Art, Ungulate, Abandoned Books.

Three things to kick off the weekend: "Looking at Art," Shizu Saldamando's portrait series of art spectators, drawn in ballpoint pen,

a duo of informative animal charts by Hong Kong-based designer Furze Chan,

and lastly, these, captured by the very talented Emily Blincoe.

Additional treasures, just because:
-Books abandoned on the stoops of Brooklyn.
-"The Fine Art of Sighing."
-Mark Twain's description of his lost cat, Bambino: "Large and intensely black; thick, velvety fur; has a faint fringe of white hair across his chest; not easy to find in ordinary light." I love this so much.

Wishing you a happy weekend (I'll be attempting another kitchen experiment for a friend's birthday on Saturday. Hope it turns out better - or at least better-looking - than this one.) See you Monday!

Gourmet Gatsby.

A confession: I've never been a fan of The Great Gatsby, having read it twice - once as a junior in high school, and again as a writing major in college. Because of this, I hadn't been paying much attention to the hype surrounding this month's movie adaptation - but, I'm realizing now, perhaps I should have been. I might have gotten word about this spectacular, edible tribute - a limited-edition collection of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams - in time to try it. (It's sold out, unfortunately, but the idea, I figured, was still worth sharing.)

The collection features four flavors that transport tasters "from Zelda [Fitzgerald's] childhood home in Alabama, to New York, St. Paul, Paris, and on through the Roaring Twenties." There's cognac with Seville orange marmalade; dark chocolate with whiskey and caraway; sweet cream with blackberries; and homemade biscuits laced with peach jam (created with a nod to the Loveless Cafe in Nashville). Brilliant.

Also, unrelated to Gatsby but just as intriguing (and still in stock!): a flavor that Jeni's describes as "the ice cream version of cheesecake," made from small-batch farmstead cheese and Snowville cream. Sold.

Find this and much more - including flavors like juniper and lemon curd; Savannah buttermilk; and chamomile - at Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams, here. 

POV: Home.

POV ("point of view") is a new series that addresses many of the same themes covered in my Equals Record column: growing up, saying yes to adventure, learning to embrace a quarter-life crisis. Each POV entry will include a photograph and a short reflection based on what’s pictured. While my previous column focused largely on ideas, POV will focus on moments - glimpses, glances, tiny stories.

When I was little, I believed that homes - like my collection of stuffed animals with frayed ears and missing eyes - had hearts.  When we moved from Los Angeles to Honolulu, I was seven, and I apologized to my bed, to the figures on my patterned wallpaper, to the patch of sunlight on the tomato-red carpet, for leaving them behind. 

Months passed. Sitting in my third grade classroom with plumeria trees and yellow hibiscus in the window, I listed details I missed about the house in a journal entry. “I’ll live there again one day,” I wrote.

9 Frames.

9 Film Frames is a blog that attempts to represent iconic films in just nine frames. An appealing idea - especially for someone like me, who appreciates good movies but can rarely sit still long enough to watch one. Below, a few highlights (my favorite's the second one down, assembled using stills from Fellini's Amarcord).

Thanks, My Modern Met. See more at 9 Film Frames, here. I'll be back with a new POV entry tomorrow - looking forward to sharing!

Amelia, Wild.

Photographer Robin Schwartz has been photographing her daughter, Amelia, now thirteen, in the company of animals for over a decade. Amelia, Robin says, is a natural; however, her daughter favors certain critters over others. According to a March 2012 New York Times feature, "She says she connects with most of the animals, though admits the spark just wasn't there with a sloth."

Related curiosities, because it's Monday:

-Nosy animals.

-Animals as hats.

-My visit to a cat cafe in Tokyo.

Visit Robin Schwartz's website, here. Found via The New Yorker. 

Skateistan.

"We use skateboarding as a tool for empowering youth, to create new opportunities and the potential for change." So reads the mission statement for international non-profit Skateistan, which is committed to teaching Afghani and Cambodian children - 40% of them female - to skate. Founded by Oliver Percovich in 2009, the school is now expanding to Mazar-e-Sharif. (Read more about that, here.)

What an amazing idea. Learn how to support Skateistan, here. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Graffiti Grammar.

UK tutoring company The Tutor Crowd is spreading the word about its services by doctoring the grammar and spelling in London street art. The results are then posted to the group's Tumblr feed. The word lover in me has to smile. 

See more, here. Found via Freunde von Freunden. 

PS: For fellow logophiles - serendipitous haiku; "strange and lovely" words; and quite possibly the sexiest line of poetry ever written (in my opinion, anyway).