What do you see?

The images below display one of Mark's old shirts cleverly knotted and transformed into a chewing toy for our puppy, Babas. 

She surprisingly untangles it without tearing it apart.  NOTE: I wash it often, yuck! . . . I see a heart, what do you see?

mmm...pina, je t'aime...

If you haven't seen the 3D documentary film, pina, which happens to be nominated for an OSCAR this year, perhaps these pictures will entice you to see it.  I borrowed the book from the local library and I just had to snap a few photos, since it is a very rare book. 
 

Pictures below borrowed from the book, PINA BAUSCH by Maarten Vanden Abeele

The Illustrated Woman...

Maira Kalman's 18 minute pitch at the 2007 TED Conference.  I hope to meet her someday!

Topic No.1: Innovative Conferences, Cosmo THIS! 

Can the networking follies at conferences really influence the way we meet people?

My first conference-like experience was in 2003 when I attended Milan's infamous fair, Salone Internazionale del Mobile. It was an incredible experience, especially since I was a student at the time, and everything just seemed beautifully intentional. . .from the networking follies, to the global representation of designers, to the gorgeous people in attendance, it was all unforgettable eye candy. You know it's a successful event when I'm is still talking about it 9 years later, right? A shot from my archives below.

Image below, Salone Internazionale del Mobile, 2003.

Earlier this week, the shot below was released as a teaser really, for the upcoming C2-MTL (Commerce + Creativity) conference which promises to reinvent the business conference experience.  Gorgeous right? Well, it made me think of two things.  One, the fact that networking is still a more successful activity when done face to face no matter what you facebook-addicts (linkedin-users) say. Two, what about those networking spaces? In recent years, some conferences/design shows/conventions etc...have been going out their way to design creative environments in a monumental scale. And so I'm curious,  can the networking follies at these conferences really influence the way we meet people?  I found a couple of recent examples to illustrate my wonder...see below.

Images below borrowed from the C2-MTL site.

Images below, courtesy of Fredrik Färg, of his installation / bar and furniture pieces for this year's furniture fair in Stockholm. 

Networking next to that giant yellow dinosaur was probably fun.

Images below of Novo Nordisk's new corporate conference center, Favrholm, designed by SeARCH architects, located in a historic farm 25 miles north of Copenhagen.  You can read a detailed article about it in this month's Architectural Record, click here.  Even the floor plan is alluring. Those Danes, what would we do without them? -  they foster innovation and restoration with great pride.  Can you believe this is a healthcare research facility (dash) conference center?

Images below borrowed from the Architectural Record site.

Topic No.1: Innovative Conferences, Cosmo THIS! 

Oh, if only...

My friend Luisa pointed out this film to me. . .I'm sooooooo jealous of YOU, Lucy Chadwick!

Those eyes...

I have a view of my favorite Montreal building from my French class, c'est magnifique!  I'm in love with its narrow-tall profile and urban facades. 

Oh, those eyes are so hypnotic, I take their picture from time to time.


FYI: The building where I'm currently studying French is undergoing renovation, hence the scaffolding.

The Super Bowl of parties...

The picture above highlights 6 of the12 multidisciplinary designers behind the Super Bowl's Halftime Show projections. (Top: left to right): Katie Wilson, Aude Guivarch, Pamela Rocks, Johanna Marsal (Bottom: left to right): Adam Hummel, François Desrochers. 

Now that we've all fully digested the media's fetish with M.I.A.'s provoking gesture, let's highlight what really made last Sunday's Super Bowl Halftime Show truly memorable. . .the kick ass visuals created by the multimedia design studio, Moment Factory, from none other than Montreal. Their peerless collaboration with Jamie King and Cirque du Soleil transformed the football field at Lucas Oil Stadium into a Voguing platform.  Thank you Moment Factory for the metamorphic visual effects!


Enjoy the shots below of the Super Bowl Party held at Moment Factory's creative lab. It was an honor to be in the presence of such a talented crowd.

Learning French with Monsieur Lagerfeld...

If you're a subway-reading-urbanite like me, then you probably browsed through the pages of the metro: Karl Lagerfeld-Special Edition issue printed on Tuesday (February 7, 2012) of this week in several cosmopolitan cities throughout the world. Montreal's version is published in French, of which I have much appreciation for, because it feeds that tiny hard working part of my brain eagerly desiring to parler français.

If you're not a Lagerfeld fan, well then you probably didn't enjoy the issue as much as I did, but I loved how his sketches and bona fide commentary of world affairs were scattered throughout the pages from beginning to end.  I had a special smirk on my face when I came across President Obama's drawing with the complementary quote, "please, once again with feeling! " (ditto, I say) .

But the note that really made me laugh was Monsieur Lagerfeld's take on the M.I.A. faux pas during last Sunday's Super Bowl halftime show. He basically stated that the young people of today do it often, that it's not a polite thing to do, a bad habit.  I found it humorous because one, metro asked him to comment on this overblown stunt, two, he answered, and three, consequently, I learned the French phrase for "flipping the bird" which is "le doigt d'honneur" (the finger of honor!)  I love French, so hysterically honest.
Overall, it was a creative and unique issue. Thank you metro, keep the special editions coming. 

Shots of my copy below, a complete PDF format of the original printed version can be viewed here.

Once a Madonna fan...always a Madonna fan!

Madonna's Super Bowl halftime show was unforgettable...
I'm currently putting together a post about the creative team (FROM MONTREAL) behind those insane visual effects, stay tuned. In the meantime, enjoy the images below, borrowed from Madonna's gorgeous site here.

IMAGES: (top) Like A Virgin Album Photo by Steven Meisel. (bottom) Photo by Bruce Weber.