a new theme emerges..

Rookwood Pottery

One of the coolest restaurants I have ever eaten at. In Mount Adams.

Mount Adams

my unrequited love for dave eggers

For a few years now, I have harbored an intense crush on the literary sensation known as Dave Eggers. His book "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" took my perception of literature to a whole new level; "You Shall Know Our Velocity" was a narrative mind trip; "Away We Go" painted a portrait of the perfectly idiosyncratic romance I want in my own life; his role in "The Best American Nonrequired Reading" series both inspires me and restores my faith in the future of reading. Essentially, Eggers speaks to me in a tone I've never heard before--a clever, facetious, yet grounded tone. And I'm in love with it.

During my recent adventures in Cincinnati, I revisited a bookstore my family and I frequented when I was a child-- an independent bookstore I thought for sure would have been run out by Amazon. (Well, sadly, it almost has.) While there, I stumbled upon Eggers's most recent gift to society: "Art Of McSweeney's." I'm ashamed to admit this, but I have never actually read an issue of the quarterly; as a self-described Eggers devotee I suppose I should remedy that. Anyway, Eggers's introduction to the book moved me. My abhorrence for products such as the Kindle, the iPad, etc. is beyond containable and Eggers's words offer a glimmer of hope that there are others out there like me, shunning technical reading devices in preference of the tried and true book.

Here's what he says:

“This book is being published at a time when there are some rumblings about the dire future of the book, and of the printed book in particular.

There are various rumors that people read less now, and that people will read still less in the future. And that, even if they do read at all, it will be on screens, and not on paper. In fact, there are business people who spend their days crowing about a future where physical books are no more.

McSweeney’s is a small company dedicated to those physical books that purportedly have no future. We spend a good deal of time editing books, and producing books of the highest quality we’re capable of, in the hopes that in doing so, we’ll keep people mindful of the pleasures of the book-as-object. We believe, in fact, that the attention paid to the book-as-object has a role in ensuring the survival of the words within that book’s covers."

-McSweeney's various designs.

a re-discovery of cincinnati

with the intention of spending my h&m gift card, my mom and i headed to cincinnati. we strolled casually throughout kenwood mall, tasting tea samples at teavana, fawning over the aesthetics of restoration hardware, and flipping through the interesting book selection at anthropologie before hitting up h&m. I picked up a grey blazer from the divided line for 19.95 and a black and white striped long sleeve tee for 12.95. (i cannot find either of these for the life of me on the h&m website. pictures soon.)

after shopping, we decided upon a spontaneous exploration of cinci. first we headed to mt. adams--the area where i spent nye and i absolutely fell in love with it. i wanted to see it in the sober daylight and i was just as delighted as i had been in my drunken revelry. mt. adams sits atop a hill that overlooks not only the ohio river but the breathtaking skyline of cincinnati. my mom and i headed to the church -- which she claims has the best view-- and the steps leading downward reminded me of montmartre and sacre coeur. the business district of mt. adams is populated with cute little bars and various shops. i felt like i was in a european city and i know winston churchill agrees.

-some friends and i at the pavillion in mt. adams celebrating new years. look at that skyline!

perhaps i have been in denial, but cincinnati is a really cool city that i haven't really given a chance. but in actuality, it's pretty cool. after mt. adams, we tried to find UC but didn't stumble upon it as we had hoped. however, we found ourselves in the hyde park area that is filled with enormous and beautiful houses.

during my next trip to cinci, i hope to return to the esquire theater on ludlow st. this is the cute area close to UC. i also want to further explore hyde park. so much to do!

"Tiny Furniture"

When I accompanied my mom to take my brother back to college, I was delighted to discover that the sleepy, cerebral city of Athens was tapped into the pulse of current independent cinema. At the local indie theater, The Athena, "Tiny Furniture" was one of the three feature films. Having recently fallen in love with a genre that's sometimes referred to as "mumblecore," I had heard a lot about "Tiny Furniture." I was ecstatic to finally see it after reading so much about it. I was not disappointed; the film surpassed my expectations and I look forward to watching it again.

"Tiny Furniture" tells a tale that directly applies to the state of my life right now-- and, let me be so bold, presents a story that eloquently speaks for my generation. Aura (Lena Dunham), a recent college graduate, returns home to NYC to live with her mother and sister. With no future plans, Aura tries to discover her "thing" while amongst her new (yet old) environment. Hilarity and awkwardness ensue, and of course the film ends as open-endedly as it began. "Tiny Furniture" is a gem.

Check out the trailer here: "Tiny Furniture."

larger photo size!

it took me weeks/months/years to figure out how to do this but i've finally discovered how to make larger photos appear! woo! i'm still not 100% satisfied with it, but baby steps. i want to figure out how to get rid of the border and maybe find out how to adjust the size so that i can put up photos of different sizes.

anyway, i'm pretty excited for this minuscule advancement. hope you all have a wonderful new year!