Friday Link Hootenanny :: Fun Olympic Things to Browse

Link Hootenanny


image: Jordan Cheung

I LOVE THE OLYMPICS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have you been watching? I swear nothing makes me prouder. I’m so un-athletic that these Olympians totally impress the hell outta me. The gymnastics and swimming have both been among my favorites! Here are a few fun things to check out as we round out the weekend….and the home stretch of Olympic Fever!

1.BANKSY

Artist Banksy unveiled some cool and provacative Olympic grafitti. Check it out here.

2. I SEE LONDON

These photos of the full moon in London are rather spectacular. Did you see? Take a look.

3. CARRY A TORCH FOR YOU.

This look at Olympic torches throughout the years was fascinating! Summer-1952-Helsinki, Summer-1984-Los-Angeles, Winter-1956-Cortina-DAmpezzo, Winter-1976-Innsbruck.  See the rest of them here.

4. OLYMPIC OPENING CEREMONY GONE WILD.

I have to confess that I thought the Opening Ceremonies were a tad WIERD this year (the extremely long “industrial revolution”….the  “let’s celebrate Britain’s Health Care AND Children’s Literature!” segment….the huge scary “villain” puppets? the giant inflatable baby? the endless “love story” that had us watching people TEXTING?? yeech!). Then again, take a look at Holland 1928. Very unusual! See more here.

5. SPEAKING OF OPENING CEREMONIES

I love seeing what uniforms the different countries wear. That’s Netherlands and England up there. I’ll let you guess which I thought was most stylish. This commentary on this list of the “Best and Worst” had me cracking up. See ’em here.

6. LONDON IN A BOX.

I thought this little Olympics in a Box kit was so cute! See it here.

7. UNDERGROUND OLYMPICS

The Olympic Committee is notoriously strict about their logo useage—you can’t even say Olympics. You have to say “Summer Games”. It’s a tad annoying and not really in the spirit of THE GAMES. So some artists took it upon themselves to design alternative posters. Rather clever!  Check them out here.

8. 70s OLYMPIC GLAM

Juvena (a swiss make up brand) were the official make-up artists of the Munich Olympics. Who knew they had make up artists?? I must research this more (via Vogue August 1972)

9. STICK IT….STICK IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please tell me you watched this video. It was SOOOOO funny!!! You realize that the parents of Olympians are nearly as stressed as their kids!  Watch it here.

HAPPPPPPY SUNDAY!

 

Proud as a Peacock :: Super Cool Needlepoint Kits

Crafts + DIY,

Let me tell you about my friend, Susan. Susan is amazing. We used to live in matching apartments in S.F.–one above the other–when we were giddy slips of women. She would throw and still does throw these amazing parties with such easy and laughter. And we would always call each afterwards or I would more than likely march on up to her flat in my nightgown and we would gossip about everyone who attended for hours on end.

She’s a divine cook using recipes from her mother and grandmother and updating them with fun little bits. For example, Monday night she made her grandmother’s no fail chocolate mousse and topped it with lemon salt. So damn good. And I haven’t even gotten to her great design sense or wonderful fashion style or any of the many things that are so wonderfully Susan–you can check it all out on her great blog, Living MacTavish.  But I will tell you she loves a good needlepoint. In fact her mother used to sell needlepoint kits.

So, when she posted these gems on her site, I had to share them with you, too! They are Emily Peacock needle points kits.  And I MUST get this one.

Or maybe one of these…

And I think this is too wonderful for words.

I will be thinking happy thoughts… about how I can get my hands on all of these wonderful needlepoint kits. Might make me break away from my bargello madness I’ve been doing for awhile… Hmm… We’ll see. Although I just like the idea of doing any of these kits with Susan gabbing about last night’s party sipping on a nice whiskey drink as we chat.

Real Life:: A Date to the Bike Hop!

Best of Dottie, Best of Modern Kiddo, Real Life : Dottie

Confession: I love vintage bikes.

When I was in college, mountain bikes were all the rage, but I wanted a simple vintage bike to look like the young women that peddled around the campus in the fifties.

I was bemoaning this fact to one of the TAs in my dorm, who told me that in the basement of my dorm, there was the “bike jail” where they stashed confiscated bikes and there were bikes in there from the forties to last year.  And with a pair of scissors, I could easily “borrow” one of the bikes. No one knew what to do with them! One night I went down to the basement and “borrowed” the prettiest blue Schwinn from the sixties and peddled away. I like to think that its past owner was smiling somewhere.

And thus began my very long love affair with vintage bikes. I knew my sweetie Eric was meant for me when he professed a similar love.  In fact our first date was supposed to be a bike ride through golden gate park.

So, it was no surprise that Eric and I were determined to go to the local Bike Hop which was happening at our favorite tiki bar about a mile awhile from our house! We hired our next door neighbor to keep an eye on the Peach and peddled away on our little date.

Here is the magnificent steed I rode to the bike hop. Eric gave me this beauty as a Valentine’s Day present ages ago. I loved it so much that I refused to put it in the garage, but instead had it in our living room.  If a bike could be yar, this bike would be yar.

Here’s Eric on his faithful red beauty.

We biked off and were the first people at the hop. So, we ordered our “usuals” (Eric’s painkiller and my missionary’s downfall–with extra downfall) and snagged a great seated view to the bikes.

And, man, did we see some great old bikes.

And there was also a lot of great vintage dress watching too!

But the best (and biggest surprise) of the day was that I won for best girl’s bike!  Hot dog!

All in all a great date, to say the least.

Are you a fan of vintage bikes?

 

 

 

Retro Rainbow // Get Outta Town BROWN!

Retro Rainbow

Hey, kids! Freckle here and I’m super excited for this week’s edition of Retro Rainbow. Say HELLLOOOOOO to the BROWWWWWWWN! And yes, I shouted that like Oprah. I’m that excited, cause you know what? Brown surprised me. I mean, totally surprised me. I loved me some aqua (ok, and pink! and tangerine!) but when we settled on brown, Alix and I both kinda giggled and felt like the challenge was really on. We *are* a couple of crazy color lovers, after all. I ended up finding so many great options that I had to hit the breaks at a dozen items. Brown just might get it’s own special bonus round when this series wraps up! So check ’em out, and of course please head over to Frecklewonder to see Alix’s amazing finds. Really, really great stuff that will have you guys zipping over to Etsy and Ebay for a little somethin’ somethin’ of your own.

Happy Wednesday, y’all! xoxo Jenny

Sooooo, Jenny I forgot to tell you that I invented a new rule. At the end of every rainbow, I get to keep 3 of your items! So you know, if you want to just pack up that dressie, the poodle Enid Collins bag and maybe the kitty S & P shakers, that would be JUST fine! What? I forgot to tell you about this new rule? Hmmmm.

Friends,….how fun is this?? And in BROWN no less! I swear we were both really thinking that this would be super tricky and maybe end up with a littles less  “pizzazz” than our usual—but this post is Pizzazz Central! I love it. OH, and if you would be so kind, please skedaddle on over to frecklewonder so you can see what brown goodies I managed to scare up. All together now: “BROWN!” {jazz hands!}

Vintage Olympics // ¡Viva Mexico 1968!

Best of Alix, Best of Modern Kiddo, , ,

The year was 1968 and the Summer Olympics (or the Games of the XIX Olympiad, as they were officially called!) were held in Mexico City, Mexico. The Mexican Olympics were notable for many things: they were the first Games hosted by a Latin American nation, they were the first Games to feature a woman torch-bearer lighting the Olympic flame…they were the Olympics where more world records were broken than in any other prior Olympiad and they were the Olympics where two African-American athletes took a stand for human rights by infamously raising their black-gloved fists. But perhaps one of my favorite things about that Olympics? The innovative (and crazy excellent!) graphic design system created to celebrate these Games. The bar had been set high by Tokyo in 1964, and the Mexican Olympic committee wanted to make a similar splash.

Pedro Ramirez Vázquez, Chairman of the Organizing Committee and an important Mexican architect, took the lead on the design committee and eventually selected Lance Wyman as head graphic designer (USA) as well as Eduardo Terrazas (Mexico) as the lead on Urban Design.

Sketches and color explorations from inside Lance Wyman’s studio:

“As I recall there were only two mandatory requirements; that we use the official five ring Olympic symbol to identify the games, and that we use three languages—Spanish, English and French—for all written communication. The Mexico 1968 logotype, which was based on traditional forms from Mexican culture as well as being Sixties pp-art kinetic typography, set the tone for the entire graphics system. It was designed by integrating the official five ring Olympic symbol into the number “68” to create a parallel line typography that suggested imagery found in Mexican pre-Hispanic art and folk art. The logotype powerfully expressed a sense of place and culture and visually exclaimed the Games were in Mexico.”  —Lance Wyman

from The Olympic Image: The first 100 Years, Compiled & Edited by Wei Yew  © 1996

Ahhhhh! I just love everything about this look. That lettering is so terrific. And that hat?? Man. What a souvenir, eh? It’s so clever—combining traditional Mexican imagery with 1960s op-art. No wonder it’s so legendary!

They also created a simple but bold icon system to help code all the various events. And then, of course, there was the color.

“Colour and Mexico are synonymous. We used bright colour to code the sport events, the motor routes, the entry tickets, and the seating sections in the venues. We applied colour liberally to postage stamps, publication mastheads, souvenirs, and stadium plazas. Colour helped transform the 1968 Summer Olympic Games into a Mexican fiesta!” —Lance Wyman

The amazing thing was how the logo and graphic system was integrated into every visual aspect of the ’68 Games, from tickets to events, to stamps, postcards, signs, programs, even clothing!



I just love it….it’s still as fresh and modern today as it was back then. What do you think?