In Defense of the Oxford Comma

The illustration above floated down my Twitter timeline last evening just before my (-.-)Zzz... *night* tweet.

I have let so much of a pedantic nature *go* - I really have. (I thank Stephen Fry for this. I downloaded the blessay from iTunes last summer. Stephen is funnier to listen to, IMHO). I try to refrain from teeth gnashing on matters of a grammatical nature; but when it comes to matters of clarity, peeps, this stuff is important.

From a comedy perspective, though, I am glad that many omit the Oxford comma.

Comedy, like success, has many fathers (& mothers) but I saw this via the grand Nina L. Diamond, journalist & writer extraordinaire. She is a one-woman news bureau with entertainment division on Twitter. (Here is her Facebook Fan page for more information.)

(illustration credit is not easy to pin down via tumblr via the fabulously-named Edith Wharton Wants Your Shoes)

Calling All Designers

You do not have to be a traditional design professional (that's the point). It's Garmz.com.

One of the advantages to feeling unwell is a stack of unread magazines. (Although--if W doesn't get better & this new editor doesn't stop putting naked Kardashians in an "art" issue, euwww, it is so over. God, what dreck.)

Vote on designs uploaded by others & winners see their garment manufactured & for sale online. I do not know how well they are constructed, etc. The site is in beta. There are some good-to-excellent illustrations. There are also some that look like I dipped into my Crayola box. If you were fairly early to Etsy, you know there was (is) some "real junk on there." (That was a friend before I gave her some things from Etsy a couple of years ago. In other words, sift sift sift.) It's the same with Garmz. There are some Etsy folk on there, too. Here's an interview with one winner, Lauren Reeser aka American Duchess. Here's Lauren's pretty Etsy shop, & wonderful historical costuming blog.

Go forth & improve Garmz. (designs/illustrations by Scarlet Movement & Anika)

Merry Christmas

Have a happy holiday. Wish I looked as calm & collected as this Viennese lady by Mela Koehler (Austrian, 1885–1960). She was part of the Wiener Werkstätte artists’ collective founded in Vienna at the turn of the century. This card was in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's catalogue this year (it's on sale now). If you are or will be in NYC before 17 January, you can stop in to the Neue Galerie & see an exhibit of postcards from the collective. The online site is very pretty (as is the gorgeous catalogue). Cheers!

Dior-chid

"Poetic Illusions" Illustrations by Mats Gustafson. I saw an orchid at my neighborhood market that looked like this (if you squint). Yes, I'm goofing off more than usual. (Vogue China, December 2010) Via the Fashion Spot, on Vintage Rose Garden)

American Idiot

Billie Joe Armstrong was inspired to write the song after hearing the Lynyrd Skynyrd song "That's How I Like It" on his car radio. Said Armstrong, "It was like, I'm proud to be a redneck and I was like, oh my God, why would you be proud of something like that? This is exactly what I'm against."

Here's the link to the Diane Rehm show. Andy Kohut offered up a detailed reading of the entrails, but after above I blew a fuse. While I was changing it, more people said more stuff. Check the transcript.

Amongst my fuming points: the press (particularly lazee teevee peeps) sat back & watched the Republicans take pot shots at Obama et al & did not follow up with hard, smart questions. The reason I know they're not so smart is because--as Stephen Fry wrote/said about government administrators in UK--"they are the people you sat next to in school..." BTW, the new Republican mantra is "The President still sets the agenda." You know what that means, right?

Some Mad Men Yourself images (I can't turn off the jazzy music. Your computer hasn't gone mad, just be forewarned). French FB group started posting some very nice photographs...there was my leetle self. When the world was in the midst of another awful economic upheaval. It never occurred to me not to vote, even if overseas. I registered before I left & made an absentee ballot request. No computers, no American expat groups (near me anyway), etc. No, I was not preternaturally prepared, either. I was 17. Apparently many younger people couldn't be bothered to haul their heinies to vote yesterday. Wow.

Back to regular programming of research effluvia soon...

Update - one thing that keeps me laughing lately is this cat adoption site in Washington State. The woman who writes/photographs these kittens she fosters, she's hilarious. Here's the latest "Tell Us How You Really Feel, Mimsey." I feel like Mimsey, today.

Bon Voyage, Chiot

Squeal. I cannot resist seeing this illustration over here (it was on Giulia's blog last week). Click here for adorable puppy story & vocabulary/grammar at French Word-A-Day. Are you trying to improve us, you ask? No, I'm certain you do not need improving discipline. I do.

Today is St. Francis of Assisi's Feast Day. This year in Washington, DC the blessing at the National Cathedral was held on Sunday. (I didn't get there, again. Must-do next year.) The retired Catherine of Tarragon's position has been filled. (Though, of course she can never be replaced.) Here's the slideshow & article from DCist. Youpie! We have a new Cathedral Cat, Carmina. (She looks slightly irritable but then she has a lot on her paw pads. Catherine is quite the act to follow.)

Additionally, AUREA has a delightful post about les toutous & Colette.

Update - today is Tuesday (I just told myself). Running a day behind. Eek. And the power has been off, as well. Rain? Storms? Nope. Just the old (f)utility mess.

(French cat by Clare Owens via Audrey Hepburn Complex)

Giochi per gatti di casa

Giochi per gatti di casa (Games for house cats) by Rita Persichini was a gift from our friend Maria Caterina di Perugia. These are some of the darling original illustrations by Lorena Dominici in a little Picasa collage. (The second collage is here.) I've tried & tried to track these folks down for permission. Zip (so far).

The book is propped up on a bookshelf..not that many people notice; there's quite a mash-up on those shelves. The bookcases themselves compete for wall space. Julie was showing off a while ago when there was a knock on the door; now she's sleeping off the effort. Today, I'm having a mash-up of zee brain--but I wanted to get March started already (on this blog). Plus, Keats loved cats, so...it's all related, right? (It is reported that Keats rarely got into physical fights; but he had quite the dust-up with a butcher's son who was bullying a kitten. Julie swooned when she heard this anecdote.)

ciao

Why Wear Anything Else?

Hey, please do a good deed for my fellow Benevolent Postcard Society member. She needs some votes to win a very cool contest. She's tied (!) with someone else who is also talented. But I really do think hers is the best illustration. I've voted every day since Lori Langille of automatism (& creator of BPS) posted on it. Haven't received a speck o'spam. Below is the text from Lori on the BPS blog:

Interested in helping out a fellow BPS member? Samantha in Istanbul, Turkey is a finalist in a design competition and needs your votes! Last year she designed a shoe for Fluevog that was eventually made into a real shoe named the Zaza (after her). This time around, she's in the running for a competition to design the ad for the Zaza. The winner is determined by the number of votes their design receives, so Samantha needs as many votes as she can get to win. Help her win by voting for her beautifully illustrated ad, called Why Wear Anything Else?, here. You can vote once a day until December 22.

Good luck, Samantha!

[illustration used by permission of the very same talented Samantha]