa Mouse: Six Read Aloud/ Read Along Stories, 1973 by Betty Boegehold. This was my very favorite book in second grade. I think I checked it out of the library half a dozen consecutive times before my mum gently persuaded me to give another book a try. Oh, how I loved this book though- multiple stories, perfectly penciled illustrations, and a sweet mouse protagonist.

I can't believe how difficult it is to track this down ( for less than 50 dollars and in truly "good" condition), but I probably scour the Internet twice a month with my fingers crossed anyhow!

The last item is an issue of the now defunct, but always awesome, Sassy magazine from January 1990. I always thought this would be a killer gift for Vivi - we were crazy about Sassy and this particular issue is her birthday month and from the time we were most dedicated to the teen periodical. How cool would it be to find it some 21 years later?

This may be the item I would like to get my hands on the most.

So there you have it- my quest for Bruce, Pippa, and Sassy continues.....I'll keep you posted :).

Image 1 courtesy of springsteenlyrics.com ; Image 2 courtesy of amazon; Image 3 courtesy of magazines2go

little house shadowbox

via apartment therapy

My mother has one of these house-shaped shadowboxes hanging in her home that my sister and I proceeded to fill, for the entirety of our childhood, with these little animal figurines that we were obsessed with at Hallmark. We gave her the tiny creatures in the name of her birthday or Mother's Day or Christmas, but - of course - we just loved them and loved deciding which animal deserved to "live" in specific rooms of the wooden house. My mother still has this shadowbox, with its carefully selected inhabitants, hanging up in her home and even though it's totally a little too cutesy - I kinda want one. Both for the sake of nostalgia and the fun of decorating one - I'm keeping an eye out the next time I hit the flea market. I just hope the husband can handle all the tiny glass kittens I'll probably end up filling the darn thing with..

{top, left to right: via I heart linen and via DayDream Lily

bottom, left to right: via Ask Alice and danieru_.}

Emmet Otter's Jug-band Christmas

There are so many holiday specials out there. I can definitely take or leave most of them , but my very favorite is actually kind of hard to find in most line-ups. Emmet Otter's Jug-band Christmas is based on a Russell Hoban/Lillian Hoban (of "Frances the Badger" fame) story and has all the sweet natured charm and humor of the classic Muppets.
Jim Henson developed this " 'Gift of the Magi' with a twist" tale of Emmet Otter and his Ma and it should be a staple of the season. With all of the junky holiday television programming out there these days, it is just nice to see a production with some Christmas spirit....the furry Mupppets are a bonus!

Christmas is approaching in Frogtown Hollow, and Emmet Otter and his Ma hope to buy gifts for each other. Unfortunately, Emmet doesn't make enough from the odd jobs he does, and Ma doesn't make enough as a laundress. They decide to compete in the Frog Town Hollow Talent Contest in order to win money, but Ma will have to hock Emmet's tool chest to buy a costume, and Emmet will have to put a hole in Ma's washtub for his band!

Image courtesy of Google

A very country Christmas

via pure country music

My mother, a seemingly very classic Northeasterner and city-dweller in both taste and style, has a major soft spot for country Christmas songs. I don't know how it fits into her love of Babs, opera, or weird European experimental music from the 60s, but there you have it.

Of course, whether genetically handed down or because my spirit was broken by its constant presence during my formative years, I too cannot get enough of Willie Nelson and Kenny Rogers right now. As a kid growing up in New York, I loved all things related to the frontier life. I reread Laura Ingalls Wilder without pause, planned my Sunday afternoons around the two hour block of "Little House on the Prairie" and "Grizzly Adams," and, every December, made sure I did not miss "Christmas Comes to Willow Creek" (it stars Bo and Luke Duke, for pete's sake!) or Dolly Parton's "A Smokey Mountain Christmas."

And though I've always loved a country Christmas, now that I've married a Southern man - I've gone full tilt country. I'm openly listening to Dolly's "Hard Candy Christmas" on repeat (seriously, it's awesome and not only because it was sung in "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas") and tracking Kenny's Christmas Tour even though, that Southerner of a husband of mine may now be at his country Christmas breaking point...

getmortified

There really is a site for just about every subject out there and that means there are fantastic places like getmortified.com . Getmortified.com is essentially a home for angst and awkwardness - it calls itself a "comic excavation of the strange and extraordinary things we created as kids". Adults share everything from their childhood journals and letters to the movies and photographs of their youth. (My personal favorite- reasons they deserve to marry Jon Bon Jovi)

The site also features the publications to come out of these often hilarious walks down memory lane and the live performances folks will give recounting their own mortification for an audience. I would love to catch one of these shows I don't doubt they are funny, but I also bet it feels so liberating for the participants. Imagine being brave enough to share your own special brand of teenage craziness in front of all those people?

{Image courtesy of getmortified.com}

Aline Smithson's "In Case of Rain"

I keep going back to Aline Smithson's photo series, "In Case of Rain" (discovered on kris atomic) with its beauty and brightness on this rainy and gloomy day. Hope you fall in love with it too....

"We live in a world of technical distractions. I see my children gathered around their computers as though it's a summer campfire, faces aglow, as they peer into a world of friends and fantasy, participating in a new form of entertainment that further remove them from the childhood that I experienced.

Today's generation has lost touch with the activities that previous generations have enjoyed—reading a good book in a comfortable chair, playing board games on a rainy day, flipping through Life magazines, or sprawling out on the living room rug while listening to records and reading the backs of album covers.

And it's because of this that I have been looking at book shelves and untouched childhood pursuits with a new eye. With great sadness, I realize that these objects will someday be obsolete, at least in their current incarnations. And like a curator of antiques, I see them now as beautiful objects to be admired and preserved, if only on film.

I can only hope for rain, a heavy rain and maybe a power outage."

— Aline Smithson on her photo series, "In Case of Rain"