me: What recipe did you use for the cake?
Mom: I made it up.
me: What did you base it on?
Mom: Well, it’s from a mix, but I doctored it up.
me: How?
Mom: I substituted liquor for milk! Cognac and kahlua. I made the frosting with Godiva hot chocolate and coffee. I swirled the coffee around the kahlua bottle to make sure I got every last drop.
D.: In other words, there’s nothing that’s good for you in this cake. And instead of flour, you used cocaine.
Mom: That’s what I used instead of powdered sugar.
Sometimes I like to walk through the colder industrial sections of Greenpoint, stare at the sidewalk and imagine that I’m in an outer arrondissement of Paris. This visualization will be aided by a breakfast of brioche along the way.
“The secret story is the one we’ll never know, although we’re living it from day to day, thinking we’re alive, thinking we’ve got it all under control and the stuff we overlook doesn’t matter. But every damn thing matters! It’s just that we don’t realize. We tell ourselves that art runs on one track and life, our lives, on another, we don’t even realize that’s a lie.”
–Roberto Bolaño, “Dentist”
For these last evenings of summer, pick up Bolaño’s Last Evenings on Earth. Reading them, you’ll feel sad about all the the things you’ve lost but that were never meant to last, but at least it will answer your questions about why those things still live on in your memory, for better or for worse. And that’s comforting, even as you’re filled with dread about what’s to come.
Also on the topic of the intersection of art and life, The Underground Library is a project brimming with both. Founded by Ambre Kelly and Andrew Gori, it’s a secret literary society of sorts…over the course of the year, they will circulate hand-bound books by as-yet unknown authors to library members. “The idea came from imagining getting mailed, handed or left a petite, ornate, hardbound book by a friend or stranger - something FREE & impermanent - that was beautiful and yours for a moment, and contained the pro bono words and emotions of burgeoning young talents not yet known,” they explain on their Web site.
There are various levels of memberships, some of which include keeping the “heirloom” editions of the books. I saw the first one, The Gotham Carnival and it’s beautiful. I’m very excited to see the library unfold, as it means I will have even more reasons to avoid reading stuff on a computer screen. 2010 is going to be the year of the object! Click here to join.
I can’t stop thinking about hot weather and how this affects (or doesn’t affect) dress in other cultures. On the hottest days, certain groups will not or cannot stray from their uniforms, whether out of religious regions (i.e. Muslim women covered head-to-toe in all black), for style reasons, i.e. Italian men sweltering and suave in their summer suits (see: The Sartorialist when he documents them in Florence and Milan during the men’s collections in July) or practical reasons, like cowboys on in the high desert who wear long pants, boots and neckerchiefs.
Today I am wearing a scarf in defiance of the heat—well, a small scarf, knotted—because I’m sick of summer heat dictating my wardrobe choices as an excuse to eschew style for comfort. This item has a very practical application, it turns out: Useful for catching sweat, which is obviously why cowboys and Europeans wear them.
Another way to wear what you want, heat be damned—walk slowly and deliberately. This must also be another trick learned by dwellers in intensely hot places. Anyway, if I walk too fast my skirt hikes up.
“You have been my friend,” replied Charlotte. “That in itself is a tremendous thing. I wove my webs for you because I liked you. After all, what’s a life, anyway? We’re born, we live a little while, we die… By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heavens knows anyone’s life can stand a little of that.”
–E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web
[via]
New Yorkers (and especially Greenpointers), here’s what you need to do this Saturday: FEAST.
[via Ambre and Andrew of The They Co., whose forthcoming project THE UNDERGROUND LIBRARY I’m immensely excited about.]
We’re excited to announce that
THE UNDERGROUND LIBRARY (the book project by Ambre + Andrew to feature work by Mickey Sumner, Matt Casuccio, Jamie O’Shea, themselves & others) has been selected to participate in the next FEAST celebration.
FOR those who don’t know, The Underground Library is a book-making and distributing community project circulating non-established words, films and music, mysteriously.
For those who don’t know, FEAST encourages sustainable tactics for funding emerging artists. It’s like American Idol with art projects instead of Buffalo Springfield songs. It is a good meal + drinks + everyone you know and an opportunity to support their art.
It would be awesome if you ATTENDand VOTE FOR OUR PROJECT (if you think it be awesome).
FEAST_____Saturday / Aug 8th
Church of the Messiah
129 Russell Street, Brooklyn (on McGorlick park)
6-9p; $10-20, no one turned away
http://feastinbklyn.org/
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