Dallas Clayton has brought us a lovely and imaginative Silverstein-esque book about dreaming- something we often forget to do or allow to get bogged down in visions of practicality instead of pleasure (There are places in the world where people do not dream….).  Scroll side-a-side to see the whole story and charming illustrations.

Fore-edge paintings are fancy versions of those swear words you used to draw on the ends of your school book pages as a kid and turn sideways to impress or insult little Susie on the other side of the room without the teacher knowing.

This isn’t a new practise so sorry to burst any bubbles out there- the practise of painting detailed scenes on the page edges of a book dates back to possibly the 10th Century but most of the ones remembered come from the English in the 14th Century and seems to have had its heyday in the late 19th-early 20th centuries.

There are several different varieties of this particular artform:

1. single: the painting is only on one side of the book and often the binder would cover up the scene with gilding.

2. double: both side of the fore-edges are painting so if the pages are fanned one way, one scene appears and if fanned the opposite; another.

3. triple: same as the double but a third painting is applied instead of gilt on the edges so that it is visible

4. panoramic: painting on the top or bottom edges  (source: Wikipedia)

An excellent video example can be see at ForeEdgeFrost and many shots of this curious artform at Flickr by the Boston Public Library

I am the proud owner of an iPod Touch and frankly I’ve always been fascinated by touch applications since I failed my driving permit test 3 times due to a disfunctional touch screen test (no, really). Being an artist and married to a computer professional, I sometimes find the world of traditional art and high-tech innovations clashing as I love nothing more than to get my hands wet in paint and feel the texture of the paper on my fingers whereas my husband is always looking for the best graphics tablet and graphics software for me to use instead.

However, this video from Microsoft Labs gets me panting with excitement- we just may have found a winner here- what would YOU like to touch today?

That’s scintillating, not tittilating (get your minds up from it). Xavier Chassaing delights and amazes with his experimental film Scintillation. This gorgeous work features a relaxing, ambient soundtrack and over 35,000 photographs combining stop motion and live projection mapping. Please enjoy on Vimeo!!

How sweet- Mr. Neil Barrett isn’t one of those guys who burns bridges and walks out on the job with his middle finger up at the jerks who gave him the crappy locker and drank up all the fresh coffee every morning. He presented his resignation on a cake large enough for the boss to serve at his going-away party.

Apparently Mr. Barrett’s decision to leave was for family reasons and so I’m sure his boss was charmed into giving him a nice recommendation letter (hopefully on paper- cakes don’t last long in a portfolio.)  A side note from Mr. Barrett- he did submit a paper version of the cake because “It’s hard to file away a cake.”  Sure is. And props to whomever neatly piped out the eloquent resignation on the cake!

Or actually, maybe you have.

image: Neatorama

While I am anxiously awaiting the chance (read: money) to get a Wii so I can old-skool on NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams, I ran across this post on Neatorama highlighting 14 bizarre video games not only developed but sold to the unsuspecting masses.  

See if any of these ring a bell with you:  Socks the Cat Rocks Hell (super NES), Michael Jordon: chaos in the windy city (super NES), Toobin’ (Atari), Bill Laimbeer’s Combat Basketball (Super NES), Cool Spot Mega Drive (I played this!), Michael Jaskcon’s Moonwalker (Sega Genesis), the Typing of the Dead, Exodus (yes, the biblical one), the Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy, Drum Master (Nintendo DS), John Deere’s Harvest in the Heartland, Face Training (Nintendo DS), Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom (Nintendo), Toilet Kids.

While this is an excellent list, it’s a shame they left out the bizarreness that is the WarioWare games (picking your nose is a skill we must all practise??), Katamari (fun, but let’s face it, strange).

I suck at word games- well not entirely but when it comes to palindromes, yep I suck.  A palindrome is a word or phrase which can be read the same front to back and back to front. You’ve seen these before and maybe not known the term for them: racecar is an example.

From Slate: Demitri Martin pens a palindrome poem titled “Dammit I’m mad” you’ll be squinting your eyes at all day. Stuff like this tickles me- go ahead and try to pick a fight with me that wordplay isn’t an art!

Dammit I’m mad.
Evil is a deed as I live.
God, am I reviled? I rise, my bed on a sun, I melt.
To be not one man emanating is sad. I piss.
Alas, it is so late. Who stops to help?
Man, it is hot. I’m in it. I tell.
I am not a devil. I level “Mad Dog”.
Ah, say burning is, as a deified gulp,
In my halo of a mired rum tin.
I erase many men. Oh, to be man, a sin.
Is evil in a clam? In a trap?
No. It is open. On it I was stuck.
Rats peed on hope. Elsewhere dips a web.
Be still if I fill its ebb.
Ew, a spider… eh?
We sleep. Oh no!
Deep, stark cuts saw it in one position.
Part animal, can I live? Sin is a name.
Both, one… my names are in it.
Murder? I’m a fool.
A hymn I plug, deified as a sign in ruby ash,
A Goddam level I lived at.
On mail let it in. I’m it.
Oh, sit in ample hot spots. Oh wet!
A loss it is alas (sip). I’d assign it a name.
Name not one bottle minus an ode by me:
“Sir, I deliver. I’m a dog”
Evil is a deed as I live.
Dammit I’m mad.

If you’re a Vicar of Dibley fan you likely remember the Christmas special where the Vicar meets a handsome stranger she thinks is proposing to her and when she meets his Irish fiance, makes a crack about Irish names using up all the vowels and leaving none for anyone else. Not entirely true- the name was missing a U.

Christian Bok has attempted to do just the opposite- use up all the consonants in his book Eunoia. I can’t wait to read this book- the author uses one vowel per chapter and the sample I’ve seen is very visual and well-written (should be, took him 7 years to work it out!). The title fits it all too- Eunoia means ‘beautiful thinking’ and is the shortest word in english to employ all of the vowels- and for you typographers out there, the cover is just bliss.

I don’t even know what comes to mind when I hear the term Mummering but the UK tradition once involved participants in Cornwall ‘blackening up’ their faces in disguise on Boxing Day and New Year’s day to celebrate midwinter in contrast to other regions’ ‘white’ days. Though the festival has nothing to do with any history of slavery, it was originally called Darkie Day and in response to protests in the 1970s renamed Mummers Day.

In England itself Mummers are those who mask and perform Christmas plays in towns and villain a tradition dating back to the middle ages.

Closer to home, Philadelphia boasts a spectacular Mummer’s Parade every year on New Year’s Day with costumes to rival those of our UK friends. The practise came to Philly in the late 1700s by Swedish immigrants who isited friends on 26th December (Boxing Day), known to them as Second Day Christmas. The celebration was lengthened up to New Year’s being welcomed with masquerades and parades. Combining this and other immigrant traditions such as Greek, British and Italian and you get the start of the Mummers Parade in Philadelphia ongoing in style today.

We dare to you find something cuter than little Japanese kids all decked out in kimono and on Shichi go san (3-5-7), children ages 3,5, and 7 are celebrated and prayed for to have long lives. This festival is instantly recognisable in Japan for its bright and beautiful attire.

Why only ages 3,5 and 7? These are considered lucky numbers to the Japanese when parents measure the growth of their children. The festival is celebrated on 15th November, the most auspicious day in the Japanese calendar.  Children are given candy that symbolizes a thousand years called chitose-ame.

 Girls of course wear ceremonial kimono but boys also dress for the occasion wearing trousers called hakama and jackets called haori. The children resemble beautiful packages all wrapped up in bright colours. If you’re not aware of what goes into dressing in kimono, check out the proper way to dress in Yukata (summer kimono) on JapaneseLifestyle to really appreciate the cultural value of these pieces.