From the "Is this April 1?" category: Michael Jackson and Robert Burns

I saw this yesterday and still have the feeling that I had a really weird dream where Michael Jackson recorded an album of Robbie Burns poems. But, alas, I don't think it's just a weird dream. According to a story in the Guardian, "the album is a modern musical take on some of Burns' classic poems." In case you were wondering, "There are no current plans to release the recording as an album." Read some of the aftermath.

Back to school

There's something about that hint of fall in the air that-- no matter how long I'm out of school--still gets me itching for new pencils. Here's a neat site that makes the average pencil a curiously compelling site of aesthetic inquiry. I'm particularly fond of the range of Dixon pencils. And, while you're thinking about things you write with, here's an interesting site about the physicality of writing.

Just read: The Invention of Hugo Cabret

I am grateful for Alec who never steers me wrong in his book recommendations (among other things). His latest suggestion is stellar: Brian Selznick's The Invention of Hugo Cabret. This book won the 2008 Caldecott Award.
In trying to find words to describe it, I stumbled upon this description on the book's website: "This 526-page book is told in both words and pictures. The Invention of Hugo Cabret is not exactly a novel, and it’s not quite a picture book, and it’s not really a graphic novel, or a flip book, or a movie, but a combination of all these things." Indeed, it's hard to know exactly what to call this book other than remarkable.
In doing some more reading about this book on the website, I was captivated by an essay by Remy Charlip called "A Page is a Door." Here, Charlip notes, "A book is a series of pages held together at one edge, and these pages can be moved on their hinges like a swinging door...Of course if a door has something completely different behind it, it is much more exciting. The element of delight and surprise is helped by the physical power we feel in our own hands when we move that page or door to reveal a change in everything that has gone before, in time, place, or character. A thrilling picture book not only makes beautiful single images or sequential images, but also allows us to become aware of a book’s unique physical structure, by bringing our attention, once again, to that momentous moment: the turning of the page."
These pages are a door you're going to want to open.

Pretty things

Visitors to the cafe may know of my fondness for pretty things, fonts and fabrics. Amazingly, here they all are in one neat-o site. Here are some of my favourite items: one two three four.

Richard Serra in London: Or, Reason 412 that I'd like to be in London this fall

We saw this exhibitin Paris in May and I became a fan.
I'd love to go see Richard Serra's installation in London.. See more of his work here.

Heidi's Adventures in Wonderland (or Cleveland...)

This past week, D and I went to Cleveland to see the Tigers play two away games. Those two games were the best of times and the worst of times. If you follow the team, you know what I'm talking about. Aside from baseball, we also went to see what we could see of Cleveland. Although our travels to Cleveland met with a few raised eyebrows ("you're going to Cleveland because....?"), we saw a few remarkable things.

The first is the stunning Cleveland Botanical Garden. I saw a lotus flower in full bloom for the first time, walked among butterflies, saw an actual baobab tree, and felt transported to another world.

Perhaps the most amazing part of my visit was seeing the children's garden. I left feeling thoroughly enchanted. So often children's spaces are built according to what adults think children want. This space struck me as an entirely different kind of space. I wasn't surprised to read later that the designers of this space asked
children what they wanted to see and do and then designed a space according to what they said.


The resulting space looks like something out of The Hobbit with child-sized paths, archways, buildings, plants and activity centres. While many children's spaces are heavy on text and guided activities, the designers of this space seemed to understand that, given ample stimuli, children are happy to explore what they want in the way they want to explore it.

While we were there, three little kids studiously filled small watering cans with water they drew from a hand pump and then watered whatever plants they wanted. Another sat in the shade on a blanket with a grandparent and another squealed to see real live frogs in a pond. Meanwhile, another amused himself by filling his shoe in the fountain and another just looked at flowers and a range of growing vegetables that were all at her height. I think we all took away something magical that day.

After leaving the garden, we stumbled upon this exhibit by Jerry Uelsmann and Maggie Taylor. I have seen some of Uelsmann's work in books before but, as one might expect, found his work even more impressive in the gallery. I'd not seen anything by Maggie Taylor before and left wanting to see and know more about her work. I bought the exhibit catalogue and remain wowed and intrigued. Maggie Taylor has just published a gorgeously illustrated version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Who knew Cleveland could be such a wonderland?