early birds vs night owls

When asked how our school year is going so far, my response is usually something like, "It'll be better once we get into the swing of things." Not to say it isn't going well--it's only been a week after all! But having begun the semester right before a three day weekend, I don't think either me or The Boy are yet in our groove. People always stress the importance of establishing a routine for little ones, but I find a daily regimen truly integral to my own peace of mind. Now that I've begun my masters program, there's no way I'll be able to stay on top of everything without devoting specific times of day to work, study, chores, et cetera. Writing takes concentration, after all, and it's hard for me to get in the right mindset at the drop of a hat. Obviously, I'm not alone in this--writers are known for their strict regimens and quirky habits. But, does all this planning and self control really work? Can you truly enhance your productivity by dictating your daily routine? Writer and Renaissance Woman Maria Popova shares my curiosity. Below, see the handy info graphic she compiled for Brain Pickings Magazine, which neatly expresses the relationship of various famous author's wake-up times to their literary accomplishments. Whether the relationships here expressed are causal or merely correlative, I find them fascinating! 

I've always been an early riser, mornings being my most productive time of day. However, when you're consistently awoken by a certain someone at 5:00am (or earlier!) for the past two weeks running, mornings can lose their magic. Not to mention the detrimental effect said young person's presence has on my ability to concentrate. The implication above is that these individuals had the luxury of choosing to wake up at 4:00am. Notably missing from this analysis is the number of children each of these individuals were responsible for when writing their various masterpieces--another study altogether, and one I'd like to see!

Portraits by Wendy Macnaughton

emoji gewgaw

Oh, hello again. I guess you haven't heard much from me in a while. I think I maybe hate the internet now? But it's more than that. Like, motherhood, you guys. Lately, I'm so busy playing Wendy, Moppet, Blue, or Elly to Felix's Bob, Tom Kitten, Steve, or Pocoyo that it's like I've lost my own point of view. These recent turns as supporting actor, along with my much-earlier-than-most-people's morning work schedule and the disorienting June humidity have together destroyed what remained of my attention span. Which may also explain why I've been increasingly dependent on Emojis as a means of digital expression of late. But I suppose I'm just another product of my own shamefully distracted generation. The People are demanding more and better emojis, and the sundry handful of wingding adaptations recently proffered by the Unicode Consortium apparently isn't enough to sate them; there's a surprising amount of energy being spent campaigning for symbols of hotdogs, cupcakes, and tacos to be added to the collection--even a Petition to Add More Diversity to the Emoji Keyboard, which I find somewhat more credible, as I myself bemoaned a lack of jewish symbols during my stint working with the hasidic community last winter. Pretty serious, I know. Not that I possess the wherewithal to campaign for such things--afterall, we do have letters when pictograms fail us. Still, I find the Emoji library a charming source of aesthetic inspiration. And I'm not the only one! See, for example, last December's Emoji Art & Design Show; my favorite halloween costume from last year; or Alison Chemla's emoji-inspired jewelry line Alison Lou, whose soon-to-be-released 2015 "Coney Island" resort collection perfectly captures the summery, teenaged vibe inherent to the world of emoji, imho

When texting, I prefer the cat-faced emoticons, so for me these circular smileys are more evocative of the silly tee-shirts I wore in middle school in the mid nineties. Similarly, the beach ball charm reminds me of a key chain I had as a girl (only this time, in a good way). My fav is the "ok" gold charm necklace, but at $475 it's still one of the more affordable items in the collection, which has all but sold out already. Who has this kind of disposable income these days?! Teens?!?!?!

lovely logos

Speaking of bird illustrations, how good are these logos by Bulgarian graphic designer Stephan Kanchev? I think I'd like to see him illustrate the zodiac. Do you think he would, if I asked him??

via animalarium

living language: emoji slash slash (slash hyphen)

Ive been really in to Emoji recently. Or should I say, 

I dont know why I find them so fascinating exactly, but I do have some ideas. For example, its interesting how using a picture of something can sometimes make your communication more cryptic, not because it isnt obvious what youre talking about (though, sometimes, it certainly is) but because your brain is so conditioned to expect letters arranged to represent an abstract concept in the form of a written word, that an actual picture of the thing youre talking about can sort of throw you off. Unless youre getting used to it, which I think Chase must be, I believe to his chagrin--Ive been challenging myself to communicate exclusively in emoji whenever possible. On the phone, of course. I only wish there were more of them; the alphabet doesnt always include what I need it to. For example, while perfectly suited to our largely ramen-based existence, I find that the food icons lack various western items that would be useful at times. Like, a sandwich that isnt a cheeseburger, for example. And the other night, when I was trying to text about GOT, I discovered that there isnt even an emoji for a Lion--though all the animals from Chinese astrology are represented. And speaking of east vs west, I wonder a lot about whether emoji read differently in their native Japan; that is to say, do they blend more seamlessly into an (originally) character-based written language? Because the jump from 

RABBIT  to 

is visually pretty major, but I wonder if its at all different when the written expression of Rabbit is, fundamentally, a picture of a rabbit. Do you know what Im talking about? 

On a related note, lets talk about this article I recently read on The Chronicles language blog, Lingua Franca, about how the word 'Slash' has fairly recently entered the slang vocabulary of the youth of America. The article doesnt explicitly state this as an American phenomenon, I just assume people in England arent using 'stroke' in the same way. At least I never heard them say it. But maybe Im wrong? Anyway, Im sure that you, dear-probably-american-reader, are somewhat familiar with its usage (and if not, the article includes various examples provided by the authors students). But Im bringing it up in conjunction to my emoji discussion because its kind of exactly the opposite: in one case, symbols are being used to communicate not only nouns, which would be fairly straight forward, but also actions and concepts--like the snowman, meaning 'its cool' slash 'Im cool with that'; in the other case, a punctuation mark (ie, a symbol) with a formerly narrow application is now being spelled out as a word, even in text messages, where youd expect the symbol itself would be more convenient--obviously, because the word 'slash' has gained a richer connotation, and performs more elaborate conjunctive functions, than the slash symbol is able to express.

Id also be interested to read more about the putting-hyphens-between-every-word-in-a-sentence-to-somehow-make-it-seem-like-one-word phenomenon, but Im not entirely sure it qualifies as slang? Any thoughts? Isnt it fascinating?!

ps, if youre really in to emoji, consider reading Emoji Dick, an emoji translation of Moby Dick recently acquired by the library of congress--so you know its legitimate!

cosmic cartography

So Im reading Planet Narnia at the moment, which, without going into too much detail, covers not only my favorite literary chronicles by one of my favorite authors (have you ever read Til We Have Faces??) but also the poetic and mythical purview of a pre-copernican cosmology. Needless to say, its fascinating. Add to that my ongoing obsession with the Zodiac, the recent change in daylight times heralding the approach of spring, and the fact that, over a month after my most recent viewing, I still think of Carl Sagans Cosmos on at least a daily basis, and you will understand why Im currently consumed by thoughts of the heavens. But were it not for all that, I think I would still find these illustrations from Ludwig Preyβingers Astronomic Picture Atlas  completely mesmerizing. 

 Isnt the internet magical? I want these to be everywhere in my life. Believe it or not, this book was published in Germany in 1851; the images were uploaded to The Net by Michael Stoll, a german design professor with a formidable flickr  photostream, who must have used magic (or at least some creative license) because look how glowy they all are! But I first saw them on 50 Watts, an amazing source of bizarre, book-related illustration and design, and one of my favorites to browse of an afternoon. Its the best!

images via here

just a little stationary update

Certain things, certain designs or subjects, just lend themselves so well to the application of stationary. For example, remember when I was talking about those amazing woodcut prints by Ryan Nash Gill a few months ago in Martha Stewart? Sure you do. Well if you liked them as much as I did but, like me, couldnt hope to afford one, how about these blank notecards, instead? Sets of 12 cards, featuring six designs, are available now from Princeton Architectural Press for $15.95 (which I think is pretty good!)

the best holdiay cards!

I already blogged about the collage work of Amanda White, but I just wanted to tell you guys about this, because shes taken her portraits of various famous authors homes and turned them into the best, sweetest, most non-denominational holiday cards I can imagine. Pictures of houses are always so sweet to me, and these are jolly, seasonal, and historically significant. You can choose from the homes of Virginia Woolf, John Keats, The Brontës, or Jane Austen--three cards for $12. I only wish she did a set with one of each, because I personally think that makes more sense than buying three of a kind. But what do I know?!

ps: Im a blogger now so I have to do a gift guide, apparently. Look for them as soon as its december!

images via here

Le Air Mail

I dont want to get all preachy and pretentious about how much I love proper mail and how people dont send enough of it these days... but I think we can all agree that receiving an actual letter or card in the mail is always so sweet and special and that, really, people should do it more. For my part, Im pretty good about sending postcards while abroad, and I always try to remember birthdays in time to send people their cards... but Ill admit Im not always so good about sending an everyday letter. I think its because, by the time its written, posted and received, its contents run the risk of having gone out-of-date. Love letters are, of course, an exception to this. In any case, I love stationary and anything that makes writing an ordinary letter easier. Like this writing pad by Papier Tigre, whose sheets fold into their own sweet little envelopes. So cute! They remind me of the oragami-folded notes Id write in junior high, and of the old baby-blue-with-red-white-and-blue-stripey-edges air-mail paper my grandad used to write me letters on when I was a girl. If only this set looked exactly like that, it would be truly perfect. 

cant look you in the voice

 In this telegram, sent to her editor in June 1945, Dorothy Parker (my hero of life, in case you didnt know) perfectly describes why it is I feel so much more comfortable communicating with my friends, or family, or anyone, for that matter, in print rather than on the telephone: its simply too intense for me! Maybe I dont seem it so maybe people dont realize, but Im actually very shy! But, only on the telephone. Theres just something about it. Actually, the anxiety of calling someone on the telephone is always worse than the actual conversations, which are usually quite jolly. But whenever I know Im meant to phone someone, I suddenly get very nervous about it and think of any excuse not to. Really, its very rude, and I appologize to anyone who has learned this about me first hand... but I just will always always prefer an old-fashioned letter, even if its sent over the internet (though ideally, it wont be). I just wish more people felt the same way about snailmail! You can read more correspondence by Ms Parker, and many others, on letters of note, a wonderful blog that is about to be a book (arent they all these days?). 

via chuchugoogoo

AIGA alphabet

These posters, advertising an AIGA-sponsored exhibit of experimental typography and hand-drawn lettering back in may, would look so good hanging up in a kitchen. I love the alternation between positive and negative space. And dont they remind you of this typography project by Nurio Bringue? I wish I couldve seen the actual show... are you allowed to hang up posters to events you didnt actually attend???

via typography served

imlovinit: PENGUIN FOOD

Did you hear about The Great Food series that penguin released a few months ago? I didnt know anything about it until I stumbled across one of the covers on pinterest the other day. The series is comprised of twenty works which represent the finest in food writing from the past 400 years, all of whose covers were beautifully designed by Coralie Bickford Smith. 

 

Theyre all so beautiful (and very english looking, in my opinion)--plus, dont they look nice all together in this lovely boxed set? £140 is more than Ive spent on just a bunch of books since collge... but wouldnt they be such the perfect gift for your very favorite nerd/foodie(s)?
Youve got from now til christmas to save up. 

And whilst were on the subject of food in literature, I cant wait for the upcoming release of Grimm Tales for Young and Old, a collection of classic Brothers Grimms fairy tales, retooled by award-winning childrens author Phillip Pullman (also, check the cool paper artwork on the cover): 

Apart from loving fairy tales in their own right, and re-tellings of old stories, generally, the reason Im so excited about this project is the review I read about it in stella magazine a few weeks back, in which The Kitchen Thinker Bee Wison focuses on the special attention Pullman paid to the foodie details of the fifty stories he chose to rewrite. In one tale, he changes a greedy stepsisters picnic of bread and cake into chicken-liver pate sandwiches and chocolate cake. In another, he fleshes out the details of a meal conjured by a magical goat: leek soup, roast chicken, and strawberries and cream. Delicious! In her review, Wilson goes on to discuss the importance of hunger as it pervades the fairytales, serving as a driving force for many of the characters actions. Its a good column, and you can read the whole of it here.

images via here & here