BLAST FROM THE PAST

Here's a little blast from the past for all my fellow children of the '80s. The only thing that would make it more wonderfully nostalgic is if the commercial were for Netscape or AOL. Ha! Kudos to Internet Explorer for a creative advertising campaign.

(thanks to Huffington Post for the tip)

TOMAS SARACENO, BACK IN TIME

Remember last spring when the Metropolitan Museum had a huge Tomas Saraceno piece on their roof? Turns out in 2009 Saraceno did this amazing installation—also comprised of big, geometric cloud forms—at Anderson's Contemporary, a gallery in Berlin. I love the way the clouds pop against the black walls. Wouldn't it be cool to recreate a mini version in your house? Say in a guest room or living room? Too bad these clouds aren't for sale!

Get more information about the installation here, check out more gorgeous work by Saraceno here and more projects at Anderson Contemporary here.

(thanks to This is Colossal for the tip)

POP THE BUBBLY, TAKE A SEAT

How cool is this? Design Within Reach sponsored a contest, asking participants to design a cool miniature chair out of only the foil, cage, label and cork of two champagne bottles. These are some of my favorite entries, though you can find the top three winners here. Now if only they would make these in full scale . . . I would love to have one or two in my apartment!

See many more cool things on the DWR blog here.

WALK ON THE WILD SIDE (OF THE STREET)

As we know, Flavorwire comes up with some awesome things to share on their site, particularly when it comes to public art. Recently I stumbled across a post Flavorwire did about incredible street art projects . . . we'll call it sidewalks gone wild. The round up featured a number of amazing and inventive  interventions into common streets all over the world. Here are some of my favorites:



Hyper realistic street and illusionistic paintings . . . good for photo ops and freaking out your friends!




A trampoline sidewalk . . . not very practical but super fun!




Giant monopoly . . . living in NYC we already have Lexington, now bring on Reading Railroad!




A bouncy bridge across the Seine . . . just put away your keys before stepping on. :)





And last, but certainly not least, a sidewalk and staircase in the middle of a lake . . . beautiful and poetic no?

FRIDAY AFTERNOON VIDEO REDUX

Well, I don't know about you, but I am ready for the weekend. And what better way to kick it off then with a handful of videos to inspire, amaze and incite goofy laughter (we all need some of that every once in a while). Without further ado, I present . . .



 . . . a beautiful view of our mother earth from above. NPR has used this as evidence of a fascinating (and terrifying) new source of light in the middle of the barely inhabited plains of North Dakota. No matter what caused them or what they entail, the lights in these NASA videos are breathtaking . . .




. . . a crazy video of 138 people breaking the vertical skydiving record last year and forming complex patterns in the sky while they do it (insert dumbfounded, mouth agape image here) . . .




. . . and, last but not least, a silly video parody for my fellow football fanatics (die hard Boston fans like me have a nerve-wracking weekend coming up!).

Hope you have a lovely weekend! I am traveling all of next week in Seattle & San Francisco so posts will be sporadic. But I will be back at the end of the month with fun recaps of all my west coast escapades.

WARBY PARKER ANNUAL REPORT

You know what's cool? Warby Parker glasses are cool (I own these). You what's even cooler? The fact that every year Warby Parker puts out a wonderfully designed interactive & illustrated annual report. Here's the report for 2012. I particularly like the Waldo-inspired glasses and the alternative site they built for dogs: Warby Barker!

Check out more coolness at their website here and their blog here.

BLOCK SHOP SCARVES

Isn't it cool to have talented friends? A fabulous friend, Lily Stockman, designed these beautiful block printed scarves and I am drooling over them. They are so gorgeous, in fact, that they are completely sold out of her online shop. If you like to torture yourself like me, though, you will go and check out all the designs here. Fingers crossed these babies come back in stock soon!

You can also check out Lily's wonderful fine art portfolio here and blog here.

BROCK DAVIS: INSTAGRAM WONDER

As you probably already know, I dabble in social media. Besides this blog, I am also on facebook, twitter and pinterest and have tested a few other things along the way. But the one thing I come back to time and time again—often checking it before I go to bed or right when I wake up—is instagram.

That said, there is nothing more delightful on instagram than finding a photographer who turns everything about the app on its head. Brock Davis is just that photographer, providing shots that are polished, inventive and cheeky. They remind me of John Baldessari's work: the best combination of surprise and delight.

Check out more of Davis's instagram glory here, his tumblr here and his 2012 top shots here.


(thanks to This is Colossal for the tip)

WHILE AWAY THE HOURS

Right now, in the middle of winter and in the middle of a busy time at work and school, all I can think about is kicking back and taking it easy. Ironically, given the fact that I read for school for hours every night, my ideal lazy afternoon involves a cozy little reading nook where I can cuddle up in a big wing-backed chair with a good book. Add a cup of hot chocolate and you pretty much have heaven.

Here are my picks for all the necessary elements to while away the hours:

comfy chair, $749

pretty pillow, $24

cozy quilt, $450

fantastic novel, $10


What's your favorite lazy afternoon activity?

MONSTERS UNIVERSITY

If you are a college sports fan like me, you are used to watching games on tv that are punctuated with numerous university-promoting ads. Well during last night's football national championship game, I saw a commercial for an unusual type of university: Monsters University.

The ad is part of an ingenious campaign to promote the upcoming Monsters Inc. prequel, entitled Monsters University, due out this summer. In addition to strikingly realistic college commercials they have also created an amazingly clever Monsters University website, complete with degree programs (they have a School of Scaring, and a School of Liberal Arts & Monstrosities!) and an incredibly realistic President's address that almost makes you want to enroll. Not to mention a school store that allows you to select the number of sleeves on your sweatshirt; hilarious!

Even after all that, do you still feel a bit confused about what the movie will actually look like? Here's the official trailer:





But if you want to kill a couple of minutes browsing through a wonderfully creative movie website, check out all the goodness about Monsters University here.

PHILIP BARLOW

I am breaking the obsessive imagist radio silence, finally! Sorry I have been away so long; I got swamped at work, sick over the holidays, and then super behind on schoolwork. It all adds up, you know?

Anyway, I am back in action and will try to start posting again on a regular basis. To kick that off I have these beautiful paintings, created by artist Philip Barlow, to share with you. I love the luminosity of them, how cheerfully colorful they are, how evocative they are of a bright, sunny day at the beach.

His other series are equally lovely; check them all out on his website here.