Friday, June 20, 2008
The Little Give
4 teams. 4 charities. 48 hours to make a difference. Karyo Edelman's The Little Give kicks off today. Check back to the site as the event progresses for on location Twitter updates and of-the-moment Flickr coverage.
4 teams. 4 charities. 48 hours to make a difference. Karyo Edelman's The Little Give kicks off today. Check back to the site as the event progresses for on location Twitter updates and of-the-moment Flickr coverage.
Labels: Collaborators, Shameless Self Promotion
Friday, June 13, 2008
Field Tested Books 2008
The team over at Coudal.com are back at it with the launch of the 2008 edition of Field Tested Books, a collection of book reviews by a variety writers, each with an interesting twist. As Jim explains:
"We had this notion that somehow through experimentation we could identify how our perception of a book is affected by the place where we read it. Or maybe the other way around. Maybe it’s possible to determine how a book colors the way we feel about the place where we experience it."
This year, the ever-experimental crew are trying their hand at book publishing by offering the Field-Tested Books collection (including all three years of FTB reviews) "in a handsome trade paperback". I was quite honored to be asked back as a contributor, and in return submitted a gonzo-inspired review of "The Proud Highway" by Hunter S. Thompson as read in Bangkok. (My 2006 submission, "Siddhartha, on a train between Madrid and Barcelona, Spain" can be found here.)
A perfect way to blow a Friday morning: peruse the website, buy the book and be sure to throw it in your backpack this summer when you light out on your own great literary adventure.
The team over at Coudal.com are back at it with the launch of the 2008 edition of Field Tested Books, a collection of book reviews by a variety writers, each with an interesting twist. As Jim explains:
"We had this notion that somehow through experimentation we could identify how our perception of a book is affected by the place where we read it. Or maybe the other way around. Maybe it’s possible to determine how a book colors the way we feel about the place where we experience it."
This year, the ever-experimental crew are trying their hand at book publishing by offering the Field-Tested Books collection (including all three years of FTB reviews) "in a handsome trade paperback". I was quite honored to be asked back as a contributor, and in return submitted a gonzo-inspired review of "The Proud Highway" by Hunter S. Thompson as read in Bangkok. (My 2006 submission, "Siddhartha, on a train between Madrid and Barcelona, Spain" can be found here.)
A perfect way to blow a Friday morning: peruse the website, buy the book and be sure to throw it in your backpack this summer when you light out on your own great literary adventure.
Labels: Collaborators, Literature, Shameless Self Promotion, Travel, When the Going Gets Weird
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
The Politics of Punk
"I thought punk would fade like disco, and with any luck, be replaced with a musical movement led by artists who could actually play their instruments. But in the ambulance, the maniacal vibrato and caustic quips of Dead Kennedys lead singer Jello Biafra had me gaping.Forever etched in my brain are his Tourettes-like rants about the perils of chemical warfare and the unmitigated cruelty of Cambodian dictator Pol Pot, dueling with the wailing siren as my buddy and I wove through rush-hour traffic."
–Patrick Ambrose writes "Jello Biafra and the Politics of Punk" at The Morning News
–Patrick Ambrose writes "Jello Biafra and the Politics of Punk" at The Morning News
Labels: American Hardcore, Music
Monday, June 02, 2008
"Gonzo" Trailer
Trailer for Alex Gibney's (The Smartest Guys in the Room, Who Killed the Electric Car) Gonzo.
Trailer for Alex Gibney's (The Smartest Guys in the Room, Who Killed the Electric Car) Gonzo.
Labels: Film, When the Going Gets Weird
Monday, May 26, 2008
Wong Kar Wai Sells Out..
For Philips Aurea.
For Lacoste.
For BMW (starring Clive Owen, Mickey Rourke, Adriana Lima and Forest Whitaker).
For Lancome (again starring Clive Owen).
For Dior (starring *cough* Eva Green).
For Softbank (starring Brad Pitt) here, here and here.
For Philips Aurea.
For Lacoste.
For BMW (starring Clive Owen, Mickey Rourke, Adriana Lima and Forest Whitaker).
For Lancome (again starring Clive Owen).
For Dior (starring *cough* Eva Green).
For Softbank (starring Brad Pitt) here, here and here.
Labels: Asian Cinema, Auteurs on YouTube, Film, Wong Kar Wai
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Pixel Pointillism: The Art of William Betts
Stumbled upon a brilliant exhibit at the Yaletown Jennifer Kostuik Gallery during lunch break today. Texas based artist William Betts (whose website curiously bares an "iPhone Optimized" icon) taps into the Big Brother omnipresence of our modern world, taking webcam and surveillance video screencaps as his subject matter and, by exchanging pixels for pointillism, reinterpreting them in often abstract and beautiful ways.
Says Betts in his Artist Statement:
"Today we have so many layers between the individual and direct experience, it fundamentally changes how we see the world...I am intereseted in how far removed I can get from the subject and the painting itself and still make paintings."
Definitely worth seeing in person if you get the chance. The exhibit runs until June 8th.
Stumbled upon a brilliant exhibit at the Yaletown Jennifer Kostuik Gallery during lunch break today. Texas based artist William Betts (whose website curiously bares an "iPhone Optimized" icon) taps into the Big Brother omnipresence of our modern world, taking webcam and surveillance video screencaps as his subject matter and, by exchanging pixels for pointillism, reinterpreting them in often abstract and beautiful ways.
Says Betts in his Artist Statement:
"Today we have so many layers between the individual and direct experience, it fundamentally changes how we see the world...I am intereseted in how far removed I can get from the subject and the painting itself and still make paintings."
Definitely worth seeing in person if you get the chance. The exhibit runs until June 8th.
Labels: Art, Signs of Our Time, Vancouver Galleries
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
The Communist's Future
Illustrations from various works by Russian science fiction writer Alexander Kazantsev
(via Coudal)
Illustrations from various works by Russian science fiction writer Alexander Kazantsev
(via Coudal)
Labels: illustration, Literature
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Joshua Davis On Pollock & Dynamic Abstraction
“Among modern artists I conceptually identify with Jackson Pollock - not that I’m a particular fan of his visual style, but because he always identified himself as a painter, even though a lot of the time his brush never hit the canvas. There’s something in that disconnect - not using a brush or tool in traditional methods."
and
“Pollock might argue that it’s the process of abstraction that’s dynamic, not the end result, which in his case is a static painting. In my own work, the end result is never static; by making room for as many anomalies as possible, every composition generated by the programs we write is unique to itself. I’ll program the “brushes,” the “paints,” the “strokes,” the “rules”, and the “boundaries”. However it is the software that creates the compositions — the programs draw themselves. I am in a constant state of surprise and discovery, because the program may structure compositions that I may never have thought of to execute or might take me hours to create manually.”
-Joshua Davis
“Among modern artists I conceptually identify with Jackson Pollock - not that I’m a particular fan of his visual style, but because he always identified himself as a painter, even though a lot of the time his brush never hit the canvas. There’s something in that disconnect - not using a brush or tool in traditional methods."
and
“Pollock might argue that it’s the process of abstraction that’s dynamic, not the end result, which in his case is a static painting. In my own work, the end result is never static; by making room for as many anomalies as possible, every composition generated by the programs we write is unique to itself. I’ll program the “brushes,” the “paints,” the “strokes,” the “rules”, and the “boundaries”. However it is the software that creates the compositions — the programs draw themselves. I am in a constant state of surprise and discovery, because the program may structure compositions that I may never have thought of to execute or might take me hours to create manually.”
-Joshua Davis
Labels: Design, Edge of Chaos
Monday, May 12, 2008
Swedes Invade the Red Room
Sweeping in on the coattails of whistling pop sensation Peter, Bjorn & John and rockers the Hives amidst what is being declared a Swedish invasion (or is it a Scandanavian invasion: there were 42 acts from the region at SXSW this year; 11 of which were Swedish), two acts from the land of beautiful people and generous social welfare touch down at the Red Room this Wednesday night.
First up, 22 year old music-blog darling Lykke Li whose lilty tunes and airy vocals are produced by the Bjorn of prior-mentioned PB&J into unabashedly catchy pop creations. The big push online right now is for Dance Dance Dance but I am groovin more on the diskJokke remix of Everybody but Me from over at Recrdlbl.
The second act, El Perro Del Mar, I am less familiar with. The one piece of trivia that I dug up was that TV on the Radio invited her to open for them in Spain last summer which seems like an odd pairing. But I trust their taste. Take the easy pop tracks of Lykke Li above and let them mature for a few years like a fine wine and you would have something sounding somewhat like El Perro. The lovely collection of songs on her new album, From the Valley to the Stars includes this one, Glory to the World.
Should be a good show. Be sure to look up my review later in the week.
Sweeping in on the coattails of whistling pop sensation Peter, Bjorn & John and rockers the Hives amidst what is being declared a Swedish invasion (or is it a Scandanavian invasion: there were 42 acts from the region at SXSW this year; 11 of which were Swedish), two acts from the land of beautiful people and generous social welfare touch down at the Red Room this Wednesday night.
First up, 22 year old music-blog darling Lykke Li whose lilty tunes and airy vocals are produced by the Bjorn of prior-mentioned PB&J into unabashedly catchy pop creations. The big push online right now is for Dance Dance Dance but I am groovin more on the diskJokke remix of Everybody but Me from over at Recrdlbl.
The second act, El Perro Del Mar, I am less familiar with. The one piece of trivia that I dug up was that TV on the Radio invited her to open for them in Spain last summer which seems like an odd pairing. But I trust their taste. Take the easy pop tracks of Lykke Li above and let them mature for a few years like a fine wine and you would have something sounding somewhat like El Perro. The lovely collection of songs on her new album, From the Valley to the Stars includes this one, Glory to the World.
Should be a good show. Be sure to look up my review later in the week.
Labels: Music, The Payola Chronicles
