Another of Man Ray’s portraits, this one of Denise Tual.

“Man Ray’s Avant-Garde Portraits of Famous Friends” from Flavorwire

One of my favorite artist/muses, Lee Miller.  I don’t think I’ve seen this portrait before.

My for-fun, bedtime reading, at the moment.  (You can’t understand what a luxury this is in the middle of a lit PhD course of study.) It’s (what I believe they would have then called) a “riot”—a totally underrated piece of humor/satire.  My for-school reading this weekend was also Dorothy Parker, so I’m feeling well-edified in my misanthropy. 

I found this record at one of my favorite thrifts stores in Elkins, WV for $1.  It was sitting among a cache of other France-related LPs (a few of which I also nabbed…you never know when you might need French accordion music for an “I Love Paris in the Springtime” theme party, you know?).  And now I’m thinking and wondering about the person who owned them.  I’m imaging a woman who lived in West Virginia her whole life, an ardent Francophile who never had the money to get there herself (let alone leave the country.  To folks in this region, “the city” is either Charleston or Morgantown, or, if you’re lucky, Pittsburgh).  What did “France” look like in her head, I wonder, and how did she build that image?  Along with these albums, what were her sources?

A book mark would be better! (LOC) by The Library of Congress on Flickr.

From the Library of Congress.

Here’s to each year being a little better than the last.  

(Source)

“Maybe I had miscalculated what was left of my life.  Maybe it wasn’t loose change.  Or, actually, the whole thing was loose change, from start to finish—many, many little moments…each new year unbearably repetitive and yet somehow always new.  You could never buy anything with it, you could never casi it in for something more valuable or more whole.  It was just all these days, held together only by the fragile memory of one person—or, if you were lucky, two.  And because of this, this lack of inherent meaning or value, it was stunning…It dared to mean nothing and so demanded everything of you.”  From Miranda July’s It Chooses You (this book is killing me)

One last post for today: the first song in ages that I’ve been compelled to put on repeat and let myself dwell in.  Buffy Sainte-Marie’s “Broke Down Girl.”  Listen to it once, and I swear you’ll be hooked too…

Another recent vintage photo purchase.

One of my projects over break may be start a new blog just to post the vintage photos I’ve collected over the years.  (I must be in the hundreds now…)  It seems silly to seek out these items because of their connection to the past and then scan them into our present digital media age, but the simple fact is I think they should be shared.

I bought this one because it reminded me of a hostel in which I stayed in Switzerland: porch, view and all.  (Unfortunately, I don’t have a bathing suit like that, though.)