FUTURE FUNK

Paper Art

I already posted on toilet roll art a while back, and now the same website, Bored Panda, has two more posts about paper artists.
The first, a German artist called Simon Schubert, creates art just from folding paper:



The second, Peter Callesen, creates art just from cutting paper:



Pretty neat, no?
d.

Drinks Inspired by Artists

In keeping with my apparent recent theme of "Just Reposting from Flavorpill" (ha!), had to post this gem. Check out Drink Inspired by Famous Artists. I wasn't expecting them to be as tongue-in-cheek or clever as they are. Here are some of my favorites:
Georgia O’Keeffe’s Fuzzy Vulva
- Vodka
- Peach schnapps
- Honey syrup
Mix with bone of dead desert animal.

Vincent van Gogh’s Green Fairytale
- Absinthe
- Sugar cubes
- Water
Garnish with your own severed ear — because it’s coming off anyway. Better to chop it off while you’re still sober enough to make a clean cut.

Marcel Duchamp’s Urinal Scorpion Bowl
- Dark rum
- Brandy
- Orange juice
- Orgeat syrup
Serve in actual urinal, and share with friends. Anyone who doesn’t want to drink out of the urinal is an ignorant traditionalist afraid to break the shackles of bourgeois conformity.

One of the commenters also mentioned a drink inspired by Hemingway: "this delightful little punch in the face called Death In The Afternoon. Which is, quite simply, Absinthe mixed with ice-cold champagne." Given that I am currently reading the drunkfest that is The Sun Also Rises, that sounds like a worthwhile pursuit...
In the meantime, we're drinking Jameson & Ginger for tonight's Always Sunny episode.
Cheers!
d.

Art Cakes

One of the pages in flavorpill's list of pop culture cakes is on cakes inspired by visual art, and I just had to re-post their awesomeness.
Who wouldn't want a cake based on the work of Warhol, Picasso, Hirst, Banksy, or Mondrian?!?

(Pollock)

(Warhol)

(van Gogh)

(Picasso)

(Mondrian)

(Banksy)

(Hirst)

I'm particularly fond of the Mondrian and Banksy cakes, although the Warhol and Hirst ones are pretty darn cool as well.

Brian Wilson Raps?!?

Apparently so.
"My name is Brian/and I'm the man./I write hit songs/with a wave of my hand."
This is just so incredibly strange. From the manic giggle at the beginning to the awkward clips of various Beach Boys tracks, it's just...wrong. Although I have to say there was one portion that sounded a bit like the Beastie Boys. Who knew?

Infinite Photo

This is ker-azy!
On the National Geographic website, they have an "infinite photo" of the National Parks consisting of images like the one above.
Click on the main image to zoom in and find it is made up of tons of smaller images.
Zoom in again to find that thoseimages are also made of smaller ones.
Etc.
I think the gorgeous shots of the parks are a perfect showcase for this technique.
Check it out!

PS. Tooling around the NatGeo website led me to a selection of vintage parks posters. They sell these in postcard forms at the national parks and I think they're awesome. The one below of the Grand Canyon is pasted into my scrapbook from my first trip there.

And here are a couple other good ones:

YouTube's Most Pathetic Videos

Check out this site with videos that have zero views on Youtube. You can be the very first person to lay eyes on wonderful specimens such as the one below...

Latest Flickr Upload

Got around to scanning a few rolls of film and the fruits of my labor are up on my flickr. Included: Berlin's Festival of Lights and various travel adventures. Go check it out and enjoy :)

Stories What I Wrote

I wrote some stories.
______________

A former drug-sniffing dog once sat upon a mound of corpulent crawlers. His teeth were as big as marshmallow feces and his laser contact lens squinted against the brush of the hot sun.
"Hello!" he cried desolately as the woods rang with sorrow.
Echoing the consonants of her childhood she sang a joyous song to the heavens and beyond.
Slippery little daisies skipped along the plain, all the while gently but firmly shooing little g-nats off their bodily areas.
Turquoise goats in turtlenecks polished their monocles and uttered "I say" as they lowered their eyes contemptuously.
"I'll have the leaves!" he declared while pointing his finger definitively up.
Raisin Buns for All was their mantra as they chanted and nodded for dear life.
Spreading his wings the cauliflower muffin soon escaped into a popcorn-land of mysterious opportunities.
It was, in effect, stunning.
________________

A woven mat of God-knows-what blocked his way to that distant glowing green.
"Avast-ye, spy-rakers!" escaped from the damp and gnarled maw of the captain whose ship, The Pink Elephant, was said to dance upon the waves like so many dancing elf-shoes.
Penelope Pie sang a song of defeat as she twirled her hair into shapes beyond human consciousness.
His eyes melted in pleasure when first he beheld the sensuous scene.
He studied physics beyond the mortal realm and knew that when he could comprehend her miraculous hair-shapes then she would be his.
Sputtering all the while his faithful sidekick spouted challenge after challenge but could not convince the student that there is no such color as neon brown.
"Eat your pickles, mongrel!" cried the desperately unhinged physicist. "My labcoat can save only one of our immortal souls."
That thought carried him out the window, never to return.
_______________

Sparkling jewel-like leaves studded the filament of purest silver jutting out from within. Goldenrod spikes climbed atop the oft-misunderstood lemon yellow javelins.
"If you only knew what I am capable of," she stated calmly while pondering the acceptability of combining the words 'rock' and 'soccer'.
Berries of all types climbed the cliffs, panting but determined, and poured toward their destination as milk pours to cheerios. Filling every crevice of their cheerio-like environment the gathered orbs of berry crowed into the banana sky.
"Leap onto your scab-ship and away from my extrapolations!" he yelled for the thousandth time. But she, as usual, refused to understand his pleas.
Her magenta confirmation slip flapped for a moment at her pocket's edge before leaping decisively into the evening wind. Grabbing for it could not stop its glorious flight of freedom and she wept as she realized how soon her doom would come.
_______________

When I lept into the lilac-tinted era of mismanaged necks, I decided to create a mandate on the wanton use of different dress lengths. It was a topic dear to my heart and excellently well-thought-out. For example if a passing someone-or-other were to allow for two dress lengths in the same garment.
"Is he single?!?" she squawked at a volume loud enough to disturb others. "I've been into beards lately, except on that dude-guy who is advanced in years."
"What ho lassie" the mustachioed source of her derision suddenly snorted. "I've just caught you a rabbit. Doesn't that count for something?"
"Pink and blue rain couldn't save you now," she muttered, calling forth an image of a loud obnoxious boy almost falling but not quite. Soon enough, the sewage treatment plant was disguised as a children's playground and the purple-threaded fate of humanity descended upon the scene.

Edith Zimmerman

I just found a link today to a column on The Awl called 'Letters to the Editors of Women's Magazines'. The hilarious Edith Zimmerman posts actual letters and then some of her own versions. They are so funny I literally smashed my head into my keyboard. Then I read her blog and some of her many very short stories and continued to crack the eff up. Not to mention this amazing article for the Huffington Post, 'How to Make Your Husband a Nice Dinner'.
On her blog she also recommends Tom Oatmeal, who's pretty freakin funny as well.
Read it!

Detroit

About two years ago, I went to Detroit, Michigan to do some research at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Though my topic really had nothing to do with Detroit, other than that a very rich man had once lived there and bought a painting I am very interested in, I was instantly struck by the empty decay all around me in that city. It was the middle of winter, cold and barren, and the walk between my little bed-and-breakfast and the museum was strewn with huge old mansions, boarded up and abandoned, on still and empty streets. It was kind of magical, in a way, and certainly fascinating. I found myself dreaming of buying or squatting at one of these mansions and starting an artist collective.
I wasn't able to do so at the time, but it seems I wasn't the only one with the idea. An article in today's NYT, "Wringing Art out of Rubble in Detroit," discussed the growing creative community that has colonized Detroit's wide, empty avenues and broken-down buildings. Transplants from the hipster havens Portland, San Francisco, and Brooklyn as well as random places like Montana are banding together to come up with creative ideas, from installations to urban agriculture to selling a plot of land one inch at a time, which seem somehow easier to bring to fruition in a city this barren. One quote in particular describes this phenomenon to a tee: "There’s an excitement here...There’s a sense that it’s a frontier again, that it’s open, that you can do things without a lot of people telling you, ‘No, you can’t do that.’” This sensibility really reminds me of why creativity and creative lifestyles seem to flourish so well in Berlin--and also why that may soon not be the case, if the uptight German police continue to crack down as they were beginning to do during my time there. In a city that is "left behind," artistic types are free to create in the empty spaces. As one artist put it, "I'm really interested in the idea of our relics."
I couldn't have said it better myself.

PS. I found the image on this short post about Detroit from a couple months before my visit there.

Matchstick Art

Check out these awesome sculptures by David Mach, made entirely out of matchsticks!



Apparently he sometimes sets them on fire.

Janelle Monae

Looove this video of Janelle Monae's song "Tightrope." Plus the album is hot! Go nab it, I'm know I'm going to :)

My Drive Thru

Apparently Converse has a series called Three Artists, One Song where they bring together three artists in the studio to write and record a new song. The most recent one is called "All Summer" and is a collaboration between Kid Cudi, Vampire Weekend guitarist Rostam, and Best Coast. You can download it on the Converse website, linked above. I thought it was aight. But it led me to the first song in the series, "My Drive Thru," which I really like. It's a collaboration between Santigold, Julian Casablancas (of The Strokes), N.E.R.D. and Pharrell. Check out the awesome video below!

Jason Miller Antler Lights

What could be a more appropriate design trend for me to report on than light fixtures made from antlers?
Jason Miller makes great ones. I waaaant!



Brandon Thomas Baunach over at Design Crack had it right when he wrote "one of my favorite uses of antlers is chandeliers. Why? They create beautiful shadows." But I have to say, I am also seriously diggin that awesome table lamp. If I had an extra $270 hanging around I'd snap it up good.

Harvey

I had the pleasure of watching this wonderful film last night for the first time.

It was funny, smart, and touching all at once. I can't believe it was made in 1950, it seems so far ahead of its time. James Stewart was nominated for an Oscar for his role, and Josephine Hull won one for hers.
Speaking of Josephine Hull, I couldn't help noticing that she looks exactly like Rip Torn in drag.

Apparently they're not related, but the resemblance is spooky, though I couldn't find any pictures that really do it justice. Take a peek at the clip above and see if you agree.
I want a copy of the portrait Elwood has done of him and Harvey!

I liked this quote in particular: "Years ago my mother used to say to me, she'd say, "In this world, Elwood, you must be" - she always called me Elwood - "In this world, Elwood, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant." Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. You may quote me."

Temporary Secretary

Would you ever believe this is by Paul McCartney?!? Very strange. I want to hear this in a DJ set.
I've been on a total Beatles solo career kick lately...it started with getting Oh Yoko!, one of my favorite songs ever, stuck in my head.

Then I moved on to What is Life...

I'm just missing Ringo. Any suggestions?!?

Standing Cat!

Now here is a wonderful example of the right choice of music making all the difference in an otherwise somewhat lackluster video. The original just has the standard retarded rustling noises in the background but this version is absolute edge-of-your-seat amazing.
Found on the "answer to my dreams" website Kitteh Roulette.

A Peace Treaty Jewelry

A Peace Treaty is an accessories line co-founded by a Pakistani Muslim and a Libyan Jew to employ skilled artisans in areas of strife and to make their products available and appealing to a wide international audience.
This season one of their three collections is gold-plated bronze jewelry in bold geometric shapes made by Kurdish artisans. I really love this necklace in particular:

At $170, it's not exactly within my budget, but maybe for a special occasion!
They also make scarves. Go check it out!

Vollis Simpson

The NY Times recently ran an article called "Vollis Simpson: Junkyard Poet of Whirligigs." It's about a 91-year-old outsider artist and former farm equipment repairman in North Carolina who creates huge, fanciful and dynamic pieces from junkyard scrap. I was particularly drawn by a quote in the article from Rebecca Alban Hoffberger, "a Maryland philanthropist and consultant to nonprofits" who opened the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. She says of Simpson, “He’s delighted with attention, but he doesn’t need it…my favorite artists don’t watch themselves being artists.”
My favorite artists don't watch themselves being artists.
What an interesting little phrase. Some of my favorite artists decidedly do "watch themselves being artists" (Whistler comes to mind). If you're not watching yourself being an artist--i.e. if you're unaware of your artistic identity, or don't particularly identify your work as 'art'--then are you really an artist?
Food for thought.

Dewy Sleeping Insects

Check out this article on the Daily Mail about an amateur photographer who seeks out sleeping insects in the early morning hours, then photographs them up close while they are still covered in morning dew. The insects look like beautiful jewels. What a great idea...wonder how he came up with it?

Gia Coppola Strikes Again

I enjoyed this short that Gia Coppola (Sofia's niece) made for Opening Ceremony starring Kirsten Dunst and Jason Schwartzman.
Now she has made a film starring The Like to promote Zac Posen for Target.

The collection is available starting April 25.
Yay!

Sortuv

Ever wanted to search for a particular type of restaurant, bar, or store but couldn't come up with the words to make Google cooperate?
Here's your solution. Try it out!
Also, speaking of search engines, try typing "where is Chuck Norris" into Google and click "I'm feeling lucky."

What the...?

You might be wondering what the heck is going in these photos.
This photographer lives in San Francisco and took these shots of the hilly streets there, but tilted to flatten them!
A new perspective on one of my favorite cities :)

Cure for Polaroid Withdrawl

Although I never owned a Polaroid camera, I like many others felt a stab of regret when Polaroid gave up on its most famous product. Yes, there are some alternatives from Fujifilm, but it's just not the same.
Luckily, The Impossible Project has taken up the mantle of instant analog photography. They've released a type of film called PX100 First Flush, which yields sepia-y monotone prints. Two examples are shown above, and you can see more at their online database.
You can buy the film from their website, a pack for $22, starting March 25 (in two days!). They're also going to release color packs later this year. Yay for analog!

LIFE

One of the perks of being back in the US this week is, as much as I kinda hate to admit it, TELEVISION. I don't have a TV in Berlin and, let's face it, no one does TV like America.
So the other day I'm chillin and watchin Cash Cab (as one does) when I saw an ad for Discovery Channel's latest Planet Earth-like venture, Life.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
I literally stared at the screen with my mouth hanging open in awe.
Too bad I won't be here to watch it. It's gonna be awesome. Check out the trailer below and head over to their YouTube channel for more footage.

Alexa Meade

Alexa Meade creates "living still lifes" by painting live bodies and incorporating them into installations with found objects. These are photos, not paintings!
Also check out her flickr.

NYC in Miniature

The Sandpit from Sam O'Hare on Vimeo.

Love love LOVE this tilt-shift video of NYC.

Stefani Germanotta

Having just watched the 'Telephone' video for the first time, I was reminded of this video of Lady Gaga before she was Lady Gaga, performing at NYU:

BUST Magazine

How on earth did that transformation take place?

Movie Quotes, Graphically

The best one is definitely Rhett Butler.
Found here.