random posts of pretty

Even if you're already getting a bit tired of listening to "Two Weeks" off of Grizzly Bear's Veckatimest (though I, for one, am not), I'd still strongly encourage you to watch this GORGEOUS animated fan video made by some fella named Gabe Askew. I've watched it so many times today I'm surprised I didn't break the Internet. Someone had the time, will, and ability to make this for free and in his spare time, and to that I say, "YES." Love, lurve, squee...!

(Via dooce)

random posts of pretty

I'm looking at the date stamp on my last post and realizing that it's been an abnormally long time since last we spoke, and for no particularly good reason. Sorry about that. I wish I could say it was because I was doing all sorts of fascinating things in fascinating places, but the truth is that I've mostly been catching up on the second season of Mad Men and working on some household projects I'd like to get squared away before work summons me back. Fascinating stuff, to be sure. I do, however, have lots and lots of books to tell you about, but while I muster up the energy for what's sure to be a monster literary post, why don't you take a look at CG illustrator Macoto Murayama's flower illustrations. They look a bit like floral cyborgs. Floral cyborgs are purty.

(Via)

random posts of pretty

We saw some of the strangest, most beautiful street art while in Valencia. It's like every corner we turned there was a mural painted on the wall of a building lining some random alley. And no, no story behind this. I just love me some street art....

random posts of pretty: su blackwell's book-cut sculptures

Although the bibliophile in me loathes the idea of cutting up a book, Su Blackwell's fantastic book-cut sculptures are pretty enough to make me look the other way. Of course, the fact that there are several Alice in Wonderland pieces in her collection weighs heavily in her favor...

(Via Jezebel)

(not so) random posts of pretty

Thanks to my recent trip to Barcelona where his work is everywhere, Antoni Gaudi has become my all-time favorite architect. I got a chance to see some of his houses and, of course, the Sagrada Familia, and it all just blew me away. Pictures truly can't do justice to his epic, beautiful, strange designs. And while it was all amazing, my favorite had to be Park Güell.

In 1900, Gaudi was commissioned to build a neighborhood of luxury houses set atop and away from the crime and pollution of the city center. Enough lots were available to build as many as sixty homes, but when the model home was unveiled, the Barcelona aristocracy was shocked and appalled at what Gaudi had created, so only two homes were ever built and only one was sold, making it a massive failure. I suppose it's easy to imagine how folks in 1910 might not have been able to wrap their heads around Gaudi's design, however today the park teems with tourists, the dragon sculpture outside one of the homes has become a symbol of Barcelona, and I can imagine folks would drop some major cash if the houses became available for private sale.

Of course, I loved everything about the place. It's like being in a fairytale dream word created by a mildly mad man...

random posts of pretty: dina goldstein's "fallen princesses" photo series

For every little girl who's a little too fascinated with Disney fairy tales and happy endings, perhaps?






(Via Jezebel)

random posts of pretty: iranian street art

Like many of you, I've been following what's been going on in Iran with a mixture of disgust and awed fascination. Since cable news has proven to be absolutely worthless when it comes to reporting this story, most of my information has come from a combination of blogs and YouTube videos, and although I don't use Twitter as a news source, most American news bloggers have admitted to getting much of their inside information from Iranian tweets. This is a separate source of disgust/fascination - where were the "legitimate" journalists when this story was breaking, and who would have thought that fun social networking tools like Twitter and Facebook could be so essential at picking up the ball when the "real" news drops it?

Apropos, one thing we can learn from the current happenings in Iran is to never underestimate the power of youth. The seasoned can dismiss their hobbies and forms of expression, but they do so at their own peril. Iran's youth are currently showing the world that they are engaged, modern, creative and desirous for change. Proof of this abounds, however, some of the street art that's been springing up on the streets of Tehran only furthers the point:

(Via Andrew Sullivan, Via Frying Pan Fire)

random posts of pretty weird

Today's LA Times featured this photoseries of Yemen's Socotra Islands, nicknamed the "Galapagos of the Indian Ocean" for their isolation and, thus, strangely unique biodiversity. And seriously, the place looks crazed. Like where Ompa Loompas come from or something:




The image above is a picture of a dragon’s blood tree unique to Socotra, so named because a "red resin drips from its bark when pierced." This tree BLEEDS. Redonkulous!

(Via)

random posts of pretty

These pictures come via Very Short List, and are full of pulp and awesome. Thomas Allen creates dioramas out of classic pieces of pulp fiction and then photographs them. The results are so campy and droll I can't even stand it. Love!

Tangle

Fury

Viewfinder

Venom

Gripping

Distraction

Stacked

random posts of pretty

Hi, doves. Allow me to be honest with you. For the past few weeks I have been positively SLAMMED at work, hence the blog has suffered. (Of course, so have my eating habits, sleep, commitment to physical fitness and ability to read for pleasure, but you don't really care about those things, I fear.) I'm beginning to see the light at the tunnel but a true reprieve is still a few days away, so trust that while I may remain a bit distant for the time being that it is merely temporary.

In the meantime, here's the prettiest thing I've heard all week (and no, it ain't Susan Boyle). I'd never heard of Other Lives prior to this video, but I'm glad they're on my radar now because, lo, they are lovely. Enjoy.

(Via Don't Forget to Dance)

random posts of pretty tacky

I'm a big fan of subversive humor, so these images, taken from Tacky Weddings, tickled me in all the right spots. (And though that sentence looks awfully dirty in print, that's really not how it sounded in my head. Or maybe it did. I can't remember. Whatever. Stop judging me.)

(Via)

random posts of pretty

From Revolutionary Road, by Richard Yates

(Which I just finished for my book club, and which I thought was a beautifully written, flawless novel, even if I read most of it wanting to punch Frank Wheeler squarely in the jaw.)

I still had this idea that there was a whole world of marvelous golden people somewhere, as far ahead of me as the seniors at Rye when I was in sixth grade; people who knew everything instinctively, who made their lives work out the way they wanted without even trying, who never had to make the best of a best job because it never occurred to them to do anything less than perfectly the first time. Sort of heroic super-people, all of them beautiful and witty and calm and kind, and I always imagined that when I did find them I'd suddenly know that I belonged among them, that I was one of them, that I’d been meant to be one of them all along, and everything in the meantime had been a mistake; and they'd know it too. I'd be like the ugly duckling among the swans.

random posts of pretty

Someone named "iri5" has a photo set up on Flickr of these awesome pieces of art that s/he has created from old cassette tapes, and even if they weren't portraits of some of my favorite musicians of all time, I'd probably still think they're pretty rad.

From top to bottom, we have cassette tape portraits of The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Ian Curtis (from Joy Division) and, my personal favorite, Robert Smith. Aren't they crazy awesome? I want one for my house!

Now, if s/he would just do Morrissey's portrait....

(Via Boing Boing)