Jul*e Esp*nosa

This Viewmaster wedding invitation by Lesley Weiner integrates the couple’s engagement photos. Wonderful!

UPDATE: I apparently didn’t properly credit the work: The invite was designed by studio Melangerie Inc and Lesley Weiner worked collaboratively on the design. And you can get your custom invite over at Etsy.

Wabi-sabi is one of those words that doesn’t have a direct english translation. It roughly represents an aesthetic of imperfection, impermanence and incompleteness. Even native Japanese speakers have a difficult time articulating its full meaning though, and in Wabi-sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers, Leonard Koren compares it to modernism, another slippery term. Where modernism is future-oriented, looks for universal solutions, and romanticizes technology, wabi-sabi is present-oriented, looks for personal, idiosyncratic solutions, and romanticizes nature.

My brother Charlie has this word tattooed on his arm, and I thought it’d make for a fun twist on a temporary tattoo—one that degrades gracefully, becoming imbued with meaning as it starts to crack and peel, until it finally vanishes for good.

For five bucks, can get a set of two wabi-sabi temporary tattoos, designed by yours truly, from my friend Tina’s site Tattly. If you wear it, be sure to send or tweet me a picture.

When you eat at least five pastries a day for months on end, only the greatest work can stand out. It’s been a haze of sugar, pâte sablée, fruit, chocolate and crème, but it’s through that gauntlet of gluttony that I am honored to present Paris Pâtisseries’ 38 Best Pastries in Paris for 2011.

Why 38? Because there were less than 39 and more than 37 exquisite pastries I’ve encountered in the last 2 years of binging. They’re but a small fraction of everything I’ve experienced. Some are the perfection of French classics. Others completely redefine the idea of those same timeless works. Many of the pieces in the following list push the envelope of imagination and originality. All these pastries are marvels of flavor; most are great works of texture, as well. I hope you have the chance to experience them for yourself.

Remember that you can follow all my adventures when you “like” Paris Pâtisseries on Facebook or when you sign up for email updates.

Tarte au Citron by Jacques Genin

Jacques Genin is the greatest classic pastry chef in Paris. The Tarte au Citron is his masterwork. It should be no surprise that the one cookbook he has written is about a single pastry – the Tarte au Citron and its many variations. Cradled by the most elegant and delicious lightly vanilled pâte sucrée imaginable, resides a lemon crème that deftly unites acidity, sweetness, smoothness and a half-dozen intangible facets of excellence. This pastry so vastly exceeds the quality of all other lemon tartes that it should be considered the genesis of the very idea of a “tarte au citron”. It is beyond perfect.

Pomme Tatin au Sirop d’Érable by Des Gâteaux et du Pain

This combination of pecans, apples, maple crème, pâte sucrée aux éclats de noix, and caramel-imbibed biscuit cuillere is nothing short of unbridled deliciousness. For that alone, the Pomme Tatin could make the list. What’s propelled it to the #2 spot is its hyper-extraordinary textural balance. Des Gâteaux’s chef pâtissière, Claire Damon, might well be peerless in her command of textures. This is the finest example of that genius.

Macaron Mangue aux Épices Douces by Hugo & Victor

For every macaron in the city, there’s someone who thinks it’s the greatest. But as the pastry fanatic who could even take the most “vanilla” of all macaron flavors (literally vanilla) and give you a ranking by shop, trust me when I say that of all the macarons out there – of all flavors – H&V’s mangue is something extraordinary. Hugues Pouget has gifted mankind with this glorious alchemy of mango, black pepper, vanilla, cinnamon, clove, star anise, and nutmeg.

Éclair au Chocolat by Jacques Genin

Monsieur Genin’s mastery of the éclair is virtually undisputed. Of all the pastry snobs and foodies I know who’ve had it, I can’t think of a single person who would suggest there might be another even half as good. Much like with his Tarte au Citron, once you’ve had it, the idea of sampling anyone else’s seems masochistic. I even had a reader who recently wrote to tell me that having this éclair, at my suggestion, was one of the 10 greatest food experiences of her life. Its magnificence cannot be overstated.

Tarte Caramel Salé by Sadaharu Aoki

For those of you familiar with Twix candy bars, imagine having one that’s approximately one billion times better. That’s the Tarte Caramel Salé. Buttery, crumbly crust cupping a gooey pool of salty caramel – all crowned with a swirling milk chocolate crème that’s been artfully dusted in cocoa. It’s going to change your life.

Hugo Vanille by Hugo & Victor

When speaking of the Hugo Vanille, I often tell people that, “If only you were more familiar with the farm from which H&V gets their dairy, you could actually tell which cow had been milked to make one of these.” Almost bypassing the use of sugar, Hugues Pouget has allowed the creamy nuances of this piece to spring fully to life. Added to all those subtle complexities is a delicate balance of both Madagascan and Tahitian vanillas. Sublime.

Gourmandises Constellation by Pierre Hermé

For a month after the Constellation came out, I had it for breakfast almost every day. The cardamom-laced Mascarpone and Gariguette strawberries are plenty to make someone fall in love, but when combined with a thin layer of orange marmalade and then sandwiched between two layers of choux – each of which is covered in small sugar nibs and heavily toasted almond bits – it’s just magic.

Choux Pistache aux Fruits Rouges by Un Dimanche à Paris

There’s just something about cocoa nib croustillant-covered choux holding a lightly sweetened and intensely flavored mélange of cherries, raspberries and more – all of which overflows with a pillowy-light pistachio Chantilly. It’s safe to say I’ve eaten this at least 100 times. And, no, I’m not exaggerating.

Baba au Rhum by Jacques Genin

The pastries you purchase in a shop are distinct from the plated pastries you’re served in a restaurant. While all of Jacques Genin’s work can be purchased to go, there’s one so new and special that – at least for the time being – it’s only available plated by Monsieur Genin himself. He prepares just a few each day. None of the other chefs at his pâtisserie are allowed to touch it yet. You just have to go in (shoot for between 1:30 and 3) and enjoy this amazing unity of a transcendent 30-year-old rum, Madagascan vanilla crèmes and pineapple. It might seem conspicuous that I’ve put three Jacques Genin pieces in the top 10 of this list, but once you’ve had them you’ll understand.

Tarte Macaron Framboise-Pistache by Hugo & Victor

One day last spring, I stopped by H&V and had a chat with co-owner Sylvain Blanc. He’s always been happy to fill me in on their latest-and-greatest, providing plenty of samples mid-conversation. When I expressed to him that I was sad there was no individual version of his Tarte Macaron Pistache-Framboise (only a large version for 4-6 people), he said, “Would you like us to make you one? Why don’t you come back this afternoon?” So I did. The above is the only individual ever “sold” at the shop, and it was phenomenal. Hugues Pouget’s mastery of pistachio crèmes meets with the zing of raspberries and crumbuttery sablé in one of Paris’ greatest works of pastry. They must sell individuals this coming year; it would be a crime against humanity to deny us.

Macaron Fleur d’Oranger by Ladurée

The only way to describe these little ladies is to say that . . . it’s like eating springtime. Assuming you love floral tones, you’re almost guaranteed to be blown away by these. I wouldn’t hesitate buying a box of 12 of just this parfum by itself. They’re fantastic.

J’Adore la Fraise by Des Gâteaux et du Pain

Claire Damon’s original version of the J’Adore la Fraise (above) was a delicious celebration of strawberries. When she later replaced the white chocolate exterior with an unbelievably tender and impossibly perfect almond gâteau, it entered another dimension. As with her Pomme Tatin (at the #2 position above), it’s not only a delight for the taste buds but also one of the greatest textural marvels in Paris.

Marie Antoinette by Carl Marletti

For those of you familiar with Pierre Hermé’s Ispahan, the above will look conspicuously familiar: pink macaron shells sandwiching raspberries and rose creme. The key difference is the Marie Antoinette contains no litchi, but it does employ a sinfully sweet raspberry confit and a studding of candied violets. Those small changes make it a significant improvement over the already-delectable original. Among the first Parisian pastries I ever fell in love with, the Marie Antoinette is definitely one not to miss.

Macaron Réglisse by Un Dimanche à Paris

I’d long been a lover of Ladurée’s macaron réglisse . . . until I discovered these from Un Dimanche à Paris. I’d literally buy boxes of them 4 or 5 days a week. It’s impossible to describe not only how exquisite the flavor was but also the texture. That interplay of the shell, crème and sugar granules was otherwordly. You might be wondering why I’m using the past tense in describing them. Sadly, it’s because they were discontinued. Loved by those who enjoy réglisse and avoided by all those who find réglisse/licorice more than a little off-putting, there wasn’t enough demand to keep it in the case. If you’re a réglisse lover and you stop by Un Dimanche à Paris, please be sure to ask if the Macaron Réglisse is coming back yet. Seriously. With enough people clamoring for it, I’ve been assured it can make a return.

Victor Verveine by Hugo & Victor

It’s one thing to buy only the best ingredients, but it’s another to cultivate your own. Hugo & Victor actually grows all of their verbena [and combawa limes] on the plantation of co-owner Sylvain Blanc’s parents in the South of France. When united with a very lightly sweetened crème patissière, tender choux and gooey fondant, it’s simply . . . yum.

Tutti Frutti by Café Pouchkine

Café Pouchkine, as helmed by Emmanuel Ryon, makes some of the most beautiful pastries in Paris. They also happen to be among the most delectable. Both the eyes and the palate can be thoroughly amused with this mélange of dragon fruit, blueberries, kiwi, mango, and more – all of which cling to a delicate gelée engorged with liquid strawberry deliciousness. The gâteau base rounds out the fruit explosion and creates an incredibly elegant textural harmony.

Grand Cru by La Pâtisserie des Rêves

You might be thinking this looks like the most decadent chocolate dessert ever, and you might just be right. It’s layer after layer of fine Venezuelan chocolate preparations: glaçage, mousse, ganache, biscuit. Not only will you feel guilty with every bite, but you’ll be left inconsolable and wanting more when you’re done. Buy two. Fight through the shame and just love it.

Éclair au Sésame Noir by Sadaharu Aoki

Filling an éclair with black sesame crème patissière will seem a little strange to some people and profoundly delicious to others. Riding a perfect line between sweet and savory, it’s like no other piece on the list. Even as I respect Monsieur Aoki’s Tarte Caramel Salé enough to put it at the #5 spot, this is actually my personal favorite piece from the master.

Macaron Coquelicot by Un Dimanche à Paris

After reading an article on Le Bonbon au Palais (the greatest candy shop in all of Paris), I became hopelessly addicted to their coquelicot (poppy flower) marshmallows. I’d go in almost every day for a pack of 8-12 of them. Then I’d wander back to my neighborhood, stopping by Un Dimanche à Paris, where I’d share a few marshmallows and other candies with the staff. Chef pâtissier, Quentin Bailly, took a bit of a shine to the marshmallow and said that he might be able to do something with coquelicot if he could find a nice natural extract. Several weeks later, the Macaron Coquelicot was in the case. It’s as intensely floral as it is insanely tasty. For any fan of other floral tones, such as rose, fleur d’oranger and violet, this is absolutely one macaron not to pass up.

Éclair au Caramel by Jacques Genin

Last June, I went to a picnic organized by ParisbyMouth.com and brought some of Jacques Genin’s caramels to share with the crowd. I also brought a caramel éclair just for myself. Before I was able to eat it, one of the other attendees effused to me about how amazing Fauchon’s caramel éclair was. So I nonchalantly suggested we split the Genin éclair I’d brought along. The words hadn’t even come out of her mouth – I could just see it in her expression – before she shook her head and went, “Yeah, nevermind what I said about Fauchon’s. That’s incredible.” Monsieur Genin’s mastery of the classics is unequalled. Make sure you visit his shop; it’s part of a life well-lived.

Napoléon by Café Pouchkine

Defying the traditional form of the Napoléon, Monsieur Ryon has nonetheless crafted a masterpiece. The crackling simplicity of the exterior belies a gooey dreamy heart of textures and vanilla-imbued deliciousness. This is the kind of pastry you want to eat when no one’s looking – just so you can jam it into your face in less than a minute, then sigh at the memory of it all.

Tarte Vanille by Pierre Hermé

Monsieur Hermé has crafted one of the greatest works of vanilla in the history of time. By blending Tahitian, Madagascan and Mexican pods, then pummeling our tastebuds with them through a layered series of the most sublime crèmes, he might well have ruined all future vanilla gelato and ice cream experiences you’ll ever have. It’s also quite a sweet piece, so get your insulin ready.

Victor Pistache by Hugo & Victor

If I were a pistachio and could somehow determine my ultimate fate, it would probably be as part of the Victor Pistache. Considering the number of pistachio pieces on this list and all pistachio-laden pastries I’ve ever eaten, NOTHING comes close to the perfection of the crème patissière pistache within these choux puffs. It’s effectively a Divine work. The pistachio crème Chiboust, along with the lightly flavored and intensely crispity feuilletage, are also quite a delight and make for the top Saint-Honoré I’ve enjoyed in Paris.

Or Noir by Café Pouchkine

Should you be the type of person who can only accept sarrasin honey-perfumed chocolate mousse, the Or Noir is for you. In concert with a nice almond biscuit, crousstillant of caramelized hazelnuts, light vanilla crème, and caramelized pecans, it’s a decadent taste sensation. It also happens to be a phenomenal series of meticulously executed textures. Your mouth will rarely be left so happy.

Le Merveilleux by Un Dimanche à Paris

Le Merveilleux is indeed un merveil (a marvel). That delicate meringue, smooth chocolate mousse, and gooey fleur d’oranger crème wait patiently to be devoured – all tucked beneath a sparkling coat of white chocolate. It quickly became one of the most popular pieces at Un Dimanche when it debuted earlier this past summer. Among the most original pieces in Paris these days, I enthusiastically recommend checking it out.

Macaron Violette by Sadaharu Aoki

I tend to prefer Monsieur Aoki for his tartes and petits gâteaux, but this macaron is too awesome to pass up. Not only is the shell done exceptionally well, but the violet deliciousness within is as transcendent as it is curiously translucent. Of the three floral macarons on the list, this is definitely the most potent. But if you love all-things-flowery, you’re going to be taken with this Macaron Violette.

Tarte Fine Porcelana by Pierre Hermé

For those of you not familiar with the concept of Porcelana chocolate – it’s an albino Venezuelan Criollo. Put another way . . . it’s literally a dark chocolate that’s a white chocolate. Only through processing do the white beans take on a more conventional dark brown hue. Monsieur Hermé has done this ultra rare and precious bean justice by way of a thin beautifully tempered layer, riding atop a silky smooth ganache, which itself rests upon a very interesting and delightfully gritty cornmeal crust. It helps to be a bit of a choco-snob, in order to fully appreciate it, but it’s delicious no matter how much context you have for fine darks.

Macaron Fraise Coeur Pistache by Café Pouchkine

Café Pouchkine is one of the few shops in Paris that actually flavors their macaron shells. Sure, virtually every shop does it for their chocolate macs, but almost every other macaron is just enhanced with food coloring. Chef pâtissier Emmanuel Ryon has taken a strawberry shell and filled it with among the finest pistachio crème preparations one could ask for. Even though there’s an inverted version of it (pistachio shell with a strawberry interior), this was my one true macaron love at Pouchkine – not to say I didn’t routinely buy others. If you love pistachio macs, make sure to snag at least a half dozen of these.

Hugo Passion by Hugo & Victor

Most of Hugo & Victor’s pieces are fairly low in sugar, and the Hugo Passion is perhaps the best exemplar of that chaste approach to sucrose. It’s unapologetically sour and jam-packed with natural passion fruit goodness. An incredible study of flavor, and delightfully smooth in texture, the sophisticated palate is sure to be well amused.

Tartelette Fraise-Coco by Un Dimanche à Paris

In contrast to the preceding H&V piece, the Tartelette Fraise-Coco from Un Dimanche is a sticky-sweet sugary work of blissfully assaultive strawberry tones. Accented lightly by coconut and a mild tarte shell, its addictive qualities should not be underestimated. Best purchased before noon and savored with some hot chocolate at the counter of the shop, it’s an easy piece for anyone to enjoy.

Pistache-Fraise by Des Gâteaux et du Pain

Seven alternating layers of pistachio dacquoise, pistachio crème onctueuse, pistachio mousseline and strawberry compoté really could not have gone wrong . . . especially not in the ever-capable hands of Claire Damon. If only the white chocolate on the sides could be a nice Vestri or Amedei pistacchi, I’d have placed this little lady in the top 15. That aside, it’s still fantastic.

Tarte au Chocolat by Jacques Genin

There’s an idealized notion I think many of us carry around about Parisian/French pastries. Not only do we want the tastes and textures to be superb, but we’d like them to transport us to some bygone era. Jacques Genin’s Tarte au Chocolat spirits me away to the 19th century environs of a long-lost Gustave Caillebotte painting. I’m otherwise almost at a loss for how to explain the experience of one of these. The shell is simply classic perfection, and the ganache is a silky-smooth, amer, florally-nuanced ode to the concept of . . . wow.

Saint-Honoré by La Pâtisserie des Rêves

Does it make sense to use the phrase “ornate simplicity”? Such a classic piece – but executed so beautifully in a series of golden and creamy forms and textures. Even if it tasted terrible, I’d want to put it on the list for aesthetics alone. Fortunately, the experience of eating one is so amazing that I could be blind and still pop it up here. Once you crack the sugar on one of those orbs and your mouth fills with its sinfully sublime crème, you’ll understand.

Macaron Caramel by Pain de Sucre

These might be the most controversial little ones on the list. Some feel the textures of both the shell and caramel are a little too divergent from the standard. Then again, last Friday I had a reader tell me they were “a religious experience”, and I agree . . . wholeheartedly. The caramel within is reminiscent of Bit-O-Honey candies, and the chewy/gritty texture of the shell works a special magic to amplify the delights of the gooeyness within. I literally used to get sachets of these, eat until my stomach hurt, nap from the sugar crash they’d induce and then wake up to eat more. They are narcotic.

Moskito by Café Pouchkine

Pouchkine’s Mosktio will make you think a pistachio marzipan factory just exploded in your mouth. Technically, it’s a sweet mix of pistachio biscuit moelleux, Bourbon vanilla crème onctueuse, and an almond/pistachio paste. But the afortmentioned image of the greatest nut-based industrial disaster is the net effect, and I can never get enough.

Tarte Tatin by Ladurée

There are actually quite a few great Tartes Tatin in Paris. Ladurée happens to be my top choice because it tastes great eaten cold-from-the-case, perhaps while lounging by the Louvre (as I often did) + tastes amazing when warmed up. Give it 15-20 minutes in a pre-heated 180 degree Celcius oven, and you’ll be in heaven. In other words, I love it as a breakfast and as an after-dinner dessert. Try to only buy it on days when it looks extra dark and sloppy (see above). Then prepare to be dazzled by what I can only describe as an orgy of butter, sugar and apples.

Macaron Amande by Art Macaron

One day I decided to buy a box of all the flavors at Art Macaron and consume them in a single sitting. Cause, really, why not? There were several excellent pieces in the mix, but the Amande here was the only one that instantly struck me as a masterpiece. It’s a super sweet and highly potent blast of concentrated almond flavor. Given how nice and laid-back the staff is, you’d never imagine a piece “just this side” of the addictiveness of crack dwells within their midst.

Croissant Ispahan by Pierre Hermé

Croissants are not technically pastry. They’re viennoiserie. However, when you glaze one, cover it in candied roses and fill it with a sweet litchi/rose/raspberry pâte, it definitely qualifies as more pastry than anything. These little guys can sell out quickly, but you also don’t want to buy one and eat it too early. They’re on the shelf at 10am, though still too warm to enjoy. Either purchase one and give it an hour to mellow-out, or stop by after 11am and hope there are still a couple left. They’re incredibly scrumtrulescent.

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Creating this list has been a labor of love. From gaining 30 pounds, during 2010, to losing it all and then gaining 35 back, as I continued my research this last year, it’s been no small undertaking. So please share this page with all your dessert-loving friends and family. That’s what this has all been about – hoping to bring the magic of Parisian pâtisseries to the world.
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Please keep in mind that Parisian pastries tend to be highly seasonal offerings. Slightly more than half of the work above is available year-round; the other half can be found at different points throughout the year.

Also remember that this list is meant to underscore what I believe to be the ultimate work, but there are hundreds of other great pieces at these same shops and more. Jean-Paul Hévin, Arnaud Delmontel, Lenôtre, Acide, Gerard Mulot, Arnaud Larher, Blé Sucré, Fauchon, Angelina, Laurent Duchene, Stohrer, Michel Cluizel, Dalloyau . . . they all have work I’ve enjoyed time-and-again. If you plan to spend a week or less in Paris, the Top 38 list above is a great guide. Should you have more time and the ability to explore, work your way through as much of the Top 38 as you can, and then check out some of the other shops I just mentioned

If you’d like the addresses, websites and contact info for the best shops, look no further: Paris Pâtisseries’ 12 Best Pastry Shops in Paris

Want me to deliver fresh pastries straight to you? Then get regular email updates or follow Paris Patisseries on Facebook. You deserve the best of Paris.

We have become more aware of what we eat, as knowledge of the consequences of a bad diet (heart problems, diabetes, etc.) has become more widely known. Knowing what to eat - and what to avoid - often goes hand in hand with trying to find out where and how what we eat (or use to prepare our food) is being produced. Amazingly enough, I only know of very little photography about this aspect of our lives. Obesity and/or consumption are obvious targets for photographers, but many (most?) other aspects of our food chain are not very often to be found in photographs. (more)

The Fragile Feast by Hannah Collins (also see the project page) looks into how many of the raw ingredients used by elBulli restaurant were produced, all the way from the sources in countries all over the world to the kitchen, with its final dishes. You get to see where, for example, roses are grown in Ecuador, how they are being processed and how they then are turned into food. A brief text gives the reader information about the different aspects.

As an aside, proponents of local food might find problems with some - but not all - of the ingredients shown in the book. What is more, many of the dishes in the book are quite highfalutin. I caution against letting these quibbles get in the way of enjoying the book, though. My interest in, for example, "Sea Anemone with Rabbit Brain and Dill, Roses and Oysters" is non-existing (plus, I'm not sure the rabbits appreciate their brains being used for food). But I do think it's extremely important to be aware of where one's food is coming from; and The Fragile Feast certainly shows you an aspect of our food chain that you normally don't get to see. On top of that, many of the ingredients (pumpkin, pistachios, honey - to name a few) find use in more ordinary dishes.

Another interesting aspect of the book is how the photographer managed to visually connect the elBulli dishes with not only the ingredients but also their origins. Food photography tends to have its very own look, but in this book there never is a visual jump form a landscape that might have some trees in it to the hands of a chef preparing something to the final dish. All of these photographs have a quiet, understated beauty - which I find very appropriate for food.

Food after all, should be something we enjoy eating. Having a delicious meal on the table (ideally in the company of family and/or close friends) is one of the underrated pleasures in our lives - something that can be had more easily than many people would imagine. The Fragile Feast brings this aspect of food closer to us. It makes us look at what we eat and where what we eat is coming from.

The Fragile Feast, photographs by Hanna Collins, texts (incl. recipes) by Ferran Adrià, Hannah Collins, 328 pages, Hatje Cantz, 2011

Shared by Julie
ToL was a let-down, but I know less what to expect with Melancholia.

Although they seem to derive from diametrically opposed worlds, for me Lars von Trier’s Melancholia was everything that Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life should have been. Don’t get me wrong, both films are visually arresting and extra-ordinary in many ways but Tree of Life felt like a missed opportunity somehow.

Unfortunately for Malick, each film he (finally) finishes brings with it the greatest of expectations that almost no film can stand up to no matter how ambitious. For von Trier, seemingly on a roll, he cranks out film after film and while never perfect, each one challenges further while taking many risks that surprisingly seem to work.

I thought of all this while reading Amy Taubin’s brief essay on Melancholia which appears in the current issue of ArtForum.

“Melancholia breaks both molds—and as a result it is the first movie by the director that I haven’t loathed. It is nevertheless certifiably von Trier in its formal strategies, primarily the subversion of popular movie genres (here, the wacky wedding comedy and the disaster-from-outer-space flick) through the blatant imposition of an aesthetic that at once heightens and decimates the conventions of realism on which those genres depend. As Pop art was to Godard’s mid-’60s movies, German Romanticism (including its devolution into Nazi kitsch) is to Melancholia.”

Melancholia will be released on November 11, 2011.

You can pre-view the entire recent (Talent) issue of FOAM Magazine online. I think that's a brilliant idea. There is no way that leafing through the magazine online can possibly replace looking at the actual object, but if you don't know what to expect or if you're curious you can get an idea what the magazine looks like. (more)

But OK, why not simply have an electronic copy (if you have an iPad, say)? Obviously, I can't speak for its makers, but this issue of the magazine (just like all other issues) uses eight different types of paper for the different portfolios (assuming I counted it correctly). So you're not just looking at all these different photographs, you also get them presented in slightly different ways (matte, semi-glossy, etc.). That simply won't work on an iPad where everything is equally backlit.

I'm probably a bit out of the loop here, but maybe one of the proponents of photo ebooks can let me know how an electronic device can deal with the differences between glossy and matte photographs. That's hugely important for printed photographs: To pick the right type of paper to print them on. How does the shiny iPad with its backlit images solve this problem? I'm assuming it doesn't - because it's physically impossible. That alone would be a rather big problem with photo ebooks on an iPad (or any other type of computer).

I get to hear about this problem a lot already when people complain about what photographs look like on a computer screen. My answer is always the same: The computer screen is a different medium, and I have to take the way it works into consideration. Some work just don't look as good on a computer screen as on paper.

A simple example would be this photograph (see this post). I have a framed copy of this photo hanging on the wall in my house. The physical object is intensely beautiful, and it's easy to see how making an electronic copy is very, very difficult.

So for me, while I look at photography online a lot the proof of the pudding is in the eating, meaning in seeing a print or a photobook. For electronic devices to seriously replace photobooks, magazines or even prints (see this post over at DLK) the problem of the quality of the image has to be solved. By quality I here don't just mean the quality of the reproduction on the electronic device (making sure there are no compression artifacts). I especially mean the visual quality of an image, created by the way the photograph appears as a physical object through the combination of ink (or chemicals) and paper.

A lot of photographs don't have that problem. You could take any fashion magazine, say, and transfer it instantly onto an electronic device. Glossy is always glossy. But there are many types of photography for which the electronic versions I have seen so far are only very meager representations of the prints.

I will admit that my big worry is that such considerations will simply fall by the wayside as the big electronic parade is marching through town, hyping photo ebooks. Not so fast, people!

So check out FOAM's Talent issue online, but then buy the real thing. It's a world of a difference.

We Are the 99 Percent is a Tumblr blog, where photography, social protest, and the internet have come together in an amazing way. Here is an interview with the people being the blog, this article talks about why Tumblr was used.

When I heard that Steve Jobs had passed away, I was boarding a train from New York to Philadelphia to visit my son. A friend phoned and then text-messaged me the news before I could read it on Twitter. It felt, I said later, as if someone had torn the hair out of my head.

When I did tweet, the first semi-coherent thought I was able to write about Jobs was also about my son:

I’m on my way to PHL to see my son, who uses a device Steve Jobs invented to help him talk. He will never know. He will never know.

My son is on the autism spectrum and has a severe receptive and expressive language delay. He’s 4 years old, and can read and spell words, and sing entire songs, but is more like an 18-month- or 2-year-old in normal conversation. He cannot use a telephone and has a hard time sitting still for video telephony. He has a thoroughly well-loved iPod Touch, filled with videos and apps that have helped him learn to speak and augment his ability to communicate.

My tweet about my son was retweeted almost 500 times, more than anything else I’ve ever written in 140 characters, and put me in touch with other parents of children with special needs — strangers — some seeking information, some wanting to share their stories.

It may be a stretch to say Steve Jobs invented the iPod Touch or most of the technologies contained in it. But Steve Jobs certainly put it in my son’s hands, both by making it a sub-$200 device (and in our case, giving it away free with a laptop) and by helping to create an ecosystem of software applications for people with disabilities — perhaps especially communication disabilities.

Apple’s post-PC devices disrupted a hell of a lot more than just point-and-shoot cameras. Assistive and augmentive communications devices with cutting-edge technology like touchscreens used to cost thousands of dollars. It was impossible to produce the devices at consumer-technology scale, and the cost of the device was borne by insurance (when it was borne at all).

“Accessible” means “something everyone can use.” In pop culture and consumer technology, “accessible” sometimes means things that are easy for lots of people to understand or enjoy. In the disability community, “accessible” means something is open to people of all abilities, usually because it was designed with them in mind. And in both spheres, “accessible” can mean something almost anyone can both find and afford. Like anything else, Apple’s iThings can sometimes seem too complex, too presumptuous, too expensive. But really, even with their limitations, they’re amazingly accessible in every sense of the word.

The iPod and iPad have been called “a near-miracle device” for children and adults with autism. In that formulation, “near” is as important as “miracle.” It’s not simply miraculous. Nothing that solves a real problem, rather than an invented or infomercial problem, is.

It takes a lot of work, both by those who have the disability and by the people around them, whether parents, teachers and therapists, or even interlocutors. Researcher Daniel Donahoo wrote about this admirably well in an op-ed for GeekDad in March:

[T]he potential of the iPad is not achieved by the iPad alone, nor by simply placing it in the hands of a child with autism. The potential of the device is realized by the way professionals like speech pathologists, educators, occupational therapists and early childhood development professionals apply their skills and knowledge to use the iPad to effectively support the development of children. The potential is realized by engaged parents working with those professionals to explore how the device best meets the individual needs of their child.

You see, it is called Autism Spectrum Disorder because the impact it has on a child’s development spans the breadth of development. No two children can be supported in exactly the same way.

Sometimes my son uses his iPod to do amazing things. Sometimes he uses it to play games and watch videos over and over again. (He likes Super Why! and Michael Jackson.) Sometimes it’s hard to tell what’s helping him connect with other people and what’s closing him off from the rest of the world. I’ve written about technology long enough to know that this is hard to tell not just for him, but for any of us.

In 1996, Steve Jobs gave an interview to Wired’s Gary Wolf that I return to often. There’s one exchange that jumps out at me now:

Wired: What’s the biggest surprise this technology will deliver?

Jobs: The problem is I’m older now, I’m 40 years old, and this stuff doesn’t change the world. It really doesn’t.

Wired: That’s going to break people’s hearts.

Jobs: I’m sorry, it’s true. Having children really changes your view on these things. We’re born, we live for a brief instant, and we die. It’s been happening for a long time. Technology is not changing it much — if at all.

These technologies can make life easier, can let us touch people we might not otherwise. You may have a child with a birth defect and be able to get in touch with other parents and support groups, get medical information, the latest experimental drugs. These things can profoundly influence life. I’m not downplaying that. But it’s a disservice to constantly put things in this radical new light — that it’s going to change everything. Things don’t have to change the world to be important.

To me, that says a tremendous amount about Jobs’ perspective and priorities. It shows the standard he set for himself for true change, and how and when he knew he wasn’t meeting it.

Apple never had a perfect record when it came to user accessibility. No technology company does. But I bought my first iPhone when I broke my arm, because it let me use a computer with one hand. And on Tuesday, when I saw Apple’s demo video for Siri, its new voice-command AI assistant — which ends with a blind woman using Siri to send and receive text messages — knowing that blindness has been the disability least well-served by the touchscreen revolution — I wept. I’m weeping again now.

These frail and fragile bodies don’t always work the way we want them to. Steve Jobs understood that. Steve Jobs succumbed to that. But he also left us things that make that easier, that let us touch people we might not otherwise. That will always touch me.

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so much camaraderie in these images

It's International Babywearing Week!  We invite all of the local babywearers to join us for our remaining activities for the week.  We would also like to share the exciting news that Gov. O'Malley has proclaimed it officially International Babywearing Week in the State of Maryland!

In many American prisons, the treatment of prisoners is a national disgrace. Numerous reports have documented widespread prisoner abuse, prison rape, medical neglect and severe overcrowding. In recent weeks, for instance, there have been a number of important articles describing abuse in the Los Angeles County Jails. Here’s a sampling of headlines from the LA Times: “LA County Deputy Says He Was Forced To Beat Mentally Ill Inmate,” “Inmate Dies Two Days After Being Punched In The Head By Deputy,” “Ex-Deputy Says He Routinely Used Improper Force,” and “Report Cites Widespread Abuse At County Jails.” The horrific details stem from a new report released by the ACLU, which includes testimony from prison chaplains:

Juan Pablo Reyes was punched by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies over and over again in the ribs, mouth and eyes, breaking his eye socket and leaving his body badly bruised. After falling to the ground, the deputies continued to kick Reyes, an inmate at the Los Angeles County Jail, with their steel-toed boots, ignoring his cries.

And the deputies didn’t stop there.

They ordered Reyes to strip and forced him to walk naked up and down the hallway of a housing module, in full view of other inmates. One deputy yelled, “Gay boy walking.” Reyes began to cry, but the deputies just looked on and laughed. They then put him in a cell where he was beaten and sexually assaulted by other inmates. He desperately pled for help and to be removed from the cell, but to no avail.

Let’s be clear: the overwhelming majority of these prisoners have committed crimes. Many of them have committed serious violent crimes. They are serving their time. They deserve to be punished. But that doesn’t begin to explain the awfulness of their living conditions.

Although it’s nice that the abuse present in the LA County Jail system has gotten some press attention, this is a glaring exception to the rule. For as long as they’ve been prisoners, we’ve been ignoring their mistreatment. When was the last time you heard a powerful politician talk about prison rape or prison overcrowding? When was the last time prisoner abuse made it into a poll or was the subject of a protest? Our politics is suffused with moral issues, from abortion to gay marriage. And yet, we never seem to make time for this collective moral failing.

Why do we ignore prisoner abuse? After all, we are usually empathetic creatures, sensitive to the suffering of others. Why does this suffering leave us cold?

Part of the answer is rooted in a human bias. It turns out that we all have an intuitive belief in justice – people get what they deserve. This instinct makes all sorts of social contracts possible, but it comes with a perverse side effect, causing us to ignore stories of suffering that directly contradict that assumption. Because we believe in justice, we ignore stories of injustice.

This is known as the Just World Hypothesis and it was first developed by the social psychologist Melvin Lerner. One of the classic demonstrations of the effect took place in 1965: Several volunteers are told that they are about to watch, on closed circuit television, another volunteer engage in a simple test of learning. They see the unlucky subject – she is actually a graduate student, working for Lerner – being led into the room. Electrodes are attached to her body and head. She looks a little frightened.

Now the test begins. Whenever the subject gives an incorrect answer, she is given a powerful jolt of electricity. The witnesses watching on television see her writhe in pain and hear her scream. They think she is being tortured.

One group of volunteers is now given a choice: they can transfer the shocked subject to a different learning paradigm, where she is given positive reinforcements instead of painful punishments. Not surprisingly, the vast majority of people choose to end the torture. They quickly act to rectify the injustice. When asked what they thought of the “learner,” they described her as an innocent victim who didn’t deserve to be shocked. That’s why they saved her.

The other group of subjects, however, isn’t allowed to rescue the volunteer undergoing the test. Instead, they are told a variety of different stories about the victim. Some were told that she would receive nothing in return for being shocked; others were told that she would be paid for her participation. And a final group was given the martyr scenario, in which the victim submits to a second round of torture so that the other volunteers might benefit from her pain. She is literally sacrificing herself for the group.

How did these different narratives affect their view of the victim? All of the volunteers watched the exact same video of torture. They saw the same poor woman get subjected to painful shocks. And yet the stories powerfully influenced their conclusions about her character.

Here the most disturbing data point: the less money the volunteer received in compensation for her suffering the more the subjects disliked her. The people explained the woeful injustice by assuming that it was her own fault: she was shocked because she wasn’t paying attention, or was incapable of learning, or that the pain would help her perform better. The martyrs fared even worse. Even though this victim was supposedly performing an act of altruism – she was suffering for the sake of others – the witnesses thought she was the most culpable of all. Her pain was proof of her guilt. Lerner’s conclusion was unsettling: “The sight of an innocent person suffering without possibility of reward or compensation motivated people to devalue the attractiveness of the victim in order to bring about a more appropriate fit between her fate and her character.”

The situation is almost certainly worse when it comes to people who deserve to be punished. These abused prisoners aren’t martyrs – they are criminals. Unfortunately, that makes it even easier for us to ignore their plight, to brush aside their suffering as an inevitable feature of our just world. And so we act like the subjects in the Lerner experiment blaming the volunteer, as we search for reasons why the wrongfully treated deserved what they got. Although we tell our kids that the world isn’t fair, we don’t really mean it. Deep down, we believe this world is essentially just, which is why we look away when it’s not.

9 0 0 0 posted a photo:

Short answer: No.

Slightly longer answer: Sometimes there are good reasons to alter the spelling of a name, but trademark protection is never one of them.

This persistent myth—“If we misspell the name we can get the trademark”—resurfaced this week amid the fuss over Netflix’s newly announced movies-by-mail service, Qwikster. (If you managed to miss the kerfuffle, read my post about it.) An MBA student tweeted that the kree8tive spelling of Qwikster made the name “trademarkable.” (I hope she wasn’t taught this in a marketing class.) And yesterday Brand New, the influential corporate-design blog, had this to say about Qwikster:

A silly name with such a ridiculous spelling that it makes Syfy and Cloo look like the authors of the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Sure, it’s probably a breeze to trademark it but so would be Peenoz, that doesn’t mean it should be chosen.

(Emphasis added.)

Sorry, they’re both wrong.

Here’s a common-sense test: Let’s say I started my own streaming-movie service and decided to name it “NettFlicks.” Creative spelling! Available domain! Hurrah!

So what are the chances the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will allow me to register that mark?

Correct answer: Zero.

You can’t register Kokka-Kolla as a soft-drink trademark. You can’t register Guugol for a search engine. You can’t register Dizznee for an entertainment company.

Oh, sure, for $7.49 a year you may be able to register those domains. But domain availability and trademark availability are completely different matters.

A domain must be unique—and, yes, altering the spelling may get you a cheap domain. But a trademark follows a different standard: it need not be unique, but it must be distinctive. (And it should not be descriptive.) An important test of a viable trademark is likelihood of confusion, and one factor in determining confusion is “whether the marks are similar in appearance, phonetic sound, or meaning.” (Emphasis added.) Owning a creatively spelled domain won’t score you any points with the USPTO if the pronunciation of the name is too similar to a rival brand.

Consider the “Dove” trademark. It’s registered to Unilever for a brand of personal care products. It’s also registered to Mars, Inc., for a brand of chocolate confections. Both companies were able to register their marks—without resorting to weird spellings like Duvv—because it’s highly unlikely a consumer would ever confuse the two brands or their products. Of course, only one company, Unilver, owns Dove.com. Mars owns DoveChocolate.com.

Over the last 12 years or so, many companies have become so dazzled by domains—and so frazzled by their apparent scarcity—that they’ve lost sight of what’s really important: trademark protection. A “pure” domain name—whether it’s Dove.com or Qwikster.com—is never as important from a trademark and branding standpoint as legal ownership of your brand. You can buy a domain on the aftermarket, often for just a few hundred dollars. But defending a trademark-infringement suit will surely cost you many thousands of dollars in legal fees, and if you lose you’ll need not just a new name but also a new logo, website, and print collateral.

So go ahead and creatively misspell your company or product name if it will help with pronunciation or make your brand more memorable and distinctive. Just don’t do it out of the misguided notion that it will help you with trademark registration. It won’t.

__

P.S. Netflix owns Qwikster.com but has not filed for trademark protection of Qwikster. What does that say about the company’s faith in the viability of the brand? UPDATE: Netflix did in fact filed for trademark protection of Qwikster—on September 19, the same day CEO Reed Hastings announced the new service in his “explanation and some reflections.” (Thanks, commenter Michelle K.)

In early May, the call for entries for A Logo for Human Rights (LHR), a "global creative online competition with cash prizes and open to everyone," was announced. The goal? To "create a human rights logo 'by people for people', thus making a contribution towards the global spread and implementation of human rights with the support of a large public." The process was your typical contest malarkey: People design, people upload, people vote on uploaded logos, designers e-mail friends and family to vote for their logos, participants complain about the voting process, the top 100 vote getters get presented to the jury (Spiekermann! Ai WeiWie! Jimmy Wales! Jimmy Carter!) and the "experts" (No! Idea! Who! They! Are!), the jurors select their own favorite ten logos, of those top vote getters ten finalists are presented again for online public voting, participants complain about the selection process, finalists designers e-mail friends and family to vote for their logos, a winner is announced. On Friday, LHR announced that Serbian designer Predrag Stakic had been selected as the winner from over 15,000 submissions.

The ten finalists. You can click through their concepts here.

Winner, original submission here.

"You talkin' to me?" Yes, you, you are holding the logo wrong.

Predrag's concept and rationalization.

What do you know? The result is not bad. It's easy to mock it or denounce it as the offspring of the evil process of a contest, but if you look at the two concept images above — the kids drawing their hands not that much more difficult than doing a handprint turkey and the image of protesters holding their open hand in the air — the logo has the potential to find lasting power. There is something weird about the way the thumb breaks into the dove and the dove has some mighty big feathers, but as a simple mark that could be adopted by a lot of people it works remarkably well. But it's all potential and maybes right now with this logo — its real success depends on whether people across the world use it.

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bottom left quadrant. i'm all about that.

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