Shake it like a...

See Time Zero on Netflix!

I just watched the most heartwarming documentary: Time Zero: The Last Year of Polaroid Film.  If you are a vintage-loving nostalgia sufferer like me, you will love this.  It chronicles the rise and fall of instant film and interviews employees on the "Apple of the sixties".  I found myself wishing I lived in the late fifties or early sixties so I could work there.  The film interlaces the stories of current photographers and artists that still use instant film as their medium of choice.  It apex of the story is when Polaroid decides to cease production of instant film and the remaining stock around the world dwindles.  A group of people come together to start The Impossible Project in order to re-engineer production of instant film using chemicals widely available and safe today.

I think the reason I'm drawn to Polaroids is my affinity for nostalgia.  The photographs have a color palate that I can only achieve using a filter in Instagram.  I find myself using a word that many of the people interviewed in the documentary used: warm.  The photographs feel warm, the memories feel warm, the tangible photograph that is instantly provided feels warm.

This warmth of instant film is also the reason I am drawn to other analog forms.  Handwritten thank you notes are better than an e-mail, text or even phone call.  Listening to vinyl records on Christmas morning with my brother the year I got him a turntable sounded so much fuller than our CDs or MP3s.  I keep trying to figure out how to set up a "dark room" in the bathroom of every apartment I live in.  I knit, I crochet and I make pizza dough from scratch.  I feel such sense of joy going back to the basics.  Sometimes, in my opinion, the "efficiencies" gained for us by technology and modern advancements take us past the point of diminishing returns - what have we lost to gain it?

Vintage Armul Polaroid

These are the only digitized Polaroids I have saved...

In summary, watch the documentary and join me in scouring vintage shops for a Polaroid instant film camera.  I suddenly feel the urge to add one to my shelf so my other analog camera has a friend.  Also, many things have happened in my life since my last post: new city, new pet, new job.  It was an experiment to test that I am, in fact, actually in charge of my life.  Weird, huh?  One thing is for sure… a bigger city gives me better odds for scoring a deal on a Polaroid at a vintage shop.

Springtime Sunday

I have mixed emotions about daylight savings time. On one hand, it means spring is just around the bend and the sun won't be setting at 4:30. On the other hand, the lost hour really sucks when your busy season weekend is only 36 hours to start with. Boo.

This year, Cleveland put some salve on the wound of the stolen hour by providing a 60 degree day with blue skies and sunshine.  Everyone was outside soaking in the long awaited vitamin D nourishment in whatever way struck their fancy.  I elected to head south to the Brecksville Reservation and get my hike on.

For those of you unfamiliar with Cleveland or those that are unaware a great perk of Northeastern Ohio living - I am surrounded by the "emerald necklace", which is the Cleveland Metroparks network of parks that encircles the city of Cleveland. Dirt paths, paved paths, bike routes, horseback riding trails, creeks, rivers, hills, valleys, grass fields, so on and so forth.  Whatever a person is in the mood for in order to "get her nature fill", there is a park for that.

After my hour hike, which was accompanied by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony in the ear buds (don't ask, I'm reconnecting with my high school self), I headed to Target to grab a few necessities.  Like all Target trips, these necessities morphed into a basketful of impulse purchases.  It truly isn't my fault this time because no one told me that CBS TV has each season of I Love Lucy on DVD. I had always been tempted by the full series in a box set that cost an arm and a leg, but each time the desire to buy it swelled up, I would quickly quash it.  However, this time there was no need to "be reasonable" because with each individual season on sale, I only had to buy a couple to get a fix!  Seasons one and two ended up in my basket before I even knew it.

 As I sat on my couch eating an early dinner and legitimately laughing out loud by myself to Lucille Ball's antics, I decided these DVDs are to be free from buyer's remorse/guilt.  She was a genius.  Growing up, my favorite part of each summer was Nick at Nite's Block Party Summer marathons.  Did anyone else watch this?  Or was I, at age 7, already foreshadowing my future obsession with all things vintage and classic?  I Love Lucy Tuesdays were my absolute favorite.  As I watch these episodes now, I am transported back to when the sticky July night air would set in, the lightening bugs would come out and my Mom would make us kids come in from playing for dinner.  We would eat around our glass top table on our screened in porch so that my parents could get their share of the summer night after long days at work.  Afterwards, I would take a bath, put on my pajamas, and while my family watched more grown-up (read: boring) sitcoms downstairs I would curl up in my parents' bed to watch Lucy.  Sometimes my Mom would come up to check on me and we would watch together.  She loved Lucille Ball as a little girl, too.

Source: buzzfeed.com via life.com

I realize now that, as a child, it was lost on me what a female trailblazer Lucille Ball was in 1950's.  For goodness sakes, she was a producer on a show that, since premiering in 1951, has NEVER gone off the air.  Think about that for a second - for the past 62 years some television station somewhere has I Love Lucy in the line up.  She is, posthumously, still kicking business butt in a game people didn't think women had a place in when she joined.  She was classy, yet willing to get her hands (and feet... in grapes...) dirty to get the laugh.  She was beautiful, yet wasn't afraid to compromise that beauty by scrunching up her face awkwardly to portray her signature quirkiness (quirky!).  Did you know she was a model and was one of the final girls in the running to play Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind?  She embodied everything I strive to be, yet she had to do it when women weren't supposed to strive for such things.  That is why, ever since those Block Party Summer marathons, I have considered Lucille Ball an idol.  Both in business and in character.

I'm going to go back to my I Love Lucy now.  How did you enjoy your Sunday?  What transports you back to age 7?

Happy Belated Birthday, Janis!

Taken by Bob Seidemann
From janisjoplin.net 

Did you pay homage to one of the most progressive and free-spirited, yet troubled, women of the last century on Saturday?  Janis Joplin would have been 70 years old and it seems that, like Marilyn Monroe, her memory and message have experienced a recent resurgence in popularity.  I like to think it is because a whole new generation (my generation) of women is finding comfort in her ethos as the pressures of true adulthood begins to set in.  Janis represented being true to oneself, speaking one's mind, embracing quirkiness (hello, blog title!), and trying to make the world a little better.

"I'm one of those weird regular people"

Taken by Barry Feinstein
From janisjoplin.net

My Mom loves Janis.  When I was younger, she would put on Janis and I would complain about the "yelling".  My Mom and I share similar interests but have sufficiently different personalities.  Her prominent "hippie streak" mirrors my type-A personality.  I like to think she captured quite a few traits from growing up in the sixties.  No joke - she pictured getting married barefoot outside with a floral wreath on her head.  My Grandma slowly eased her towards the large traditional wedding at St. Monica's in Garfield Heights.  Flowers were held in her hands and not upon her head.  I assumed these differences were why she liked Janis and I thought it was noise.  However, one night about a year and a half ago, I was visiting my Mom in Florida and we had nothing to watch after dinner.  We chose a Janis Joplin documentary on Netflix and, by the end, my Mom was sharing stories of playing the albums in her first apartment, we were dancing, and I was hooked.  Janis was smart, soulful, and vivacious.  She represented the traits within myself that have been a bit overshadowed by my incessant attention to detail and perfectionism.  She represented the traits I want to bring forward more often in my life.

Taken by Tom Wilkes
From janisjoplin.net

"Don't compromise yourself.  You are all you've got"

Since then, my Mom and I have truly bonded over our love of Janis: we saw A Night with Janis at Playhouse Square, cooked an entire Thanksgiving dinner with her "best of" collection on repeat, and joke that we need to tour Janis sites when near San Francisco for my brother's wedding in June.

"Tomorrow never happens.  It's all the same fucking day, man"

White Silk Romper - Made for Pearl
See madeforpearl.com

I am also super excited for the Made for Pearl clothing line to become available to the public.  A fashion line backed by the Janis Joplin estate, the clothes embody Janis's unique style with some modern twists and is drumming up some positive attention.  The white lace romper has my name written all over it - I don't care what it costs.

"You can destroy your now by worrying about tomorrow"

So join me in wishing a happy belated birthday to the artist that, while only recently has come into my life, has brought me so much joy.  Put on some of her tunes, put some feathers in your hair, and try to let go of some worry.

Taken by Ricky Ferreira
From janisjoplin.net

Do you have an artist that you "grew into"?

Bunny

Every child has "it". At some point very early in one's life, an object is selected to become "it". A child could have many objects with similar or even superior qualities to "it"; however, all of these objects were passed over, discarded or ignored in favor of "it". There appears to be no rhyme or reason to the selection process but, once made, the choice is definitive and everlasting. I am speaking, of course, about a kid's soother. Most people fit into either one of two categories: stuffed animal people or blankie people. There are unique circumstances of other types of objects becoming "it", but we will focus on the two mainstays. What was I, you ask? Stuffed animal class... Musical variety... Bunny division.

Out of the three children in my house, two were stuffed animal kids and one was a blankie junkie. It's funny, but just over the holidays, I learned that Blankie Brother found the love of his life in a fellow blankie child. The wedding is in June. If there was a study of the human race that looked at what a person's "it" was compared to the "it" of his or her mate, do you think we all typically stay amongst our kind? If two people cross contaminate, is one class more dominant than the other in terms of the "it" of their offspring? These are important questions! I need to know if "blankie or bunny" is an important question for first dates!

Bunny (name as well as description) is bluish purple, sporting a smooshed head that perfectly fits against my face and, upon winding, sweetly plays "Teddy Bears' Picnic". I have no idea why a bunny would play a song about bears. It's a weird toy, but apparently that doesn't matter because I picked it as my "it"!  Bunny has made his way into my adult apartment and I'm not ashamed.

I was pondering these things while knitting a baby blanket for a friend's bun in the oven. The blanket is based off a pattern available on the Purl Bee blog called "super easy baby blanket". It is a simple blanket that showcases the colors chosen in chunky non-repeated blocks. I chose Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino yarn that is scrumptiously soft with a gorgeous selection of hues. While knitting the sixth of seven colors, I wondered if this blanket would be chosen as the "it". Each little nub my needles produced brought a new wish: maybe this blanket would be the calm during thunderstorms, the roof of a fort, the carpet of a playhouse, the cape of a magician, the secret stashed under a pillow at college and the first thing unpacked in a first apartment. It could be all of these things. Or it could be none of them... passed over for some cheap stuffed animal with polyester stuffing that plays songs about an entirely different animal species. One can never predict the future "it". But let us be real: it most likely won't be "it" because stuffed animals are way better than blankies anyway.

What was your "it"? 

Downtown Cleveland Nostalgia

Courtesy of Life Magazine and
Cleveland Memory Project

Since I was a young, I've had a soft spot for eras long past.  Especially the 1940's and 1950's.  Perhaps it was being raised on Pleasant Company's American Girl Dolls (sorry, Mattel, it just isn't the same since you bought the doll line).  Or maybe it was my affinity for pearls and housekeeping.  Whatever the reason, every so often I will get an ache in the pit of my stomach and a feeling of all encompassing sadness for the fact that I will never experience "simpler times".  It passes quickly; however, I realized early on that this isn't a response most people have.


The holidays seem to bring on this unjustified nostalgia.  The cocktail of classic Christmas movies, Rat Pack music, and sharing memories cause it to rush over me like a tidal wave.  The other day, while randomly surfing the web, I came across a documentary that made me so desperately want to find a Delorian and travel back in time.  Cleveland's PBS station (WVIZ) apparently made a special called The Way We Shopped years ago and I found it on YouTube.  The hour long special takes viewers back to the golden age of shopping in Downtown Cleveland: Higbee's, May Company, Sterling Lindner, and Halle's.  The talk of dressing up in your best to be seen Downtown, uniformed elevator operators, and the famous Sterling Christmas Tree put me in awe.  I now officially declare that I hate shopping malls and the 1960's and 1970's urban sprawl that ruined it for everyone.

Courtesy of CSU Digital Library

If the idea of wearing your hat and gloves out on the town puts a slight smile on your face, I suggest checking out this special.  It transports you to a time when Christmas window displays were a quarter of a million dollars of a store's annual budget.  The stories remind you that no one had heard of "customer service" because it didn't need a name: it was simply implied.  Stores were closed on Sundays and shopping was as much a community experience as it was an errand.


Who wants to grab a penny for the streetcar to Public Square and eat lunch at the Silver Grille after an afternoon of last minute Christmas shopping?



Courtesy of the Cleveland Memory Project
http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/u?/press,180