August 2010's Links to Love

Well aren't you lucky this month? I lost a whole bunch of the links thanks to my forgetfulness in pressing the save button before closing down the computer. Sigh. This linking habit of mine is not good for my carpal tunnel. But I hope you enjoy anyway.

Artsy:

I wouldn't mind if beaches now were more like beaches 100 years ago.

On a similar note, check out these mixed time period photographs (the second one is the Reichstag).

Look at these bouquets with non-flowering plants in them. Wow. I used to love polka dot plants and hens and chicks when I was little. I wonder if I would dare put them in my wedding bouquet. Probably not.

Cheese wedding cakes. Another thing I think is awesome but I'm not sure I'd choose it for myself.

X-rayed flowers.

Four classic films to check out at the library.

Pretty sewn news.

A life story in photographs.

Design your own earrings.

Look at this darling shack.

Prints of retro GQs.

Get your own scratch-off map.

Collette Dinnigan designs fresh, clean homes like this one.

I like this idea of putting lace on lights to make them look pretty.

Poet's loft on a lake for rent. Love.

Ballerina Project.

Retro social media ads.


Music:

Who knew there were so many phrases on matchboxes to make a song? (Thanks, Sarah.)




Did you hear about the armless Chinese piano player?




I've just discovered Daphne Loves Derby:




Literary:

One word to get you started writing.

Adopt a word! I adopted "starrify" and "quibbleism," with the first being something I love and the second being something I dislike.

Most stolen books bookshelf.

Ten crazy rejection letters.

Grawlix. #@?*&!


Mormon:

First edition Book of Mormon, 1.5 million.

LDS Women authors.

"Where [Mormon] Feminism Doesn't Take Me."

Have you seen Carol Lynn Pearson's interviews on YouTube? (Warning, they're really long.) Check out this one on the divine feminine.

Did you see the poll about perceptions of Mormons? (For example, about three-quarters of those polled are unsure whether Mormons believe the Bible or are Christians.) Here's a small discussion.


Yes, I Love Technology:

Gmail is making phone calls now.

Gmail game.

Viglink monetizes your links.

Now you can access two Gmail accounts at once!

Google's estimation of the total number of books in the world.


Random:

Which of these neighborhood layouts do you like the best? The wavy one is cool, but it would be hard to get anywhere.

Sao Paulo replica of Solomon's temple.

Although beaches are okay, I'm a mountain and lake person. That's why I want to visit the world's ten most beautiful lakes.

I've noticed the hole in windows in airplanes, too.

Pop Tart shop.

Presidential nuzzle.

Be careful with those ice sculptures:

German Animals

Guess who finally saw the Wildpark in Leipzig? That means that within a matter of a few weeks, I had finally seen animals that Germans couldn't believe I'd never seen . . .

• two hedgehogs (one in the headlights--I totally scared the driver with my excited yell--and one up close in Schkeuditz)
• two foxes (one on the sidewalk--I pulled over the car onto the sidewalk and started running towards it until it ran away--and a sleepy one in a fenced-in area at the park)
• wild boars (that I guess aren't so wild since they're taken care of in the Wildpark)
  

Finally! Yes!

Marla Olmstead

I just watched My Kid Could Paint That. I really like this little girl's art. Look at this painting:




And here are some cool things I found out about her here:

Marla’s first painting sold for $250 when she was 2.

When she paints, Marla uses acrylic paint, brushes, squirt bottles, spatulas, and the ideal child stand-by: her fingers.

Marla’s favorite color is pink.

When Marla was 2, her favorite bedtime book was a Children’s Dictionary.

Her favorite painting is Purse.

After one of her first paintings was sold, the collector found an Eeyore sticker Marla had hidden in it.

She was almost a Leap Day baby.

She loves to cook and watches The Food Network daily.

Her favorite things about gallery openings are the other children and the cookies.

She is a descendant of Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect who designed Central Park.

One of her paintings, Digits I, hangs next to a Renoir.

She is much more comfortable behind the lens, and her favorite “toy” is an old digital camera.

Her great-grandfather, great-uncle, great-aunt and two of her second cousins are/were professional artists.

California collector Stuart Simpson, who owns paintings by Monet and Renoir as well as a sculpture by Rodin, bought three Marla’s paintings.

Some of Marla’s favorite movies are Shrek and Ice Age

Marla likes to eat gnocchi and watches cooking shows with her mom, and especially Emeril with her grandmother

Marla prefers to paint in the morning.

When Marla decides she is finished, she gives her painting titles like “Dinosaur,” or something reminiscent of a bedtime monster

My Latest Dabblings in Oil

Here's the picture I got the idea from. (Maybe I shouldn't show it to you, it totally defames my own version. And I'm sorry I don't remember where I got it. But whoever took the picture--thank you for inspiring me. Those reds! That lighting!)




My version:




I want to try again and this time get some help from someone who has actually taken classes in oil.

Best Tomato Plants Yet--Try 2010

Remember these? They turned into these:

Artfully Paranoid

I'm guessing my mother and a select few others may be the only ones who can recognize the one thing about this pattern (on my curtain) that drives me nuts.



Anyone?

Silbermond's "Symphonie"

Silbermond's "Symphonie"

Sag mir was ist bloß um uns geschehn
Du scheinst mir auf einmal völlig fremd zu sein
Warum geht’s mir nich mehr gut
Wenn ich in deinen Armen liege
Ist es egal geworden was mit uns passiert

Wo willst du hin, ich kann dich kaum noch sehn
Unsere Eitelkeit stellt sich jetzt in den Weg
Wollten wir nicht alles wagen, ham wir uns vielleicht verraten
Ich hab geglaubt wir könnten echt alles ertragen.

Symphonie
Und jetzt wird es still um uns
Denn wir stehn hier im Regen
haben uns nichts mehr zu geben
Und es ist besser wenn du gehst

Denn es ist Zeit
Sich einzugestehn, dass es nicht geht
Es gibt nichts mehr zu reden
Denn wenn es regnet
Ist es besser aufzugeben

Und es verdichtet sich die Stille über uns
Ich versteh nich ein Wort mehr aus deinem Mund
Haben wir zu viel versucht
Warum konnten wir's nich ahnen
Es wird nicht leicht sein das alles einzusehn

Symphonie
Und jetzt wird es still um uns
Denn wir stehen hier im Regen
Haben uns nichts mehr zu geben
Und es ist besser wenn du gehst

Symphonie
Irgendwo sind wir gescheitert
Und so wie’s ist so geht’s nich weiter
Das Ende ist schon lang geschrieben
Und das war unsere

Symphonie
Und jetzt wird es still um uns
Denn wir stehn hier im Regen
Haben uns nicht’s mehr zu geben
Und es ist besser wenn du gehst

Denn es ist Zeit
Sich ein zu gestehen, dass es nicht geht
Es gibt nichts mehr zu reden
Denn wenn’s nur regnet
Ist es besser aufzugeben


(This YouTube movie is waaaaay cheesy, so just listen to the music.)



Silbermond - Symphony

Tell me what happened to us
suddenly you seem to be a complete stranger to me
why doesn’t it feel good any longer
when I’m in your arms?
doesn’t it matter anymore what happens with us?

Where are you going, I can barely see you anymore
our vanity is on the way now
didn’t we want to be daring, have we perhaps betrayed ourselves?
I used to think we could really stand anything

Symphony
and now it’s silent around us
cause we’re standing in the rain
and have nothing else to give
and it’s better if you go

Because it’s time
to admit this is not working
there’s nothing else to talk about
because it’s better to give up
when it rains

And the silence around us becomes even more dense
I don’t understand any single word coming from your mouth
did we try too hard?
why didn’t we see it coming?
it won’t be easy to recognize all that

Symphony
and now it’s silent around us
cause we’re standing in the rain
and have nothing else to give
and it’s better if you go

Symphony
We failed somewhere
and we can’t keep going the way things are
the end was written long ago
and that was our

Symphony
and now it’s silent around us
cause we’re standing in the rain
and have nothing else to give
and it’s better if you go

Because it’s time
to admit this is not working
there’s nothing else to talk about
because it’s better to give up
when it rains

Sica in Leipzig

It's been over a month and I haven't posted pictures of Sica in Leipzig!

I was so glad she got to come so I could show her the awesome city of Leipzig. It was amusing to me that she wanted to play Rummikub more than go to the Motette or see the Thomaskirche, but I loved spending time with her and where didn't matter. But she did see the Nikolaikirche, the Altes Rathaus, Clara-Zetkin Park,


She met my dear, dear friends Sylvia and Dietmar:




She is one awesome Rummikub player (sorry, Markus) and she even went on a long bike ride with me! (Thanks to the Jakobis for letting me borrow an extra bike.)




She saw Dresden:




She tried her first Döner (she went for garlic sauce and NO vegetables):




She watched German soccer (World Cup) with me and other YSAs (on the 4th of July, after which we picked strawberries and celebrated Independence Day):




And she saw the enormity of the Völkerschlachtdenkmal (Monument to the Battle of the Nations):



It was great having her here. (Thank you for sending her over!) She even helped me out though she was on vacation and also I felt bad that I couldn't find her any chocolate without nuts. I worried a lot about me killing my sister on accident. Sica--you're great. I love you so much.

Bestsellers

A lot of the people who read a bestselling novel, for example, do not read much other fiction. By contrast, the audience for an obscure novel is largely composed of people who read a lot. That means the least popular books are judged by people who have the highest standards, while the most popular are judged by people who literally do not know any better. An American who read just one book this year was disproportionately likely to have read The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. He almost certainly liked it.

- The Economist

True that. But you know, I wonder about books that will really go down in history. Will it be Bolaño's 2666 or will it be Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love? I know what I would vote for, but there is something to be said for a book that has at least gotten that person to read one book.