un danseur, un patineur

i imagine that there are few talents more enchanting than being able to roller skate and tap dance at once. my charmed friend katie found one man who could perform such an astonishing feat. ladies and gentlemen, i give you mister gene kelly:

(see also: singin' in the rain)

un cirque

were i born a hundred years earlier, i'd surely have arrived in manhattan on the midnight train and flocked to the ziegfeld follies. i did, in fact, move to new york and join show biz, albeit in a less romantic era. no matter! these pictures by wendy bevan, all captured on polaroid film, remind me that all a real ziegfeld girl needs is a little bit of swagger, glitz, and a few odd birds by your side.

(see also: geek love)

bon conseil

this proud, hand painted sign flaps valiantly over a side street in the west village. (i passed it this afternoon, en route to tea and sympathy.) it offers some tried and true advice: if we all do one random act of kidness daily, we just might set the world in the right direction.

(see also: my favorite color is shiny, sweet darlin'amélie)

fleurs délectables

while watching monsoon wedding, i was tickled by love-sick dubey's habit of swallowing marigolds whole. i recently came across a bin of dried, sweetened hibiscus flowers and brought a bag of the tart, red beauties home. now i too can't resist devouring these blossoms. it's best to just pluck and pop the finespun flavors all at once.

and when the weather is finally sweltering, i'll have to serve bourbon and mint leaves with this lavender ice cream on the rooftop.

une lune de papier

my, i love this picture, spotted while museum-hopping this weekend:

backdrops circa 1940s by lorna simpson

cue: it's only a paper moon

un film

half nelson is easly one of the most beautiful movies i've seen in years. the story is a deftly realized spin on the tired old tale of liberal guilt in inner-city schools. a charismatic, well-meaning history teacher alternately inspires his students and wallows in a messy drug habit. when a 13-year-old student stumbles upon his other life in a locker room, they begin an unexpected, redemptive friendship.

(see also: entre les murs, lars and the real girl)

étiquette

in 1965, edward gorey published this tongue-in-cheek rebuttal to the day's strait-laced etiquette guides. it's mischievous in its rejection of old sexual mores and delightfully brazen for women with a loose grasp on prim behavior.

(simply click on any page to enlarge.)

(see also: splendor in the grass, the melancholy death of oyster boy, the portable dorothy parker)

une barbe

the ground has been repaved with sheets of frost and shingles are sprouting their gleaming gardens. what's a shivering girl to do, but take a cue from still colder lands? and well, if she can't grow a beard to befit jack frost, there are these vik prjónsdóttir caps from iceland.

(see also: when i'm 64)

une icône: anna karina

we all need a few eccentric ladies to admire. personally, i think that anna karina is the hippest girl in town. she ran away to paris, met coco chanel, then godard, and became a devil-may-care darling of new wave film. she was a doe-eyed gamine; cerebral and wild - not incidentally, but essentially wild, like thistles. what's not to love?

(from top, see also: pierrot le fou, vivre sa vie)

papier et ruban

(see also: fake eyelashes)

i always look forward to valentine's day, for the heaps of pink frosting (see also: epicurious) and the opportunity to make foolish valentines. these are usually sent secretly to vague acquaintances or platonic infatuations. (enlist a friend, cozy up, and give it a try. it will elicit a lot of delighted giggles on february 14.) this year, i'm hoping i can unearth relic prom photos (think beehives, yards of taffeta, horn-rimmed glasses, and powder blue tuxedos) to use. i'll keep my eyes peeled in brooklyn this weekend. so many vintage shops have nooks filled with mysterious old pictures.

trois bicyclettes

lately, i've set my sights on a gleaming old cruiser to pedal about the city, while humming doo-wop ditties. this, in turn, has inspired a fascination with copenhagen cycle chic, which is essentially the sartorialist on wheels. take a peek at all these danish darlings doing the very same.

une nouvelle vue

for as long as i’ve lived in new york, i’ve wanted to live in the village. i supposed that i would once i was the sort of batty old lady who wears sequins to breakfast. through a stroke of good luck, this wish came true earlier in life than i expected.

i've moved to a romantic old flat in greenwich village, just in time for the new year! here is the new view from my bedroom window, splashed with the empire state building. it's enough to make me feel like i'm in a storybook.

(by the by, my brother gave me a book of essays, up in the old hotel, by joseph mitchell about all the charming eccentrics who once ruled these streets. i can't recommend it highly enough.)

un miroir

i could just lay and listen to sweet rock ballads incessantly. apparently, i’m not alone. when the velvet underground released i’ll be your mirror, andy warhol lobbied to put a scratch on the album so that this song would repeat itself ad nauseam.