A Flummoxed Bird

"if you don’t like something, change it. if you can’t change it, change your attitude"

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:52:12 -0400

“if you don’t like something, change it. if you can’t change it, change your attitude”

- maya angelou

billie holiday photo by william p. gottlieb

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:50:00 -0400

billie holiday

photo by william p. gottlieb

billie holiday, God bless the child ive loved this song ever...

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:46:02 -0400

billie holiday, God bless the child

ive loved this song ever since i first heard it. i think i was 9 years old.

muslim woman circa 1870-1900, north africa via corbis

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:13:00 -0400

muslim woman circa 1870-1900, north africa

via corbis

"here’s a joke: how do you make God laugh? make a plan."

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:28:49 -0400

“here’s a joke: how do you make God laugh? make a plan.”

- Kicking and Screaming (via toomuchawesome) (via overit)

“…the joker should be charged with the film’s...

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 02:41:00 -0400

“…the joker should be charged with the film’s biggest crime: stealing the show”

affirmative.

overit: Marfa Prada, a completely faux store outside of Marfa,...

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:13:00 -0400

overit:

Marfa Prada, a completely faux store outside of Marfa, TX. It’s in the middle of nowhere. It doesn’t open, you can’t go in and you can’t buy anything.

(hautetopic:hydeordie)

….very cool.

you can wing it.

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:42:00 -0400

playnice:

it’s very rare for things to go exactly to plan. when they don’t, hey it’s cool. you can wing it. you have enough experience in social, personal, and professional settings to just play it by ear. nothing has to be perfect as long as you give it a shot. you get an A for effort.

today remind yourself: i can wing it.

i can wing it.

in 2005, delphine diallo traveled to st. louis, the capital of...

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:39:00 -0400

in 2005, delphine diallo traveled to st. louis, the capital of senegal, in search of her family heritage. born in paris to senegalese and french parents, diallo undertook the magic photo studio series as a way of exploring the cultural identity of her family and of pushing herself as an artist.

the series is inspired in large part by the work of malick sidibé, who ran a studio in bamako, mali, during the 1960s, producing earnest, straightforward portraits in whimsically painted glass frames, for which he recently received the venice biennale golden lion for lifetime achievement. In her work, diallo compresses pattern and image into a single composition; patterns extracted from the textiles, totemic animals, and plants are brought directly into the image itself and layered on top of the portraits. these techniques are drawn from her background as a graphic designer and illustrator

click: magic studio

via ffffound

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:24:46 -0400

via ffffound

photo by andrew lichtenstein, south africa

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:17:00 -0400

photo by andrew lichtenstein, south africa

"one should try to be one’s own best friend, and to give oneself, in this manner, distinguished..."

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:25:57 -0400

“one should try to be one’s own best friend, and to give oneself, in this manner, distinguished company.”

- henry james, the portrait of a lady (via scout)

britticisms: the underlying subtext seems to be about the...

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:19:00 -0400

britticisms:

the underlying subtext seems to be about the meaning of blackness, the meaning of black as a hue, as a skin tone.

as in, not all black people are dark. as in, black people come in all different shades.

via italian vogue’s “all black” issue

photo via ny times “inside the cavernous space, a former...

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:40:00 -0400

photo via ny times

“inside the cavernous space, a former biscuit factory, two diners stare at their dishes of kofta and doro wat, served in cast-iron pots, and momentarily freeze, as if to say, “what, exactly, did we order?” their dismay is a reflection of the fact that despite new york’s famed culinary diversity, many people are still unsure about what they might be served under the label “african food.”

click: in epicurean new york, the challenge of africa (via ny times)

national theatre, beijing click: architectural monuments in a...

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:12:54 -0400

national theatre, beijing

click: architectural monuments in a reshaped beijing

"finish each day and be done with it. you have done what you could. some blunders and absurdities, no..."

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:08:00 -0400

“finish each day and be done with it. you have done what you could. some blunders and absurdities, no doubt, crept in. forget them as soon as you can. tomorrow is a new day. you shall begin it well and serenely with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense…”

- ralph emerson

the nyimi mabiintsh iii, king of kuba - democratic republic of...

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:03:00 -0400

the nyimi mabiintsh iii, king of kuba - democratic republic of congo

photo by daniel laine

the nyimi mabiintsh iii is fifty years old. he acquired the throne at the age of twenty.

as a descendant of God the creator, the king is attributed with supernatural powers.

due to his top position he is restricted by several contraints: he does not have the right to sit on the ground and he cannot cross a cultivated field. apart from his cook, no one has seen him eat. moreover he never travels without him and his personal cooking ustensils.

it took me three weeks to photograph the nyimi ( king ) of the kuba in his royal apparel, the “bwantshy”. the outfit made out of material stitched with beads and “cauris”( small shells used as money in africa ), weighs 160 lb. it takes more than two hours to dress the king and two days of spiritual preparation to be sufficiently purified in order to wear the outfit.

the weight and the heat of the bwantshy is such, that it is impossible to wear it more than one hour. the preceeding king had only worn it three times during his entire life.

it took daniel laine three years (1988-1991) of effort and intense diplomatic steps to photograph 70 african kings.

click: kings of africa

photo by alan keler, sudan 1986 via corbis

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:38:46 -0400

photo by alan keler, sudan 1986

via corbis

"i wanna cut his nuts out"

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:12:00 -0400

“i wanna cut his nuts out”

- rev. jesse jackson’s “astonishingly vulgar remark as he accused the presumptive democratic presidential nominee [barack obama] of giving moral lectures to african-americans”.

he didn’t know his microphone was on.

i’m with my friend nick s. on this one….i had no idea preachers were allowed to say “nuts” in public either.

"the saddest summary of life contains three descriptions: could have, might have and should have"

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:49:11 -0400

“the saddest summary of life contains three descriptions: could have, might have and should have”

- louis e. boone via nick