A firework of gorgeous women from Pantone

Posted on October 5, 2013 by Michele

So I am crazy about my new Pantone app; it helps me find the colors that make me happy like these red/tangerine/persimmons on this sexy koi:

This gorgeous Dior hat is in my favorite color, RED!

And this wine palette has all the colors of your favorite Bordeaux and Bourgogne:

Let’s go to the pinks now with this “femme rose” from 1959:

or this tangerine/ochre skirt that reminds me of Veuve Clicquot, my favorite champagne:

I love the combination of pink and orange like a romantic sunset:

and all shades of soft peach puffs,

and this pretty tan/rose:

with its paler pastel cousin, rose smoke:

But let’s go back to happy cherry blossoms from Christopher Kane,

or these crimson cherry lips from 1950:

or these irreverent Louboutin shoes in pink flambé,

stunning mimosa socks, from Meadham Kirchhoff:

or this ultramarine green and pink combo. (All of these pictures and their sources are on my Pinterest page)

Funny but only after I made this following palette, I came to appreciate the necklace and its moca/turquoise/rose palette:

Now let’s explore the realm of moss/sage in this apparitioin by Elie Saab:

Look at this mint princess here:

The periwinkle fairy:

and the wisteria goddess from Marchesa:

I love the steel blue on her,

A little detour into more serious and warmer colors:

and back again into the flashy seafoams from Blanka Matragi:

and royal blues:

Blue being my other favorite color, I end this post with this quiet blue palette on a rainy afternoon in China photographed by Eric Lafforgue:

“Blue makes no noise.

It is a timid color, without ulterior motives, forewarning or plan; it does not leap out at the eye like yellow or red do, but rather draws it in, taming it little by little, letting it come unhurriedly, so that it sinks in and drowns in it, unaware.”

“Le bleu ne fait pas de bruit.

C’est une couleur timide, sans arrière-pensée, présage, ni projet, qui ne se jette pas brusquement sur le regard comme le jaune ou le rouge, mais qui l’attire à soi, l’apprivoise peu à peu, le laisse venir sans le presser, de sorte qu’en elle il s’enfonce et se noie sans se rendre compte de rien.” Jean Michel Maulpoix

Ghost of Christmas past

Posted on December 24, 2011 by Michele

Happy Holidays everybody!

I have covered Christmas at length before – explore the links below and let me know which one you like best:

Christmas 2007 here.

Christmas 2008 here.

Christmas 2009 here.

Christmas 2010 here.

And my favorite Christmas post here.

Kindle and I, a love affair…

Posted on September 27, 2011 by Michele

I have been wanting to write about my Kindle ever since I got it two years ago; the following is how the Kindle and I feel about each other.

I absolutely love my Kindle! I thought that as a bibliophile, I will hate any e-reader but I can’t find any fault with this quiet, light, patient, non-demanding, treasure chest of a library that goes from my purse to my bed table and travels everywhere with me from a crowded café in Paris to my quiet bed table.

It lets me highlight any passage in the book which I can print later; I don’t even have to open a dictionary to see the meaning of a word – my kindle whispers it in my eyes…My sneaky Kindle lets me read a sampler of the books I am interested in and only then gently pushes me into making money for Amazon…

Now it’s my Kindle’s turn to talk about me:

Hello, my name is Kindle Bezos and I am to tell you how my mommy, Michele loves me. I am a spoiled, pampered, well loved little gadget; Michele lost my brother but she bought me one day later. She loves me and my dad, Jeff!

*She hugs me and kisses me to make the world jealous…

*She loves it that I am not a battery vampire like her iPad .

*She learned my instructions quickly (I am easy) and she types on me with patience and she talks to me often in 3 languages!

*She loves it that I can communicate easily with the mothership and get her almost any book her little heart desires; she likes the good deals I broker for her and I am working on showing her my French side (no luck on any Persian titles showing up on my screen soon!)

*She takes care of me – I even have a great polka dotted cover! She downloads almost everything I suggest to her (Papa Jeff will be happy with me if I succeed to make her read the New York Times on me!)

I don’t like it when:

a) She highlights long passages (sometimes I want to shout so she stops before underlining the whole damned book).

b) She stops often for a word’s definition (I am expecting that from my foreign owners; they always exhaust me with the dictionary…)

All this said, nothing comes close to a real library which I had in a previous life:

Those old friends are sitting in a storage room in Los Angeles and waiting for me to go and rescue them!

I love my Kindle but in defense of books, watch this very funny clip here.

The best commercial for Kindle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hg7bYEZ6e8&NR=1

What Graphic Designers do for fun

Posted on May 18, 2011 by Michele

I like playing with colors and each photo I take has a unique palette; I was in Vitra some time ago and I liked the Japanese architect, Tadao Ando‘s, conference pavillion:

It’s a visual play for me to make the range of colors that create the image. The photo bellow is from my shoe trees that spell (erroneously): “Qui va piano” or “Chi va piano, va sano; chi va sano, va lonta” which means: He who goes softly, goes safely; he who goes safely, goes far.

I love different shades of gray like these teapots:

and different whites of snow:

but I go nuts for flowers and their bursting energy like these gorgeous crimson peonies:

or their softer versions here:

I like freesias’ scent and this particular palette has always been one of my favorites; I even used it in my senior year thesis, using a CAD machine to do a chemical plant’s process flow diagram! That was a first for my dear Professor Lockhart…

I like these shawls of mine even if I seldom wear them:

Indian miniatures are usually an orgy of colors!

So is the Parisian dusk,

or the window of a fast moving train,

which mimics the palette of these summer vegetables.

This was a hodgepodge of my favorite palettes.

If I work enough,

I may earn enough to deserve my coffee later!

My favorite “Reds” go here

Don’t forget my favorite “Whites” here

An Egyptian Valentine

Posted on February 12, 2011 by Michele

Happy Valentine’s Day everybody! I hope not to regret this image on Valentine Day 2012…I too believe that “The army exists to defend the nation, not a regime.”

My super romantic Valentine 2010 here

My 2009 Valentine post here

My 2008 Valentine post with the amazing Gaelle Boissonnard here

Love is in the (freezing )air…

Posted on February 14, 2010 by Michele

Another Valentine’s Day and another excuse to say I love you to people who matter—in the universal language of poetry and roses…

I am in love,

with Italo Calvino but he doesn’t care much about me…I have to dedicate a post to him!

“Mon bel amour mon cher amour ma déchirure
Je te porte dans moi comme un oiseau blessé
Et ceux-là sans savoir nous regardent passer
Répétant après moi les mots que j’ai tressés
Et qui pour tes grands yeux tout aussitôt moururent” Aragon

Let’s stay in Europe with an Irish poet:

“Her scarf a la Bardot,
In suede flats for the walk,
She came with me one evening
For air and friendly talk.
We crossed the quiet river,
Took the embankment walk.” Seamus Heaney

Some sexy poetry from the good old English poet:

“The things about you I appreciate
May seem indelicate:
I’d like to find you in the shower
And chase the soap for half an hour.
I’d like to have you in my power
And see your eyes dilate.” John Fuller

I wish all of my friends a very sweet Valentine:

One last poem from Fereydoon Moshiri:

بگذار که بر شاخه این صبح دلاویز
بنشینم و از عشق سرودی بسرایم
آنگاه به صد شوق چو مرغان سبکبال
پر گیرم ازین بام و به سوی تو بیایم
خورشید از آن دور از آن قله پر برف
آغوش کند باز همه مهر همه ناز
سیمرغ طلایی پر و بالی است که چون من
از لانه برون آمده دارد سر پرواز
پرواز به آنجا که نشاط است و امیدست
پرواز به آنجا که سرود است و سرور است
آنجا که سراپای تو در روشنی صبح
رویای شرابی است که در جام بلور است

“I’d like to be your only audience,

The final name in your appointment book,

Your future tense.”

If this wasn’t enough to satisfy your Valentine’s cravings you can see more of Valentine 2009 here and Valentine 2008 here.

To hear all the above poetry read by a great voice go here.

all the flowers in this post are from Marsano in Zurich http://www.marsano.ch

Scarlet, crimson, red

Posted on July 13, 2009 by Michele

Red—no matter what other name you call it by— is the color of passion, anger, courage, sacrifice, warning, fire, sin, revolution, love, power, etc…

red is my favorite color and these are some samples of my reds; let’s start with a red heart or a scarlet letter:

red tomatoes,

red fish,

red Persian rug,

red literature,

a red fountain pen,

and a red pencil,

red lips,

a hot red car,

another hot red car,

an aspiring red rose,

and a real red rose,

lovelorn poppies,

red peppers,

high calorie red,

a small red door,

and a slightly bigger one!

the fabulous Miss Wendy:

Los Angeles’ red light district,

red beads,

wine is one of my favorite reds,

red steps in Prague,

and red steps in Buenos Aires,

a disobedient red strawberry shortcake,

and a red blog…

and this is the end of my Red post.

Caged tulips and false sense of security

Posted on March 27, 2009 by Michele

“Real security is the ability to tolerate mystery, complexity, ambiguity—indeed hungering for these things.” Eve Ensler

Behind bars, these tulips have lost their beauty and have only gained a false sense of protection.

Real security means contemplating death, not pretending it doesn’t exist. We are prisoners of our fears or the fears of our fathers; uniformity becomes the only acceptable way…

“When security becomes the center of your life, you can’t travel very far or venture too far outside a certain circle. You can’t allow too many conflicting ideas into your mind at one time as they might confuse you or challenge you. You can’t open yourself to new experiences, new people, and new ways of doing things.”

Self-imposed rules prevent potential disasters but they also ensure mediocrity—Salieri’s mediocrity against Mozart’s genius…Too scared of trying new things, we stay secure, in control and alone.

According to Charlie Jones , “the only difference from where you are right now, and where you’ll be one year from now, are the books you read and the people you meet.”

For a great example of passion for life and risk taking that leads to success see my popular post about Gustavo Dudamel.

2009 better be better…

Posted on January 1, 2009 by Michele

And what a year 2008 has been…The fresh 2009 better be better! I don’t remember people looking forward to retire a year (and their president) so eagerly.

The optimist in me hopes for:

“Another fresh new year is here . . .
Another year to live!
To banish worry, doubt, and fear,
To love and laugh and give!

This bright new year is given me
To live each day with zest . . .
To daily grow and try to be
My highest and my best! William Arthur Ward

The realist in me screams back:

“New Year’s Resolution: To tolerate fools more gladly, provided this does not encourage them to take up more of my time.” James Agate

V.S. Naipaul, a monster I love?

Posted on December 23, 2008 by Michele

I’ve been reading this extremely entertaining book about V.S. Naipaul—The world is what it is—and realizing more and more how his anger towards banality, mediocrity and simple pettiness of people makes sense (of course he is obviously not a nice man). I have written about him before and my interest in him was sharpened after I read in the BBC about this biography of his being published without him changing a word of it. Now, that’s courage…

A good article about the book and the five years it took Patrick French to write it was published in The Nation ; a fascinating glimpse of the mind of the “supreme egotist”.

I find Naipaul’s banter with Derek Walcott amusing; read about it in The Telegraph.

Two Nobel Laureates from the West Indies fighting like children—cute!

Ian Buruma describes him well: “Naipaul’s voice, which some younger writers are tempted to mimic, cannot be defined by citing his opinions on race, the colonial experience, India, literature, or anything else. His views are frequently designed to shock and outrage.”

Cynicism (at its best) jumps at you from every page of French’s book and Sir Vidia’s lucid prose has kept me awake all last week. I empathize when he says: “my life is too short, I can’t listen to banality”.

Like Naipaul, I have refused to engage in wishful thinking all my life and if this makes me a cynic, be it! “The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it.”

added on 12/23/08—I keep looking for him—just read James Wood’s article, Wonder and Wounded: He is socially successful but deliberately friendless, an empire of one: “At school I had only admirers; I had no friends.”

added on 12/27/08—”Artists cannot claim immunity from decency.” Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

I agree to a certain point with her but I don’t believe that artists should be judged by their personality (ies)—Picasso must have been an impossible man with his lovers but I can’t deny his art…

Is Naipaul “mad, bad and dangerous to know” like Lord Byron was? Read this very good article in Times by Magnus Linklater.

Michele Roohani

“Life is short, art is long, opportunity fleeting, experiment treacherous, judgment difficult.”

Category Archives: my take