Art in Action

Oren Lavie's new music video for "Her Morning Elegance" strikes a beautiful chord with its simplicity (one set) and complexity (watch it).

Oleg Dou

Oleg Dou takes surrealism to new heights in his eerily beautiful photographs.

Budget Finds - Media Edition

Most of our readers out there know that I recently moved to Northern California. I have a little place with my live-in fiance, B. B is witty, fun, and always up for adventure, but I'm a complicated gal. Even he can't keep me entertained 24/7.

I should mention another thing - B doesn't watch tv.

Call it the dark ages, call it 1920s, but he just doesn't. And with ABC running all my shows online, we really can't justify the high cable bill every month. Despite my proclamations to B that I am perfectly content without visual media at home, I crave it. I need it. I yearn to know about the pretty tweed pencil skirt that Jennifer Aniston is coveting. I need to mock shoes that are the latest momentary fad that is anything but fab.

Lucky for me, I have Christian Siriano-fierce friends that always dish the latest, hottest thing. A few month ago, Angeline, told me about Maghound.
(photo courtesy of maghound.com)

Subscribers choose from packages of three or more magazine titles delivered to your home, for a discounted from an ordinary subscription.

No stranger to the print business, Time, Inc. is also experimenting with its own version of personalize news media called Mine.
(photo courtesy of www.timecmg.com)

It combines a reader's 5 selections from 8 choices into a single binded magazine. (First issue is free!)

(photo courtesy of Sidedown.org)

And to boot, Lexus has come up with an interesting advertising campaign.

What a concept! I'm in love all over again.

Stripes and Stamps?

So I've been married and living in my own place (well, K lives there too I guess) for over a year and a half now, and our living room has yet to have a Look. You can look at it, yes, but it has no Look.

There are several reasons for this. First, we've always had mismatched, hand-me-down seating. Tan. Black. Green. Sofa. Metal futon. Wood futon. Second, we've only made minimal progress on getting anything up on the walls since we move every year (it's hard to break the college habit).

And then it hit me, a solution to bring unity to my hodgepodge living room...

couch pillows

I went to Joann and grabbed some blue upholstery fabric, trying to pull some colors from the photos on our wall of Lake Tahoe, taken during our honeymoon. Then I it, the perfect blue and tan stripe. And then I saw another perfect fabric, a blue and white stamped motif. I had to have them.

Uh...won't that look weird? K asks. No, I tell him, it will look modern! But really, what to I know. A few days later, newly bought fabric not yet touched, I got affirmation.

Enter, Pottery Barn's outdoor pillows:


And my end products:

Did it tie my living room together? Well, nothing is going to remedy that mess completely, but it's a good start!

Stomach This!

Brush a little color on them, dab a bit of cartoon cuteness, and wa-la - you can make anything cute. Perhaps I am underestimating the talent of those behind I Heart Guts, which makes even those don't get woozy at the sight of blood will swoon for these adorable little treats.

Classics feature our favorite organs, like the liver, as shown below.




Coming to a vacation stop near you!

Javier Alejandre - Industrial Design

There's a certain satisfaction I get from the seeing the perfect marriage of industrial and utility design. Industrial designer Javier Alejandre has created quite a buzz in the creative communities with his newest design ChromoSoma - a mix and match lamp creation. The Madrid-based artist is showing his design at the Salone del Mobile di Milan 2009.

Eric Carle for Google

Eric Carle, of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" fame, designed the incredibly cute first day of spring commemoratory logo for Google.