Lux Lotus

Bookmarks & Buzz

• My client Bill Gordon's "Author of the Week" @ RandomHouse.com! Perfect timing, too, as many of the millions of Oprah fans hitting "refresh" for the latest letter from James Frey would love Bill's warm, witty and inviting debut novel, Mary After All...
• Second Language, the exquisite and powerfully meditative story collection that I've been working to publicize with emerging author Ronna Wineberg, gets two thumbs up with a double review from Small Spiral Notebook!
• Sizzling first-time author Marcy Dermansky, of TWINS -- the absolute gem of a novel that I promoted last Fall -- fame, is interviewed at length by literary hotspot, SlushPile.net.

Lux.Links

• "If I Ever Cease To Love Part I" [animamundi]
• "The Horizon Report 2005 ... covers Social Computing, Personal Broadcasting, Everyday Use of mobile phones, Augmented Reality and Enhanced Visualization and Context-Aware Environments." [psfk]
• "You may not yet know the names of all of the photographers whose work is featured in Look. But it's just a matter of time." [papierdoll's look] 
• I haven't read Paper since high school, but the magazine's blog has been pretty hot lately; see: Warhol movies online, and Ann Magnuson breaks the news about J.T. Leroy to their "fellow" Mountain State Natives via The Charleston Gazette.
• "How To: Hang Your Artwork.." [apt. therapy]

Windowlicker

One of my favorite recent gifts was a book on color therapy by Tony & Tina, purveyors of a deliriously kooky, and sadly defunct, line of chakra-based cosmetics that grew out of a conceptual art project promoting an exhibition of paintings at a New York art gallery.

Tony & Tina Color Energy: How Color Can Transform Your Life, by Cristina Bornstein and Anthony Gill, is a refreshing look at how we're all affected by our immediate environment and how easy it is to impact positive, creative influences in your life. Full of color "factoids", exuberant testimonials, and candid notes from Tony and Tina, it's a clever little workbook for illuminating life during a typical East Coast Winter.

To that aim, I've decided that the first step in finally organizing my closet in a useful way is to order some Tubular Hangers from The Container Store in Bubblegum Pink, a fierce magenta (case pack, $18 for 72).

Windowlicker - from the French for window shopping: faire du lèche-vitrine - appears on Tuesday and Thursdays at 10am EST.

What's My Name, Baby?

Pictured: "Mr. Blaise Bellville and Lady Candida Balfour."

My highly subjective list of the top 10 names of actual people, from the February 2006 issue of Tatler, which bills itself as "[British] High society's hottest gossip column":

1. Ticky Hedley-Dent
2. Honey Bowdrey
3. Peaches Geldof
4. Jacobi Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe
5. Debonnaire von Bismarck
6. Za Proby
7. Olly Daniaud
8. Billy Van Cutsem
9. Peverel Manners
10. Ed Sackville

SWEETARTHEART

Jeffrey Teuton tipped me off to Stars, which I picked up at Rocks in Your Head during an afternoon stroll last Sunday. It's perfect background noise, in the most flattering sense.

I'm working on some really great projects right now (perhaps a dedicated post on that later), and then at 5pm I'm going to mind the gallery at jen bekman until closing time at 6.

Wondering what to buy your number one love? The answer is always: affordable, original art. Accessible luxury is decidedly in vogue these days (not to be confused with masstige.) Do stop by & say hi if you're in Nolita!

Shop Smart and Eat Right

This evening, after a productive day in the office, I met up for a drink with publishing visionary Richard Nash. The conversation was engaging and v. fun. Topics discussed: books, technology, the future, New Orleans etc.

Softskull publishes fashion-forward books that are more important than ever given circumstances in the world today. Peruse Softskull.com and snap something up; it's all good! If you'd like a recommendation, start with Heredity by Jenny Davidson - easily one of my favorites.

Afterwards, I rang up The Recluse Garman and she invited me over for tea as I was on her street. We ate delicious rose-topped cupcakes from Cake Shop and caught up on all the latest. Topics discussed: Cineclub, the British obsession with Kate Beckinsale, minimalism, etc.

All truly lovely, that, but I'm eating dinner (blanched asparagus with Reblochon Fermier from Bedford Cheese Shop that is not for the faint of heart) at 11:45pm and [yawn] I've got to sleep sometime. 'Night.

Windowlicker

This weekend, I watched Smala Sussie (Slim Susie), Ulf Malmros' deliriously black comedy from Sweden, about an independent publisher in Stockholm who receives a phone call that his sister, who he left behind three years ago to take care of their alcoholic mother in their rural hometown, has disappeared. He goes back to find out what happened to her, and discovers how dangerously criminal things have become while also reminding himself why he left in the first place. To American eyes, it fits a little too comfortably into a genre of film that we have in abundance here without bringing much of an original edge to it, but it's quite appealing as a film and I highly recommend it.

The Swedish pop soundtrack is brilliant (you can sample it here), and I immediately began trying to track it down online. It's available from Swedish retailer Skivhugget but I'm waiting to see if my jones for it sticks before paying to have it shipped from Gothenburg, Sweden. While considering other cds to order as well, I came across the excellent Scandinavian pop chronicle It's a Trap. And also, the punk-soul stylings of Moneybrother, and Stockholm-based Norwegian chanteuse, Ane Brun.

For Scandinavian delight in New York, visit Good World Bar & Grill.

Windowlicker - from the French for window shopping: faire du lèche-vitrine - appears on Tuesday and Thursdays at 10am EST.

Art Crush: "Art for Kids' Sake"

Manuela Paz sends word that she has a piece in the 2006 LREI Art Auction:

Untitled, 2005 | C-Print Photograph | 16 x 70"

She notes:

"The Art Auction is an annual silent auction of contemporary fine art. Many prestigious artists have participated in the auction, including William Wegman, Annie Leibovitz, Sol Lewitt, and Keith Haring. The two day event culminates in a closing reception with white wine and frenzied bidding! The Art Auction is free and open to the public.

I-20 Gallery, 529 West 20th Street, 11th Floor

Gallery Hours:
February 1st & 2nd, 10 AM - 8:30 PM

Reception & Closing Bids: February 2nd, 6 PM - 8 PM"

Other notable standouts in the mix:

Richard Gere Jodhpur Fort, 2004 | Canon Print | 8 1/2 x 11"

Joe Gaffney Dennis Hopper, Paris, 1975 | Silver Gelatin Photograph | 17 x 24"

Marybeth Thielhelm Deep Cerulean Sea, 2004 | Solarplate Etching |
17 1/2 x 17 1/2"


Camille Tokerud Marfa Apron, 2006 | Ektacolor C-Print | 14 x 14"

And, as long as we're on the subject of contemporary photography, do check out Hey, Hot Shot! The next deadline is in a couple of weeks.

The Smart Set: 1.30 - 2.5

This week in The Smart Set, my round-up of haute happenings for sizzling hot lit-blog MaudNewton.com: The "What's Your Poison?" Edition.

[ Image: Mario Testino, Kate Moss in Cafe ]

What's The Frequency?

Between videos.antville.org, youtube, and a few other sources popping up at the opportune times, I believe I am fully addicted to watching video content online! Some faves:

• Short but sweet: Keren Ann at Global Fest.
• Remember Prada's Thunder Perfect Mind? It's here.
• And oh! so brilliant: Jan Pehechan-Ho.

As long as we're on the topic, two DVDs I'm keen to check out:

• Starter Set: New Dance & Music for the Camera, which boasts a blurb from Miranda July: "I shivered when (they) told me they were doing modern dance in punk clubs; suddenly everything else seemed so last year."
• And the entire Director's Label line, well, specifically: Michel Gondry, Jonathan Glazer. Except, um, where are the genius female directors, Palm Pictures? e.g. Sophie Muller, Floria Sigismondi?