40

The dreaded birthday is here. I'll be channeling Edina today.

Dreams

Caught Fleetwood Mac in concert last weekend. Stevie spun with her gold dust shawl and dedicated "Landslide" to Tavi. Lindsey looked half his age and finger-picked like a madman.  And I got my wish: Tusk! Stevie style icon print by Emma Block.

McDermott & McGough

Obsessed with the most recent series of paintings from the dandies of Avenue C, McDermott & McGough.  Titled "Suspicious of Rooms Without Music or Atmosphere," the photorealistic paintings pair actresses from different intense moments in classic films. See more of their work here. While I'm at it, I'll also take design inspiration from Peter McGough's apartment.

The Constructed Family

 
Ursula Sokolowska is a photographer who uses cloth mannequins and projections to reconstruct her troubled childhood in Poland. The faces are projected from slides made primarily from old family photographs. The images are unsettling, exploring the traumas and enigmas of childhood; looking at them also made me think of fairy tales. See more here.

A Real Film Buff

One of the books I prize most. Time to spend some quality time with the archives.

Zodiac

Lena's Auntie Loretta got her this lovely Zodiac book illustrated by Ronald Searle. I've taken custody of it until she no longer has the impulse to mark it up with her crayons. Selfish? Maybe.

Mike & Laura

I've been spending the past couple of weeks binging on Enlightened, the show everyone is saying is the best one nobody watched. I'll follow Mike White wherever he takes me, and he and Laura Dern traverse that awkward territory that they know so well (Chuck & Buck and Citizen Ruth respectively) in this meditative show that has taken me over. Dern plays Amy Jellicoe, an outsider crusader type that makes Average Joes cringe with the tragic beauty of her directness. She practically channels the ghost of an old friend of mine, also a tall blonde named Amy, who yelled about saving the whales a bit too loudly and died before her time.  The show might be gone forever too, but man, was it a stunner while it lived.