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calendar

Calendars are usually purchased in December or January, as resolutions are fresh and the ideas of new beginnings inspire optimism.  This one seemed perfectly suited to my new year’s needs: crazy scientists, climbers, runners, experimenters, volcanos and metal structures…  See for yourself:

  

And the calendar itself is perfectly tiny in comparison. I found this little letterpressed inspiration at oddball press.

norwegian coastal steamer

Great big thanks to Jessica for providing today’s eye candy:

There’s the jacket  (above), and the actual book cover, front and back (below).

    

Not to mention the inside cover…

This was an awesome surprise gift to get in the mail!  I love it.

january

They aren’t kidding.  It was 83 degrees today in Los Angeles. I ate ice cream outside in a T-shirt on my lunch break, but it is January.  No wonder certain people are in denial about their age out here… years pass so vaguely when the seasons are amorphous.

The ad is from the August 1947 issue of The Atlantic.

grad school

americana

Again in honor of gift-giving times, here’s a book that was given to me by the lovely Africia H. Before I even got to reading the film history inside, I was struck by the layouts of its pages:

  

    

 

Thanks again, Africia! There are some great stills in the book, little works of art in themselves.

Everett Aison, its designer, was also a screenwriter and director, an author, a designer of title sequences and film posters, and co-founder of the School of Visual Arts Film School.  That’s just the kind of multifaceted involvement in media, and film in particular, that I admire…

double d

Perhaps my favorite find ever at Strand. A two-volume set of Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot (in German). This is almost actual size:

  

If only I wasn’t foolish enough not to pick up the other books in the set because I had already read them…  Dumb broke college kid!

ink spots

I do wish that the records within this sleeve were not warped and scratched, but for $1 it seemed worth it just to see this:

These days I can just download the tunes anyway,  pull out the damaged goods from the sleeves and pretend they’re what I’m hearing.  A simulated experience, yes, but it’s a recording either way, no?

seasonal

When you live in Los Angeles, but grew up in a colder climate, you need to put a little more effort into it to really feel any holiday spirit.  A high of 80 degrees is predicted for tomorrow.  That still doesn’t spell December to me.  Now, strings of lights do.

The package above is from 1929, while the same product was sold in packages like the one below during World War II.

According to this site, certain inks were in short supply during the war, so packages would be made using duller or more unusual colors.  Oddly, Uncle Sam is replaced by Santa on the wartime box as well.  Looks like deliberate seasonal packaging to contemporary eyes…

grrr

Another bright, patterned German book cover to enjoy.