M Crooked Letter

July 18, 2010

Beatniks on Parade

Currently on display at the National Gallery of Art, Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg, the first scholarly exhibition of American poet Allen Ginsberg's photographs. Ginsberg first gained fame as a Beatnik poet, author of "Howl" which brought him both fame and infamy.

Although Ginsberg's photographs form a compelling portrait of the Beat and counterculture generation from the 1950s to the 1990s, his pictures are far more than mere historical documents. The same ideas that inform his poetry—an intense observation of the world, a deep appreciation of the beauty of the vernacular, a celebration of the sacredness of the present, and a faith in intuitive expression—also permeate his photography.

Allen Ginsberg

Larry Rivers

Neal Cassady and Natalie Jackson

Gregory Corso

Jack Kerouac

Peter Orlovsky at James Joyce's grave

For more information, visit the National Gallery of Art and the Allen Ginsberg Project.

July 16, 2010

Earthquake Shakes DC

The District of Columbia metro area experienced an earthquake this morning at 5:04am; the epicenter was in Germantown, Maryland, and the quake was a 3.7 on the Richter scale. I awoke for some inexplicable reason at that exact time this morning, although it must have been after the quaking because I don't remember feeling the earth shake. There were, however, tragic results in the aftermath of the quake in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Warning: the pictures below are not for the squeamish.

Innovative Advertising

You may or may not know that in college, advertising was the minor to my marketing major. You also may or may not know that in college, I interned in accounts management at an advertising agency. Additionally, you may or may not know that I almost reversed my major and minor, not only so I wouldn't have to take and subsequently pass calculus and statistics, but also because I thought I wanted to be an account executive at an advertising agency. If you know me, you know that I am decidedly not doing that. I still follow some advertising industry publications though, and I enjoy reading about interesting and innovative ad campaigns. I found the advertisements below intriguing, particularly because they cater to the captive audience on subway/Metro trains. (Just a warning that the last ad could be considered offensive to some.)

IKEA outfits a subway train

Creative, but I wonder if he even noticed?

Don't mind if I do.

That's right, an ad for funeral services.

potatoes growing from the ceiling; Lay's ad to the left

Everyone, and I mean everyone, wears headphones on the subway/metro.

I think I'd rather sit on these than concrete subway/Metro benches...

The reading lamp is a nice touch.

Cool.

Perhaps my favorite of the bunch.

Let your imagination run wild.

(found via)

July 12, 2010

The stateside European

As I've said before, I really love me some J. Crew. I not only appreciate the aesthetic (and usually the quality/craftsmanship) of the brand, but I also worked there for a bit after an ill-timed layoff from work (aren't layoffs always ill-timed?). J. Crew gets a bad reputation at times for being too "preppy" or striving to be an upper-level retailer, when many see the brand as a "mall store." I came across this article in the New York Times that accurately describes the neo-preppy-European aesthetic that J. Crew offers.

The stateside European, in J. Crew’s imagining, wears all our usual American stuff — shorts, T-shirts, cargo pants, polo shirts — but has no use whatsoever for the simplicity and androgyny that used to be hallmarks of preppy. Under the inventive vision of Jenna Lyons, J. Crew’s revered executive creative director, as well as Mickey Drexler, the C.E.O., the clothes and the Web site have become ruffly, silky, beaded and sequined. Every outfit seems slightly hacked — cut up and embellished by a home tailor. You don’t envision someone in J. Crew playing lacrosse anymore; they seem more likely to be philosophizing and seducing. “I have a hard time with the word ‘preppy,’ ” Lyons told Style.com not long ago. “It’s very coastal, and it leaves out a lot of Americans who aren’t yachting or going to the beach club.”

P.S. I also love Jenna Lyons; she has a great grasp of not only how consumers see the brand, but also how the brand should/should not be positioned. And, the girl has a lovely home (pictures below, via Habitually Chic).

July 7, 2010

Elite Sports

This summer I was finally introduced to bocce. I knew the basic rules, but I had never played until a few weeks ago. Basically, there are two teams and your team throws/tosses/rolls its bocce balls as close to the yellow ball (the "jack" or "pallino") as possible. Pretty simple, yet I still managed to be terrible at it. Anyway, I was surfing the 'net and found a beautiful bocce ball set. I know what you're thinking... you're thinking the record-breaking heat in DC has gone to my head and I'm probably dehydrated and might start saying next that I like Auburn football or that I think Julia Roberts is a good actress (yes, maybe, no, never!). I'll show you what I'm talking about.

This is what your average, run-of-the-mill bocce ball set looks like:

This, however, is what a bocce ball set looks like after Karl Lagerfeld gets his hands on it:

Beautiful, right? The kicker is that each of these Chanel bocce sets cost $2,800, while the average set costs between $30-$50. These are both from the Chanel 2010 sports collection, and several other pieces of the collection are below.