sprite house

007 out

2007-12-31T16:56:00.000-08:00

hi,
no new posts here in 2007, i have just been researching and re-building the house of swish-- houseofswish.org, re-opening soon-- 2008 will hopefully be an auspicious or at least active year for it...thanks for looking, TJ

hell yes

2006-11-30T13:48:00.000-08:00

sing me to sleep + preach, baby:
mom (Tess Sr) gave me this beloved magnet, a favorite white font on a black square, words by R.W. Emerson, from quotablecards.com, which must be shared (set to the delightful, trance guitar dementia of the end of the Zombies' "Indication")

"finish each day and be done
with it. you have done what you
could. some blunders and
absurdities have crept in;
forget them as soon as you can.
tomorrow is a new day. you shall
begin it serenely and with too
high a spirit to be encumbered
with your old nonsense."

ANTONIO GAUDI (by HIROSHI TESHIGAHARA)

2006-11-30T13:22:00.000-08:00

@ Castro Theater, Nov 30

"gliding thru the Sagrada Familia"

Gaudi film

sonic bliss: sofia coppola strikes again

2006-10-05T08:07:00.000-07:00

just one music post, can't resist:
first it was AIR, then MY BLOODY VALENTINE...now she's giving NEW ORDER's "Ceremony" THE CURE's "Plainsong" and BOW WOW WOW.
another very fine HACIENDA comp

our Poltrana Frau moment

2006-09-25T21:18:00.000-07:00

day light wet dream:
surprisingly we found ourselves in love and living with exquisite Italian leather furniture, the
POLTRANA FRAU historical collection...
not just eachother (he, a cancer researcher, short, dark, husky; animal lover, pisces, terrific soul, +
i, not the worst of all, but a symphonic oboist + tireless Amnesty International activist).
each evening we return to our high windowed flat overlooking the shimmering river...all forest + mint green + cream with
CHAMELEON FINE LIGHTING signature collection sconces
aglow on the walls.
the dream ends, his dumping me for a young med student/erotica model, my weeping more for missing the arm chairs than my ravishing ex.
no assembly required nor death by hammers involved.

BANKSY'S LATEST

2006-09-18T10:44:00.003-07:00

"We are sitting on the couch not seeing her. From what I understand, the elephant is a symbol of all the world's problems being ignored," said Kari Johnson, Tai's caretaker. Johnson said Tai, 38, lives on a private southern California elephant ranch and has appeared in several commercials..."There is nothing in the world I would ever do to harm an elephant. The paint is nontoxic and washable and does not hurt a bit," Johnson told Reuters.
TAI, PAINTED ELEPHANT
hmm, Banksy, if that's what was meant, not heavy (handed) at all, heh!
((we enjoyed the Paris Hilton CD altering, a nice job in the tradition of the Barbie Liberation Front's mutated voiceboxes stunt; was great how the Virgin Records spokesperson expressed admiration for getting them out, altered and snuck back in the stores, the panache of it, while noting that none of the altered CD's were returned.))
BANKSY

clarion.1, continued

2006-09-13T05:40:00.002-07:00

noble beasts

some murals un-signed, i think, must return, add to this or ask Precita, altho this one, might be signed by Jet Martinez (one of them is).

Fists of Fury ("developed by 8 teen muralists of the oasis for girls paid arts apprenticeship program 2004"):
SIERRA BLOOMER, MICAIAH CAPLONG, SU MEI MAI, SUNUM, NANCY SALCECDO, AMBER SANCHEZ, JENNIFER TSE, LILY ZHEN,
artist-trainer MARISA JAHN (and here's to "relentless compassion")
OASIS FOR GIRLS

singing the body electric

2006-09-10T12:30:00.000-07:00

art damage like this, only in NY...fischerspooner!!...yay!!
ok, more non-domesticities, so this is 2/3 decor (wednesdays), 1/3 the other good stuff (weekends)
ART PARADE (thankU SHOWstudio)

clarion alley, now appearing.1 (9/2/06)

2006-09-09T22:55:00.000-07:00

rasterbation! or maybe just inspiration (clarion alley, from valencia to mission streets, btwn 16th + 17th, sf ca)
THE RASTERBATOR

(taped up note, elephants pic 1, left side 9/2: "mural in progress, please be kind")

deep reprot depot love

2006-09-08T06:35:00.000-07:00

shameless design*sponge homage...
just 2 odes to joy

i'll fly away

2006-09-06T12:09:00.000-07:00

just a trailer: clarion alley san francisco mural detail...
as the smiths sing,"i like it here can i stay" and sarah vaughan swings, "so linger awhile"

where's Andre (Leon Talley)? #1

2006-08-29T08:48:00.000-07:00

phassion, fashistas, eek!
but the urge to feature Diana + Emily's, "Biomimetic Fashion" cannot be resisted.

"The collection, at first glance, seems to be a series of monotone greys, but each outfit converts to reveal richly colored, digitally printed fabrics and different silhouettes."
Yes please(to all transformers, changelings of function + emotion), let this set the tone for featuring similar dwelling structures (future "where's Andre Leon 'a chiffon dress, Worked! like a Japanese lantern!' Talley"s).

BLACK BOX NATION (strike it up! aah aaya aa yah...enter legions of avenging Martha Washes...couldn't resist that either),here's to input/output, mysterious internal structures + merging disparate worlds:
BLACK BOX NATION

MOD MOM

2006-08-28T18:20:00.001-07:00

her July--August output!
as Apt. Therapy has said, where does she find this stuff?
we love you M.M.

Adler's antlers

2006-07-31T23:03:00.000-07:00

"A touch of kitsch is like cayenne pepper" said Jonathan Adler, in reply to my attempt at reparation for an Apartment Therapy open thread's harsh views (some posters'--toward things deemed over the top or camp--not the site's editors!) of an Adler/Doonan residence which had appeared last year in the NY Times.

on the eve of his new SF shop ("My empire, expanding...or crumbling!" an endearingly modest) Adler chatted with fans after his husband Simon Doonan's reading from his "Nasty: My Family + Other Glamorous Varmints" reading's Q + A segment, in which i nattered about putting his writing in the august company of the mighty Cintra Wilson (whose website i beseech you to visit, the secret agenda of this post, which is also to adorn the heads of the dashing duo w/ the golden stag antlers featured within Wilson's hilarious "Unnatural Colors".

Somehow this ties in: "I hate people who think they're funny," gruffs Robert De Niro's ailing cop character in Flawless, re: a general tension toward things deemed precious (like blogging! oh dear "everybody's clever nowadays," to Oscillate Wildly...reel around blog mountain, still ill, a sick, irresistible compulsion, if this could be thought even slightly clever...everyone thinks they're clver nowadays one might adjust).

after a screening of this Flawless,last year at SF's Castro Theater, film-maker Joel Schumacher interviewed afterward,
recalling his beginning as a window dresser (like Doonan), and his participation as costume designer in the 1978 Woody Allen film "Interiors", this eventual director of many films including The Lost Boys and Flawless (Phillip S. Hoffman, fine as usual + at least a real drag artist, Jackie Beat, has more than a two second role). He spoke favorably not just of the gnarly trannies ("gowns, bomber jackets, combat boots") he'd admired throughout his life who inspired the film, but of "that touch of vulgarity which makes things interesting." Huzzah!

INTERIORS (movie)

Broadhurst, Florence (all hail the queen!)

2006-07-31T23:00:00.000-07:00

ok then, onward + upward, in divine decadence we trust....
of course we can trust Apartment Therapy to give us one of their perfect "Top 10":
FLORENCE BROADHURST PATTERNS (JANEL'S PICKS)

(thank you Janel! and please forgive our lag, but we're the NKOTB, or their towel boy or something...the current wallpaper mania, from Lee Joffa/Cole + Sons, Wallpaper From The Seventies, Naked + Angry, Broadhurst and the new Hicks, to Osborne & Little: our walls are merely painted, but of course dreaming (blogging) is free....

other sites also deliver the Broadhurst goods of course (revealing how Broadhurst's life rivals Charlotte Perriand's or even Josephine Baker's in sheer glamour and brilliance):
DESIGNBOOM

SIGNATURE PRINTS

F.B. DOCU

while we're at it, here's AT's recent helpful wall covering breakdown:
wall coverings guide
ps: if we seem like suck-ups, well, so be it: we're simply fans, raving, and our sites tend toward tribute.
we will deliver some novel goods too, or withdraw this hubrice!
(pss: such disclaimers shall fade here in the future, as the goal is to, as one random bit from a late 80's nightclub flyer stated: "never complain, never explain"

8/25/06:
the constantly rocking design*sponge + husmussen's picks: ravishing!
OSBORNE +LITTLE

hello

2006-07-30T10:15:00.000-07:00

Biomimicry: Janine Benyus

2006-07-17T10:34:00.000-07:00

"Biomimicry...
is a new science that studies nature's models and then imitates or takes inspiration...to solve human problems, e.g., a solar cell inspired by a leaf.

After 3.8 billion years of evolution, nature has learned: What works. What is appropriate. What lasts.

...is a new way of viewing and valuing nature...an era based not on what we can extract from the natural world, but on what we can learn from it."

~Janine Benyus (1997)
Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature.

"Classic examples include Velcro and sonar technology, and if Benyus has her way, future developments could (also) include protective clothing inspired by spider silk, or a business that runs like a redwood forest. Her role at the design table for carpet giant Inteface spawned the company's revolutionary FLOR tile system. Mimicking a forest floor, the carpet tile patterns blend like leaves and produce unprecedented environmental benefits for the industry, like minimal off-gassing and reduced waste by using recycled + renewable materials. Ultimately Benyus sees herslf as an educator..."

PLANET magazine editors, Spring '06, 30 Visionaries issue.

Did you know the FLORS were so cool?
BIOMIMICRY

this starts our round-up of great things that have inspired us so far this decade, which have appeared in numerous other blogs or print sources; finally re-capped here, just to remind or maybe inform anew.

in Boontje we trust

2006-07-08T03:55:00.000-07:00

still our favorite (particularly the white
version, with its fine shadows).
a midsummer night's dream forever

TORD BOONTJE

not so manic now

2006-07-08T03:36:00.000-07:00