A PICTURE FOR THE WEEKEND NO. 25

For your daily cathedral fetish.  

This was taken in Cuzco, Peru.  In many cities, I noticed the other houses could be generally nondescript, bordering on ugly, while the church, or in this case, the cathedral, would be a thing of beauty.  It may be an indication of priorities, of influence, or of nothing at all.  Maybe this is simply the way of things.  After all, the Cathedral represents a majestic higher power, and your living room is just for you. 

In this particular building, I discovered that a cathedral is built in the shape of a cross.   There is a long central aisle called a nave and two side aisles.  The arms of the cross are the transepts, and they intersect the nave.  I discovered this of course, after I finished Pillars of the Earth, which felt like 50% church architecture and building vocabulary and 50% plot/intrigue.  Perhaps that was better left unsaid.  

Happy weekend!

ON BEGINNINGS

Via

Every part of creation is a struggle.  The beginning, the middle, the ending, the promotional postcoital period.  Every part is its own difficulty.  There is nothing but hurdles followed by more hurdles.  I found this quote and it spoke to me of the initial difficulty of even beginning to find that initial spark, the ignition.  Without the beginning, there would be nothing at all.  The rest is plodding.

SAN FRANCISCO IN THE SUMMER AND E-DUMPING

Two random unrelated topics of conversation today.  And for no reason.  I'm a rebel, and it's rule breaking time. 

The above is the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park.  In San Francisco.  It's summer, about noon o'clock, when the sun should be high in the sky.  As you can see, the chalk white of the building blends almost seamlessly into the overcast haze of the sky.  Stunning, eh?    

I've decided to take side shots and otherwise awkward angles of familiar landscapes lately because I think it keeps my brain from working in a predictable way.  So if you don't recognize a popular landmark, I am probably to blame.*  

Unlike Los Angeles, or San Diego, or indeed the rest of the entire Bay Area, San Francisco is not typically warm in the summer.  If I wake up in July and the day is sunny, it's an exceptional day.  If I want someplace warm, I leave town.  On the other hand, people who are overheating everywhere else like to come into town for the opposite reason.  

So if you want to visit someplace in the summer and you want culture without heat, you want beaches where you go near but not in the water, SF is the picky person's place to be.  

* On a completely unrelated side note, I now have a template for an email breakup, should I choose to jump on this bandwagon.  It seems to be a thing.  When the same thing happens to two people I know, I'm calling it a trend.  This is not going to get personal.  Let's just say a friend of a friend's friend's casual something-or-other, after dating someone for awhile, received what I can only describe as a hallmark generic e-card e-dump.  That was how personal this was.  It could have come off a template, and I have my suspicions.   

Your priorities are no longer in alignment.  The differences between the two of you are irreconcilable.  Your values are...not the same.  It's not you, it's me.  What began as a relationship has evolved into a conundrum, without a solution.  I have no idea what exactly happened - that's perfectly fine - but neither, it seems, does the person on the receiving end of the e-dump.  

On the one hand, this is fairly civilized, this generic message that puts a definite end to things.  Mission accomplished.  Now, is this truly a cut above the "It's over" text?  Why bother to say anything if you have nothing substantive to say?  Is it simply inevitable that the end will always be awkward and then the only option left is damage control?   

Well, that depends.  If the other person wants to have any kind of say, then this one sided message is going to be a jerk move.  On the other hand, if this is a truly mutual decision, then maybe, it's only a little disappointing.  I'm not on the field of battle for this one, so I truly can't say one way or the other, I just catch the raw scent of frustration every now and again, from the position of one placed strategically downwind. 

FUN LINKS

Photographer Malloy Morrison

It's the time of the week again.  I went foraging for useful info and have gathered them all below. Good?  Bad?  Gross?  Let me know...

• Brain: Let me introduce you to MOOCS: Massive Open Online Courses
• Skills: 7 Things Really Persuasive People do
• Health: I posted previously about the 7 minute workout here, so here is the link the official 7 minute workout page that will time you for 30 seconds and give you prompts.  There is also an iPhone app, I believe.
• Style: This is classic post from Garance Dore.  I want to read this over and over again just for the joy of reading it.  If you haven't experienced it at least once:  5 Commandments of Style so you can simply enjoy the act of shopping again. 
• Procrastination: 5 Simple Ways to Overcome Procrastination
• Food: Blueberry Basil Smoothie and Protein Smoothie Boosts

THE TECHNIQUE OF WRITING: CARTOON-STYLE

Via

Did you notice the unicorns?

For some reason, I found this strangely motivating. If you had it in the background somewhere - either in the back of your mind or on your laptop desktop, it's all good - you would find yourself wanting to make something.  Sometimes it's odd what inspires that creative process.  A lot of the time, it's when I allow my mind to relax - then the ideas come easily.  

They're on the bottom left.  That pair.  Wait...I think only one of them is mythical, so it's cross breeding.

BRILLIANT IDEAS: THE HOOK

What is this, you ask?  It's a hook you can mount on your wall with only a single nail.  Most hooks require a power drill and a screw, or they're flimsy, or both.  This looks like it has some heft to it, and adding weight will only distribute south, holding the hook more firmly in place.  I only add this detail because I have seen some flimsy hooks spin, and then stay arched to the side where it looks ridiculous.  It's why you need the added weight so that it constantly pulls back into the correct position. 

Get rid of the coatrack, there's a new game in town. You can purchase it from The Minimalist.

A PICTURE FOR THE WEEKEND NO. 24

The resolution could have been a bit better, but that comes with a better camera, I suppose.

THE BEDROOM IN YOUR DREAM

Fantastic Frank

I saw this bedroom a few weeks ago, and then I put it on Tumblr, and I thought that was the full extent of what I needed to do with it.  But sometimes, an image will grow roots in your head, it will stake out territory and sinuously draw your mind towards it.  So here we are.  I'm sharing. 

Certain images are pretty, I troll around enough to have met a few.  Very few have that power of pull.  I cannot explain or predict the ones that will, I can only point them out and say: "Look here.  This will make you feel something." Or something else just as eloquent. 

What do I like about this?  It's comforting, it's airy and light, and there are just a million little creative details that went into its creation, even though that goes against the grain for me (I don't like gross accessorizing) - I'm not going to point out what they are.  It's always more revelatory when you discover these things out for yourself.  When you put all these details together, they create a visual dialogue.  It says something to you, not in so many specific words, but in a language that touches your subconscious mind, and you know it, because you feel...something.  Again, I'm not going to define what that feeling could be.  This overall effect is what gives an image pull for me.  

I may be overanalyzing, but that's what I like to do.  Cheers!

FLOATING QUOTE NO. 1

As part of a series where I just start doing random things, I'm going to start posting lines of text that have been kicking around in my head lately with no story to hold them.  I may use it later, but it may never find a home.

You may even be able to visualize what inspired this quote.  Now, here are your various options:

• Level 1: You limit yourself to just making the jpeg.  Done.  Put away.
• Level 2: You make jpeg.  You post on Tumblr.  You share, unobtrusively and with restraint.    
• Level 3: You are now looking at a new and cheap way to give "personal" e-cards to friends and relatives in lieu of actual birthday cards, Christmas cards, and/or gifts.  There is no greater gift than the joy and reflected brilliance of your creativity!  Proceed with caution. 

A PICTURE FOR THE WEEKEND NO. 23

WATERCOLORS AND TEXTURE

1

2

3

4

That last print spells unconscious. 

The top two prints are by Daniel Egneus and the bottom two are by Sprios Halaris.  I am not a follower of art; I don't know these men from Adam, but I dabble in the art of browsing.  In my second job as an online browser, I have discovered Arte Limited, which has a nice collection of art and photography that is a higher grade than, say...a lot of pieces on Etsy. There is also an option to show prices in US dollars, if you prefer.  

I picked these pieces out because I like watercolors, or just the texture of water in a print, the way colors can run together.  Always have.  I have a thing for softer images, free from hard lines.  I like the way watercolor can show texture (if you look at the top print) and an appreciation for the control it must have taken to create the orange pattern that is painted in a way to suggest that you are looking at fabric.  

EVA CHEN: LUCKY MAGAZINE'S NEW EDITOR IN CHIEF

News articles are identifying Eva as the first Asian-American editor-in-chief of a Conde Nast magazine. First, I don't remember where that pic came from.  I tried to find it again and it just got lost in the google abyss. Second, as much as I would rather Eva was praised for her social media savvy (45K instagram followers and 47K twitter followers*) before her Asian-ness, in the end I don't really care.  It takes a small miracle to amass that many followers - I don't care if they're mostly the same people.  I can barely cut and paste my blog links onto a Tweet. 

As always, I'm happy to hear about Asians who ditch the premed/law school course to go with what makes them happy, especially when they're already most of the way through Johns Hopkins, which isn't exactly known for their fashion and design program. 

Eva seems to be an interesting choice to head a print magazine.  I wonder what she's going to bring to the party. My personal theory on people who can successfully gain thousands of followers through tools like Twitter is that they have the gift of knowing what people want, and then giving it to them.  Over and over again.  It's like having your finger on the pulse of the human psyche, and knowing what makes that pulse jump.

Even though Lucky has been in a slump, I've always liked it, since it didn't subject me to pictures of models holding barbells in spandex to encourage me to go on a diet. It didn't care about my eating or exercise habits.  It didn't oversell me on sex.  It always seemed to be slightly off from the other mags, a little bit unusual in their style recommendations which were sometimes based on editor's personal style.  It showed you that fashion didn't have to be a glossy sheet of perfection by draping clothes all over models.  Instead, they used real people to encourage readers to make their own style choices.  And there was never only one.

I have a feeling the changes won't be dramatic, but will be slow and steady, and the overall makeover will be a quiet revolution.  I will wait and see. 

* Note to self: follow Eva on Twitter.

EASY WEEKEND DIY: WELCOME MAT

Shine Design

Welcome mats are the ugliest things.  Yet they serve a necessary function (capturing dirt so it doesn't get all over your nice flooring), so you're probably better off with than without, and most people have them.  Even I have one...left over from the previous tenant (I didn't see the point of paying money for something equally ugly, but slightly newer to step on).  When I look at a doormat, I see a doormat.  I've never looked at my welcome mat as being an object of creative potential, but apparently it can be.  

I came across the above DIY from the blog Shine Design and had to share it.  You have to appreciate people that have that kind of eye - that see a boring thing, and then its underlying potential to be better.  The original post is in Norwegian, but her pics pretty much speak for themselves.  The mat is from Ikea, and the pattern is made by outlining using a bowl and some white pencil.  Genius, I say.