55 ways to save 3 eggs...

1. hold them in your hands. 2. put them in your mouth. 3. put them in your nose. 4. put them in your ears. 5. put them in the pocket of your blue checkered apron. 6. put them inside your white blouse. 7. let them rest in the part of your hair. 8. wrap them in your red ribbon. 9. bend your head back and balance them on your eyes and mouth. 10. paint one yellow, and two light blue, and hide them in the background. 11. roll them off the table. 12. use them to replace the S's in ways, save and eggs. 13. hide them in the rolled-up right cuff of your blouse. 14. let them nestle around your neck like small pets. 15. teach them to fly so they are just out of reach. 16. paint them a light grey purple brown so they cannot be differentiated from the table. 17. spin each one very fast on its own axis until they are moving so fast they cannot be seen with eyes. 18. talk to them often so they know you are friends. 19. tap on their surfaces gently so as not to break them. 20. sing to them often so they begin to like your music. 21. throw them in the air so high that they never come down (be careful because they will break if you fail and are not able to catch them). 21. count them over and over again, even though there are only three. 22. teach them a new language, from a foreign land or make it up yourself. 23. pause often so they hang on your every word. 24. stand them end upon end, so they resemble the rattle of a snake. 25. set them clearly against the light blue background so they are mistaken for clouds. 26. teach them to make the sounds of dangerous animals so others will be afraid to come near them. 27. polish their surfaces so they can become mirrors that reflect the world. 28. put them in the mail so that they are gone for a few days and then returned to the table. 29. instead of looking to the left, look down and let your gaze rest upon them. 30. smile so they know you love them. 31. as they sleep, put your ear upon the surface of the table so you can hear their dreams. 32. cry so they will never leave you. 33. hum to them softly and often, as if you are withholding a secret. 34. dream of them often (and perhaps they too will dream of you). 35. ask them questions they cannot answer. 36. tell them you are their mother and they must do as you say. 37. cut off your hair so they may have a nest to rest in. 38. give them two a's, two e's, two g's, three s's, and one w, y, t, o and v, and ask them to make a phrase that should be familiar to them. 39. keep rearranging them so each can be in the middle at least once. 40. stand still in silence, as long as you can, to see if it will be you, or the eggs, who moves, or speaks, first. 41. touch them gently with your fingertips. 42. paint them like globes and use them as maps. 43. juggle them constantly around your head like a halo. 44. tease them often but don't make them mad. 45. tell them they are the best eggs in the world. 46. eat them for breakfast and keep them inside of you always. 47. paint their portraits (together or alone). 48. simply ask them to remain. 49. tell them to make as many words as they can with the letters that make up the phrase "55 ways to save eggs"; such as: eave, wages, stage and sway. 50. pretend they are onions and be afraid to cut them for fear of burning your eyes. 51. take them outside, climb a tree, and return them to a nest. 52. kiss them with your lipstick covered lips so that they appear to have big red mouths. 53. close your eyes and open them again to be sure they have not moved. 54. place them in a small birdcage and hope. 55. try to fit all three of them inside the can of royal baking powder that you rest your hand upon, making sure it is otherwise empty, and remembering to cut a small window so they can continue to see you always...

when book covers speak...

sometimes an image or a design gets under your skin and you can't figure out why and you can't let go of it, and it simply has its way with you.

i've been staring at this cover of paul valery's mousier teste for ages, and specifically for the design of the cover by rudolph de harak. there is something unspeakable about the way it continually nags for my eye attention. de harak did hundreds of cover designs for mcgraw hill (he also did their logo), many of the covers stellar, but none that work their magic on me as deeply as this one.

in some strange way i believe the image captures valery's text perfectly in its near ordinariness and feeling slightly off or uncanny at the same time.

de harak was a very wonderful designer, who worked not only with flat surfaces but also exhibition design, signage and even some parts of expo 67. there's a great oral history of with him here, coincidentally recorded on my birthday in 2000.

when backs are better than fronts...

it is not uncommon for me to buy something for all the wrong reasons. in this case, a cdv, where the photograph itself was incredibly boring (a portrait of a generic looking old woman's face), but the backside graphics for the photographer's studio are incredible! here you can see a little tiny fairyland of butterflies and spirits under the influence of asian aesthetics at the height of their influence on artists like whistler, as well as much european design in the late 1800's. it's quite remarkable that a portait studio would advertise their wares in such a mysterious and childlike way.

when graphic design was great...

one of my favorite ads ever, from the 1940's by burton browne advertising for littelfuse...

hand painted drum heads...

four nice hand painted drum heads from 1910-1920...

built in usa...

moma's built in usa exhibition covered the years 1933 (the year of moma's first architectural exhibtion) to 1944. it was curated by alfred h. barr, elizabeth mock, and philip l. goodwin; and included 47 buildings. the show's vision was fairly east coast-centric; with one of the major architect invisibles being rm schindler.

the moma catalog shown above is not super rare (although this dust jacketed version is tougher to find), but it is much less common than the "every used book store has one for sale" post-war version from 1952 (designed by alvin lustig!).

i never knew the exhibition was also shown in europe until i stumbled on a swiss version of the catalog in basel a few years ago. this 1946 catalog contains only a sampling of the numerous photos in the moma publication and includes most of the text in swiss; but the thing that really makes it wonderful is the bauhaus inspired cover design is by numa rick.

for jet age travellers...

some really nice cut and paste graphics on two tiny brochures for united airline's "instamatic: instant reservations system", probably 1960 or so. at the time this early use of computers in the commercial sector was considered "the world's largest integrated data processing system developed for private industry". it also claimed to have a 1.5 second response to every inquiry... something the airlines have certainly moved away from.

hit me with your rhythm stick...

some nice hand painted drum heads circa 1910. the life of a drum head is to be continualy covered with "patterns of duration that are phenomenally present in the music".

and thus begins the drifting...

an illustration from an article on telemetry in a 1950 issue of electronics world. i should probably just let you revel in the image without adding any text; but i can't help but add just one tiny bit from the article. the following should certainly enhance the mind moving in various directions of expansion that the image suggests.

one of the simplest methods of measuring any quantity is to convert it to code, where the quantity is transmitted as a function of time. for example, to indicate 10 pounds per square inch of pressure, a switch may be closed for 10 seconds.

time, functioning as a language... for me, this is like a foot pushing a boat away from a dock, and into a large open lake of possibilities...

weird-like...

a nice surprise to find this fragile little letterpressed advertisement bound inside of an 1869 edition of bjornstjerne bjornson's "arne: a sketch of norwegian country life".

this most powerful and weird-like story is famous in modern literature, as well as for the elegance of its style as for the graphic reality with which its terrible incidents are forced upon the reader.