[almostarts]

Saw chair designed by Ole Gjerløv-Knudsen, 1958,

For Cado, Denmark,

Birch wooden frame, Canvas seat, Rope,

Dimensions: Height: 82 cm / 32.28 inch Width: 72 cm / 28.35 inch Depth: 88 cm / 34.65 inch

[texaschainsawmascara]

[texaschainsawmascara]

[28121997-deactivated20250923]

Dead Famous: An Unexpected History of Celebrity from Bronze Age to Silver Screen by Greg Jenner

[ingydars]

From "The Pitfalls of Liberalism" by Kwame Ture

[ecrituria]

When we hollow the word friend by overuse and misuse, when we make of love a contract with prescribed roles and rigid, impossible expectations, we become prisoners of our own concepts. The history of feeling is the history of labels too small to contain the loves of which we are capable — varied and vigorously transfigured from one kind into another and back again. It takes both great courage and great vulnerability to live outside concepts, to meet each new experience, each new relationship, each new emotional landscape on its own terms and let it in turn expand the terms of living.

That is what Rhaina Cohen explores in The Other Significant Others: Reimagining Life with Friendship at the Center (public library) — a journalistic investigation of the vast yet invisible world of unclassifiable intimate relationships, profiling pairs of people across various circumstances and stages of life sustained by such bonds, people who have “redrawn the borders of friendship, moving the lines further and further outward to encompass more space in each other’s lives,” people who have found themselves in finding each other.

What emerges through this portrait of a type of relationship “hidden in plain sight” is an antidote to the tyranny of the “one-stop-shop coupledom ideal” and “an invitation to expand what options are open to us,” radiating a reminder that we pay a price for living by our culture’s standard concepts:

While we weaken friendships by expecting too little of them, we undermine romantic relationships by expecting too much of them.

A generation after Andrew Sullivan celebrated the rewards of friendship in a culture obsessed with romance, Cohen writes:

This is a book about friends who have become a we, despite having no scripts, no ceremonies, and precious few models to guide them toward long-term platonic commitment. These are friends who have moved together across states and continents. They’ve been their friend’s primary caregiver through organ transplants and chemotherapy. They’re co-parents, co-homeowners, and executors of each other’s wills. They belong to a club that has no name or membership form, often unaware that there are others like them. They fall under the umbrella of what Eli Finkel, a psychology professor at Northwestern University, calls “other significant others.” Having eschewed a more typical life setup, these friends confront hazards and make discoveries they wouldn’t have otherwise.

—Maria Popova, "The Other Significant Others: Living and Loving Outside the Confines of Conventional Friendship and Compulsory Coupledom"

[yosukeyamaguchi423]

北田博充『本屋のミライとカタチ』（PHP研究所）刊行記念展 exhibition

SUNNY BOY BOOKSでのグループ展 「北田博充『本屋のミライとカタチ』（PHP研究所）刊行記念展」に参加します。同テーマのエッセイを収録した特典冊子の配布されます。ぜひお立ち寄りください。

＠SUNNY BOY BOOKS 2024年2月23日（金）ー3月5日(火)  ※水・木曜休み　 12-19時(最終日は18時まで)

I will participate in the group exhibition「book launch celebrating exhibition of “Future and form of bookshop”by Hiromitsu Kitada」held at SUNNY BOY BOOKS.

[noknowshame]

why is religious Christmas imagery all so joyful and pleasant? where is the inherent horror of the birth of Christ? A mother is handed her newborn child, wailing and innocent. Her hands come away sticky. Red. Simply by giving her son life she has already killed him. He is doomed from the beginning. Her love will not save him from suffering. Because the thing cradled in her arms is not a baby, it is a sacrifice: born amongst the other bleating animals whose blood will one day be spilled in the name of what demands it. the night is silent with anticipation. Mary, did you know? That your womb was also a grave?

[handfeedingthebirds-deactivated]

[wintercorrybriea]

maison margiela spring 2024 couture human hair sewn on silk tulle

[hembrista]

Bela Lugosi about his female fans 

[disease]

MAISON MARGIELA SS24 COUTURE

[xwezi]

"The price of love is love" is the Armenian engraving on this engagement ring box, made of silver and gold, crafted in year 1900 in Van (now Turkey). Preserved at the Yerevan History Museum. Simon Maghakyan via Twitter.

[gatheringbones]

“if I recover the wound site will no longer serve as a tangible connection and memorial to what I lost” that’s a demon lying to you

[imp]

shapeshifting is real and i think this evokes anger in people. i guess i can see why, if its taken as deception rather than expression of ontological fluidity

[imp]

every person is a kaleidoscope. did you box them in yet

[imp]

[mioritic]

“I Have Not Lingered in European Monasteries”, Leonard Cohen

from The Spice-Box of Earth (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1961)

[gorskivijenac]

Serbian girl dressed in a traditional costume in her home in Prizren, Metohija, 1913. Leon Auguste, Albert Kahn

[snowyavis]

Pirot Kilim ornaments

Чурлињак (čurlinjak) - The most basic motif, representing a cross section of the lower part of the whisk for mixing ingredients (called čurlinjak).

Врашко колено (Devil's knee) - The motif comes from the pre-Christian Slavic religion. It symbolises movement in circles (kolo dance) and the flow of life, and provides strength, bravery and defense against evil.

Корњача/жељка (turtle) - The most popular pattern of the Pirot Kilim. It symbolises durability and longevity and brings fertility, healthy life and protection from danger.

Ченђели (čenđeli) - Represents a grappling hook mounted on a wooden pole, used for hanging things.

Бомбе (bombs) - It beard this name due to its semblance to handgranades, but the motif has existed since before handgrandes were invented. It provides strength and energy, especially to men, so the kilims with this motif were usually gifted to boys for their life milestones.

Гуштер (lizard) - This pattern probably originates from modified depictions of dragons. It represents laziness and indifference, but also change, flexibility and adaptation to the world.

Ђулови (roses) - It represents a stylised cross section of a rose, showing both the exterior as well as the pistils, anthers and seeds inside. It is symbolises a young woman and her beauty. Kilims with this motif are often gifted to daughters by their mothers. Different variations of this motif exist, some of which (the roses on shackles) were, according to legends, made as rebellion of kilim weavers against the Ottoman repression.

Ђаволчићи (Little Devils) - The devil is represented as a human figure turned upside down, with the devil's head turned towards the underworld, and a bird on the other side representing the heaven.

Гугутка (dove) - Birds protect from evil spirits and diseases and connect the earth and sky. It represents family harmony, love, peace and joy, and as such kilims with this motif are often gifted to new homeowners. This motif can often be seen arranged around a pole, representing a tree full of birds.

Атапот (atapot) - It represents an octopus, and the name probably came from a distorted pronunciation of the word oktopod (octopus).

Француске бомбоне (French candies) - This motif was probably inspired by silk candy wrapped in decorative paper and brought to Serbia from distant lands. According to a folk story, when the French soldiers liberated Pirot in the First World War in 1918, the kilim weavers designed this pattern as a sign of gratitude.

Столица (chair) - It represents an antique chair and the inspiration for this pattern came from the everyday life of the kilim weavers.

Тиче (tiče) - It represents a small bird.

Source: "Ornaments of Serbia: the Pirot Kilim" by Milica Živadinović. Art by me.

[unexplained-events]

The Enigma of Amigara Fault

This short story by Junji Ito is about a fault that appears in Amigara mountain after an earthquake. The earthquake exposes countless human-shaped holes in the mountain which seem to have been made about a thousand years ago. People, intrigued by these  silhouettes, gather at the site and that’s when things get creepy.

It’s about a 15-20 min read, but if you haven’t read this before, you’re in for a treat. Link above.