Last week I was complaining about winter, this week there are already the first signs of spring that'll come. No swallows yet, but some daisies and forget-me-nots and I even saw the first daffodils. Grey sky left us and back is bright blue! Yet it is a very quiet thing, nothing loud in nature in this moment (spring will get loud in some weeks, I guess). It's more a kind of anticipation of spring which is all around and I cannot help it; I just have to celebrate it! :-)
"On my night time flight back to SF from Amsterdam, I noticed that the lights from cities were making the clouds glow. Really spectacular and ethereal - it was really seeing the impact of urban environments from a different perspective. Each glow or squiggle represents one town or city!" James Leng The song is wonderful, too.
That may be a reason why it is so short and why mankind needed to insert Valentine in it. It is still winter, but you already had months of winter. It’s terrible cold but shops already sell summer fashion, so you long for warmth. Days are still short, but you cannot stand your sofa anymore, all you want is go out out out (without freezing, obviously). While our personal world gets faster with every day (you remember analog modems?), you cannot hurry nature. Spring is in march. Period. So, all we can do is wait. And while we are waiting, let’s try not to get winterblues (even if it is really justified in February). Best way to fight the blues: dancing!
Ely Kim is a Student at Yale and confesses to love dancing. Now, I know it is a long video and the first minute may seem just funny, but Ely has some really cool moves. And an awesome track list! Congratulations! Second best way to fight winter blues: dream of stylish places. I found this set from Tom Palumbo; Paris 1962.
Isn't it just perfect? You'll find all his set here and his personal hompage here, he has great photos!
Third: now use your energy and your imagination to change something. As a woman I tend to remodel the house, but it could be anything you like. If I am not wrong it is a good moment to do some garden work, too.
I wasn't really surprised, that my style is "Scandinavian Urban" - what is yours?
if you still have doubts how to active your creative self, take the test.
The American Book Review recently published the "100 Best First Lines from Novels", most of them are predictable (like the obvious number 1 or number 6), others are a wonderful re-read. I personally love number 2:
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. — Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (1813)
I think it is equally funny as it is intelligent. Where do you find this in a first line? Then, the first line that had more influence on my life, Mr. Dalloway.
First lines are the crucial ones, everywhere. I guess, everybody who is staring at his/her blank Valentine's card in these days, knows what I am talking about. Even when you are not about to write a novel, but a simple e-mail or even when you are not writing, but just looking for a good first sentence to talk to some one; the first line is the most difficult. Recently I had a conversation about leather bound journals, I was full of admiration for them, I love them for their materials, the leather, the paper - everything precious. But then I don't use them, because I feel the urge to fill them with something equally precious. I turned to Moleskines, good companions in my whirlwind daily life. I like the sound when you knock on them.
But still, in every journal I start, I leave the first pages blank, keeping the space for precious thoughts & finds. Michael Bierut even finds Moleskins too showy: "No fancy Moleskines for me, just standard-issue office supply composition books." He has 26 years in 85 Notebooks. Awesome story!
Now, to something completely weird (only Internet can do this): the Beatles complete on Ukulele! Every time I hear Ukulele I think about Mrs. Monroe.
Roger Greenawalt and David Barratt have this project to "Record & perform on ukulele all 185 original compositions by The Beatles with 185 guest artists." I don't even have words for this, it's fantastic. My favourite so far: While my Guitar gently weeps, maybe because if the world divides in John-people or Paul-people, I am a George-person.
And now, Valentine! Yay! Lovers fest. It's tomorrow. I didn't want to write about it, this year, again. But then, I came across some lovely links I want to share with you.
1. For the one who already has a sweetheart: Please, don't spend money, make by yourself.
I love this kit Derek and Lauren made, in my opinion, it doesn't need more. Aw!
And I love good advice. Specially when it is so creative like this one: Thelonius Monk’s advice to saxophonist Steve Lacy (1960) (by swissmiss)
"Always leave them wanting more" - I should try this at work. In this moment I have more the impression that the harder I work, they always expect more and faster, faster, faster. :-o
Several years ago I saw a printed ad with a guy in shirt and jeans painting this bathroom walls with scenes from the Sistine Chapel, I loved the idea. Since then I was always dreaming to transform a bathroom into something special, a place that could be in another country, like Hawaii (would have been pink and cyan, with huge flowers and some hula dolls). I didn't think of this idea for years now, until I saw this illustrator's way to transform his bathroom walls. Awesome!
