Deirdre Zahl, the wife of old friend John Zahl, has a business in Charleston, South Carolina called Candy Shop Vintage which specializes in vintage mid-20th-Century costume jewelry — some of which has shown up on the TV show Mad Men. (Her stuff has also been featured recently in Vanity Fair — “Sweet Vinatge Treats”.)
Now Deirdre is designing her own original versions of this mondo-moderne bling — like the “Space-Age Spangles” pictured above.
It is, needless to say, very cool.
. . . at dawn.
Click on the image to enlarge.
My grandmother made these for her daughters, my mom made them for her daughters, then for her granddaughters — now she makes them for her great granddaughter Stella Grace.
This is mom sporting her chic new haircut:
“First time in my life,” she says, “I have no curls.”
My friend Jae Song took the image above with a new camera system he's just put together — an Olympus E-P1 digital body, two years old, fitted, using an adapter, with a Kern Switar 25mm 1.4 C-mount lens, about fifty years old. The legendary lens, small, ruggedly-built and sensitive, was originally made for Bolex 8mm movie cameras and won't work with a digital camera which has too large of a chip, because it causes excessive vignetting. There are a number of digital cameras with chips small enough to accommodate a lens like this Kern Switar — Jae chose the 2009 Olympus because of its solid construction and retro body design.
The combination makes for a distinctive and to me quite wonderful look — quirky in the way that old lenses used to be quirky, each handling light and focus in a slightly different way. Jae thinks that this has to do with subtle flaws in the glass, which modern manufacturing methods tend to do away with. (The Olympus will also take impressive videos in 780p HD — go here for an example.) In any case, the look seems to harmonize well with the vintage technology of a turntable.
If you just want a pouch for your iPhone 4 but also want to play catch with it occasionally, this is the case for you — by Sena.
. . . for the changing of the guards.
Every home should have a special bar, well stocked with a selection of Mexican beers, por el huésped de honor . . .
Commemorating the shortest, saddest, most electrifying love affair in movie history.
Michelle Enemark, of Curious Expeditions, has a cool new blog, filled with picture of curious old things. Check it out:
Michelle J. Enemark
I really want one of these. Don't you?
It's always sad when an old pair of underpants wears out. Underpants are the most intimate of companions — they stick with us (and sometimes to us) through thick and thin. They can serve as pajamas, lounge-wear and as a form of sexual display capable of driving women wild. The brightly-colored cocktail glasses on the defunct underpants above, for example, send a clear message — “I'm fun . . . but sophisticated!”
I bought those underpants about seven years ago at the Old Navy store on 34th Street in Manhattan. They were very cheap. They had a good run and served me well in good times and in bad.
They will be missed.
I think I can say without fear of contradiction that this is the greatest 12-inch action figure the world has ever known.
I'm a person with too many T-shirts — way
too many T-shirts. Periodically I make vows not to buy any more
T-shirts, but sometimes you just can't help yourself. Two years
ago, on a visit to Memphis, Tennessee, I couldn't resist buying a
T-shirt from Graceland, from the Sun Records studio and from the Stax
studio.
Recently I broke down again. I bought two T-shirts featuring the
work of Fletcher Hanks, the worst comic book artist of all time, and
one featuring the work of Amy Crehore, a terrific painter (the design
is featured above.)
I really don't see how anyone could resist buying these T-shirts, so at the risk of enabling other people with T-shirt acquisition problems
I will add that the Tickler T can be had here and the Hanks Ts
here. May I also remind you that T-shirt should always be spelled
with a capital T, because only the capital T reflects the shape of the
shirt. A t-shirt would be some kind of turtleneck T.
My friend Jae Song is selling a pinhole camera in a customized wooden casing online here. It's awesomely beautiful and cheap, considering that the casing is handmade.
Jae, a brilliant cinematographer and expert on digital photography, writes this about the pinhole camera:
The thing I love about the pinhole camera is that it slows me down.
Because of the long exposures, the camera needs to be placed down at a
stable place and left alone for awhile. In this world of instantaneous
gratification, it makes me wait. And while I wait, it makes me really
look and see. I also like the fact there is no viewfinder, no lens to
set focus nor aperture to adjust. It’s just me and time. I am forced to
use my instincts. It brings back the thrill of mystery and wonder and
surprise when the film comes back from the lab.
Jae also sells hand-made kites in hand-made wooden boxes and hand-drawn
cards with pressed flowers — you can see all of his hand-made stuff here.
Oh, no — prison garb! He's in the jailhouse now!
Luckily he's got his axe — maybe he can rock himself out of stir . . .