Do you remember Everlane, the California-based brand that sells perfect T-shirts for $15? Well, they now make silk blouses, with an easy fit and rounded collar. (My tomboy mom would have loved them:) I have the navy one and wear it constantly, and I'd highly recommend them if you're looking for a pretty shirt to wear this year! P.S. I was wearing the blouse in this photo:) P.P.S. My favorite shoes.
New York Magazine recently featured high-school yearbook photos of celebrities, and they're awesome. Can you guess the four people above? And here are 12 more... Read More >
As you may know, the Up series is a series of eight fascinating documentary films that has tracked the lives of fourteen English schoolchildren since 1964, when they were seven years old. Every seven years, the director Michael Apted releases a new documentary that checks in on their increasingly varied lives (when they're aged 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49...). The children all came from very different socio-economic backgrounds, and the director, Michael Apted, wanted to see how this would affect their futures.
The documentary films are wildly compelling—you follow these people as they graduate from school, move cities, find jobs, lose jobs, have children, get married, have affairs, dash their dreams, find happiness, lose their way, face whatever life brings. Each episode, you think you know where their lives are headed, but I've been shocked, thrilled and devastated to see certain updates. The most recent installment—56 Up—came out in England this past May, and I've been waiting with baited breath for it to reach the United States.
Well, 56 Up is finally released today! (Right now I see showtimes for just New York, but it should be hitting more cities on January 18th.) Film critic Roger Ebert called the films, "Brilliant! The 'Up' series is on my list of the 10 greatest films of all time." He also wrote a great overview here.
Will you see it? I highly, highly recommend the series.
Did you guys read the recent New York Times Magazine interview with Jerry Seinfeld? What surprised me was how obsessive Seinfeld is when writing his jokes. His stand-up feels effortless, but actually "Seinfeld will nurse a single joke for years, amending, abridging and reworking it incrementally, to get the thing just so," writes Jonah Weiner in the article. Seinfeld looks for funny words ("chimps," "dirt, "playing" and "sticks" are all funny, he explains). The joke can't be too long or too short; he'll go so far as to shave off letters or syllables from a sentence to pare it down. Seinfeld also avoids four-letter words, which he thinks are a crutch: "Guys that can use any word they want—if I had that weapon, I’ll give you a new hour in a week," he says.
Here, Seinfeld dissects a Pop Tarts joke he's been working on for two years...It reminds you just how hard it is to make something look easy.
Here's a rad last-minute gift idea for cocktail lovers: Pourable Manhattans. A Utah-based distillery mixes rye whiskey, vermouth and bitters, then ages the mixture for 90 days, to make a fantastic Manhattan cocktail, which you just pour right out of the bottle. How cool is that?
P.S. Another boozy gift: The Corksicle now comes in bright colors. Your mom won't have to put ice in her white wine anymore! (Via Momfilter. Comic by Gemma Correll)
I'm a huge fan of interactive art exhibits (like the Grand Central secret and the New Museum playground), so my jaw dropped when I heard about the current Ann Hamilton show in Manhattan. Her installation features 42 swings, which, in turn, move an enormous billowy curtain. "When the swings are in action, the curtain, made of a lightweight silk twill, rises and dips, and the air is stirred, causing further billowing and fluttering," writes the New York Times, "Pigeons and an actress provide a soundtrack." Some people glide on the swings, some lie on the ground under the curtain and some sit on benches to take it all in. The show runs through January 6th at the Armory. I can't wait to take Toby!
Years ago, my sister invited her friend Paul over to her apartment. While she was in the kitchen making some snacks, he took a look at her bookcase. At that moment, he says, he knew he would fall in love with her. Her bookcase revealed all her passions—from Roald Dahl short stories and funny plays to mountain biking guides and How We Die. She had even tucked The Baby-Sitters Club next to a book on Linear Algebra.
Three years later, they were married.
It's funny how much your bookshelf can reveal about you. So I was PSYCHED to hear about the new book My Ideal Bookshelf, in which one hundred creative thinkers share their absolute favorite books. The book interviews writers (Michael Chabon, Mary Karr, Jonathan Lethem) and chefs (Alice Waters, David Chang) and Hollywood personalities (Judd Apatow, James Franco) and big thinkers (Malcolm Gladwell, Atul Gawande) and musicians (Patti Smith, Thurston Moore) about the particular books that made them who they are. My only small quibble is that I wish the people explained why they chose each book, but overall the collection is fantastic and makes you want to curl up under a blanket and read all day. So now, of course, the big question is: What's on YOUR ideal bookshelf? Mine would include: The History of Love, Epilogue, Ghost World, Peter Pan, Private Lives, Operating Instructions, Sense and Sensibility, The BFG, Middlesex, the list goes on...
(Top photo of my sister and her husband by Max Wanger)
Have you heard of the Copenhagen-based brand By Nord? Their bedding (for kids and adults), stockings and tea towels are seriously rad. Wouldn't the duvet be awesome for a guest room? I can imagine relatives calling quick dibs on who gets to sleep there.
Hunter boots are tomboyishly cool and make your legs look miles long, and royalty swears by them. The only catch? They're hard to pack! Well, Hunter just released their first foldable rain boot, which roll right up into a tiny package, so you can take them on vacations, store them in a drawer or even pop them into your bag on a rainy day. So far, they come in red and black, but green, navy and yellow are coming soon. Cool, right? P.S. Five great shoes for traveling, and a sweet photo of Princess Diana.
What was your voting experience like? Oh my goodness, I voted under the wire. Toby went to bed, Alex got home, and I literally ran to our polling site at 8:55pm. People on the streets were yelling, "You can make it!!!" Later, as we were following the election results on TV, we could see the Empire State Building from our window and watched as the blue line rose higher and higher.
You know when you have to pee at a movie theater, but you don't want to miss the movie? Well, RunPee tells you when to run to the bathroom without missing anything major and tells you what's happening in the movie while you're away.
My inner twelve-year-old boy can't stop laughing.
P.S. Do you pee in front of your significant other?
Rinee Shah created nine Seinfeld posters, featuring the food eaten on the show. Do you remember all the episodes these prints reference?
P.S. The ocean called. They're running out of shrimp. P.P.S. The zoo called. You're due back at six. P.P.P.S. Your cranium called. It's renting out space. P.P.P.P.S. The jerk store called. They're running out of you!
Toby likes playing with wooden figures, so I know he'd love a dollhouse. The dollhouses on amazon are expensive, so I was PSYCHED to come across this tutorial for making a dollhouse out of any old bookcase. I love how they use wrapping paper for wallpaper. Thumbs up!
I love a good club (documentaries, articles, picnics), so I was psyched to get this email from a reader named Emily:
"My friends and I have started a Cinema Club where we're watching all our dads' favorite movies. It's been such fun already, and the dads (none of whom know each other) get such a kick out of being so important in their twentysomething daughters’ lives...especially since they all live in Australia while we live in London! We've watched One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Graduate, Casablanca—and Lexi's dad's choice was Van Wilder! Hilarious choice from a 60+ university professor..."
What a brilliant idea, right? Would you do it? What do you think your dad would pick?
Do you remember Everlane, the California-based brand that sells perfect T-shirts for $15? Well, they now make silk blouses, with an easy fit and rounded collar. (My tomboy mom would have loved them:) I have the navy one and wear it constantly, and I'd highly recommend them if you're looking for a pretty shirt to wear this year!
P.S. I was wearing the blouse in this photo:)
New York Magazine recently featured high-school yearbook photos of celebrities, and they're awesome. Can you guess the four people above? And here are 12 more...
As you may know, the Up series is a series of eight fascinating documentary films that has tracked the lives of fourteen English schoolchildren since 1964, when they were seven years old. Every seven years, the director Michael Apted releases a new documentary that checks in on their increasingly varied lives (when they're aged 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49...). The children all came from very different socio-economic backgrounds, and the director, Michael Apted, wanted to see how this would affect their futures.
Did you guys read the recent New York Times Magazine interview with Jerry Seinfeld? What surprised me was how obsessive Seinfeld is when writing his jokes. His stand-up feels effortless, but actually "Seinfeld will nurse a single joke for years, amending, abridging and reworking it incrementally, to get the thing just so," writes Jonah Weiner in the article. Seinfeld looks for funny words ("chimps," "dirt, "playing" and "sticks" are all funny, he explains). The joke can't be too long or too short; he'll go so far as to shave off letters or syllables from a sentence to pare it down. Seinfeld also avoids four-letter words, which he thinks are a crutch: "Guys that can use any word they want—if I had that weapon, I’ll give you a new hour in a week," he says.
Here's a rad last-minute gift idea for cocktail lovers: Pourable Manhattans. A Utah-based distillery mixes rye whiskey, vermouth and bitters, then ages the mixture for 90 days, to make a fantastic Manhattan cocktail, which you just pour right out of the bottle. How cool is that?
(Via Momfilter. Comic by Gemma Correll)
Yes, Obama. What a thrill.
My friend just had a baby girl, and I heard about the most brilliant way to help new parents...Read More >
Rinee Shah created nine Seinfeld posters, featuring the food eaten on the show. Do you remember all the episodes these prints reference?
Toby likes playing with wooden figures, so I know he'd love a dollhouse. The dollhouses on amazon are expensive, so I was PSYCHED to come across this tutorial for making a dollhouse out of any old bookcase. I love how they use wrapping paper for wallpaper. Thumbs up!
