The clean, colorful design caught my eye. Then I noticed the artistic creativity. Very nice! You could have some fun with these.
Turns out “it” is a good-looking new app from Martha Stewart (still very much the reigning Queen of Practical-Made-Clever). So if you have an iPhone or iPad, and you’re the crafty type, this could be right up your alley. 101 egg-dying ideas, with how-to’s.
And you have to admit, those are some mighty handsome easter eggs!
(I actually meant to write about this at the beginning of the month, since March “comes in like a lion”. But that didn’t happen, and now it’s busy going “out like a lamb”. Oh well. We’ll just go with the March/Lion connection.)
New Jersey is known for its tomatoes, its turnpike and some top stars like Sinatra, Springsteen, Meryl Streep and Thomas Edison (just to name a few).
But I’m particularly proud that it’s also been home to one of the best-loved design icons of the last century: Leo the Lion. Yup, the one who roars at the beginning of movies made by one of Hollywood’s all time biggest film studios.
Anyone who’s gone to see a movie in the last 90 years is familiar with the lion inside a circle that’s engraved with the latin words “Ars Gratia Artis” (which means, by the way, “art for art’s sake”). The logo first appeared in 1916 as the brand for Goldwyn Pictures Corporation. When Louis B. Mayer came on the scene (so to speak…) in 1924, it became Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Now we simply call it MGM. And we know it by the lion.
One of the most recognizable and memorable logos ever, the MGM design has remained essentially the same from the very start. That in and of itself is a testament to good branding.
The lions have changed over the years, but the first – whose name was Slats (although we often refer to all the MGM lions as “Leo”) – had been brought to the States during World War I by animal trainer Volney Phifer. After touring with MGM, Slats was loved, along with other retired Hollywood animals (including Tarzan’s chimp “Cheetah”), and then buried, about 10 minutes from my home.
Slats died in 1938, so we only knew “Leo” by the unmarked gravestone in front of a then run-down Phifer’s Farm ~ but we were proud, nonetheless. Today, the granite marker is gone, his remains resting obscurely (the last I heard) beneath a large pine tree.
Slats, the most famous lion who ever lived, an American legend and New Jersey’s biggest star, set the stage for nearly 100 years of iconic design. I think that’s something to roar about.
Stop. Take a breath. Take three breaths. Nice and deep. The world will still be spinning, so go ahead. Pause.
I know I’m not alone feeling like the “on” button gets stuck sometimes. It’s “one thing after another”. Go here, do this, get that, call there. Sit, stand, walk, talk, think, plan. Wash, clean, fix, organize. Take out the trash. Make more.
Well, this is just a reminder that to pause is good. This isn’t news, but something true enough, and worth repeating.
So do it ~ take a break! Pause to stretch, take a walk, look out a window, smell a blade of grass. Pause to watch the clouds roll by. Pause to feel your pulse. Pause to find a brighter thought.
Pauses soften life. And they’re more efficient and rejuvenating than they get credit for. They help keep things from colliding – things like conversations and ideas. Pausing between meals avoids the discomforts of gluttony. And of course there’s the wise advice of counting to ten before letting your temper loose. Pausing is smart AND good.
So pause the laundry, the tv, the radio, the news, the internet, the email. Pause the to-do’s and have-to’s. Just a pause… a breath, a moment to collect, to reconnect and just be.
Be still.
Then you can hit the “play” button again.
Polka Dots … because they’re happy.
I’m not agreeing or disagreeing, except to say that it doesn’t have to be green to qualify. (in fact, yea … it’s better if it’s not.)
And so, to honor the day, the Irish, those who want to be Irish, and all who enjoy a good guzzling of design, I’ve pulled together some cool beer bottles to show. Labels are a great canvas for design creativity, and all of these fit the bill.
Feast your eyes on these ~ and have a safe and Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
I had another “P” word ready for this week, but sometimes plans change. Things out of our control send us in another direction.
We’ve all been watching, living in, or at least are aware of what seems a world gone mad. It’s as though strife and wars and natural disasters have gone into warp speed. If you focus on it, it’s a bit terrifying. But we also have distractions… our lives to live, kids’ lunches to pack, dogs to walk, clothes to wash, deadlines that still need meeting … and while places like the Middle East and Japan and Haiti may visit our homes via satellite, it’s impossible, and not particularly useful, to remain in suspended disillusionment and grief.
At the same time, it’s kind of hard to write about say, typefaces, when you know that an hour north people’s homes are flooded, and an ocean away people are fighting for their lives.
And I can sit here and feel bad that there’s nothing I can do for those in need, a world away, facing unbelievable hardships. Maybe even feel guilty that I’ve just enjoyed a healthy meal and know that I’ll sleep in my own bed tonight. I can think that whatever I’m doing, even in writing this, is completely meaningless in light of catastrophic events. But these thoughts … don’t serve a purpose either.
I’m not a doctor or a diplomat, a scientist or a farmer. I don’t have wealth to send to those in need. But I can acknowledge. I can care. I can send up prayer.
I’ve never doubted that a higher power existed. I see and feel evidence of spirit everyday; not always in ways that can be described in factual detail…. and I suppose that has something to do with “faith”. Sometimes it’s a leap, and sometimes a simple step, a shift in thought. But 2 things are clear to me: prayer can be very powerful, and the world we live in sure needs a big dose.
I wouldn’t pretend to prescribe how to pray, or to whom or what… but I feel that it can be a wish, a thought or an all out religious cantation. It can be drumming, chanting, song, dance. It can be meditation, or painting. However it occurs, and for however long (or briefly) it lasts, you feel it in your bones; your heart expands. At its most effective, it penetrates time and the mundane and becomes a state of consciousness in which you connect to divine energy… and there lies its power ~ accessible, I personally believe, to all who are willing to go there with good intentions.
Prayer is love, wrapped in hope; hope wrapped in love. It works in mysterious ways, and while it needn’t be reserved “for emergency only”, there are a lot of devastated people in the world right now in need of our prayers.
Everybody’s Irish on March 17…
And everybody knows the Irish are lucky! So you might want to “go green” with a new tote and mug featuring Week 29 of “52 Weeks of Peace”… a cool way to help spread the message of peace and harness some celtic good luck!
(available through cafepress/saxtonboutique)
Measuring, cutting, hammering, nailing. Planning each step. Following through. Useful logic. …There’s a rhythm, and a rhyme, in being practical.
Sure, sometimes we want to throw caution to the wind and go full throttle on instinct, or feel the thrill of standing on the edge. We need to dream dreams. And everyone should dance in the rain at least a few times in life.
But when it gets right down to the nuts and bolts of living, it wouldn’t be very practical to, oh, let’s say, wash the dishes while jumping on a pogo-stick, or fix a hole in the roof with scotch tape. A book doesn’t get written just by thinking about it; food doesn’t cook itself… etc!
So three cheers to the predictable, marvelous dullness of being practical. Three cheers for methods to madness, for light bulbs with proper wattage, and sensible shoes in a bramble patch.
Applause for practical thinking ~ a practically perfect tool!
What would the world be without paint?! Whether you’re an artist or an appreciator, life without paint would be a lot less interesting. So … why not … paint something?!
Paint a wall. Paint a chair. Paint a picture. Paint a story. Paint a dream.
Not good with a brush? Here’s the really fun part ~ you don’t have to paint a thing. You can paint in your mind. Paint with your imagination. Slather on some color with sweeping mental brushstrokes. Dab the corners, glory in the details, add some highlights, make it as bold or as subtle as you want. Go ahead! Get messy. Paint from your heart and let those pigments passionately permeate your world. Paint your day a new color.
Problems might still be there when you’re done (unless you’ve managed to paint them away…!)… but you’ll probably come at them with a refreshed point of view. And if nothing else, you’ll have had a fun break.
Punctuation is a really good thing. Without the unsung little darlings of writing and grammar ~ those wonderful marks that emphasize, clarify and organize our words ~ thoughts would run on in an emotionless void, something like this:
Guess what Jimmy won an Olympic medal today were so excited we were all jumping up and down please have Aunt Jane call Jimmy he will like that today he is tired tomorrow will be better okay we hope youre well
Not to mention; using. them (incorrectly) leads? to not ~ ! making sense” :…
So, embrace those practical characters! Discover their charm. Use them with finesse and diligence. Because proper punctuation makes life a less chaotic, more positive, place.
