Centennial Celebrations!

This month marks the 100th anniversary of T.S. Eliot publishing "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"!  This poem is my absolute favorite (ok, tied with the thematically similar "Ode to a Nightingale" by John Keats).  I've mentioned Prufrock on the blog before and even wrote a really fun, final paper on it this Winter.  It's so bizarre and beautiful and tragic and a perfect statement on the time.  

Here, from 0:00-0:24, Tom Hiddleston recites the haunting introduction [I seriously need his recitation of the whole poem!].  And here are just a few of my other favorite lines:

Rubbing its back upon the window panes;
There will be time, there will be time To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet; There will be time to murder and create, And time for all the works and days of hands That lift and drop a question on your plate; Time for you and time for me, And time yet for a hundred indecisions, And for a hundred visions and revisions, Before the taking of a toast and tea...

Do I dare
Disturb the universe? In a minute there is time For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.
For I have known them all already, known them all: Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons...

[I have this Obvious State print up in my kitchen]

I should have been a pair of ragged claws Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.

The childlike cadence used to convey the heavy, mythic philosophical themes is just marvelously profound to me!!  "Poetry soothes and emboldens the soul to accept mystery."  If you want to (re-)revel in some mystery, I'd suggest reading through T. S. Eliot's first poetic masterpiece. 

Wait + Hope - 1000

Welcome to 1,000.

Yes, this is my 1,000th post!!

I wrote a bit on this blog's journey recently here.

But this space has been a gift to me and I hope, in one way or another, it's been a gift to you too.

But just to be sure it has - I'm hosting a giveaway!!

The winner will receive a framed print of my favorite Obvious State poster:

[via]

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty."

- John Keats

To win this gorgeous poster and simultaneously help celebrate 1000 posts on my blog,

you can earn entries 4 possible ways:

- Leave a comment below, sharing one of your favorite posts

- Re-gram my insta and tag me @iwaitandhope with the hashtag #waitandhope1000

- Share this post on facebook with the hashtag #waitandhope1000

- Tweet this post tag me @iwaitandhope with the hashtag #waitandhope1000

The drawing for the print will be next Friday, 5/2.  Good luck!

Bibliophilic Christmas Gifts

Christmas is coming and I have some ideas for the lit nerd in your life!*  You don't have to settle for a Barnes & Noble or Amazon gift card (though, those are always gratefully accepted).  No matter the price point, gender, or age of your literary loved one, here are some gifts for your consideration:


* If you don't have a Lit Nerd in your life, I volunteer as tribute! 

Obvious State, via Etsy-
Evan Robertson is continually impressing me with his skill of working literary quotes into layered works of art.  But if his posters are a bit out of your budget, consider a set of his notebooks - any 3 for $12.  Now your bookworm has a place to jot down favorite quotes of their own:

Litographs:
What if you could wear the text of your favorite book in it's entirety?  With Litographs, there's no need google that great quote... just grab a magnifying glass!  Litographs offers tees ($34), totes ($29), and posters ($24) featuring brilliant (if at times harrowing) designs made up of the entire text.  The cool thing about your gift is that it's not just for your loved one.  Litographs partners with the International Book Bank so that with every product you purchase, they're able to send a book to a child in need.  Check out some of their cool designs below:

[The Great Gatsby]

[Poems of TS Eliot]

[And my favorite design, Persuasion]

Out of Print Clothing:
For variety and creativity, look no further than Out of Print.  They have an array of apparel and accessories featuring famous covers of famous books.  Like Litographs, they have a buy-one, give-one business model through their business partner, Books for Africa.  A few examples of their products include:

[a "Poe-ka Dot" tote - $18]

[Pride and Prejudice Journal - the "lines" of this notebook are comprised of micro-text famous quotes - $8]

[For the Lit Nerd in training, the Goodnight Moon onesie for $22]

Middle Earth Skirt, via Etsy:
Do they have their own custom-made, Middle-Earth skirt?  For just $45, you can rectify the situation here!

The Penguin Collection:
One of the most famous publishers of the 20th century, Penguin has a long list of devoted followers.  From their iconic green and orange paperbacks to their more recently popular cloth-covered editions, Penguin has a lot to offer, including "The Penguin Collection."  Also consider these postcards:

 

[100 Book Covers - $25]

LiteratiClub, via Etsy -
This Etsy shop specializes in literary scarves like the one below from Alice in Wonderland:

[Literati infinity scarf - $31]

You might also search Etsy if your Lit Nerd has a specific book or character they're a huge fan of.  For example: Hermione's time-turner, a Finnick necklace,  or an Anne of Green Gables poster.

What if you want to get them an actual book?  But you want it to be cool!  They can get the classics anywhere; they may or may not appreciate the latest NYT best-seller.  So, how about some unique book ideas for this Christmas:

   \\ The book lover in your life will go "absolutely ape" over this piece of art from Doug Dorst and, nerd-royalty, JJ Abrams.  "S" is a book within a book.  In their own words:

One book. Two readers. A world of mystery, menace, and desire.

A young woman picks up a book left behind by a stranger. Inside it are his margin notes, which reveal a reader entranced by the story and by its mysterious author. She responds with notes of her own, leaving the book for the stranger, and so begins an unlikely conversation that plunges them both into the unknown.

The book: Ship of Theseus, the final novel by a prolific but enigmatic writer named V.M. Straka, in which a man with no past is shanghaied onto a strange ship with a monstrous crew and launched onto a disorienting and perilous journey.

The writer: Straka, the incendiary and secretive subject of one of the world’s greatest mysteries, a revolutionary about whom the world knows nothing apart from the words he wrote and the rumors that swirl around him.

The readers: Jennifer and Eric, a college senior and a disgraced grad student, both facing crucial decisions about who they are, who they might become, and how much they’re willing to trust another person with their passions, hurts, and fears.

[this 3-dimensional, literary gem is available on amazon for just $21]

   \\ Tree of Codes by Jonathon Safran Foer is a book carved out of another book.  Bruno Schulz's novel Street of Crocodiles has been an influential work on the life and work of Foer (and on his wife, Nicole Krauss).  He decided to take the novel and extract a new one - not adding a single word, only by cutting out words.  The result?  An landmark literary and artistic work:

[via]

   \\ And finally, a book just for fun:  William Shakespeare's Star Wars by Ian Doescher.  I got to flip through this thing the other day, and let me tell you - it's golden!  And thanks to Amazon, it can be yours or your friend's (or yours) for $12.  Just check out the Star Wars prologue in perfect sonnet form:

[via]

Let me know in the comments if you or a book lover you know are asking for any wonderful, bookish presents this Christmas [no, a Kindle doesn't count].


Here's to a very, Merry Christmas for both you and the bibliophile in your life :)

Wednesday Creatives: Obvious State

Ok, I know I've mentioned them before here and here and probably one too many times in conversation... but it's worth dedicating today's Creatives to Obvious State - because today I finally bought my first lit poster from them! 

A bit of background for those who I haven't talked to...

Obvious State is a multi-disciplinary creative studio co-run by Nichole and Evan Robertson. Our projects reflect our shared love of Paris, language and literature.

Obvious State is a husband / wife creative duo.  An English major, she worked in fashion & beauty; he went to Julliard and pursued the stage - both in acting & music.  After starting life and their family in the big city, they felt the need for change.  So, in 2009, they packed up their life in NYC and moved their things and two boys to an itty-bitty place in Paris.  They are currently back in the states - though frequently hopping the Atlantic to pursue their creative projects.

[Can you say "couple crush"?]

They started creating... and they haven't stopped.

She found a niche as a photographer and blogs about their adventures.  He designs fantastic posters based on quotes from famous authors. 



[Someday this will hang in my kitchen.]




[Love this one for This Side of Paradise]




[She also has done some Illustrations, each capitalizing on multiple images.] 




[Paris in Mint!]




[Assorted "Paris in Color"]


Her breakout book, Paris in Color is regularly featured by Shakespeare & Co.;  I happily spotted his posters on display on my last trip to Powell's.




[They, understandably, didn't want us taking pictures of the artwork... but they were right above my head in this shot]

 Together they've recently launched an ambitious and exciting project to create a virtual experience - using photography, video, and text - to give their readers "a day in a Parisian neighborhood."  The app and first neighborhood for their "The Paris Journal" are available free on the app store

I so appreciate the Evans' sense of adventure and their creative vision.  It helps that we share an affinity for Paris, Norton anthologies, and the strong sense both that "a picture is worth a thousand words" and that "a word is worth a thousand pictures."

I've been waiting to amass a few of their items for quite a while now.  They have shown up on Birthday & Christmas & general wish lists for over a year now.  This past birthday, I was given the Paris in Color: Notecards by a sib. 



[These now await frames and more wall space... but I can't wait to display them]


They currently have a 2-day promotional going on - go visit either of their Etsy's and use FACEBOOK20 when checking out to receive 20% off.  The promotion was the added incentive for me to purchase one of the literature posters.  I'm going to warn you - it's a reeeally hard decision to just choose one.  But I just told myself, I'd be back to purchase several more.



[Paris inspired fashion. Also, apparently my striped green shirt likes Obvious State too ;) ]

If you like Paris or literature or photography or adventure [or life], you will enjoy browsing their sites and shops.  Check out obviousstate.com, their page on facebook, The Paris Journal, their Etsy shops (listed below), or @obviousstate on twitter.



*All photography comes from obviousstate.com or the Etsy sites for Obvious State or The Paris Print Shop.

You remember those amazing lit-inspired posters?  Well, I recently found some of the artist's back-story to making them, and it made me love them even more, so without further adieu... his words [and a few of mine] -

You are what you underline [LOVE that!]

The best thing about paperbacks (apart from the smell, of course) is that when a little jewel of a sentence grabs you, you can underline it. If you’ve only ever read a book on a screen (hey, it’s not far off), then let me explain: Underlining something in your book is the original “interactive” media. Think of it as a hyperlink that redirects to your own thoughts [so true!], and like a hyperlink, it can leave the rest of the story behind and open up a new window of ideas, insights, musings. 

That’s the spirit of this series of illustrations. I took little snippets of text and ideas from some of my favorite authors (with some notable exceptions that I’m saving), and let the words be a springboard for an illustration. The illustrations incorporate and interact with the text and hopefully add up to something that engages the mind as much as the eye. 

The plan is to complete around 50 illustrations in a year. I’ve posted some of them below.  There are 23 completed [now 24, see below ;], which you can see in my Etsy shop, Obvious State. 

I’d love to hear what you think. 

- Evan

[How cool is that?]

 Well, I'm hooked... can't wait to see the next one he creates =)

Absolute favorite etsy shop right now: Obvious State. Wow!

Just a few faves: