Away We Go

I had the pleasure of watching this hilarious, sweet, and touching movie last night, and I have to recommend it wholeheartedly. I love John Krasinski, and his adorableness is doubled by the scruffy beard and thick-rimmed glasses. I used to love Maya Rudolph on SNL, and it was interesting to see her in slightly more serious role. Plus there's a whole host of great, hilarious cameos: Jeff Daniels and the always wonderful Catherine O'Hara as Burt's parents, Allison Janney playing a hilariously loud and obnoxious friend with Jim Gaffigan as her husband, and Maggie Gyllenhaal as Burt's hippy-dippy cousin. I was laughing out loud for large chunks of it, but also appreciated the sweeter romantic moments. All in all...a fab movie!

Toilet Roll Art

Wow--made from toilet paper rolls!
Done by an artist called Junior Fritz Jacquet.

Also, this is my hundredth post! whoo?

Gwon Osang

Check out this guy.
He makes sculptures by photographing his subjects hundreds of times and putting the photos together into hauntingly off-kilter 3D objects.

Tchaikovsky via Vodafone

This is SO COOL.
There are 'making of' videos on youtube as well!

Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries

Cool beans.

Saltwater Room

This song was stuck in my head this morning.
Owl City is a current obsession, thanks to Mack. My favorite song of theirs is probably Super Honeymoon, though I also like On the Wing and Hot Air Balloons. If you like the Postal Service, you'll like Owl City.

Bosch tchotchkes

Pretty great. Based on the imagery of Hieronmyus Bosch, a Renaissance painter often seen as a forerunner of Surrealism. On Amazon.

The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth

Been stuck in my head for a couple days now...love this homemade video.

Is This Love?

Cute video on youtube for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's song 'Is This Love?'

Whitney Artport

The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York is one of my favorite museums. I just found out that on their website they have something called "artport", "the Whitney's portal to net art." Given that I have just been looking into web art recently at work (for example this guy, my favorite of his is fataltotheflesh.com), I was pretty interested. Their screening circle, co-comissioned with Britain's Tate Museum (another fav of mine) is super fun to fool around with!

The Fun Theory

Even though I was surprised at the end to see it's "an initiative of Volkswagen" and not some cool artist collective, this is still great.

RIP Irving Penn

I loved this man's work.
From the Times obit: “Here was a young American who seemed unspoiled by European mannerisms or culture. I remember he wore sneakers and no tie. I was struck by his directness and a curious unworldliness, a clarity of purpose, and a freedom of decision. What I call Penn’s American instincts made him go for the essentials.”

K.Flay

K.Flay is a rap artist who used to go to Stanford...above is my favorite song of hers.
As to what she's up to now, you can download her latest mixtape, Mashed Potatoes, here, and check out her website if you so desire. For me, it doesn't get better than "How I'm Rockin" but it's still aight. Hopefully her forthcoming EP will be good.

Vol. 3?

According to this article, Quentin Tarantino is planning to make a third Kill Bill movie.

Awesome!

Zombieland

Looks like my kinda movie.

edit: make yourself into a legit zombie here.

Propeller Island City Lodge

Just heard about this awesome hotel in Berlin. The Lodge is described as "a habitable work of art in the heart of Berlin, whose wealth of ideas never fails to attract everyone into its gravitational field and to continue inspiring guests long afterwards." All the rooms are crazy!
"Definitely one of City Lodge's highlights. The diamand-shaped room is completely(!) laid out with mirrors and gives you the impression of living in a kaleidoscope. Caution: Very sexy!":

"The furnishings hang from the ceiling and you sleep and sit in comfortable boxes beneath the floorboards. Uncannily surreal! The only four-bed room. One of the most unique accomodations.":

"A large room with a gable roof. The bathroom in this room is like a small house, entirely made of blue glass. From the high seat you can observe the antics and 'goings-on' in the circular bed, and its rotations present you with constantly changing perspectives through strategically empty picture frames. ...but we cannot recommand the bed for tall people (2m in diameter).":

"In both coffins you can even slumber beneath closed lids! Exclusively connoisseur room for all those "Nosferatus" who cannot wait for that which awaits us all. Whosoever has second thoughts can creep to the bedplace below, safe within the labyrinth. Not only a unique experience for Gothic die-hards...an exquisite location on top of that!":

and more...

Subodh Gupta

Very interesting artist...makes sculpture out of pots and pans:


As well as more traditional materials:

Of this bronze take on Duchamp's L.H.O.O.Q., Gupta says he is an "idol thief." "Art language is the same all over the world," he claims, "which allows me to be anywhere." An interesting sentiment.

Slooow Motion

I've always been a fan of this viral video by Action Figure:

And was reminded of it again today when watching videos by Bill Viola, who says of his work, "I am interested in what the old masters didn't paint, those steps in between."

Interesting, then, that the choreographer who put together this dance version of Gericault's 'Raft of the Medusa' uses such similar methods:



PS. I love the song in the Action Figure video. It's a Shazam remix of 'Sweaty' by Muscles with vocals by Reija Thomas.

Rubens & Hélène Fourment

Rubens painted numerous portraits of his second wife Hélène Fourment, as well as inserting her into many of his allegorical and Classical images. She was not yet 17, he 53, when they married. She bore him 5 children before his death.
Arte's 'Palettes' video series says of his visual obsession with his young wife that it represented "the glory of the flesh," with Hélène's very real, womanly, dimpled and sensuous body, soft breasts, and creamy pearlescent skin standing in stark contrast to the young Rubens' smooth, bland and utterly unrealistic painting of Eve. Further, the video claims that in these portraits Rubens was taking part in "the tradition of Dianas, Junos, and Venuses...goddesses who fill men with desires and with dreams, sometimes only to have them dashed the more completely."