One thing I liked about art school was the range of very cool and hip visiting lecturers in various art disciplines. Among the many guest lecturers I saw while at RISD were the documentary filmmakers Albert and David Maysles in the spring of 1977. With the recent… Read full post »

I live on one of the last unpaved roads in my local area of New York State and today part of the road was closed to allow for replacement of several large drain culverts. Having to detour around the nearby reservoir reminded me of The Long and Winding Road.

I… Read full post »

Read full post »

Very sad news coming over the news wires a short time about the death of artist Jeanne-Claude, who was the wife of artist Christo. I have recently been doing some research on the filmmakers The Maysles Brothers and came across a film "Running Fence" that I saw at art school… Read full post »

Thanks, Chuck!

 You're Sixteen

You come on like a dream, peaches and cream,
Lips like strawberry wine.
You're sixteen*, you're beautiful and you're mine. (mine, all mine)

You're all ribbons and curls, ooh, what a girl,
Eyes that sparkle and shin/… Read full post »

Reading Caroline Hagood's interesting post this afternoon about Full Metal Jacket was a reminder to me that I needed to wrap up the 1979 Film Festival that I started with the first installment in April discussing the film Breaking Away before 2009 ends given the 30… Read full post »

Let's face it, part of the fun of the culinary world is lusting over beautiful kitchens, appliances and cookware. Appearing in many cook's mailboxes every month is the beautifully designed Williams-Sonoma catalog full of more saute pans, espresso machines, china, knives and even food. How many… Read full post »

There are a lot of apiring novelists out there and some of them call me on the phone on a continual basis in Manhattan. I also have phone calls from people looking for current and out of print books. The funny thing is that I am not in the publishing… Read full post »

In today's tough world you need a man who not afraid to tackle the disgusting and malodorous jobs and to go where no man has gone before.

Sexiest man living in 2009?

It took me only a nanosecond to pick Mike.

Go Mike Rowe!!!

 … Read full post »

Ladies and Gentlemen, we tend not to have many posts about fashion trends here on OS. I want to rectify that a bit this evening with a scoop on next year's ready to wear fashions. For 2010 we will see a return to basics, including natural earth tones and subtle… Read full post »

I'm thinking that it's just a matter of time before some Open Salon members become MacArthur Fellows.

What would you do with your $500,000 grant?

Travel to Dublin to research that next novel?

 or . . .

or whatever!!

 … Read full post »

"Ah, I see we have a nipple man here."

(Based on an actual event in life drawing class with one of my classmates who always started off his drawings of the female models this way and the professor finally noticed one day.)

 … Read full post »

I added to the phenomenal sales of Activision's Call of Duty 2 on Tuesday when I shelled out $60 for the game for my son. The line was the longest that I have ever seen at our GameStop outlet and was snaking outside of the store when I left with… Read full post »

A news item from nearby Greenwich, CT.

Click on the image for the full story from the Greenwich Times:

  Read full post »

Last night I took a break from the routine and saw a great Jazz set at the Oak Room which is located at the Algonquin Hotel in midtown Manhattan. Paula West of San Francisco was the vocalist and she was accompanied by the George Mesterhazy quartet, which included Ed Cherry,… Read full post »

This post marks my second Foodie Tuesday foray into the culinary world of OS. A little more than a year ago I posted a recipe on a Craig Claiborne recipe that has been a favorite of mine since I was about ten years old. I have been surprised that a… Read full post »

I was interested to see the post on East Berlin by Nelly Trent today and wanted to add my own photos from 1967 into the mix in recognition of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The photos were taken by my grandfather on a trip… Read full post »

There are some unmistakable signs that the 40th Anniversary of Sesame Street is afoot . . .

As a complement to this post, I wanted to also… Read full post »

Back in the late '80s my wife and I received a beautiful Michael Graves teakettle as a wedding present from two friends. I thought that was an interesting invention with its maroon colored bird spout that whistles when the water is boiling.

Fast forward some… Read full post »

Back in my days at art school in the '70s we had a great presentation one evening by husband and wife filmmakers Frank and Caroline Mouris. I was especially interested to see their work since I had been chosen to design the posters for the event and the filmmakers nicely… Read full post »

The Philip Johnson model

The Frank Gehry model

 The Frank Lloyd Wright model, also known as "Falling Rope."

Copyright 2009 by designanator.com

  Read full post »

If you are like me, the word "free" is a word that resonates positively. I have a few friends from college who went on to get masters degrees at Yale and I was looking at the Yale website this evening when I came across a group of free online courses… Read full post »

. . . we had Roe + Roe + Roe, all in a row!

After stopping at the local farmers market this morning to stock up for the weekend, I went up the road a few miles to the cemetery on the east side of town… Read full post »

 Now that's truly scary . . . two kids dressed as metrosexuals.

  Read full post »

I was impressed by your qualifications until learning a moment ago that your 3 years of journalism consisted of fetching the morning newspaper for your master.

  Read full post »