Tea the way it should be

Sorapot instructions from Joey Roth on Vimeo.

Designer Joey Roth celebrates his appreciation for the unfurling of tea leaves in this architectural teapot.  304 stainless steel, borosilicate glass (Pyrex), and food-grade silicone, combine to create an entirely new way to look at tea.   You can order yours when the recession is over at Serapot.  Warning:  beauty comes at a price.

My Vote for the Oscar in Animated Shorts

Unfortunately this is a link. Youtube took it down.

In an era of slick production, CGI and Pixar, Konstantin Bronzit’s “Lavatory Lovestory” may be sentimental, but it’s brilliant in its simplicity.   No color, no computers, no dialogue. Yet in nine minutes it covers all the human emotions of despair, hope, joy. This year’s nominations may not be the best animation the world has to offer (the Academy is a little predictable and safe to say the least) but they’re impressive nevertheless.  While Pixar’s “Presto“ is the likely favorite, “Oktapadi” is wonderful and “La Maison en Petits Cubes” gets rave reviews as well.

Helping kids learn to read, write and create is a good thing.

Years ago I had the pleasure of working with Jacques D’Amboise, the great New York City ballet dancer who performed under Balanchine. When his performing days were over, D’Amboise started an organization called National Dance Institute. D’Amboise believed that the arts had a unique power to engage and motivate young kids toward excellence. Initially he was met with skepticism. How many inner city boys would want to learn to dance? Three decades later, however, NDI transforms the lives of 35,000 New York City public school kids every year, teaching them the art, discipline and joy of dance.

Jacques D’Amboise

While NDI never successfully expanded beyond New York City, it created a model that in some ways is now being replicated by David Eggers and friends. Eggers founded a group known as 826 Valencia in San Francisco to tutor young students in writing and literacy. Now 826 is national, a family of seven nonprofit organizations dedicated to helping students, ages 6-18, with expository and creative writing at seven locations across the country. Its belief is simply that great leaps in learning can happen with one-on-one attention, and that strong writing skills are fundamental to future success.

Check out 826 Valencia, the original chapter, or the newer Boston chapter. You can get involved as a volunteer, a tutor or take advantage of programs created for adult writers.

I Met the Walrus: 1969 Meets 2008

The film has been around for a while. Won its fair share of awards. But worth adding to the things TCLP admires because it’s such a perfect combination of words, pictures, art, animation, film making and technology. Proof that the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts with a little imagination. Based on an interview with John Lennon by Jerry Levitan when he was 14. He kept the tape and 38 years later made it into this film. Directed by Josh Raskin. Pen sketches by James Braithwaite. Digital illustration by Alex Kurina.

Five Great Quotes: Can You Attribute Them?

According to the eminently quotable Benjamin Franklin, three things tell a man: his eyes, his friends and his favorite quotes. Here are a few of ours, all relating to creativity and originality. Can you match them with their rightful creator?

“Every act of creation is first an act of destruction.”

“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.”

“Perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add but when there is no longer anything to take away.”

They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.

Why join the navy if you can be a pirate?

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Match quote with: Antoine De Saint-Exupery, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Steve Jobs, Scott Adams