This week's links. Enjoy.
24 Happy Summery Links
The charming blog the haystack needle recently had a fun list called 24 things making me happy on a summer friday. Check it out for an instant lift.
Mad Men Yourself
In anticipation of the season premiere of Mad Men on August 16, AMC has a fun little site that allows you to create your own Sterling-Cooper ad man or woman — pick everything from your suit to your vice. Via grain edit on twitter.
The Sweetly Diabolic Art of Jim Flora
This new book by Irwin Chusid and Barbara Economon looks like a great read — follow the link for a little slide show of images from the book. Jim Flora was best known as a jazz record cover artist, but he also did a lot of off the wall magazine illustrations in the 1940s and 1950s — many of which were difficult to find until Chusid started curating and assembling art books about Flora several years ago. Via boing boing.
Top Ten Unusual Cookbooks
All the books on this list by Kate Colquhoun look like perfect browsing material for a lazy summer afternoon — and fun to try out here and there, too.
Little Doodles
A wonderful blog by London-based illustrator Kate Wilson, who has the most delicately lovely work. She also has an Etsy shop!
Beck Interviews Tom Waits
A great (and entertaining) conversation between two brilliant musicians.
The Tiniest Literary Magazine Ever
Abe's Penny is a weekly magazine that's issued in a postcard format. Produced by the Brooklyn-based sister team of Anna and Tess Knoebel, the magazine pairs the work of a photographer or artist with the words of a writer — a sequence of four cards (which take a month to collect) makes up one story, which might be poetry, or a series of anecdotes on a variety of fictional(?) topics. Such a great idea. Via C-Monster.
Baby Zucchini, Heirloom Tomato and Brie Tartlets
A lovely summery lunch or snack that amazingly enough only take about ten minutes to make (using phyllo pastry for the shells helps speed things up). Via The Cookbook Chronicles.
(photograph via my Domino Deco File archives)