My crystal ball has lately been energized, feeling the need to make a prediction…..

Groundless it may be (at this point), but here goes:

Video games for xbox, wii and playstation.

IPhone stuff.

Plasma TV’s.

And, handcrafts. In particular fleece throws, scarves, hats, mittens. Fleece. We will all be warm this Christmas.

How do I know these things? Well, the electronic stuff is nearly a given; and with plasma tv’s on sale at the lowest prices of the century, everyone should be getting one. Now is the time. So, that seems like a given to me as well.

Nielsen did some online buzz tracking and their stats mirror pretty much what I’ve just said. Check here for actual numbers.

As for the handcrafts….the New York Times just did an article on how well craft stores seem to be doing for the season with people preferring to make their own stuff or even buying handcrafted items and why not? With the gild totally off the lily for stuff coming out of China…we have been saturated with poorly made representations of the real stuff. It’s a need I think the populace in general has.

Something real. Something from the heart and not the fabrications we have been being fed for so long, no one knows any longer what their real worth is.

For me 2008 was a search for the authentic…and for 2009, it will be a search for Rockwell. My nostalgia for all things American has gotten to me. Perhaps because we are so much in danger of losing it all.

My trip to Barnes and Noble revealed a similar kind of nostalgia…books on local interest (here, St. Louis), the Clydesdales, an actual book called In Search of Rockwell and Peppermint Mocha Hot Chocolate.

With that in mind, I hope you have a very merry Christmas for all of you who are believers, and to everyone a very happy new year. May 2009 bring with it all the hope we have put into it.

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The Lemp Mansion in St. Louis is listed as one of the 10 most haunted houses in America. And it does have a story. The Lemp family, a wealthy beer dynasty, had three family members who committed suicide in the house, plus a dog (shot by one of the suicide victims), as well as an in general tragic family history. These statistics alone make your skin crawl.

Lemp Mansion today.

The home, fallen to ruins, was purchased and turned into a restaurant and inn by the Pointer family in the 70’s. It now stands as one of the more popular family restaurants, wedding, and party facilities in the city. When I spoke to one of its owners, Patty Pointer, as owners they say they neither confirm nor deny the fact that the house is haunted because people come to the Lemp Mansion year round and rent out its banquet facilities for all kinds of reasons, not just for Halloween haunting purposes. The fact that the service people there can tell of hauntings makes for further entertainment on a nightly basis, plus every Monday night, haunted tours are given at the mansion.

Also, their bed and breakfast services are utilized year-round but, not surprisingly, they are booked for Halloween 9 months to a year in advance.

I’ve been there for dinner and it does have a wonderfully charming component to it. Food is decent but the atmosphere priceless.
After dinner you can go upstairs, before the inn closes for the night, and tour the bedrooms and the attic. It’s spooky to be sure and oh how I’d love to spend the evening there. The way the story goes, the son to the original Lemp Dynasty William, shot himself after becoming horribly depressed when his favorite son and heir Frederick had been mysteriously killed three years before. Also they had had a son who had been locked up in the attic who had downs syndrome…..(not Frederick). Tremendous tragedy continued to strike the Lemp family when William’s sister also shot herself (I don’t know if that was in the home or not), but eventually William Jr, son of William and heir to the Lemp Dynasty shot himself in the same building where his father had killed himself 18 years earlier. Eventually William Jr’s brother, Charles, who continued to live in the mansion died of a self inflicted gunshot wound (and his dog) and was found by another brother Edwin. Edwin died of natural causes in 1970.

In the whole history of the Pointers owning the mansion no one has been hurt. The spirits who live there do reveal themselves to others from time to time, thus the “haunted house” reputation. The Lemp Mansion has also been featured on National Geographic, Discovery, MTV, most of the local news shows, etc.. So long may it’s hauntingness reign.

Now as it turns out, another highly publicized place is becoming notorious in St. Louis for being haunted and that is St. Louis’ very own City Museum. I wrote about City Museum for 2modern’s design blog because of how Green the City Museum is since it was created entirely from recycled materials from in and around St. Louis to become one of the more fantastical playgrounds for children and adults alike in I’d say the whole world.

Now I find out it too is haunted. But, and this wasn’t even connected by the Pointer family who owns the Lemp Mansion, City Museum used to be the site for the corporate headquarters of International Shoe Company. Turns out when the Lemp Brewery, owned by the Lemp family who lived in the now famous Lemp Mansion, closed it’s buildings which covered some 10 city blocks two miles south of St. Louis city proper, it was sold to dahdadahdah, International Shoe Company.

So, City Museum…..Lemp Brewery, two different sites, same owner, International Shoe Co., two haunted places, Lemp Mansion and the City Museum. I think there’s a deeper story here connected by the hereafter and to be continued.

Happy Halloween.

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This is a blog that I follow and feel is worth mention and also praise. David Carlson the founder of the David Report is based in Sweden and is founder of the furniture brand David Design, the lifestyle shop Carlson Ahnell and the knowledge company Designboost. He recently posted his 5 key design trends report and if you haven’t seen it yet, I recommend the read. I am in agreement with David about the fact that there will be less buying in the future, in terms of consumerism and that people will instead gravitate toward purchasing things that will last longer (and so will cost more).

This is a general statement on my part. David goes into some depth in this report and covers other things he has determined are key trends, but he also quotes other trend groups which I really give him credit for. So, in turn, I will recommend David’s report as a timely read.

Does that make us frenemies? Just kidding. I’ve not met David but I’ve been reading his blog for about a year. Being based in another part of the world, David often reports on things we don’t always get the scoop on in the United States, or not in as timely of a fashion as David does. Plus he has a very keen eye. You might want to put him in your Google reader, and tell him I sent you.

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Ralph Lauren’s collection for Spring 2009 brought modern and romantic interpretations of travel to Morocco, Istanbul, India and all ports exotic to the New York runways a few weeks ago.

Junya Watanabe brought Africa to you in his Spring 2009 collection this past week on the runways of Paris incorporating tribal elements and prints with white shirts, trim cut blazers, denim skirts and even broderie anglaise.

Both successfully though differently propelled the conversation of ethnic forward to be on par with our modern and what is now everyday global lifestyle.

Ahhh, such is life for the well-heeled. Fortunately for us all the wheels of fashion continue to roll along although the full extent of how the economy may hit the fashion industry has yet to be told, but I’d say excesses of the past are done (not completely, okay, we are still fashion hounds), but Supersize Me could be passe.

Paris didn’t have the home runs it usually has and some of the same themes from New York and Milan were continued. Several statements made by the innovative and imaginative like Alexander McQueen and Hussein Chalayan had more to do with the state of the art than necessarily with what clothes we will be wearing next Spring.

That said, Stella McCartney, left (yes, Paul McCartney’s daughter), was the stand-out for me. Expect to see more and more of this fresh and feminine designer. Her color palette was as light and airy as her fabrics and cuts and just may be the definition of Spring 2009.

Images Style.com

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It was date night for me Friday night. Me and PBS, since Bill Moyers had a great interview with 2 New York Times columnists about what happened with Wall Street’s meltdown and the author, Kevin Phillips, of a book, Bad Money, he is recommending as a must.

The bottom line after all of the I confess heavy thought processing is that who knows? But Phillips has been forecasting this for awhile and goes back as far as both the Clinton and Regan administrations to find fault with even today’s situation. His point being, mainly, that all along the way finance was something Washington found in favor and never popped the bubble to take the bitter pill.

Doesn’t much look like we will today either with a $700 billion bail out, but hey, I guess it’s better than taking the rest of the world off a cliff with us.

Needless to say when Casablanca came on I was thrilled and it found in me a total willingness to cast my fate to the Marrakesh winds for the night, along with Bogie and “Play It Again, Sam” Sam.

So much water over the bridge this season, so much from real to metaphoric I wax nostalgic for simpler days.

Since there are so many references to Morocco these days, I went in search of Casablanca still shots because I saw so much in the movie that I am seeing in production now, not the least of which was an incredible room divider seen in Rick’s Cafe Americain that had the most delicious fretwork. But it was the doors to Rick’s Cafe that really got me. Maryam Montague of MyMarrakesh blog fame has really brought to life the doors of the region: these big heavy wooden rounded doors (image by Maryam).

Sigh.

So, the stills I found from the movie (though fantastic) didn’t bring me much in the way of product relief (except Maryam’s door!) but did bring me a boatload full of good posters and trivia surrounding the movie along with some of the most famous quotes ever…..go visit. You won’t be disappointed. But better yet, get the DVD, now that you can’t afford to go to the movies.

It wasn’t a simple time in the movie, but somehow even with the corruption that existed in Casablanca (the movie’s title city), the protagonists emerge heroes and overcome their cynical and selfish motives to somehow rally around a cause greater than themselves. It’s pure poetry and a tonic for our times.

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