Nina Katchadourian

BoingBoing.net is truly what is says it is: A Directory of Wonderful Things. Regurgitation is part and parcel of the blogging community, I think. I read a post on BoingBoing.net and I reference it on multiple forums to bring attention to something that I find remarkable, beautiful, horrible, hilarious, ruinous, delightful - a little piece of magic in the real world…

More than anywhere else online, I find items of interest on BoingBoing and I’m relieved to know there are intellectual detectives out there working hard for us. They seek and find (as well as create) some of the best things life has to offer, similar to how the folks at Talk Soup seek and find some of the worst.

Also, more than anywhere else online, BoingBoing makes me feel woefully inadequate. There are so many people out there in the world doing awesome and creative things with technology, art, documentation and business, and they aren’t making excuses about why they never have the time. At least once a day I read an article that has me saying, “Oh, man, I wish I thought of that.” This puts a tango dance of excitement in my belly, but hasn’t yet put a fire beneath me. Within everyone and everything is potential, wasted or used. Here, in my opinion, is some beautifully used.


This work combines a love of reading, books, photography, derivative art, storytelling, color and brevity. It’s so simple, so seemingly easy to put together; all that was needed was the light bulb think bubble and some effort to find the right phrases and book designs to create something both lyrical and presentable. Makes my heart blush.

Maybe it’s brilliant. Maybe it’s gimmicky. Maybe it’s whatever you want. Every day I seek a “crush of the day” in the form of a work of art, and today this is my crush.

Bluestockings

A memorable dinner party, a slinky black dress, bluestockings, my favorite shoes and the Metro.

Have been playing around with this image, feeling inspired to build a website experience around it (I'm drawn to grids). Or, paint it. Or, design a girl detective costume around it for a series of indulgent self-portraits featuring imaginary misadventures in The Land of Milk, Honey and Offal. Or, work on a comic about a bluestockinged heroine with a ghost dog for a sidekick...

I'll sleep on it. Goodnight, moon.

Spring Cleaning

I do my spring cleaning in the fall. This year, I've decided to extend my spring cleaning into the online world. As I begin to attack my apartment (squalor!), my office space (semi-presentable), including my computer files at work and at home (a quagmire), I have also decided to clean out this rarely used blog and start anew. This seems to be my modus operandi when taking pen to journal in real life. I very often get fed up with myself and simply toss all evidence of my daily whining into the garbage.

So, I’m once again putting on a fresh face. As I dust the shelves and clean out the closets, I’ll also be re-skinning social media sites and updating profile pics. As I archive old work emails, I’ll be reassessing how I intend to use the magical interwebland as both learning tool and means of self-expression. I have a desire to share ideas in a public forum, but also loathe vanity projects like white Oprah’s GOOP. One must simply hopscotch through and see how it works out, I suppose. If it works, hurrah! If it sucks, Ctrl-Alt-Delete.

Perhaps this is just another attempt at coveting the woman I’ve always wanted to be rather than accept the woman I am. Perhaps I’m just trying to make an imaginary life more real. Well, why the fuck not?

I’ve spent this past year orbiting around the sun, happier than I've ever been before, but I think it’s time to take this spaceship back into outer space with two seemingly disparate goals in mind: Reality Check and Dreamland Exploration. And before and after the work whistle blows, it's time to get some real work done.