Songs for Sunday: William Fitzsimmons

William Fitzsimmons is an old favorite of mine-- his songs are always gorgeous. 

Filmed by Josh Franer. "Beautiful Girl" appears on William's album 'Gold In The Shadow.'

"Please Don't Go," live in Marburg Germany, 2 Dec 2008 

Happy Friday!

designed by Lydia Nichols

This week has been absolute madness, the weekend may be possibly more insane, and I am just hoping to survive till Monday. Come Tuesday everything should be handed in (hopefully), so I'm giving you advanced warning in case you don't hear from me till then. But never fear, I planned ahead and rounded up some links for you:

The best word ever

A fantastic St. Petersburg studio apartment

I really want to try making homemade granola

A beautiful bracelet

Streetfights

This dinner party is gorgeous

A good reminder

This made me laugh

Mourning the road not taken

Have a wonderful weekend (and wish me luck)!

Short Film: High Speed Reel

This isn't really a traditional short film but rather a collection of high speed shots from the work of Charles Bergquist. Bergquist is a director, designer, and photographer based out of San Diego. I was quite impressed with his editing of this piece; though it includes segments from a number of different projects, the flow and pacing of the film is excellent and the composition is stunning.

www.work.charlesbergquist.com

High speed reel for 2011 shot with the Olympus iSpeed 3 from www.Jordy.com.
Project Title : High Speed Reel 2011
Project Type : Experimental / Commercial
Film Location : San Diego, CA / Los Angeles, CA / Big Sur, CA

Director : Charles Bergquist
Production Assistant : Katrina Adair / Andy Martin
Toolset : Olympus iSpeed 3 ( www.olympus-ims.com/en/ispeed-3/) from www.Jordy.com
Music : (Main) Mux Mool "The Butterfly Technique" - www.ghostly.com/releases/planet-high-school
             (Intro) Acoqui "Somewhere Else" www.acoqui.bandcamp.com/album/demos

The Moby Dick Big-Read

Marcus Harvey: Albus, 2009
accompanying Ch. 1: "Loomings"

Moby Dick has been on my list of must-reads for such a long time, but with all the reading I do for my research, it has been relegated time and time again to the "maybe next summer..." stack. (Other unfortunate denizens of this stack include Anna Karenina and The Brothers Karimazov -- I'm such a terrible Russian student.)

But there is hope for Moby Dick yet-- Plymouth University has undertaken a project to record a reading of each of Moby Dick's 135 chapters. Arising out of the 2011 Peninsula Arts Whale Festival, the Moby Dick Big-Read Project has been created as a part of the Plymouth International Book Festival. Peter Donaldson introduces each chapter, which is read by one of an assortment of esteemed readers such as Tilda Swinton and accompanied by a beautiful piece of art. (And you can download the recording of each chapter for free each day!)

Listening to excellent readings of such a marvelous book has been a new experience for me. I love to read and consume books quite voraciously, but the spoken word has a quality quite unmatched by that of the written. I must confess I am generally a speed-reader and can fly through a good book in a matter of hours. Listening requires me to stop, be still, and savor the prose at hand. It's not a task suited to multi-tasking, and so far, it's been quite therapeutic. 

Thus I am greatly enjoying this creative reading collective. And if you so desire, you are welcome to partake in this listening experience with me. It seems suited to close with the description of the novel given by the creators of this project:

"Moby-Dick is the great American novel. But it is also the great unread American novel. Sprawling, magnificent, deliriously digressive, it stands over and above all other works of fiction, since it is barely a work of fiction itself. Rather, it is an explosive exposition of one man’s investigation into the world of the whale, and the way humans have related to it. Yet it is so much more than that. It is a representation of evil incarnate in an animal – and the utter perfidy of that notion. Of a nature transgressed and transgressive – and of one man’s demonic pursuit, a metaphorical crusade that even now is a shorthand for overweening ambition and delusion." 

Clara Drummond: Cape-Horner in a great hurricane, 2012
accompanying Ch. 2: "The Carpet-Bag"

And in case you would like a sneak peek, here's the first chapter "Loomings" read by Tilda Swinton:

Inspired: Judith ann Braun

Judith ann Braun creates the most stunning, sophisticated finger-paintings I have ever seen. (She drew all of these works with fingers dipped in charcoal or pastel.)

Symmetrical Procedures

A close-up view

A Landscape Mural

A closer look at the landscape

Braun at work

All images belong to Judith ann Braun

Music Monday: Mumford and Sons

Babel is finally out in the U.S.! After my first listen, I can say I'm quite content. It's made for a happy Monday morning.

And since I can't help but share, check out "Reminder," the title track ("Babel"), and a few other tracks shared by the band. 

The album is now available! We are proud, elated, and impatient to share it with you. Enjoy x - M&S

Songs for Sunday: Andrew Belle

Andrew Belle is not a widely-known singer-songwriter, but his songs are simple, lovely, and perfect for fall. So I thought I'd share a few of my favorites. "Daylight" is the title track of Belle's latest EP.


The Daylight is the first song Andrew Belle's latest release, THE DAYLIGHT EP, available on Feb. 28th, 2012
Purchase now! http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-daylight-ep/id503571423
http://www.andrewbelle.com
http://www.facebook.com/andrewbelle


And this is his wonderful cover of Bob Dylan's "Knocking on Heaven's Door."

 
Andrew Belle covering "Knockin on Heaven's Door" by Bob Dylan for American Songwriter's 30 Days of Dylan.

Happy Friday!

Autumn Glory by bomobob

It's the weekend and fall is finally here! Of course, living in Tucson means that it's still quite toasty outside, but cooler weather should be coming soon (hopefully). I can't say I have terribly exciting weekend plans, but I am looking forward to perusing our local antique fair on Saturday. Of course, I've gathered a collection of my favorite finds from this week to share before I go:

Impress a lonely penguin (and get a job!)

A beautiful home in Vienna

Pothole art and political activism 

These lightbulbs are awesome

A mesmerizing map

Make gorgeous DIY window art

Penny paintings

Who wants to make almond date truffles? (me!)

Fall leaves on Etsy

Have a wonderful weekend!

Short Film: A Hand-Lettering Experience

So much lovely hand-lettering in two minutes. Leandro Senna created 66 hand-lettered cards over the course of a month, with just a pencil, pens, brushes. I'm impressed by both the patience and the skill involved in this project.

Bob Dylan Subterranean Homesick Blues - A HAND LETTERING EXPERIENCE from Leandro Senna on Vimeo.

"I´ve been thinking for a lot of time on doing a personal project where I could get out of the computer for a little bit, and have pleasure doing something handmade. Getting back to the basics.
Inspired by Bob Dylan´s Subterranean Homesick Blues video, where he flips cards with the lyrics as the song plays, I decided to recreate those cards with handmade type. I ended up doing all the lyrics, and not just some of the words, as Dylan did.
There are 66 cards done in one month during my spare time using only pencil, black tint pens and brushes. The challenge was not to use the computer, no retouching was allowed. Getting a letter wrong meant starting the page over.
I had a lot of fun doing this project, researching, practicing and getting deeper on typography.
There are some intentional misspellings and puns on the original song video, so I tried to keep that in a certain way.
You can watch the original movie here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKfrjk6suAQ
Get in touch with some of my work visiting www.leandrosenna.com"

Check out all of the cards and the process of making them on Senna's website

Favorite Reading: XKCD

I know I'm not quite the typical reader of this comic (I'm in the social sciences rather than the hard sciences), but XKCD is still my most favorite webcomic. The humor is clever, I love the research involved, and every so often I learn something. And in case you haven't seen it, yesterday's comic is incredible. (Maybe because yesterday was my birthday?) Anways.. Go check it out!

P.S.  These are a few of my favorite comics

The Carriage

Control

Password Strength

 

All images belong to XKCD

Reading: Heart Home

Spread from Heart Home Autumn 2012

Heart Home's Autumn edition is out, and it's full of all sorts of lovely home inspiration. Heart Home is a British lifestyle magazine for interior design that features independent British designers and all sorts of home transformations and lifestyle tips. There are some amazing spaces in these quarter's edition, including an eclectic warehouse transformation and an LA loft.

P.S.   They have some awesome recipes (Chocolate Hazelnut Nutella tart, anyone?)


Check out their previous issues on the Heart Home website

Inspired: Rob Bailey

Wish you were here

I'm a sucker for some nice minimalist design. And I absolutely love the sharp angles and bright colors of Manchester-based illustrator Rob Bailey's work. His pieces have such an amazing combination of complexity and simplicity. You simply must check out his site (there are more amazing designs to be found!)

Dogs

Club night

Romans

Port Street Beer House

All images belong to Rob Bailey

Monday Music: The Perishers

The Perishers are a pretty awesome Swedish band that's been around for a while. "Nothing Like You and I" is my favorite song by them. It's pretty great. Enjoy:

P.S.
I know, I know. I took the day off yesterday. Mental health break :)

Happy Friday!

Unexpected Awesomeness- photo by Traci Griffin

It's the weekend! I've got family coming into town and all sorts of wedding-related errands to run, but it should be plenty of fun. I hope you have some lovely weekend plans as well. Per usual, I have some links for you before I dash off:

Would you like to live on a houseboat?

A lovely paper collection from Darling Clementine

These illustrations are made out of tea!

Pretty, creative invitations

All sorts of literary classics are coming to theaters this year- are you excited?

Make fun and festive folding chairs 

So many pretty pillows!

Shoes

An amazing, unexpected community-filled wedding

These backyards are awesome

Why we wed

Have a wonderful weekend!