Pink Thing Of The Day: Abandoned Pink Cowboy Hat

All Photos By Gail

Confession: there is often a hidden agenda with regard to my daily walks — I’m looking for stuff to blog about. Since I’m not going to any events, exhibits, restaurants, or shows I must seek inspiration from what I can photograph from the streets. I am rarely disappointed. Behold today’s Pink Thing, found resting amid a group of furniture that had been set out curbside for the garbage truck. I spotted this pristine and fancy Pink Cowboy Hat from the corner, and moved closer to investigate.

First Sighting

I certainly wouldn’t recommend taking anything from the trash in this current environment (#covidlife) but I’m glad I was able to preserve it for the blog!

Spotted on East 3rd Street Near Avenue B, in NYC’s East Village.

SwaddleDesigns Masks: Breathable, Fashionable and On Sale!

Jul2

A few weeks into lockdown here in NYC, I realized that the KN95 masks I paid $10 each for (and waited weeks for them to arrive from China) would need to be supplemented with many additional masks that could also double as fashion accessories: because we are going to be wearing masks for a long, long time. Just being serious. I was able to find some colorful cloth masks while visiting the Berkshires a few weeks ago, but otherwise it seems like stylish, seasonally-appropriate masks are only available to pre-order, and who wants to wait for something you need right now? The great news is that, just in time for the 4th of July, SwaddleDesigns has all of their Made in the USA face masks on sale, starting at the low price of just $4.99. What a bargain.

Made from 2-layers of double-napped cotton flannel, these SwaddleDesigns non-medical Cotton Flannel Masks yield better particle filtration effectiveness than cloth masks made using cotton knit, cotton muslin, gauze, and polyester fleece fabrics. The double-napped cotton flannel (mechanical brushing on both sides of the cloth) increases the degree of randomness and enhances the filtration effectiveness. I probably don’t have to tell you that wearing a KN95 in the summer is like strapping a sauna to your face, but these cotton masks are going to keep your face cooler and drier.

With so many masks on backorder, the good news is that the SwaddleDesigns masks are available and ready to ship right now! Shop the above designs and more, all on sale, at This Link.

Stopping the Spread of Corona Virus: You Are Doing It Right.

Eye On Design: Bench IIa by Max Lamb

Jul1

All Photos By Gail

The Bench I I a (2017) by designer Max Lamb is one of the first prototypes made from solid textile board, a material composed of waste cotton. Lamb created this piece for Really, a Danish company that focuses on upcycling discarded textile waste.

Installation View

Really mills used textiles into small fibers that are then bonded together with a special agent. The dark blue color of this bench comes from the cotton material, which is discarded denim. The bench is at once a functional object and a conversation starter regarding the reuse of waste materials. The museum installation includes a video (iPad screen seen above) in which Lamb discusses the making of the Really collection of furniture.

Photographed in the Art Institute, Chicago.

Yoshiki-Inspired Yoshikitty Dominates Global Sanrio Character Ranking!

Jun30

Yoshikitty Defeats Hello Kitty To Win #1 In France, Germany, And Brazil, #2 China, And #6 Worldwide

In 2020 Sanrio Character Ranking.

Here’s a bit of global news that will surely take your mind off the current troubling state the world, especially in you ar a fan of Japanese Rock Star Yoshiki and also Hello Kitty. The final results of the 2020 Sanrio Character Ranking (yes, it is a thing) were announced in early June and Yoshikitty has defeated Hello Kitty to win #1 Sanrio character in France, Germany, and Brazil, as well as, #2 in China. This is obviously a BFD. The Sanrio Character Ranking competition grows more intense every year, and the 2020 event allowed fans from all over the world to vote on a selection of Sanrio’s 80 most-popular characters. Yoshikitty’s massive international support brought the beloved character to #6 worldwide overall, placing in the Top 10 for the fifth straight year in a row. To view the full Sanrio Character Ranking voting results of the 80 characters, visit: This Link!

Based on Yoshiki, rock star, composer and the leader of heavy metal superstars X Japan, Yoshikitty was created in 2009 by the original Hello Kitty designer Yuko Yamaguchi as the first Hello Kitty character to be modeled after an actual living person. Did your head just explode yet? Because mine did.

Yoshiki (who is a babe) commented, “Thanks to everyone who voted for Yoshikitty. I’m so happy to see the support from fans not just in Japan but also from around the world.” Yoshiki, who composed the official theme song for Hello Kitty, teased fans with the idea that “Maybe I’ll compose a theme song for Yoshikitty to say ‘thank you’ for all the support. Not only that, I would like to continue delivering wonderful music, so that I can give back to everyone as much as possible.”

Squee.

Yoshiki and Yoshikitty, Having Some Fun.

Modern Art Monday Presents: Giorgio De Chirico, The Philosopher’s Conquest

Jun29

Photo By Gail

Giorgio de Chirico’s work represents an unexpected form of classicism in early avant-garde painting. The Philosopher’s Conquest (1913 – 14), one of six in a series, combines a Mediterranean cityscape with familiar still-life objects that appear in many of the artists’s paintings, including a classical arcade, a cannon and cannonballs, a clock, chimney and a train. The stage set is an Italian piazza, virtually deserted except for the menacing, shadowy figures outside the edge of the scene. Rendered with a matter-of-fact — though intentionally crude — precision, de Chirico’s paintings seem rife with meaning but are resolutely enigmatic. Indeed, by juxtaposing incongruous objects, he sought to produce a metaphysical art, one that “resembles . . . the restlessness of myth.”

Photographed in The Art Institute, Chicago.

Pink Thing of The Day: Pink As F*ck Coffee Mug!

Jun26

Photos By Gail

This week’s Pink Thing happens to be related to another recent Pink Thing, but that is kind of a coincidence. After stumbling upon Pietro Nolita, the charming pink restaurant featured in This Post, I started following them on Instagram and quickly discovered their shop, Pink As Fuck Dot Com, where they sell this awesome coffee mug! Sells for $25 plus tax and shipping. So worth it!

Cheers, Bitches!

Nature Photos From My Beautiful Quarantine Berkshires Vacation!

Jun25

Japanese Red Maple (All Photos By Gail)

The original vacation plan for Summer 2020 called for me to fly from New York City to Barcelona on June 4th. There, I would meet up with my Los Angeles-based sister, and we’d spend two days site-seeing and recovering from jet lag before departing on an adventure-packed, seven-day cruise through the western Mediterranean. Sigh, I fucking love to cruise.

Obviously, those plans changed. In May, our sailing was predictably canceled by the cruise line due to the Covid-19 pandemic. While I was relieved to receive a full-refund on my paid fare — and overjoyed with the bonus of nearly $1,000 in onboard credit for a 2021 rebooking — I was also super bummed to know that I would likely not be getting out of Manhattan this summer. First world problems: they are a thing.

This Glass Holds The Remains of a Very Stiff Gin and Tonic

It cannot be overstated then that my summer was miraculously saved by friends who own a home the Berkshires, where they’d been quarantining since March. They generously offered to host me for a week of doing basically what I do in Manhattan — eating and going for walks — but with way better food and immeasurably more awe-inspiring scenery, not to mention (but you can see I am about to) air that smells like honey, and the absence of blaring sirens. It was the best week I’ve had in three months. Please enjoy a selection of photos from my many nature walks taken during the vacation that restored my sanity.

The Berkshires: Stunning Even When It’s Overcast

My friends live in a private community accessed from a narrow road set about a mile off of a rural thoroughfare. On summer evenings (during any normal year), you can sometimes hear faint music drifting over from Tanglewood, where I saw a fantastic concert by Squeeze with these same friends last August. Sadly, Tanglewood’s 2020 season has been canceled.

Instead, the soundtrack includes choruses of bullfrogs hiding among the marsh reeds, and a rush of wind through the endless trees that can make you look over your shoulder to confirm that no cars are coming.

This marsh and pond are just across the road from a private beach. There, you can take colorful kayaks out onto a lake, which is called the Stockbridge Bowl.

I could gaze at at this view for hours.

Continue Enjoying the Scenery, After the Jump!

Continue reading →

Eye On Design: Skyscraper Cabinet By Paul T. Frankl

Jun24

Photos By Gail

In 1927, Paul Frankl wrote, “In my own creations for the modern American home, I have kept within the architectural spirit of our time,” citing the New York City skyline as his most powerful design source. Indeed, the architecture of Manhattan is reflected in every detail of Frankl’s Skyscraper Cabinet, including its simplicity, continuity of line, flat surfaces, sharp and clean moldings, quality of restraint, and overall feeling of power. Not even 18-inches deep, Frankl’s cabinet was designed to conserve space in small city apartments. See other examples of Paul Frankl’s Skyscraper-influenced designs Here and Here.

Photographed in the Art Institute, Chicago.

Justice for George Floyd: Mural and Street Art in the East Village

Jun23

Photos By Gail

In the past few weeks, the city streets have become a canvas for protest art spawned in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by the police. On one of my regular evening walks this week, I spotted this small mural of George’s likeness, bearing the words ‘justice’ and ‘coexist,’ at the corner of First Avenue and East 13th Street. You can see that someone has placed a prayer candle on the sidewalk in front of the mural, but it’s easy to miss if you aren’t paying attention, because the mural sits below eye level.

This mural is entitled Justice, and it was painted by New York-based Japanese artist Dragon 76 (@dragon76art).

Everyone should be familiar with the basic facts of how George Floyd died, but it case you aren’t, you can read it in the above photo. This is one of a series of stickers posted along Avenue B with the names and stories of black people who have lost their lives to police brutality and racially motivated violence. It is extremely sobering but also inspiring to join this call for justice.

Photographed Outside Fishs Eddy on Broadway Between 19th and 20th Streets

Say Their Names.

In the windows of closed businesses, merchants and residents stand in solitary with our African American neighbors.

Let us not allow this moment in time to pass without enacting real change, starting within ourselves.

I found this one in Freeman Alley.

George Floyd’s sacrifice will not be in vein.

Rest In Peace.

Modern Art Monday Presents: Red and Pink Rocks and Teeth By Georgia O’Keefe

Jun22

Photo By Gail

Georgia O’Keeffe (1887 – 1986) was fascinated by the animal bones, weathered and worn, that she found in the desert in New Mexico. In Red and Pink Rocks and Teeth she presented a jawbone alongside two stacked rocks that appear both monumental and indeterminate. The smooth, rounded forms of the red and pinks rocks appear in enigmatic relation to one another, as the red pebble seems to recede from the picture plane even though it must be perched on top of the pink stone. Their abstracted forms and warm colors contrast sharply with the bleached, angular teeth and hard, cracked appearance of the jawbone and together construct a tromp l’ceil that questions the nature or representation and perception.

Photographed in the Art Institute, Chicago.

The Worley Gig

A Blog Of Neat Things!

Pink Thing Of The Day: Abandoned Pink Cowboy Hat

Eye On Design: Bench IIa by Max Lamb

Yoshiki-Inspired Yoshikitty Dominates Global Sanrio Character Ranking!

Modern Art Monday Presents: Giorgio De Chirico, The Philosopher’s Conquest

Pink Thing of The Day: Pink As F*ck Coffee Mug!

Nature Photos From My Beautiful Quarantine Berkshires Vacation!

Eye On Design: Skyscraper Cabinet By Paul T. Frankl

Justice for George Floyd: Mural and Street Art in the East Village

Modern Art Monday Presents: Red and Pink Rocks and Teeth By Georgia O’Keefe

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