sundance

Movie in a Van

It’s fairly unreal, but our entire film project titled SMALL, BEAUTIFULLY MOVING PARTS fits into a Chrysler Caravan rented at LAX. We’re making this micro-budget feature, you see, and there’s just enough room for two directors, one DP, one actress and one sound guy. The van happens to be, er, the featured picture car as well. Here we are, on our way to our next location (this photo was snapped after leaving Las Vegas – the only people to drive out of there that morning with absolutely no hangover):

FULL FRONTAL FASHION highlights

Fashion producer and musician Yannick Aellen This multi-talented fashion producer does it all – from mood lighting to soundtracks to the makeup and nail polish on the models themselves – he’s involved in everything seen, heard and felt on the catwalk. Fall in love with the magic of fashion with Yannick Aellen and discover what [...]

Go deeper with memes of INCEPTION

A follow-up to Perrin’s review of the summer hit film INCEPTION, which blew a lot of people’s minds and had them questioning and wanting to do a deeper dive. As a result, the film has inspired the Internets and produced many memes (one of which is seen above). I’ve compiled some of them here. Warning – there be spoilers ahead!

See outer space like the astronauts

“Erupting Into Space” was captured by NASA’s Galileo orbiter in 1997

While we might appreciate the images gathered by NASA’s various satellites and probes for their scientific value, the often grainy, hazy pictures are probably only considered breathtaking or beautiful as well by planetary enthusiasts, but a new series of outer space photographs by artists Michael Benson is turning more than just scientists’ heads. Benson, whose work includes the documentary PREDICTIONS OF FIRE that premiered at our very own Sundance Film Festival in 1995, scoured NASA’s archives for extraordinary images, which he then manipulated so that they appear to the viewer in a museum as an astronaut would see them in outer space.

Oil Spill Condoms: Doing it for the environment

Okay, we know that the oil spill is BP’s problem, but that doesn’t entirely explain why so few people are eager to help out with the relief effort. It may not be the sexiest of world disasters, but a disaster it is. So here’s one way to help out: 20% of all proceeds from Oil Spill Condoms will be donated to help rebuild the Gulf Coast, via the Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund. Oil Spill Condoms’ goal is to raise $50,000. And yes, in case you were wondering, the condoms are black. And lubricated. (The site is rife with cringe-worthy puns on everything from spilling to drilling. Let’s just leave it at that.) You can actually use the condoms, too, unlike so many novelty condoms: These ones are the FDA-approved Lifestyles Tuxedo brand.

Funny short film about a couple resigned to their Zodiac Killer fate

Something Left, Something Taken- Full Version from Tiny Inventions on Vimeo. Max Porter, a regular reader of our SUNfiltered blog and one half of the talented married duo behind Tiny Inventions (a Brooklyn-based animation firm), wrote in to share a funny independent short film he created with his wife Ru Kuwahata. SOMETHING LEFT, SOMETHING TAKEN [...]

Flying (falling?) mobile homes

Peter Garfield’s “Mobile Homes” series stopped me cold in my Interneting steps. The artist’s non-photoshopped images casually freeze a moment in time where a disintegrating single family home floats in the air over nondescript suburban neighborhood. It’s unclear whether the houses are in a state of falling or flying like a nightmarish version of Pixar’s [...]

Green tech finds (7/29/10)

Lots of vehicle news this week… from greener AC to electric vehicles for rent. Here are your green tech finds.

• A new model for solar cells — blowfly eyes: A team of researchers at Penn State thinks blowfly corneas could provide a viable model for solar cells (via Discovery News)
  
  
• Climate-friendly air conditioning for your car: GM plans to roll out a new air conditioning refrigerant in 2013 which performs 99.7% better in terms of greenhouse gas impact than current HFCs. (via Green Tech Pastures)
  
  

The Original Copy at MoMA

Lee Friedlander’s “Mount Rushmore”

For those too impatient to wait the 8 hours for exposure required by Joseph Niepce’s camera obscura, 1839 was a pretty exciting time. It was the year Louis Dageurre perfected his daguerreotype, which didn’t fade and needed less than 30 minutes for exposure. It’s also the starting point of MoMA’s upcoming exhibition “The Original Copy: Photography of Sculpture, 1839 to today.” Don’t overlook that tiny preposition of. When the daguerreotype popularized photography, one of its very first subjects were sculptures. It satisfied a dual purpose. One, as sculptures were less mobile (if not entirely immobile) than paintings, sculptors needed their work photographed so it could reach a wider audience. Second, sculptures made ideal subjects. 30 minutes may be a lot less than 8 hours, but it’s still a pretty long time to ask a person to pose without moving.

Lelo’s new line of sensual accessories

Lelo’s Etherea Silk Cuffs

One of our favorite toy creators, Lelo, just launched a line of sensual accessories for glamorous bondage experimentation, i.e. cosmopolitan kink, tantalizing teasing, filthy rich restraint, etc. The high-quality materials (which come in cherry red, deep purple, or black) and even higher price tags will make your dabbling in BDSM seem less, um, unseemly. But if you’re gonna get tied up and be forced to moan like a dying cow, might as well do it in style.

Crocheted skateboard at group art show

Skateboarding goes high brow in this art installation by Jonathan Rockford titled “Kickflip to the Darkside” featuring a crocheted skateboard. He will be exhibiting as part of a group show “The Rise of Rad” at the Torrence Art Museum that highlights the varied implications and meanings around skateboarding. This exhibition’s focus is on contemporary art [...]

Coolest residential swimming pool ever

Andres Remy Architects designed this stunning residential for a family in Devoto, Argentina that leaves me green with envy at the kids and breathless at the pool’s inspired design. …the impact of the sun path was carefully studied, especially to place the swimming pool. One more time, water takes a big role in the creation [...]

Un F–k The Gulf

Oil Spill Charity “F-Bomb-A-Thon” from UnF–kTheGulf.com on Vimeo. This hilarious website, t-shirt, and non-profit, called Un F–k The Gulf, has me giggling. Which is a hard thing to do when thinking about the Gulf oil spill. Using humor, and the F-bomb, with dramatic effect and with electric results the campaign’s aim is get people mad [...]

DESPICABLE ME animation team’s next project: THE LORAX

“I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees. I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.” — Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax

Almost anyone who was a child in the last forty years probably received their first introduction to environmentalism through Theodore Geisel’s (aka Dr. Seuss) classic 1971 book The Lorax. A year after its publication, the story came to the small screen; now, according to Variety (and a few green blogs), a feature-length version of the story is set for a March 2, 2012 release (which is also Geisel’s 108th birthday).

Photographer Juliane Eirich on night watch

It’s really too bad these photos have to be shrunk down so small to fit here, because in full-size panoramic view, they’re breathtaking. These are all from Hale Kula, a series that focuses on schools photographer Juliane Eirich found in Hawaii. They all take place at night, when the schools are lit up and look more like old motels than school houses. Eirich’s photos act like film stills, begging the viewer to invent their own narrative or place themselves within the frame, and this series in particular embodies a certain magic, kind of like that feeling you got as a kid returning to your elementary school at night for a talent show or play and seeing it different, dark, quiet – special and spooky at the same time.

Eirich won second place in 2010 National Juried Competition at the Camera Club of New York, where her work will be up until August 14, 2010. More photos below.

Music video: Swimsuit girls synchronized dancing. Like!

I’m pretty obsessed right now with Mayer Hawthorne’s new and wondrous music video for his infectious song “Your Easy Lovin Ain’t Pleasin Nothin,” which I haven’t been able to get out of my head. I’d like to thank Jackson Perry & Henry DeMaio, the directors for making a Hype Williams video for the hipster set. [...]

The botanical garden: the new hub for sustainability

When my wife and I decided to buy a house in St. Louis, we wanted something older, with a little character… and easy access to the Missouri Botanical Garden. We found what we wanted… a mere two blocks from the US’ oldest continuously operated garden. MOBOT isn’t just a great place to escape the urban environment… it’s also become St. Louis’ premiere institution for promoting sustainability and green living. Now, I’m just as likely to spend my time in the Kemper Gardening Center for tips on better maintaining my little organic garden as I am enjoying the view in the Japanese garden.

Short film: street art seeks romance

Gabriel Psaltakis created and directed this sweet and funny short Greek film titled THE GIRL ON THE WALL. Mixing live action with stop-motion animation, a bored office man helps a love-struck street art character woo a disinterested girl across the street.

The Five Worst Celebrity Interviews

Interviewing movie stars is an Olympic-caliber game whereby you gently toss questions at them and they volley back by delivering succinct, crisp sayings that are informative, funny, and make great copy too.

Alas, that doesn’t always happen and you sometimes feel like you’re engaged in a battle of wits with a half armed opponent. Not me, mind you. My interviews have always been sheer perfection, cough cough. But a friend of mine who’s a longtime reporter has had some awkward star encounters that left his tape recorder metaphorically burning, and he anonymously agreed to share them with me.

His five worst have been:

Todd Solondz’ LIFE DURING WARTIME

After a stint of experimental flops – 2001′s STORYTELLING and PALINDROMES in 2004 – writer/director Todd Solondz’s latest film, LIFE DURING WARTIME, marks a return to the familiar world of HAPPINESS, his successful 1998 follow up to his break out film WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE. HAPPINESS revolves around a family of three sisters: Helen, a successful, jaded writer, Trish, a Mrs. Cleaver type in pleated khakis and Joy, a frizzy-haired, soft-spoken, flower child screw up. Perversion and pedophilia, two of Solondz’s all-time favorite themes, are hard at work here, whether it’s Philip Seymour-Hoffman’s character jerking off to calls to random women in the phone book or Trish’s husband Bill, the unsuspecting nebbish (Dylan Baker) who rapes his son’s friend from little league.

Naked News: Old people sex, frozen eggs, and bed bugs

• Senior citizens are getting frisky without protection — STD rates are booming amongst the baby boomer generation.
  
  
• In more cheery news, post-menopausal lesbian sex may be something to look forward to.
  
  

Robyn’s “Hang With Me”

Robyn – Hang With Me official video from Robyn on Vimeo. My love obsession with Robyn continues. Next week I see the Swedish pop star onstage in a double billed show with Kelis. These two women have crafted the best electronic albums of the past few years. Eat your heart out Gaga. And the prolific [...]

Hand drawn clock

Spotted at last year’s Design Miami exhibition is artist Maarten Baas’ piece “Grandfather Clock” which might be the eeriest grandfather clock one could have. It’s actually a digital display of an opaque man drawing the hands of the clock on a continuous 12 hour real time loop. I don’t recommend you put this in the [...]

Mad about Mad Men

The 50 glorious minutes that are the first episode of Mad Men season 4 more than justify all the show’s pre-premiere hype. Spoiler Alert: If you didn’t cancel all your plans between 10-11 pm last night and sit glued to AMC, then you’ll want to click away until you come to your senses and watch Betty and Don and the rest of the gang in all their season 4 glory.

Porcelain chairs

I’m endlessly fascinated by sculptures that utilize trompe l’oeil, which is why I love this line of 9 chairs by Sam Durant and handmade by talented people at the Jiao Zhi studio in Xiamen, China. Durant adopts those widely used and familiar “mono-block resin chairs” and remakes them out of porcelain. The artist explains that no single company holds patents or copyrights on the the methods, techniques, or design of these chairs which are easily mass produced. These factors explain the chairs ubiquity as “probably the cheapest and most universal piece of furniture, found in nearly every country in the world.” With his chairs, the artist is conveying a multitude of criticisms and comments, which I think is worth reading in full: