Nylon Blogs

Every year, millions of New York City students take midterms and final exams at school.

This year, the New York Department of Education sent a memo to teachers, saying their tests can’t contain 50 words considered “distracting” or “biased” to the city’s students.

The words in question can still be freely used in classrooms, just not as part of a standardized test exam question – but considering some of the words are “poverty” and “slavery,” it’s going to be pretty hard to test students’ about something basic – like The Civil War – without coming up with some really convoluted synonyms.

The list also includes the words “rock n’ roll,” “evolution,” and “catastrophes / disasters” -

Which would make learning about The ’60s Counterculture Revolution, biology, and geology / history / life kind of hard, right?

Get more info on CNN.com, or click below to see the full list of banned words… along with our own examples of basic academic subjects that need those words to exist…

(more…)

Typography nerds, get excited:

Stickerbomb Letters is a sticker book that channels the little kid in everyone.

But this time around, there’s a grownup art-meets-DIY twist.

Featuring over 500 peel-off stickers with letters, designs, and pictures created by contemporary artists and illustrators, there’s more than enough ways to make your mark on your notebook, local street signs, or wherever you want….

And don’t worry- no Comic Sans included.

Buy it here.

If the name David Choe sounds familiar, it might because you’ve seen the L.A.-based artist’s work around the city.

Or maybe it’s because he became a world famous multi-millionaire this year…thanks to Facebook?

Back in 2005, Sean Parker asked Choe to paint the walls of his startup in exchange for money or stock in the company.

Choe took the stock, and now he’s accumulated more than $200 million (seriously- we’re not making this stuff up!).

But even with this newfound cash he’s sticking close to his art roots with a sketchbook, just in at Urban Outfitters.

Featuring 200-pages of pencil drawings from Choe that you can fill in or add to yourself, this art-meets-fashion mashup is cool enough to tempt you to ditch business school for art full time.

Hey, if David Choe can do it…?

About $17 here.

We’re still dying for those amazing book clutches from designer Olympia Le Tan.

But if you’re not quite ready to drop thousands on these novel purses (pun intended), Fred Flare’s got you covered.

Check out the stitched version of the Jane Austen classic Emma.

Artist Jillian Tamaki handcrafted each cover and included her own whimsical illustrations inside the book.

It’s only $18 here.

Okay, so it might not hold your lipstick….but unlike those other stitched “books,” this is one you can actually read.

The New York Times has an amazing (and extremely funny) article today.

It’s called “I Was a Cookbook Ghost Writer” and it tells the story of young chefs and writers who create recipes, instructions, and even entire dishes for celebrity “authors.”

(Although, let’s be real – since Gwyneth Paltrow is perfect in all things, even though her book is mentioned in this story, there’s no way she didn’t write it herself – and also do her own hair and makeup, rewrite several books of the Talmud, and perfect a yoga pose at the same time…:) )

It begins:

“I realized then that what had seemed like a dream job — helping restaurant chefs translate their culinary genius to the printed page — would hold more humiliations than I’d imagined.”

And now we wonder:

How long until the article’s author, Julia Moskin, turns this story into a book deal of her own?

Or better yet – a CW Drama about a “ghostwriter” who adores cooking so much, and has such an unacknowledged talent for it, that she soon becomes a Cyrano De Bergerac for a blonde lifestyle mogul?!

(We’d totally cast Kristen Bell in such a show, if it existed… which it probably will by next pilot season…)

The NY Times is psyched about The Hunger Games.  No, really, they are.

Check out this article by Pamela Paul on how the story went from unknown novel to best-selling novel to imminent movie franchise.

Paul speaks with writer Suzanne Collins, producer Nina Jacobsen, and director Gary Ross, along with Jennifer Lawrence, who says, “If someone comes up to me and says, ‘Are you Katniss?’ I’m O.K. with that. Because I love this character and this book so much.”

And Scholastic vice president David Levithan says something kind of fascinating:

‘The Hunger Games’ starts where the Harry Potter books end.  Whereas Harry Potter is about childhood and coming of age and your eyes being opened to the world, in ‘The Hunger Games’ you’re already in this world, and dealing with its inhumanity.”

Fun fact for theater nerds: Renowned contemporary playwright Jose Rivera – who was nominated for an Oscar for The Motorcycle Diaries – wrote the screenplay.

Fun fact for ’90s TV nerds: Rivera also created, wrote, and produced the creep-tastic show Eerie Indiana!

Fun fact for current TV nerds: Elizabeth Moss of Mad Men fame makes an appearance at the end of this trailer.

As anyone who’s read Fahrenheight 451 can tell you, books and fire don’t usually mix.

But what about fire that smells like books?

Assouline’s new candle claims it has “the soothing smells of a library and the idyllic atmosphere of an afternoon spent reading.”

Is this how you want your bedroom / living room / office desk to smell?

Or will you stick with our previous finds: the tobacco candle, the Marilyn Monroe lipstick candle, the cupcake candle, and of course, the infamous cannabis candle?

(Assouline Book Candle, $50 on Net-a-Porter.)

iPads are cool and all, but there’s something about turning the pages of a brand new, glossy magazine that just doesn’t quite translate to a touch screen.

MoMA’s new exhibit “Millennium Magazines” is all about this hard-to-define feeling, and the NYC museum is showcasing the very best print page-turners from around the globe.

There’s everything from interior design glossies like Apartamento to unknown photography presentations to specialized typography booklets, all showing this unique facet of the printing and publishing world.

Publishing nerd or not, this exhibit is a must-see.

After all, even though print might be changing, it’s far from being dead.

–MICKIE MEINHARDT

Going on now until May 14th at MoMA.

The term “underground art” literally describes the Underbelly Project, in which 103 world-renowned street artists transformed an abandoned NYC subway station into an art gallery.

The project went on for 72 weeks from early 2009 to mid 2010, and because it was top-secret (read: illegal), small teams comprised of artists and cameramen had to wait until late at night to work.

Since the MTA has since boarded up the hidden gallery, that means we can’t see the art in person.

But don’t worry, because artists such as Swoon, Skewville and Revok have compiled all the work into their new book We Own the Night: The Art of the Underbelly Project.

With pages and pages of art that might remain undiscovered in real-life, this book might be the coolest piece of urban culture we’ve ever held in our hands.

And next time you’re riding the subway, remember that you might be close to the world’s largest underground art gallery.

Can you imagine?!

Buy it here.

–CAROLYN AMURAO