Tag Archives: creativity

The Civil Wars

this & that January 11, 2014 1 Comment

on-the-verge-the-civil-wars-taylor-swift-adele-AT5BNSP-x-large The Civil Wars…one of my favorite bands, the creators behind the ethereal, heartbreaking Poison and Wine, one of the most tender, gorgeous love songs I’ve ever heard…and the group that made their title a sort of living reality, heading suddenly and with what appears to be some finality into an ending.

The push-and-pull, closeness yet distance required between two people who clearly had some level of personal chemistry and an oceanload of creative chemistry, who toured together, crafted and performed love songs together, yet were not together romantically (Williams’ husband is their manager) – finally destructed.

And while I do not believe that it was personal differences, but largely creative, that severed an intense connection, it is hard not to see an undercurrent of longing, however stifled, in some of their earlier work. Regardless, here’s a look back at earlier, better times, and oddly, these photos capture well the simultaneous closeness and distance between two people, a man and a woman, locked in a creative twosome.

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Interview: Natasha of The Snooty Tea Blog

creativity, this & that January 9, 2014 Leave a comment

Photos by Annushka Munch Photography-3

 

Natasha lives in New York and is the tea-genius behind The Snooty Tea Blog, a blog I am a big fan of in which she curates, reviews, and extensively discusses tea. I reached out to her to find out more about her inspiration, and below are her delightful responses. Follow her on Facebook or Twitter!

Do you remember your very first cup of tea?

We’ve always had some form of tea in the house, and one of the first cups of tea that I can remember was made by my grandmother, who was staying with us for the winter. It was a mug of Celestial Seasoning’s Red Zinger, which she had doctored up with honey and lemon because I was suffering from some flu-y thing or another. She had made one for herself as well–maybe I’d tasted hers and requested one of my own. Dangit, the more I try and recall exactly what happened, the blurrier the details get. Call it senili-tea.

How did your passion for tea start? How did that segue into the The Snooty Tea Blog? 

My passion for tea started after ordering up some Adagio goodies during the “Woo, green tea is the magical skinny-bullet!” craze of ’09. Since I wasn’t keen on purchasing creepy tablets of tea extract, I went the more natural route and decided to treat myself to some high-quality full-leaf bags. I became so enamored with the tea itself that I wanted to try more and more, as many varie-teas as possible–which is still true today.

The Snooty Tea Blog came about because all that sip-‘sploration had accumulated with it a hefty load of senseless tea knowledge. With nowhere else to put it, I dumped those tidbits and tea-scoveries onto a cabin-fever-inspired blog that I had started, but never had any real goals for. As it turned out, people liked reading my posts! Go figure. Everything else fell from there–getting contacted by tea companies for reviews, starting the Youtube channel, meeting some really amazing tea folks like Elyse Peterson of Tealet, Jeff Fuchs of Jalam Teas, and Nicole Martin of Tea For Me Please… Ece-tea-ra.

Recommend a black, a green,  a white, and an oolong tea.

Make Art

art & illustration, creativity January 5, 2014 Leave a comment

artdesk

Books are a Uniquely Portable Magic

books poetry lit December 4, 2013 Leave a comment

books

 

via the lovely Bibliophiles, a favorite book blog

Hilarious Response to Amazon’s Drones

this & that December 2, 2013 Comments: 3

Yesterday, Amazon.com announced that it is developing pilotless flying vehicles called “octocopters” that can deliver packages within a half hour of customers placing an order. See the full WSJ article here and Amazon’s video overview.

Below, however, is a video response from UK company Waterstones.

“We’re excited to announce the Ornithological Waterstones Landing Service, a brand new way to receive your favourite books,” said Waterstones, trying hard not to snigger.

“O.W.L.S. consists of a fleet of specially trained owls that, either working individually or as an adorable team, will be able to deliver your package within thirty minutes of you placing your order.”

The Brew Will See You Through

art & illustration, coffee November 27, 2013 Comments: 2

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from watersounds

Just Do Things

art & illustration November 20, 2013 Leave a comment

inspirationquotevia

 

Caffeinated Links

this & that September 11, 2013 Leave a comment

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New Van Gogh Identified –  A painting that sat for six decades in a Norwegian industrialist’s attic after he was told it was a fake Van Gogh was pronounced the real thing Monday, making it the first full-size canvas by the tortured Dutch artist to be discovered since 1928. RT Yahoo

This has been everywhere today, but is also the most joy-filled, magical, breathtaking celebration of the human body and the art of motion that I’ve seen in years.  Photographer Jordan Matter crafted a stunning series of ballet dancers striking poses in mundane situations. Gorgeous and magical. RT Dancers Among Us

The Millions reviews J.M. Coetzee’s The Childhood of Jesus–

“That’s just gibberish. It doesn’t mean anything.”

“It does mean something. It means something to me.”

“That may be so but it doesn’t mean anything to me. Language has to mean something to me as well as to you, otherwise it doesn’t count as language.”

In a gesture that he must have picked up from Inés, the boy tosses his head dismissively. “La la fa fa yam ying! Look at me!”

He looks into the boy’s eyes. For the briefest of moments he sees something there. He has no name for it. It is like — that is what occurs to him in the moment. Like a fish that wriggles loose as you try to grasp it. But not like a fish — no, like like a fish. Or like like like a fish. On and on. Then the moment is over, and he is simply standing in silence, staring.

“Did you see?” says the boy. RT The Millions

Last but not least, on the tenth anniversary of The X-Files, Gillian Anderson writes the most adorable letter ever to the world, in which she thanks David Duchovny for wearing those speedos. RT Pajiba

Caffeinated Links: Franzen, BB Cream, Creativity, and Women in Media

books poetry lit, creativity, this & that August 7, 2013 Leave a comment

quirkywatch

What you’re left with is a funny film that never gets really funny. It’s fine, but not thrilling, the film version of eating at Chili’s. – FSR on “We’re the Millers”

Gratified to see that there’s a reason I don’t like Jonathan Franzen – “I think she was surprised that I wasn’t moaning with shock and pleasure,” Jonathan Franzen says of his phone call with Oprah Winfrey in Boris Kachka’s Hothouse, recently excerpted at Slate. “I’d been working nine years on the book and FSG had spent a year trying to make a best-seller of it. It was our thing. She was an interloper, coming late, and with an expectation of slavish gratitude and devotion for the favor she was bestowing.” -A Handy Guide to Why Jonathan Franzen Pisses You Off, RT Flavorwire

“Creativity requires giving myself away. It involves nicking an artery somewhere and seeing what bleeds out, then using what’s there constructively and thoughtfully. In this way, creation is the very opposite of consumption; it’s a generous outward motion. There is no greed in it. It’s communication, born of a desire to participate in and engage with the world, instead of merely absorbing it.” – RT Lawless Gentile

Birchbox presents an incredibly helpful guide explaining what BB cream, CC cream, and the like are – “Unlike lipstick, which is meant to be seen, base makeup is supposed to be your invisible ally, masking imperfections, evening out skin tone, and creating a perfect canvas for the rest of your makeup—without anyone knowing it’s actually there. Since that’s easier said than done, we’ve created a coverage guide to help you choose which formula is right for you.”  –The Base Makeup Coverage

Woot! No words to describe this awesome. “Good news for people who like to watch people other than white men host their evening news programs: PBS has grabbed Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff to co-host NewsHour, the channel’s long-running nightly news program. According to PBS, “This will mark the first time a network broadcast has had a female co-anchor team.” Bonus diversity points because one of them isn’t white!” – RT Jezebel

Caffeinated Links: James Rhodes, Tim Tebow, Saeed Abedini, The State of Music 2013

this & that April 29, 2013 Leave a comment

kitten

James Rhodes: Find What You Love and Let it Kill You. What if, rather than paying £70 a month for a gym membership that delights in making you feel fat, guilty and a world away from the man your wife married you bought a few blank canvases and some paints and spent time each day painting your version of “I love you” until you realized that any woman worth keeping would jump you then and there just for that, despite your lack of a six-pack?” (RT The Guardian)

Noisy Courtship, Quiet Breakup: Jets Dump Tebow. “Tebow, to a degree, is not exempt from culpability. It was he, after all, who chose to accept the trade to the Jets rather than play for Jacksonville, where he was reared. But Tebow could not have predicted what awaited him in New York. The former special-teams coordinator Mike Westhoff, in a memorable radio interview after the season, called the Jets’ mishandling of Tebow “a mess, it was an absolute mess.” (RT NYT)

Update on Save Saeed: Letter Says Iran Release Depends on Abedini Renouncing Faith.”In a letter obtained by the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), Abedini—a U.S. citizen of Iranian descent—wrote that he was told by Iranian prison officials, “Deny your faith in Jesus Christ and return to Islam or else you will not be released from prison. We will make sure you are kept here even after your 8 year sentence is finished” (RT Christianity Today)

The State of Music 2013. “Everything is getting so niche-market and pulling us apart. You don’t have to listen to what everybody else listens to. You can find your own thing. If your thing is tribal beats, you can listen to tribal beats all the time, and it doesn’t matter whether or not the radio plays it.” (RT Relevant)