blank canvas

Anarchy in the UK

2011-07-27T13:40:00.001+01:00

comic by Dagsson

How Do You Feel (About Art)?

2011-04-20T11:23:00.001+01:00

A micro-documentary asking New Yorkers for a three word answer for a (seemingly) simple question ...
only to reveal the rich complexity of art's impact on the human psyche.

How Do You Feel (About Art)? from svanes on Vimeo.
Check out filmmakers Christian and Ewan for more cool creative-ness

Wishery

2010-11-08T11:54:00.002Z

Here’s the latest video remix from Australia-based audio-visual mash-up artist Pogo entitled Wishery. Here he takes Disney’s 1937 classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and splices it into a rich tapestry of sonic and visual symbiosis.
His inaugural Disney remix Alice, created from Alice in Wonderland, is probably his most popular sample that has only been recently re-released back on the web after being removed for copyright issues with The Mouse himself!

THIS IS SO AWESOME.

2010-10-23T13:30:00.000+01:00

Massive Attack's "United Snakes" music video, made by United Visual Artists

Star Wars in 2D

2010-10-11T10:12:00.000+01:00

Forget Star Wars 3D, paper animations are a labor of love. Eric Power, creator of the above video, loves to animate video games, but he may have out-nerded himself with a paper animation condensing the Star Wars trilogy into a 2:40 video. It’s actually a music video for Jeremy Messersmith, but the animation could easily stand alone.

So, for all of you OT (that’s original trilogy) fans out there, here's a lo-fi song played to a very 2D music video.

pool party?

2010-06-28T18:01:00.000+01:00

There was another heat wave this past weekend in London. Guess it's Summertime!

Which naturally brings to mind pool parties. Although, they were hard to find.

Only this year, if you do find a pool party...firstly, let me know, and secondly, you need to take your pool-party atmosphere up a notch...the iPod sitting 75 feet from the water isn't cutting it.

You need The Wireless Waterproof MP3 Speaker, a sound system that doesn't mind getting a little wet.

Basically, this is the boom box that Aquaman would bring to any pool-related function thrown by the Super Friends. It's wireless, it runs on batteries, and it packs a 12-watt subwoofer and 3-watt tweeter range (that's Circuit City talk for "It sounds great").

So picture it: a backyard pool party festooned with attractive people in very little clothes, inflatable lounge chairs and some miscellaneous pairs of water wings. You show up with this audio game changer, connect an MP3 player to its transmitter and set the main unit a couple of feet from the pool ladder. Suddenly your Party Jamz compilation is turning that pedestrian game of water volleyball into a rousing match of chicken. Or at least Marco Polo.

And in the course of entertaining the undressed masses, should a particularly full cup of beer be dropped on top of it, it will keep playing songs, since it's waterproof.

Hello Brooklyn

2010-06-21T17:33:00.000+01:00

Typography geek Greg Solenström recently paired black and white photos of Brooklyn with Akzidenz Grotesk font and Jay-Z and Lil Wayne’s “Hello Brooklyn 2.0″ for a fan made tribute that I think could work as an official video...Check it ouuuuuut!

Jay Z - "Hello Brooklyn" from Gregory Solenström on Vimeo.

5 things YOU can do to make a difference in the gulf oil spill

2010-06-17T18:07:00.000+01:00

Join more than 10,000 others and make your voice heard.  Tell President Obama and Congress to restore the full moratorium on new offshore drilling in federal waters.
http://www.surfrider.org/nodrilling
Join thousands across America on June 26th as we come together to take a stand.  On June 26 we are coordinating a nationwide event to oppose new offshore drilling. It’s called Hand Across the Sand. It will take place in all coastal states in the United States.
http://www.handsacrossthesand.com/
Stay up to speed on spill details on the Surfrider blog: http://www.nottheanswer.org  Stay tuned on the latest news, ways to participate in our Not The Answer campaign, and join the conversation about the disaster unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico.
http://www.nottheanswer.org
Tweet! Related, a few relevant Twitter feeds to add to your mix are: @surfrider @envirosurf @bpglobalpr @skytruth @jimmoriarty   @chadenelsen Tweet about oil spill using #oilspill
Volunteer in Florida and Gulf. If you live in the Gulf or Florida regions you can document what you see and find with our Spill Tracker here:
http://oilspill.skytruth.org
If you’re in this area and have never connected with a local chapter, now is a great time to do it. Find the local dozen chapters in the Gulf and in Florida:http://www.surfrider.org/chapters.asp   
Support alternatives. Engage.   The United States has 3% of the world’s oil and uses 20% of the world’s oil. We cannot drill our way to national security. We need to find alternatives. 70% of oil is used for transportation. For one thing, we need use less fuel. If you drive a vehicle getting low MPG, think about that choice and what it means. If you can use make a phone call, Skype or video conferencing instead of flying, understand these choices save massive amounts of fuel. If you hear about local, state and national governments looking to invest in alternative energy solutions… pay attention.
http:///www.oceanamps.org

Volcanoes Can be Arty Too

2010-05-18T13:44:00.002+01:00

Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull - May 1st and 2nd, 2010 from Sean Stiegemeier on Vimeo.

Eyjafjallajökull's ash started flying all over the place again recently, but has settled down. Meanwhile, while everyone attempted to scramble away from Iceland, Sean Stiegemeier flew over to be right where the action was. After 8 days of flight/weather drama, he was able to capture this stunning footage of the volcanic hellion and its smoke-stack spews. A Sigur Rós’s Jónsi track accompanies the time lapse, but here’s a Mastodon song you can play along instead.

Blasting Tunes like it's 1904

2010-05-17T09:11:00.000+01:00

Fridays are about doing crazy things and looking really ridiculous and recovering in time for brunch on Saturday. And Saturdays tend to be about the same thing, but recovering for brunch on Sunday.

So it's appropriate that today, after what I hope was a fabulous weekend for you all, I introduce to you the iVictrola, a new handmade iPod dock that combines a vintage Magnavox phonograph horn and your love for retro electronics, now available.

First of all, I will make it clear: it's not electric. At all. There's no outlet, no plug, no fuss.

Just like the phonographs of old, the iVictrola uses a giant metal horn to capture the music coming from your iPod and crank it out with a touch of historical flair (I'm guessing the RCA dog would be just as mesmerized by this).

All you have to do is drop your iPod or iPhone into the open slot on the hand-constructed walnut base, make sure your volume is up, and the dock does the rest. Ta-da! Sound is caught by the bottom of the horn and reverberates up the cone via the natural conductivity of metal—and the resulting quality will be eerily similar to the kind flappers and hip-cats danced to back in the Roaring '20s.

This may be the best way to finally introduce your grandmother to Jay-Z.

Gelato, Sorbet, and Fro-Yo on a Stick!

2010-05-13T09:23:00.000+01:00

If you're in New York, there might be an excess of licking in the West Village this summer.

The culprit: a new form of popsicle-ized gelato/sorbet/frozen yogurt called the PopBar, sold at a new shop dedicated to popsicles (5 Carmine Street, at Sixth Ave). Eat them plain or dipped in nuts, biscotti, brownies or chocolate.

All of this will be familiar to anyone who’s been to Italy’s various Stick House locations, but owners Reuben BenJehuda (an Italian who has worked in fashion for the past decade or so) and Daniel Yaghoubi (a German record producer) are making it a point to use hormone-free milk, real fruit (lemon, blood orange, mango, berries, peach, etc.), and no additives. And one last thing may help them stick it to the competition: Their coffee is Stumptown.

Even if you don't eat them at all, be prepared to buy them for friends in sundresses.

Tweet Museum

2010-05-12T11:45:00.000+01:00

Celebrity tweets, illustrated...I'm enjoying these immensely.

Crayola Evolution

2010-05-11T10:41:00.000+01:00

The evolution from 1903 to 2010, colorfully mapped out (visual metaphor for life, whaaaaat). When I was growing up, I remember the 64-box set was like the Bentley of crayons - now apparently there are 150 colors in all?!

Vhere's Valdo?

2010-05-10T11:30:00.002+01:00

This is a brilliant and hilarious "Werner Herzog Reads Where's Waldo" clip ... too good not to share on le blog.

There's more where that came from: Werner Herzog Reads Curious George, and Werner Herzog Reads Madeline

Brandy Smuggler Walking Cane Flask

2010-05-09T20:33:00.000+01:00

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

You miss your plane, you commandeer a chopper. Your cocktail is offensively subpar, you hop behind the bar.

And now, if the stadium only stocks cheap overpriced beer, you fake a limp and hobble with purpose. Bear with me...

Introducing the Brandy Smuggler Walking Cane Flask, available to meet your smuggling needs.

Consider it the best reason to fake a limp since you played the role of Keyser Söze in a Tony-winning adaptation of The Usual Suspects. In short, it's exactly what it sounds like: an aluminum, gold-handled cane that's been hollowed out to fit not one, but five two-ounce flasks, which you can then fill with the beverage of your choosing. (Just hope no one asks why your cane is making a swishing sound.)

It's not hard to see how this would come in handy. You can use the flasks to mix and match—two bourbons, two scotches and, why not, one champagne. Oh, better yet - half with champagne, half with OJ and start making mimosas!! And it's all housed inside an innocent-looking cane made by Harvy, the same brand that probably made your grandparents' walking sticks.

Respect your elders.

party playlist revolution

2010-05-07T09:51:00.001+01:00

Ah, the party mix—execute it well, and you're a hero. Execute it poorly, and your friends will never let you near a stereo again.

A solution: this site, which lets you and your friends create a collaborative playlist, even as the party is in motion. Not that anyone should thwart your wall-to-wall Bee Gees rock block.

Start collaborating here.

Det Snurrar I Min Skalle

2010-05-02T01:52:00.000+01:00

I found this via my friend, Zeeg. It's pretty sweet. Familjen a.k.a. Johan T Karlsson, a Swedish techno/electropop artist, has blown my mind with the video for the song ‘Det Snurrar I Min Skalle’. That is Swedish for ‘It’s Spinning Inside My Head’. Directed by Johan SÃ¶derberg, the video is a mash-up remix of footage from a tent revival. I am hesitant to even use the term mash-up because this is so far beyond what your typical media mash-up has become. Open your eyes and ears and enjoy!

**Where do you start to look for archived footage like this? There are probably so many gems out there waiting to be reborn into modern magic!

a little graffiti stop motion...

2010-04-29T17:28:00.002+01:00

Broken Fingaz -Graffiti Stop Motion from Broken Fingaz on Vimeo.

Environmental Graffiti

2010-04-28T00:35:00.000+01:00

Environmental Graffiti is the online website that is based in the UK and provides a range that is nothing short of stupendous, with posts on everything from bamboo architecture and the most psychedelic river on Earth (located in Colombia’s Sierra de la Macarena) to the long history of gunpowder weaponry and how the CIA caused mass insanity in a French town by spiking bread with LSD. Eye-catching photo galleries and videos supplement fascinating lists, such as the 35 greatest works of reverse graffiti (amazing!) and the world’s most terrifying spiral staircases.

You can apply for an account to write stories, but anyone can read them! So, browse the site and follow Environmental Graffiti on Twitter. Woo!

eardrum pick-me-up.

2010-04-27T02:06:00.000+01:00

Sometimes it’s two o’clock in the morning, like it is right now in London, and your eardrums need a pick-me-up.

...Or a sucker punch. Check out PowerSolo, a Danish rockabilly punk duo that sounds kind of like Green Day might if they didn’t get old and start writing Broadway musicals. Also, like all good punk rockers, the boys aren’t afraid to get naked for the sake of an album cover.

...Or have a listen to Nigerian-born, Germany-based rising soul star Nneka who crosses continents musically as easily as she does physically. Mixing the emotional transparency of Lauryn Hill with her African influences, Nneka makes music that presents her as both a fresh voice and a positive political force. Catch a show...she'll be in London tomorrow - April 28 - at Scala.

Goodnight.

Shazam for Art

2010-04-26T01:07:00.000+01:00

You already know Shazam—you hold up your phone to "hear" a song, and the phone tells you what song it is. This does that, but for art—take a picture of a painting, sculpture or carefully constructed doodle with your phone, and it shows you the details behind it.

Now you'll finally know the Old Master behind Dogs Playing Poker.

Start snapping HERE

Earth from Above

2010-04-16T15:27:00.001+01:00

Launching soon in Bryant Park is a month-long exhibition called Earth From Above by French environmentalist and photographer, Yann Arthus-Bertrand, that coincides with the global Earth Day celebration. 120 large-scale aerial photos will be displayed vertically along the park’s walkways in not-so-subtle reference to The Gates, the public art installation by Christo and Jeanne-Claude that hit Manhattan in 2005. Arthus-Bertrand, a UN Environmental Program Goodwill Ambassador, aims to “illuminate” Earth’s beauty while inspiring audiences to care for the planet’s natural resources. Also, his colorful, abstract prints are really, really pretty.

Though the Bryant Park exhibition has been postponed from its original April 2 start date, the exhibition is intended for wide view, and Arthus-Bertrand envisions his images traveling throughout other US cities in 2010 to launch the first US Tour of Earth From Above. Since its Paris premiere in 2000, Earth From Above has been seen on every populated continent by more than 130 million visitors in over 120 cities including London, Tokyo, Berlin, Seoul, Beirut, Moscow, Sydney, Mexico City, Montreal, Stockholm, and Reykjavik. Each photo is accompanied by captions that link the image to the environmental and social issues at stake, “inviting the onlooker to consider sustainable development as the solution to the challenges brought into focus.” On the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, this April 22, Arthus-Bertrand’s imagery presents a compelling argument for sustaining the planet as we know it. If you're in New York, check it out...it's free, day and night, rain or shine!

Earth From Above is coming to New York City from Picture Earth on Vimeo.

The Quotable Douchebag

2010-04-13T17:03:00.001+01:00

We've all said things we regret.

Not you, of course. Every word from your mouth is like a pearl of wisdom inside a shell of... even more wisdom.

The same cannot be said for Gene Simmons.

Which takes me to The Quotable Douchebag, a fine collection of bons mots from some of the world's douchiest people, online now.

Let me be clear: this is a ramshackle collection of the most haughty, self-important quotes of all time. (Why yes, John Mayer is quoted at length.)

Suffice it to say, these are quotes from some of the brightest minds of our time. To wit: "Osama bin Laden is the only one who knows exactly what I'm going through." (R. Kelly, of course.) "I know who I am. No one else knows who I am. If I was a giraffe and somebody said I was a snake, I'd think, 'No, actually I'm a giraffe.'" (Richard Gere.) And, perhaps, the best (by which I mean worst): "There are many dying children out there whose last wish is to meet me."

Stay classy, Hasselhoff.

100 sqft.

2010-04-12T17:01:00.000+01:00

I am participating in an exhibition in May of 100 artists called "100sqft". The concept is 100 pieces of art each of them being one foot square to be exhibited in a 10x10 grid at a gallery in North London. The Exhibition will be Early May with a Launch Party on May 16 @ the Chomley Boys Club, 68 Boleyn Road, London N16 8JG and will run for 1 week, giving a chance for the participating artsists and those interested in meeting them to get together at one of Dalstons undiscovered gems. We are inviting everyone to join us for the launch evening to meet up for a drink and enjoy the entertainment laid on by resident DJ's 'Our Friends Eclectic' !

The exhibition catalog is now available to view online and purchase. I'm on page 1, take a look! :)

100Sqft - Exhibition of 100 Artworks by Square [ ] | BOOK INFO

Timber Timbre

2010-04-08T03:24:00.003+01:00

Canada has done it again. Please welcome Timber Timbre to the world of music.

This Canadian folkie sounds like a Southern Gothic Randy Newman...I know, it's an strange mix, but when you see Taylor Kirk leading his bare-bones group and realize, "Man, Randy Newman totally should've done some swampy bluesy stuff," you will understand Timber Timbre. And you will love it.

Note: they are playing in London May 17!

Banksy : Graffiti Deity

2010-04-07T03:38:00.002+01:00

Street artist, situationist and public-space japester Banksy is famed for his snogging coppers, simpering apes and for debunking Israel's new West Bank barrier with graffiti. Now he takes his career of radical cheek into the cinema with a hilarious new documentary, Exit Through The Gift Shop, which was being shown in early March at the director's own pop-up cinema in an underpass in London's Waterloo before moving on to more conventional locations...

You should know up front that this isn’t a movie about Banksy. It is, however, a film about street art, and more specifically, about an enigmatic/hipster French clothing store owner in LA named Thierry Guetta. Some folks may know him as the artist Mr. Brain Wash, a very successful commercial street artist. But this predates Mr. Brain Wash, and goes back to the late 1990s, when Thierry was merely a man obsessed with capturing his entire life on video - odd, I know. But, as it turned out, his cousin was an up-and-coming street artist called Space Invader, who worked nights in France and LA, decorating the town with cute little pixel aliens...haha. So, upon spending time with Space Invader, Thierry became obsessed with street artists, eventually meeting up with the likes of Shepard Fairey and others, eventually even Banksy. So thennn, what started as a seemingly pointless endeavor for Thierry soon became something much more important: that for the first time, someone was capturing the masters of street art including in their element, operating in a legal gray area and peppering major cities with often beautiful works of art. After years of filming, Thierry put together a film to show Banksy as one of his biggest fans. In a word, it was atrocious (clearly Thierry wasn't a filmmaker no matter how hard he tried). So instead of letting that be the authoritative work on street art, Banksy decided to take Thierry’s tape and turn it into Exit Through the Gift Shop.

Go check it out!! Here's the UK trailer below:

Free Energy

2010-04-06T03:07:00.002+01:00

I have fallen in love with these Philly-based boys and their band, "Free Energy." James Murphy may have produced their debut album, but they don't sound like most DFA bands (don't get me wrong, I love the DFA artists, but these guys are different -- they're guitar-based and lack turntables, for one). Still, the spirit is the same: JUBILANT! It's awesome! Their lead-in single is the band's namesake ("Free Energy"), which is usually a warning sign, but their album, Stuck on Nothing, proved that the guys have plenty of equally rad material!

Note: they will be in London May 17 at Monto Water Rats.

Kapoor vs. Eifel

2010-04-05T01:07:00.001+01:00

Designs for what will be Britain's biggest piece of public art, a 120 metres tall looping tower by the artist Anish Kapoor that people will be able to climb, giving spectacular views of London, were unveiled by Boris Johnson, mayor of London.

Kapoor's Orbit, a vast, snaking steel structure, will dominate the 2012 Olympic park. It is being hailed as London's answer to the Eiffel tower and is part of an ambition to make the Olympics site a permanent visitor attraction.

Kapoor won the commission from a shortlist of bidders believed to include only the greatest artists such as Antony Gormley and the architects Caruso St John. Johnson said of Kapoor: "He has taken the idea of a tower and transformed it into a piece of modern British art. It would have boggled the minds of the Romans. It would have boggled Gustave Eiffel."

The structure will cost about £19.1m. Johnson said: "Of course some people will say we are nuts – in the depths of a recession – to be building Britain's biggest ever piece of public art. But both Tessa Jowell [Olympics minister] and I are certain that this is the right thing for the Stratford site, in games time and beyond."

Kapoor has collaborated on the project with his friend Cecil Balmond, one of the world's leading structural engineers. Approximately 1,400 tonnes of steel will be used. The plan is for work to begin soon with a completion date of December 2011.

Kapoor said one of his references was the Tower of Babel. "There is a kind of medieval sense to it of reaching up to the sky, building the impossible. A procession, if you like. It's a long winding spiral: a folly that aspires to go even above the clouds and has something mythic about it."

via Guardian

5 second films

2010-04-04T00:10:00.000+01:00

Firstly, apologies to my email subscribers for yesterday's email, as a second post from a few weeks ago about a Philips de Pury auction that I had edited was accidently included.

On another note, I have found 5 Second Films: a hilariously fast-paced, daily online video series that injects off-the-wall humor into micro-shorts! It is updated every weekday and the selection of clips really ranges from profanity-laced action to bizarre skits. My possible ADD is cured, and it's all thanks to the founder, Brian Firenzi, and his taste for the absurd. The rules are simple: 2 seconds of opening title, five seconds of action on film, and one second of end credits... and he said that "if you take umbrage with these 5sfs running at an actual length of 8 seconds, we can only assume you're no fun at dinner parties."

Enjoy.

Danger Swimming

2010-04-03T00:54:00.000+01:00

Phoebe, my little sister and President of Danger Camp, and I saw this fantastic clip on TV after a long drive to the mountains yesterday. It's hilarious and genius : a must-watch, indeed.

Bruce Irons Covert Opps

2010-03-30T06:39:00.002+01:00

...such a sick vid.

Fiver

2010-03-29T06:33:00.000+01:00

From time to time, you could use a little help. (We all could, really).

Not with the big things—your secret plan to become the next Tommy Wiseau and recreate The Room is coming right along. But with the tiny things that make every day just a little bit harder.

I have good news...there is someone willing to do all those things for you. Can you believe it?! And the best part: they're only charging five bucks!

It's all at Fiverr.com, a new website that lists people willing to do just about anything for $5, online now.

Think of it as the cheap (but legal) labor pool your budding empire so desperately deserves—not to mention an easy way to see just what people are willing to do for five bucks. Go to the site, and post whatever it is you need done—opening your fan mail, spreading rose petals at your feet, pre-tying your ties—and see if anyone's willing to do it. Don't worry about negotiating—everything costs no more -- and no less -- than $5.

And for those needs you're not even aware of, you can scan the list of things that people are willing to do. The current offers include everything from people willing to play a song for you on a radio station in Clovis, New Mexico, or draw a monster hanging out with you, to taking you out clubbing in Copenhagen.

A $10 value.

any clip

2010-03-27T23:26:00.000Z

AnyClip is a handy treasure trove of movie clips that will keep you from saying "What did that guy say in that movie?" ever again.

In short, it's an exhaustive video library of the juiciest bits from your favorite movies, including everything from Scarface (say it with me: "Say hello...") to obscure gems.

You can search by actor, director, even object—which also provides handy proof that there are more movies with guns than sandwiches. And if for some reason they don't have a clip yet, you can usually find a snippet from the screenplay to remind you of the quote you're looking for.

Oh, and nobody puts Baby in a corner.

Sex Sells

2010-03-22T07:21:00.001Z

Phillip de Pury & Company’s SEX auction of erotic artwork in London netted more than $2 million on 19 March 2010. Ironically, there was a 69 percent sell-through rate by lot; but in auction terms, that rate is considered modest at best. While some experts referred to the achieved prices as flaccid, the sale did manage to generate a lot of press — particularly for a 1992 pantsless picture France’s first lady, Carla Bruni, by Helmut Newton.

(photo by Michael Dweck)

job chart

2010-03-17T20:41:00.000Z

Love this chart I found on Lapham's Quarterly

it's the Ziploc

2010-03-10T17:11:00.000Z

Canadian singer/songwriter k-os has just released Yes!, his fourth studio album, stateside; it’s an evolved mix of his signature funk, hip-hop, rock, and soul. Born Kevin Brereton to Trinidadian parents in a Toronto suburb, k-os encountered diverse musical influences, which have since shaped a vision of music that’s genre-skirting and overwhelmingly positive. (Jaded toe-tappers need not apply.) It's fantastic.
Now that Canada got the gold for Hockey, maybe it's 2010: The Year of the Canadian Freshness.

His new video "4 3 2 1" is amazing and the director is Drew Lightfoot -- a brilliant dude. You should check out his website. What might be surprising to you is that it's a stop-motion video. There are 12 shots per frame, so you have to bend over and hold – 1,2,3,4,5 – twelve times. What a labour of love! But I imagine it would be pretty fun to play around with it.

k-os On Canadian camaraderie in a recent interview:
"I keep saying Canada is like the fridge, man. Canada’s what? It’s a fridge! It’s fresh! It’s locked and ready to go. So when Michael J. Fox shows up out of the Ziploc bag in Back to the Future, he’s got such a fresh persona. And Seth Rogen and Michael Cera and Superbad, when those guys come out of the Ziploc, it’s like what is this? So what Americans need to know about Canada in 2010: it’s the Ziploc. When this record comes out in America, and people get hip to it, I might even be a new artist to people. Even though I’ve been doing my thing in the fridge for ten years. So it’s cool."

Love it.
Make sure you check the Ziploc :)

light my fire

2010-03-09T11:04:00.001Z

Whether it's a reckless night of mischief in the snowy woods, or a shenanigan-rich night at the nearest hotel rooftop bar, it won't be complete without a simple key ingredient: fire. Especially when it comes in the discreet form of an innocent-looking key chain that was actually developed for the Swedish Army, and can generate an approximately 5,000-degree spark. The Swedes: total pyros.

'Light my Fire' HERE

Demos

2010-03-08T11:04:00.000Z

Just as Michelangelo didn't sculpt the David without making a few sketches first, his modern-day equivalent, Lady Gaga, didn't record "Bad Romance" without trying out a couple different renditions. Hear those early demos—as well as similar tunes from the likes of U2, Bowie and, naturally, Miley Cyrus—here. Surprise: Miley's songs require a lot of production.

Check it out here

31 Women in Art Photography

2010-03-08T10:54:00.000Z

Chuck Close may find this year’s Armory Show “dull and ordinary,” but the great thing about Armory Week in New York is the plethora of art events happening all over the city!! Right this very second. One more for the agenda is 31 Women in Art Photography, curated by crack team Charlotte Cotton and Jon Feinstein in conjunction with Humble Arts Foundation and Affirmation Arts. This is the second edition of the female-friendly group show, produced to coincide with Women’s History Month and culled from a “vast number” of open-call entries. Eclectic in subject matter, the show’s commonality is the label of emerging talent, which in this case means pearls, not swine.

Photo above is Ann Woo, Cave, 2007, C-Print, 30 * 40 in. Ed. 5

The show also includes contemporary vanitas set-ups by Justine Reyes, intimate scenes which put an empathetic spin on photojournalism by Erika Larsen, hilarious slick celeb portraits by Emily Shur, and more process oriented work by Jessica Eaton.

The 31 Women in Art Photography exhibition is on view Saturday, March 6 – Saturday, April 10, 2010 at Affirmation Arts (523 West 37th Street, Manhattan).

Art News: London

2010-02-18T12:07:00.003Z

This is an art review I wrote for "Art News : London," a website I recently launched and head.

Photo I, Photo You is curated by Iara Boubnova and presents works by leading Russian and Eastern European artists who invite viewers to reconsider what they think they know through a series of mixed media works. The show is based on Boubnova’s research. The artists are clearly inspired by their origin and lead us to reconsider what is presented. It’s tough stuff to contemplate to be sure, nonetheless worthwhile. Among the highlights are celebrated Ukrainian photographer Boris Mikhailov’s randomly overlapped imagery and Albanian artist Anri Sala’s squawking and symmetrical super 16 film, Long Sorrow.

Photo I, Photo You runs from Thursday the 28th of January until Sunday the 28th of March. Calvert22 is located at 22 Calvert Avenue (E2 7JP). Visit www.calvert22.org for more information.

"Art News : London" is written by a cohort of master's students studying Art Business (2010) at the Sotheby's Institute of Art in London and offers fresh and candid views on the London art scene including reviews about recent exhibitions, auction results, and international news. Check it out at : www.artnewslondon.com

Showcase - London

2010-02-17T02:00:00.000Z

Today (Wednesday February 17) I will be participating in Showcase - London. Showcase is an exhibition in East London that presents a rich variety of emerging artists work.

Things kick off at five thirty and go on until just after eleven. It's a one night affair only!
Your chance to view art, interact with the creators, share thoughts, network and indeed buy very reasonably priced pieces (or at least pick up details for future reference). The one night only nature makes going to Showcase almost like heading out to a gig, it is something a little different to the usual stuffiness of a more formal gallery, things are relaxed, you can make a noise, you don’t have to politely creep around... But it is very much a gallery situation though, don’t get the wrong idea, plenty of time and space to view without interruption or intrusion. A gallery with a nice big bar, music, and something like twenty-five or so artists with a selection of work to check out.
I hope you will stop by and say hello if you are in London.

1 Dray Walk, Brick Lane, London, E1 6QL (just opposite Rough Trade Records)

xx Sydney

wisdom

2010-02-15T21:22:00.001Z

I stumbled upon this book today called Wisdom by photographer Andrew Zuckerman (created with the cooperation of Archbishop Desmond Tutu). It is a beautiful book of photographs and interviews of people from Robert Redford to Jane Goodall to Nelson Mandela. It comes with a fantastic DVD that includes the full interviews from some truly amazing humans. It was inspired by the idea that one of the greatest gifts that one generation can pass down to another is the wisdom it has gained from experience. I wanted to share this fantastic trailer with you so you can hear some wise words. Find out more at wisdombook.org

you wrote that?

2010-02-12T12:22:00.001Z

Well, the Oscar nominations are out—and now you are regretting not ever finishing that screenplay ... "My name could've been on that list," you think. "I could have been runner up to Avatar and Inglorious Bastards. Damn."

If only you'd finished the script. Oh, and then found somebody who liked it. Also: got it made. And: discovered it actually turned out well....if only!

Here to get you on your way to next year's Oscars—or 2016's Oscars—is Circalit, a new website now in beta that's gathering screenwriters throughout the land...near and far...The website brings a social-networking component to your quest for UTA representation and Hollywood fame and glory. Simply sign up for a free account, post your logline and script and watch the praise roll in ... and look at you now! Building a fanbase, receiving feedback, and becoming a part of ever-growing network of writers, critics and industry professionals...!

Of course, every party (virtual or real) is only as good as the people who show up—and they've partnered with Script Factory (with ties to Disney, Sony and Fox), who will read the best-rated script each month. So we're not sure Spielberg is refreshing his Circalit home page every three seconds just yet, but his second assistant's second assistant might be.

And you two are tight.

eco Olympics

2010-02-11T12:00:00.000Z

London 2012 Olympics are just two years away and I just found out that the Olympic Stadium being built will be made of recycled guns and knives! Yep, you heard it, confiscated weapons from the Metropolitan Police Department are being melted down into scrap metal and used to help build the stadium. A combo recycling and anti-weapons program! Awesome!

But, wait! London doesn't have anything on this month's XXI Winter Games in Vancouver...
Get this: recycled metals from the circuit boards of old computers and cell phones have been melted down and cast into the Olympic medals! No two medals will be the same...how cool is that?!
Check out this video to hear more about the designers of these unique Olympic medals.

An Ode on A Typeface

2010-02-10T22:24:00.001Z

...a bearded Lady Gaga Poker Face parody? Yes, please. A song about a typeface is probably the nerdiest you can get while still remaining somewhat universally charming. It's actually quite well done...except for the unconvincing party scene...but seriously hilarious and one of the dudes looks like the lovechild of Chuck Bass of Gossip Girl and Harry Potter.

The Online Mixtape

2010-02-09T21:51:00.001Z

Listen up! Put that boombox away. 2010 is here, and so is a new website which allows you to create, share, and listen to some sweet playlists: 8tracks
You can listen to the creations of others or create your own single 30-minute mix (no shorter) from your own musical library or from the extensive tunes of the site. Add a cover photo for that final touch and ta-da, your digital mixtape!

fantastic february

2010-02-08T17:55:00.002Z

The world is a place of moral confusion.

Economic collapses. Natural disasters. Lady Gaga's wierd, but totally awesome head thing at the Grammys.

However, this time of year, the calendar says you should be concerned with two of my favorite things: chocolate and booze.

First was the Super Bowl (Go Saints). Next up, that greeting card holiday on the 14th. Then one of those patriotic holidays where we reflect on the American Presidents' momentous achievements and astonishing, ongoing screw-ups. And finally, the most outrageous holiday of the year...the birth anniversary of Sydney Anne Townsend (moi).

To make sure you you will be able to get through all four, I present to you a recipe for a A Whiskey-soaked Dark Chocolate Bundt Cake. It's exactly how it sounds: a delicious, boozy, fudge-filled 86-proof chocolate cake. I found it in a New York Times article a few years ago and it has never failed me. Ever. Here it goes:

Time: About 1 1/2 hours, plus cooling

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, more for greasing pan

2 cups all-purpose flour, more for dusting pan

5 ounces unsweetened chocolate

1/4 cup instant espresso powder

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup bourbon, rye or other whiskey, more for sprinkling

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda

Confectioners’ sugar, for garnish (optional).

1. Grease and flour a 10-cup-capacity Bundt pan (or two 8- or 9-inch loaf pans). Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In microwave oven or double boiler over simmering water, melt chocolate. Let cool.
2. Put espresso and cocoa powders in a 2-cup (or larger) glass measuring cup. Add enough boiling water to come up to the 1 cup measuring line. Mix until powders dissolve. Add whiskey and salt; let cool.
3. Using an electric mixer, beat 1 cup butter until fluffy. Add sugar and beat until well combined. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract, baking soda and melted chocolate, scraping down sides of bowl with a rubber spatula.
4. On low speed, beat in a third of the whiskey mixture. When liquid is absorbed, beat in 1 cup flour. Repeat additions, ending with whiskey mixture. Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Bake until a cake tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes for Bundt pan (loaf pans will take less time, start checking them after 55 minutes).
5. Transfer cake to a rack. Unmold after 15 minutes and sprinkle warm cake with more whiskey. Let cool before serving, garnished with confectioners’ sugar if you like.
Yield: 10 to 12 servings.

The outcome: a rich, dense and very chocolaty cake, with a spicy, peppery, burnt caramel tang from the rye...mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! Enjoy!

Hirst is moving on...

2010-02-06T15:52:00.001Z

Our friend Damien Hirst will be starring in ‘Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable’
Yes, that is a real title. “It’s a story of a ship, called the ‘Unbelievable,’ that sank 2,000 years ago,” Hirst said. “It was carrying a lot of treasures, sculptures, jewels and things like that, to create a palace. And it sank and was lost forever.” Though this prehistoric Titanic is pure fiction, Hirst will treat it as reality. He plans to stage the discovery of the ship, send divers to recover its many treasures, photograph the process and then make paintings based on the photographs. Sculptures will be based on famous works from art history, including Michelangelo’s “Rebellious Slave” at the Louvre in Paris.
For Hirst, the Era of Formaldehyde (two decades, to be precise, starting with the Charles Saatchi-commissioned shark in 1991) is declared dead in the water, according to a Bloomberg interview with the artist on the eve of his latest Gagosian exhibition. That show, aptly titled End of Era, includes a pickled bull’s head with gilded horns and blinged-out wunderkabinet filled with 27,888 manufactured diamonds (shown below), which he said would be "great in a museum or Jay-Z's house" ... gotta love it.

Tom Shannon: The Painter and the Pendulum

2010-02-05T21:14:00.000Z

Tom Shannon talks about his work and its' relationship with physics. Amazing.

tea time

2010-02-05T12:50:00.002Z

Although a loyal coffee addict, London has made me a bit more fond of tea. The longer I'm here, the more often I find myself drinking it! When I saw this funny submarine tea infuser I had to share. I adore it!

what if filmmakers directed the super bowl?

2010-02-04T22:35:00.001Z

The Super Bowl is Sunday, which means nothing in London. But if you are in the Good Ol' USA, you may be busy deciding whether you're Team Saints or Team Colts. I'm agnostic, but I’ll watch...if only to see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter ad in HD! Throughout the rest of the game I’ll kick back with some beers and daydream about what the Super Bowl would look like if film auteurs directed it, thanks to this video from Slate...
Quentin Tarantino, David Lynch, Wes Anderson — gang’s all here!

Zero Art

2010-02-03T18:59:00.001Z

Yesterday I went to see the Sotheby's Preview for the Contemporary Art Evening Auction on February 10th. The preview was great and comprises a sensational array of works, which epitomise the major advancements of recent Art History, including the most outstanding collection of Zero art ever presented for sale!!

The first 49 lots consist of Property from the Sammlung Lenz Schönberg, one of the most prestigious European collections. The couple have collected around 600 works, concentrating on a movement set up in the 1950s which sought to abandon the art of the past, and by extension the sins of the past generation which brought fascism and world war, and start from scratch. Their 1963 manifesto statement read: "Zero is stillness: Zero is the beginning."
The movement began in April 1957 with a series of exhibitions around the studios of Heinz Mack and Otto Piene in Duesseldorf, Germany, and eventually went on to become one of the most significant collaborative movements and incorporated the work of Klein, Fontana, Manzoni and others.
Zero brought together protagonists of pioneering contemporary artistic movements from across Europe, including Nouveau réalisme and Arte Povera. The ideology of the Zero group was voiced through its own eponymous magazine, which was published between 1958 and 1961 and included influential texts by Piene, Mack and Klein.
Art in America wrote a great article about the movement and their ideologies last June (2009), which you can read HERE

This sale includes unmatched paragons of Zero art such as the extraordinary, three-metre wide F 88 by Yves Klein and the most stunning Pietre and Metalli works by Lucio Fontana ever to appear at auction, in addition to many other highlights. Check out the E-Catalogue!

surf plug

2010-02-02T21:50:00.002Z

A big shout out to Mike of Surf Plug for featuring me as a photographer!

Surf Plug is definitely the website you want to check out to stay "plugged" into the surf culture and lifestyle, especially in Southern California. They wanted to create a "portal where people can read, learn, review, rate, and write about everything related to coastal living and the perks that come with it. Whether your a pro surfer, body boarder, body surfer, skim boarder, wake surfer, or a beginner, we all have to start somewhere and that place is Surf Plug." And they're definitely succeeding in doing that.

So definitely take a look at the site ... and "plug into the lifestyle"

for your amusement

2010-01-29T22:23:00.001Z

As I was surfing the World-Wide-Web this afternoon, I found a pretty entertaining website; it's photos of "one of more persons obscuring or augmenting any part of their body or bodies with record sleeve(s) causing an illusion." I suggest you scope it out:

http://www.sleeveface.com/

Best Defense Against Rain and Villains

2010-01-25T22:20:00.001Z

I have decided now that I live in rainy London I must prepare myself for this dismal landscape on these bleak winter days. To prepare myself properly, I've chosen to arm myself with nothing other than an umbrella that looks like an ancient Japanese weapon...

Let me present to you, ladies and gentlemen (future water warriors), the Samurai Umbrella. It is available online and will guarantee keeping you dry and suggest to passersby that yes, they type of heat you pack is in fact of the sword variety.
In a city where any number of crazy, unhinged characters are walking around with bags and trench coats concealing all manner of smart-phones and weaponry, you'll be taking the high road: you umbrella merely resembles a sword! You'll set out in the morning with it slung over your shoulder, bandolier-style, a sheathed enigma of questionable purpose. As you charge forward toward your impending merger discussion, you'll strike fear into the hearts of villains (and small children), prompt attention from customer service representatives and you lads may compel admiring glances from damsels in distress. This, again, is because they think you have a sword...

As a note of caution, I don't suggest you actually put your brolly (as we call it in England) to nefarious uses -- this is London afterall and sometimes the other guy really does have a sword...
But let's see him stay dry with that! HA!

a welsh eco-home

2010-01-24T23:17:00.001Z

Oh my goodness, look at this amazing hobbit house--and it's for real. A Welsh man built it himself, along with his father-in-law, and now he lives there with his wife and two little sons. And it only cost about £60/sqm excluding labour which is ridiculously cheap for a new home. What a magical place to grow up! (Can you imagine ordering a pizza there?!) The father made a website which has in-depth descriptions of how he built it, plans, ideas, etc. for his low impact woodland home! :)

Home!

2010-01-22T23:36:00.001Z

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. I LOVE this.

dancing boxes

2010-01-20T07:46:00.002Z

Box Animation from Jordan Clarke on Vimeo.

how to help

2010-01-17T18:08:00.002Z

It's heart-wrenching to read about the current situation in Haiti. Here are some easy links to help out. It takes just a few clicks!:

Mercy Corps

Red Cross

OR just text "90999" and a donation of $10 will be given to the Red Cross and charged to your cell phone bill.

Lingering Whispers

2010-01-14T17:05:00.002Z

For who can wonder that man should feel a vague belief in tales of disembodied spirits wandering through those places which they once dearly affected, when he himself, scarcely less separated from his old world than they, is for ever lingering upon past emotions and bygone times, and hovering, the ghost of his former self, about the places and people that warmed his heart of old? [Charles Dickens]

Does self expression flourish under pressure? Is creativity at it’s most acute in times of social, political and financial crises? More than anything do the Arts provide hope during periods of extreme difficulty?

The Great Depression in the 1930’s saw Hollywood enter its Golden Age, a period many still describe as the Imperial Era of cinema. On the eve of WWII in 1939 MGM created Gone with the Wind, still one of the most successful films of all time. The Wizard of Oz, released the same year, became one of the most famous moving pictures ever made and Judy Garland’s rendition of Over the Rainbow has been voted the greatest American movie song of all time by the American Film Institute. Extravagant colour and elaborate sets delighted millions, timeless in their invention and splendour while the music, choreography and elaborate costumes of this period all became instant classics, both on celluloid and stage.

So now, while the financial world alleges we are once again in the midst of a grave depression, could art once more succeed and exceed beyond all limits, providing a platform where all channels of creativity might flourish, stimulate and inspire?

With this in mind, Lingering Whispers has been born. An exhibition comprising over 30 international artists hunting for alternative ways of expression during this crisis. Art and fashion will merge into one, both stage and catwalk, conscious and subconscious combined where imagination will be celebrated and the pigeonholed eliminated. Contemporary artists, poets, performers, fashion designers and photographers will unite in sharing their unspoken vanities, intoxicating fantasies, illusions, longings, dreams and desires. Lingering Whispers is about experiencing, not inert viewing. Art as a stage rather than four blank gallery walls. A glamorous, exquisite alternative to darkness and gloom.

Somewhere, over the rainbow, way up high, there’s a land that I heard of once in a lullaby…

Curated by Predrag Pajdic and produced by Virginie Puertolas-Syn with:

Dom Agius, Errikos Andreu, Barney Ashton, Milijana Babic, Joachim Baldauf, Stefania Bonatelli, Wren Britton, Carolyn Cowan, Fran Dileo, Devin Elijah, Manuel Estevez, Roberto Foddai, Al Giga, Frances Goodman, Christophe Haleb, Katharina Hesse, Daniel Holfeld, Kobi Israel, Pascale Lafay, Scooter Laforge, Emiliano Lazzarotto, Mark Mander, Tupac Martir, Katarina Mootich, Maflohé Passedouet, Petra Reimann, Ricci/Forte, Yvonne De Rosa, Mauro Santucci, Erick Soler, Tapio Snellman, Wolfgang Stiller, Christopher Stribley, Jannis Tsipoulanis & Cyrille Weiner.

1 curator; 1 producer; 35 international artists, designers, photographers, performers; 1 exhibition; 5 events; 1 website; 200 full colour pages catalogue; 150 photographs; 5 video installations; 1 light spectacle, 5 3D installations; 5 live performances; spectacular venue; parties, glamour, fashion, jewellery, champagne, magic, dreams… lingering whispers…

Images: © Daniel Holfeld, All That Openeth The Womb Is Mine, 2010
a selection from the photographic series commissioned for Lingering Whispers

Text: © Predrag Padjic for the Pandorian

Lingering Whispers
06 May – 06 June 2010
Opening reception on the 6 May 2010 from 6.30pm
Crypt, St Pancras Church
London NW1 2BA, United Kingdom

Why they do what they do...?!

2010-01-12T00:59:00.000Z

Worth a listen...

Anselm Reyle: Acid Mother's Temple at Kunsthalle Tübingen

2010-01-09T01:03:00.000Z

If you are in Germany...2 days left to see ANSELM REYLE at Kunsthalle Tübingen !

Under the scintillating title "Acid Mother's Temple", the Kunsthalle Tübingen announces a comprehensive exhibition of the internationally successful artist Anselm Reyle. Reyle, who was born in Tübingen in 1970 and now lives in Berlin, has transformed the halls of the Museum on the Philosophenweg into a psychedelic meta-artwork.
The works of Anselm Reyle creates in his Berlin atelier have long found their way into influential collections and outstanding museums throughout the world. Now Reyle, a Professor at the University of Fine Arts Hamburg, is paying a visit to Tübingen where in 1970 he was born into the milieu of the student movement. While an exhibition of his lately works is currently being shown at the Gagosian Gallery in New York, the Kunsthalle Tübingen is now displaying an extensive collection of his work. The mesmerizing title of the exhibition, "Acid Mother's Temple", already foreshadows that visitors will be treated to more than just a line up of artwork.

get some music in your life today:

2010-01-08T17:48:00.001Z

play with this...
A collaborative music and spoken word project allows any viewer to play video/audio samples simultaneously. Amazingly the soundtracks work together and using the youtube volume controls you can actual mix them in real time.

http://wwww.inbflat.net/

Nick Veasey!

2010-01-07T17:44:00.000Z

Nick Veasey's show at Maddox Arts (52 Brook's Mews LONDON W1K 4ED) is extended until this Saturday the 9th! Go check out his work - its very cool. This is his first UK Gallery solo exhibition and combines new and recent works as well as celebrating the publication of X-Ray, a full-length catalogue of his work to date. He did a bunch of special commissions for the gallery space, correlating the work with specific areas of the gallery space, which explore several intriguing areas.

Philosophically speaking....Veasey's ideas might be connected to the ideas of Lucretius who gave an account of the Universe in terms of atomic physics in his book 'On the Nature of the Universe'; in the beginning of book four, Lucretius expanded on the forms, effigies, membranes and films. These visible films, membranes and shadows of objects, Lucretius believed, have no real existence set apart and separate from the solids and perish instantly when withdrawn. Lucretius concluded: ‘All nature as it is in itself, consists of two things: there are bodies and there is void in which these bodies are and through which they move’. I think it is at this point - this statement - where the two connect, as Veasey recreates visually that liminal void in which things seem to be trapped..

Veasey uses equipment designed to investigate for cancer and search for bombs to create art of outstanding beauty and complexity. The work is produced in a challenging and dangerous environment where he often uses high levels of radiation to capture these ethereal compositions. Fifteen years experimentation with X-ray has created a rare talent to peel open objects to reveal startling layers of wonder . The invisible becomes visible. By revealing what goes on inside and stripping away familiar surface detailing, Veasey’s works make us question the basic values of form and function. These X ray's by Nick Veasey challenge our discernment regarding a number of issues such as exactitude, physicality, beauty and sublimity. But, perhaps the final pursuit in Veasey’s images departs - or concludes - from the assumption that our complex material reality cannot be described by standard visual conventions.

death star

2010-01-07T01:29:00.002Z

A star primed to explode in a BLAST that could wipe out the Earth was revealed by astronomers yesterday!!!! (photo above via NASA)
It will self-destruct in an explosion called a supernova with the force of 20 billion billion billion megatons of TNT.

New studies show the star, called T Pyxidis, is much closer than previously thought at 3,260 light-years away - a short hop in galactic terms.
They said the International Ultraviolet Explorer satellite has shown them that T Pyxidis is really two stars, one called a white dwarf that is sucking in gas and steadily growing. When it reaches a critical mass it will blow itself to pieces.

It will become as bright as all the other stars in the galaxy put together and shine like a beacon halfway across the universe.

The experts said the Hubble space telescope has photographed the star gearing up for its big bang with a series of smaller blasts or "burps", called novas. These explosions came regularly about every 20 years from 1890 - but stopped after 1967. So the next blast is nearly 20 years overdue, said scientists Edward M Sion, Patrick Godon and Timothy McClain at the American Astronomical Society in Washington. Robin Scagell, vice-president of the UK's Society for Popular Astronomy, said last night: "The star may certainly became a supernova soon - but soon could still be a long way off so don't have nightmares." PHEW!

There are some really rad photos online; and read the Scientific American Article HERE

onwards and upwards

2009-12-28T17:10:00.001Z

According to the Dec 17th Economist print edition, "In the rich world the idea of progress has become impoverished."
This is an excellent article about this very reason of why the modern view of progress is so impoverished: "The popular view is that, although technology and GDP advance, morals and society are treading water or, depending on your choice of newspaper, sinking back into decadence and barbarism. On the left of politics these days, “progress” comes with a pair of ironic quotation marks attached; on the right, “progressive” is a term of abuse."

image by Matt Herring

banksy

2009-12-27T17:01:00.000Z

some new work in London-town!

Happy Xmas

2009-12-25T00:59:00.000Z

Have a Merry Merry Christmas and Good Tidings to all...

xx Sydney

Passion Pit - Sleepyhead (unofficial video)

2009-12-17T14:07:00.000Z

Very cool video....this clip does a great job of using vintage/archived film clips to create something new and original. There is something foreign about some of these clips that feels odd and relevant at the same time.

"Sleepyhead" by Passion Pit from Barker Gerard on Vimeo.

LA LADY

2009-12-16T18:06:00.000Z

First of all, Happy Birthday to my little brother, Beau! You rock.

Second off, I fly back to LA tomorrow for the holidays! So excited! And to get me even more pumped, I decided to write about a favorite LA club...
Sometimes going out just can't compete with a great party at home...BUT, I discovered the perfect alternative: both at once! ...Hollywood's after-dark stunner: My House (7080 Hollywood Blvd.)

David Judaken and Tony Daly (Mood, Crimson, Opera) re-imagined a nightclub as a decked-out, supersize modern home...aka: my new favorite Dodd Mitchell-designed hangout house! Past the front yard, step into the foyer and plot your tour: A contemporary kitchen serving fresh-baked cookies (perfect end of the night treat) is the club's main bar (as it's a fully functional kitchen). The furniture in the plush living room is pushed aside in the late hours to make way for a dance floor and DJ; an upstiars "master bedroom" with a leather bed functions as a more secluded hangout (including a bedroom bar); the patio holds a fire pit, and bathrobes are doled out to patrons after dips in the hot tub!

It really does throw the most fabulous "house" parties!

white xmas?

2009-12-16T13:39:00.002Z

Snow is falling in London today!!!!!!

There are bets on a white Christmas in London...so I suppose there's still hope yet!

treehouses

2009-12-14T20:59:00.000Z

I want to move to a pretty land with a decent climate and find a nice old tree, and build one of these to live inside!
It will be marvelous.

airports

2009-12-11T19:06:00.003Z

It's the holiday season. And let me guess...you are traveling?? And let me assume, that you may, within the next few months, be stuck in an airport. After-all, you can't predict massive snow storms! So then you will become very tense and frustrated.

But guess what?! GateGuru is a new iPhone application that serves as an insiders guide to American airports. I can't give you first-hand experience feedback because there are, of course, two downsides, which make me unable to use the app: primarily because it is not an application for Blackberry (yet) and secondly, it only features airports in the good ol' US of A (85 of the top American airports, and none abroad).
According to Dan Gellert, the creator of this helpful tool, the app uses GPS to recognize which domestic airport you're sitting in, and then you type in what you need to survive your delay—for example, a good beer and a decent steak, orrr maybe a foot massage—and you'll get a list of the best and closest options.

And soon, GateGuru will add flight notification—your phone will get a quick alert if your plane's been delayed, so you can keep on talking with that traveling lion tamer you met at the bar.

books in winter

2009-12-10T19:59:00.000Z

This weeks book is Stones into Schools. This is Greg Mortenson's latest novel about promoting peace with books not bombs. A few years ago I was in a phase where I was reading loads of books on the Middle East, especially Afghanistan. I finally read Mortenson's Three Cups of Tea, which I loved because I went to an all-girls school. I then had the opportunity to see Mortenson speak at the University of San Francisco and it was so inspiring!

His second book is even better in my opinion. Teaching people that they have the power to change themselves is so simple but sometimes takes incredibale amounts of work by other people. Mortenson and his team have performed incredible acts of bravery, endurance, and dedication to the noble cause of providing education to the girls of Pakistan and Afghanistan. You will not be able to put this book down. You also learn firsthand accounts of the success of many of the first girls to go through Greg's schools.

I definitely recommend you read this book; it is an incredible account of an individual who has changed the world for so many people. It is so insightful and could only be written by Mortenson, whose experience as a philanthropist in the Middle East gives his writing a unique credibility. In many ways, Mortenson makes you want to be like him, and that's the biggest compliment you can give a person. Probably the most resonating element of the book is its ability to help us see war as completely archaic, illogical, and unnecessary. Please do yourself a favor, read this book. It may be a slow and careful read at times, as there is a lot to take in, but it is well worth the effort.

LA LADY

2009-12-09T19:24:00.001Z

I haven't been sleeping much, some might simply say this is because I've always been more of a night person than a morning person, soooo this week for "my LA".....

SWEET LOVE HANGOVER!

This is a diner at a Hollywood nightclub...I know, you are wondering where this is going, but just listen:
After a wild night of hedonism, bourbon, debauchery, and impressive feats of aerial endurance, you might think it would be unwise to immediately return to the scene of the crime, but you are wrong. Sweet Love Hangover is open at Hollywood's Playhouse nightclub.
It has a glass facade right on Hollywood Blvd. and plenty of mirrors inside, the room offers views of that only-in-Hollywood two-step between shutterbug tourists and sultry night owls any direction you look. (Even if it's behind dark glasses.)

So drop in by those windows and order up some much-needed greasy delicious-ness from the all-day menu: Buttermilk Pancakes Straight Up, Eggs on Toast or The Hangover—which involves crispy chicken tenders, gravy, eggs over-easy and some Tabasco. They've also got Bacon-Wrapped "Dawg" (hot dog), Dan the Man's Bad *ss Burger, Sloppy Sliders and Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup.

And if only the old hair-of-the-dog cure will do, not to worry—a full bar at the back gleams with the promise of relief. Stay there long enough, and you can just go back to the dance floor.

(my kind of people).

mulled wine is amazing

2009-12-08T22:55:00.000Z

So, it's been December for 8 days now and I don't think I've been to more Christmas fairs than I care to count!! Fair after fair but I haven't gotten sick of going to these festive gatherings! I just love it!
At every fair I've been to so far -- from my local block party to the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park -- there is always, without a doubt, a stand with mulled wine.
I had never actually tried mulled wine until this year...but let me tell you, it tastes like Christmas in a glass. It’s a lovely celebration of those traditional festive spices like cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg.
So, I decided to try and make it last night since it was a typical London evening -- cold, rainy, cloudy, dark -- and it turned out delightful! So...here's what I did:
• 2 clementines
• peel of 1 lemon
• peel of 1 lime
• 250g caster sugar
• 6 whole cloves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 fresh bay leaves
• 1 whole nutmeg
• 1 whole vanilla pod, halved
• 2 star anise
• 2 bottles of Chianti, or other Italian red wine

Peel large sections of peel from your clementines, lemon and lime. Put sugar in a large saucepan over a medium heat, add the pieces of peel and squeeze in the clementine juice. Add the cloves, cinnamon stick, bay leaves and about 10 to 12 gratings of nutmeg. Throw in a halved vanilla pod and stir in just enough red wine to cover the sugar. Let this simmer until the sugar has completely dissolved into the red wine and then bring to the boil. Keep on a rolling boil for about 4 to 5 minutes, or until you’ve got a beautiful thick syrup. The reason I did this first is to create a wonderful flavour base by really getting the sugar and spices to infuse and blend well with the wine. It’s important to make a syrup base first because it needs to be quite hot, and if you do this with both bottles of wine in there you’ll burn off the alcohol.
When your syrup is ready turn the heat down to low and add your star anise and both bottles of wine. Gently heat the wine and after around 5 minutes, when it’s warm and delicious, ladle it into glasses and serve. mmmm, christmastime!

a posh secret lair in greenwich village

2009-12-07T19:23:00.001Z

21 W. 9th Street, NYC: No name at the entrance of this underground townhouse space...leading you down past the bar, into a warren of rooms: The Salon, Palm Terrance, The Library, etc... parlor rooms, hidden chambers...a world of wonders. This is the Hotel Griffou.

It is a kind of dining club -- like the game of Clue, but with Gin instead of pipes and ropes. the owners are veterans of those seminal neo-speakeasy joints Freemans, La Esquina, and the Waverly Inn ... so they know what they are doing, or rather, they know how to feed people while maintaining some cool. Leather banquettes, gold-framed paintings, and soft light from chandeliers call for stuffed lobster tails with brown butter veloute and steak tartare with a fried quail egg or bacon-Gruyère burger. Cocktails obligatory.

Things are never what they seem!

the wave

2009-12-06T22:41:00.000Z

Yesterday I participated in THE WAVE -- the UK's largest Climate Change March ever. There were over 50,000 people there and everyone dressed in blue to create "a wave". The march took place yesterday as a public call to make sure something happens at the Climate Talks in Copenhagen next weekend. People started gathering as early as 9am, and walked through London, ending at Parliament around 3pm. People from all over the country dressed in blue encircled Parliament, calling on the UK government to settle for nothing less than a climate deal in Copenhagen that avoids dangerous climate change and protects the world’s poorest who are already feeling its effects! Not only did Ed Miliband (Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change) hear us, but Gordon Brown invited 24 Wave supporters to 10 Downing Street after the event to hear their demands -- so awesome!

Great photos of excited protestors of all ages to come; I am quite exhausted to tell the truth and prefer to upload them later this week! I have been at a block party in my neighborhood all day, which was adorable! Lots of cute children eating cotton candy, adults drinking mulled wine, families lined up for bbq hamburgers from the local butcher and Christmas carols throughout! A lovely way to end the weekend.

Have a fantastic week.

Sophie Blackall's missed connections, revisited

2009-12-05T21:04:00.007Z

I know that a while back I already posted about these "missed connections" drawings by illustrator, Sophie Blackall...but I saw this interview with Sophie Blackall about her illustrations and I decided to look at her funny and unique depictions of these fleeting moments, described in haste, and posted in public!

mmm, delish!

2009-12-04T19:58:00.006Z

So...it's been a while since I posted a recipe, and now that Christmas is coming, I figured it'd be a good idea. Plus, I made some amaaaazing blondies the other day!

So, for those of you that are in the dark, a blondie is basically a brownie minus the chocolate. I know, I know...you chocolate lovers are all going to stop reading now, but I dare you to read on...even I, a devout chocoholic, adore this amazing treats. While brownies have a common base of melted butter, granulated sugar and cocoa powder, blondies are created with melted butter and brown sugar. The result is a rich toffee-like flavor. Mixing the butter and brown sugar creates such a fabulous aroma that it will make you want to eat the batter by the spoonful. I’m not kidding. Be prepared to muster up some serious willpower. The flavors in these blondies are fabulous – the batter is rich, the coconut slightly sweet and adding a chewy texture, and the chocolate with the perfect amount of, well, chocolateness.

I was a huge fan of how the batter smelled when being mixed together, and loved the crisp, crackly, brownie-like top that the blondies had when they came out of the oven. MMMmmmmm, I want to bake more already!

So here I go...

Coconut Chocolate Chunk Blondies

Yield: 16 two-inch-square bars

1 cup all-purpose flour 1/8 teaspoon salt 4 ounces unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature 1 cup light brown sugar 1 large egg 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut 1 cup chocolate chips or chunks

Topping: 1 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips 1 teaspoon butter

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour an 8-inch square baking pan.

2. Combine the flour and salt; set aside.

3. Stir together the melted butter and brown sugar until smooth; beat in egg and vanilla extract until well blended.

4. Slowly beat in the flour mixture until blended, then stir in the coconut and chocolate chips.

5. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth even with a rubber spatula.

6. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until set in the center but still soft. Do not overbake. Let the bars cool slightly before drizzling with chocolate, then cool completely before cutting into squares.

7. For the topping, combine the chocolate and butter and melt until smooth. Using a spoon, drizzle over the bars.

Some notes on the recipe:

- I used Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate chips, which are larger than regular chips, so more like a “chunk”. Plus I like dark chocolate. - You don’t need to break out a mixer – I made these with one bowl and a large spoon. - To get clean cuts, use a bench scraper to cut straight down...no slicing or sawing with a knife, perfect edges! - I am now a blondie convert.

books in winter

2009-12-03T19:05:00.001Z

What perfect timing for this weeks book, as I just finished it this morning...
Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman

I just finished reading this book. Solid 3 stars. Great tube-ride read. The book begins by presenting a problem that most journalists would love to face: "For the past five years," Chuck Klosterman writes, "I've spent more time being interviewed than conducting interviews with other people." He then engages in a 20-page exploration of the nature of interviewing with gifted inquisitors such as documentary filmmaker Errol Morris and NPR's "This American Life" host Ira Glass. What at first seems like a self-absorbed stunt reveals itself over the course of the piece to be a thoughtful contemplation of media, truth and discourse in the modern age. And that's what you often get with Klosterman's pixilated intelligence and vivid prose. He is too substantial to be dismissed as a shallow hipster, too idiosyncratic to be easily classified. "Everyone I've met in New York or California tells me I'm conservative," he writes. "The rest of America tells me that I'm almost comically liberal." Overall, it's signature Chuck Klosterman which, if you enjoyed Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs should make you a prime candidate for enjoying this; on the other hand, I think the range of the essays starts to feel unnaturally stretched towards the end of the book. He still sticks mostly to popular culture, but instead of ruminating on Britney Spears and The Real World, he's discussing - in surprisingly complex terms - subjects like the possibility and mechanics of time travel, and defending to a degree the philosophy of the Unabomber (while not condoning his actions, obviously). It surprised me how unfunny most of this book was, while still being quintessentially Klosterman. Maybe not the best introduction to him, but definitely worth a read.

LA LADY

2009-12-02T23:16:00.022Z

This weeks post for MY LA...

I've been thinking a lot about LA recently because I'm heading back for the holidays in a few weeks.
So I've been planning all the places I want to go while I'm there and I won't miss one of my fave lunch spots, famous for its' chopped salad...
La Scala
434 N Canon Dr. (between Santa Monica Blvd and Brighton Way)
Beverly Hills 90210

So delicious! So..."chop, chop", get over there!!

And while you're on that side of town...some other places to check out:
Sprinkles Cupcakes (9635 Little Santa Monica Blvd) for a red velvet cupcake after lunch.
Ron Herman (325 N Beverly Drive, between Dayton and Brighton Ways) for a new Free City hoodie, special party dress or the latest jeans...

EMPTY LA

2009-12-01T19:29:00.001Z

For anyone who is from Los Angeles, as I am, or has even just visited...Matt Logue's book, Empty LA, will kind of freak you out, but be totally awesome at the same time! Imagine an LA with no cars...

Check it out HERE

new Aussie talent!

2009-11-30T23:07:00.001Z

Jonathan Boulet:

This 21-year old Sydney skate rat is the latest signing to Australia's Modular label, landing with a tidy package of promotional offerings: a catchy, moistly breezy indie-pop debut single that couldn't be better titled for a meet-the-artist track; a subtly arresting/marginally tricked-out video; and a slightly more ambient remix by long-time post-rocker the Album Leaf. Here's to good starts. "A Community Service Announcement" practically drips with humidity, a honeyed guitar bit pushed along by tropical toms, a pop song's forward movement that's fit for cruise boat line-dancing. If that sounds ripe for the OST to a Disney film set in some sunny climes well... it sort of is. But then there's this Special Problems-directed video (they also did Tame Impala's video I posted a few months back) where someone gets offed and dumped into a lake, suggesting their might be some menace beneath the mellifluousness. We'll need more than one Boulet track to fully suss. Until then, here's a community service announcement:

Snowtunnel

2009-11-29T22:58:00.013Z

Winter is here
Mountains are opening for ski season...
and it makes me think about ways we could ski or board all year
....welllll, check this out:
The Snowtunnel

yikes!

2009-11-29T15:23:00.003Z

Oh my, goodness gracious, mercy me oh my! It's Sunday! (I thought it deserved that drama, no?)
Maybe I only think it deserves that drama because London has been battered with this stormy weather over the last week or so. The British climate can be a bit limp at times, with words such as ‘light rain’, ‘drizzle’ and 'overcast’ populating our weather forecast, everyday. So when we get some real weather, I'm starting to love its' drama! When the wind is howling against my windows at night, so much so that it wakes me up, it makes me feel as though I'm not in a flat in South West London, but in a solitary cottage on a cliff top, like the house in ‘Wuthering Heights’...
Until I wake up and look outside to see commuters and buses and cars all in a hurry to get somewhere. And it's still raining.
But, honestly, I can't believe it is already Sunday! I had all these plans this weekend. They were brilliant, and involved making up for my recess from the Masters Research World, but goodness! Suddenly I blinked and here I am on Sunday, at 3pm, in my Patagonia sweatshirt and yoga pants at my computer writing a blog-post, listening to Christmas music, as I watch the rain start and stop and the sun go down. Weeks are racing by lately. Just when you want time to work on final projects and research, there's no time. And dinner parties and holiday celebrations and birthday parties and top secret Christmas crafting have all passed, in a wink of an eye. Shuckles. So I have decided to dedicate the rest of this afternoon in an effort to be more organised this week. I'm hoping in between all this research, bread will be baked, booze will be drunk, snuggles will be had and home made meals will be made. :)
Cheers to everyone for a productive and enjoyable week to come!

Zaha Hadid designs new museum in Rome

2009-11-28T22:49:00.019Z

Pope Urban VIII, one of the most prominent cultural patrons in Roman history, understood that great cities are not frozen in time. He loved dreaming up lavish new projects over breakfast with his artistic soul mate, the Baroque sculptor and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini. When Bernini needed bronze for the baldachin in St. Peter’s, the pope simply ordered it torn out of the Pantheon. Neither was afraid to make his mark on the city...since then not much has happened, until now:
Zaha Hadid designed Maxxi Museum, Rome's first National Museum of Contemporary Art and First National Museum of Architecture!
If Pope Urban were alive today, I’m certain he and Ms. Zaha Hadid would be having breakfast right now, plotting the next move...

ferrari world

2009-11-27T19:26:00.000Z

Car fans, get ready...soon there will be a world class destination for the Ferrari experience. Ferrari World will be in Abu Dhabi and it's nearing completion....it will be the LARGEST indoor theme park in the world! This bright red architectural gem will bare a Ferrari logo stretching 215 FEET n diameter...also largest in world. Indoors and out, Ferrari World Abu Dhabi will feature 20 rides and attractions including the world's FASTED roller coaster...taking its passengers to speeds up to 124 mph...after all, Ferrari is all about speed.
Not only is this some big idea with fancy renderings, the park will feature state of the art racing simulators, driving and racing schools, museum exhibits of the Ferrari history, etc....

books in winter

2009-11-26T16:56:00.001Z

A current bestseller, this weeks book is:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson

I'm not going to lie about this one...once you start it, you won't be able to stop. I was attached to my Amazon Kindle while I read this thriller. It's the first of a trilogy and a serious page-turner! I must first admit that since it takes place in Sweden, it was a bit hard to get used to the names of places and people, but once you do, the book is a breeze. Henrik Vanger, an elderly Swedish industrialist, has long been receiving the same anonymous gift on his birthday: a single framed flower. He is convinced the series of flowers has something to do with his great-niece Harriet who vanished decades ago in mysterious circumstances when she was just 16. Vanger coerces a disgraced and prison-bound journalist, Mikael Blomkvist, to do some research into the disappearance. In exchange for information on his niece, Vanger promises Blomkvist enough dirt to take down the rich man who is sending him to jail. As Blomkvist moves closer to the truth, he teams up with the titular character, a tattooed detective named Lisbeth Salander who's the real star of the show. Together they uncover things that stun even Blomkvist, a crusading financial reporter who thought he knew all there was to know about the rot of corruption, the myriad abuses of power and the darkest sides of ourselves. I definitely recommend this international bestseller to all who luxuriate in immersing themselves in the ambience of a compellingly created world and memorable characters.
Then -- read the next book in the trilogy, The Girl Who Played With Fire.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!! xx

LA LADY

2009-11-25T18:37:00.000Z

Although I've lived in quite a few different places -- currently in London -- Los Angeles, where I was born and raised, will always hold a very special place in my heart. Not the LA of Hollywood, but the old-school beach vibe that still lingers in corners. As strange, spread out, and flatly lit as it can sometimes be, Los Angeles, with its bougainvillea, sea breezes, avocados, and eccentric inhabitants, is like no other place in the world and will always be in my soul.
Sooo, I've decided to dedicate a weekly post about places and things to see, do, and eat in LA.
This is MY LA:

For my first LA Blog, i decided to pick out something that everybody loves: a really good reason to get out of bed...Maybe even a baker's dozen reasons...
HUCKLEBERRY opens every morning with just one batch of old-fashioned doughnuts, ready at 8am—and when they're gone, you're out of luck until the next day.

From the husband-wife owners (Zoe and Josh) of the dinner-only Rustic Canyon just up the street, Huckleberry takes the modern-rustic thing into daylight hours, starting with carb-loading for the most important meal of the day—pastries, pancakes and those doughnuts. But they've also got Green Eggs and Ham…and by ham they mean La Quercia Prosciutto, an artisan salumi made of 100 percent Berkshire pork that would have rocked Dr. Seuss' world! And not only that, they have a great sandwich menu at lunch, as well as an early evening menu...all around good ol' fashioned bakery and cafe! Worth a visit.
Side-note/Fun Fact: Zoe learned to bake at Tartine Bakery in San Francisco (one of my faves from my SF days!), and worked in the kitchen at Lupa in NYC and Joe's in Venice

FOOTBALL HERO: GUITAR HERO SOCCER VIDEO

2009-11-24T19:56:00.000Z

Check it out...A group of enterprising modders in the UK have sucessfully hacked Guitar Hero to be controlled by soccer...YES, SOCCER.
The Football Hero game is a standard Guitar Hero game in its display, but the control has been rigged to 5 pressure sensitive squares that trigger a specific key when struck with a soccer ball. Sooo, the Guitar Hero song begins, and 5 soccer players kick balls at precisely timed moments to trigger the pad that corresponds to the key on the screen ! Sweet!!

Manmade Mountain Towers Over Berlin!

2009-11-23T19:41:00.001Z

German architect Jakob Tigges has unveiled a plan for a 1,000m tall faux mountain at the site of the former Tempelhof airport in Berlin, and his supporters are taking it rather seriously. Dubbed “The Berg,” the snow-capped colossus would be the world’s largest man-made mountain and would serve as a tourist attraction for skiers from September - March offering the perfect skiing climate in the otherwise slope-less city. I am ALL about adding green space to urban environments, but devoting an enormous amount of time, energy and resources into a gigantic landmass that isn’t even inhabitable on the inside seems like a huge mound of you-know-what, if you ask me...

Plans for The Berg seem to have spawned out of a severe case of “peakis-envy”. Says Tigges in his manifesto “While big and wealthy cities in many parts of the world challenge the limits of possibility by building gigantic hotels with fancy shapes, erecting sky-high office towers or constructing hovering philharmonic temples, Berlin sets up a decent mountain… Hamburg, as stiff as flat, turns green with envy, rich and once proud Munich starts to feel ashamed of its distant Alp-panorama and planners of the Middle-East, experienced in taking the spell off any kind of architectural utopia immediately design authentic copies of the iconic Berlin-Mountain.”

+ The Berg

Via World Architecture News

Rock n Roll + Art = Fun

2009-11-22T10:52:00.002Z

Last night I went to the Phillips de Pury "Music" auction and then Chairman Simon de Pury's birthday party. The night started off well as I sat front row flipping through the MUSIC catalogue, (which had more of a lifestyle magazine look with articles on Martin Creed, Jonsi and Alex, Matthew Herbert, Goldie, Daniel Birnbaum, Christian Marclay, Graham Coxon, Damien Hirst, and others) I began talking to a charming older Swiss man sitting next to me named Claude, who just so happened to be Claude Nobs -- the founder of the Montreux Jazz Festival! (Totally heading to Montruex next July for it!). Then it quieted down and the bidding began!
The auction was great. It was part of their new theme sales, this one staging music-inspired contemporary art, design editions, photographs and memorabilia, with a live soundtrack by Matthew Herbert. There was sensational work by rock (Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Jim Morrison) and art (Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, Kenny Scharf) stars; fashion photographers (Albert Watson, Helmut Newton, Miles Aldridge); and (not so) Young British Artists (Gavin Turk, Sam Taylor-Wood, Damien Hirst). I so very much wanted an amazing iconic photograph of the Stones and watched the price get higher and higher that I couldn't even watch the gavel hit the podium when it sold. There was also some great work that really was unique, which included: a self-portrait in blood by the notoriously self-destructive musician Pete Doherty (formerly of the Libertines and Kate Moss), distressed gauzy prints by Riceboy Sleeps (a Sigur Rós-associated duo) and a rhinestoned painting of Donna Summer by Mickalene Thomas. Elsewhere, iconoclastic images like Shi Xinning’s imagined meeting between the Beatles and Mao and a silk-screen print of the Rolling Stones clad in female Elizabethan garb by Jesus Diaz De Vivar turn the rock star-worshiping on its head. Fashion was very briefly represented by a Technicolor couture dress by Bernhard Willhelm that Björk wore on her Volta tour and by one of Bob Dylan’s fringed leather jackets. Better than either, though, was the diamond-encrusted eye patch commissioned for the bling-loving rapper Slick Rick.
Simon de Pury had said, "Whether it's Peter Blake creating the ultimate album cover for Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles in the 60s or more recently Damien Hirst doing all the fabulous artowrk for the last two releases of The Hours, there has been an inextricably close link between art and music."
My favorite part of the auction was definitely Matthew Herbert's influence with his bespoke score "sound carpet" to accompany the live event conducted by Simon de Pury. He mixed songs from Frank Sinatra with Jay-Z, to Run DMC with top Jazz performers and Beyonce with Donna Summer, Snoop Dogg and Miles Davis, Bob Dylan and Sammy Davis Jr. The sounds really got the audience excited and made the normal auction experience a bit more fun and unique!
Also, a collection of works from the Destroy/Rankin project were offered up in a charity auction where all proceeds go to Youth Music to help change young peoples live with the power of music, whatever the circumstances: 80 destoryed photographic portraits of renowned musicians, which had been sent to the featured musicians to be artistically defaced, were on display at Philips as well. The artists all did really different things to their portraits and was definitely interesting to see.
As the auction ended, I headed into a reception room with others in cocktail attire and was served champagne and delicious chocolate birthday cake with for Simon! We sang happy birthday (in English and French) and Simon cut the first piece of cake. Then I chatted with classy European art/music-lovers into the evening. A really fun night, indeed!

skyline by memory

2009-11-21T21:41:00.001Z

Autistic artist Stephen Wiltshire took a twenty-minute helicopter ride over Manhattan. Then he sketched the entire skyline from memory. Every building was correct and drawn to scale! He's also done panoramic memory drawings of Tokyo, Rome, Hong Kong, Frankfurt, Madrid, Dubai, Jerusalem and London. How mindblowingly incredible.

Read more here.

(Photo via Stephen Wiltshire)

fab over 50

2009-11-20T21:29:00.014Z

A website designed for women to share the things that make them fab -- the 'shops they love, the creams they swear by, the books they can't put down and the wisdom they've amassed'... the website will be launched in early 2010, but for now they have a blog. Women such as Cathie Black, president of Hearst Magazine, and author Suzy Welch are already a part of Geri Brin's great idea! Check it out!

Update: Fab Over Fifty features me! Take a look here.

books in winter

2009-11-19T16:40:00.000Z

This weeks book is...
The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles

This book is another classic. Some of you may be familiar with the 1990 film, which I never saw, so I can't judge or compare. However, I recently read the book, and it is a masterpiece. An American couple, Port Moseby and his wife, Kit, are traveling in North Africa with their rather annoying friend, Tunner. The story focuses on the couple as they try to cope with what their journey brings them -- including the Arabs, the French colonizers, a very unsavory mother/son combination and their enigmatic selves. It is, in essence, about what happens when one changes landscapes, physical or metaphorical, without intellectual and emotional openness. It also teaches that the unfamiliar must be approached with humility and respect, slowly and without force. This might just be the book to set you straight.

YINKA SHONIBARE

2009-11-18T22:02:00.000Z

Today I saw Yinka Shonibare speak. I've always noticed his work in museums as quite interesting and richly complex. Well, he was a fantastic speaker! Shonibare currently lives and works in London, where he has gained international attention by exploring issues of race and class through a range of media that includes sculpture, painting, photography, and installation art. His works, simultaneously innocent and subversive, address a range of cultural and historical issues and, in the process, blur the boundaries of design, ethnography, and contemporary art.
Definitely go check him out. He has a show on view now at the Stephen Friedman Gallery in London until this Friday the 20th of November!!!!

moomah

2009-11-16T19:52:00.000Z

totally loving the branding from Moomah, uber cool kid cafe/art/craft space in NYC. the fantasy animal illustrations = adorable!

via Apartment One

sleeping bags

2009-11-15T19:46:00.001Z

I pretty much have one thing to say about the new Selk'bag, which is that its awesome. This sleeping bag is more like a body bag ( not the corpse ones ). It's padded and shaped to the human form and allows free movement both in and out of sleep, where traditional sleeping bags don't.

fall in a glass

2009-11-14T19:14:00.000Z

Nobody at Modern Spirits' California-based vodka lab is revealing what's in their latest batch. Why? Because the ingredients of the Pumpkin Pie Artisan Vodka, like many homemade P.P. recipes, are top secret. Sure, it has pumpkin puree in it, but what makes it taste so much like nostalgic holiday dinners? Clove? Orange? Make no mistake, this low-sugar vodka is no nancy post-tryptophan liqueur—it's a robust drink specifically crafted to be sipped during dinner.
It pairs especially well with tangy and meaty dishes like BBQ short ribs, roasted game and bacon-wrapped anything, but is versatile enough to be a cocktail mixer. "This is the best batch we've made to date," admits pie-lover and co-founder of Modern Spirits, Melkon Khosrovian, who began creating specialty vodkas five years ago for his wife Litty to sip during Armenian family dinners. She let us in on this little secret: "We put every pie-related ingredient into the vodka except cream and crust."

Make It:

The Jack O' Lantern
2 oz Pumpkin Pie Vodka
1 oz Whisky or Bourbon
1 tbs Maple syrup
Squeeze of fresh Lemon

Serve on the rocks.

Thanksgiving Duo

2 oz Pumpkin Pie Vodka

1/3 oz 100% cranberry juice

1/3 oz maple syrup

shake and serve over ice, top with soda