On a romantic reel of black and white The Department of the 4th Dimension (or, Dpt4D) unveils short films dedicated to exploring “the interaction between design and storytelling.” As you can tell from the stills, there’s no shortage of style in the project, the first series of which takes us inside the walls of Venice, California’s beautiful Intelligentsia coffeehouse. It’s impossible not to jones for a cuppa joe after viewing. Dare you.
Intelligentsia, born in Chicago, is easily one of my most favorite coffeehouses in Los Angeles. There are two; the original sits in Silver Lake’s rough-around-the-edges Sunset Junction, while the second is the aesthetically stunning Venice location Dpt4D chose to shoot their videos.
Below the fold, you’ll find videos 1 and 2 in the 3-part series. They roll out in delicious detail, covering the finer points of making a killer ESPRESSO or SYPHON brewed cup of coffee. The third, as yet unreleased, looks to honor the CAPPUCCINO. If I wasn’t having a love affair with coffee before, I certainly am now.
Read more…
Once upon a time in a land far, far away, I turned a sweatshirt into a laptop cozy. It was an easy DIY project, a cheap and customizable alternative to the more expensive store-bought laptop sleeves. I used it for a long time, many trips to the coffeehouse or flights to anywhere. Then, this summer, I retired my homemade sleeve and purchased a different one—typewriter style—from the MOMA store. I’m hardly sick of it yet, but if I were, I’d trade up to the new ohmygosh glorious BookBook laptop case.
Maybe I can just have both?
BookBook by Twelve South is an ingenious idea. I’m always game to disguise high tech in an old-fashioned way. These hardback cases come in weathered red or black and look remarkably like something forgotten at the back of the stacks. I’d love to slip my laptop inside, throw it in my bag and go. The pulls on the zippers are even designed to look like bookmarks.
Twelve South makes accessories strictly for Mac, which is just the kind of classicist snobbery that I can appreciate. Creative design is creative. File this one in the WANT section.
Color bomb!
Ilana Kohn is a Brooklyn-based artist who has provided illustrations for a variety of clients, including The New York Times and The Stranger. It’s no secret that I’m inspired by color—lots of it—and Ilana is not one to skimp. She mixes acrylic and collage techniques to bright, eye-catching results. I love the handmade feel to these pieces, too, the hyper-detailed facial features surrounded by rich splotches of blue, red, yellow and green. Win.
The Beholder has several of Ilana’s originals up for grabs. Or, visit her own shop to see a selection of affordable prints.
Confession: I’m a very highbrow, sophisticated tea drinker. When sitting with tea, people are not allowed to look me in the eye. Some have claimed to experience an “intellectual high” while in my tea-drinking presence. Yes.
My mom loves tea and, more and more, it’s becoming my drink of choice. Brain juice! In 2008, I made my first attempt at creating a tea from scratch. It seemed like 1) a fun activity, and 2) a great gift idea. I selected some Chinese green tea and combined it with dried pear and a very little bit of lavender. I think it was a big hit.
This year I made my best friend a 2010 blend using Chinese green tea, dried papaya and dried pineapple. Essentially, you can combine any flavors that you think might mingle well together. With the selection of the herbs or fruits or any other flavoring you just want to make sure that you choose food-grade products (not, um, potpourri). Throw a spoonful of your mix into each teabag (many coffee shops or tea houses carry the empty satchels).
By far the most fun to be had here is the “design” portion. I found a small box, designed a cute label and placed my tea bags inside. Each teabag is sewn shut with just a few stitches of regular thread and topped off with a tiny cardstock tag. Previously, I illustrated little objects onto each individual tag. This year I used my typewriter to personalize them with my buddy’s nickname. Ta-dah.
Drink up, nerd badasses!
My true holiday music selection this year is turning out to be Polish composer Abel Korzeniowski’s score for A Single Man. The film goes wide tomorrow and is very worth the price of admission, full of eye-popping 1960’s elegance and texture. Forget however you feel about designer-cum-director Tom Ford; this is a beautiful film, even if every detail seems meticulously staged.
Abel Korzeniowski’s score celebrates strings to a dreamily nostalgic degree as the film tracks a day in George Falconer’s (Colin Firth) life eight months after the sudden death of his partner Jim (Matthew Goode). It’s classical, but tie-loosened and unstuffy, filled full with moments of sweeping sorrow and triumph. There is also the addition of some Etta James (“Stormy Weather”) thrown in the middle to really take you back. Goosebumps.
No Christmas music here—this is what I’ll be listening to.
