Welcome to this week's buffet — enjoy.
Domino to Close
It's likely that you've heard the sad news by now — yesterday it was announced that Domino magazine will be folding, due to the recession. In the press release issued yesterday, Condé Nast CEO Chuck Townsend said, “Although readership and advertising response was encouraging in the early years, we have concluded that this economic market will not support our business expectations.” So disappointing, and hard to know what to say about it, too.
1000 Novels Everyone Must Read
The Guardian's Review team and a panel of expert judges have drawn up a fearsome list of novels from any decade and in any language. Organized by theme – love, crime, comedy, family and self, state of the nation, science fiction and fantasy, war and travel – it's a list that will keep you busily reading for many many years.
For Sale: The Apartment of Christian Lacroix
Christian Lacroix is selling his seventeeth-century Le Marais apartment in Paris — though he's staying in the neighborhood. The listing has lots of photos of his colourful and eclectic apartment — very much like his clothing design, actually. Via fashionologie.
Nate Williams Desktop Wallpaper
I love the fun and cool style of illustrator Nate Williams's work — and now he's offering a whole bunch of great desktop wallpaper designs on his website. Via How About Orange.
Tintin Movie
I'm a bit baffled by the whole idea and casting for this — a 3-D motion-capture film of Hergé's classic comic The Secret of the Unicorn directed by Steven Spielberg. The cast includes Billy Elliot star Jamie Bell as Tintin, James Bond star Daniel Craig as the villainous pirate Red Rackham, and Hot Fuzz stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as Thomson and Thompson. Andy Serkis is on board as Captain Haddock. It's the first of a planned trilogy of Tintin 3-D motion-capture films conceived by Spielberg and Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson, with Spielberg directing the first film, Jackson the second and an unnamed director the third. Hmmm...
A Designer's Portfolio, 16th Century-Style
Fascinating post by the always excellent Creative Review blog about ‘model’ or ‘pattern’ books, used by our design ancestors to show their work to potential clients — and to teach assistants how to reproduce the house styles. These books are extremely rare, but recently the British Library discovered a prime example – the so-called Macclesfield Alphabet Book, dating from c1500. It's filled with wonderful designs for different styles of script, letters, initials and decorative borders. Great post, with lots of great photos, too.
The Bocuse d'Or Competition
The New York Times is blogging right now about the Bocuse d'Or competition, known informally as the Culinary Olympics — if you're a really serious fan you can watch a live feed of it here.
Pulp Gallery
An online collection of classic pulp fiction book covers from the 30s and 40s, featuring detective, sci fi, mystery and ghost genres. Wild stuff! Via things magazine.
The quirky dining room was photographed by the amazing Tria Giovan. Via Desire to Inspire.