In October, 2010 I had just started graduate school and was in a bit of a panic about my choice. I was setting myself up for somewhat limited career options and would graduate with a sizeable chunk of student debt. So when I was asked, at a conference I attended that fall, to write myself…
Read Moreinsta-meditation: a history of the sky + moby
(Video link here.) When our mind starts running hot like a machine overworking – fast and full of ideas and writing and deadlines – we welcome ways to slow down. This little film does the work of meditating, chilling us out while connecting us to a broader view of the life we are living. (The…
Read Morethanksgiving logistics: makeshift tables + chairs
Last week, we posted our best recipes for how to brine a turkey, make side dishes and freeform tarts, and some suggestions for wines to serve at the feast. If you’re having a crowd, now’s the time to figure out what to serve all this on, and where the guests will sit… We went back…
Read Moreholstee’s inspiring video manifesto
(Video link here.) We LOVE manifestos – in fact have one of our own (click “about” in the right sidebar), so were delighted by the very cool, fun Holstee video manifesto to live your life by. Here’s a version you can put on your wall:
Read More6 thanksgiving wines to toast the turkey
If ever a meal were improvised it’s Thanksgiving, where cooks from tested to terrified face off with one common ingredient and end up with something completely different than practically everyone else’s. That’s because turkey challenges our sensibilities and confidence, from its oversize anatomy that cooks at different speeds, to its flavor spectrum that ranges from…
Read Morefoolproof roast turkey recipe + brining strategies
I know of very few people who don’t get anxious at the prospect of roasting a turkey. Because the breast cooks more quickly than the dark meat thigh, it is often dry and overcooked by the time the bird comes out of the oven. Nobody seems to be certain of what, exactly, the best roasting…
Read Morea wondrous ipad app for kids and adults
Yesterday, we downloaded several iPad apps, hoping to check in with what the latest technology was doing. We tried apps for viewing art, reading magazine articles, listening to music that promised to present a ‘multi-dimensional experience.’ Among the most compelling was an multi-dimensional app designed for children, that charmed and resonated with our grownup selves.…
Read Morethe scar project
We can’t stop thinking about The Scar Project, a series of photographs by fashion photographer David Jay of women under 40 who have survived breast cancer; they openly reveal the dramatic scars left by surgery. The photos are completely arresting: very beautiful and at times difficult to look at. But it’s that difficulty that makes them…
Read Morerun with style!
We found this beautiful gif of a running scrapwood horse on dvdp, with the caption “horses know how to run with style.” That’s what we want to do. (…It’s a clip from the Chemical Brothers video ‘Horse Power’, which we find curiously thrilling watched with the sound off; we felt like we’d been riding a galloping…
Read Moreyikes, it’s-almost-thanksgiving recipe compendium
Today we got a Comment from a reader about a riff she did on our Roasted Chestnut How-To from last year’s Thanksgiving. OMG, we thought, it’s next week!. If you’re still mulling over what to make – or bring – for your Thanksgiving day…here are are our greatest hits. As for the inspired chestnut riff,…
Read Morepowerful words: devise, invent, create, change…
H-m-m-m. This high-design elevator installation reminds us our favorite words that have been at the top of ‘the improvised life’s page’ for 2 + years. Wonder if ‘the improvised life’ passed through the designer’s field of vision at some point and had a subtle influence, or if it is just the zeitgeist… Wouldn’t it be…
Read Morereader’s improv: street tennis
Film Maker/ProducerLauren Malkasian recently sent us this email: “We love your daily inspirations and have very much been taken, moved and forever changed by ‘the improvised life’; it’s like a magic tonic everyday. So here is a little something from us, all the way from LA, that we thought you might enjoy. We live on a street…
Read Moredada-esque ‘extreme repurposing’: postage stamp nail polish
At the end of designer Reuben Miller‘s clever riff on the extreme repurposing movement, some readers commented that that a fly swatter face protector and a paint brush door stop were “stupid’; other’s thought Dada. Some, like us, dug the IDEA that you can make something out of just about anything. But we fell in love…
Read Morehow leonard cohen found his song
We always love hearing about where artists find their inspiration. In this video of Leonard Cohen, he has much to say about the process of cultivating an authentic “voice”
Read Morenature walk: the transforming owl
(We advise watching with sound off.) Every once in a while, if we can’t actually get a dose of REAL nature, we turn to a video of some crazy wonder of the natural world to shift our view. This owl’s identity changes radically depending on his perceived threat level – kind of like many humans…
Read Moremimimalist book bar/paperweight (d-i-y or buy)
Recently, Manhattan User’s Guide featured a chic cast iron book bar from Beekman 1802 in a round-up of gifts under $21. It’s designed to hold open the pages of a book, while providing a horizontal guide for reading. It is 7 inches long by 1/4 inch square and weighs 4.4 ounces; with shipping, it costs…
Read Morefab hairdo with balloons, via myeongbeom kim
We’re back, our space stacked with drawings and notes of new projects (almost ready to get off the ground), books to tell you about and give away, and ideas to start flanging again. We feel like artist Myeongbeom Kim did us a fab balloon hairdo: seriously uplifted. Thanks for bearing with us! Related posts: myeongbeom kim’s forest…
Read Morefind your alter ego while we’re gone!
We’ve got so many ‘improvised life’ projects on the burners that we need to take the week off to focus on them. While we’re on our tiny hiatus, we recommend poking around our attic/archive of past posts (type a word into the search box and see what appears)…. OR check out this illuminating anagram-maker that…
Read Morea dance lesson from zorba + anthony quinn
(Video link here.) In 1964, the great Anthony Quinn, then 49, knocked everyone out with the famous scene in the movie Zorba the Greek where he teaches an uptight Englishman how to dance after his business enterprise goes bust. It remains one of the most life-affirming moments in screen history. You can feel the sun…
Read Moreshipping pallet floors (d-i-y?)
We never cease to be amazed at the uses people have come up for shipping pallets. Their boxy form naturally allows for building block type constructions of all kinds. DE-constructed, they afford an unpredictable variety of rustic, often beat-up woods, in roughly 2 or 3-foot lengths. The chicest application we’ve seen lately are these floors…
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