When we saw visitors to a Neoclassical palazzo in Milan playing on swings created by London designer Philippe Malouin, it reminded us of how lovely a swing can be, ESPECIALLY in an unexpected place, with a terrific view. It also revealed a simple way to have a swing indoors if you don’t have beams to securely hang them from:…
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This wondrous image by photographer Lissette Solórzano reminds us that to leap is often a way to FLY. It seems just right for the first day of April when all sorts of new enterprises are afoot in the natural world… …ours too, if we just say yes…
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(Video link HERE.) A visual poem for the day; no words needed. —Susan Dworski
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This gif, made from videographer Parker Paul‘s lovely film of seagull’s flight patterns and sky trails, is wonderful unto itself.
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(Video link HERE.) We discovered performance artist Nick Cave recently and are smitten. As one YouTube commenter wrote: “imagine a world where people wore these to work … lol that would colour up our lives a little”. It’s not just the joy the his Sound Suits evoke; we’re inspired by how the first Sound Suit…
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(Video link HERE.) Insanely beautiful and daring. The absence of any sound except the simple piano accompaniment punches up the stark black and white imagery as Sutton carves across snowbanks and threads through barren trees trailing a roostertail of powered crystals. May your Monday be this luminous. —Susan Dworski via Nowness
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(Video link HERE.) Just as we were writing out post decrying the ubiquitous pendant lamp, Susan Dworski sent us this charmer of a short film. Sparked, a collaboration between Cirque du Soleil, ETH Zurich and Verity Studios creates an unexpected dance between a human and 10 quadcopters (drones). It’s a bit slow until 1:41 when the magical…
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On the eve of a New Year, we are thinking about how we’d like to enter 2015… …with a graceful, joyfully alive LEAP, like the beautiful Mary Wigman long ago… …even if only in spirit… Photo: Iwona Wojnicka
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One of the best end-of-the-year “lists” we’ve come across is Businessweek’s The 85 Most Disruptive Ideas in Our History. We’ve loaded it onto our phone to read in spare moments about the influence of the Polaroid, whiteboards, contact lenses, smartphones, the sharing economy, bottled water, Power Point, Parkinson’s Law, Open Source, and Motown, to name a few.…
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(Video link HERE.) Cody Townsend skiing down a sheer face in a space between two rock walls no wider than a supermarket aisle reminded us of the narrow path that we all, at times, have to navigate (whether by choice or circumstance)… …which made us think of Oku no Hosomichi, “The Narrow Path to/of the Interior” by Japanese poet…
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(Video link HERE.) A few days ago, we wrote a post asking ourselves just how we view the universe we live in: friend or foe. We’ve come to realize that there are so many dark things going on in the news and our world, not to mention our own internal fears, that viewing the universe…
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(Video link HERE.) We’ve been working hard. Let’s chill and go surfing in slo-mo…a lovely meditation on motion, nature, challenge, the rewards of practice and risk… …and the joy of flying…. …by the amazing how-does-he-catch-that? Chris Bryan via Kottke
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(Video link HERE.) Don’t know about you, but we could use some fantasy flying about now. Although we find ourselves a bit over saturated with GoPri videos and curiously jaded to their magical effects, not so with this video of acrobats “dancing” on the side of a building. We find it even more magical with the…
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One of our readers, Carol E., wrote to us, In the morning it’s The Improvised Life with my coffee and then the morning paper. I have described you as a little jewel of a magazine that I read online every morning. Many thanks!’ We love the image of Improvised Life as a “jewel”—it rings true because for the…
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Even a rainy day — and difficult times — are an opportunity to leap! Thanks to Chris Eldredge!
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(Video link HERE.) This intoxicating little under-sea film by Julie Gautier follows record-holding deep diver Guillaume Néry down, down until he experiences the confusion and euphoria of high-pressure nitrogen narcosis. A little bit scary and very much lovely, this thirteen-minute journey into the depths of the ocean and Néry’s hallucinations will throw you far out of your daily…
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Monday evening of Labor Day, we could positively FEEL the shift of air and energy as the entire country grabbed every last BIT before the official end of summer. We spent the day hanging on the terrace reflecting on our three-week stay-cation that turned out way different than we had imagined, and would yield an essential lesson.
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If we had to sum up the past few months with a single image, it would be this one. We’ve been roping a wild horse — life — and trying our best to go with it as we launched our Friends with Benefits subscription service and Improvised Life’s Store, saw a dear friend through a major health…
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(Video link HERE.) …perfect music for getting going on a Monday morning, as well as people dancing, leaping and gliding around in the most wonderful way (until the dark end). You can jump in anywhere to get a hit of LEAP energy. Not content to just click one link, we can’t help but follow trails. The…
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