Classic

'Jaan Pehchaan Ho' from the movie Gumnaam

Not my week

For whatever reason, this week simply wasn't my week. -10 degree mornings made it hard to tear the duvets off myself in the morning and the combination of a cold and a Monday morning hangover meant the week was off to a bumpy start. I somehow managed to scratch my eye on Wednesday which lead to one side of my face covered in an unending stream of tears, making me look like an off kilter emotional wretch in front of grocery baggers, co workers and the ladies at the post office. Yesterday my computer crashed evoking a now crazed touch pad and a loss of files I didn't back up. I figure I must have got all my bad luck out of the way for the next few months so I am trying to focus on the things that brighten my day

-thick wooly socks that turn my numb toes warm

-Japanese winter strawberries

-unexpected emails from strangers and long lost friends 

-gifts in the post

-a weekly fix of trashbaggery

-the seven rolls of film awaiting development in my handbag

this band

this video

this photostream

rereading kafka on the shore

banana smoothies

snowball fights

costumed skype dates

this blog and this blog

Cho kawaii

I was totally reminded of Hideaki Hamada this weekend when I met two of the cutest little Japanese boys I have ever seen. They could do rather serious facial expressions on command and gave me a mandarin and wrapped lolly for visiting them. GAHH Japan, I don't ever want to leave!

Treasure trove

Vivian Maer was an elusive woman who lived from the 1950s to 1990s. Nannying for about forty years the various children she worked with described her as 'a socialist and a feminist who learned english by going to movies and wore mens hats, coats and shoes.' It was also noted that any time off she had was spent walking the streets and take photos on her Rolleiflex camera. She also sometimes recorded conversations of random passers by.

Her work was discovered in 2007 when purchased by a man named John Maloof at an auction in Chicago. Maer held her negatives and undeveloped film in storage but in later life was unable to afford this. Reportedly, she became homeless. Since purchasing the majority of her works Maloof has slowly been unearthing snippets about her life. Her body of work include over 100,000 negatives, some of which are still undeveloped.  The collection of photos is like a viewing glass to a world that is now long long gone.

Words can't describe how amazing it must feel discovering such a treasure as well as having the honor of being the first to see her photographs. Facts are still being unearthed about the modest photographer who didn't like showing her photos to anyone. You can see her photos and  read more about her here.

Fish curry

My bedroom at my parents house has pink fluffy and white clouds, a hand picked wrought iron bedhead and an aqua marine themed bedspread complete with starfish and dolphins. My mum has a bedazzling indian rug thrown over the bedspread in an attempt to make things look better. Alas, it actually looked worse. An ex boyfriend visiting my house told me, as we lay amongst splashing dolphins and hot fuchsia and mustard indian beading, that it was like lying in a fish curry.

 In terms of interior decoration I had somewhat appalling taste. The finished product is mortifying. I painted a beautiful off white chest of draws a hideous shade of teal, ruining it forever and there are fairy figurines and crystals that litter my window sill. Back issues of Dolly and Girlfriend stack my shelves alongside cassettes of the Commitments, Spin Doctors and Mariah Carey. Despite all my horrific shortcomings I have left my bedroom stuck in a time warp because I love returning home and staring at pictures of Jonathan Taylor Thomas, lying on my fish curry bed and rereading diary entries of torment, self doubt, awe and wonder.

Banana Fish

Banana Fish Books is an independent online bookstore based in Shanghai. What a lovely treasure. They sell assorted books, magazines and zines that are hand picked, lovely and like Banana fish, rather rare.