today i feel like this

by Rebirth

by monkeyjunkie

(ph)ursday - cindy sherman

i have long been entranced by photographer/model/filmmaker Cindy Sherman's cinematic self portraits. enjoy.

hall of dames - joan crawford

While home for lunch today, i caught a half hour or so of Mildred Pierce, Joan Crawford's 1945 comeback film, on TCM. Miss Crawford won a best actress Oscar for her role in this marvelous film, and deservedly so. See trailer below.

The funny thing is, that when I was a little girl, I was absolutely terrified of Joan Crawford. She was like a monster to me, who might hide in my laundry basket or behind the hangers in my closet. You see, in 1981 - at which time I was 5 years old - i saw the movie Mommie Dearest, which had been adapted from the tell-all book written after Joan's death by one of her daughters. Many of Crawford's colleagues, including Marlene Dietrich, denounced both book and film, which depict Crawford as a most monstrous purveyor of relentless emotional and physical abuse upon her children. A particular scene in the film in which the young girl is reprimanded for not arranging the hangers properly has always haunted me. See trailer below.

Of course, now that I'm essentially a grown up, I've a very different perspective of Crawford and her body of work. Did she beat her children? I don't know. Did she make films about determined, even successful women at a time when others weren't? Oui. Joan was a consummate actress. Elegant, intellegent, strong and stunningly beautiful. If you haven't seen Mommie Dearest and are not familiar with Joan Crawford's films, do yourself (and Joan) a favour and save the nasty character assassination until after you've fallen in love with her ('cause you will).

I'll leave you with some gorgeous photos that I've had on my computer for ages (so I'm not sure of the source). (sorry).

stanhopes

i just read the most marvelous post by [Tara] at Nothing Elegant and i simply had to link to it here. [Tara] (whose blog is fantastic and must be visited) writes of a magical victorian trinket called a stanhope, of which i had never heard, which contains a tiny photographic lense. read more about it in [Tara]'s post and see more pictures of these lovely treasures here. i am so hopelessly in love with this idea that i may become a collector!

etsy elvis

in case you were not already aware, i am a massive elvis fan. massive. i won't even get into it right now or i'll scare all the fence sitters away, but anyway, here are some of my favourite sightings of the king himself on etsy:

elvis loves me necklace by blinkphoto

scroll saw portrait by stevesscrollsawart

hand carved egg by 1eggman

zombie elvis earings by voodooville

elvis plugs from catschwamm


limited edition print by lakeillustration


peanut butter n banana sandwich earings by TheClayCollection

kelly vivanco

choosing which of Kelly Vivanco's paintings to post here was a near impossible task. if you've not yet been to her website, you must scurry there at once! the site is swimming with extraodinary works, each one more captivating than the last.

goin to the chapel...

... and we're [me and this purse from missselfridge.com] gonna get ma-a-a-ried...

travel tuesdee - i talk to the trees

i could fill a thousand blogs with stories and pictures of the trees i've seen. of towering trunks along the highways in thailand, wrapped in the saffron robes of monks; of sadhus sitting lotus in the twisted banyon roots of india; of green boughs shading lovers' chairs in mexican courtyards. but of all the leaves that i have seen, it is these trees that i remember most:

these crummy lifeless photos do no justice to the forests of Alishan, Taiwan, where the trees are too tall to photograph, and the shades of green too many for any lense to comprehend. walking amongst these giant 3000 year old majesties, i wept in awe.

sadly, all of the largest and oldest of these trees are dead. what was once a great cypress army is now a great many benches and end tables. the few that were left alone have all since passed from diseases brought in by the foreign species planted in their place. but twenty eight ghostly giants remain here, in this forest. and though dead themselves, they are host to much life. clad as they are in glorious green robes, they remain, as they have, for a thousand times longer than i. lifetimes 3 milleniums long, now halted, stand in ghostly reminder of the capabilites and the follies of the human race.

woah. rambled on there didn't i? :)

here, watch this:

mum's the word (guffah guffah)

I know it's a wee bit early for Mother's Day, but my mom's birthday happens to be the weekend before, so I tend to start thinking of it ahead of most. At any rate, here are some charming little mom things I found on etsy:

Mother's Necklace by sjengraving



Mother and Child sculpture by wendygold


I Love You Mom Necklace by laughingravendesign

Mother and Child fine art print by haywardART

Vintage notecard from confections


Brooding Hen print by PistolesPress

Set of Mom Cards by beckaboo

A dozen Mom cookies by SweetestB

R.I.P. Bea Arthur (May 13, 1922 – April 25, 2009)

(photo of Bea and her husband first published in people magazine 1975)

bombshell picnic

the weather we've been blessed with lately is absolutely perfect for picnics! while browsing the life archives i found these wonderful photos of Rita Hayworth and friends preparing for and enjoying a picnic lunch:

colour craving

one of my very favourite colour combinations = turquoise n red. so retro and bright! here are some etsy finds that sport said combo...

(my favourite is the necklace. i wanna eat it, it looks so good.)

print by valentinadesign

necklace by RachelleD

tea towels by FancyBoutique

earings by WildWomanJewelry


western shirt from catsandcrickets

twisted my rubber arm

feeling like poop today. monday blahs, i suppose. my weekend was mostly marvelous, with one little glitch: i sprained my wrist and hand quite severely on friday night :(

while enjoying the company of some good friends i see far too infrequently, the sand-floored patio i was sitting on decided to inhale one leg of my sh*tty plastic chair and eject me into the air, only to land quite clumsily on my ill-positioned wrist. once the immediate embarassment had passed, all that remained was agony, swelling and an inability to do just about anything with my bum arm. i can't even do up my bra by myself! had to enlist my husband to help me with the simplest tasks all weekend long.

BUT

the weather was impeccable, and i was finally able to wear a dress and mary janes without even a cardigan!

Hem enjoyed the sunshine too!

my husband and i walked all around the city during the days and snuggled up to dvds in the evenings. injuries aside, it was a lovely weekend! but alas, now i'm back to work, and with but one hand for typing.

here's hoping that you all had an accident free weekend full of sun and joy!