It's a Book - By Lane Smith

 It's a Book is by Lane Smith.  I first read about it in a newspaper.  (Newspaper?  Can you blog with it?  No.  It's a newspaper.)  I still haven't managed to read the hardcopy yet, but it's somewhere on this island.  I know it's a bit ironic to be blogging about this, but I couldn't resist the ape-reading monkey.  And continuing with the irony, check out the trailer for the book below.  Lane Smith also runs a pretty cool blog about 'recommended inappropriate books for kids'.

 

(page shots from Lane Smith's blog)

Music Tuesday: Glasser

Glasser is the brainchild orchestra of Cameron Mesirow.  I love what the record label says about her new album Ring: "It moves like the wake of a small boat in a still lake: each song its own, but leading to, and becoming, the next."   I've only heard a few songs of hers, but whenever I hear her voice and rich tapestry of instruments backing her, it feel like I'm in the middle of a lake at sunrise.  Kind of like this morning on my paddleboard.  Enjoy these videos (including one where the power goes out on her!) and check out her myspace for more songs, including a remix by one of my recent favorites, Delorean.

Where They Create

 

 Photos by Paul Barbera

Paul Barbera is a photographer who describes himself as someone drawn to artists, creatives and their interiors.  His website Where They Create is a favorite of mine, and I'm often inspired to imagine what it'd be like to design studios and inspiring spaces to work in.  Perhaps on Miles Island...   I love how he is able to capture the creative environments that people work in.  Is the environment the product of the artist, or vice versa?  Probably a bit of both.  Visit his blog for his visual diary, and keep an eye out for his book Where They Create which will come out September 2011, and will be published by the same group that publishes Frame (the great indoors), Mark, and Elephant magazines.   Where do you create?

These photos are taken from where Paul Davies, a Sydney-based artist, creates...

 Photos by Paul Barbera

 Photos by Paul Barbera

 Photos by Paul Barbera

Happy Weekend!

Fromage on Rue Cler, Paris

OLive OLove

We were recently in Gloucester, walking along Good Harbor Beach.  This lovely lady approached us and started talking about what a wonderful day it was, so blue, so perfect!  She told us it was her 89th birthday that very morning, and that we had so much to look forward to in life.  "Always be open to whatever comes your way," she said with a smile. "This is how I sign my name," she said suddenly.  She drew an O with the word "live" in the middle.  "But when I was 60, I signed it this way."  Chuckling to herself, she wrote "love" inside of the O.

 

 O Live

 

 O Love

 

Here's to you, Olive/Olove--may you have many more birthdays and walks on the beach!  Thank you for making our morning extra special!

Stereolab

Photo by Steve Double

Stereolab's 12th album comes out November 16th.  You can stream the full album right now over at NPR's First Listen.  French pop electro doesn't get much better than this.  Dig it!

And here's some vintage Stereolab live on Jools Holland, just for kicks...

The Native Trees of Canada

 Here on the island, many of our trees resemble those of Canada.  We've also got a tropical side of the island, but I'll talk about that at another time.  These wonderful paintings by Leanne Shapton from her book Native Trees of Canada depict the simplicity and lushness of our forests.  She recently had a short piece in the New York Times Sunday Book Review in which she pairs her paintings with some favorite passages from her bookshelf that include trees--worth checking out.  I just love the colors in her work.  Now for a walk in the woods!