the swingin’ night before xmas

Cara de Silva sent us this fab video as a gift after watching our Ode to Joy post. It’s the great Django Reinhardt performing “Christmas Swing” (December 1937, Paris) set to footage from “The Night Before Christmas,” a television special from the 1950’s, sponsored by the Bell Telephone Company, PA., featuring the Mabel Beaton Marionettes.…

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playing things by ear…

We recently got the news that a dear friend is seriously ill, and with it this message: sometimes you need to put your plans and schedules aside to show up elsewhere, and rise to challenges that may break your heart. So rather than worrying about posts and internet connections, we are going to just be…

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stefan sagemeister on ‘serious failure’ and training the mind

Last March, we wrote about legendary graphic designer Stefan Sagemeister, who shutters his design studio every seven years to take a sabbatical, and explore new ideas. He recently spoke at Levi’s traveling print and design workshop; this video is a recap. The audio is not great but some terrific chunks come through. Here are some we love:…

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the oil spill: what you CAN do

Our feeling of powerlessness over the continuing oil spill in the Gulf Coast has made us feel just terrible… Until today, when the ever-wonderful Manhattan User’s Guide has published a long list of actions you can take in response to the Gulf Coast Oil Spill “large and small, short- and longterm”,  from participating in a Hands-Across-The-Sand…

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(happy) memorial day

After we took a look at Wikipedia‘s entry about Memorial Day, we realized that, for us and many folks, the day has come to mean “the beginning of summer” rather than a remembrance of people who had died fighting in wars. We imagined losing someone we love that way and got a different view of…

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