The internet is already abuzz with (2009) best of lists and holiday gift guides. April and I decided to throw our giftie picks into the mix…

HANNAH’S PICKS

Sarah Utter’s Only Love Can Break Your Heart. Wonderfully typographic, and so true.
Via Jen Bekman
$15

On a recent trip to New People, I discovered the perfect stocking stuffer: MT Japanese masking tape. Get one for yourself so that all of your packages will be uniquely wrapped.
On Etsy
Set of 5 for $18

The Sartorialist (Penguin) by Scott Schuman (also known as the love interest of French blogger Garance Doré). The inspiration to put your fashion maven hat on everyday.
$25

Just genius. Deadwood, the Complete Series. Ian McShane slays me, seriously.
$97.49

Very cute retro-patterned glasses from IKEA.
$5.99 for a pack of 6

Turquoise Chopper Headphones at Urban Outfitters. Making listening to tunes at work fun.
$70

Über lovely Eames Rocking Chair to dress up the old abode.
$475.00

APRIL’S PICKS

Dusty Groove: I have never been to this store, only bought from their site, but they have some seriously great music. I have never regretted anything that I bought from them. I’m sending gift certificates to far-flung friends who I am not sure of what they already have in their collection.

Some picks:

Funk Soul Sisters: this collection of some awesome ladies layin’ down seriously funky tracks. Have you ever heard Spanky Wilson’s version of “Sunshine of Your Love”? Get this just for that alone.

A Certain Ratio: Funk meets Punk in Manchester, England. You may recognize their excellent cover of “Shack Up.”

Magazine Subscriptions
I love to read magazines and what is better than a gift that arrives fresh and new each month?

Bust: my kind of feminism: strong, crafty, girlie, smart, creative, and sexy.

Harper’s: a great way to learn about our world no matter if you have 10 minutes or an hour to read.

Jewelry

Ever walk through a mall and stop to look in the jewelry store window and wonder, “Who wears that stuff?” If you like unusual, artisan jewelry, try Robert Redford’s Sundance catalog. Well-made, unique pieces.

My pick for my mom who loves Southwest style:
Expansive Turquoise Ring

For my Lady Friends

Holly GoNightly Sleep Mask: Just like Audrey Hepburn!

Pacifica candles, soaps and perfumes
These natural scents are captivating and pleasant without all the chemicals in commercial products.

For Paul, my super-cool, super-geek friend:
Star Trek Enterprise Bottle Opener

What I Asked for…
I am a big Edward Gorey fan, so I wanted this lithograph from his Gashlycrumb Tinies from the Signal catalog.

Cheers!

Hannah + April
(Entertainment Marketing Manager & Entertainment Publicist)

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We’re pleased to bring you four great new mobile applications for our bestselling (and relaxing) series from Darrin Zeer, produced by our partner Kardeo. Introduce some relaxing rituals into your busy schedule with Everyday Calm. Tap into stress-relieving stretches perfect for the cube environment with Office Yoga. Treat yourself to an invigorating herbal tea steam or try some foot reflexology under your desk with Office Spa. And ease the aches, ease the pains, and ease on down the road with Travel Yoga.

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The Missed Connections illustrated blog by Sophie Blackall is finding lots of followers. In fact, there’s even a short video about the blog made by Babelgum. Blackall reads Craigslist’s Missed Connections and posts her pictorial vision of these fleeting moments along with the text from the ads themselves. They can be sweet, funny, and at times just plain strange. Her illustration style, with its delicate lines, soft colors, and editorial quietness, lends itself beautifully to this project, and usually adds intrigue and mystery to the described scenario—often one of impossible romance.

Maira Kalman’s blog for The New York Times, called And the Pursuit of Happiness, is based on moments from her own life. She visually narrates her adventures, quotidian moments, and grand realizations. These monthly posts are often funny, peculiar, personal, and inspiring, not unlike her illustrated book, The Principles of Uncertainty.

My new favorite blog, Letters of Note, features actual found letters, postcards, telegrams, faxes, and memos impeccably curated by Shaun Usher. These correspondences are selected because of their fascinating content and history, not for celebrities and gossip. There are letters from soldiers that reveal amazing stories (I’ve been brought to tears). A letter to Jesse Owens from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People pleads with him not to participate in the 1936 Olympic Games. It’s amazing to get different accounts of history in this firsthand sort of way. It’s also enthralling from a design perspective to see these artifacts uncropped and legible (a transcript also follows each one).

Last week we wrote about how Anthropologie catalogs feature a rich level of storytelling with their design, through photography and playful layouts. It’s not unusual to experience a larger story reading a collection of separate posts on curated, single-author, or theme blogs, whether it’s intentional or not. And if fashion catalogs can tell stories, most certainly illustration (and found-material) blogs can, too.

Suzanne M. LaGasa
Designer

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A colleague and I took a little field trip for the last hour of our day last Friday to catch the Avedon show at the SFMOMA before it goes away at the end of this month. What can I say? It’s divine. The whole show is really fantastic—HUGE prints of fascinating faces, including many very famous folks. But by far my favorite room was the very first one you walk into at the beginning of the show, which features a great selection of his early fashion work. You walk into the room and you’re facing a print—taller than you are—of the iconic image “Dovima with the Elephants.”

All images by Richard Avedon on view at SFMOMA

Now, as it happens, a poster of this image hung in the dining room of my childhood home the whole time I was growing up. So to see it in person, gigantic and glowing in that way really sumptuous black and white prints do, was such a treat—one of those images that’s seared into your brain and then you get a chance to see it in a whole new way—the comfort of the deeply familiar combined with the shock of the new. Terrific.

There were a ton of other great fashion images in that room as well—ones of Twiggy and Jean Shrimpton and a lot of other amazing 50s and 60s models. Here are a few that were my faves:

But maybe my most favorite of all was this one:

The print was teeny tiny compared to all the other huge prints—maybe 8 inches square. I just love this image of Avedon and Twiggy dancing together! It shows so well his gift for capturing motion, and it makes a shooting process that’s generally regarded as tedious look like so much fun!

And if this post has whetted your appetite for great black and white fashion photography, you might try this:

Or this:

And coming next year we’ll have a new edition of legendary fashion maven Diana Vreeland’s classic compilation of fashion and fashion-inspiring shots, Allure, with a brand new foreword by none other than Marc Jacobs himself! I am beyond excited.

Bridget Watson Payne
Associate Editor, Art + Design

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I sit down to read
And turn the first page,
Expecting to watch
One plot take the stage:

One princess, one moon,
One tin man, one train—
But wait—change that tune!
It’s one giant chain

Of riddles and hooks
About picture books!

A riddle book—about books? Yep, that’s right! In our recently released picture book Spot the Plot, thirteen witty and wacky poems challenge readers to “Name That Book.” With a glass slipper here and a spiderweb there, Lynn Munsinger’s sweet illustrations lead young readers to the solutions. From Goodnight Moon to Madeline, children and parents alike will smile when they recognize their favorite stories.

Can you spot the plot? Guess the popular children’s books from the three riddles below, and post your answers in the comments for the chance to win a $25 Chronicle Kids Picture Book Collection! We’ll choose two winners at random from everyone who correctly guesses all of the riddles in the blog post by November 30, 2009 5:00pm PDT. Happy sleuthing!

1)
Being brave
is all about
getting your appendix out!

Ambulance comes
and takes away
lucky me
from school one day.

But it turns my classmates blue –
they want an
appendix, too!

Paris, France,
is where I shine.
fill me in – I’m
_____________!

2)
A magical telling,
a pig for the selling,
a spider is spelling
out words that amaze.

Do you know this spider,
this spiderweb writer?
The pig will delight her
the rest of her days.

3)
Dear Friends,

A worldwide hike is what I took
And fell into this picture book
of many mini shots of me,
though I am very hard to see.

Lara Starr
Marketing Manager, Children’s

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