Water Play

I've been on the fence about giving Freida swimming lessons this Summer or waiting until next year. I feel like kids in LA really need to be swim safe in general, and I also think she'd have a crazy fun Summer if she'd learn how to swim. But at the same time, I know she's fearful of water and is happy as a clam to hang out at the seas edge jumping waves, or in a pair of floaties at the pool. I hear so many moms talking about what a waste of time it is to start kids lessons when they just aren't ready, and I really don't think she is. I think if she were motivated a bit more by kids in her bunk knowing how to swim, or if she ever asked about learning how to swim - I'd sign her right up. In any case, while googling around a bit for some kids swim schools in LA, I happened upon there images by Alix Martinez, and they totally made me swoon (and want to give her lessons!). How awesome is this water photography?? If I had boys, I would want a huge print on that taxi photo in their playroom. Just sayin'. Check out the rest of them on his website. And I'm curious to hear, at what age did you start your kids in swimming lessons?

Wes Anderson

And I thought I was particular... Apparently Wes Anderson has a thing for perfect symmetry.

I'm not generally a big movie goer, as I'm notorious for falling asleep at about 78 minutes in. (I figure it's a smidge of ADD - my attention span seems to cap off at a little over an hour - and so I've been sticking with small screen series that never disappoint and are over before I am).  But there are always those films that I get hooked on and totally look forward to seeing on the silver screen. And as you already know, I have a soft spot for Wes Anderson  and his incandescent indies. Can't believe I still haven't gone to see the Grand Budapest Hotel yet!! I'm on the fence about getting a sitter and going at night (risking being called back home by my babysitter that the girl/s are awake and crying for me mid-film), or carving out some time during the daylight hours to get in my Anderson flick fix. Until then, I'll continue enjoying the soundtrack (especially Daylight Express to Lutz, and Traditional Arangement: Moonshine).

Anyways! I happened upon this Supercut of Centered Shots and I just can't get over it. There's always something so magical and mythical about his visual aesthetics, but I honestly never noticed this! I thought it was always more about the colors... Check this out:

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/89302848]

P.S. I could still swoon for this Moonrise Kingdom nursery.

Stop Forced Learning

This should hang in every preschool classroom:

Artist: Maja Lindberg

I was working on a blog post for a company recently, and was researching the Dreamworks logo (you know the boy fishing from the moon?), and I happened upon a children's artist that totally made me look. Maja Lindberg is a Sweden based illustrator and designer who says her work is inspired by fairy tales, dreams and childhood memories. Her art totally struck a chord in me, and I really related to some of her themes and inspirations. (I know that sounds really weird, since it's just childrens art, but since I've been working through so much pain and introspection, I find myself relating strongly to the oddest of things!) Here are some of her pieces:

Up In The Air

Fishing for Stars : Sometimes you feel lonely, even when you are surrounded by friends and family. But tomorrow is a new day…

The Babysitter : Who hasn’t been surrounded by kids and felt like this?

The Balloon : In many of my illustrations the children are up in the sky and flying. The best dreams that I’ve ever had is when you realize that  you are able to fly. It’s so easy and you wonder why you never done it before. I still remember one special dream that I had when I was a kid, I just moved my legs and started to raise up in the sky and I flew over the landscape, looking down on the hills, fields and the ocean.

Night Meeting : Face your worst nightmare, and hopefully you’ll learn that it wasn’t that bad.

You can check out more and buy her prints on her Etsy site.

PogoMix

Recently, we've all kind of been obsessing with Pogo Music Productions around here. It all started with Mary Poppins. Freida heard some kids talking about the movie at camp one day, and came home asking to watch Mary Poppins "the funny babysitter". I didn't really have any interest in letting her watch that film yet (she's not really up to feature length films, she's seen maybe two Disney classics and didn't even make it through those without getting bored halfway in), so I thought I'd show her some clips of "the funny babysitter". While searching around a bit online for a good clip, what jumped out at me immediately was this Mary Poppins "remix". It kept coming up, so I realized it must be some kind of new fad or internet phenomenon, and I was totally blown by the creativity! PogoMix is basically some dude who is a downright genius when it comes to capturing and mixing sounds, and we've been moving to his music all month long! We turn them up in the afternoon after Freida comes home from camp, and we all go nuts dancing to the beats and laughing from the "mix" sounds. It was particularly awesome to show Freida how the mixing is done - she's such a little sponge, and her creativity radar is spot-on. She loved the concept of capturing sounds (perhaps this will be her newest career choice - after Tattoo Designer, and Grove Performer :)), and was fascinated by the fact that you can make music using anything! She asked a bajillion questions about it, so I let her watch the video About Pogo. If you and your brood are into music, or you have a son or daughter interested in DJ/mixing/producing definitely introduce them to the sounds of Pogo.

Here's the Mary Poppins mix:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5w6XI5lfdg]

Here's another one of my favorites:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVxe5NIABsI

And here's About Pogo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l99AyQBKH0k

Enjoy!!