March 2011 - Page 2 of 3 - Improvised Life

creative process: from simple to intricate (via krazy kat)

Ain’t that the truth!

climbing

An amazing 35 seconds. Yeah, that’s what we feel like we are doing, creating… one… step… at… a… time.. Video link here. via Triangulation. Thanks for turning us on to it Cara!

japan: resources, how to help, and hope

Today in Europe, some bloggers have declared a day of silence in honor of Japan. We think the opposite, NOT SILENCE; what we need to do is be writing about it. All week long, as we’ve watched the horrific news from Japan, we’ve wondered where even to start. We know now. We’re going to start…

formula for cheap, fab, chic dinner parties

Wine writer Anthony Giglio, who entertains a lot and gives some of the BEST dinner parties we’ve ever been to, alerted us to Broke and Chic Projects “The Top Ten Rules for Throwing a Thrifty & Super Fabulously Chic Dinner Party Every Time You Entertain“. In his email, Anthony wrote: “Number 5 being the quote…

simultaneity of saturn and a pottery bowl

We recommend turning off the sound and playing both videos at the same time. We came upon them when we were reading blogs the other morning, and were blown away by this kismet-ish reminder of simultaneity.

flowers akimbo (un-arranged)

Although we’re not crazy about the fussy table setting, we LOVE the flowers put in their vase akimbo, the bunch making it’s own graceful arrangement: the opposite of flower arranging. Just as we were writing this, we saw a tweet from Behance of “The most depressing flower arrangement we’ve ever seen (inspired by Dior’s “Midnight…

on things not going as planned (addendum)

As often happens, soon after we posted What To Do When Things Don’t Go as Planned, we found an example that fit it EXACTLY, which we’ve come to consider the norm: ‘like attracts like’. In the New Yorker’s recent Back to the Harbor (Seals return to New York), Ian Frazier describes cartoonist James Thurber’s process in…

small space inspiration: 24+ rooms in 344 square feet

Using sliding panels and walls and consummately clever thinking, architect Gary Chang revamped his tiny 344-square-foot Hong Kong apartment to be able to change it into 24 different designs. It totally challenges preconceived notions of what a space can be, which is Chang’s mission. We are especially inspired by his use of sliding walls, which offers…

what to do when things don’t go as planned

Another insightful mind-expanding post from Anne Herbert of Peace and Love and Noticing the Details, quoted here in full because it is so perfect: Jack Nicholson, the actor, said he wished everyday life were like making a movie so when you messed up you could say, “Take two,” and have a whole other chance. “That’s…

led-illuminated shipping pallet bed

We love this bed made of shipping pallets that the endlessly clever Swedish designer Maliin Stoor built for her daughters: a chain of LEDs illuminates it from underneath. Here are details…

history as evidence, inspiration and guide (ww II)

Charles McFarlane, a Junior at the Rudolf Steiner school, is an avid scholar of 20th Century American social and military history. He recently sent us images he’s collected from his research that he thought would resonate with ‘the improvised life’. In an email he wrote: “Necessity is often the mother of invention. This is no…

science -> wonder <-art

We found this great sign at The Imaginary Foundation (they put it on a t-shirt). Great!

d-i-y plant watering globes (made beautiful with wine and other bottles)

In a recent post at Radmegan: In Words and Pictures, crafty blogger Megan described improvising watering globes out of glass Coke bottles. Watering globes, commercially sold as Aqua Globes, are basically inverted bottles that you fill with water and “slam into the moist soil”; they will slowly trickle water into your potted plants, a great solution for watering…

very expensive “nothing”

This cartoon in a recent New Yorker reminds us of some of the interiors we’ve seen on shelter blogs and magazines…

weekend nature walk: ant architecture

This extraordinary video clip is from Ant’s Secret Power, a documentary about the world of ants as seen through the eyes of Bert Hölldobler, ant authority and E.O. Wilson collaborator. Concrete is poured into an giant underground ant megalopolis, which acts as a mold. After the concrete hardened, scientists carefully excavated it to reveal the structure of the ant’s…

Grant Achatz’s Self-Made Challenge –> Scaffolding Dreams

Recently, the New York Time’s reported that legendary chef Grant Achatz of Alinea in Chicago will soon open a restaurant that “if all goes according to plan, could be the most difficult, ephemeral and stressful in culinary history.” In his new restaurant, Next, the menu will change radically every three months; it will, in essence, become…

life is going on all around, anyway

We woke up this morning, after yesterday’s very sad news, to discover the spectacular photos on The Big Picture of the wild, imaginative pre-Lenten celebrations that have been going on around the world, from Mardi Gras in New Orleans to Carnival in Brazil, Bolivia, Tenerife, Santa Domingo, Haiti, Venice, Belgium, Spain, Hungary, Switzerland. There was…

building -> growing -> alive (in memory of eleanor mailloux)

Our dear friend and heroine Eleanor Mailloux passed away peacefully this morning. Just a year ago we posted a film of her in full regalia (above) for the wild Fasnacht Festival in her tiny Appalachian settlement of Helvetia where folks dress up in homemade masks to scare away Old Man Winter (this year’s took place…

the fragrant herb salt recipe is fixed

…and now lists all ingredients HERE. We sincerely apologize for that fatso error. –The Management

make or buy: fragrant, wildly all-purpose herb salt

One of the staples of my pantry is a classic herb salt fragrant with rosemary, sage, and garlic that is used all over Northern Italy. I learned the recipe – or I should say approach – years ago while traveling with Peggy Markel on one of her Culinary Adventures, and have never grown tired of…

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