Inanimate Escapism.

-  Christ it’s been a while.  That may have been the longest break from here I’ve taken in some time.  Alright, let’s get to it.

-  Last time I posted I mentioned Lichtenstein.  Well, one of his more famous pieces just went for a whopping $45 million.  Not gonna lie though, any Lichtenstein would look remarkable in a modern-stylized home (where as many “classic” paintings would not).

-  Interview with Robert Kirkman at CBR.  In it he discusses the upcoming 100th issue milestone of Walking Dead, why he thinks the series is so popular, and how he legitimately thinks issue #100 features the most gruesome scene of the series’ long history.  If you’ve read even 50% of the book, you know how stirring of a statement that actually is.

-  This FilmBook review of the Avengers gets it (in my opinion):

As the film progresses, action and suspense are chased and harried with mounting moments of levity, monologues, and convenient conflict resolutions. Those convenient conflict resolutions showed themselves again and again in how superhero fights were ended in the film. Most of the fight scenes had no pay off because of the state of the people fighting, a situation completely absent in Christopher Nolan’s Batman films. During the diverse fist-a-cuffs between members of the eventual The Avengers team, nothing is really at stake, except in one of the fights (Hulk vs. Black Widow) and that fight, theoretically, should have had a different conclusion. With everyone’s super powers, no one can be hurt or killed so there is nothing at risk (except property damage) and nothing to lose. The viewer seats and watches colorful crash dummies throw each other through walls or into inanimate objects.

But… it goes on to say:

If The Avengers is an exercise in escapism like most “tentpole”, “popcorn” films and how could it not be deemed as such, these quips and qualms are irrelevant.

Exactly.  My thoughts exactly.  I went into the movie with the expectation of watching a super awesome nerd-gasm inducing action flick (featuring some of the biggest names in comics), and that’s what I got.  However, that does not mean that I still was a little disappointed with aspects of the film.  The world never actually feels that threatened.  Neither the heroes.  It’s something easily forgivable considering this is the first go of it.  But if Joss Whedon is going to do 3 of these things, it would do him (and whoever else scripts) a whole lotta good to up the tension a bit.  I mean, the middle segment on the Hellicarier was more tense than the final scene.  Much more.  That’s the vibe ALL of the 2nd one should have.

-Sonny

A Propos de Blockhead.

-  There’s a new Blockhead mix floating around the web right now by a guy named DJ Pizzo.  Blockhead makes really great music to have on in your house while you’re painting/writing, or doing laundry, or sitting on your porch/deck.  He’s a beautiful sampler, loves his horns, and nothing is ever too overbearing.  He’s a pretty big influence on me, I hope one way I can manufacture a song the way he can so well.  Probably not.  Here’s the 80-minute mix:

-  Morning Breath Inc. is an incredible design company.  They have done album art for Slayer, TV On The Radio, Maximum Balloon, Placebo, and many more.  But they do other stuff too.  T-shirts, posters, snowboard/skateboard deck art, promotional art.  Here’s a cool test printing they did for a future silk-screening poster:

-  Tree Of Life was pretty cool.  It certainly lacked story, but I don’t think the object of the movie is to tell the audience an engrossing story.  Now that does not mean you don’t go on some sort-of journey with it, you do.  It just means that what we’ve come to expect out of the movies we sit down to watch is something very specific: it must be around 2 hours (maybe a little less), it must have moments of action or tension every 10 to 15 minutes, not only must it tell a definite and clear story, it must complete that story with an ending devoid of ambiguity (we allow this to be broken on trilogy-type properties; we’re so shallow), etc.  Movies can be visual art and visual art alone, just like paintings can.  Some paintings tell a story (Washington Crossing the Delaware), but do not (Mark Rothko)… at least not to the trained eye and brain.  Can film not be the same way?  Could a movie not just be a series of images and shots for beauty’s sake?  And this movie isn’t even that far on the spectrum.  There certainly is a narrative… perhaps not as clear-cut as what we’re used to, but there is dialogue and character arcs and rising action and falling action.  I’m reminded of A Propos de Nice, one of the more powerful movies I’ve ever watched and there’s essentially no narrative at all.

-  I’m missing record store day tomorrow because I’m working all day… such a bummer.  Please go out and support your local music shops, cause they’re the only ones who will stock the good stuff.  There’s also this thing amongst music heads to buy directly from the artist (Bandcamp, official sites, etc.) because then your favorite bands make a bit more money.  That is probably true, but I still like to get out to the record store because I can’t imagine a world where the only place to get new music is on the Internet, from the artist’s website.  There’s also something very relaxing about wandering the racks of a good record store, among people like yourself doing the same thing.

-Sonny

Peered Connections.

There are few cooler things a famous person can do (…”famous”) than pimp out less famous people’s work.  To me, a peer has less to do with success or status than content and style.  In this sense, “peers” are somewhat of an apparition, ghosts that drift through the windows of time attracted to likewise individuals.  Alan Moore, quite obviously, has some unearthly connection with H.P. Lovecraft; why can’t that go both ways?  Liu Xiaobo and Dr. King?  Hell, Robin Hood and Catwoman??  The promotion of likewise ideas and arts clearly moves upwards as well.  How many websites out there dedicate themselves to promoting their favorite films, albums, artists, writers?  Why, this very page almost defines this: a like-minded and dead alter-ego of an anonymous self talking about the very famous and the not so famous artisans of the world.

Few people have embraced this, and its natural relation to the Global Net, more than Warren Ellis.  He used to run what he called “The 4 A.M.” frequently.  It was a podcast of bands and musicians from all-over the world that caught his ear, the catch was he would ask for submissions from anyone to an e-mail account.  The result was a mixture of artists with wildly different levels of “success”: a kid in his basement experimenting with synths, an ambient band who’s poised to takeover South By Southwest.  His personal website is essentially a catalog for other artists he enjoys and/or would like to see become more successful.  (From what I hear Slug’s Twitter feed is one big radio station for promoting other bands he likes.)  Three things (out of thousands) I have Warren to thank for sharing with me:

PHYSORG.com – A wonderful website.  One of the “leading web-based science, research and technology news service which covers a full range of topics. These include physics, earth science, medicine, nanotechnology, electronics, space, biology, chemistry, computer sciences, engineering, mathematics and other sciences and technologies.“

Katelan Foisy – Artist, writer, photographer, journalist, thinker, entrepreneur, blogger, gardener.  Her paintings evoke textured and surreal characterization of herself, her friends, her neighbors, YOU… they dig deep into the human experience as seen through the kaleidoscope of popular culture and fantastical underbelly that lies underneath life as we know it.  Her writing does a bit of the same, a throwback to the stream-of-consciousness writers and poets of the 50′s and 60′s.  Make no mistake, she is good at everything she does.

More recently, Sara Gries’ FLICKR – Sara takes pretty pictures.  Photos of puppets/dolls, books, time-pieces, artwork, herself, with an eye for the way things work.  She is very interested in the physical: metal and fabrication and depth; one of those photographers you want to reach inside their work and prod what lies in wait, make it go.  Go and touch some of her pictures.

-Sonny

Disney Terrordome.

SuperPunch (Are you following that site?  If you aren’t you should be) directed me towards an awesome set of Mario Brothers posters created byFro Design Co.  The posters are propaganda based, as told from the perspective of a Bowser/bad-guys recruitment center.  There are 4 in all, which the studio is selling as a package for $80.  Not too shabby considering they are limited (100 of each), handmade, and measure 11 X 17.  My favorite is probably this one:

Again, the designer’s link.

ARTIST OF THE DAY has got to be Dave MacDowell.  This guy can paint, good God.  He specializes in pop cultural blastings on canvas mostly, with an affinity for mashups and portraiture/caricature.  A quick Google Image search will get you a fine sampling of his work (the Samuel L. Jackson and Jack Nicholson paintings seem to be the most popular on Google).  He’s also got his own wonderful, official site where all his work can be viewed in his very prolific gallery.  His Flickr photostream is interesting, considering he throws up paintings which he’s in the middle of doing (I’d assume some of these paintings take a lonnng time) along with his finished paintings and also sketches.  It’s impossible for me to pick a favorite.  But I’ll post this one because I’m into any artist who portrays Disney Co. this way (how fucking dark is this??  Holy):

Yikes.

-Sonny

The Last Breakfast.

- This is awesome.  A take on DaVinci’s “The Last Supper” featuring the best of the best when it comes to cereal mascots.  Art by Brian Stuckey, who sculpted/setup/photographed the scene.  Go and visit his site (which is very clever and efficient in terms of layout).  I give you, “The Last Breakfast”:

Via SuperPunch.

-Sonny