Why America Is Fucked… Graphically, At Least
July 25, 2008 | Categories: Design / Video

People who are excited about design always gets me excited, but when they start releasing passionate, foul-mouthed, rants about the current state of half-ass design out there, well now you really have something! Aaron Draplin of Draplin Design Co. along with the folks over at Coudal are creating a three part documentary called Draplin Project, which obviously stars Aaron and I guess it’s going to be his thoughts on the world.

But what they’ve decided to do is give everyone a sneak peak of the film, with Mr. Draplin going on an amazing tirade of how design in America can seriously blow, and how we need to take back design and make it something amazing again. The clip is titled, Why America Is Fucked, and is really amazing, like I couldn’t agree with him more. It’s also filled with a lot of “fucks”, so if you’re sensitive you probably shouldn’t watch the video. As a sidenote, Aaron wrote a note to his parents with the video post, which I’d like to share with you all as well:

DEAR MOM AND DAD: I know you raised me well, and taught me how to speak and behave like an appropriate adult and all that, but, Jess asked the question and I got all fired up and then started swearing like a sailor. These things happen. Don’t excommunicate me.


Click here to watch the video directly, but definitely visit his Aaron’s site as well if you’ve never been. I can’t WAIT to see what else he has to say!

Found through Chris Glass

Bobby

Stanley Kubrick’s Boxes
July 23, 2008 | Categories: Films / Video

I just finished watching this really great documentary called Stanley Kubrick’s Boxes, a rather self-explanatory title but extremely interesting to watch. Stanley Kubrick is somewhat of a cult figure (just read through Coudal on any given day) so people trying to figure out the deepest parts of Kubrick is nothing new. But in this documentary Jon Ronson is invited to the Kubrick estate to go through his immense collections of boxes, which number into the thousands. The contents of the boxes are extremely varied and all over the place, from photos to fan letters, and show what a detailed and intelligent man he really was.

One of the things I found most interesting was his obsession with perfection, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. For many of his films he’d have his nephew Manuel Harlan take tens of thousands of photos to see what was out there. He took photos of doorways, morgues, estate gates, costume shops, anything that might be useful. He did those for most of his movies as well, like trying to find the perfect hat for the droogies to wear in A Clockwork Orange.

If you have any interest in Kubrick I would definitely suggest watching this, it’s quite insightful. Also, I don’t know how long the video will stay up, so watch it ASAP.

Found through The Constant Siege

Bobby

Martin The Tailor
July 20, 2008 | Categories: Clothing / Video

While perusing the Band of Outsiders blog I came across this wonderful video simply titled Martin the Tailor. This is the story of Martin Greenfield, a man who went from working in a workroom in a concentration camp in Germany to the owner of a garment factory and a tailor to many an important person. Martin talks about how he crafts a suit for a person, how everyone is a “perfect person”, because we’re all different and unique.

What really makes the video extra special is how well it’s put together. The footage was shot by a Ed David and directed by Galen Summer, and they did an incredible job. The music, the editing, the shots and angles, all work together seamlessly to make the story even stronger. There are a ton of tracking shots that explore the factory that are really rad, and watching some of the seamstresses sewing is so incredible. There’s one woman who from afar, looks like she’s kneading black dough to bake bread, but she’s sewing up a suit of some kind… it’s really fascinating.

The video runs about 8 minutes, take the time to get wrapped up in it.

Bobby

Carl Krull
July 14, 2008 | Categories: Art / Video

Danish artist Carl Krull is one of those people who’s found an extremely interesting way of displaying his artwork. Instead of just showing you the final piece, Carl puts his paper on the ground and gets to work, while a camera placed above him captures every detail. Then he takes the footage, speeds it up and puts it on his site, along with a nice picture of the finished art as well. His style kind of reminds me of Peter Chung’s, but more abstract and with a fine art twist. I think it’s cool as well that he goes from elaborate pencil sketches on one piece to giant, painted epics in the next.

What’s really funny to me though, is that watching him is almost like performance art, and I kind of feel voyeuristic watching him as he creates his pieces. I think everyone enjoys watching someone talented create new pieces, and time-lapse videos are also a pleasure, and the combination of the two is really rad. He just came out with a new series called Lead which is where the image above was taken from, so be sure to check that out as well as the rest of his beautiful work.

Bobby

Behind The Scenes with Dennis Darzacq
July 13, 2008 | Categories: Photography / Video

The folks over at Lens Culture were able to get their hands on a documentary about Dennis Darzacq, the photographer who takes those photos of people about to splat into the ground in random locations. It’s an interesting look at the process of how he gets these images, as you find out that he hires professional dancers to perform these moves, capturing them at just the right moment. It’s also cool to hear the dancers talking about their “performance”, and how they felt they weren’t really doing a great job, but Dennis was still about to catch such amazing moments.

This kind of reminds me of that behind the scenes video with Todd Hido, which also gives you a look into his process as well.

Bobby

Beast with a Billion Backs
June 24, 2008 | Categories: Films / Television / Video

My inner nerd is crying tears of pure joy because the new Futurama movie, Beast With A Billion Backs, is out today! I’m a giant Futurama fan (it’s way better than Family Guy, I’m sorry) so it’s so fun that they keep releasing these movies to continue the fun. In this movie an anamoly is discovered out in space, so Professor Farnsworth and the rest of the Planet Express crew go to investigate it, but are blown through space after Bender puts his shiny metal ass in it. Realizing only organic matter can go through, they decided to let Zapp Branigan destroy whatever is in there instead of further studying it. But Fry is able to get on board Zapp’s ship and get through the portal first, discovering a giant tentacle being voiced by David Cross.

I summed this up pretty poorly, but that’s the gist of. Plus you have the video above to show you what I’m trying to say. I’ve also put another video under the cut which shows some more scenes as well as David Cross talking about how he can be such an amazing voice actor. Enjoy.

Keep reading Beast with a Billion Backs…

Dave Franzese
June 19, 2008 | Categories: Art / Design / Illustration / Video

I got an email from Dave Frenzese a couple days ago, and it was so exciting and well written that I couldn’t help but laugh to myself. It was full of energy and great bits that I knew this guy had to be something cool. When I checked his site, I was damn right. Filled to the gills with awesome work. Dave’s style of art/design is totally inspired by comic books, first and foremost. He does everything by hand for the most part, though he’s starting to warm up to computers. Most of all he loves to keep things simple and tell a good joke in the process, making you laugh and enjoy yourself.

On his site you’ll find a bit of everything. There are bearded vampires, a project he calls The Third World, showing third world countries inhabited by 8 bit Nintendo creatures, lesbian porn turned into an epic, god-like battle (totally NSFW), and that’s all just the tip of the iceberg. One of my favorite things he did was a video for LVHRD, where he and another guy dressed like A and B buttons and participated in a Wiimbldeon Tennis Tournament, and then another video where he plays bad and another girl plays good, and they go around doing what they do best.

He and his work are both extremely charming, so take like 20 minutes and check out all he has to offer.

Bobby

The Desktop Wallpaper Project Gets Name Dropped!
June 16, 2008 | Categories: Kitsune Noir / Video

I noticed early this morning that I was getting a steady flow of traffic from a site called Ehrensenf, something that I’d never heard of before, but I was still half-awake so I didn’t really bother to check into it anymore than that. After sufficiently waking up though I visited the site and saw there was a video, but it was all in German. So I decided to watch the video, and what do you know, around 2:20 in they talk about The Desktop Wallpaper Project… and then they say my name. I start laughing hysterically and dance around the room. Hearing your name in an online German show is quite possibly the most awesome thing ever, it totally made my day today.

I asked my friend FW to translate it for me and this is what it roughly says:

Why should you put art on the wall when you can have them for free on the internet at the website of Bobby Solomon where you get high quality wallpapers by artists and designers every Wednesday?

I would have loved to hear her say Kitsune Noir, that would have been incredible.
Thanks Ehrensenf!

Bobby