happy new year!

my new years resolutions are as follows:

eat more. laugh more. kiss more. study more. travel more. do more. enjoy it all.

2010 was a pretty good year. here's hoping 2011 will be even better.

oh, marilyn.

my favorite Marilyn photograph in the Warhol exhibit (for obvious reasons).

maybe it's because i've been to the Warhol 3 times in the last month, but i've been on such a Marilyn Monroe kick lately. with that in mind, please enjoy the following video of Marilyn belting about diamonds. she was such a class act.

QR balloon

QR codes have taken over this past year. this trend is exemplified in the NY Time 10 year anniversary magazine cover. check out this cool making of video for a sneak peek at how a bunch of balloons became a technological information keeper.

Rachel Botsman: The case for collaborative consumption

sharing is caring.

short and sweet

Kurz und Schön opener from errorone on Vimeo.

zeitgeist, year in review

reblogged from: If It's Hip, It's Here
check out their post for a thorough rundown on all sorts of Google search trends from 2010.

where books come to life.

i really enjoy paper based artwork generally, and i can't help but be impressed by things like this.

conan and amex

italian glass:


indian fabric:


the man has good taste.

water balloon

excellent slow motion of a water balloon mid-pop courtesy of Modernist Cuisine.

Dia: Nabisco

I spent three and a half years wandering through the galleries of Dia: Beacon. I learned a lot, and acquired one hell of an all black wardrobe. For anyone interested in contemporary art, fancy skylights, or crackers, it's well worth a trip.



Plus I've heard their recent Walther exhibit is not to be missed.

Champs-Elysees

right now, when faced with finals that i have no interest in studying for, all i want to do is watch french movies and curl up under blankets. instead, i'm attempting to be studious but supplementing with music like this:



enjoy, friends. and maybe watch Breathless in my honor.

pursuit of happiness

I like Kid Cudi, but in this case I think I'm going to have to go with the cover. Either way it's a pretty catchy tune.
plus i'm also currently pursuing happiness.

Lissie:


and here's the original for good measure:

Ai Weiwei's Cube Light

Photos by William Andrews.

This isn't quite as grand in scale as his Sunflower seeds installation at the Tate, but it's quite stunning just the same. This installation is on view at Misa Shin Gallery in Japan through the end of January.

Supakitch & Koralie

this is a really beautiful video of French graffiti artists Supakitch and Korlalie creating a wall mural. dig it.




Supakitch

Koralie

Metroplastique

yes it's advertising, but it's also art!

there is a reason why canon is my favorite.

Canon Pixma: Bringing colour to life from Dentsu London on Vimeo.

reblogged from bearpope.tumblr.com

denis dutton & aesthetics

aesthetics: less philosophy, more science.

Alex joined facebook...

Grad school has forced me to become more studious. This has manifested itself through longer hours working on campus and me unplugging my Roku player to force myself to refrain from watching endless netflix. But that has caused me to watch lots and lots of online videos, several of which have recently graced this blog. Well, here's another fun video to enjoy!

A Life on Facebook (HD) from Tomás Cunha on Vimeo.

(It should be noted that another side effect of grad school is the increased amount of time I spend on facebook, which might explain, in part, my fondness for this particular video entertainment. The extent to which facebook is part of my daily life is sad and little bit unnerving, and I think this particular animation does a pretty good job conveying that feeling.)

you're not a whore if it's for charity.

addendum to my previous Movember post:

Attention, ladies! There's only one day left before "Have Sex With a Guy With a Mustache Day." Now's the time to make sure you have a mustachioed individual willing to help you fight cancer. Because, as we all know, cancer steals titties. It steals balls. It loves Glenn Beck and it hates nachos. We can't just sit around and let it get away with that. So use your vagina to make a difference.



reblogged from bearpope.tumblr.com

we all play synth.

funny stuff! the tune is pretty good too.



reblogged from: http://www.misskathrynemily.tk/

telegraph's picture of the day. and mine too.

Picture: MATHEW GROWCOOT / CATERS NEWS
from www.telegraph.co.uk:

A real-life owl and the pussycat. A kitten and owl have become inseparable. The unlikely friendship began after a litter of stray kittens were handed in to the Hawk Conservancy Trust in Hampshire, after they were found abandoned on a nearby road, and one of the litter has become firm friends with Nigel, a white-faced scops owl

i wish my cat would befriend an owl. my life would be complete.

up & over it.

i love everything about this.



reblogged from bearpope.tumblr.com

influencers.

for anyone who has read Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point (which is referenced in this film), these ideas will seem pretty familiar. but it's always interesting to think about how trends come to be and how people influence and become influenced in that context. especially coming from an arts background, i'm always curious about how music, fashion, design, and all the rest of those cultural and creative touchstones become the next big thing.

INFLUENCERS TRAILER from R+I creative on Vimeo.

homemade by ikea.

words cannot express how much i want this cookbook from ikea. even if it's all in swedish and i can't make any of the recipes, the photographs are so gorgeous i really don't care. check out the video below for a cool making-of. and be prepared to get hungry.

IKEA – Homemade is Best. from Forsman & Bodenfors on Vimeo.

Celebrate People's History at Future Tenant.

this month Future Tenant is hosting a window installation by artists' cooperative Justseeds. the show is running in conjunction with Justseeds' Celebrate People's History catalogue release. be sure to check it out! more info and a sweet video of the installation can be found on the Future Tenant facebook page.

happy movember!

who doesn't love a good moustache? no one, that's who. and there's no better time to embrace all those 'staches big and small than movember.

from wikipedia:

Movember (a portmanteau of the words 'moustache' and 'November'), is an annual month-long event involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November. The event has been claimed to have been invented in 1999 by group of Australian men from Adelaide.
Since 2004, the Movember Foundation charity has run Movember events to raise awareness and funds for men's health issues, such as prostate cancer and depression, in Australia and New Zealand. In 2007, events were launched in Ireland, Canada, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

so, since i can't grow a moustache of my own, i thought i'd compile a list of some my favorite moustache related paraphernalia in honor of the cause.

Periodic Table

Periodic Table
Originally uploaded by The Workerman

I don't have much use for the periodic table in my everyday life, but there is something about it that I find really appealing. For instance, I have a pretty strong desire to upgrade my current shower curtain to one that will teach me about the elements.

So I was pretty excited when I stumbled across this periodic table. Not quite academic, but it makes up for it's lack of science with aesthetics. Be sure to check out The Workerman's photostream to see each element in all its glory.

love is a drum.

14 year olds like Jack Skuller prove that there is no excuse for the likes of Justin Bieber and his ilk. enjoy!

Jenny Odell Design- Satellites

I'm a sucker for good collage, and these from Jenny Odell are pretty amazing. Using images taken from Google Satellites, these prints are oddly beautiful.

check out the whole set here.

the creative time summit: revolutions in public practice 2

happening RIGHT NOW. check out the live stream:

creativetime on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

human shaped robot

Human Shaped Robot has some amazing prints for sale. check it out. the meat hair is only the beginning.

reblogged from gastronomista.

the children are our future.

this kid is slightly annoying, but he sure as hell knows more at age 11 than i did.

racial demographics of pittsburgh

Eric Fischer created 95 maps of various urban areas using ethnic demographics as a visual basis.

from his flickr: I was astounded by Bill Rankin's map of Chicago's racial and ethnic divides and wanted to see what other cities looked like mapped the same way. To match his map, Red is White, Blue is Black, Green is Asian, and Orange is Hispanic, and each dot is 25 people. Data from Census 2000.

you can find Bill Rankin's map of Chicago here.

the end products are really quite beautiful, but also pretty interesting in the light they shed on how diverse (or not) some areas are.

wild. nocturnal.

combining three things i love: owls, conan o'brien, and advertising


yanked from team coco.

get ready for the comedy, folks.

hebrew crunk.

i almost forgot to say happy new year!

FUTURE TENANT GOES SOUTH!

tomorrow night in pittsburgh:

a fun-filled night of southern sounds at Future Tenant!
featuring:
Shaina Kapeluck of The Horror The Horror (Asheville, NC),

Shining Path (Montgomery, AL),

Three Happenin Guys (Huntsville, AL)

music starts at 9:30PM, $5 suggested donation plus free beer at the bar

(plus it's the last weekend for Madelyn Roehrig's window installation Darksides. don't miss it!)

scott pilgrim avatar.

for the record, i have not yet seen this movie. but these silly internet games are too fun to pass up in the wee hours of the morning. you can avatar yourself right here.

improving the arts by severely limiting them

this week i have an assignment to reflect on american cultural policy, so this seems appropriate. mr. show can be an excellent research tool.

Belgian Party tonight!

if you're in the Pittsburgh area stop by Future Tenant tonight for the Belgian Party. Good times!

mcdonalds hamburgers: the cockroaches of food.

Artist Sally Davies has undertaken an experiment where she literally just leaves a happy meal lying around to see how long it will take for the food to exhibit some sort of physical change. so far, after 137 days, the most that has happened is that the burger patty looks just a wee bit dehydrated. pretty amazing. i knew i was right all those years ago when i tried to convince my mother to stop feeding us mcdonalds.

check out a write up at ny magazine.
and you can see a slideshow of the progress here.

hair twins.

emma watson and i officially have the same haircut. but for the record, mine came first.

from her facebook page:


i do love a girl who can rock a little boy's haircut.

shazam, biodiversity!

excellent graphics and a jaunty background tune make this video hands down the best 2 and a half minute science presentation ever. i wish i had this video for world biodiversity day. but shouldn't everyday be a day to celebrate biological diversity? just listen to the video.

Biodiversity - Vancouver Film School from Vancouver Film School on Vimeo.

hamburglar, 1977.

when i was a kid we had a bunch of these amazing mcdonald's drinking glasses. sadly only one survived (from the odd mcvote '86 series), but luckily i salvaged it from the reckage that is my childhood home. it is a prized possession, as you might imagine. as luck would have it, i was recently browsing through an antique store, and i came across a small collection of other vintage mcdonald's glasses. being who i am, i just couldn't pass up the opportunity to give mcdlt a friend. especially since it's the hamburglar. i would burgle hamburgers too, if i ever got desperate. although, probably not from mcdonald's. i'm more interested in their paraphernalia.

red velvet fried chicken.

*photo by Anthony Mylott for NY Daily News

i love red velvet cake and i love fried chicken. together? i'm not so sure.

if you are a brave soul in San Francisco, check out American Cupcake to find out how this chicken tastes for yourself.

Windows on Main St., opening this Saturday!

Come join us for the usual Second Saturday celebrations in Beacon, plus the opening of this year's Windows on Main St! Make sure you make the rounds of Main St. to check out all of the wonderful installations.

Chill Wine Bar will once again be graciously hosting the reception.

129 Main Street* Bank Square Coffee House: Kristie Phillipson
133 Main Street* Paper Presence: Katie Ford
162 Main Street* Hudson Beach Glass: Dan Rigney
165 Main Street* Cup & Saucer Tea Room: Sarah Horan
172 Main Street* RiverWinds Gallery: Myra Kooy
173 Main Street* Chill Wine Bar: Carol Flaitz
174 Main Street* Relic Antiques: Dakin Roy
180 Main Street* Artisan Wine Shop: Beth Haber
184 Main Street* Poppy's Burgers and Fries: Emily Sylvester
246 Main Street* Max's on Main: Michael Bowman
340 Main Street* Antalek & Moore Insurance Agency: Simon Draper
342 Main Street* Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union: Monica Church
440 Main Street* Dickinson's Antiques: Erica Hauser
442 Main Street* Blackbird Attic: The Ladies Auxiliary
445 Main Street* The Beacon Theatre: Katherine Hamilton
453 Main Street* Zuzu's Leaf and Bean: Dan Wolf
457 Main Street* Be Mine Again Consignments: Steve Rossi
470 Main Street* Echo Boutique: Keely Sheehan
474 Main Street* Fire Lotus: Tanya Kukucka
506 Main Street* Too the Nines: Teresa Marra
528 Main Street* Seed to Fruit: Janine Lambers
532 Main Street* Salon Arje: Kit Burke-Smith
544 Main Street* Moxie Salon: Peter Iannarelli

beaconwindows.blogspot.com

i love you, david tennant.

since leaving new york, i have been unfortunately but pleasantly unemployed. during these few weeks of free time i have accomplished many things. one such thing is watching the first four seasons of the dr. who reboot, including the specials that followed the fourth season.

conclusion: dr. who is extremely entertaining and i am officially in love with david tennant. the new boy who took is place is foxy and all, and i do like his bow-tie/suspenders combination, but i think the tenth doctor tops him. plus, i often sport burgundy high top chuck taylors, too.

secondary conclusion: the roku netflix streamer is a great investment. especially if you are like me, without cable and a proper computer to stream on.

tertiary conclusion: it's amazing the amount of things you can get done (and television you can get watched) when you don't have to go to work (or school) everyday.

happy birthday, andy warhol

pomplamoose does gaga.

this is pretty fantastic. their version of single ladies is also worth a listen.



check out their channel here.

lost radio.

i miss new york. parts of it at least. of course the usual, like friends and family and favorite restaurants. but oddly enough, one of the things that's throwing me off the most is not knowing what to listen to on the radio. i love listening to the radio when i drive, but most of what's on it is not worth listening to. but, in new york i knew where to listen. specifically to wfmu. more specifically to this is the modern world on thursday mornings. but, through the magic of the internet and radio ingenuity i can still listen to that show and all the rest. and so can you!

check out their archives, and happy listening!

G-Force? more like gee, he's fat.

please to enjoy the latest installment in the always enjoyable Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis:

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis: Steve Carell from Between Two Ferns

east end brewery.

here i am in pittsburgh. i've only been here about a week and i've already unpacked and decorated the walls. on top of that, i've been to a few prominent food and drink establishments around the city (notably the "dirty o," primanti brothers, and the east end food co-op). but most importantly i made a venture to the east end brewing company, conveniently located just minutes from my current residence.

the brewery is located in a very nondescript building a bit off the beaten track in pittsburgh's point breeze neighborhood. at certain times during the week they are open for "growler hours." at these designated times anyone can walk in off the street and chat up whoever is tending their storefront and sample some of their tasty beer. you can also walk away with a very reasonably priced growler ($10 + $3 bottle deposit). i myself went with the fat gary nut brown ale.

if you ever find yourself in pittsburgh, the east end brewing co. is definitely a stop worth making.

also good to know in relation to pittsburgh beer: saturday september 11th is the fourth annual big pour event sponsored by construction junction. for a flat fee of $55 you get to sample beer from over 30 craft breweries and taste food from 20 restaurants, as well as enjoy live art and music. what a deal!

asylum for gays in the uk

a few days ago it was ruled by the british supreme court that homosexuals seeking asylum in the uk, for fear of being persecuted in their home countries, have a right to stay. good for them. however, the thinking behind this seems slightly less progressive than the decision itself.

from gawker:

"Just as male hetero­sexuals are free to enjoy themselves playing rugby, drinking beer and talking about girls with their mates, so male homosexuals are to be free to enjoy themselves going to Kylie concerts, drinking exotically-coloured cocktails and talking about boys with their straight female mates."

awesome. well, despite that nonsense about kylie minogue, i applaud the court's decision. but really, everyone enjoys an "exotically-coloured cocktail" every once in a while.

warhol photobooth

i recently went on a grand adventure to Pittsburgh to prepare for my future life there (Carnegie Mellon here I come!). While I was there, as a brief break in my apartment hunting, I stopped at the Andy Warhol Museum. To my great delight they have an old school photobooth in the basement. What you see above is my prized memento from my solo expedition to the 'Burgh (my lease, however prized, doesn't really count as a souvenir).

i have a feeling that this photobooth will become quite a considerable part of my life. how exciting!

alejandro.

this song reminds me of borderline/la isla bonita era madonna. and although it's not my favorite, it's still pretty damn catchy. and now it has a ridiculous video to go with it. enjoy!

eco-friendly theater

a lot of my friends are people who try really hard to make amazing things happen. here's two of them:



vote here

monsanto's charity.

Monsanto has donated millions of dollars worth of hybrid seeds to Haiti. call me crazy, but i don't trust them.

here's what they say.

here's what the news says.

here's a response.

and here's a vanity fair article that i've linked to before to help paint a clearer picture of what Monstanto's real motivations might be.

carry out

this song has been stuck in my head for days. it's so silly, i sort of hate myself for liking it, but JT can do no wrong.



my only question is: where are all those ladies getting drive-thru cupcakes? that seems like a great idea!

DuBois Fort Gallery Opening

if you're in the Hudson Valley tomorrow night:



Opening Saturday @ the DuBois Fort Gallery
81 Huguenot Street, New Paltz
4 to 8pm
FREE

this exhibition will be running through June.

Historic Huguenot St.
NP Third Saturdays
Art Along the Hudson

polaroid v. fuji

what's up with polaroid's new instant film camera? i thought that when they came back with their famous instant film i would be overjoyed, but instead i'm just confused.

i became aware of polaroid's new model through a fellow photographer and friend, and i think both of us are a bit puzzled.

here's the deal: polaroid broke hearts when they announced they would be no longer producing their iconic instant film. organizations sprung up to save the film, such as savepolaroid.com. but in the midst of this fuji launched their own instant film. diehards could never fully convert from polaroid to fuji, but the instax was a wonderful compromise, because at least someone was still producing instant film.

but now, after so much turmoil, polaroid has announced that they will be producing their much loved instant film once more (thanks in part, no doubt, to lady gaga). BUT! their new cameras looks just like the fuji instax mini 7. the polaroid camera is an icon, why on earth would they change the design to mimic a less successful competitor?? this might upset me more than it should, but it also makes me more inclined to pick up an instax of my own. if polaroid is ripping them off they must be good.

shop for fuji here.
shop for polaroid here.

nicole gastonguay

Polaroid
Originally uploaded by Bnice2mice

there is something about crocheted and knitted food products that i absolutely love. Nicole Gastonguay creates some especially amazing examples of fabricated foodstuffs, among many other delights (check out her robot!). the pickles and polaroid above are just two of my favorites.

call for artists- beacon windows

Attention Hudson Valley readers! I'm currently look for artists to participate in this year's Windows on Main St. in Beacon, NY. Below is a call for artists, and for more information please visit beaconwindows.blogspot.com


CALL FOR ARTISTS:

This event focuses on site specific/site responsive installations created for the storefronts along Beacon's Main street. The installations will run from August 14th (to coincide with Beacon's monthly 2nd Saturday art celebration) through September 11th. Artists are responsible for installing, uninstalling, and any clean up required. All artwork must be family friendly, and artists must get final approval for any installations from their assigned store owner.

There is no application fee, but if you are interested please send me the following:

A description of what you would like to create (it can be as brief or as involved as you think is necessary, but I must receive some sort of proposal), and the storefront you would like to install it in (please also select backup options).

An artist's statement that will accompany your installation.

A link to an online portfolio or website to give me a sense of the kind of work you create.

Thank you so much, and please feel free to forward this along to anyone else you think might be interested.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION IS JULY 1, 2010.

lady gaga directing roids.

always good to see polaroids in action.




reblogged from my dear friend adam: http://washablemarkers.tumblr.com/

Andy Warhol Pinata

Andy Warhol Pinata
Originally uploaded by Brooklyn Museum

i really enjoy the Brooklyn Museum. it's a great space and they tend to have decent exhibits. this makes me love them even more. andy warhol in pinata form? how does it get any better? gosh.

girls like you love girls like me.

i really appreciate when advertising is self-aware. see below:

lock jaw.

i heard about this story courtesy of the most recent episode of Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! sometimes you really can have too much meat. the best part, in my opinion anyway, is that they've taken this guy's unfortunate eating experience and turned it into a contest and publicity stunt. america!

bikes.

as i was using my local ATM, i noticed this beautiful tree across the parking lot. it really is spring now, isn't it? and a perfect time for bike rides!

otter romance.

i'm a sucker for cute animals (see owls below). there is just something about a fuzzy animal face doing something silly or cute that is just universally appealing, and i am just as likely as anyone to laugh while watching a baby panda sneeze.

today however, i present to you two of my favorite water bound animals: otters holding hands. it would probably be best to watch the video on mute, as the comments from the peanut gallery get a bit annoying, but the romance between these two just gets me every time.

owl box.

i love owls. i think they are adorable. and deadly. it's the same reason i love cats so much (only cats are better because they cuddle).

thanks to ustream.tv, we can now enjoy the wonder of owls up close and personal from our internet devices.

go to http://www.ustream.tv/theowlbox to see a mother owl named molly and her new little babies being adorable.

also enjoyable about this: 1.how crazy it is that it exists, and 2.that there are so many people enjoying this simultaneously and actively commenting and chatting on the spectacle. crazy.

team coco- simultaneously plugged and snubbed.

Slash apparently supports Conan Obrien. good for him. NBC apparently doesn't appreciate this. what else is new?



view the video of the whole performance (badly edited) on gawker.tv.

I'm with Coco.

jamie oliver at TED

i like you jamie oliver. i like what you're all about. not just the naked thing either (although i do miss your show on food network).

i respect jamie oliver because he doesn't just talk about sustainability or eating locally- he really backs it up with his cooking. lately he's become the poster boy for school cafeteria reform. and it's about time someone took up that torch. i know my high school lunches consisted mostly of dressing drenched "salad," chocolate chip cookies, and potato chips. not exactly well rounded. oliver is taking his mission public in america in his new show Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution (which airs on ABC, friday nights at 9pm).

below is a video of oliver's speech from TED earlier this year. for more about TED, check out the documentary from 2007 (which showcased the year al gore presented what would become An Inconvenient Truth).

someone still loves you boris yeltsin.

this band has been around for a little while now, but i just discovered their existence. the music is pretty good, but the name is what really got my attention.

enjoy!

fashion fresh from china.

let's all take a moment to appreciate the following images.






images courtesy of the Huffington Post. more can be seen here.

curvy.

Italian Vogue has a new feature on its website called Vogue Curvy. its goal is to showcase plus sized models and famous ladies who have even more famous lady parts. i like this in theory because, frankly, women should look like women, not little boys like so many models these days. but why does there need to be a special section put aside to accommodate all the lovely curvy women out there? i suppose the same point could be made about them having a section called Vogue Black as well (it's all rather crazy, isn't it?). that's the nature of the industry i guess. sad, but better that there be a section devoted to curvy than there be no curvy at all.

matzoh how to.

in honor of Passover beginning tonight, check out this helpful video about how to best break your unleavened bread:

arrested development, in production.

according to IMDB, there's an Arrested Development movie in production. it's apparently scheduled for 2011.

i'm skeptical. they've been talking about making a movie since the show was cancelled in 2006. any more information about the possibility of this happening would be very much appreciated.

until then you can watch episodes on Hulu, and catch it in repeats on IFC.

food party.

i just discovered that a show called Food Party exists of IFC. it's insane!

check out this clip and see for yourself:



i have always had a soft spot for anthropomorphic food.

babies can rule with iron fists.

Nina Maria Kleivan dressed her baby up like famous dictators and then photographed the results. admittedly, this can at first seem shocking and wrong. but i think on closer inspection that she has a point. Hitler was a baby once too. who knows who all the newborn children of the world will grow up to become? they're all just babies in the beginning.

you can read an interview with Kleivan here, as well as see a slide show of her infamous photos.

rebecca bird.

i love this woman's work. it's a beautiful contrast between the "ugly" subject matter and the dreamy watercolor. see more here!

whitney biennial 2010.

this past week i made it down to nyc in part to check out the whitney biennial. i had heard quite a bit about it, mostly because of how many women were included this year.

my impression of the show had very little to do with the amount of women (although it is exciting to see so many ladies represented), but more to do with the amount of video. i have nothing against video art, but i find it rather exhausting. and when you have almost an entire floor of video installations in the whitney it gets a little overwhelming. i felt that the amount of videos detracted from the overall show. too many videos start to take away from each other. chances are most people are skipping most of those dark rooms in favor of something they can look at in their own time (the light helps too).

my favorites from the show are as follows:

James Casebere, whose large scale photos of handcrafted communities were at once beautiful, and a reminder of things that are wrong with our society (overdevelopment, foreclosures, gentrification, etc). bonus points for the subject matter being based in Dutchess County, NY.

i also loved Tam Tran's photographs of her precocious nephew. the composition paired with subject matter was spot on, and she took something that could be very boring to photograph and made it interesting.

Nina Berman's documentation of a severely disfigured veteran made me extremely uncomfortable and for that i commend her. her shots feel voyeuristic because they are so personal. the heartache that is felt by the two people she photographed is startlingly clear. the portrait studio wedding picture is especially moving.


my last pick for best in show is Hannah Greely. her recreation of a typical dive bar booth is comforting in its familiarity and simultaneously confusing because of its intentionally fabricated nature. details look right from far away, but up close things seem slightly amiss. the handcrafted pay phone attached to the back of the bar is especially good.

so most of my favorites were photographers, and i might be a bit biased in choosing them as the standouts, but that's what blogging is all about after all.

now here are some of the artists i was least impressed with:
Maureen Gallace
Jesse Aron Green
Rashaad Newsome
Charles Ray


i think the biennial is also worth a look, but overall i wasn't that impressed this year. maybe next year they can have both women and excitement.

tim burton and skin fruit

this past week i made it into nyc to see a few museum exhibitions. aside from the whitney biennial, which i'll get to later, i visited moma and the new museum.

it's been a little while since the tim burton retrospective went up at moma, and i'm glad i held off on seeing it. if the crowds last wednesday were any indication, it must have been an absolute madhouse when it was brand new. i'm not really the biggest tim burton fan to begin with, but i wasn't all that impressed with the show. for me it was just a bit too crowded. it seemed like they went out of their way to fill all the space available to them. all that did was to make the whole scene overwhelming. it would have made more of an impact to include less and let each piece have its own space.

moma also had marina abromovic performing "the artist is present." i'm also not a huge fan of performance art in general, but abromovic is pretty impressive. some of the things she puts herself though in the name of her art are very intense and to be admired. this piece is no exception.

before this trip i had never been to the new museum. my first impression is that i really like their bathrooms and elevators (lime green!). the show they have up now, skin fruit, is curated by jeff koons. and as someone who aspires to be a curator one day, my sensibilities were offended. i think koons should stick to making art and let other people organize it. the show wasn't cohesive and it wasn't interesting. mostly it seemed like koons picked a bunch of pieces that he really liked for whatever reason and tried to throw in as much nudity and overt sexuality as possible. which isn't necessarily a bad thing- except that in this case it was. and there were a few pieces that i really loved (specifically the janine antoni piece, kara walker, tim noble and sue webster's black narcissus,
and a few others), but altogether it really didn't work for me.

so my recent art adventure was kind of a bust. but i did get some pants that fit and i finally got to eat shake shack. and yes, it is all its cracked up to be!

hot beef balls.

i generally don't like hot pockets. this commercial makes me sure that i don't.

whoopi goldberg has a problem

have you seen this? it is perhaps one of the best commercials i have ever seen. absurd advertising at its finest.



you can find individual commercials for each of whoopi's alternate personas on youtube as well.

what's going on here is uncomfortability.

successful seduction.

the Found Footage Festival is a treasure trove of amazing and odd video clips. it's like Found Magazine, but for video! incidentally, Found Magazine is pretty fantastic. also fantastic: their collection of found Polaroids.

anyway, here's a highly informative clip from FFF. with this information you will never fail at seducing anyone again.




i especially relate to the girl with the freckles. and, no, i don't want to talk about it.

academy award winning movie trailer

this is pretty great. as much as i like to think i'm insightful because i can usually guess who will win oscars, it really is fairly predictable. these guys have distilled the formula pretty perfectly in just under 4 minutes.

telephone

a while back i posted about lady gaga and beyonce's collaborations. well here is the visual product of one of those collaborations:



CRAZY.

and i generally hate gratuitous product placement, but in the case of Polaroid i have to let it slide.

"and as they were out was when the calamity went down. . ."

watching court room proceedings on television can really give you a lot to think about. take the following case for example. what does the absurdity of their situation say about our culture at large?



it's pretty funny stuff.

**be sure to check out the affiliated music projects as well. Narwhalz is pretty terrible, but worth listening to for a second because of how mind blowingly bad it is.

Я очень рад, ведь я, наконец, возвращаюсь домой

i'm about to blow your mind.






and here's this for good measure:

budweiser golden wheat

i just saw this commercial on tv and decided it was just weird enough that i needed to share it.



i don't know about you, but i don't like thinking about my beer macking on wheat, or anything else for that matter.

82oscars.

thankfully, Avatar was mostly shut out on last night's oscars (except for visual effects categories, of course). this means that i will be able to continue my yearly tradition of watching the telecast and shouting my predictions at the screen as the nominees are announced.

last night's show was actually pretty good. good for you, kathryn bigelow! NPH's musical number was pretty great and steve martin and alec baldwin's hosting was funny and generally unobtrusive. and i especially liked tina fey and robert downey jr. presenting best original screenplay. funny stuff! and kathy ireland hosting the red carpet preshow was a glorious mess. however, the ass kissing for best actor/actress segment is brutal. they need to stop that. it's awkward and boring as hell.

now here are my picks for best and worst dressed!
BEST:


WORST:

eureka!

why is it so hard to curate your own artwork?

i am currently preparing to exhibit some of my photography at a local gallery, and i have complete control over what i choose to show and how i choose to show it. it's an amazing opportunity. but through my brainstorming i realized that it is not going to be as easy as i thought it would be. the familiarity i have with my work is great in terms of being able to easily recall everything that i have at my disposal. however, because it's all so personal i'm having trouble seeing the forest for the trees, so to speak. after much deliberation i think i may have finally had an ah-ha moment. but who knows if tonight's eureka will mean anything tomorrow.

burberry.

i've never been all that into Burberry. i always found it a bit stifled and boring. so much khaki and so many trench coats. well this season, despite still have quite a lot of khaki and trench coats, i think Burberry's collection is pretty fantastic.

new york magazine has a good slideshow of the looks, which is worth checking out despite the near constant advertising interruptions.

the whole collection seems basically very wearable. there might have been one too many of the gauzy, bandage style wrap skirts and dresses, but overall i really liked their look. plus, it's nice that this fashion seems at least moderately accessible (even if still not affordable).

and emma watson makes a pretty good spokesmodel. she's got the whole young, british thing going for her. and while Burberry has always been quintessentially british, until recently they didn't come across as very young.

for some background on Burberry fashion director Christopher Bailey check out this article from last fall.

stinky. stinky. stinky.

recently, Hefty brand garbage bags has been pushing their "odor block" technology. to raise awareness for their product they created this gem of a commercial:



i hate this commercial. here's why:

i know that advertising is supposed to manipulate us. we're supposed to see a commercial or a billboard or a print ad and be swayed to want to partake in whatever that ad happens to be selling. in this case though, the ad is completely misleading in the way it is presenting itself. it's not really selling you a garbage bag so much as it's selling you on the acceptability and normality of an unsustainable way of life. you are supposed to be convinced that yes, your garbage is stinky, and yes, wouldn't it be wonderful if it wasn't? however, most of the "stinky" things they show being swallowed by the almighty Hefty bag shouldn't be thrown into the garbage at all. most of what they are showing is either compostable or recyclable. if these people with the stinky garbage just disposed of their waste responsibly they wouldn't need fancy odor-blocking trash bags.

how about this: instead of rethinking our trash bags, let's rethink our trash.

“Ballets Russes, Italian Style — Coming Soon.”

i know, i know. enough with lady gaga. but i do love her and this clip has so many fantastic things happening in under 3 minutes.

check it.

konichiwa bitches.

although this song is several years old now, this video is still one of my all time favorites.

check it out, it's pretty great:

new orleans.

last week i went on a wonderful adventure to new orleans, partly to visit my TFA brother, and partly to see what happens at Mardi Gras.
i came back to new york after a slight case of food poisoning with a head cold and a lot of pictures.

despite my illness i had a great time in new orleans and i would love to go back one day to see more. i thought everything about it was beautiful- even the ugly parts. and besides Willie Mae's which did a number on my stomach, the food was great too. and who doesn't love a city with drive thru daquiris? and the oldest bar in america? truth be told, during my stay in NOLA i had more experience with the bars in the area than the restaurants, and that right there is reason enough to go back! i wouldn't trade in my Pimm's Cup at the Carousel bar for anything, but i am a bit disappointed that i never got a cup of gumbo. well, as fas as i'm concerned it's never a bad thing to have a reason to keep traveling.

for pictures click here.