Too good not to share - diorama edition

*via Floralis

It's Friday, and I feel like sharing a few things that make me smile. I may have mentioned my growing addiction to Tumblr.  It is peeping into windows of worlds that people create. I like to think of them as museums or dioramas or collages or art exhibits or collections. I'm fascinated by what people pretend and create and collect - the sometimes very unique points of view that shine through.

A few I've found intriguing:

A piece of what inspires me - Gorgeous design.  Nature. Abstract beauty.

Traced Footsteps is a heady mix of adolescent idealism, summer dreams and cupcakes. I can't say I understand their obsession with valley girls in cut off jean shorts (lost restless youth?), but I love the optimistic little quips and quotes which is why I follow.

Danse Boheme - Dark, dreamy, literary. And Crowns of Ivy who "likes mori girl fashion, history, tea, faeries and wildflowers."

*via Summer Battles

Summer Battles - Oh my gorgeousness.  I love this eye-catching selection of colors and patterns that evokes exotic travels and bohemian wanderings.

Floralis - All things floral, also feeds my pretty addiction while Hollyhock and Tulips and MyVintageVogue quench my thirst for vintage style.

Finding my cup of tea, Teatotalism, and That Tea Blog - All about tea, of course.

One More Lurker  and  The Playground of Incredible Boredom and Kath Thornton - just to prove to you how quirky and specific Tumblr can be - these people (and I'm sure there are many others) are totally obsessed with Richard Armitage.  Not that I am - I just happen to like North and South, but I ended up finding these things because of my costume drama movie love.

Period films - Speaking of costume dramas, this Tumblr is one of the most brilliant I've found on the subject. There is also an entire Tumblr, solely devoted to a single adaptation of Emma and a Tumblr called Darcy Bewitched Me. Sometimes I fall in love with a Tumblr for the name alone.

For people who love books, there are quite a few Tumblrs to keep you happy forever.  Here's just a few: Women Reading, Musings of a Wannabe Writer, Story Girl, Pretty Books, Teaching Literacy

Of course the one thing I seem to see EVERYWHERE on Tumblr is all things Harry Potter. I scratch my head wondering if everyone in the universe is geeked out on Harry Potter. But it really goes for any celeb or entertainment or style phenomenon.  Jane Austen. Audrey Hepburn. Hunger Games. Twilight. Gossip Girls. Gilmore Girls. Mori Girls.  I promise you - if you like it, it's out there. People love to go fanboy over their favorite celeb, movie, book, whatever.  You could look down your nose, say it is so pedestrian, this cheap phenomenon, a dumbed down mass culture.

*via Kimpertinence (who, by the way, does the most amazing art)

But here's the way I see it.  When people post a screenshot from a film or a quote from a book, it is because it means something to them. When there is art (a movie, a story, an image) that people love, they claim it as their own, make it their own, participate in it, expand it, experiment with it, share it, talk about it.   It's what artists have been doing for thousands of years, feeding off of each other. And finally it's a more accessible way that the common man can be part of it. And I think that is so cool!

Anything you're a fanboy over? If you were starting a Tumblr today what would you do?