After we wrote about making bookshelves out of black pipe, we stumbled on these images of black pipe closet fitting. We’d taken them a couple of months ago at our friends’ newly renovated, about-to-be-moved-into, Brooklyn brownstone; there are no clothes hanging yet so you can really see the detail. We’re thinking that the resources in the bookcase post – where to buy, and the basic how-to’s – are about all you need to do this-cool-closet-treatment yourself.
The black hangers turn the whole thing stylish and artful. read more…
After a big snowfall in New York City, the natural world takes over for just a while and shows itself in surprising ways. Readers and friends often send us reports and pictures of what they’ve seen, like these icicles that appeared in a subway station (from Cara de Silva via the New York Times), or the “veil” of snow settled onto the mesh wall of a construction site (below, from Maria Robledo).
The most beautiful snow creation of all was the one we found on a late afternoon the day after the big snow. In a nearby park, we saw a little boy, no more than 6 years old, absorbed in making what looked to be an ordinary snowman: 3 balls of snow balanced on top of each other, about 3 feet high. We thought to take a picture of him working but didn’t want to disturb him. On our way home at sunset we stopped to look at what he had created. read more…
Writing ‘the improvised life’, we discover that themes come in waves: one idea (or image) seems to attract another that takes the idea a step further, or gives it a different spin (may be it’s simply that our sights are honed…). It can happen with several themes at once.
Lately, a big one has been painted floors. We keep seeing clever little tricks we never thought of , like this wonderful painted “rug” painted on concrete. It could be done freehand, or with cut out shapes to use as a stencil… read more…
The Spanish guerrilla collective flo6x8 has been making a series of benignly disruptive and moving actions in banks, as protest for what they believe is a corrupt system. They favor flamenco, with its varied roots most famously Andalucian Gypsy culture, as their means of expression, most often with dancing or singing.
Last December, flo6x8 slipped into one of the branches of Banco Santander in Seville. In league with a “radio station friend “, they broadcast wild flamenco throughout the bank. ” Then they started to dance, so joyfully and passionately that some of the bank’s customers joined in. (Check out the woman in the yellow coat trying to get the steps).
flo6x8 actions, shown in the many videos on their website, are compelling pieces of performance art, like this lone woman singing a haunting song acapella in a bank. read more…
Tara Mann who often works at ‘the improvised life’ is also pursuing a BFA in Communication Design AND a BA in Digital Media. She recently posted a portfolio of her work from last semester. We love her design of an intense philosophical essay: to format it as a WORKBOOK with lots of white space around the text. “Readers can take notes and brainstorm right on the page, next to the text.”
It’s a great design idea for many books. We envision it encouraging MORE interaction with the text, in a kind of dialogue, that could include writing, drawings, pasted in images, graphs. We want more books like that…
…(Even though we know that with paper costs being what they are, it is the opposite of what publishers want to be doing.)
The great blog Ounorecently published a wonderful post about Finca Vigia, Ernest Hemingway’s villa in Cuba where he lived from 1939 to 1960; the house has been preserved pretty much intact. We love Hemingway’s method for tracking his weight: write daily scale readings on the bathroom wall. (We’d paint the wall with whiteboard paint.) read more…
This stunning video is well worth the riveting 9 minutes it takes to watch it, even (or especially) in the midst of a busy day. Part of Sundance’s short film program, it is a moving, beautifully filmed documentary about Skateistan, Afghanistan’s first co-educational skateboarding school, created by Oliver Percovich to help kids dealing with a life of war, poverty and destruction, “to build kids’ confidence…and give them a voice.”
Says Fazilla, a 12-year-old girl living in Kabul:
I work in the street and sell chewing gum. Life is hard for me personally because my family is poor, sometimes we can’t afford enough eat. At Skateistan, I dont feel that my surroundings are ruined, I feel as though I’m in a nice place.
Skateboarding totally changes the view. Such a simple brilliant idea.
The other day we stumbled on some oddly wonderful, sculptural bookshelves made of black pipe. They’re for sale at DirtyBils shop on Etsy for $79, a fine deal, we’d say. But as we looked closely at the pictures (below) we couldn’t help thinking “Why not monkey around with this great idea”, and started searching for resources.
From a UK home with a Scandinavian feel: a “carpet” of unpainted wood going up the stairs (the reverse of the usual painted steps). It kind of reminds us of the Painted Floor with a Surprise we posted about recently…adding an unexpected twist on the expected.
The Fun Theory is a website dedicated to the idea that “something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or for something entirely different…”
It issued a challenge, inviting the public to submit ideas for the best way to make good-for-us things – like throwing trash in the bin, or recycling glass bottles - fun. Check out the videos of General Entrees and Finalistst, which include a Diet Elevator and a Future Ex-Smoking Helper. Our favorite: this video illustrating how to make walking up stairs more fun than taking the escalator: make the stairs into a giant piano!
We found this nugget in an email from our friend Tim Slavin, who’s written some great guest posts (listed below):
…I spent a few hours rooting through the 400 plus stories you’ve published since the start of last year. Lots of neat stuff in the Improvised Life “attic”!
Our ATTIC!!! …indeed, a virtual one, full of strange and compelling stuff. What better way to spend some lazy weekend hours than clicking randomly on our Archive or the Big Index to discover forgotten treasures?
