The above illustration is from the humorous student-run magazine at Cornell University, The Cornell Widow. (Of course “she” is referring to the movement against U.S. imperialism begun by Augusto Nicolás Calderón Sandino…).
If, like myself, you enjoy a combination of vintage ephemera and serendipitous discovery… then meandering through pilllpat (agence eureka)’s Flickr collections could make you a happy camper too.
Long Branch, New Jersey
Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) was a left-leaning American writer best known for her wit, wisecracks, and sharp eye for 20th century urban foibles. From a conflicted and unhappy childhood, she rose to considerable acclaim—both for her literary output and as a critic in such venues as The New Yorker, Vogue, and Vanity Fair, and as a founding member of the Algonquin Round Table.
Her pointed witticisms and satirical aphorisms live on…
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The first thing I do in the morning
is brush my teeth and sharpen my tongue.
You can’t teach an old dogma new tricks.
Women and elephants never forget.
Men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses.
If you want to know what God thinks of money,
just look at the people he gave it to.
The cure for boredom is curiosity.
There is no cure for curiosity.
I like to have a martini,
Two at the very most.
After three I’m under the table,
after four I’m under my host.
I’d rather have a bottle in front of me, than a frontal lobotomy.
You can lead a horticulture, but you can’t make her think.
(when asked to use “horticulture” in a sentence)
The best way to keep children at home
is to make the home atmosphere pleasant,
and let the air out of the tires.
Brevity is the soul of lingerie.
Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes clean to the bone.
They sicken of the calm, who know the storm.
Constant use had not worn ragged the fabric of their friendship.
Her big heart did not, as is so sadly often the case, inhabit a big bosom.
Salary is no object: I want only enough to keep body and soul apart.
If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re happy.
…is give peace a chance.
(just step back… or move to the side)
Winnipeg, Canada
Some friends of mine were trying to remember what I looked like with a beard (I used to grow one each winter and then shave it off for the summer)—so here you go… get your chuckles.
“He that hath a beard is more than a youth,
and he that hath no beard is less than a man.”
—William Shakespeare
Óbidos, Portugal
Situated just a few km from Caldas da Rainha, the 14th-Century castellated village of Óbidos bristles with antique charm. Winding cobblestone streets inside the fortified walls are lined with an interesting mix of well-preserved Portuguese architecture spanning over 600 years (now most buildings are occupied by galleries, shops, and watering holes to serve the hordes of foreign tourists that apparently descend on Óbidos every summer—thankfully we encountered only a few handfuls of vacationing Brits and Germans in the narrow, nearly-deserted medieval laneways). I found myself drawn to the remarkably variegated patina and age-worn textures of the old facades, structures, doorways, and signage—what an incredible resource and palette for those in the visual arts living in this region!
My new ESAD/CR design-instructor friends Miguel Macedo and António Costa guided me on a meandering tour through the ancient castled village, and we enjoyed the local cherry liquor known as ginjinha, regional vinho tinto, and excellent fish dinners over spirited conversation as the sun sank into the Atlantic.
Methinks a person could get used to living in as civilized a place as this…
Victoria, British Columbia
If you’ve visited this/my blog in the past, you probably already know that I’m somewhat of a fan of unusual and vintage ephemera, oddball ideas, and assorted graphic juxtapositions and eccentricities… so of course I was happy about the serendipitous encounter I had today with an engaging and creatively stimulating online collection of “wacky” imagery.
Enjoy, eh?
Ivrea, Italy
Just a sampling from a very nice Flickr collection of design for Olivetti…
(Thanks to Danielle Autran in Montreal for the link).
Redding, Connecticut
Mark Twain, aka Samuel Langhome Clemens, passed on one hundred years ago today. The popular American author and humorist is noted (among a great number of other achievements) for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876). A friend to presidents, European royalty, artists, and industrialists, and he was also very popular with the common man, and his keen wit and incisive satire earned praise from critics and peers. Upon his death, he was lauded as the “greatest American humorist of his age,” and William Faulkner called him “the father of American literature.”
I read many of Twain’s novels when I was young, and I’ve had the pleasure of visiting Twain’s former home in Hartford, Connecticut (where he lived from 1874 to 1891 while writing some of his greatest works) when I was teaching at the Hartford School of Art a few years back—the classic old home has been turned into a museum well worth visiting.
Here are a few of the many bon mots and eloquent lines of advice, wit, and profundity the great Mark Twain left us to ponder:
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Apparently there is nothing that cannot happen today.
Age is an issue of mind over matter.
If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.
Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen.
Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.
I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool
than to speak out and remove all doubt.
A person who won’t read has no advantage over one who can’t read.
Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often.
Don’t let schooling interfere with your education.
If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.
Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living.
The world owes you nothing. It was here first.
Buy land, they’re not making it anymore.
Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt.
Golf is a good walk spoiled.
Familiarity breeds contempt—and children.
Man is the only animal that blushes—or needs to.
There is no sadder sight than a young pessimist.
It is easier to stay out than get out.
We have the best government that money can buy.
Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.
Noise proves nothing.
Often a hen who has merely laid an egg
cackles as if she laid an asteroid.
Thunder is good, thunder is impressive;
but it is lightning that does the work.
Be careful about reading health books.
You may die of a misprint.
Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds
on the heel that has crushed it.
The most interesting information comes from children,
for they tell all they know and then stop.
What would men be without women? Scarce, sir, mighty scarce.
You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.
