Welcome to this week's links. Enjoy.
Quentin Blake's Life on Paper
One of my illustrator heroes, Quentin Blake is still going strong and is in the process of setting up a House of Illustration — a museum honouring the art in books — which will be at a site behind the British Library in London. He's also the patron of a campaign for drawing which aims to encourage young artists, noting that children draw in a free and unselfconscious way until around the age of eleven or twelve. At that point, Blake says, "... you start to get inhibited because you are able to see art, drawings and photography by others. The thing is to start drawing but not to stop." Great advice.
Email in the Eighteenth Century
Low-tech Magazine has a fascinating post about the optical telegraph, which 200 years ago made it possible to send messages throughout Europe and America at the speed of an aeroplane — wireless and without need for electricity.
Don Draper's Guide to Picking Up Women
Jon Hamm from Mad Men does a great spoof of his character Don Draper on Saturday Night Live. Awesome.
Worn Again
Worn Again Virgin is a unique range of limited edition bags made out of old Virgin Atlantic airline seat covers, as well as other ingredients such as car seat belts, post-Glastonbury tents and bicycle inner tubes. Its ultimate goal is to halve the waste it sends to landfill by 50% by 2012. Good looking bags, too! Via Andrew (thanks!)
National Media Museum
The National Media Museum in Yorkshire UK is dedicated to film, photography, television, radio and the web. Their online collections are great — have a look at the photography in particular. Via things magazine.
The Idler's Glossary
Geoff Manaugh of Dwell reviews The Idler's Glossary by Joshua Glenn and Mark Kingwell, with design and illustrations by Seth. Kingwell, a professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto, opens the book with a long essay in defense of idling, while the bulk of the book is Glenn's glossary, ably illustrated throughout by Seth. Hours of lazy fun, discovering exactly what sort of idleness you're experiencing at the moment — are you Ataractic? A Dilly-Dally? Or possibly a Good-For-Nothing, a Laggard or a Mooch? This sounds like a fun book — and a great gift idea, too.
Why a Four Octave Vocal Range is Rare
The legendary Peruvian singer Yma Sumac passed away recently, and, aside from her spectacular costumes and claims of being an Inca princess, it was her stunning four octave voice that made her truly unique. Read the rest of this BBC article to find out why it's so rare.
Marvin Gaye Sings the American National Anthem
Best. Version. Ever. And — congratulations, America. Via Design Observer.
The delicious-looking coffee and cinnamon rolls were photographed by Petra Bindel.