Magnifique trouvaille d’un dimanche chez Castorama. Je vous laisse apprécier la beauté de cette multiprise en plastique imitation bois !

TV Ciudad AbiertaONLINECIUDAD

Ah how we love vintage cocktail guides, but this one in specific we love for two reasons: the art and typeface are awesome and it is has a super guide for how much booze to have on hand for a party of 4 to 20 and wow what a lot of booze it is (check out chart below). Download whole brochure by clicking on title here:  It’s Party Time: Cocktail Brochure from Old Forester 1960s (pdf). You can download the whole guide as a pdf “It’s Party Time: Cocktail Brochure from Old Forester 1960s” or go to  our flickr stream for individual pages http://tinyurl.com/yzoel4a . Happy Holiday Season!

Mais do terceiro dia da Casa de Criadores, primeiro dia com desfiles seguidos, no Shopping Frei Caneca.

Ronaldo Silvestre traz Mata Hari (lendária dançarina e espiã da Primeira Guerra Mundial) como tema do desfile cheio de detalhes e brilhos tipicos dos anos 40, mas  com muitos tecidos diferentes entre si (de brocados a  moletom!!!), além de misturar looks casuais, para festa, conceituais, comerciais; estampas e lisos. Foi um pouco de mistura demais, que prejudicou a leitura das intenções do estilista (mas ele é jovem e, portanto, quis ousar).

A No hay banda, de Bruna Santini, Juliana Magro e Claudia Mine, trouxe um  inverno fresquinho, inspirado pelo bicho-da-seda (apesar de ter tricô e couro, trouxe a leveza da seda). Foi uma coleção de muito preto, com pegada sexy + rocker (que se via nos curtinhos de couro fake) e os mais “festeiros”, além dos looks para trabalhar, onde se viu chiffon, cetin, palha, georgete e tecidos de aparência rústica. 
 

 R.Rosner mostrou uma moda festa extravagante, inspirada na avó do estilista que estaria fazendo 100 anos em 2009, cuja luva foi usada para estampar as peças, que tiveram a trama da renda ampliada e impressa em tule ou seda, aparencendo algumas vezes numa versão brilhante e outras em versão brocado.

A coleção é composta de looks de desenhos modernos, em cores que vão dos rosas aos pretos e brancos. Apareceram leggings de tule estampadas para festa e peças com canaletas de paetês, muito bem executadas e que apresentaram ótimo efeito.

Por fim, vimos as estampas e visuais kitsch de Urussai, de Catarina Gushiken, estreante na passarela da Casa de Criadores. E ela veio com a  história da Yakuza, trazida por ela para o mundo feminino.

O melhor da marca é a malharia e a estamparia, além da lingerie e da alfaiataria. Surgiram plissados nervuras nas calças, dando-lhes um belo movimento, bem como um bonito trabalho nas mangas, que, ao lado das estampas, conferiram um caráter comercial  à coleção.

I love you.

Your best friend is having a baby and you are looking for a greeting card ? Not an easy task. 

I cruised several stores. First thing I have to chose between boy (light blue) and girl (light pink).  Does that mean children grow up believing that only 2 colors exist ?  Having a hart time explaining to the shop-owner that my friends are not the pinky-blueish kind of people she proposes a stork – very original. Watching my face crunching she opts for a sleeping baby in white linen, becoming blurred at the edges of the image. ..

In the end I chose a neutral card and added my personal whishes and comments.  But is it really so hard to come up with a greeting-card for the birth of a child without kitsch ?

I love knitted things, it is such a traditional craft, associated with grandma’s knitting tacky jumpers and tea cosies. I learnt to knit last Summer, it took me ages to get a hang of it and to this day I have not managed to do anything other than straight lines, therefore limiting me to scarves! This Winter I’m planning on expanding my skills into crochet and knitting more interesting things such as hats and handwarmers.

I’ve seen so many snazzy knitted makes on my browsing of the web and would love to share some of these with you!

Amigurumi!

Through browsing the blog Geek Crafts (which I love, and highly recommend you check out!) http://geekcrafts.com/ I discovered the quirky, cute and imaginative world of Amigurumi. Amigurumi is the Japanese for ‘knitted stuff toy’, however this name has been attached generally to any kind of Kawaii (cute), quirky and kitsch knitted characters. Just do a google image search and a whole bunch of amazing makes appear. This website has some amazing examples, check out the gallery, I particularly love the teddy bear cupcakes and bon bons: http://www.flickr.com/photos/amigurumikingdom/

Knitted Food Items!

For some unknown reason I’ve always had a thing for cartoon food items with faces, which can frequently be seen in traditional Amigurumi work. My love of knitted items have led to my love of knitted food items, so pointless really, but oh so cute and very kitsch. This Folksy shop, Treaclezoo sells great Amigurumi and also knitted food! http://www.folksy.com/shops/treaclezoo For ultimate perfect, check out the Amigurumi food items, super Kawaii! This Etsy shop does amazing patterns and super cute kawaii food: http://www.etsy.com/shop/anapaulaoli . One of my favourite items of jewellery is a Amigurumi apple with a face that I bought from Lady Luck Rules Ok a few years ago, more about this shop to follow but here’s a link: http://www.ladyluckrulesok.com/

 And now for those more useful items!

Of course, the main lovely thing about knitted items is that they can create amazingly snuggly and beautiful practical items and fashion accessories. I have seen so many amazing webshops selling incredible knitted things but some of my faves include: Knit and Destroy, this lady now works for Lady Luck Rules Ok I believe and she is incredible creative with her Knits http://www.knitanddestroy.co.uk/ I have many things from her site, including a lolly pop brooch and a red crayon scarf! For  more elegant, but still quirky knit I love Folksy shop, Dolly Knits, I would quite happily own every piece on her page, so much good choice! http://www.folksy.com/shops/dollyknits I particularly love Dolly Knits triangle scarves, ties and hair bows, seriously cute! Dolly Knit Pom Pom brooches would brighten up any outfit!

 How inspiring is that talented bunch? I wonder if they will lend me their talents?

I just want to say that I love my friends and I like hamburgers. So if you’ve got a hankering for one (a hamburger, not friend – although you could perhaps find one of those there too), I suggest you get yourself to Paul’s Burgers on 2nd avenue. They’ve got a million different burgers you can order (all super healthy, of course) and you get a giant bowl of pickle chips at your table, which gets automatic points from me.

It’s quite the spot; lots of kitsch, with checkered table cloths and road signs like “Trailer Trash Avenue” and the like. They also have TVs so you can watch your college football team get killed (ahem) or you can sit on one of the bar stools and watch the cooks in action. The burgers are deeelicious, as are their shakes. My little sister even got a shake there once when she visited me and she’s not a shake person by any means. It’s just good, people.

Ok, that is all. Eat a hamburger. And get ready for City Mitten: Detroit Edition, as I’m on my way to Thanksgiving weekend back home.

Illustration from the cover of the ‘Smashing Time’ OST

Listen – Lynn Redgrave – While I’m Still Young – MP3

Greetings all.

This weeks ‘end of week’ post is coming a bit early on account of it’s a holiday and I’m taking the rest of the week off, on account of that’s how I roll on Thanksgiving.
The tune I bring you today is something I dug up onmy recent trip to the Berkshires.
I should start by informing you that the song you are about to hear is nothing less than a demented work of genius, and should be covered by a punk band (garage or otherwise) as soon as humanly possible.
The strangest thing of all is that ‘While I’m Still Young’ is basically a parody to start with, composed to be sung by Lynne Redgrave’s character ‘Yvonne’ in the 1967 film ‘Smashing Time’.
‘Smashing Time’ was always a touchstone of sorts back in the mod days, mainly because it was packed wall to wall with Carnaby Street type scenery, and that it provided an odd little snapshot of the short lived ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ fashion craze in the UK, AND (dig this) a cameo by no less a band than Tomorrow (Keith West, Twink, Steve Howe et al) as a band called the Snarks.
The main thrust of the film is Yvonne and Brenda (Rita Tushingham) heading into the big city in search of stardom, where the former, discovered as a “typical teen” is taken and injection-molded into attempted pop stardom by a cynical record industry.
Today’s selection’While I’m Still Young’ is the highlight of the soundtrack, with a bright, brassy 1967-centric vibe (as seen through the prism of middle aged showbiz types) and an absolutely insane lyric.

I can’t sing but I’m young
Can’t do a thing but I’m young
I’m a fool, but I’m cool
Don’t put me down
I don’t read but I’m young
I’m built for speed cause I’m young
I’m a fool, but I’m cool
I’m not a clown
Don’t give a fig if you don’t dig
That I’m around
I don’t walk but I’m young
I never talk cause I’m young
I won’t cry, if I die
While I’m still young

Yeah baby I’m so young
Yeah baby I’m still so young

The lyrics were written by English satirist/surrealist (and jazz singer) George Melly, and they’re really amazing. ‘While I’m Still Young’ reads like the long lost bridge between raw 1966 punk and snotty 1976 punk, all delivered through Lynne Redgrave’s shrill vocal, laid on top of a cool, sitar tinged arrangement.
I dig it a lot, and I hope you do too.
Have a great holiday and I’ll see you all next week.

Peace

Larry

PS Head over to Funky16Corners for heavy bit of Latin funk.

Ok, so pretty much everyone who likes their lovely handmade, crafty bits of heard of Etsy.com, right? Well the problem with Etsy is that there is so much amazing stuff on there it’s difficult to just browse, and I find that you have to know what you are looking for, which is often not the case when your browsing online.

So, a friend told me about Folksy.com, which is a a smaller version of Etsy and more UK based, whereas most of the amazing stuff I find on Etsy is in America.

Anyway I wanted to share with you a few of my favourite gems, gems of a birdie theme, that I have found on Folksy so far:

Handmaid: beautifully elegant pieces with a quirky, vintage touch. http://www.folksy.com/shops/juliemills

Lupin Handmade: Cute and kitsch felt creations, great fun! http://www.folksy.com/shops/lupin

There are loads of things to find on Folksy, I’ll share some more of my favourites in future blogs. Let me know if you find something that you love on there!

So yes, my first proper post. I’m getting married next year, lots of people are surprised since we’re only 21, however we’ve been together nearly 5 years, have lived together over 3 years and totally, completely in love and a perfect match. I think people are surprised because we are so young, but really in the natural, traditional next step in our relationship and I think it is sad that fewer and fewer people are willing to commit to a relationship to this extent untill much later in their lives, if at all.

I take the attitude that if I am happy and in love, why would I want to change it? Whereas, I have found others my age and older who take the attitude of “what if there is someone better?”, don’t you think that is a little depressing?

The other thing I don’t get is the traditions of weddings. Why do so many brides to be dream of the clichéd fairytale wedding when really it should be a celebration of you and your partners love, your relationship and your individuality. So why not go wild, choose what you love and don’t give a damn what others think. For me it’s the only time I’m planning on getting married so I want to make it totally ours and memorable.

So, like I said earlier, I’m not good at being concise, but this leads me on to this wonderful website find, Offbeat Bride, which has been providing me with hours of quirky ‘wedding porn’ and inspirational photographs and links. I hope you will enjoy it too: http://offbeatbride.com/

I only wish there was a UK equivalent of Offbeat Bride as it would be great to see some UK weddings and vendor recommendations, I’m having such a struggling finding the right things for our wedding. There used to be a marvelous wedding magazine in the UK called Black Meringue but it seems to have vanished, sadly, before I ever had chance to purposefully buy a copy!

Drop me a line if you find any quirky or kitsch wedding vendors, blogs or other sites.

I’m Jayne, I’m 21 and live in the UK in the county of Yorkshire. I’ve decided to start a blog project for myself as a hobby. Since leaving University and starting full-time work I’ve felt I’ve lost my hobbies and lost the drive to do creative things, so thought that this blog may be a nice place to start in a bid to reintroduce myself to creativity of any form.

My idea for this blog is to share my discoveries of wonderful, lovely things that I find. I have a habit and a love of stumbling upon hidden gems in the world of interests. These mainly tend to be crafty things or shopping things, but sometimes also really great recipes, films or music. So I guess this blog will be my little magazine project, just covering things that I love.

The reason for the blog title is because I love to cook and also because I love Kitsch things, as you will soon become aware! Kitsch shall be a central theme to my blogging, as will probabily be my baking activities.

I will try to keep my writing to a minimum though as I have a huge habit of rambling whenever I type or write. I am terrible at keeping things concise. I would also say that I am not very organised, so I don’t see this blog having much of a pattern or formula, which I guess will keep things interesting (hopefully) so please keep dropping by and see what I can show you!

First post of interesting stuff coming soon!

This past summer, my husband and I (very eager road-trippers) drove up to Michigan.

While there, we randomly went to a tiny town called Hell. I kid you not.

It was beautiful! Well, Michigan in general is beautiful, because everything is green and lush. But Hell was an unexpected surprise.

Sure, the place itself is pure kitsch (t-shirts read “I Went To Hell!”, Screams ice cream parlor workers tell you to have, “One Hell of a day!”) That’s part of the charm.

One thing doesn’t change: I had ice cream in Hell. And there’s no place like it on Earth!

Visiting The American Folk Art Museum is like going to your crazy Aunt Mildred’s for a meatloaf and potato dinner. Her living room is a kitschy, hoarder’s delight. How and when did she have time to collect an original Kewpie doll? Why does she have such a large rubber band ball? Why in the world would anyone want these soda cap robots, Jesus woodcarvings, tobacco shop Zouaves, Abraham Lincoln whirligigs, Amish quilts, and paper cut lamps? Is that an aluminum deer head that I see? Boy, Aunt Mildred is really weird.

The museum is like a scrapbook and longitudinal study in American crafting. There are hints of high art, but mostly instances of low art. The curatorial staff, with their explanatory labels, was constantly questioning what past Americana obsessions can be counted as real collectibles or real art and which were merely put in the annals of the bygone strange. The overall museum vibe was very innocent and a bit naïve. Usually buttons, spoons, thimbles, plastic bags, and bits of carpet do not a museum make. However, it was nice to be challenged as to one’s current concept of “what art is”. Too often museums rest on the conventions of yore. The American Folk Art Museum lingers on the precipice of high art and low art, sometimes balancing the tight rope perfectly. A continual question that kept reoccurring on all floors of the museum was, “Are self-taught artists conscious of themselves as artists?” Morris Hirshfield, whose piece The Artist and His Model (1945) was on display, definitely seemed to interact with the zeitgeist of his art world. For example, try comparing any one of his painting to a Henri Rousseau. Although Hirshfield is considered an outside artist and naïve painter, his images have hints of early surrealism. Thomas Cole’s famous landscaping work and light play for the Hudson River School is renown in the art world, yet Thomas Chamber’s landscape art is not. They do not differ all that much except for the fact that Cole is displayed at the National Gallery of Art and Chambers is displayed as outsider art in The American Folk Art Museum.

The museum also attempts to breakdown preconceived notions about self-taught artists; they are not all hermits, they are not all rural, they are not all obsessive compulsive. Yet, some of them on display really are all of the aforementioned; the stereotype persists for a reason. Henry Darger, known for his fantastical, “Alice in Wonderland” type scenarios, wrote a 15,145-page, single-spaced fantasy manuscript called The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion. He also produced several hundred illustrations to accompany the story, modeled after coloring books and various advertisements from his day. His mental health was questionable. He seemed to exist in the realms of the unreal, but so too did J. R. Tolkien, John Tenniel, and Madeleine L’Engle who are now considered greats. During his life time his art was never art, yet posthumously, critics have decided to define it as such. The museum has even created a Henry Darger Study Center in 2001.

As famed cultural critic Dave Hickey argues in his seminal work “The Invisible Dragon”, beauty really is in the eye of the beholder. Hickey states, “These people [museums] were setting themselves up as guardians of public taste. My argument was, basically, beauty allows us direct access to art without public oversight.” Although The American Museum of Folk Art is still an institutional gatekeeper, it is taking a step in the right direction, which seems to be away from the patronage system of Michelangelos and Monets.

**********

Keren Veisblatt, TC ‘11

This is the part of our blog series 30 Museums in 28 Weeks. Through CUarts’ Passport to New York program, Columbia students get in free to 30 museums in the city. We will attempt to visit every single one of these museums before the end of this academic year and share the experience here with you. 30 museums. 28 weeks. That’s a lot of culture. Check out our progress here.

Santa Cruz is a town unto itself. By that we mean, wow, it’s neat, but we don’t see ourselves moving there this week.

We rolled in at about 4 PM on Tuesday, and it turns out that the Boardwalk, the thing you definitely want to see in Santa Cruz, wasn’t exactly open. But guess what was? Yes! The supercreepy arcade, complete with laughing fake clown, bizarre fortune telling machines, and elaborate pirate themed…everything. It was the scariest thing ever- we aren’t sure how the hippies handle it.

Speaking of hippies, Santa Cruz has a few, and they’re all nice and pleasant and hippie-ish. Knowing that there would be hitchhikers en route, we had decided that we would only pick them up if they appeared to weigh less than 90 pounds, looked friendly, and seemed like they’d lose in a fight. We didn’t come across anyone who fit this description (and, actually, it might not be hitchhiking season), so we explored on our own. We did find a cool coffeehouse, and we wandered around downtown for a few before we met up with J, C’s high school buddy at 515 Kitchen and Cocktails, a remarkably delicious restaurant around the corner from Caffe Pergolesi.

We ate brie risotto, lamb kebabs, asparagus wrapped in prosciutto, and all kinds of fantastic cheese; we drank exotic drinks that involved black pepper simple syrup and fancy gin; but the great thing about the Miles room and our evening therein was hanging out with J and her man, who were both lovely and fun to be with. We laughed and were happy and had an overall pleasurably indulgent evening, then made our way one more hour up the highway to Mountain View.

Ron and I made a quick trip to Illinois this weekend to attend a special event organized by an old friend.

On our way back through Missouri last night, we noticed a spiderweb of Christmas lights twined through the branches of hundreds of trees along a road winding up the side of a mountain.

The lights were part of the elaborate “Santa’s Magical Kingdom” Christmas display at the Yogi Bear-themed Jellystone Park campground just west of Six Flags.

We’d passed the display in years past, but we never seemed to get there in time to drive through it. Although we were on a rather tight schedule last night, we couldn’t resist a stop.

I suspect some of Santa’s Magical Mushrooms may have been involved in planning this exhibit:

The exhibit even includes a faux fireworks display over a replica of the St. Louis Arch.

Dolphins leap in a pool of twinkling lights.

Is the giant water faucet a nod to the famous animated neon faucet that drips all night next to I-44 near St. James? You decide. (After you click the link, scroll down to the bottom of the page to see what I’m talking about.)

I personally think the whole thing looks like what you’d get if Clark Griswold were in charge of decorating Rock City’s Fairyland Caverns for the holidays. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Emily

The amazing Margaux Lange has just released a sneeky peek from her new solo show which is running from 5th December at the Luke & Eloy Gallery in Pittsburgh, USA. For those us who can’t afford the air fare and are stuck in dreary old England hop over to her blog and her store and droooool….
and if you’re still hungry for Barbie’s bits then you can follow her on Twitter

We had planned to start driving up the coast by waking up at 7, but T was in a post-Disney-euphoric-coma, so she didn’t get out of bed until 9. C was very patient about this, and made do by occasionally poking her until she acquiesced to entering the land of the living. With a final look over her shoulder at the world of joy behind her, T & C hopped into Deadpool and began our journey up the coast.

First, there was the final reckoning of Los Angeles traffic, and we spent some time reminiscing about the good old days of being stuck in traffic, but this time on the 5 en route to the 101. Eventually, we made it past LA (getting a good view of the Hollywood sign in the process), and saw the coast – hurrah, Coast!

As we made our way north, we determined what things we had to see, and which we could wave to as we passed. Sorry, Madonna Inn, you didn’t make the cut, but you definitely seemed cool: you were just trying a little too hard for our taste. However, because we were married in a Catholic Church, we decided that it would be a good thing to visit San Buenaventura Mission.

The mission, the last one founded by Fr. Junipero Serra, is still an active Catholic parish, and we arrived at the very end of the noon Mass, which allowed us to see the liveliness of worship that continues to this day. We also took a walk through the museum to learn a bit more about the history related to the founding; C was especially impressed by the mortar and pestle from the Chumash Indian tribe. T also noticed the number of fresh bouquets by the Our Lady of Grace statue, which showed the devotion of the parishioners. The garden was lovely, and it was especially nice to see the families chatting and children playing as they left Mass – it combined the history of the mission with the contemporary way that we participate in Catholicism today.

We continued up the road toward Big Sur, and saw tremendous views of the coast and mountains on the Pacific Coast Highway. We were starting to get hungry (and a little crabby, to tell the truth) as we neared Pismo Beach, so, remembering the old Bugs Bunny cartoon saying (“Pismo Beach and all the clams you can eat!”…anyone?), we decided to check out the grub. Not too many things were open at 5 on a Sunday night, but we saw the Cracked Crab, and decided that it was just our style. Beyond being reasonably casual, it was delicious – we had crab bisque and halibut tacos, and all was well in our respective worlds.

It was starting to get dark, and it’s less fun to drive up the coast in the dark, so we decided to stay at San Simeon for the evening and get an early start in the morning.

Well, I guess I can officially type that I’ve seen it all now.

A geriatric North Dakota square dance group is using flash mob moves that they saw on Oprah (Thanks O!).

I’m not sure I’ll ever hear this Black Eyed Peas tune again without thinking of this AARP rug-cutting crew.

Personally the dancer in the red skirt is captivating for some reason, but once the gang on the outside of the circle gets in motion, that’s where I tended to focus my attention.

Ich hatte glaub ich schon einmal n bisschen was zum Messehallen-Flohmarkt erzählt, im Artikel über meine Notausgangs-Schild-Lampe. Nächsten Sonntag (29.11.) ist es wieder soweit und die Schnäppchenjäger strömen in die Messehallen. Das Ganze ist echt empfehlenswert, auch wenn das Ambiente nicht sonderlich schön ist. Ist halt grauer Beton drum herum. Dafür ist das Angebot riesig! Viel Ramsch, aber gleichzeitig auch viel Kurioses und Nützliches. Nur Möbel findet man erfahrungsgemäß eher wenig. Ärgerlich ist nur das der Veranstalter Melan 3,50€ Eintritt nimmt. Ich habe vor einem Jahr zwei Madness-Platten in absolutem Top-Zustand für n paar Euro erstanden. Geöffnet ist von 8-17 Uhr – früh da sein lohnt sich… wie bei jedem Flohmarkt

Mitt hjärta är inte längre öppet för honom.

Die weihnachtliche Deko in der Küche wird noch ein bisschen ergänzt.

Chunky glass-bead chandeliers conjure a sort of 1970’s – 1980’s Vegas kinda retro glamour — and that look seems to be making its popular comeback. From haute style guides to PB Teen, The Kitschy Chandelier is large, in charge, subtle and refined. Take a look at where it is and where it’s been — and get a glimpse into where it’s going…

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