the breakfast and shoes projects are two similar photographic essays. they both aim to capture the details of strangers by sharing their photo, along with what they have for breakfast, and what they wear on their feet.
the result is a colorful mesh of portraits and a precious insight into anonymous lifes, both well worth the visits.
“We cannot not change the world. Isn’t that odd?
We are used to believing the opposite, that we cannot change the world, being the humble individuals we are. However, we either reinforce or change the way things are around us with every little thing we do. We establish and change the social world we live in every day. We call that social design.
We as people cannot escape acting in relation to other people. Even if we choose to live alone on a deserted island, that is design of our social reality. The social world is created as a result of the dynamics of all our individual actions.
We cannot not be social. We cannot not design. We cannot not change the world.”
from the social design site.
social design site is a place filled with projects that sparkle curiosity and deserve our attention, for one reason or another. they are catalogued as intriguing, web, cultural or art based, related to social philosophies, social experiment, systems for living or modern artifacts. they make us reflect on our surroundings, on the way people connect with each other and with the world.
and now, postcrossing is there too, side by side with names like treehugger, we are what we do, free hugs or miniature earth. and that makes me really proud. :)
“every year on the small dutch island ‘texel’ there is a poetry competition, the best two poems are carved into truck tyres (by hand) and the poems are then written in letterpress all over the beach during the summer…”
the image and text are from mestudio.info and you can check out the rest of the pictures there. the whole idea is so cool!
the last few days the sky has actually been pretty blue for most of the time, making me dream of nivea, a sunny beach and my tanned skin a bit salty by the end of the day.
probably, the nightmare of any chinese girl. eheh… speaking of seaside…
threadless has teamed with blik to transform a few of their winning designs into wall graphics. they are looking mighty good. i guess that’s the bad side of this life of rented houses - not much creativity ends up on the walls. maybe one day, we can buy a lighthouse in new zealand and use this pirate infested waters print on the bedroom. that would be neat!
i’m currently in love with so many threadless tshirts that it’s going to be hard to pick a few to order. there’s sounds of the sea, and camouflage, and bobshopping… good thing the dolar is so low these days!
plus i found a website that gather coupons for using on thousands of online stores - now isn’t that a great idea? if you’re thinking of buying anything on an online shop, make sure you pay retailmenot.com a visit first and check if they have any promotions, such as free shipping or a discount. uncle scrooge would be proud. :)
speaking of sounds of the sea, the other day i found this page about a sea organ built in croatia… strange concept: there are some steps by the sea, carved in stone, with pipes underneath. the waves come and blow the air through the pipes, producing a variety of sounds (you can hear them on their website). the chords are harmonious in their own way and make this place by the adriatic sea a special spot for locals and visitors. if only croatia was closer…
what happens when one of the world’s best violin players performs on his stradivarius at a metro station in new york, incognito?
find out on this brilliant piece by the washington post. it’s big, but it’s well worth it.
dear people,
the sun rises around 5 in the morning and we instinctively wake up too early because the curtains never seem to close well enough. we moved into a new place on sunday, after a full day of cleaning and scrubbing. my body is still aching, but the apartment is amazing - big, sunny, near the suzhou river and very close to both our workplaces, just beside a line 3 subway station, practically new.
i’m in love with it and in totally “nesting” mode, dreaming of bedsheets and colorful new dishes, and parties with friends and cuppycakes. oh! and cats. two of them.
on other news, last week i had “may holidays”. the chinese have 3 “golden weeks” of national holidays per year: the chinese new year week (january/february), the labour day-week (may) and the national day week (october). i didn’t do much all week, but i did discover some interesting tips on my unread feeds:
* the keyboard waffle iron, via gizmodo. being a geek couple ourselves, we seriously need this (along with a rice cooker and a dumplings steam cooker). :)
* mind this gap: a collection of testimonies of portuguese people who work or used to work abroad. how and why, all explained. a big inspiration for those who are thinking about doing it… someday, i’ll add mine too.
* badfatsbrothers.com: a clever and neat flash site, made to teach with irony on the harms of consuming to much “bad” food.
and about the lack of photos: we are old-school people, with no digital cameras… (well, yet, at least). i’ve shot almost 2 rols of film since i arrived, but have had little luck in finding a place to develop them (black and white). shanghaiist recomends trying a fuji center in wulumuqi road. we’ll see.
ps - it’s been a month we’re around and, by coincidence, it’s been a year since we first talked about shanghai and coming to china… :)
a espreitar, em português:
* a edição de hoje do público, em pdf.
* o vamos brincar, um blogue feito por mães conhecidas, cheio de surpresas e dicas para passar o tempo com os mais pequenos.
* BragaFreecycle: numa descrição curta, é um grupo para quem vive em braga e arredores, e está interessado em oferecer ou trocar artigos que tem em casa, e que de outro modo vão parar ao lixo. mais detalhes ficam para um post maior.
