Sunday, January 31, 2010

Watch this Space!

Because these two little boys (sorry - big boys is what they like to be called these days) just had their joint 2nd and 4th birthday party today! Pictures to follow . . .

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Paris - 1962

Now, I'm not a huge Francophile. But. This set of photos, taken in Paris in 1962, is amazing! The mix of lowbrow and high fashion subjects is poignant. The set, taken as a whole, has the uncanny ability to place you in the Les Halles district of Paris almost fifty years ago.

Which is something else I love, in and of itself. As a historian, I appreciate and value old photographs. As a museum professional, I love, love, love when said photos are preserved in a way that maintains their condition but allows the public easy access to them. A Flickr photo set of scanned originals seems a perfect way to marry these two ideals!

(cross-posted at Museophilia)

Monday, January 25, 2010

Ahh, Portsmouth

A year in the life. Check out this great video from the creator of The Daily Portsmouth. Watching it might give you a sense of why I love the city so much!

BTW, the video is set to Vampire Weekend's "Run" from their new album "Contra."

Friday, January 22, 2010

Vimeo short

This. This is an amazing short that Justin found online the other day. It's from 2007, so it's nothing new, but . . . it's beautifully animated, creepy as hell, and so very compelling. Click play & you'll see what I mean. Better yet, click on the bottom right corner & full-screen it.

Alma from Rodrigo Blaas on Vimeo.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Christmas Gift Roundup

Or not. Apparently, as of December 29th, I was planning to do a "Christmas Gift Roundup." Not sure what they would have entailed besides a list of all the goodies that I got, perhaps with photo evidence? That seems like a silly post.

Let's suffice to say that I received lovely things for Christmas, including lots & lots of books, which are the things that make me happiest. I also got this comic as a 11" x 17" print from the man I love. :)

Somehow, I went nearly a week without blogging, which was not intentional. I have a few posts either drafted, started, or just conceived. There is, for example, one on the new year (at the risk of sounding like every other person so far this year, 2010!?! how did the future get here so fast & where is my flying car?). There are others, as well. Watch this space!

Wait, wait, one more thing. The last line of the first paragraph reminded me (I'll wait while you go back & reread it. Ready now?). Some of you know that I, and the future husband, am a lover of Tolkien. In the Fellowship of the Ring, Boromir at one point says, "One does not simply walk into Mordor!" A friend of ours heard a riff on this, which brings in a little Monty Python and has been making me giggle for weeks: "One does not silly walk into Mordor!"

Thursday, January 14, 2010

RMT (Random Music Thing)

One day over the holidays, I was listening to some Tchaikovsky on last.fm, namely The Nutcracker Suite. I also clicked on the 1812 Overture, because I'd never heard it all the way through.

You know the 1812 Overture, right? Tchaikovsky wrote it to "commemorate Russia's defense of Moscow against Napoleon's advancing Grande Armée at the Battle of Borodino in 1812" (info nod to Wikipedia). It's the one with all the cannony "BOOM BOOM BOOM" bits in the middle. Probably why everyone uses it for fireworks displays.

So . . . you can imagine my surprise when I listened to the overture in its entirety and realized that the first ninety seconds of the 1812 overture are actually sweet and moving. Go listen it it yourself and see!

Monday, January 11, 2010

Travel Time (or Time Travel)

Wouldn't you like to know? ;)

My apologies for being a little MIA over the last week or so. Last weekend, we rang in the New Year in NYC with my best friend and her boyfriend. This past weekend, we spent some time down in Philly with a good friend and his girlfriend. Busy, busy!

I'll be back and posting again soon, though. In the meantime, I wanted to share this funny British quiz show that Justin found on YouTube a few months back: QI (Quite Interesting).

The blurb gives you a hint of whats to come: "A comedy quiz show hosted by Stephen Fry. The questions on QI are so difficult that the panel almost never get a right answer, so points are only awarded for interesting answers." Think British comedy mixed with . . . well, hell. It's British comedy. That should be enough to lure you, right?

Sunday, January 03, 2010

Visit from a Muscovite (kinda, sorta)

I was going to title this "From Russia with Love," but that's been done to death.

Mr. Segundus, who has been referred to once or twice here, is a friend of mine and Justin's. Nay, not just a friend. He is our former roommate, best friend, Best Man, and partner in crime & intellectual conversation. He is also a fabulous writer, with a brilliant blog of his own.

However, he is also living far away at present, in cold & snowy Moscow researching Stalinist architecture under the auspices of an academic grant program. I won't tell you which one to protect his privacy, but you'd know it if you heard it.

Anywho, this means he is no longer sleeping on our floor, getting burritos & beers with us, and engaging in wonderfully intricate discussions of linguistic nerdery with Justin. Hasn't been since August, in fact. Which is sad.

He did come home to New Hampshire for Christmas, though, and was able to carve an afternoon and evening out of a busy family schedule for us. He came by last Sunday just after we (belatedly) trimmed our tree, we exchanged Xmas presents, we nom'd on burritos at Dos Amigos, attempted trivia at the Coat (way too packed in there), and ended up enjoying a few beverages at The Press Room.

His visit was too brief, but it was lovely to see him - and the mullet he's grown to fit in with the Moscow crowd. ;) Miss you already, monkey! Glad you're safely back in город Москва.