bits & pieces

Just a few shots of various collections we have been creating in my new house. Grouping things and collaging is fast becoming a favorite new thing of mine. I look forward to extending this into the garden!

Up, up, and away!

For this post I was originally planning on talking about how it has been a long time since I have taken a proper vacation--you know, the kind where you actually get on a plane or leave the country or something. Then I thought, "Who wants to hear a whiner?". These vintage travel posters not only had me longing for the days of traveling in real style but also fantasizing about getting out of town...soon. They also had me wondering what happened to the days of the bar on the second floor of the airplane or the second floor for that matter? The roomy sleeping compartments or elegant dining compartments on trains? Or train travel in general? These days the actual act of traveling can be sleepless, hectic and sterile-but there is still something about reaching your destination and entering a new place and an unknown culture that is still totally jet-set, romantic and exciting.

The vintage travel poster does such a great job at grabbing your attention with colorful, bold graphics and snappy slogans while leaving just enough to the imagination to get your juices flowing. I don't think you see that enough in modern advertising. Not to mention these are amazing works of art. They have really inspired me. It is one of my goals this year to get out of town and enjoy a real holiday. Stop. Relax. Recharge. Inspire. Put color on my cheeks. Return a better me. Why not? You know what they say about all work and no play--it's true. And in this year of trying to be optimistic and open minded, I think I could benefit more than ever from stepping back and seeing the world from a new place. I have put it off for too long saying "I can't". A long weekend would suffice. It doesn't need to be a trip around the world. It is so easy to forget that all it takes is a little saving, a bit of planning, some research, booking, bag-packing and...

...up, up, and away!

can you feel how volatile life is?

Daisies {Sedmikrasky} is another movie that I have been waiting years and years to see. It is also another movie that sparked my interest based on a single still. It was the following picture:

This 1966 Czech film is directed by Vera Chytilová and the amazing, experimental camera work is by the talented Jaroslav Kucera. If I thought Polly Maggoo was a psychedelic kaleidoscoped collage than Daisies is that on ten! On overdrive! On acid! There are a lot of reviews of this film that like to get deep and speak of feminist undertones or anti-war messages. For me, this film was mostly a visual pleasure. There is a simple plot-two young ladies find themselves in a world that has gone bad and in turn decide to be bad themselves. This results in a colorful, fast paced piece of art house cinema where the two main characters (played by Jitka Cerhová & Ivana Karbanová) dance, flirt, and eat their way through their days & nights. I have never seen anything quite like this movie and was really impressed by the special effects and the mixed use of color & black and white film. Stunning & surreal.
One of my favorite clips--especially for the dialog:


































I also came across a montage of some of the best scenes that someone put together to a Sigur Ros track: