As If I Needed Another Reason To Dig Jason Schwartzman Even More

Why I'm feeling this video and maybe you should too:
-It shouts SUMMER.

-It encourages reading The Savage Detectives.

-J.S. & C.S.

-It makes me want to skateboard even though it goes against my rule that tall people should not roll at a high velocity.
-Did I say it smells like SUMMER?
-I can't shake the song out of head. . . 

. . .nuff said.



[via Pigeon Toed--thanks]

iPhone In DC: Harry, Is That You?

Is it just me or does this dapper young man in an old painting look like Harry Potter? I was down in DC for a business trip and was wandering around the hotel mezzanine to clear my thoughts when I stumbled across this painting and stealthily snapped a crooked photo because I was mortified someone might actually read my mind and know I was taking the shot because it looked like Potter, or Radcliffe for that matter. It looks like him, doesn't it?! Bizarro. 

Up On Friday: Summer? Summer!

Getting from Monday to Friday without my first sunburn of the season. It looks like summer has finally arrived in NYC just in time for some July 4th fireworks. The sun and warm breeze is making me think garden, flowers, cut grass . . . So this week's Friday Five: Get wild flowers delivered to your door (west coasters), go visit an edible garden, play with a gardening themed coloring book, look at summery photos, and water your lawn with individual pizzazz.

1.  I always preferred a bouquet of wild flowers over long-stem roses. I love a mess of them mixed together, their looseness and look of spontaneity. If you live in the San Fran Bay area consider yourself lucky because STUDIO CHOO will delivery their colorful arrangements to your door. They use locally grown flowers that are always seasonal and they deliver them in one of a kind vintage pots or hand-crafted vases. If you're nowhere near SFBay (unfortunately I'm not), then you can enjoy seeing their anything but simple, whimsical creations via the BLOG.

2.  Visit the EDIBLE GARDEN at the New York Botanical Garden. It's a summer-long exhibition that celebrates locally grown fruits and vegetables--there's a “Tropical Fruits, Roots, and Shoots” display in the Victorian glasshouse, Martha Stewart's Culinary Herb Garden, and a “Beginner’s Vegetable Garden” exhibit for those just starting out. Beginning July 9th through August, there will be chef demo evenings from 6-9pm (all included in the general admission fee). Here are just a few of the upcoming nights this month: Botanical Beverages: Beer, Wine, and More featuring Audrey Saunders (July 16); Grilling from the Garden, featuring Anne Burrell and Sunny Anderson (July 23); and Summer Desserts: Berries, Pastries, and Chocolate, featuring Sara Moulton (July 30).

3.  ROSIE FLO'S COLORING BOOKS (not only for kids!) include partially drawn pictures of dresses and costumes that call for our imagination to fill in the unfinished images--heads, legs, and arms--and then color away. Take ROSIE FLO'S GARDENING COLORING BOOK where a garden party is on and a dress turns into a fantasy of leaves and petals. . . [via Swish and Swanky]

4.  We had a late start to the summer, so make the most out of it. Download photographer SUSANNAH CONWAY's summery WALLPAPER IMAGES for your desktop and enjoy living vicariously through her curated Flickr picks--keep summer with you even while you're crunching emails at work.

5.  At long last, garden hoses that are as bright as the flowers we're watering. If I lived outside the city, and if had a garden, and if I had a green thumb, one of these would certainly get me out there to tend the lawn--RAINBOW HOSES! Available in Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, or Purple.

. . . Happy July 4th Weekend--get your hot dog on (vegan or not)!

iPhone on Park Avenue: In Love With The People In My Neighborhood

This marks blog post number 101. . . I just wanted to take a little moment to say gracias, toda, merci, danke, kiitos, arigato, and onward and so forth to all my lovely readers for clicking over to SWP as often as you do. It's so nice having you around the neighborhood! Thanks for the show of love . . . sending it right back at you with a little blue heart and some bark sealed in concrete (screw diamonds, concrete is forever). 

Up On Friday Lowers Its Flag To Half-Staff

Getting from Monday to Friday with a heavy heart. This week’s Up On Friday is feeling down surrounding the recent deaths of three incredible talents: our King of Pop—an icon the likes of which I won’t see again in my lifetime, an Angel who pushed the envelope even when faced with cancer and transformed her battle into a celebration of life, and a laugh maker and star maker who beamed into our homes every night. Rest in peace and love Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, and Ed McMahon. In honor of their lives and contributions to our own, Up On Friday is dimming its lights for a day of reflection. I’ll let the PS22 Chorus sing us out with Bjork’s “Joga.” 

Barefoot and Questioning

Enlightening up. At least that’s what I’m aiming for when I roll out my yoga mat. Striving for some kind of clear thought that might arrive during the asana practice or afterwards once I’ve settled my pacing mind. But more often than not, when I’m cursing the murdering shoulder ache in down dog, I don’t feel like I’m getting any closer. But after seeing Kate Churchill’s documentary, aptly titled “Enlighten Up,” I think I have some renewed clarity as to why I keep showing up barefoot and questioning. 

In the doc, Churchill takes Nick Rosen, a New York journalist without any spiritual bones in his body, on a skeptical journey into the world of yoga, seeking proof of transformation. We meet a fair share of celebrity yogis, true believers, kooks, and entrepreneurs and the more Rosen investigates yoga the more contradictions he discovers. His yoga uncertainty is well-founded and one that I could appreciate, having questioned it at times myself . . . But while Rosen tries to twist and conform to various yoga styles, he manages to find his own brand of inspiration and transformation even though it takes a different route. The beauty of it is that there is no one method to meeting that change. It can find you in a yoga posture or rock climbing—the physical act is often the vehicle to reaching that greater whatever-it-is you’re searching for. All it needs is space to reveal itself. 

I know I probably already lost a whole lot of you with this yoga philosophizing and existential blah blah, but let me just bring this back around. Ultimately, I think I show up on the mat because I’m searching for a greater sense of self and I’m hoping to find it once the noise in my head settles. One of the great moments in the film is when a lovely chubby-cheeked guru tells Rosen that the path to finding yourself is to find what you are not—and then keep peeling away to your core. They say true happiness is within and you have to keep shedding those layers to get there. I love that imagery. . . 

If you're curious, ENLIGHTEN UP is still playing at the Rubin Museum of Art. Check out their CALENDAR for additional information.

Thanks and Thanks and Thanks and Thanks and Not Enough Thank Yous In the World

This is my father circa 1970, maybe just entering his thirties. My brother and I were right around the corner, a few years away. Today I'm remembering that . . . He played us The Kinks and The Stones (LOUD like it should be). He drove my brother and me to the town bakery in a slow ass tractor, on a busy road, with no mind for traffic--just for the hell of it. He taught me how to ski and roller skate and took many a fall downhill in the process. He showed me what hard work and perseverance look like. He shared with me a weakness for designer labels. He passed me his straight brown hair. He took me on a trip to Paris. . . Happy Father's Day, Pops. 

Up On Friday: Do A Rain Dance Or Something

Getting from Monday to Friday without buying another five dollar umbrella. This week's Friday Five: magical terrariums, Fiber & Fellow, pink Paris maps, hot folding bikes, and Here We Go Magic's Fangela. 

1.  Summer, summer, summer. It's never going to arrive. My legs are just as pale today in mid-June as they were in January and I silently weep. WEE GREEN SPOT over at Etsy is making me feel a "wee" bit better though with her beautiful terrariums that remind me of summer, the smell of cut grass, and childhood toys buried in soil. Each terrarium is like a little piece of MAGIC. Best of all, for you green-thumb challenged folks like me, terrariums are super easy to care for--just a little spritzing every few weeks.

2.  I love FIBER AND FELLOW's fall/winter 09 campaign--photos taken by ALAN GASTELUM of his brother Thom Gastelum. . . . There's something so Wes Anderson about this campaign. It makes me want to take a train ride to the country with a big sack of books and wear a lambswool sweater. [via Hypebeast]

3.  Paris. Pink Paris. Pink paper cut map of Paris. Julie and Simon, with their little Ophelia, make up the lovely husband and wife family team that are FAMILLE SUMMERBELLE. They have insanely adorable art and decorations for children's rooms, but really adults are gaga over these maps. Pink Paris shows all of the arrondissements and attractions, as well as some of the quirky sides of Parisian life. Le sigh. You can also buy a Turquoise London if you're not up with France! [via Swish and Swanky]

4.  Nothing beats a bike ride in the summer. And come every year, I lament my tiny apartment and the lack of space to stash a bike of my own. The rain deluge hasn't stopped my whining and I'm dreaming of a STRIDA FOLDING BIKE. Invented by a Brit, Mark Sanders created it to navigate his London commute. All it takes is 15 seconds to pop up or pop down and it would fit in a tiny closet. The Strida Cream is retro hot. On-sale now at DWR. . .

5. I'm going to close this rain-logged edition with a little sparkle from HERE WE GO MAGIC. The video for their song "Fangela" was created by NY-based artist filmmaker SNEJINA LATEV using charcoal animation, super-8 clips, and stop-motion animation. Everything about this is gorgeous, from the filmy, ethereal music to the shadowy, haunting visuals. Perfect for a rainy weekend.

. . . happy weekend!

Tampax Puts Zack Johnson On The Rag

Last month Tampax came out with a viral marketing campaign for their tampons about a guy getting his period. Yup, Zack wakes up one morning to find his boy parts have been replaced by girl parts. . . WTF?! So we follow Zack through a series of short-films--a la Degrassi--as he struggles with the sudden realization that "men are pigs" (their emphasis, not mine), that he needs to "hover like a UFO" over the toilet to urinate, and that he's experiencing the infamous irritability, bloating, and cramps of PMS. It takes all of this horror for him to finally relate to girls. Poor, poor Zack. I did feel a smidge of sympathy as he sprinted to the vending machine in the ladies room after his man-pad fails, but that sympathy faded fast as Zack finds it "so hard to believe that women go through this every month" and that having your period sucks. Really!? That's news. I know this a funny, light-hearted spoof so I won't get my panties tied in a knot, but I couldn't help wondering if it takes a guy identifying with a woman to finally earn us the right of sympathy and complaint and less PMS jokes? Is our experience accepted because a guy is acknowledging it? Just something to mull over. Maybe the next campaign is going to be about childbirth and then menopause. . . Despite my initial bristled reaction, I kinda sorta enjoyed watching the little guy squirm. See for yourself. 

Here's Day 3: Men Are Pigs

"Tried to hold it at school but my bladder finally said "Uncle." Walked up to the urinals then remembered I had a vagina. Went into a stall, pee everywhere. Yuck. Did my best and hovered like a girl, which on the plus side gave my quads a workout. Ladies, on behalf of guys everywhere, I apologize for every ounce of urine we have left on a toilet seat. That's a lot of urine and a lot of apologizing. Moving forward fellas, can we please work on our aim? Or better yet, lift up the seat before you tinkle."

You can see the full BLOG HERE and follow Boy-Girl on Twitter @ZackJohnson16

iPhone on the M20: So A Kindle Walks Onto A Bus

Book meet Kindle, Kindle meet Book . . . now play nice! There's been much talk lately about how e-books will slowly kill off good old paper books in the same way that iTunes beat up CDs. I don't see it as either/or but rather both formats existing side-by-side. There are some books you can read quickly on an e-reader and others you want to have forever, dog-eared and underlined. And that's okay. Whichever way you prefer to read a book, just read! 

[Kind of interesting though that Mr. Kindle Reader is sitting at the "head of the class" and Mr. Gogol Reader is behind him. Prophetic?]

Up On Friday

Getting from Monday to Friday without pissing anyone off. This week's Friday Five: Orange giants spring out of the Hudson, Braids are twisting hair everywhere, Eating with bugs, the divine randomness of Blogotheque, and Mallard gets hip. 

1.  Can't wait to see this: HUDSON RIVER PILINGS PROJECT by sculptor Joan Benefiel. I love the weather-worn pilings along Hudson River Park as they are. They remind me of old New York and dark, bustling piers. But Benefiel's 10-foot tall figures, cast in translucent orange resin, re-imagine the decaying posts into art-worthy pedestals--superhumans springing out of the Hudson. Looks amazing. The project should be up later this year. . .

2.   Love braiding my hair lately. And I'm seeing everyone else braiding their hair, too. Sniff, sniff--smell a trend? Joanna Goddard of CUP OF JO tells me that there's even a Flickr group called BRAID WEDNESDAY (and there are some snazzy ideas here). Of course, this means the trend is already too popular and on its way out. . . Meh.

3.  For those of you who are not petrified of creepy crawlies (like I am), this naturalist DINNERWARE COLLECTION by Laura Zindel even charmed me with its Victorian  feel. I almost expect there to be a pinned insect encased at the bottom. [via Apartment Therapy]

4.  You don't need to speak French to watch, listen, play with BLOGOTHEQUE. Every week they post an impromptu jam session with an artist/band in a bar, on the street, in a park, in an apartment. . . There's a wonderful element of you-never-know-what-you're-gonna-get that I find inspiring and refreshing. When I need a creative pick me up, I just click at random. Two of my current favorites: TENDER FOREVER's cover of Justin Timberlake's "My Love" (sung on a ladder) and RA RA RIOT's "Dying is Fine" (shot in a skate park).

5.  The Mallard Tea company has a new mix & match look for their paper cups and bags that is "quirky, eccentric, and unmistakably English" thanks to UK designer SARAH WALSH--it's like the combined comfort and familiarity of a textured, rugged armchair with a dainty rose porcelain cup of tea. Why don't we have colorful, fun to-go mugs? Someone needs to tell Starbucks it's time for a bold redesign. [via The Dieline]

. . . happy weekend!

Find The Love Of Your Life Inside A Louis Vuitton Trunk

Japanese illustrator Takashi Murakami released another anime promo to celebrate six years of Louis Vuitton bubblegum monograms: Superflat First Love. If you can get past the 80s video game soundtrack, the best part of the film takes place in the first forty seconds when the girl gets ingested by the Vuitton panda . . . Other than that, our little girl from the original SUPERFLAT MONOGRAM is all grown up and looking for love and an overpriced handbag. Tsk, Tsk, still priming kids for designer goods. 

If I Wasn't . . .

If I wasn't sitting in front of this computer right now guilty over not posting all week, I might be catching up on sleep  or watching Conan heat up the late-night war or eating the rest of my raw banana pudding while reading a potentially good, potentially bad manuscript--all equally exciting for a Wednesday night.

If I wasn't stuck to the written form here, I might sing you a song or record a video, but I have neither video capability nor the nerve to sing for an audience (even if that's an audience of one). But I will show you a vintage Halloween photo of me dressed up because it has absolutely nothing to do with summer or this post or anything at all. I was the witch in case you're wondering and the guy in the Bozo suit is my fab brother. If you've never experienced those plastic masks, they get awfully hot and damp.

If I wasn't in a mind-numbing Five Guys hamburger coma, I would probably be feeling rotten about not posting something of significance since there's so much BS going on in our country between citizens and people need to step outside themselves to get some perspective. Stop the hate!

If I didn't have enough sense, I might keep this going for too, too long and you might throw a tomato at your screen and blame me for ruining your computer. And I don't want you to waste a tomato. . .