Post Secret and 21st Century Mail Art

I was listening to my not so favorite radio show, the one I've been relegated to since they took away all streaming radio access at work, the Bryant Park Project on NPR, and they talked to the founder of the Post Secret project. I feel like I've heard of this before, but I've never actually looked at the website or anything, so I'm glad the BPP spotlighted this, because it is really fascinating. In a you can't look away sort of way. This guy handed out tons of postcards with his address and asked people to anonymously write a secret and send it to him. The results are funny and depressing and heartwarming and, obviously, extremely personal. It's worth checking out, trust me.
The other cool thing they talked about is this exhibition of Mail Art in the 21st Century that's going on now at the Center for Book Arts in New York City. I so wish I could go to this it sounds so cool. It's funny because just the other day I was telling my good pal Erin she should see How To Draw a Bunny, a really good movie about the artist Ray Johnson, who did mail art. Anyway, you can listen to the BPP interview with Martha Wilson about the exhibition, as well as see a gallery of works from the show here.
mel

Soft

All right, this is some exciting stuff here folks. Courtesy of the Etsy front page, today I discovered that there are items in Lizette Greco's shop! Her shop was on my personal favorites before I even really knew what Etsy was. I can't remember where I first heard about her, but I guess that doesn't really matter. All we need to know here is that she is amazingly talented. She creates plush dolls and other sewn items based on drawings done by her two children. I'm not exactly sure how old they are, somewhere in the four to six range. Lizette recreates the drawings in 3-d with an accuracy that is almost magical. I fell in love at first sight. Look at this rocket bag!

If I were richie rich it would so be mine. It's so cool. Another cool thing to do is to go to her website where there is a link to her flick page where you can look at all her work next to the drawings her kids did so you can do a little compare and contrast for your very own self! Neat, right? You should totally check it out

Tonight I am seeing Lars and The Real Girl, so, I gotta scoot. As Neal Cohnan would say, bye bye.

mel

Being Bad

Today I am being bad. I am listening to Adam Green sing Kokomo and looking at shoes on UrbanOutfitters.com. And I ate chocolate cake. Mmm, delicious delicious chocolate cake.
And yesterday I was mean. I registered a complaint against a muni driver. But he was mean to me first! I've been talking about complaining for a while now, because at least once a week I get screwed by someone driving the 2-Clement bus, and the other day Gavin Newsome was on Forum talking about muni problems, etc, and he mentioned 311. That was still fresh in my mind, so even though I was so so so mad, I could remember to call that number. I am so glad I did! The lady was so nice that eventually I just couldn't be a crazy pissed off person anymore. The whole experience was such a relief that I wasn't even hardly mad at Steve when I tried to tell him about it but he was too busy to pay attention, because I already got to vent to that nice lady. So, yes, try 311, it rocks.
Speaking of Gav, I was very excited to hear him on The Newshour with Jim Lehrer today. He was featured in a story about bottled water vs. tap water. I am glad that I jumped on the contra-bottle bandwagon earlier this year, though I had been a real slave to bottled water before. It seemed to be the only way I could get myself to drink water, because if I had a bottle I would be strangely compelled to drink the entire thing as quickly as I could. Now though, I have myself a nice nalgene bottle that works the same trick. I would recommend one to everyone, it may seem expensive when you first buy it (they are about 5 to 8 dollars) but just think how much less that is than what you might spend on bottled water in just a week. Also, the Brita filter that hooks on to your faucet is very handy if, like me, you are sensitive to the taste of tap water sometimes.
The digital camera search is going pretty well, I should have one soon, I hope. I am so eager to get my etsy shop opened up! Last night I stayed up much much too late making magnets with little sculpy beads. I wish I could show you pictures!
One last thing, this is from the Craftzine.com blog, and I think it is such a cool idea. It's a project by artist Kirsty Hall called The Diary Project. She is drawing a picture on an envelope, putting a secret treasure in it, and then mailing it to herself, one a day, everyday for this entire year. She has a blog here showing each drawing, a bit about it, and when she received the letter again. The letters will remain unopened until next year, and then the public will be able to see all the items inside the envelopes. I think it is such an interesting idea, and I love Kirsty's drawings. They are so deceptively simple. You should also check out her other blog, Up All Night Again, if you are a blogger yourself, she has some really good advice.
mel