Our Glorious Years Have Passed Like Flowers

This is the Japanese poster - the best one. The color saturation in this movie will make your heart ache and weep. Why is it so hard to locate the soundtrack?

Election fever

THE craft activity for your next debate party. Just when you started thinking politics were boring. HA!

fold US Candidate

Nicholas Nyland

All watercolor on paper. Some more info here http://www.nicholasnyland.net/, but would love to see higher-res images of his work.

Oh, The Bliss

By Allan, The Gallant

Sandwich & salad

Bought the below on separate occasions for approx. $8 each but won't be making the same mistake twice. Luscious combinations with very simple and affordable ingredients...

Sandwich (from a deli in Greenpoint)
On whole grain ciabatta
Roast beef - quality is everything
Avocado
Alfalfa
Apples
Brie
Dijon mustard

Salad (from Le Pain Quotidien)
On a bed of mesclun greens
Red quinoa
Cherry tomatoes
Enoki mushrooms (have never eaten those raw until now - yum!)
Alfalfa
Radishes
Fat wedge of lemon
Pesto dressing

Pythagorean jewelry

Since the last post on jewelry in October, our attention has really turned to delicate metalwork with a focus on geometry. Really admire the craftsmanship of these creations by independent designers.




[Clockwise from top left: Triple Small Wing Oxidized Multiply Ring $70 (multiple styles for stacking) by Deka Ray (Eugenie Huang), Gold Honeycomb Necklace $65 from Small Things Studio's Stone & Honey line, Dodecahedron Pendant $58 from Jalea Jalea's (Tatiana Sánchez) Minerals & Polyhedra Collection]

Also sweet from the Stone & Honey line from Small Things Studio - this pinwheel necklace.

Disclaimer: we're not sure if these are actually examples of the Pythagorean Theorem... it's been a decade since our last math class.

Tsutsumi

We hear the word "sustainable" so much now... here's something that truly is sustainable and conscientious without compromising aesthetics or quality. While browsing Japanese mega-bookstore Kinokuniya in Bryant Park (highly recommended if you're into Japanese-published picture books), we came across a book on tsusumi, which demonstrated that anything from a wine bottle to a lunch box could and should be wrapped with one piece of cloth.

Love the philosophy, and we think many others would too. So why is there very little information on the web about it? We bought the book found at Kinokuniya for our friend Kat's birthday (wrapped tsutsumi style, of course) but a quick search revealed only one US book on this topic: Gift Wrapping: Creative Ideas from Japan, published in 1987.

Introduction to Gift Wrapping: Creative Ideas from Japan by Kunio Ekiguchi:

In Japan, the concept of wrapping, tsutsumi, is not limited to the function of packaging. It plays a central role in a wide variety of spiritual and cultural aspects of Japanese life. Tsutsumi encompasses many areas not included in the Western concept of wrapping. For example, gods or Buddhas are "wrapped" in a household altar containing a hidden image of the god or a portable shrine carried during festivals; gardens are enclosed by a variety of fences; architectural space is defined by translucent shoji doors, opaque fusuma doors, and bamboo blinds; pictures are rolled up in hanging scrolls and picture scrolls; and food is placed in lacquer containers. The wrapping style illustrated by these examples is not a tight, hermetic seal, but a loose, flexible covering or shading. The style embodies the concept of "gentle concealment," a central part of the traditional Japanese sense of beauty.

Petra Börner's Mister Pip

http://www.borner.se/

Shinzi Katoh

$38 @ Penelope's

Conjoined

Painting and pillow by k studio.