Windowledge Marius

Friday, October 12, 2012

Listening:

Changing by The Airborne Toxic Event

Old Friends by Simon and Garfunkel

Varúð by Sigur Rós

All I Ask Of You by Andrew Lloyd Webber

The Universe is Laughing by The Guggenheim Grotto

Miss Misery by Elliott Smith
Quiet As a Mouse by Margot and the Nuclear So and So's
Army by Ben Folds Five
All These Things That I've Done by The Killers Great throwback.

One Step Up by Eddie Vedder Did Pearl Jam's leading man seriously cover the Boss? YES.

Appreciating:

Ellen Gronemeyer These gestural portraits suggest a more colorful take on Edvard Munch.

Eric Carle Carle's animal paintings hold a special place in my heart--his children's books make up some of my fondest childhood memories. Hermit crab for lyfe!

Phoebe Rudomino Rudomino specializes in underwater photography, and the results are captivating. Especially loving her aquatic portraits and smoke-like inks and dyes.

Anticipating:

I'm really looking forward to some new movies coming out soon. The trailers for Argo, The Great Gatsby, and Cloud Atlas all have me hooked.

Consuming:

Panera Bread's Creamy Tomato Soup. Delish.

Monday, October 8, 2012

Facing the Facts

I've just begun to delve into Susan Cain's treatise on introspection, and I'm pleasantly surprised by how Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking has captured my attention.

Truthfully, this is the first year I've given any serious consideration to non-fiction. This summer, I started off reading The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, and then it hit me: everything in the book is true, and I still couldn't put it down. Now that's saying something.

Larson has mastered the art of storytelling. It doesn't matter that TDITWC is grounded in historical fact--he picks out significant, compelling details and parses them together in a fresh and memorable way.

After I got my feet wet with TDITWC, I discovered the same is true even in the realm of science. I initially picked up Joshua Foer's bestseller Moonwalking With Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything solely because Joshua is brother to Jonathan Safran Foer, one of my literary idols. Truthfully, I was kind of just hoping JSF had edited it. And it had cool cover art. And it was required summer reading.

But upon reading the book, I discovered a shocking truth: It was funny. It was ENTERTAINING. In Moonwalking, Foer intermingles scientific case studies with uproarious drinking escapades and memory-nerd shenanigans. Surprisingly, the driving force behind this scientific account is humor. By humanizing characters, Foer was able to hold even my attention.

I gave creative non-fiction a try, and whaddyaknow, I liked it. This is definitely a genre I'll be exploring in the future. I guess sometimes the truth really can be stranger (or more entertaining) than fiction.

Friday, October 5, 2012

DOWNLOAD: 10.5.2012

Listening:

The High Road by Broken Bells

Moth's Wings by Passion Pit

Mass Romantic by The New Pornographers

Broken Strings by James Morrison (feat. Nelly Furtado)

Dirty Paws by Of Monsters and Men

Whiskey, Whiskey, Whiskey by John Mayer

Tornado by Little Big Town
Fast Car by Tracy Chapman What a classic.
He War by Cat Power
Ho Hey by The Lumineers

Appreciating:

Carne Griffiths I'm totally loving Griffiths' drippy portraits. She's mastered the perfect balance of containment and organic texture.

Peter Alexander Alexander's paintings have a strikingly minimalist quality--but he makes up for it in richness and texture.

Banksy A famous British guerrilla artist, Banksy's graffiti and public art is often politically-charged. But it just looks so cool.

Anticipating:

MIKA's new Origin of Love album is set for release in the U.S. on October 16th. I JUST LOVE THIS MAN SO MUCH.

Consuming:

Celestial Seasonings peppermint tea. Always.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Androgynous Bowl-Cuts: The Gateway to Fame

I just finished reading Mindy Kaling's Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns), and I've come to a conclusion: the secret to comedic fame is surviving a childhood bowl-cut.

Kaling's playful memoir inevitably recall's Tina Fey's recent narrative, Bossypants, (which, if you can get past the nauseating cover photo, is an excellent read.) Female comedians, NBC programming, awkward anecdotes--they're just so darn similar.

But the primary unifying factor in these books is bad hair. Both of these women proudly tout their childhood 'dos, and credit their mangy locks for making them the person they are today.

Fey (above) rocking a combination
bowl-cut-mullet. That's gotta hurt.

"The author as child star of the TLC
series 'Androgynous Kids and Puppets,' the
less-successful predecessor of 'Toddlers and Tiaras.'"

I survived a pretty gruesome pageboy in first grade. Who knows; maybe there's hope for me yet.

Friday, September 28, 2012

DOWNLOAD: 9.28.2012

Listening:

The Start of Something by Voxtrot

Thinking About You by Frank Ocean

Fireflies by Ron Pope

White Houses by Vanessa Carlton
Young Folks by Peter Bjorn and John
Natural Blues by Moby
Angeles by Peter Bradley Adams
Underground by Ben Folds Five
Perpetuum Mobile by Penguin Cafe Orchestra
Make It Without You by Andrew Belle

Appreciating:

Matt Dinniman Dinniman's altered-surface animal prints are whimsical and cute. Especially loving this hedgehog. <3

Andrew Brooks Brooks is a photographer hailing from Manchester. His pictures are breathtaking--especially his land and cityscapes.

Lulie Wallace These floral paintings are kinetic and fun. Love it.

Anticipating:

I still have yet to listen to the new albums released by The Killers and Mumford & Sons. I've loved both these bands from the start--hopefully "Battle Born" and "Babel" won't disappoint.

Consuming:

Ore Ida sweet potato fries. So much better than regular fries.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Good Is Dead: Do You See?

I have a confession to make: I love words. But I love pictures more.

I live to paint, take photographs, and draw. So when it comes to books, I'm a sucker for great illustration.

I'll never forget my first time reading Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. This book blew me away--brought me to tears, actually--but Foer's masterful use of illustration was just icing on the cake.

From altered text to eclectic-yet-meaningful images, Foer's illustrations reveal snapshots of Oskar's tortured consciousness. Images, more than words, make the protagonist accessible to the reader.

So, I was also really pumped when a good friend sent me Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Scanning the pages, I discovered Haddon had jumped on the graphic-storytelling bandwagon as well. Huzzah!

The novel's leading man, Christopher, an autistic fifteen-year-old boy, is determined to solve the mystery of a neighborhood dog's death. Christopher is different from other people. Although warmhearted, he thinks in a very cold, methodical manner.

Haddon capitalizes on illustrations to depict the inner workings of Christopher's mind--from the way he maps out his neighborhood to his visual categorization system for human emotions, Haddon's illustrations make Christopher a more raw and relatable character.

I finished the book The Cheese Monkeys: A Novel in Two Semesters a few days ago too. This quirky art school memoir was authored by Chip Kidd, a graphic artist famous for his book jacket designs. So naturally, The Cheese Monkeys was laced with fresh illustrations as well.

I couldn't get over what Kidd did (that rhymes...) with the outside of the pages. By bending the book back and forth, two phrases are revealed: "Good Is Dead" and "Do You See?" two catchphrases of Kidd's eccentric graphic design instructor. How cool!

Kidd utilizes illustration to convey humor as well. Upon opening the book, readers are graced with a clever artwork caption: "The inside front cover was intentionally left blank. It's not a mistake. It's actually a separate "piece," entitled "BUDGETARY CONSTRAINT NO. 13."

It seems like storytelling through illustrations is becoming a new trend. I can't wait so see where this new genre goes.