Enjoy Your Weekend: Final [or Vine-L] Friday, MidPoint Music Festival, et al.

Down on Main Street: a great read about OTR by Kathy Y. Wilson.

The World’s 10 Greatest Large Urban Parks: from Central Park to Luxembourg Gardens, all viewed from above.

The Evolution of Extra Place: Kevin Walsh of Forgotten New York traces the history of what was once a Native American trail and is now becoming an upscale shopping spot, next to the now-defunct CBGB.

The Real Estalker: stalking celebrity real estate, e.g. “Celebrity owned 1933 East Coast Traditional, beautifully set on private, gated half acre.” Fun.

The Summer of Pink Shirts: EV Grieve documents men wearing pink shirts in the East Village this summer.

The M25 Slowcoach: Tortoise Who Wandered Across Five Lanes of Rush-Hour Traffic: wow!

The above clip from Jean-Luc Godard’s Weekend has got to be one of the greatest opening shots ever. Actually, it reminds me of trying to get to the Indy 500…

Alexandria, VA-based artist Megan Nolton of Art Shark Designs creates wonderful Gocco cityscapes, including images of New York City, Baltimore, Paris, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington DC. I love the red umbrellas!

Here is a brand-new line of cards featuring Monsieur Boudin, designed by SF-based Lab Partners and published by Lagom Design. Monsieur Boudin is a lovable daschund who enjoys galavanting around Paris!

Boudin reminds me of Olive, the Other Reindeer, illustrated by J. Otto Seibold. I can definitely see this character turning into a children’s book. Via Print & Pattern.

Famille Summerbelle is a small studio based in Peacehaven, UK, which specializes in “decoration & accessories for children’s rooms.” Here are their brand-new prints of Paris and London, based on original papercut designs and printed on embossed paper.

Not a map, but a super-cute image of a house — Mouse in the House! from Famille Summerbelle’s Learn4Fun series:

Via Decor8.

Téo Jasmin, the Paris-based studio of Angéline Bailly, uses digital printing to bring photography into the home in new ways. What do you think? Fanciful or ridiculous? I’m on the fence, but I’ve certainly never seen anything quite like this before.

Via If It’s Hip, It’s Here.

Betsabeé Romero is a Mexican artist whose sculptural work focuses on the creative reuse of tires and other car parts. She studied art in Mexico City and Paris and has exhibited her work all over the world.

Above, tires made with ceramics, bread, and feathers. Below, a tire with a custom tread, used to print a pattern on fabric and the road.

Be sure to also check out her section of site-specific installations.

Antoine et Manuel is a Paris-based design duo whose work includes wallpaper, rugs, maps, and printed matter. Above is their map of the Paris Metro.

Max Dalton is an illustrator who has lived in NYC, Barcelona, and Paris and currently calls Buenos Aires home. Funny work and a great eye for color. Via Grain Edit.

Monopoly has a simple, effective formula that works with varied themes [apparently even the Junior Disney Princess Edition]. I’ve just learned that, earlier this year, people voted for cities to be included in the new Monopoly Here and Now: The World Edition. 20 top cities were chosen out of the pool of 70, with 2 more earning spots on the board as a result of write-in votes.

Some of the winning cities are expected: Rome, Paris, Athens. As this was basically a popularity contest, some results are a bit silly. Canada gets 3 spots: Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal in the coveted Boardwalk spot. Vancouver, really? China also gets 3 spots: Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beijing. I’m impressed that Riga is in the Park Place spot, but there’s nothing at all from South America. And, while I’m sure that Belgrade is a lovely city, what about Dublin or Stockholm?

Anyhoodle, the main reason why I care at all is that Taipei and Gdynia [Gdynia!!!] won the write-in spots, which are the cheapest properties on the board. And, for my final observation on this capricious process, Taipei is the city replacing Baltic Ave., while Gdynia replaces Mediterranean Ave. Hmm… You can see the full list of cities here.