Today, many of the blogs we visit went dark in protest of SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) proposed legislation that could potentially destroy the stunning innovation that has defined the internet. BoingBoing described it best: “…the US Senate is considering legislation that would certainly kill us forever. The legislation is called the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA),…
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We discovered RydeSafe Reflective Bike Decals via Better Living Through Design and quickly pledged to the RydeSafe Kickstarter project. These great-looking decals were designed by Tonky, an artist from Brooklyn who was hit by car and set out to make something that would keep him and other bikers safe while riding at night. The stickers…
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We love things that change our view. With the wind howling and the temperature cold, we found ourselves delighted with a little book that has taken us on an armchair trip through Paris, showing us the city through new eyes: the eyes of a pastry-o-phile. Pastry Paris: In Paris, Everything Looks Like Dessert grew out…
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A brilliant idea from the past. What balance you would need to have to navigate on water… …as in life. via Black and WTF Related posts: wearing clothes backwards fab hairdo with balloons, via myeongbeom kim hair as apparel, identity, art (man ray) vision break: a dress that makes music… what a plastic bag can…
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From Annaleena’s Hem: “I fixed some everyday luxury with cherry twigs and green flowers. Then I covered the vase with a bubble wrap, just because I like the material and its beautiful with green flowers.” We never thought of bubble wrap as decorative material…especially in tandem with flowers! H-m-m-m it does have some curiously translucent, light refracting…
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(Video link here.) Cara de Silva sent us the link to this video in an email; the subject line read: “Utterly amazing, beautiful, graceful, inspiring”. We’d add “uplifting”. (It makes us realize that disabled is a really weird word…dis-abled…. disabled…. how about: otherwaysabled? Thanks Cara! Related posts: signmark and the very loud message of deaf rap…
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“Monday’s a holiday” we were told. “What holiday?” we asked. Since we work for ourselves, we’re not really in sync with regular work days. It’s “Martin Luther King Jr Day.” Even though we’re working today, we’re thinking a lot about this great man, and all this country would not have were it not for his…
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When we first read about Appree’s leaf-shaped sticky notes, we wrote them off as just another expensive and unnecessary take on a good simple, efficient design – the Post-It. THEN we saw them used to embellish a wall – not trying to be practical ‘post-its’ but rather, tiny little leaf sculptures… ….a-h-h-h there’s a sweet idea…
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Ever since we found this quote by the legendary choreographer Martha Graham on Elephant Journal the other day, it’s been haunting us, because we relate to SO much to it and because we DON’T relate to some of it, a curious mix. “I believe that we learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to…
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One of the very best products that Ikea has carried over the years was their plywood Frosta stool. It is a fine ripoff of the famous Alvar Aalto stool, but cost only $12 (as opposed to $300+). It is no longer available in the United States, but is available in other countries, including France, Italy,…
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(Video link here.) Early this morning, rapt, we watched this wild Chinese version of the famous ballet Swan Lake, in which the ballerina literally dances on point on her partner’s head. It’s neither ballet nor pure acrobatics but an astonishing hybrid. A recent N.Y. Times article tells the story of its evolution: the vision classical ballet…
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We really like this novel way to store magazines by strapping stacks of them with belts; it turns them into an objet, a surprising something that is more stylish than a stack of magazines, yet serves a function. Cool-looking belts can be had cheap at second-hand and thrift stores. We wondered if the stack could go…
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(Video link here.) Ekso Bionics, creators of a robotic exoskeleton that enables paraplegics to walk, has created a compelling video about their remarkable invention. Much of the video is of Amanda Boxtel, an early product tester, who has not walked since she sustained an spinal cord injury 20 years ago (though she has mastered – and taught…
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Recently, we’ve been on the hunt for great lighting, that is, lighting that is cool looking and gives us the option of as much light as we want to adjust hi-or-low with a dimmer. We keep finding wonderfully designed lights with really low wattage bulbs, like 40 or 60, which rule them out. We want…
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We really love artist Nicole Dextras ice texts series, especially this 6 foot high “VIEW” made out of ice and set out in the landscape and left to melt – a lovely, ephemeral artwork that changes our….view. You’ll find other potent ice texts and installations at her website, along with what amounts to “how-to’s” for making ice words. Dextras…
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Art Director Gustavo Vieira has created a an Is Life Good tumblr where you can download this sign in different resolutions customized for your computer, tablet or phone, to use as wallpaper FREE… …A great, simple to-the-point question/answer/reminder. via Swiss-Miss Related posts: ‘replace fear of the unknown with curiosity’ gandhi: ‘our beliefs become our…destiny‘ ‘what’s not…
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A favorite way we’ve found to savor an artwork or image without owning it is simply to prop a book with the work open against a wall, on a shelf or sideboard or mantle. Every time we pass by or glance up, it is there for us to enjoy. When we tire of it, or…
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(Video link here.) We were just getting disgruntled at Pandora’s “Bjork” stream when “All Is Full Of Love” came on. We WOKE UP, amazed at what we were hearing and went looking for the lyrics. They are beautiful, somehow making us think of the creative process as much as love. “You have to trust…
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One of the biggest rewards of writing recipes is discovering the pleasure they’ve given people, or how folks have taken the recipes and made them their own. I was delighted last month to hear from reader/blogger Lucinda Keller of Cobalt Violet, who has been making my Chicken, Corn and Pumpkin Soup in Chipotle Lime Broth since…
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We’re not very big on New Year’s resolutions. We’ve always felt like “resolving” to accomplish big fat goals for the year sets us up for failure, and ignores life’s complexities—oftentimes, a single resolution is actually made up of a lot of different pieces. It’s juggling all of those pieces that makes keeping resolutions so difficult.…
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