Christoph Niemann

Christoph Niemann in Abstract City in The New York Times has a great piece on Bio-Diversity... sound a bit dull? No it's not. It's very funny. For example (to get you started):

(Niemann is the author of two children's books and many of his illustrations have appeared in NYT, New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly and basically a genius.)

More here.

Live the questions now

In Letters to a Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) wrote, "You are so young, so before all beginning, and I want to beg you, as much as I can, dear sir, to be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now." And he said, "The purpose of life is to be defeated by greater and greater things."

Eames Chairs & Uber Coolness

I was just in a cool soho loft being cool. And not only that, but adding to my coolness by sitting casually in one of these chairs. How cool they look and how cool you find yourself to be just sitting in them. They are of course the lounge chair and ottoman by Charles and Ray Eames... and there's an uber cool NYT article about other Design Gems like them which you can read, handily enough, right here.

Maira kalman: And the Pursuit of Happiness... again

The glorious Maira Kalman in her wonderful series for the times "And the Pursuit of Happiness" ... with her latest.

LOSE THE SOCKS!

OK so this post has to be the silliest because i completely left out the story. This is the last time.. ... a friend told me this story. i've provided visual aids. it had to be done. (I agreed to leave her nameless for her own fashion protection. But that doesn't mean I can't publish it abroad.) my friend went into Whole Foods in this very outfit: this old man (seemingly unable to help himself) screeched out from across the aisles, “LOSE THE SOCKS!” after she recovered from the shock and realized he was speaking to her, she shouted back, “I have a very SEVERE foot infection!” which is both unfortunate and true (and handy as well because it sent him packing)

the importance of reading to your babies

My little friend found a favorite certain children's Storybook and started reading it first to herself and then to all her babies. See how her babies are so well behaved and looking at the pictures and listening so carefully. Even as such a young age. I think they must have their listening ears on. (Plus she must be quite a compelling reader that they can even overcome even the disadvantage of being plastic).

new forest donkey

I think he's interested in taking it to go. There aren't just New Forest Donkeys. There are also the famous New Forest Ponies who run free across the open heather-covered heath, wander through the ancient forests, across roads, stroll into shops. It's true. They really do. I went to boarding school in the New Forest (which of course is extremely ancient) and they are part of the scenery. They had free reign of the place. Actually so did we. It was a different time and a quite magical place to be a child.

fill the woods with song

"Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those who sang best." ~ Henry Van Dyke (1852 - 1933)

seeing and dreaming

"You see things as they are and ask 'Why?' I dream of things as they never were and ask, 'Why not?'" - George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

in love with language

W H Auden said, "A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language."

through with the blues

Mahalia Jackson (1911-1972) was orphaned in early childhood. Her family's house was next to a church. It was there she first heard gospel music. She said: "When you sing gospel you have a feeling there is a cure for what's wrong. But when you are through with the blues, you've got nothing to rest on."

riches

"The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches, but to reveal to him his own." -Benjamin Disraeli Great words to live by. Also a great description, I think, of what writing for children is about. At least in part. And here's something about something completely different. Me on a snowmobile. Mostly because it just looks so cool. And I'm rather pleased with myself, aren't I.

2009 oscar nominated documentary shorts

I was lucky enough to see a screening last night of the four documentary shorts nominated this year. They were each no more than approx 30 minutes long (they're shorts!) but every one of them packed a hugely powerful punch. Here are the nominees (wait, shouldn't I be in fact at this very moment wearing a fancy designer gown...?): SMILE PINKI Megan Mylan Pinki, a girl in rural India whose cleft lip has made her a social outcast, has a chance for a new life when she meets a dedicated social worker. THE FINAL INCH Irene Taylor Brodsky and Tom Grant Contributing to the global efforts to eradicate polio worldwide, dedicated individuals in India travel throughout the country urging parents to vaccinate their children against the disease. THE CONSCIENCE OF NHEM EN Steven Okazaki In the wake of Cambodia's takeover by the Khmer Rouge in 1975, a sixteen-year-old soldier named Nhem En was instructed to photograph the tens of thousands of citizens who passed through a processing center on the way to their execution. THE WITNESS - FROM THE BALCONY OF ROOM 306 Adam Pertofsky and Margaret Hyde The Reverend Samuel "Billy" Kyles, a witness to Martin Luther King's assassination, reflects on King's life and legacy as he recalls the events surrounding his murder. + + + + + + + + + After we saw them all, a friend and I were trying to work out which would win and which was our favorite. Mine after much umming and aahing (they were all good) is THE CONSCIENCE OF NHEM EN. It was the one that, to me, was the most unexpected, startling and thought-provoking. But see them all. It gives you a great admiration for the short documentary not only as an art form but as a powerful agent for change. In their different ways, all of the films, celebrate and honor the value and dignity of every single human life. And inspire you to hope. You see that you can have a part, however small, in changing the world.

fairytales

Concept painting for Sleeping Beauty, Eyvind Earle (1916-200)

Fat Birds, Mary Poppins, Bankers, and What Life Asks of Us

here's the bankers' song from Mary Poppins. The Fidelity Fiduciary Bank Sing Along, is it's actual title. why am I subjecting you to this? well bankers are, of course, much in the news of late and these ones seem to have seen straight into the future ... plus it's always a good time for Mary Poppins and anyway it's mentioned in a very cool article in the NYT by David Brooks, which you can read here. BTW: Did you know the old guy is actually Dick Van Dyck? And apparently, the children weren't told who this was ("Bert") and their first on-camera reactions were genuine, they hadn't seen him yet... they totally thought this old guy was about to die of a heart attack! My favorite bits are when he comes down the stairs and also when he keeps nearly falling over as he sings about the banks falling... he's a bit of a genius I think.

cracked pots

"Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything. That is how the light gets in." -Leonard Cohen

success...

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm."

- Sir Winston Churchill

the source of joy

by Rumi

"No one knows what makes the soul wake
up so happy! Maybe a dawn breeze has

blown the veil from the face of God.
A thousand new moons appear. Roses

open laughing. Hearts become perfect
rubies like those from Badakshan. The

body turns entirely spirit. Leaves
become branches in this wind. Why is

it now so easy to surrender, even for
those already surrendered? There's no

answer to any of this. No one knows
the source of joy. A poet breathes

into a reed flute, and the tip of
every hair makes music. Shams sails

down clods of dirt from the roof, and
we take jobs as doorkeepers for him."

Translated by Coleman Barks

Happy Thanksgiving!

early reader and a book to hug

at a top secret testing facility in a remote area of deepest America, an early reader and fan of TINY BEAR was caught reading it red handed EVEN BEFORE BREAKFAST when his mom came in to "wake him up"...

What makes this baby bible storybook so irresistible? It's got lovely pictures, of course. It's in rhyme, absolutely. but most of all, it's furry and you can hug it and kiss it and take it to bed with you.

Andrew Johnston - keep on singing

"You're better than you think you are" "I just keep on singing" great stuff!