OH MY LORD!

I don't think I can articulate it enough: I love classic movies. There is something about the paradox of esotericism and universality that stirs me: not everyone has seen Harold and Maude, for example, but I know everyone would love it if they did, and yes I am too basing that on empirical evidence. But oh, you should try and reign in my excitement when I see something old-movie-related completely out of context, an erstwhile anachronism just existing in everyday life. For example, the tile mosaics depicting scenes from Hitchock films that were installed in a subway station in Hitch's Leytonstone, England, hometown. Hotness? I think so.

The panels, comprised of over 80,000 tiles and completed in 2001, represent scenes from movies throughout the director's entire filmography, from well-known blockbusters like The Birds and Rear Window to less commercially successful fare like Pleasure Garden. They are nonetheless stunning - an intricate balance of homage and artistic license, tied to the English city with sly and careful references (many of Letonstone's most famous institutions are integrated into the scenes). And the detail! Anyone who immortalizes Jimmy Stewart in tile pretty much has my seal of approval.

To see more, visit The Joy of Shards website.