Three Things: The Telephone Edition, ii
As if our phones don’t run our lives enough already, let’s spend some time writing about them this week. An incessant ring? A mystery caller? A life-changing call? What will the phone bring to your character?
Rune Guneriussen, Connections #3, from wall No. 4, 2006. Photograph. www.runeguneriussen.no
Tamara de Lempicka, The Telephone II, 1930. Oil on wood panel.
“Woman’s Bureau, Metropolitan Police Dep’t. Telephone calls bring prompt attention.” November 1922. National Photo Co. Via Shorpy.
Three Things: Winter Wear Edition
This winter has been a strange one. At least, it has been for us Minnesotans; I can’t speak for the rest of you outside of the Midwest. One week it’s bitterly cold, the next it’s a balmy 40ºF. This temperature roller coaster has forced me to pay more attention to winter wear: it’s no longer as simple as pulling out the winter coat in November and wearing it until March. No, this winter one needs two or more coats of varying weights within easy reach. And then there are the mittens and hats and scarves to carry around, even on warmer days, because you never know when it’ll turn frigid again.
This week let’s immortalize our winter wear on the page, shall we? Ear muffs and mukluks and long johns, oh my!
Hendrick Avercamp, Colf players on the ice, circa 1625. Oil on panel. Edward and Sally Speelman Collection, on loan to Houston Museum of Fine Arts.
“Costume Sportswear,” 1913. Mid-Manhattan Picture Collection at the New York Public Library.
Tamara de Lempicka, St. Moritz, 1929. Oil on wood. Musée d’Orléans, France.
And here’s a bonus, because I can’t think of bundling up for winter without thinking about this scene.
Three Things: Gettin’ Outta Dodge Edition
As the madness of the final-week-of-holiday-shopping crushes upon us, I increasingly find myself fighting one single urge: gettin’ outta Dodge. Luckily for me, our family’s annual Christmas celebrations qualify as just such an escape, so I only have a few more days to hold out for salvation.
Hopefully your holiday plans will be just as restorative. If not, you’ve got a few more months yet to plan your own wintry escape. This week, take some inspiration from these three folks performing their very own (dramatic) exits. Farewell, 2011!*
Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison, da Vinci’s Wings, 1998. Photograph. www.parkeharrison.com
Edward Gorey, After Federojenska did a grand jeté into the wings one matinee and was never seen again, Maud took over Oiseau de Glace to great acclaim, illustration for The Gilded Bat, 1966. Pen and ink. Collection of The Edward Gorey Charitable Trust.
Tamara de Lempicka, Auto-Portrait (Tamara in the Green Bugatti), 1925. Oil on wood panel. Private collection.
* This is the last Three Things of 2011, as we’ll be “outta Dodge” next week. We’ll be back to normal starting January 2nd, 2012.
