sundance

Death Cab video by Shepard Fairey

Death Cab for Cutie bassist Nick Harmer reached out to the now-notable street artist and designer Shepard Fairey about creating a music video for their song “Home is a Fire.” The video piece above is the result, which unsurprisingly utilizes the artistic medium for which Shep is most well known for, and he explains the [...]

Who will love your pets when you’ve been lifted up to Heaven?

As we’re sure you know, the Rapture is this Saturday, May 21st, 2011. You know, the day when good Christians like you (we’re assuming) who’ve accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior will be physically lifted up to Heaven. All your atheist, Muslim, Jewish and pagan friends will be left behind to fend for [...]

New children’s book: Go The F**k To Sleep

Acclaimed author Adam Mansbach and father to a two-year old, applied his pen to a children’s book titled “Go The F**k To Sleep.” It clearly struck a chord with parents as evidenced by the fact that although it won’t be released until October, this book is currently #1 on Amazon’s best seller list. Here’s an excerpt:

Vimeo of the Week: Under the Lucan Sun

Under the Lucan Sun from Leonardo Dalessandri on Vimeo. Under the Lucan Sun is a film by Leonardo Dallessandri that captures visual snapshots of the architecture, people and nature of a small Italian town. It’s both creepy and beautiful. In a few short minutes mood is established and you’re longing to know more about the [...]

Anish Kapoor at Monumenta 2011

The major challenge – and draw – of Monumenta, France’s (mostly) annual grand art exhibition, is making the most of the 13,500-square-meter (over 44,000-square-feet) Grand Palais, Europe’s biggest and one of its oldest glass-roofed structures. Built in the Beaux-Arts style for the Universal Exposition of 1900, the Grand Palais boasts huge ceilings and an expansive exhibition space, so choosing the right artist to commission a site-specific piece from is key. In the past, Monumenta has had success with Anselm Kiefer, Christian Boltanski and, that lover of the large-scale, Richard Serra. This year’d exhibition features a piece by Anish Kapoor, whose huge and hugely popular public sculptures like “Cloud Gate,” the enormous mirrorized pebble-shaped piece in Chicago’s Millennium Park, make him an apt choice.

DC-area African American church goes solar

A church installing solar panels… not all that unusual these days, right? Maybe not, but for Washington, DC’s Florida Avenue Baptist Church, the recent ribbon-cutting on a 44 panel solar array represents more than “going green” and cutting energy costs: it’s also a way to address issues of energy and environmental justice and economic stagnation in the local community.

Great amateur photo of space shuttle launch

In a case of being at the right place at the right time, and with WiFi access, Hoboken resident @Stefmara snapped, twitpic’d, and tweeted this awe-some photo with her iPhone of the space shuttle Endeavour’s final launch as seen from her seat on a flight. This of course has gone rapidly viral. This is a [...]

Episode Recap – Julia Alarcon – Too Pricey for Nordstrom

I said it to Dana-Maxx, I said it to Leila Shams, and I said it to Julia Alarcon. There will always be something special about a woman designer designing for other women. There’s that innate, intangible quality of understanding what exactly another woman wants. With Julia, I felt she had a double advantage. She also – after starting Act 2 as a designer in her 40′s – had the advantage of her maturity.

Julia wasn’t a kid figuring out her life. Sure, she shared a lot of the same woes (freshly graduated, struggling to keep her business afloat, building accounts) but she was never wishy-washy in her approach. Her life was mapped out; she knew exactly what she should be doing and designing was it. This was a quality I would come to admire greatly in her but be equally frustrated by at the same time. She was so aware of what she wanted her collection to be, what it should cost (most of the time, too much), and who should wear it. Even during the times we disagreed, Julia, always courteous and polite, stood by her designs and her convictions.

Which may not have had quite outcome I had hoped for.

It’s Like a Weird Freaky Friday Moment. Tonight at 10p.

In an effort to not date myself, one of my all-time favorite movies is the Mike Nichols-directed WORKING GIRL with Sigourney Weaver and Melanie Griffith. For me, it reeked of all the right elements: money, power, New York skyscrapers, sharp dialogue, good humor, strong women. It was all about big furs, big breaks and big perms and I loved it.

My favorite scene (duh! of course!) was when Tess McGill (Melanie’s character) had the run of Katherine Parker’s (Sigourney) closet after assuming her identity. The minute she threw open those closet doors you could smell the authority. There it all was: a lady in charge as embodied by a closet full of chic gowns, lush furs, immaculately tailored pantsuits and pencil skirts. You wanted to rummage and try everything on as much as Tess did because like Tess, these weren’t just clothes. No, it was more than that. It was the symbol of that ultimate chic working woman.

Vegan cooking meets heavy metal

“Heavy metal vegan” may strike you as an oxymoron… but, then, until a few months ago, Fair Trade organic coffee by Rob Zombie may well have had the same effect. Despite the head-banging, leather-wearing clichès, veganism has found its way into metal culture… and a couple of web-savvy headbangers are creating online cooking shows devoted to this niche.

Criterion releases DIABOLIQUE today

Henri-Georges Clouzot is often overlooked as a leading director of the world’s best mysteries and thrillers, but with the release of DIABOLIQUE ( available today), Criterion is seeing to it that one of cinema’s great original masters is getting his due. “Before PSYCHO, PEEPING TOM and REPULSION, there was DIABOLIQUE (1955),” which Clouzot directed right after his 1953 blockbuster thriller THE WAGES OF FEAR (starring Yves Montand, Peter van Eyck and Clouzot’s wife, Vera). Its resounding success with audiences in Europe and the U.S. solidified Clouzot’s reputation as one of France’s premiere directors. Dubbed “the French Hitchcock,” Clouzot’s films became known for their psychological depth and nuance and their refreshing unpredictability. Clouzot beat Hitchcock to the punch more than once in terms of film technique and storytelling, but one thing the two directors have in common is their tireless dedication to craft. Clouzot obsessed over the smallest of details and was notorious for the demanding work ethic he required of his actors. He frequently took dozens and dozens of takes of a single shot, often for seemingly unimportant reasons. In DIABOLIQUE, for instance, Clouzot wasn’t happy with the way Simone Signoret turned to leave the room in one scene. Though the shot was just of her back, Clouzot insisted that her anger wasn’t real; Her hands were in her pockets but he could tell they weren’t clenched into fists.

SPINAL TAP Star turns Michael Moore-style muckraker!

A serious documentary about the New Orleans 2005 flooding disaster, directed by Derek Smalls in This Is Spinal Tap and the voice of Flanders, Smithers, and Mr. Burns on The Simpsons?

You can’t make this stuff up, and that’s what I love about show biz.

Yes, “New Orleanian” Harry Shearer has brought us The Big Uneasy, an eye-opening look at the time when the President and the press were calling the Katrina situation “a natural disaster,” and it wasn’t! As Shearer learned, it was the result of man-made design and construction flaws.

I just talked with Shearer to open some floodgates of information.

Me: Hi, Harry. Were you always such a muckracker?

Shearer: When I was helping edit the school newspaper in college, I ran a series on wasted space in the student union. That was the last time!

Photographer Elliott Erwitt wins ICP’s Lifetime Achievement Award

It’s not surprising that Magnum photographer Elliott Erwitt recently received the International Center for Photography’s Infinity Award for Lifetime Achievement. Not surprising, no, but exciting nonetheless. Do a quick Google Image search for his name and you’ll cull some of the most iconic images from the 20th-century. There are serious photos, political photos, professional photos, romantic photos and celebrity photos, but the most common unifying thread amongst all of Erwitt’s work is his sense of humor. His ability to capture our often ridiculous relationships with animals or our undying fascination with exaggerated versions of the female form are what give his oeuvre not only likability but relatability. It’s not that we can’t recognize and appreciate a good photograph no matter what the subject matter is, but we’re drawn to the Bresson-esque qualities of his images, his knack for capturing those small, seemingly benign or ubiquitous moments – a woman on a park bench crossing her legs, a group of men turning their heads to watch a girl walk by or his wife pulling a roast chicken out of the oven while she holds a crying baby (below).

Naked News: Author of “Hottest Sex Offenders” list apologizes

• Author of “Hottest Sex Offenders” list apologizes.
  
  
• Presbyterians will now ordain gay ministers.
  
  
• Cameron Diaz declares RIP to the institution of marriage.
  
  

New Hanksy spotted

Wooster Collective spotted this second send-up spoof in NYC’s Soho of Tom Hanks and Banksy’s (previously) iconic “Girl with Red Balloon” street stencil art.

Brits incentivize walking to school

Walking to school seems like a quaint notion from decades past: whether for reasons of safety or convenience, the bus, the carpool, or the drop-off on the way to work have become the ways kids get to their schools. While the first two methods are definitely greener than the last, all deprive kids of an opportunity to get some physical activity on a regular basis… and walking definitely has a much lower carbon footprint than any motorized means.

In the UK, government agency Transport for London and company Intelligent Health have paired up to make walking more attractive for school kids… by offering rewards for getting to school on foot. The Step2Get program makes use of electronic cards that students swipe at various readers along designated routes, and a website were the kids can track their walks and rewards. Five walks to school earn a student a movie ticket; for eight walks, s/he receives a £5 shopping voucher.

Anton Steenbock’s “punk trap”

Somewhat similar to the previously blogged tongue-in-cheek “Bridge and Tunnel trap” and “hipster trap“, there this trap by Anton Steenbock. “Punkerfalle” or Punk trap is a bit more austere with just a bottle of beer and a steel rope. And oh yeah, a huge tank to trap you for eternity. That beer better be good. [...]

CINEMA – looking back at Hal Ashby

BAMcinematek is currently in the midst of a whirlwind screening series of films by Hal Ashby – and I couldn’t be happier. As a diehard Ashby fan I get a lot of flack, mostly for still liking HAROLD AND MAUDE (1971) as much today as I did when my friend’s Maude-esque mother first showed it to me when I was in high school, back when Cat Stevens’ music and the film’s love-is-all-there-is credo hadn’t yet been spoiled by the years of eye-rolling that followed. I like to think my tastes have matured somewhat since I was fifteen, but I still can’t help loving HAROLD AND MAUDE. What other people see as cloying hippie drivel I see as funny, smart, even satirical. When Maude, dressed from head-to-toe in black Victorian mourning lace, protests war all by herself on the side of the road, at the edge of a cliff, is to me a really astute comment on the all too prominent and largely ineffectual picketing culture of the 60s and 70s. Then, of course, there’s the love story, which is one of my all-time favorites (right alongside Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett). In Ashby’s director’s cut, we actually see Harold and Maude kiss, but it was deemed too controversial and cut out for the theatrical release (though you can still catch it in the original trailers).

Guys, crawl out of your “man caves”

We like the image of Plato’s allegorical cave, but adult sex educator Charlie Glickman calls it the Man Box, or more specifically, the Act-Like-A-Man Box. In a series of blog posts earlier this month, Glickman explained how, in order to be perceived as “real men,” heterosexual guys have to live in a box of strict [...]

Graffiti cocktail shaker

This spray can shaped cocktail shaker from the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago combines two of my interests: well-mixed cocktails and street art.

Dreaming with Mike Gordon: We’re in That Deeper Place

DreamStates: Mike Gordon
Animation by : Bran Dougherty-Johnson

The bassist/vocalist for the band Phish, Mike Gordon is also a multi-instrumentalist and filmmaker. In 1983, he formed the band Phish along with guitarists Trey Anastasio and Jeff Holdsworth and drummer Jon Fishman. On his own, Gordon has an inclination toward bluegrass and folk music and plays a variety of instruments including guitar, banjo, and piano. An avid filmmaker and photographer, Gordon has shot music videos for Phish and directed the 2000 feature film Outside Out. He released his debut solo album, Inside In, in 2003. Green Sparrow followed in 2008 and Moss in 2010. Mike has kept a dream journal since 1977 and had so many dreams to talk about it was hard to pick just one for our new video series DreamStates. The DreamStates series takes a look into our dreams through the eyes of creative innovators from the worlds of music and film. In Mike Gordon’s episode of DreamStates, Mike discusses how sometimes when playing live – he gets to a “place” that connects him to one of his “night dreams” and he’ll literally see a “vision” from a recurring dream. Intense.

Meeting Milton Glaser

Forgive me while I geek out for a minute. But the other day I met the legend Milton Glaser! Milton Glaser is a design legend. That cannot be overstated. The man created the “I Heart New York” logo, arguably the most copied design in the world. I spent the afternoon with Milton. We talked about [...]

Dazzling divas from 2011 Cannes Film Festival

Photo by: Ian Gavan/GettyImages From Salma Hayek to Diane Kruger and Karolina Kurkova; check out the serious star style on day 1 of the glamorous 2011 Cannes Film Festival. It’s a wrap! See FFF’s Australian Fashion Week roundup. So what do they wear in Australia? FaceHunter has the answer. Check out his latest street style [...]

Gawker vs. Gaga

Gawker’s Brian Moylan rips Lady Gaga’s new column for V Magazine to shreds. In a post entitled “Lady Gaga’s First Magazine Column Is as Annoying as You Expected” Moylan lets us in on the fact that Gaga spells Marc Bolan’s name wrong and laughs at her lecture on art and fashion. Moylan’s not buying it: [...]

Nick Van Woert at Yvon Lambert gallery

Sculptor Nick Van Woert seems to have more of sense of humor than most these days. His personal website displays his work using great animated .gifs that show his normally stationary work in motion. It’s just as cheeky as some of the sculptures themselves, like “Untitled,” a fiberglass bust that’s clearly Abraham Lincoln, only with chunks of his head, face and neck hacked off and attached to a separate steel form. The two pieces reside side-by-side as gruesome mirror images. It’s a bit of fun and a bit grisly too, what with the chopped pieces revealing bright bits of polyurethane plastic designed to resemble raw flesh.