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Posts from January 2010

I'd fall down a rabbit hole for this any day ...

Screenshot-annotatedalice I have long loved Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. My bookshelf holds a few copies, including the the Annotated Alice by Martin Gardner (one of my favourite mathematicians & logicians) - a fascinating read, just for the annotations themselves. I've also been enjoying The Annotated Pride and Prejudice (not by Gardner, rather David Shapard).  There is something quite delightful about annotated volumes.  Like having the Coles notes built right in. Though I do take issue with some of Shapard's interpretations of the language in Austen.

But I digress ...

I am very keen on the upcoming release of Tim Burton's film Alice in Wonderland - it should be a far cry from the Disney version I grew up with. One thing, for certain, the animated version didn't have Swarovski creating a very fancy jewelry collection to celebrate its launch. 

In celebration of the highly anticipated Walt Disney Pictures film Alice In Wonderland, Disney and Swarovski, the world’s largest producer of cut crystal, are launching an all new collection of jewellery which captures the spirit of each character in this whimsical Tim Burton film. The line features vintage and gothic details inspired by the outlandish personalities found down the rabbit hole, each demonstrating the attention to detail that Swarovski is famous for. 

You can see the look book for the whole collection. But here are closeups of two of my favs.

Whiterabbit-pendant-composite Sparrow-pendant-compositeThe first is the signature piece in the collection - the “Sparrow” pendant, inspired by the pendant worn by “Alice”, (Mia Wasikowska), in the film. The pendant features a fine chain with round, rose-gold-plated links and a magnificent Smoked Topaz cut crystal with the silhouette of a small swallow at its centre.

The second is the piece that plays tribute to the “White Rabbit” (voice of Alan Rickman), a character who is always running late, is depicted in the collection through a playful rabbit’s head, a trumpet and a white epoxy pocket watch, all three of which feature crystal pavé. 

Click images for larger versions.

The collection should be available in March 2010 in Swarovski boutiques nationwide.

Note the First - I'm not usually a fashion or  accessories blogger, but I really adore this jewelry.  That Sparrow necklace is definitely going on my birthday wishlist.

Note the Second - the above links to Amazon.ca are affiliate links.

Note the Third - I totally took a screen shot of the "Look Inside This Book" functionality on Amazon for the Annotated Alice pic.  But I feel like this is fair use :)
 

27 January 2010 in Beauty, Cool Shit, Design, Films & Movies | | Comments (3)

Giving Away a Pair of Tickets to "The Art of Marketing" in Toronto on March 2

Update Feb 8: I've drawn the two winners (thank you random.org). They are Robin Vandekleut and Kat Hanley. Congrats to the two of you!  And many thanks to everyone who participated!  If you're still keen to attend, remember you can get a $50 discount with the promo code, SK23.

The Art of Marketing - now, this is a conference I'd consider heading into the Big Smoke to attend.  I've seen most of these speakers before (all except Dan Heath and James Othmer), and they are all amazing and inspirational and smart.

Here's the line-up and what they're speaking on:

Sally Hogshead is one of my favourite speakers.  I saw her at a CMA conference a few years ago.  Her book Radical Careering had just been released and she led this great interactive session on having a career that meant something to you.

The Art of Marketing takes place on March 2nd at the John Bassett Theatre in the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Tickets start at $399, but you can use Promo Code SK23 to get a $50 discount.

Plus .. the good folks at The Art of Marketing have given me a pair of tickets to give away. Yay, Art of Marketing!

So .. if you'd like to be entered in my random draw, just leave a comment saying which speaker you're most interested in seeing and what you'd ask them.  I'll close the comments on February 5 and will do the draw the following week.

Here's there their promo video - in case you want to get all jazzed-up to kicky music :)

Don't forget to enter the draw for the pair of tickets!

18 January 2010 in Canadian, Marketing, Toronto | | Comments (27)

links for 2010-01-12

12 January 2010 in DailyLinks | | Comments (1)

Music Discovery - The Darwin Song Project

Darwin-song-project-cdMy father-in-law is the source of many of the tunes playing on my iPod. This holiday season, he delighted me with another find: a live recording of The Darwin Song Project which includes one of my favourite artists, Karine Polwart.

Among the celebrations taking place around the world in honour of Darwin Year 2009, the Shrewsbury Folk Festival organized the Darwin Song Project, a songwriting retreat in rural Shropshire. The Darwin Song Project invited 8 artists from the UK and US to come together for a week to write songs which have a resonance and relevance to the life of Darwin.  The artists include Chris Wood, Karine Polwart, Jez Lowe, Mark Erelli, Emily Smith, Rachael McShane, Krista Detor and Stu Hanna.  

They were tasked with creating new songs that had a ‘resonance and relevance to Darwin’. Following the retreat, they performed their 17 new songs for a live audience at the new Theatre Severn in Shrewsbury. The project was the feature of a BBC Radio 4 documentary and a feature on Mike Harding’s BBC Radio 2 show.

All of the Darwin Song Project performances are also on YouTube.  Two that really speak to me are the powerful full-ensemble acapella piece, You May Stand Mute as well as the lyrical Clock of the World song. I've included those videos below.

The music is really wonderful - all of these artists are extremely talented - but I was singularly impressed with the quality of the lyrics.  They are all listed in the accompanying booklet along with a story or reference to Darwin's life to explain the impetus behind the song. One of the things I appreciate most of all about the collection is that the artists wrestle both with Darwin's theories of evolution as well as his (and his wife's) faith - and with the faith of the people at the time. Evolution is certainly something I take for granted, but imagine being alive at the time when Darwin's theories were first published. 

This issue  is addressed in a number of the songs.  My favourite is The Merchant's Question:

Dear Sir, dear Sir could you tell me//How the grains from the ground can grow//To the breath of a man, to the muscle of a hand//And all that a mind can know.

Dear Sir, fine Sir could you tell me//Is it true what's written in your books?//That a soul will yield to the furrows of the field//Like a tree with the branches struck.

Dear Sir, please Sir, could you tell me//Are the words of the lord all wrong?//Are our eyes just the eyes of the birds in the sky//And our bodies to a beast's belong?

Dear Sir, dear Sir, could you tell me//Will I still go to heaven when I die?// Cause I've worked too hard to be caught off guard//And just rot in the ground when I die.

You can listen to snippets of all the songs over on eMusic (or, of course, over on the Project's own site).

Side note: I tried a couple of options to try to embed the playlist with snippets here - but simply could not figure it out.  Is there any music service that you know about that lets you embed album snippet playlists?  

09 January 2010 in Music | | Comments (4)

links for 2010-01-06

06 January 2010 in DailyLinks | | Comments (0)

links for 2010-01-03

  • CMP.ly - Simple Disclosure Solution
    "CMP.ly provides bloggers and advertisers with a simple disclosure solution. We have created a set of easily identifiable disclosures and codes that can be used to identify any material connections in your blog posts, tweets or other communications. Our disclosures give you flexible options and provide you with both short codes and full text disclosures that can be included in your posts." Still needs a bit of refinement, I think - but a great start. To me, the distinctions between review and sample are very few - while there are LOTS of distinctions between everything lumped into the "Relationship" category. Via @trishussey & @miss604
    (tags: blog socialmedia tools twitter privacy ethics disclosure compliance ftc guidelines)
  • Extratasty - Get your booze on!
    A handy little booze site that features thousands of interesting, unique and mostly great user-generated drink recipes (plus all the classics), all of which are rated and commented on by other users.
    (tags: blog web2.0 cocktails drinks drink recipe drinking community cocktail)

03 January 2010 in DailyLinks | | Comments (0)