Granger stood, looking back with Montag, ". . .everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said, a child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made or a garden planted, something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die. . ." Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

(Quote transcribed from the CAEDMON audiobook of Fahrenheit 451, read by Ray Bradbury, CD #5 - section 5) 

Remembering Ray Bradbury: 1920 - June 5,  2012
Every time I read Ray Bradbury's, Fahrenheit 451 or experience François Truffaut's film adaptation of the book, I'm reminded of my humanity. . . it is an inextinguishable story about a very mortal subject. 


Don't you agree?...Hmmm.


Photo Credits
(above) By photographer, Michel Fainsilber, borrowed from The New York Times slideshow here.

Montreal, Schiaparelli, Prada, and 21st Century gurus...

Reading material for the weekend...

Fast Company (content partner of C2-MTL) has dedicated a special advertising section to Montreal in their April 2012 issue.  The graphics are playful and right on; It's clear that the 18-page spread (pgs.73-91) was crafted with enthusiasm.  I highly recommend you pick up a copy. 

To compliment Safian's cool biz updates, I also bought the latest issue of The New Yorker. That Maira Kalman cover is so irresistible. I'm looking forward to reading the Jonah Lehrer (speaking at C2-MTL) article, "ROYAL FLUSH, How Roger Thomas redesigned Vegas" and the piece, "Radical Chic" about the upcoming MET exhibition, Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations. I missed the McQueen exhibit, but this one, is a definite must!

As for the mountain of books below, I would like to take this time to thank the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, it always caters to my literary needs.  Do I really plan to read them all?. . . A little here, a little there...it's R&D for C2-MTL.

The list of books displayed above (in no particular order):  

Whatever You think, Think the Opposite by Paul Arden  

Poke the Box by Seth Godin  

Linchpin by Seth Godin  

The Mind edited by John Brockman  

How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer  

A Whole New Mind by Daniel H. Pink  

Conversational Capital, How to Create Stuff People Love to Talk About by Bertrand Cesvet

Other books of interest not illustrated in shot above:
Imagine, How Creativity Works, by Jonah Lehrer (2012)
The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom by Jonathan Haidt 
It's Not How Good You Are, Its How Good You Want to Be, by Paul Arden.

I'm also currently reading Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Recommendations are welcomed!

Topic No.1: Innovative Conferences, Cosmo THIS! 

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

I'm breaking up with 2011. . .

I'm saying adieu to twenty-eleven or perhaps It is breaking up with me. . .it's a bit unclear...isn't it always when it comes to goodbyes?
It introduced me to new faces, objects, literary delights, and fabulous urban corners. . .We awkwardly laughed at serendipitous encounters and cried at cinematic wonders. . .It brought a lovely puppy into my life. . .but even though we spent every second together, we just didn't fall in love. Tomorrow, I have my first date with 2012, I have a good feeling about this one. . .


Image above: Illustration by Maira Kalman created for the book, Why We Broke Up, written by Daniel Handler.  I recently devoured its every word and encapsulating illustrations (all by Kalman) with uncontrollable laughter and bittersweet melancholia.  I highly recommend it!
NOTE: The image is a picture I took of Maira Kalman's drawing which can be found on page 11 of the book.

En algún lugar de China...

"Someplace in China"

Recently, I've been tempted to start a book collection of children's books.  Many are  so beautifully illustrated and well written, that it almost seems like they're designed more for the parents than for the young ones...or for book lovers like me with no kids, but who admire unique illustrations.  Bravo to those adventurous publishers!

I share with you a few images I stumbled upon last week belonging to the book, En algún lugar de China. It's part of a project launched by the author, Ana Folgueira and the illustrator, Emilio Amade. (Founders of Syllabus Ediciones). The book describes, in an illusory manner, how children are adopted from an orphanage in China with the help of magical birds. It's designed to bring awareness and funding for the many orphaned children living in China today.  I believe the book only exists in Spanish at the moment. . .but just look at those colorful pages!  A great gift for any child. . .no matter what language they speak.

For more info, visit the official site here.  (Get a friend to translate it for you if you don't speak/read Spanish!)

Food is a costly antidepressant!

I would love nothing more than to spend an entire day with Maira Kalman just chitchatting about nothing and anything.  I should invite her to come to Montreal, but perhaps not during the winter season, hmm.  I have a feeling she would find the Québécois as hysterical as I do.  (FYI, I mean this with love!)

She recently illustrated Michael Pollan's popular book, Food Rules an eater's manual, and I can't wait to get my hands on it.  Kalman's colorful contributions are priceless, but kudos to Pollan for the obviously enlightening quotes.  A few excerpts below...

Place a Bouquet of Flowers on the Table and Everything Will Taste Twice as Good.

Cook.

Eat When You Are Hungry, Not When You Are Bored.

I wonder if this book will cure my uncontrollable potato chips fetish.  Are they really horrible?. . .even if they're the Natural Reduced Fat Sea Salted Potato Chips by RUFFLES?

Mark LOVES sweets and I've been hooked on the salty-sour stuff since birth.  Mmm, I blame those spicy Mexican candies from my lovely childhood!

**Maira Kalman illustrations borrowed from here.

Primavera en la plaza de Paris...

(Spring in the Parisian square.)


The act of collecting is very rewarding. . .(NOTE: I am referring to thoughtful collecting, not uncontrollable hoarding).


I started a new collection this week, pocket-sized theater books of Spanish plays performed in Madrid during the 1940's, 50's and 60's.  Yesterday, 85 of them came home with me inside my Frida Kahlo tote bag.  I stumbled upon these ephemeral pieces of literature during one of my impromptu visits to the Spanish bookstore, Las Américas.  


The curious titles and colorful covers completely hypnotized me. I really think they were waiting just for me. Is it crazy to think that books have souls and that somehow they come into your life when you most need them?  I know, very Fahrenheit 451...thank you Ray Bradbury!


The complete collection is composed of about 600+ books and I want them all. Can you imagine? Never mind the intense reading task at hand, but more importantly, where am I going to store 600 books?  I imagined them individually framed and all over my walls.  Yes I know, a beautiful and expensive vision.  I am tempted to start a blog specifically for this collection...hmmm...an art grant would be nice. Any ideas?


If bookstores and books in general become obsolete one day, future generations will be robbed of these small but joyous serendipities...sad, sad, sad.


A few of the titles. . .
La vida es un hilo. . .Life is a thread.
La playa vacia. . .The empty beach.
Los nuevos burgueses. . .The new bourgeois.
La maleta. . .The suitcase.
Espejo para dos mujeres. . .A Mirror for two women.

 

Morning package from San Francisco...

I received a beautiful package this morning from ma belle amie, Kelly Lynn Waters (curator of the blog halcyon days).  We don't see each other often enough, she lives in San Francisco, but we have a magical connection. After all, we will always have København, right Kelly?


As I was browsing the book, the morning rays illuminated my living room floors and it inspired the pic below.

And well, fabulous wrapping paper...merci K.


The book: Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Collections of the Smithsonian Museum by Liza Kirwin, the curator of manuscripts at the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art.

And the Pursuit of Happiness...

235 years of American Independence!


I am celebrating the 4th of July here in Canada by reading Maira Kalman's book, And The Pursuit of Happiness . . . for the second time.  


Enjoy the images below borrowed from Maira Kalman's New York Times 2009 blog (now a book). See here.  
Every American should own this book!!!


Fun Facts:
1. Maira Kalman: author, illustrator and designer.
2. The text is not a digital font, it is Maira Kalman's own intentionally pictorial handwriting.

The Library...

Nothing depresses me more than not having the means to buy books.  Yes, it is a personal addiction with no cure.  
This financial diet is truly heartbreaking, but to cheer me up, I turned to the local library.  To my surprise, Montréal's elegant library, 'La Grande Bibliothèque' has a rich selection of books.  It was inaugurated in April of 2005 and it still has that new fresh aroma...mmm.  (Unfortunately no photos allowed...I will keep trying to steal a few shots.)


A new library is wonderful, although, I do have to admit that I love that OLD library spirit!   I often pretend I am 'Holly Golightly' or 'Carrie Bradshaw' walking about the historic New York City Public Library. . . don't you? 

I am trying to read more these days...and watch less pointless TV. 
These are my current selections... 


1.  Maira Kalman's, And the Pursuit of Happiness.


2.  The Life and Legend of the Marchesa Casati.


3.  Rizzoli's, MUJI.

4.  Ann Coxon's, Louise Bourgeois  (by Tate Publishing).

I want an Isabella Blow hat.

A few images from the recently published book by Thames & Hudson, Isabella Blow written by Martina Rink. 


credits:
1. (left) detail of book cover, photo by Donald McPherson, (right) shot by Sean Ellis

2. (left) shot by Chris Moore, (right), shot by Kevin Devies
3. (left) Tim Noble and Sue Webster's The Head of Isabella Blow, 2002. (right) Isabella Blow with Anna Piaggi.

Am I cuckoo?...

Two things come to mind when I think of  the word Asylum...The 1975 film, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Alexander McQueen's 2001 Spring show. . . where McQueen glamorized the confinement of a mental institution with four mirrored walls, models with bandaged heads and well...an impeccable couture collection.


And so because of the terrorizing yet inviting notion of an asylum, this past weekend,  I chose to add to my library Christopher Payne's book, Asylum: Inside the closed world of state mental hospitals.  But really why? . . . because it is a gorgeous photography book and because I truly support the documentation of the forgotten.  Lunatic asylums (mental hospitals, institutions, state hospitals)...they went from being a refuge, a sanctuary, a benevolent institution to abandoned ruins or simply grotesque places.  I highly recommend you buy this book or at least browse through it. The photographs below are details from some of Payne's images.

a) Alexander McQueen's 2001 Spring Show. (Not included in Christopher Payne's book)
b) Straightjacket, Logansport State Hospital, Indiana.  
c) Patient Dresses, Clarinda State Hospital, Iowa.
d) Typical Ward, Buffalo State Hospital, New York.  
e) Files, Spring Grove State Hospital, MD.
f) Linen Closets, Traverse City State Hospital, MI.  
g) Unclaimed Cremation Urns, Oregon State Hospital, Oregon.
h) Autopsy Theater, St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Washington, DC.  
i)  Joel-Peter Witkin, "Sanitarium" 1983. (Not included in Christopher Payne's book)

my library in boxes...

I have been very busy packing and unpacking for the last few weeks... 
I will soon have updated pics of my lovely new home - the Fekete:De Loera, casa estudio.  
In the meantime, I introduce to you some of my favorite books...