HEHEHEHE . . .

I shopped victoriously!  What an apt slogan!  I am now the proud owner (thanks to Ebay) of this vintage light blue Royal Quiet Deluxe typewriter.  It is supposed to be here in a week - I can't wait!

Thanks to Janine at UPPERCASE (a super cool type/font/design oriented gallery in Calgary, Canada) for getting me inspiring me to make the Royal typewriter search on Ebay.  I was not disappointed!

REVELATIONS FOR THE NOVICE BOSTONIAN!

Leave it to a New York City girl to introduce me to the wonders available to a lost city dweller.  The dear Rachel Schwatzman, visiting Boston during this past weekend, has told me about the following wonderful sites.  Perhaps you were using these sites back in the 90s and are scoffing even as you read this post.  If not (and let's hope not), prepare to have your mind blown! 

• menupages.com is the place to go to check out local eateries and decide whether that sign with the missing letter hides a dump or your new favorite breakfast joint.  The website lets visitors rate and comment on each restaurant (listed by city neighborhood and restaurant style), noting pricing, value, service and food.  Rachel promises immediate addiction, so proceed with caution!
• hopstop.com details the fastest path from point A to point B in real city terms, detailing the various forms of public transportation to take, all the stops which you will encounter (great for a narcoleptic girl like me who tends to fall asleep and then wake up with a start, worried that I have missed my stop) and where to get off/change means of transport.  

Now for my little two cents: Ork Posters!  Ork is a design company that "maps" out various American cities (Boston, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Washington D.C., etc) by writing out their neighborhoods.  For instance, the label for my neighborhood in Boston (Brighton) demarcates its physical space, leaving the viewer for a neighborhood name-based map of their favorite city.  Better yet, the posters now come in a handful of different colors and are only $22!  It would make a great gift (hint, hint) . . . . . 

ANDREW HOLDER

I am running off to another shift at work soon, BUT, I wanted to squeeze in a quick post about Andrew Holder, a very cool San Francisco based illustrator/designer/artist.  Above are two of my favorite pieces in his portfolio: "Royalty" (top) and "Peacock" (bottom).  You definitely have to check out his website here to see more: colorful faux animals, amazing patterns, sculptures etc.  

DESK DOUBLE DUTY: EYE CANDY MEETS UTILITY

Having spent a lot of time recently staring at the void on my desk where Humperdink used to be (it was a very long week without him), I have decided to share some of the sexy desk accessories I have come across lately.  All four of these products follow the form and function mantra, maintaining a sleek exterior while able to stand up to the tests of time.  From top to bottom: 

1. Letter Holder (I just purchased this and LOVE it!  You might remember it from a desk shot long ago in Blueprint Magazine.  It is made by Koray Ozgen and is a MOMA exclusive which you can buy here for $28),
2. Royal's Paper Shredder (this clean white shredder is small enough to fit under your desk, sturdy enough to cut through a cd, and inexpensive enough at $49 to save your bank.  Available here through Amazon and seen in Domino Magazine), 
3. MOMA Perpetual Calendar (carried by the MOMA Design Store and up for purchase here, this calendar will last forever and brighten up a boring cubicle; simple slide the orange face of the calendar until the proper dates appear under their proper days of the week), 
4. LaCie's "Little Disk" (available in 80GB, 120GB, 160GB, 250GB, and 320GB, this little black number hooks into your computer's USB port, has a 2 year warranty and ranges in price from $90 - $210.  Plus, measuring in at roughly 3" x 5", it will leave plenty of space for all of the Letter Holder, Calendar and Shredder in your workspace).
   

Maybe if my desk housed this many pretty things, I would actually spend time at it . . . 

R + E BOUROULLEC

  

  
  

I promised more goodies from my trip to MOMA and I back to fulfill that promise.  Open your eyes to the glory that is Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec: 30-something brothers from France who have come up with some kick-ass design concoctions.  MOMA has the three above pieces in their collection (top to bottom): North Tiles (Foamcore tiles laminated with wool fabric interlock and form moveable room dividers that both add an explosion of color and muffle sound), Algues (seen here at MOMA and via the Bouroullec portfolio; these are made from injected polyamide hitch together in a myriad of ways to form a leafy, ethereal wall, with each individual piece measuring about 7" x 5") and Cloud (a room divider/shelving unit that can stack and join together to billow across a room, "Cloud" is made out of polystyrene).  Cool right?  You can find more on these french fellows at their website here.

IT'S THE SIMPLE THINGS

  

This morning several small, but exciting things occurred that made my previously sniffly outlook decidedly more hopeful.  They are as follows:

1. The afternoon turned unexpectedly sunny and warm here in Boston, blowing a fresh breeze through my windows.  Bring on spring!
2. I found out my Adobe Design Suite Software has arrived!  New business cards, website banners and promo cards are soon to come . . . 
3. At Whole Foods I bought a bunch of daffodils (photographed above in a nook in my apartment) and some delicious Peach/Mango/Orange juice.  That means lots of tasty orange/yellow in my living room!
4. Last both not least: I got into the Art History PhD program at the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU!  I am very honored and excited!  

It is amazing how a series of happy little things can turn your outlook around.   I hope today brings you your own smile-worthy events . . . 

BOOMSHINE!

Since today is the day to profile online time-fillers (not time-wasters!), I want to make a plug for Boomshine.  Boomshine is an online game designed by Danny Miller (see his website here) with beautiful musical accompaniment by TIm Halbert (website here).  Boomshine is basically a click and mix game, where you click a spot on the screen and colored dots which encounter that spot explode and mix together.  Each level requires a certain number of "explosions" to move on.  Beautiful and addicting - what a great combination!

GOLDENSTACH IS MY CHICKEN SOUP

  
  
  

So I am home sick today (stupid sore throat ruining my food service) and am contenting myself with researching "GoldenStash": a street artist here in Boston that I have recently seen everywhere!  The first photo (top left) was taken by me at the corner of Commonwealth and Fordham St. in Allston.  The remaining photos I found in the GoldenStash Flickr album here.  Interested in finding out more?  I also found a video piece on GoldenStash, done by the Boston Pheonix, here.  Since I have long wanted to start stickering myself, I am using GoldenStash as my Boston inspiration and will keep photographing his work whenever I come across it.

I have recently encountered a couple of really great pieces of street art and have decided to post a semi-regular "Boston Underground" segment.  Consider this volume 1.

MOMA: ASAP

This Saturday I placated my color-loving soul with a visit to MOMA's "Color Chart" exhibition open through May 12.  Not surprisingly, the powers-that-be moved this glorious sculpture, Donald Judd's "Untitled", to the entrance of the exhibition and a huge visual lasso.  There were about 1,000 works both in the show and in the permanent collection that I HAVE TO SHARE, but, alas, they will have to wait until tomorrow.  Sickness takes precedent and I have to get some rest . . . until tomorrow, enjoy Mr. Judd and check out the Color Chart exhibition online here (the website adheres wonderfully to the color purity theme).

BOOM BABY! I'M BACK!

Look no farther . . . baby, I'm back, yeah . . . I'm here to cater to you!  The obsessive imagist blog is finally back in action now that Humperdink 2.0's little stay in the hospital is over!  And to kick off my triumphant return, I would like to introduce you to a little section of the Kate Spade website called "behind the curtain".  Behind the curtain gives the viewer a sneak peak into all the cool, chic, design-y things that make Kate Spade great.  Featuring sections like "projects", "events", and "things we love", the website could easily engender hours of fun: galavanting to other sites for gifting goodies, watching cute videos, and ogling the smooth elegant design of the site as a whole.  The first three photos above are of the "2008 agenda project".  The following two are photos of the project "kate spade editions" (a series of small-run flip books, art books and more) and the section "things we love".  All in all worth a couple hours of your web-surfing time.  (It's good to be back).

NEW POSTS TONIGHT . . . .

Get excited. I suffered a false alarm on Friday and am actually picking up Humperdink 2.0 tonight. After about 2 hours of recovering my old hard drive information from my external drive, I should be able to post again! Woohoo!

SO CLOSE I CAN TASTE IT . . . .

 I am picking up my computer today!  More posts to come very very soon.

Humperdink 2.0 lives!  Hooray!

THE INTERNET IS FOR PORN: AVENUE Q

Alas, Humperdink 2.0 is still being fixed.  So rather than scouring design blogs and cool online stores, I spent my evening tonight with Internet porn-addicted puppets.  Yes, I went to see "Avenue Q" which is currently playing at the Colonial Theater here in Boston.  It was awesome.  Even better than the hilarious songs ("My Life Sucks", "The Internet is for Porn" etc.) are the e-cards you can send via the Avenue Q website that have greetings like "My life sucks. How are you?" and "Thinking of you, but not in that way - I swear" and "We're all rooting for you . . . so don't f*&# it up".  Amazing. (Oh, and the set design was great too.)

MUST HAVE MONDAYS: FOLDING CUTTING BOARD

Oops!  I almost forgot about Must Have Monday!  Thankfully I have found a computer to use for enough time to manage this recommendation: the folding cutting board available at the MOMA Store.  Designed by Mark Sanders in 1989, these cutting boards are made of sturdy polypropylene and feature sides which fold up to form a convenient chute.  Done chopping?  Just pop up the sides and slide your treats into a bowl or onto your plate.  It saves a lot of spilled food and is reasonably (for high design) priced between $16-$24.  Get cooking!

COOL + CREEPY = SWEET

It's official! The hard-drive on my computer has died. Humperdink 2.0 is now the Tin Man of the electronics world: he has no heart! He is getting a new hard-drive (and a 60 GB upgrade!) over the next week, so posts will be sporadic until then. Let's all keep Humperdink 2.0 in our prayers.

A little treat, then, to tide you over until the next post: John Casey! John does very cool, though slightly frightening, drawings and sculptures of "fictitious human morphology", a concept which he discusses in a section of his website cheekily titled "excuses". Not only is his artwork cool, but he also writes a very cool blog called "If you can't make it good, make it big". In his blog he discusses a show featuring my favorite artist (and former professor) Barbara Takenaga! If he knows about Barbara he achieves automatic cool-dom. More about Barbara will have to come on another day. Until then, enjoy John . . . .

Above image: John Casey "expectations"

UH OH

It seems that my computer is throwing a tantrum and will no longer turn on.  So, unfortunately, it might be a little while until my next post.  Try not to cry too much.  Be strong.  And pray for the speedy recovery of Humperdink 2.0.  Meanwhile I will try to keep him from the chocolate . . . 

MEET MR. ADAM HAYES: DESIGNER, ILLUSTRATOR, PROFESSIONALLY AWESOME

Thanks to swissmiss I just discovered the amazing design and illustration portfolio of Adam Hayes.  While his website is a bit bare bones, all of his work is beautiful!  I particularly love the piece he made for the "if you could . . ." print series titled "with you again" (third from the top).

From top to bottom, all by Adam Hayes: "Interactions", "Next", "With You Again", "Something to Dream About"

THE BEST

Amazing.  Not only is the stencil perfectly cut and perfectly placed, the photo aptly captures the wonder passersby feel when they are confronted with truly clever street art.  Work like this is like a little gift to anyone who comes across it.  Many people think of graffiti as the work of a moment.  I think this piece proves that great street art is carefully considered, created and composed.

Photo via Wooster Collective.

SEEING THE PAPER FOR THE TREES . . .

This week I discovered an exquisite exhibition catalogue for "Crafty", a show held at Mass Art in the fall of 2006.  "Crafty" focused on the work of twenty-one artists, all of whom use "craft" in a myriad of ways to inform and construct their work.  Cohesion within the exhibit was insured by grouping artists in categories like "The Paper Extremists", "State of the Union", and "Role Play".  While much of the work in the show was interesting, the paper bag sculptures of Japanese artist Yuken Teruya were extraordinary in their creation of tiny havens; using a material that was going to be thrown away (paper bags), Teruya divines a miniature world, where the centerpiece is the one elegant hand-cut/silhouetted tree.  If only everyone could see the paper for the beautiful tree inside it, we would be a lot better off. . . . 

Top to bottom, Yuken Teruya: "Louis Vuitton", "Chandon", "Le Bon Marche"

PLATES PLEASE.

Following my mantra "Why buy boring when you can buy beautiful?" I am recommending these awesome plates!  The top plate is by "people will always need plates" a really cool English company that features English architecture (and, in this case, London traffic) on their dinner ware.  The bottom two plates are designed by cul de sac design and titled "the little dip" and "construction robot platter".

SO SHOE ME!

This morning, while surfing Dwell Magazine's Product of the Day section (dangerous!), I discovered this funky shoe storage by Rakku Design!  The cords on the outside are stretchy to let you squeeze your footwear in.  Inside the wheels the dividers are also adjustable so you can fit everything from high tops to flip flops.  And they spin! Woohoo.

ANOTHER REASON TO SMILE ON FRIDAY

I recently come across a great website that focuses on inventive, inspirational and just darn cool street art (Cool street art?  Isn't that redundant?) called "The Wooster Collective".  Though this photo is not necessarily the "best" piece of street art featured on the site, it is pretty funny.  Maybe hardware stores should start printing some of those square plastic signs with this phrase on it?