PicoBlog

‘Any stout wooden box or a packing case with a lid’ can be used as a hay box. This was the advice provided by Ambrose Heath in 1961 in his book Haybox Cookery. In the twenty-first century, where cardboard and plastic loom large, how many of us have such things lying around? This is where a bit of lateral thinking came into play when I embarked on my experiment leading me to regard my coffee table as a suitable candidate.

UPDATE: THIS SCREENING ON AUGUST 26 HAS BEEN CANCELLED. The filmmaker has released the film on her website. Remember during the darkest of COVID days when Dan Fraser had the idea to hold a mass outdoor haircut fest in Dan & Whit’s parking lot, proceeds to benefit two Norwich hairdressers whose salons had been required to close? The town of Norwich, Vermont was beautified by 22 newly trimmed heads, and bystanders took a therapeutic, communal deep breath amid some laughter.

What is happiness, and how do we achieve it? Those questions have kept human beings occupied ever since our species has been able to formulate questions about abstract notions like “happiness.” Much of Greco-Roman and Eastern philosophy is, explicitly or implicitly, devoted to such quest… ncG1vNJzZmiemZzAqrrWoqWtnaJjwLau0q2YnKNemLyue89oq6GdXZ2ypbvNoppmrKKarqW5yKWjZq6jYsGpsYyerJ2ZmaK8r7XC

There was a celebration in Tokyo this week when, on Thursday, 23 February the Nikkei 225 index broke JPY 39,000 in inter-day trading and then closed at JPY 39,098.68, reaching a new high for the first time in thirty-four years – since the peak of the bubble. The news was celebrated by politicians and business leaders, who welcomed it as a measure of the strength of Japan Inc.  and a vote of confidence in the policies being pursued by the Kishida government.

In Hermes’ most recent Fashion Week presentation in Paris, show-goers were treated to the reveal of the designs Hermes will (supposedly) be producing in future seasons. One such bag that caught the eye of many collectors was the reintroduction of the Constance Elan. The Constance has been around for over half a century, and has had countless variations extrapolated from its timeless design. The Constance Elan was rather unique for how it played with the classic Constance shape.

The world of a heroin addict is not linear — definitely equal parts catastrophic and cinematic. There he was. Partially hunched over, knees bent, peripherally coherent but definitely blurred beyond recognition. Not to say I didn’t recognize his 6’4 frame, but the gaze is what grabs you. Beautiful blue eyes peering through a fentanyl and methadone haze. He reminded me of someone desperately trying to gain access to something beyond the present while simultaneously retreating into the familiar.

Dear enchanted community – or should I say community of enchanters? – here I am in your inbox again. I’m very much aware of the need not to wear you out with my enthusiasm for writing here, but the truth is that at the moment I have so many ideas I want to share that I’m going to have to break out and introduce a midweek thread for paid subscribers, as well as my weekend offerings.

In the study of psychology as related to archetypes and symbolism, Carl Jung theorized that symbols exist within the "collective unconscious." Many of these symbols are universally used by different groups of people despite having no contact with one another. The swastika is an example of this. The idea is that humans are influenced by the collective unconscious, which manifests through symbolism and isn't always easy to communicate through our primitive languages.

After a week spent dwelling on Sylvanian Families, I started to think a lot about cuteness, specifically about the hierarchy of cuteness. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is a motivational theory in psychology comprising a five-tier model of human needs. The idea is that needs lower down in the hierarchy must be satisfied before individuals can attend to higher needs: The Hierarchy of Cuteness takes this same pyramid of needs, but makes it cute.