Hello friends! I was traveling for work last week. I’m back now, with a bevy of delightful things to share with you. May something here spark wonder or pique your curiosity. Enjoy!
Flames of Paris is a ballet filled with great solos. Here’s a clip of highlights from the Bolshoi’s production with Ivan Vasiliev dancing the lead. Here’s the pas de deux from the same production, with Natalia Osipova joining Vasiliev.
The Sky Lantern Festival takes place in several locations in Japan in the months of July and August, so there’s still time to get there!
I love everything about this: the face coverings, the jewelry, the color palette, the raga-as-disco. There’s also a live version.
Shradha Kocchar is an extraordinary India-born, Brooklyn-based textile artist who makes all kinds of wonderful things. I recently discovered her ‘knitted essays.’ Check out her website.
I recently came across an intriguing set of marionettes. They were made for a trilogy of short films called Cabaret Crusades, exploring the Arabic take on the crusades. Here’s a New Yorker bit about the project from awhile back. And here’s a promo with the filmmaker with great captures of the marionettes.
Surrealist photographer Ben Zank makes photos—without using AI—that surprise the viewer and bend reality. His recent major work was entitled Nothing to See Here, there’s a limited edition book of this work as well (the page also has some additional pics of Zank’s.)
Ever heard the one about the one-time struggling actor and former monk who won $259 million off a Power Ball ticket and decided to use his winnings to fund theater makers? A beautiful story.
I love these crushed porcelain cans, inspired by Ming Dynasty pottery, made by Chinese sculptor, painter, photographer, and video artist Lei Xue.
I’d never seen this beautiful clip before: Nina Simone playing the Sounds of Silence, live at the Montreux Jazz Festival.
If you know me, then you know I’m crazy for the work of the late Zaha Hadid. Check out her spectacular design for the Heydar Aliyev Cultural Center in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The music video for Daft Punk’s 1997 global dance hit, Around the World, directed by Michel Gondry is legendary. Here’s a little making-of clip that shows how some of the magic was made.
For those of you who are following along with my husband’s and my project, we are getting close to putting the house on the market. I’m still going through photo albums, throwing out tons of pics but also coming across beautiful gems like this. It’s my brothers and me outside of the house where we lived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, dated 1969. Of the three of us, I’m the baby, but here I’m in the middle.
Finally, as I head toward a milestone birthday next week (I’ll be sixty by the time the next newsletter drops) I’d like to live in this spirit more often.
Thanks for dropping by, friends. Here’s to a wonderful weekend. — Chris
Thank you Chris for faithfully opening my eyes to the world around me!
A box of wonders as always, Chris, thank you so much. And also: !!! HAPPPPPPPY BIRTHDAY !!!