Tweet, Tweet.

A bit of bacon fat on a computer keyboard was all it took for artist Voldemars Dudums to start Hungry Birds, a twitter feed for real-live birds. ("We ended one of the greatest internet injustices of all time and gave Twitter back to the original twitterers, the birds," writes Voldemars.) You can find the feed here, though the last "bird tweet" dates back to March.

Read more about the project here, and have a happy weekend! See you Monday!

Via Colossal. 

Journal Drawings.

I'm so inspired by animation student Tiffany Ford's illustrated month-long diary - or, as she calls it, No Shame November. I'd love to attempt a project like this one day.

 

I also stumbled across this illustration on Tiffany's website, which I love. That high-five demon is one I know well.

See more on Tiffany Ford's "No Shame November" tumblr, here, and her blog, here.

Friendsgiving.

In this week's Equals Record post, reflections on "Friendsgiving." (Below, a few photos from the night - turns out, seating fourteen people in a New York City living room is no easy feat!)

As always, a short excerpt: "To accommodate our many guests, we placed an old desk—which normally holds turntables and a hodgepodge of vinyl records—at the end of our dining table (mismatched tablecloths covered the dings and scratches). A lack of proper silverware forced us to get creative, using spatulas as serving spoons, ladles as ice cream scoops. And the food. There were two stuffings. Six pies. Enough cranberry sauce to feed a football team. This is what happens, I learned, when a group of fourteen collaborates on dinner. It was the first Thanksgiving I’ve ever hosted (or co-hosted, as it were), and the first I’ve spent away from family. With our ever-fluctuating guest list, disorganized menu, and relative lack of space, I wondered beforehand whether the night would end up feeling like a real Thanksgiving."

Read the rest, here, and find the archive for my column, Looking Forward, here. Thank you so much for your support! Have a lovely Wednesday.

Waiting, Watching.

I love this series of shots taken at the Brighton Beach boardwalk by photographer Samm Blake (who, besides being a talented artist, is also a very lovely person). Writes Samm: "I spent a lot of time [at the boardwalk] where I walked and talked with many of the locals, and then I became very intrigued by the people sitting on the benches staring out to the ocean. What are they thinking about? Who are they? ...What are they waiting for?"

See more from this series on Samm's blog, here, and visit her professional website, here (it's a treasure trove!). Also, Brighton Beach was hit hard by Hurricane Sandy this October. For more on how you can help, click here.

Giving Thanks.

This week on the Equals Record: giving thanks for the most challenging year of my life.  

As always, an excerpt from the new post: "There’s no elegant way to put what I’m about to say: for much of my life, things have more or less fallen into my lap. It’s almost embarrassing to admit, though I can certainly claim very little credit for the way things have happened in my life. My friends call it Shoko luck, and it’s something I’ve always been reluctant to acknowledge, for fear of completely jinxing it—whatever it is...'I’m just lucky, I guess,' has forever been my sheepish explanation. This year, though, things have been different."

See the post in its entirety on the Equals Record, here. 

I'll be taking Thanksgiving off from blogging (I'm hosting a "Friendsgiving" at my apartment this year!), but I couldn't leave without extending a huge, heartfelt thank you to all of you - many of whom I've never met - who have supported me and encouraged me and made me feel so welcomed in this community. I'm so lucky to know you. Wishing you all a very happy Thanksgiving.

PS: For New Yorkers - more ways to help those still hurting after Hurricane Sandy. 

Top image via Confetti Garden (please share if you know the photographer). Bottom image via dvs. 

Bear Blanket.

I understand that Roxy Marj's new heirloom bear blanket is meant for children, but would it be so wrong to buy one for myself?

As you may already know, Roxy's also the creator of these muslin envelope clutches (I own one and use it all the time). And I love this little creature, too, a "cousin to rainbows." 

See more at the Roxy Marj Etsy shop, here. Model photos by Jordan Huntington.

Even Your Coffee Is Surprised.

Google Poetics is brilliant, funny, perfect for a Monday morning. Who knew there was poetry to be found in Google autocomplete suggestions? 

See much more, here.

Misao & Fukumaru.

I don't think I can adequately convey the happiness that these images - by Japanese photographer Miyoko Ihara - bring me, so I'll let them speak for themselves. Miyoko's been documenting the day-to-day adventures of her 87-year-old grandmother, Misao, and her "odd-eyed" cat, Fukumaru, for close to a decade now, and the photographs have recently been compiled in a book. Below, a few stand-outs.

See more at Miyoko Ihara's website, here. Thanks to Cute Overload for the introduction.

Have a lovely weekend, everyone!

Don't Dry This At Home.

These quirky screenprinted tea towels from Able & Game made me smile this morning. Love the facial expressions in the second one; the first would make such a sweet gift! (Mom, don't look.)

Shop more at Able and Game, here. And have a wonderful Thursday - it's almost the weekend!

Free.

This week on the Equals Record: lessons learned after vowing to my parents that I'd be the best teenager in the world (a promise I made on my thirteenth birthday).

An excerpt from the post: "I woke up that morning feeling weighted with purpose. You’re not a child anymore, I thought to myself as I lay between sheets printed with happy-faced clouds. ‘I’m going to be the best teenager in the world,’ I told my parents, hardly able to imagine that I’d ever succumb to the hormonal turbulence I’d heard was in store for me. And looking back, I made good on that promise—for the most part, anyway. While I may not have been the best teenager on the planet, I certainly must have been among the tamest. I (hardly) touched alcohol, and never laid a finger on a drug. I didn’t date til my senior year. I never uttered a swear word, and never once fought with my brother or my parents (people never believe that last one, but it’s true)."

See the post in its entirety on the Equals Record, here. You can find past entries from my weekly column, Looking Forward (about the ups and downs of "growing up" in my twenties), here. Thank you so much for your support!

Top photo by Max Wanger. Bottom image via KushAndWizdom.

Alligator! Kafka! Cappuccino!

A big thank you to Rincy for introducing me to "Smartphone," a project by Thai photographer Benz Thanachart. Each photo in this series captures the startled reactions of subway passengers to Benz yelling out a variety of kooky words. 

For instance, the first one below was taken after he shouted, "Fried egg!" The second, third, and fourth? "Alligator!" "Cappuccino!" "Kafka!"

According to the artist, these moments are "when everyone was coming out of their small worlds and noticing the presence of public space." Brilliant.

See more at Benz Thanachart's website, here.

Handwritten Recipes.

Hats off to Handwritten Recipes, a site paying homage to recipes found tucked inside books.  (The third one below, which is a little hard to read, is a recipe for something called "Charlie Chaplin Cocktail," discovered in the "Thesaurus of Humor.")

Also, this one in particular made me scratch my head - it's a recipe for "condensed milk salad dressing" found in Donald R. Griffin's "Echoes of Bats and Men." Hmm.

Via the Paris Review. Have a happy Monday!

Rats!

A couple of you asked recently how I spent my Halloween. Well, the Saturday before (which is when everyone in my neighborhood seemed to celebrate this year), I got together with two friends and we dressed up as...

                      

...subway rats! In addition to our ears, noses, and tails, we clipped plastic bugs, bits of paper, and leaves to our hair, and taped trash to our bodies (that's a coffee lid on my torso, above). The goal was to look as dirty and grotesque as possible.

Voila! The rat pack. 

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone, and I'll see you back here Monday!

For those of you still looking to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, please consider donating to the Red Cross. You can also click here for a useful list of relief websites. And New Yorkers, if you're free Sunday afternoon, my pal Joanna is hosting a Hurricane Relief bake sale at DwellStudio from 12-3 PM. Check it out!

Grumpy Girls & Biscuits.

I don't post about clothing often here on Sho & Tell, but these made-to-order dresses by Australian textile designer Caitlin Shearer caught my eye - and I couldn't resist sharing. Customers can choose from seven different patterns (my favorites are "Grumpy Girls" and "Biscuits," pictured below),  and can expect to receive their dresses, made from organic cotton sateen, about a month after ordering.

See more at Caitlin Shearer's Etsy shop, here. Happy Thursday!