The Joys of Renovations !

This Summer, we decided to update our basement who needed a make over after 57 years.  So we re-did half of it.  Mainly bathroom, laundry room and computer/multimedia room.  So the work began at the beginning of September and is near completion soon.  I look forward to get order back into our house.  Everything is upside down and there is dust all over the place even if I put plastic over most of the things.  It will be great when it's over, 3 weeks from now...... hopefully !

Vintage Explorer Magazine

Here is an article published in Vintage Explorer Magazine no 3 April/May 2012 it's on my web site at :
http://www.space1999.net/~sorellarium13/vintagexplorer.htm

 

Stop CONDOMANIA !!!!!!!

 Great blog on midcentury modern in Ottawa.  Any builders in need of inspiration ? !!!
http://modernrealtor.blogspot.ca/

Vintage iGuzzini Sorella versus Nemo Cassina Sorella

Here are pictures of the Sorella lamp (vintage and new) compared with pictures taken from the exact same point of view for best comparision.  Feel free to leave comments, positive or negative.  I will transmit them to Nemo Cassina.

The New Sorella lamp is here !

A quick post to let you know that I've just received the new Sorella lamp by Nemo Cassina today; Here are a couple of pictures that I took very quickly so they are not very good.  Better ones will be posted in the days to come.  My first impressions are ones of deception.  They changed the design slightly and this was not for the better.  They supposedly had the original mold from Guzzini so I don't understand.  Also, the finish on the lamp is matte/satin finish.  The original was glossy.  It looks strange to me but to the non trained eye, maybe it will look ok.  Strangely, this one is my 13th one.  I wish Nemo Cassina would have done a better job.  Another missed opportunity to reissue an icon to the perfection.   The box is cool though, and shows a picture of Zienia Merton at her desk.  I wonder if she was paid for this !

Sorella Lamp

I've been very busy in the last months, so not many updates.  I receveived news from Maurizio D'orsi about the Sorella.  He got an answer from Cassina. (it was about time they answer their emails)  See the message below.  Apparently, the Sorella should be available at the end of February 2012 !!!  Let's hope this is true.  They should really put more infos on their web site on the Sorella page.  It would be nice for all the people who placed orders for that lamps more than a year and a half ago !!!!  Anyway, a big thank you to Maurizio, who is such a nice guy. 

So here is the message from Jenny at Cassina :

Buongiorno,
la lampada Sorella sar in consegna a fine febbraio.
Euro 128,00 + IVA al pubblico.
Cordiali saluti
Jenny

Jenny Mariani
NEMO
Divisione luci di Cassina S.p.a.
Viale Francia N.63
20821 Meda
Tel. 0039 0362 372820
Fax 0039 0362 340371
info@nemo.cassina.it
http://www.nemo.cassina.it/

32 septembre

October 2nd in my universe is also another important date, September 32nd. 

"32 septembre" was the title of a french song by Nicoletta on the B side of a 45 single that I got on Christmas day  when I was 5 years old.  On the A side was another song by Nicoletta titled "La Musique" another favorite of mine.  I played and played those 2 songs ad nauseam.   I almost drived my mother insane.  I think that is one of the reason why I'm so obsessed by September 13th 1999 is because of 32 septembre.  Here's a link to 32 SEPTEMBRE.  Here's a link to LA MUSIQUE.

SORELLARIUM: 13A

Today, I opened another blog called SORELLARIUM 13A.  There, you will find  many pictures I took over the years of some of my favorite buildings and architectural elements of the modern era here in Montreal.  And of course, my first featured building is again,.... PLace Ville-Marie that celebrates it's 49th birthday today.

Enjoy

Exposed !

At the corner of Viger and Papineau Avenue near the parking of Radio-Canada,  you can see a billboard with the ads for COSMOS 1999, LE SAINT, AMICALEMENT VÔTRE and LE PRISONNIER.  So, of course my boyfriend and I had to go and take pictures of it.  So here we were posing in front of it and taking all kind of pictures.  It was very cool to see a giant eagle on a billboard in downtown Montreal on a very busy street .So here are a couple those pictures.  Enjoy !

COSMOS 1999 on Tou.tv

On August 1st 2011, TOU.TV launched the "Vintage Collection" on their web site with 4 ITC shows in French.. 

1. COSMOS 1999 (SPACE: 1999)

2. AMICALEMENT VÔTRE (THE PERSUADERS)

3. LE SAINT (THE SAINT)

4. LE PRISONNIER (THE PRISONER)

It's nice to see that these series are given the chance to be viewed on the net at anytime.  Although the quality is good, if you are used to the bluray or the regular DVD, you won't be that impressed.   Also, they over imposed the title "COSMOS 1999" under the SPACE: 1999 logo and the end result really bad.  With today's technology they could have redone the opening credits in French with the appropriate fonts in a manner faithful to the original once and for all.  I hope that if it's ever released on bluray in Quebec that the company doing it will take the time to do so.  But I would be very surprised.  Oh well.... it's let's not be too critical and let's enjoy it as it is.

Sorella Lamp

Just a note to let you know that Lightform Canada inc (the company distributing the Sorella in Canada) told me that the delivery of our beloved lamp should be no later than October 1st 2011. But it could be sooner. And hopefully it will be! And wouldn't it be wonderful if it would arrived between September 9th and 13th! They told me that the reason for the delay was the unexpected high demand for the lamp ! Like we didn't know that for a long time !!!! So hopefully that is true.

Now, if Nemo-Cassina could only get the rights for the Pileo lamp. Not only would they have the Space: 1999 fans but all the Doctor Who fans too as potential buyers not to mention all the other design lovers in the world that just love that lamp for it pure beauty. And as we're at it where is the company that would re-edit all Artemide plastic furniture as it was originally designed. Not like that crap that Heller did with the Selene and especially the Gaudi. A pure massacre !!!! Shame on you Heller !!! WHEN WILL THEY EVER LEARN that people want the re-edition of classic pieces as they were made when they first came out. That's the reason why they are called CLASSICS !!!!!

Goodbye Keith, your legacy lives on

A very sad news came last week with the announcement of Keith Wilson's death on July 6th. If Expo 67 showed me what I liked in design, Keith Wilson showed me who I was as far as design is concerned. I immediately identified with the sets of Space: 1999 and it felt like home the minute I saw it for the first time. My taste in design crystallized at this moment and it became immutable for time inconceivable! Keith took the very best of the 60s and 70s design and put it in one place and that gave us the visuals of Space: 1999, a work of art, simply a masterpiece. I'm glad we had the chance to meet you in 2000. Those memories will be cherished forever. Thank you Keith for giving us so much beauty. We, the Space: 1999 fans, will never forget you.

Sorella Lamp

Just a note to inform you that it seems that all distributors that I've contacted didn't receive the lamp yet. As for Nemo-Cassina, they didn't answer my e-mails. If anyone out there have news or have received their Sorella lamp, let me know

I, Catherine Bujold, have stood face to face with the Dragon !

Today was the 4284th day since our Moon left Earth. I was between trees, digging through plenty amounts of of dirt trying to take down a 42 year old bush that had to be replaced on my domain. And after 2 hours of digging with my fighting instruments (including an axe) I finally realised when I pulled the remains of the little tree that I had been fighting with a vegetable type dragon. Just look at the picture, doesn't it remind you of our favorite monster, our beloved Dragon from Dragon's domain. What a strange coincidence to celebrate the 6th of June !

Moon Garden

Well, It's May again and after a long winter under a nice blanket of snow, it's time to go out on the moon surface doing some gardening and get away from computers and monitors for awhile. I deserve a break..... After being cooped up in my plastic environment during those long winter months, it's nice to get some fresh air under the sunlight.

Some people have written to get news about the reissue of the Sorella lamp, but unfortunately, I don't have any new infos and I'm still waiting like many of you for mine to arrive.

So, getting into the air lock south, moon surface here I come !

Strike a Pose, Vogue

During Spring 2010 I was asked if I was interested about doing an article in VOGUE CASA on my house and my furniture collection. They were supposed to send a photographer for a photo shoot (something which I really wasn't to keen on) and then they said that they could take my own pictures that were on my website. But they asked me to take pictures of certain angles of the outside of my house etc.... It took forever. They were supposed to publish it in April 2010 but it was delayed until April 2011. And finally it wasn't an article on my house but on Space: 1999 with a little mention of my Space: 1999 furniture collection. It was a bit of a deception to see that they didn't even put a little picture of my living room in the article but I wasn't surprised. I suddenly remembered why I always decline magazine offers to do an article on my space. It never comes out the way you would like it to be. But anyway, it was an experience and the person who I was in contact with and who proposed the article on me was very nice and gracious. Unfortunately the final result wasn't her decision. At least SPACE1999.NET gets a mention as they mention space1999.net as being my website instead of Sorellarium13.

Anyway, here's the article in Italian with the English translation.

ALPHA: 2012, a new Space: 1999 con in L.A.

Here's the link to the site of the new Space: 1999 convention in L.A. next year.

http://alphanewsservice.net/

Since several committee members who brought us the BREAKAWAY CON in the year 1999 are organizing this event, I can only be confident, that like its predecessor, it will be a blast !

Sorella Lamp update

This week, I received a call from the distributor of the re-edition of the Sorella lamp here in Canada. Supposedly, there was problems with manufacturing and there were delays. It is supposed to be shipped by the end of April 2011 or before.

Le Chant du Styrène

Here's a link to a beautiful poem by Raymond Queneau called "Le Chant du Styrène". A beautiful ode to plastic. I first heard about this in the 90s when I bought the book "L'Utopie du tout Plastique". Sorry for the non speaking French people, but I didn't find an English translation. And it wouldn't be the same in English anyway.
http://www.acrif.org/fr/document.asp?rubid=26&docid=5

Here is the video of the movie in 2 parts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWruea9xJUc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TpI-SsWuTU

Arcadia 100 : There is a Purpose

February 9th 2011 marks the 35th anniversary of the my first viewing of "Testament of Arkadia" and the end of Cosmos 1999 first run from September 1st 1975 to February 9th 1976 on the French channel of Radio-Canada here in Montreal. So without planning it, I received on February 10th 2011, my ARCADIA 100 table by Artemide brand new in original box(old stock that was never sold). Although this table is not featured in Space: 1999, it could have been just as many other pieces of the Artemide 1973 catalogue. Since last year, I've decide to get most of the pieces featured in this catalogue. There are only a few pieces that I don't really care about, but most of this catalogue is one beautiful thing after another. Along whit the ARCADIA 100 table, I also got the ELISA umbrella stand, the POSACENERE TERRA ashtray(these 2 are not in the pictures) and the wonderful ECO table lamp all new and never used. It's really great to get vintage pieces in that perfect condition. It's like a second chance, like going back in time to go shopping.

And what a better way to christen the table than taking out my Johnny Byrne's original shooting script of Another Time, Another Place and a daily planner given to every member of the cast by Martin Landau and Barbara Bain for Christmas 1974. Johnny gave me these 2 memorabilia at the Breakaway Convention in L.A. in September 1999. When our friend, André Beauchamp, went to visit Johnny in Norfolk in 1998, Johnny gave him a bunch of original scripts to bring back to Canada. He gave us the permission to copy them all and told André that we could bring them back when we meet at the Convention 16 months later. And that's what we did. But to my great surprise, when Jerry and I got engaged on September 13th 1999 on the hotel terrace, Johnny gave me back his original script of Another Time, Another Place and the daily planner given by Martin and Barbara. And all the cast member who were there, Zienia, Prentis, Anton and Nick signed the planner for the occasion. I could not have dreamed of a better engagement gift with a greater sentimental value. Johnny also told me that night that the flowers doodlings on the back cover of the script is when they were talking about the last scene of the episode.

And that's just another example of how a great man Johnny was and how generous he was too. Thank you Johnny for being a big part of SPACE: 1999, the best TV show of all time, we will never foget you.

Habitat 2017 ?

Could the city of Montreal hire that architect to make a project on Expo 67 site or Nun's Island at an affordable price ? Is there anyone with a vision here in the province of Quebec ? Stop building those horrible condos or mega Mc Mansions that destroys the landscape. When will they ever learn that the simple geometric shapes of modernism go better with nature than that horrible architecture that we see popping up since the mid-80s. Maybe I should just move to Europe instead.....

In the meantime you can visit this site and hope....that someone hire him or get inspired. It seems that having the priviledge to be the city where HABITAT 67 was built is not enough to inspire those builders.

http://www.jagnefaltmilton.com/

You'll have a blue Christmas without the bluray

After a month and a half of bluray watching, I can say that Space: 1999 bluray discs are absolutely the best Christmas gift any Space: 1999 would want ! So if you have a Space: 1999 in your family or amongst your friends, here's a great gift suggestion.

So here are two versions of a quick and easy montage I made from images from the bluray. I'm quite limited with my choice of images at the moment but it should be better in the future. It's quite thrilling to think that we now have access at every scene of Space: 1999 in such clarity. I remember 16 years ago when I used to capture images from my old laserdiscs and I thought at the time how clear and beautiful they were. If I only knew then what technology had in reserve for us in the near future.

Enjoy,

And Merry Christmas to you all !

Sorella Lamp

I ordered one Sorella lamp from the canadian distributor "Lightform Canada Inc". This will be my 12th one. (11 vintage+1 new). I will wait for a special date to order my 13th. I always wanted my 13th one to be black. But in the past I passed on many black ones since at the time I was only interested in white ones. Now that I have so many, that I don't know where to put them, I would be glad to finally get a black one in perfect condition. One day maybe, if I come across a perfect one.

The new Sorella lamp is priced at $260.00 Canandian which is a very reasonable price. Shipping cost is $ 40.00 from Toronto to Montreal and should be the same all over Canada.

If you are in Canada and America, you can reach them at : 416 745-5656 and ask to speak to Walt Nash.