DAVIDELFIN + IBEROSTAR / 

LOVE IT.  LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT IT.

(IMAGES VIA KATELOVESME.NET)

"I DO NOT PROMISE HAPPINESS, AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS.  YOU NEW WORLD PEOPLE ARE, WHAT IS THE WORD, HIPPED ON HAPPINESS, AS IF IT WERE A CONSTANT AND MEASURABLE THING, AND SETTLED AND EXCUSED EVERYTHING.  IF IT IS ANYTHING AT ALL IT IS A BY-PRODUCT OF OTHER CONDITIONS OF LIFE, AND SOME PEOPLE WHOSE LIVES DO NOT APPEAR TO BE AT ALL ENVIABLE, OR INDEED, ADMIRABLE, ARE HAPPY.  FORGET ABOUT HAPPINESS,"

- ROBERTSON DAVIES, THE MANTICORE, (1972)

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FOLLOWING CORMAC MCARTHY'S 'THE ROAD', THIS IS MY 2nd FAVOURITE WORK OF FICTION.  BOTH BOOKS I HAVE RE-READ FOR THE THIRD TIME THIS MONTH AND THIS ONE ESPECIALLY I FIND IS BECOMING INCREASINGLY RELEVANT FOR ME AS I GET OLDER, AND REACH A PHASE (ONE I'M RELUCTANT TO CALL NOSTALGIC, WHICH IS A VERY PASSIVE TERM) OF LAYING ALL MY GHOSTS, AS WELL AS UNDERSTANDING AND ACCEPTING MY SUBJECTIVE NATURE.

"TO LIVE IS TO BATTLE WITH TROLLS

IN THE VAULTS OF HEART AND BRAIN.

TO WRITE: THAT IS TO SIT

IN JUDGEMENT OVER ONE'S SELF."

- HENRIK IBSEN

NEWYORKCLOSEUP / 

"'GO FORTH' WHERE?"

TESTING DAY / 

DYLAN GARNER.

TOMAS LUNDQVIST.

JORDAN TAYLOR.

"THE GENERATION OF TODAY IS A GENERATION OF ALL TIMES,"

- PRESS RELEASE, JIL SANDER MENSWEAR SS12, MILAN 18/06/11

AUTOPORTRAIT /

BREATHING NEW LIFE INTO AN OLD PROJECT.

"...AS IF TO CATCH THE FALLING DROP, CLARISSA...PLUNGED INTO THE VERY HEART OF THE MOMENT, TRANSFIXED IT, THERE - THE MOMENT OF THIS JUNE MORNING ON WHICH WAS THE PRESSURE OF ALL THE OTHER MORNINGS, SEEING THE GLASS, THE DRESSING-TABLE, AND ALL THE BOTTLES AFRESH, COLLECTING THE WHOLE OF HER AT ONE POINT...SEEING THE DELICATE PINK FACE OF THE WOMAN WHO WAS THAT VERY NIGHT TO GIVE A PARTY; OF CLARISSA DALLOWAY; OF HERSELF."

- VIRGINIA WOOLF, 'MRS DALLOWAY' (1925)

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HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I FELT LIKE THIS?

MRS. WOOLF KNOWS HER STUFF.

THE RENUNCIANTS (1916) /

FREDERICK CAYLEY-ROBINSON.

"ON THIS ROAD THERE ARE NO GODSPOKE MEN.  THEY ARE GONE AND I AM LEFT AND THEY HAVE TAKEN WITH THEM THE WORLD."

- CORMAC MCCARTHY, 'THE ROAD' (2006)

LAURA MARLING / HOPE IN THE AIR 

"STRANGE, HE HADN'T NOTICED BEFORE THAT THIS PARK WAS HERE AT ALL.  HOW LOVELY IT WAS!  THE FEELING OF STORM COMMUNICATED ITSELF TO HIM; HE DREW A DEEP BREATH - OUTSIDE THERE WAS LIFE, WITH ALL ITS INFINITE POIGNANCY.  A CHILDREN'S FOUNTAIN HAD SENT UP A RAINBOW, AN OUTSPREAD PEACOCK'S FAN OF WATER, WHOSE COOLNESS COULD ALMOST BE FELT, AND FOR A MOMENT CONNECTING THIS WITH RAIN FALLING SOMEWHERE ALREADY, SOMETHING LIKE A HOPE FLICKERED IN HIM, THOUGH OF NOTHING IN PARTICULAR, PERHAPS JUST OF HOPE ITSELF.  BUT OF COURSE IT WAS THE FOUNTAIN, NOT THE RAIN, THAT MADE THE RAINBOW: HIS HOPE WAS A FALSE HOPE, NOT AN ARTIFICIAL ONE.  BY THE TIME THE RAIN REALLY CAME, BRINGING RELIEF TO THE DROUGHT, THE SUN WOULD BE SET, JUST AS IT MIGHT HAPPEN THAT BY THE TIME MADNESS CAME TO A MAN, THE MIND WOULD NOT KNOW IT WAS A RELIEF."

- MALCOM LOWRY, 'LUNAR CAUSTIC' (1968)

OUTTAKES /

STREETSTYLE / 

JACQUELYN, MING & NADIIA /

 LADIES AFTER MY OWN HEART

(IMAGES FROM GOOGLE.   NOT ME!)

/

NEWYORKCLOSEUP

FOLLOWING THE HUGELY SUCCESSFUL PBS SERIES ART21: ART IN THE 21ST CENTURY, THE TEAM RETURN THEIR FOCUS ON THE CONTEMPORARY  ART SCENE WITH THE NEW SERIES 'NEWYORKCLOSEUP'.

WHAT A WONDERFUL TIME TO BE ALIVE

JUSTICE / CIVILIZATION - 

/

BOW TO THE CALL OF THE EAST.