guest drop grown up.

 

remember our darling friend and guest drop brittany levine? she’s off in california taking names and conquering the news scene as a full time journalist, so it should come as NO surprise that her articles for the Orange County Register are sick, sick, sick. check out her recent story about skull candy, the little company behind these glorious headphones. a capslock guest drop writes full time for a real-live newspaper, are we grown up now?

read all about it.

35 and still cute as shit.

happy 35th birthday to my main muse.

 

international cAPSLOCK key day.

 

It’s international cAPSLOCK key day today. I think we all should celebrate. Bring out the champagne, tanqueray vodka, and ipa’s. Cheers bitches. 

how to get to know the neighbors.

Party 1: (A group of boys): “Our apartment is so awesome! We can see into everyone’s rooms! We play hangman with the neighbors!

Party 2: (A group of girls): Our apartment is so creepy! Everyone can see into our room! We play hangman with the neighbors!

Solved by Capslock. 

sangria and skeeball. wtf.

Word on the street is that the H Street Country Club has decided mini golf is not indie/kitschy enough or something–they’ve decided to add Sunday skeeball. My first reaction was, yay, sangrias and skeeball! But then I realized I have absolutely no fucking clue what skeeball is.  Wiki told me it is where “the player aims to get the ball in the hole instead of knocking down large pins.” Okay. Insert sexual innuendo. Pass.

guest drop: brittany levine on indie philanthropy

 

Who knew “inter-galactic indie domination” would be headquartered in Canada?

The founders of the Yellow Bird Project, two recent college grads from Montreal, did.

The Project creates and sells indie band t-shirts—think New Pornographers and Devendra Banhart– and gives the proceeds to charities. They call it indie philanthropy.

Their newest venture: a coloring book.

Illustrator Andy Miller channeled the bands’ music as he doodled black and white cartoons for the Indie Rock Coloring Book.

Bon Iver’s page features a cabin in the woods, snow-capped mountains and magic water. MGMT gets a playground with a slide, ladder and periscope that stretch out like tongues doing yoga poses.

Matt Berninger, lead singer of Brooklyn band The National, is a fan of the book.

“This is the greatest coloring book since coloring was invented,” he said according to the YBP Web site. “I’ve decided to have kids just so I’ll have somebody to give this book to.”

sweet street art.

On a random side street in Panama City, Panama. I feel watched…

Ode to Shedding Child Stardom

What gets married too early, is photographed with zombie eyes, spends 5 zillion years in rehab and then earns a People magazine cover? 

Answer: Not Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

 He’s still the winningly geeky guy from that 90’s teen movie you watched in English class, but now instead of just prowling behind chain-smoking hottie Heath, he’s reincarnating the film god himself. Seriously. But will someone please tell him he doesn’t have to Sharpie himself to prove Indie film cred? Even Natalie Portman isn’t worth frosh frat house flashbacks. 

Its all in the details…

Once upon a time travelling was something for which to get excited, the journey was just as anticipated as the destination itself.  When people travelled, they looked good. Train stations and airport terminals are now filled with people who view travelling as a perfectly acceptable excuse put no effort into their appearance.  Even for those of us who still prefer to exude a bit of class while in transit, one place that I consistently see travellers coming up short, is in their choice of luggage.  Fear not, the solution to this pitiful conundrum lies just beyond this paragraph.

Since 1958, the Briccola family of Comasco, Italy has been creating high-quality, high-fashion luggage under the auspices of their family owned and operated business.  Constructed using the highest quality Tuscan leather and attention to detail, the company has nearly perfected the art of quality luggage. 

These examples, from the “Life Collection,” boast extremely soft leather, a sharp luxurious style, and just as importantly, carefully thought out compartments, zippers, and leather handles.  A word of warning, this is not bargain basement luggage.  Pieces range from $300-950 at press time.  However, consider it an investment.  Buying this luggage now as a young professional will seem genius when you are zipping across the globe at age 45, your Brics holdall by your side.

i love snail mail…

Sometimes I think about technology and how it has changed collective sense of time.  That five day cruise from London to New York is now a six hour flight and months of book based research has given way to hours of electronic archives.  I am usually highly appreciative of such time-saving evolutions.  Gone are the days of sea sickness, library habitation, and so many other less than desirable phenomenon. However, one mainstay of the past that I fully embrace is postal mail.

So many things about snail mail are reassuring.  First, there is an actual paper trail.  Second, control.  Third, well, control.  You have the option to pick the stationary, the envelope, the message…even the ink color rests solely in your capable little hands.  About now the alarm for “control freak” should be buzzing RED ALERT in everyone’s mind, but when you think about how this control allows you to craft the perfect message, the perfect feel, its actually quite reassuring.

I take great solace in knowing that even if someone has never met me, they will have a strikingly accurate idea of my personality and life perspective just by opening my letter.  And to those that do know me, I enjoy carefully thinking out the appearance of my correspondence, knowing that the thought that goes into my parcel will be acknowledged by its recipient.

At times in my life, I have cycled between Picasso stationary, 100% post-consumer content notecards, and customized thank you notes.  My current obsession comes from a company called San Lorenzo Design.  They are the main purveyors of Kartos de Montecatini, a Florentine stationary producer whose product provides stiff competition to the “Made in China,” cardstock which has inundated American bureaux.  While difficult to find, this stationary provides a quality, thoughtful alternative to those of discerning tastes.  This pattern featured below is my current vice, Medicea, which is inspired by a traditional Florentine design, but with a slightly more elegant style and coloration.

Every time I go to my desk and see this stationary, I try to find excuses to write letters.  Call me silly, but the first time you receive a letter that was clearly thought out with more than an ounce of sincerity, you will understand.  A few more boxes of Medicea and I will quite truthfully start to fear for the longevity of e-mail.