Posted: December 31st, 2011 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: other stuff | Tags: humor, politics, popular culture, top ten, trends
Apparently, some people are better at this top ten list thing than I am. So here they are ….
my top ten Top Ten lists for 2011
1. Top 10 New Species (from the Arizona State University International Institute for Species Exploration)
Even more amazing to me than the fact that there’s a top 10 new species list — who knew there were that many new species each year? — is the fact that Time has an entirely different Top 10 New Species list.
- Darwin’s Bark Spider
- Bioluminescent Mushroom
- Bacterium
- Monitor Lizard
- Pollinating Cricket
- Dulker
- Leech
- Underwater Mushroom
- Jumping Cockroach
- Pancake Batfish
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Posted: December 30th, 2011 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: art | Tags: art, art exhibitions, artists, top ten
Top Ten Art Exhibitions 2011 – aka, top ten shows I clearly should have seen but didn’t, and if you didn’t either, just let me tell you, I hear you really missed out. With a couple of exceptions, these are U.S. exhibitions. I’ve included a few exhibits in other countries that sound great, but wouldn’t presume to say I’ve picked the top ten worldwide.
Posted: December 29th, 2011 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: other stuff | Tags: popular culture, top ten
My Top Ten favorite new TV Shows in 2011
1. Revenge
2. Subpergatory
3. Ringer
4. Once Upon a Time
5. New Girl (I’m pretty sure this show is not actually any good, but I love Zooey Deschanel so that goes a long way.)
Yup, stuck at five. The fact that we don’t subscribe to any movie channels probably has something to do with that. Did I mention that this whole coming up with a top ten list every day for a week was a terrible idea?
The second five are my top shows that you’re probably not watching and really should.
6. Hawaii Five-O
7. Burn Notice
8. Fringe
9. The Unit (Yes, I know this show is no longer on the air. That’s because you all failed to watch it! Mistake. Big mistake!)
10. The Vampire Diaries (I have a thing about vampire stories. This is admittedly not quality television. But Ian Somerhalder is so beautiful it makes the show. He is a terrible actor. Seeing him interviewed is downright embarrassing. But he’s SO gorgeous. Like Tom Welling gorgeous, only better. Enough said.)
Posted: December 28th, 2011 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: design, other stuff, stuff to buy | Tags: design, home, innovative design, redecorating, repurposing, shopping, top ten, trends
Design: Top Ten Products of 2011
1. Native Union Handset for iPhone, iPod, iPad
Easily my favorite product of the year.
I’ve already discussed this one, so I won’t bore you.
Available on Amazon.
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Posted: December 27th, 2011 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: fashion | Tags: celebrities, designers, fashion, haute couture, red carpet, top ten
Today’s Top Ten – the best red carpet dresses of 2011. The dresses seem to fall into groupings by certain themes, so these are presented in no particular order on a scale of 1 to 10, but grouped by style.
1. Cate Blanchette in Givenchy
People were seriously divided on this one. I am firmly in the “love it” camp. The yellow perfectly offsets a gorgeous shade of the palest lilac. The detailing is entirely unexpected and exquisite. My favorite dress, hands down.
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Posted: December 26th, 2011 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: other stuff | Tags: celebrities, humor, politics, popular culture, rants, top ten
Today’s list departs from the “art into life” theme. It doesn’t even come with pictures (were I to include pictures I would be fostering the celebrity of these individuals — not a chance!). It turns out that coming up with a week’s worth of fitting top 10 lists is a hell of a lot harder than I banked on (yes, I know it’s only day two). Even if I had 20 ideas, however, I couldn’t resist including this list.
Top ten people I would give my right arm not to see appear in the media in 2012:
1. Kim Kardashian
2. Khloe Kardashian
3. Kourtney Kardashian
4. The Teen Moms
5. Charlie Sheen
6. Bethenny Frankel
7. The Real Housewives
8. Kate and Jon Gosselin
9. Ashton Kutcher (I hate to say it. He’s beautiful. And he can be funny. But talk about overexposure! Not a good idea. Sadly, I am now completely over him.)
10. Herman Cain
Please note, unless you can absolutely assure me that I will see none of these people in the media in the coming year, I have no intention of giving my right arm.
Posted: December 25th, 2011 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: fashion | Tags: designers, fashion, haute couture, spring 2012, top ten, trends
Never one to miss a trend, it seems like I’m supposed to be writing a top ten list to close out 2011. And never one to miss an opportunity to outdo others, I’m going to take it a step further and offer a top en list every day from Christmas to new years. Ha!
First – the top ten collections for Spring 2012 from designers you probably haven’t heard of:
1. Albino
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Posted: December 24th, 2011 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: other stuff
Posted: December 22nd, 2011 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: fashion | Tags: christopher kane, fabric, fashion, haute couture, innovative design, photography, Rochas, rodarte, trends
Just went to write a new fashion post, but when I went to my “Fashion” page, had the wind completely knocked out of me, yet again, by how amazing Christopher Kane’s spring collection is. No, I will never own any of it, but it is absolutely fab.
As fabulous as Kane’s brocades and appliqued flowers are, for spring one major trend continues to be photographic prints. Done well, they can be amazing. But as they become more prevalent, there are also too many instances of them done not so well. I love Zara. Given the price point, I do a lot of my shopping there. But their experiments with photographic prints are pretty much hit or miss — and more miss than hit. There are three instances that I would hold up as examples of photographic prints used to sheer perfection (okay, really only two, but somehow the first dress feels to me like it belongs in the group any way). The Rochas dress and the Rodarte dresses have grabbed me so much that I just drift off and think about them sometimes. Weird, I know. But I really do.)
It’s curious that almost all of my favorites are dresses. The potential campiness or the excessive literalness of the photographs plays best when offset by the simple elegance of a dress – particularly the more formal gowns shown by Rochas and Rodarte. I think part of what makes all of the pieces below so spectacular, is that there’s seemingly a complete disconnect between the banal subject matter prints, and the exquisite styling and materials of the garments, and yet the subject matter also perfectly complements the form. The images of flowing fields of wheat, blowing in a quiet, peaceful wind, take the breezy flow of the tissue thin layers of fabric, transport the Rodarte dresses to another level. They take my breath away.
Oliver Theyskens for Rochas, Fall 2006 – Birds on a Wire
As I said, this one isn’t actually a photographic print. The birds and wire are appliqued against a ombre fabric. But it has always read to me as the precedent for #2, Rodarte Fall 2011. I think it may be the most stunning dress I have ever seen.
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Posted: December 21st, 2011 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: art, design | Tags: architecture, art, decorating, design, economy, modernism, politics, popular culture, public art, public spaces, russian art, street art
We're healthy and fit, and boy we're having fun.
So, about those metro stations …. I’m serious about the Moscow Metro being one of my favorite places. The stops and various lines are connected by these incredible tunnels and I could spend days going from station to station looking at the art and architecture. However, I feel uncomfortable being so enthusiastic because everything about the tunnels and stations is the product of an immeasurably oppressive dictatorship. To enjoy the mosaics of Stalin waving to the people, at some inescapable level, seems like a sort of approval for Stalin’s government. What remains true, nonetheless, is that while Stalin told people in no uncertain terms what their art could and could not look like – an imperative that was brutally enforced – the form he chose as sanctioned Soviet art was not an accident. It was effective precisely because people responded to it and read it positively, and that enabled him to twist it into a powerful form of social control.
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