Biking to School with Kids

I love biking to school with my children. It's a great way to start the day, and it's a lot of fun. Both of them have their own bicycles, meaning I'm basically herding two slightly erratic cyclists.

My kids' two-wheelers are quite new and pretty decent. Mine is more like a rusty ten-speeder with a penchant for chain slippage. It's a cheap, rickety bike from China but it's my vehicle of choice for running errands, and honestly, it gets the job done.

My youngest is still working on his steering. My eldest, on the other hand, is all about speed. She thinks she's in the Tour de France, so I'm constantly shouting, "Slow down!" Of course there are moments of near disaster. But you know what? Despite the mayhem, there's something undeniably satisfying about arriving at our destination, slightly out of breath, on our bikes.

There are also moments of pure, unadulterated joy – like when we are pedaling along the street, the sun on our faces, the wind in our hair (or what's left of mine, after the stress), and we are all laughing. In those times, I think, this is actually pretty great. Even if it is a bit like herding cats on wheels.

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Hand-Painted Movie Posters by Tony Stella

In the 70s and 80s movie theaters in Manila were usually standalone buildings with nice seats and red curtains. To sell tickets, cinemas needed to advertise their offerings. But they did not have the original posters, or the means to print alternatives. So they made their own, commissioning local artists to hand-paint them. I really miss those hand-painted posters and billboards, which conveyed an artistry that was a form of visual hyperbole. But hand-made objects always have a way of returning. In this digital age, people will always look for things made by hand. I recently stumbled across the work of Tony Stella, whose genuinely cool movie posters have caught the eye of film enthusiasts and art lovers worldwide. He likes to work in watercolor and ink wash but sometimes he will make an oil painting, depending on the film. Tony's very active on social media, and his Tumblr blog contains a massive collection of illustrated movie posters that are often better than the original. ...

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Emanuele Taglietti is an Italian designer, illustrator and painter known for his erotic and sometimes outrageous comic book covers during the the '70s and '80s. Inspired by the art of Frank Frazetta and Averardo Ciriello, he painted hundreds of covers for books such as Zora the Vampire , Sukia , Mafia , and 44 Magnum . Taglietti also restored old paintings and occasionally collaborated as an illustrator for magazine publishers such as Mondadori and Rizzoli. Just this year, Sex and Horror: The Art of Emanuele Taglietti , a book by Mark Alfrey was published celebrating Taglietti's work. The "highly visual biography displays dozens of his amazing full-color paintings, explores his fascinating life and career, and takes a look behind the scenes at his exacting technique." Check it out on Amazon .

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