Brilliant illustrator Nick Foreman re-imagines city landscapes as they might be in the future.
Metropolis – a futuristic Paris
Shipment
Ruins
Illustration Love – Nick Foreman’s Futuristic Dystopias
Poetry: Lilies of the Field
When did the phenomena melt together, fused by expectation?
There are a thousand perfect poems in the fields. As a child,
I would gather samples — flowers, seeds and leaves, each one
poetic and complete, mysteries of form and wonder, pattern
and proportion. I took my own sustenance for granted, gave
no thought to need. When did my sight become constricted,
these open apertures grow narrow, restricted to seeing things
I understand, for which I have a purpose? When did the fields
become a flat expanse of un-mowed green? Look there!
In that field! I am too grown-up — I see nothing.
(from Returning to Awe, Balkan Press, 2014)
-Laura M Kaminski, The Poetry Storehouse
Share this:
Book Review: Mr. Kiss and Tell (Veronica Mars #2)
2004 cult classic TV show Veronica Mars is one of the great loves of my life (it’s one of the tags used enough to actually show up in my tag cloud to the right, for the record). So of course I pre-ordered show creator Rob Thomas and co-writer Jennifer Graham’s second book in the novel series as soon as it was available, knowing that, even if I didn’t like, it, I still wanted to support the series and the world.
In Mr. Kiss and Tell, a girl has been brutally raped and assaulted, and claims that an employee at the Neptune Grand, where she spent the evening before her assault, is the perpetrator. She plans to sue the hotel, which hires Veronica to find out the truth.
The second half of this (as was the case in the first book), is much faster-paced and tighter than the first half, but only my familiarity with and love for the characters gives life to what is unfortunately rather an underwhelming, stale world. Every single plot twist and turn, except perhaps one, is predictable – the book sets up the two or three central conflicts in the first one-third and then unrolls them in exactly the way you’d expect, without deviation. One of these subplots is the institutionalized corruption and injustice of the police force, and the series wants to be a dark, gritty take on this, a reflection of 21st-century realities, but the depth of world and character-building just isn’t there. What does that structure look like, how does corruption interact with itself, what are the internal processes and motivations of those involved? The subplot is brushed on, hinted at further development, but never really delved into.
Logan takes up a scant handful of pages sprinkled through the novel, reflective of his non-prioritized role in Veronica’s life, which is faithful to the original series but is puzzling and frustrating at this point. Rob Thomas and the writers assured fans by the events of the film that Veronica is deeply in love with Logan and committed – yet one of the same things that tore them apart in the TV series is still evident, and unlike in the series, the book doesn’t show it as a flaw: Veronica’s compulsive habit of prioritizing her cases over everything in her life.
Share this:
In Transit: Woman on a Train by Maja Topcagic
I got my red dress on tonight
Dancing in the dark in the pale moonlight
Share this:
Poetry: No One Goes to Paris in August
A Montparnasse August
with view of the Cimetière. A yard of bones.
We wake to it. Close curtains to it.
Wake to its lanes. Rows of coffin-stones in varying light.
Walking here. Late with shade low, low, long.
We’re passing through, just passing through
neat aisles of gray mausoleums.
(From Paris. Send this postcard. This one.
Calm water lilies. Water lilies.
Nothing colorless.)
It’s morning. Baudelaire’s tomb.
Tree limbs casting shadow west.
This, a lot of time under a looming sky.
Nobody has time like this.
(Time to go to Le Mandarin for coffee
every day. We’re not complaining.
They bring the milk separate.
Watch the passersby on Saint-Germain.)
Nothing to ponder. This is the plight.
Pause by Pigeon in bed with his wife —
both fully dressed.
Pink flowers, pink flowers,
just beneath de Beauvoir’s name.
When she lived she lived two doors down.
Went south in August.
All of us smell of heat all the time.
We are the living. Oh dear!
There are the dead ones there.
Their thoughts more familiar, though.
Lives finished, nearly clear.
And they make it possible for us to go on living
as we do in their blue shade.
-Clarence Major’s forthcoming Selected Poems
Share this:
Quotidian: C.S. Lewis
I always imagine that when Lewis’ friend Tolkein took the elves to a far green land across the sea, this is what he meant
Share this:
Poetry: Garden In The Iran-Iraq War
In this time, happy branches bow
with young fruit so heavy
limbs must be lopped off the trunk. God needs to
borrow another son. Sisters, it’s this,
we say, or your whole garden. And you— you will want to hide
your fruit behind the family’s coats in a hall closet—you will want
your sons to stay still, buried
under your long coats, close—their bodies soft. Breathing,
maybe curled up, your boys will wait in a cracked suitcase,
or a wooden box, just for the time
no bomb siren shakes
your trees. No, no one ever really knows. Imagine
a night your courtyard’s lit by the fire of burning
oranges still clinging to their branches. Remember, this whole
orchard could burn.
-Aliah Lavonne Tigh, Matter
Share this:
The Hobbit Best of Cast Interviews, Extras, Production Videos
Like any person with a soul that harkens to dragons and hobbits, I’m obsessed with Lord of the Rings. After watching the final Hobbit film, I took a deep dive into production videos and cast interviews. The best of what I found is collected below, and will be periodically updated.
“I have a secret feeling that we’re all Hobbits. Deep down we all want to stay home and feel safe but we all dream about someone knocking on the door and saying ‘come on an adventure and let’s have a fun ride’.” – Richard Armitage
Continue reading
Share this:
What I’m Into Recently: Jimmy Fallon, Million-Dollar Chocolate Bar, Voluspa Goji & Tarocco Orange candle
Nicole Kidman informing Jimmy Fallon that she was into him that one time she visited him apartment is one of the most adorable things I’ve seen in weeks.
Barton’s Milk Chocolate Million-Dollar Bar. How adorable is this?? A sweets shop just opened close to where I work, and while I rarely eat candy, I did of course check out their chocolate selection and found this. How Willy-Wonka is this? Unfortunately the quality of the chocolate isn’t great, but this is a great stocking stuffer or fun/prank gift. I can tell you, some small part of me expected to find a Golden Ticket in this as I unwrapped it. Never stop living in dreams, kids. Note: you can buy these at World Market.
Voluspa Goji & Tarocco Orange candle. Have I mentioned before how obsessed with Anthropologie’s Voluspa candles I am? It’s really really hard to find candles that are long-burning and have a strong, lasting scent, but these are scent magic, the perfect candle. I gravitate toward citrus scents in all candles and perfume so it’s no surprise that my favorite is the Voluspa Goji & Tarocco Orange with notes of goji berry, ripe mango and tarocco orange. It’s an incredibly deep, rich, sweet-but-not-too-sweet, heavenly smell. These also burn forever and the scent, while not overwhelming, distinctively floats over the entire space, unlike every other candle brand I’ve ever tried (Luminesccence which Sears sells comes in second, but has a much more bland scent range).
And finally, this music video for Kdrama Pinocchio is gorgeously romantic.
Coffee and Irony 