a collection of links i've been saving

i was rather chuffed to notice that i've surpassed 20,000 followers on pinterest.
i guess it's bound to happen when you've pinned 46,793 things.
only a few of which are duplicates.

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higher self yoga, tantrum yoga, goat yoga

what will they think of next?

or have we reached peak namaste?

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a deliciously biting review of a fancy paris restaurant.
some of the best writing you'll read today.

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you should listen to the containers podcast.
it helped me understand globalization better.
and spoiler alert - there are ships!
the creator tells a bit about it here.
and one more piece about here.

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speaking of podcasts,
i need to stop procrastinating and just make one already.

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after reading about how the fda has opened up genetic testing
so companies can tell you, for example, whether you are at risk for late onset alzheimer's.
i'm thinking about having my personal genome mapped.
would you want to know?

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a new carlsberg campaign revives
"probably the best beer in the world"
and features mads mikkelsen.
skål

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maritime startups. interesting.


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watching girlboss on netflix.
it's a bit like new girl with a nasty, unappealing main character.
it seems the guardian agrees.
what are you binge-watching these days?

100 happy days :: day 5

today's happiness - pinterest. where else can you follow boards as diverse as fierce bitch shit and graph: soviet russian (hmm, maybe those aren't as far apart as i thought)? and there are my own 179 boards of collected inspiration and cleverness that i want to be able to find again. pinterest enables me to track what interests me, like rest (not getting enough sleep, eh?) and healthy eating (ditto that). not to mention the odd drinkie poo (evening) or caffeinated beverage (daytime). i have boards for husband: husband could make this, kitchen goodness and lysthus. and he even looks at them regularly on the iPad and recently asked me to make him a new board: wood details. you can make a board for any purpose, without all the mess and chaos of cutting up magazines and sticking them to an actual bulletin board. pinterest is awesome! it's where they're keeping all. the. pretty.

i remember way back when kristina first invited me to pinterest (she has often helped me be an early adopter of these things). i found it messy and confusing and i didn't think i'd stick with it. but then i realized that it was sort of like flickr favorites or even browser bookmarks (how old-fashioned they seem now!) that you could categorize and actually find again. it's an enormous, beautiful image repository that gives me an idea of what my style and aesthetic sensibilities are and how they change over time. and now, several years, 179 boards, 32,000 pins and 15,000 followers later, i'm still there, collecting inspiration and imagining the future. and that makes me happy.

pinterest for the win!

see my pinterest here.

i am a sucker for being part of a group. especially if they make it seem exclusive and cool and perhaps a little bit secret. oh, and if they flatter me when they send the invitation, hello, count me in! so when i got an email from pinterest this morning, complimenting my pinboards, and inviting me to apply to be a translator for the danish version of pinterest, i was like, sign me up, baby! so i dutifully clicked through and applied. a few hours later, i was approved and invited to my first secret facebook group. i think the difference with secret groups is that the rest of the folks in your timeline can't see what you're posting and commenting on. the whole thing makes me a little bit giddy.

but really, what it is is pinterest being very smart. they've flattered their users into doing the expensive translation job for them. for free! all by making it seem cool and exclusive. there is much to be learned from this (can you say co-creation?). they get a much better translation from native speakers (and folks like me who are picky about language and have lived here so long that i'm pretty good at it as well). they create loyalty among users. and they don't pay for it. i predict we'll be seeing a lot more of this from businesses in the not-so-distant future.

a little while later, someone in my facebook feed shared a status of someone from their feed who is pissed at pinterest. pinterest's terms forbid "pin to win" contests and they will go after users who are engaging in such things. and frankly, i think that's awesome. pins should be there because they are things people love, not things people are trying to win (tho' one might argue that you wouldn't be trying to win something if you didn't love it). and i like the purity of it. if those i followed suddenly started pinning shit from etsy (because etsy just opened their doors much wider to shit) instead of moodily-lit figs, just because they wanted to win it, i would be one unhappy camper. i do love me some moodily-lit figs, not to mention triangles, don't get me started on triangles (they're the new circle).

so, to recap. pinterest flattering their users (including me) into doing their enormous translation/localization task for them = score. and cracking down on "pin to win" greedy bastards = score. so it's pinterest for the win!

pondering pinterest

my favorite sunday morning activity is to sit in bed with a cup of tea and my laptop and peruse pinterest. i love the way it leads me off in new directions. one minute, i'm pinning web design tips and the next, drooling over garter stitch blankets and thinking, "i could do that." the brilliant newish feature that shows you another board something is pinned to after you pin it yourself has led me to discover all kinds of goodness i'd never have found otherwise.

the more i use it, the more i think that pinterest isn't just a way of wasting time procrastinating whiling the the hours.  i have boards that are related to work and community projects as well as the frivolous things (like cutie patootie). when designing our new website last week (it's still a work in the progress, but the visuals are there), we went to my color board to find the right colors. and it helped us to refine it down to the ones that were best for our design.

i'm planning an event next weekend and i've got three boards devoted to it. it's been a great way to let the others who are involved in on what i am thinking about with regard to activities and decorations. it has both saved time in explaining and given a visual to some of the more, shall we say...fun-challenged...members of the group. pictures really are worth a thousand words.

pinterest has helped me spot trends in my own thinking. looking through my own boards, i recently realized there are a lot of circles, so i gathered them on one board, to see if there's something there to pursue. i don't know yet, but can see that it has something to do with stitching.

you also learn from those things you find that you've pinned multiple times. they must really be something you like. and sometimes you get déja pin while you're pinning, thinking, "i've pinned this before." but you can't find it.

it's an invaluable tool when you're remodeling. husband just asked the other evening to have a look at the kitchen board, as he's beginning to think about the construction of the kitchen island. he's asked me to look for and pin specific ideas with regard to the placement of sink and stovetop in kitchen islands, to help him solve the issue for ours. so even tho' husband doesn't pin himself, he recognizes it's a great tool.

i've begun to see some interesting uses of pinterest as a business tool. as a photography portfolio, by an agency who represents the photographers. for a contest by a company that makes cake decorating supplies (and which i sadly cannot find again to link it). i think it's only the beginning of that type of use. i don't find anthropologie's pinning of all of their products themselves to be that clever a use, but it's a use nonetheless. i'm sure others will be much more clever.

if you're not already using it, get over there and sign up. you'll never need web browser bookmarks again.

a little collection of what's on my mind

after seeing the delightfully weird me and you and everyone we know on the silver channel a few weeks ago, i ordered one of miranda july's books of short stories from the library. she had written and directed and even starred in (if you can call it that) the film. like the film, the stories in no one belongs here more than you are quite internal, lonely, odd, strangely sexual and have an undertone of a desperate hanging on (to love, to life, to sanity). they're provocative and both depressed and depressing. they're not really that good for the kind of bedtime reading that i like to do. i'm just not sure i need that much loneliness right before bedtime.

which isn't to say that i don't like the book, i do (i'm only about halfway done with it). i think miranda july (i can't make either of her names look right alone, so i have to use both) captures a kind of internal voice that we maybe all have, tho' many of us have been socialized to repress it. but there's also something of the inherent loneliness of the urban world that we inhabit. tho' we are surrounded by people, we are, for much of the time, quite alone. and we are utterly alone in our own thoughts. that also shines through in her film. loneliness is clearly her big theme.

i think her writing is deep and beautiful and i envy it a bit. the seeming freedom with which she expresses the inner, slightly embarrassing thoughts that i'm certain we all have, is a place i just don't dare to go. it has a raw vulnerability that i don't think i ever allow myself in my writing. but it's doing me good to read it and think it over.

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the bugs bunny line repeats over and over in my head in ominous wagnerian tones: "i killed the wabbit." because yesterday, due to a bad decision made by me, this little beauty of a bunny was callously killed by pepchen, our mama kitty.

we have a big cage that we put out on the lawn for the bunnies to get some sunshine, grass and fresh air. i had solskin and her five babies, who are three and a half weeks old now, out in the cage all afternoon. i kept going out to check on them and they were doing well. they were enjoying themselves and tho' i was going to be leaving to pick up some feed, i consciously decided to leave them out because they were so enjoying frolicking in the sunshine and i wouldn't be gone long. the little bunnies can sometimes find a place to get outside the cage, but they hadn't really done so all day. so i went.

when i came back 20 minutes or so later, i looked out the laundry room window and saw pepchen suspiciously stalking the cage. so i ran out and chased her away. i discovered the little black velvet bunny on the outside of the cage and couldn't find creamy (the bunny above) anywhere. i took the others all inside to their real cage in the barn and proceeded to search and call for creamy for 45 minutes or more. growing more and more concerned. and then, as i was going back to the house, i saw her still little body lying underneath the trampoline. killed, but not eaten (thankfully), by the cat before i stopped her. i will admit i shed tears and felt so guilty about it all evening. the poor little innocent life, taken by the cat. we're mad at pepchen, but in all honesty, she couldn't help herself, it was just her nature. i suppose we'll forgive her in time, but for now, we are mourning the loss of little creamy. she was such a beautiful and sweet little bunny soul and we will miss her.

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playing words with friends isn't much fun if your opponent is using a cheat site.

and p.s. it's easy to tell.

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årstiderne, the fabulous folks behind the weekly deliveries of organic veg and other goodies, have just come out with a gin & tonic box!! handmade in denmark, small batch gin by ørbæk distillery and organic tonic. swoon! i swear their awesomeness knows no bounds.

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i've developed an allergy to the designation DIY that's quite similar to my allergy to LOL. i blame pinterest for this. here's the deal, if it's obvious that it's a craft, you don't need to call it DIY. example: origami? not DIY. stitching? not DIY. knitting? not DIY. hacking an ikea lamp? maybe. the photo above contains several great examples of DIY - the boxes for the herb beds are DIY. the custom-built mini greenhouse that fits over one of the herb bed boxes: DIY. the pizza oven in the background, definitely DIY. because they are definitely Do It Yourself - they are drawn out, designed and built, all by husband, so not really myself, but they are real DIY. origami birds are not. they are just origami. 

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yesterday, while sabin got a much-needed haircut, i sat playing on my phone while i waited. it was the end of the day and the two young women who have the salon had a friendly banter going with a young man who came in for a haircut. he was probably in his mid-20s and lives in a local group home. he was independent enough to come down to the hairdresser on his own and to hand her an envelope of money to pay for the haircut which had been prepared for him beforehand by someone at the group home. he came in with a bouquet of dandelions behind his back and presented them with a smile. he teased the girl who was cutting his hair, saying he'd rather have the hairdresser who was doing sabin's hair. he talked a lot about a singer he liked and how his hair was white on the ends. he also repeated several times that he was going to the circus that evening and how much he's like one of those circus posters that were up around town. he had sharply observed that there were several different versions of the poster, but he definitely wanted the one with the clown. the girl cutting his hair kept up a cheerful and even teasing banter with him, which made him feel good and validated as a person. and which impressed me greatly as a spectator to the entire encounter. his lack of the social filter that holds us back from fully enjoying and fully jumping into a conversation, made for a pleasant atmosphere in the salon in general. i don't know what his diagnosis was, but i'm pleased we go to a salon where the girls who work there were so good at making him feel like the whole and worthy individual he undoubtedly is. it's a shame that culture and society in general often look upon someone like him in the opposite manner, not appreciating the gifts he has, but rather lamenting those he doesn't. and i'll admit that i wasn't entirely comfortable at first with his lack of the societal mask. but as i sat there, listening, i came to appreciate it very much. we could all learn a lesson from him in being entirely who we are in the moment.

taking a stand

sometimes you just have to take a stand. i've just unsubscribed from a number of blogs because they don't allow sharing on pinterest. this wasn't an easy decision, because it includes blogs i love, like spirit cloth and resurrection fern. now that pinterest has responded to the masses and changed their terms of service, there is no reason for this. if you're blogging your work  - you're putting it out there to be seen (unless i've completely misunderstood blogging). one of the very best ways to be seen is on pinterest. so for me, to hoard one's blog (or flickr) photos is to completely go against the very sharing spirit that is blogging. and i won't be part of it anymore. and while i respect the right of artists to protect their work, i would rather do without those blogs in my reader than support an unsharing spirit. and let's face it, a photo of the work is not the work itself, so you might argue that the work is quite safe.

to add to my righteous indignation (something of which i'm not proud, as righteousness is one of my biggest pet peeves), a couple of the people whose blogs i unfollowed (i haven't listed them all above) are ON pinterest, pinning away themselves! the nerve! they have no problem curating the work of others, but don't want theirs to be curated. how does that work?

i personally have received so much more (exposure and even income) from a spirit of sharing and openness than i would ever have gotten had i blocked everything and kept it all to myself.  my photos wouldn't be part of an article on slate or a lithuanian tourism website or in a ted talk or featured on apartment therapy or available on getty images (those are the only ones that i changed from a creative commons non-commercial license on flickr, due to getty requirements) if i hadn't been willing to share them.

i intend to continue to cull such blogs from my reader as i come across them. i'm just one person and it probably won't at all make the least bit of difference to the non-sharers, but i feel it's worth taking a stand. it's the only way to keep the interwebs free and open, as they were intended.

EDITED:  i should add that i am not talking here about photography or photos that people have for sale as photos - i'm talking about pictures of quilts and stones and garlands and vats of dye. not having photos which are for sale proliferated on pinterest is something else entirely. and many photographers have sites which are set up so they can't be tumbled or pinned - and i have no objection to that. 

museum of everyday reality or how she got pissy about pinterest

i have what is becoming a love-hate relationship with pinterest. i love that i can use it to find things again, rather than bookmarking 10,000 pages in my browser. i hate that everyone is up in arms over the terms. i love it visually - it just pleases my eye to open the page. i hate when random strangers categorize my boards. i love how it helps me see trends in my own taste and thinking and just generally gives me a big picture, holistic overview of what i want (e.g. with regard to the new kitchen). i hate all of the pretentiousness in the descriptions people write for their pins. here are just a couple from last evening:

~ people referring to salt as "artisan sea salt". what, have they painted little pictures on the salt flakes? (if so, i want to pin that!)

~ a reference to "butter and other primal fats" as ideal to serve on your fiddleheads. now i am as interested in foraging and found food as anyone and intend to learn more and eat a whole lot more of it this year, but really, do we have to be so PRETENTIOUS about it?

and this whole curation movement - pinners as curators. that just strikes me as so, to use the word again...pretentious.  i was rather disgusted by all of this last evening and so i picked up dubravka ugresic's museum of unconditional surrender to take my mind off of it. sometimes, you just pick up exactly the right thing to read at the moment you need to read it.

i opened to a page where dubravka wrote about ilya kabakov, a russian artist who illustrated children's books for status as a "legitimate artist" during the soviet years, but who lives today in new york and is known as "an archaeologist of the everyday," in the tradition of kurt schwitters, robert rauschenberg and others.  he gathers the detritus and everyday bits and pieces of trash, classifies them and makes them into art in order to make sense of reality. dubravka quotes the novel of a forgotten russian avant-garde writer, konstantin vaginov, "classification is one of the most creative activities. essentially, classification shapes the world. without classification there would be no memory. without classification it would be impossible to imagine reality." she characterizes kabakov as a descendent of this russian avant-garde tradition and describes his work, saying "the material of bureaucratized everyday life transposed on to magnified boards obliges the observer/reader to read into it his own meaning." and it hit me that it's what we're doing with pinterest.

this obsessive collecting and classification is quite possibly our attempt to find some kind of pattern, sense and meaning in a world that seems increasingly to have gone mad. of course, that mad world cannot help but impose itself on the classifications all the time in the form of pretentions designed to set us apart from the mundane everyday, and so we work against that which we ourselves construct. we want to find our own outlook of the world, our own conception of beauty, our own visual language with which to express our everyday. beautifully photographed. categorized. labeled. curated. one giant inspiration board in which we ultimately reveal the underlying kitsch of everyday reality. endlessly repinned and replicated.

much ado about pinterest

there's a lot of chatter going on out there about pinterest. first, it was about the pinterest business model. and then it was about copyright issues.  today, flickr blocked all copyrighted images from being pinned. which is actually kind of a shame, because as i see it, pinterest is flickr faves categorized. if flickr had kept up with what was happening, they would have given us the ability to categorize our faves long ago, without leaving their site (but i digress).

in my view, it's all much ado about nothing. i pin because i want to find images again. because i am inspired or prompted to think or cook or drool. or because i think something's clever or beautiful or shocking. i'm not using a single pin for commercial gain, and i always leave the link to the original pin intact (if i'm originating the pin and not repinning, i don't always have control then). plus, i am flattered to be pinned, even if don't feel the prick itself.

here's the deal, people, if you're putting your work out there, whether it be words or images, someone is undoubtedly appropriating it. if you don't want that, don't do it. in my experience, the rewards are far greater than the drawbacks. my photo would never have appeared in the moosletter, my kitchen never been on apartment therapy and i'd not have been asked by multiple ikea publications if they could feature my house if i hadn't been sharing those things online. so get over it. and get pinning. i am.