Vasco Cesaretti
April 24, 2008 | Categories: Music


Look Up, For We Are No More by Vasco Cesaretti (mp3)

In The Car by Vasco Cesaretti (mp3)

At the office where I work we have several interns, one of them is this 17 year old guy named Vasco Cesaretti. He reads the blog every now and again, and a few weeks ago he asked me to post about him. So I asked him, “What would I write about?”. He told me that I should write about his music. I sort of laughed it off, but told him to send me some, that I’d listen to it, but inside my head I’m already thinking, “Oh my god I’m gonna have to lie to him this is gonna be sooo awkward.”

He sent me a couple songs that night after I went to bed, so I woke up with them in my Inbox. I started to play them, and began to FREAK out. They were really good. Not even really good, they were amazing! I was dumbfounded. I was sitting in my underwear under a blanket grinning from ear to ear in total shock that the 17 year old intern at my work could make music like this.

Vasco currently goes to an ‘arts school for creative people’ that he hates, he has dual citizenship with the US and Italy, he likes to watch neo-realist and new wave films, and plays cello, guitar, and piano. Musically though, he sounds sort of like Grizzly Bear, I guess? It’s kind of electronic, kind of acoustic, so I dunno. I think the best thing to do is listen to his songs, download them, and decide for yourself. Also be sure to check out his Last.fm page which I made him make, haha…

Let me know what you guys think!

Bobby

The Tracey Fragments
April 24, 2008 | Categories: Films

I had dinner with my friend Max last night and he suggested that I check out the trailer for (one of) Ellen Page’s upcoming movies, The Tracey Fragments. The movie stars Page as a 15 year old girl named Tracey Berkowitz who is “naked under a tattered shower curtain at the back of a bus, looking for her little brother Sonny, who thinks he’s a dog.” Yes, that’s the best description I’ve found of the movie so far.

The trailer isn’t much more help either, but it certainly does look like an interesting film, and so far Page has a decent track record for picking great movies to star in (we don’t need to talk about X-Men 3). At the very least the trailer has me curious as to what the hell the movie is supposed to be about. What do you ll think of it, yay or nay?

UPDATE: Ugh, I totally forgot to tell you all that Broken Social Scene is doing the soundtrack, which makes it an even more exciting movie! I swear I didn’t just know that because someone wrote in the comments! haha

Bobby

Kalle Gustafsson
April 24, 2008 | Categories: Photography

I keep coming across really great photography and then totally forget to post about it, and here’s a good example of that. Kalle Gustafsson is a Swedish photographer who studied film in Australia, photography in Paris, and though he’s only in his mid-20’s he’s doing some really amazing work.

From what I can tell he uses a lot of photoshop, making his photos pretty otherworldly feeling. As a retoucher by trade, I personally HATE when people use the Shadow/Highlight filter in Photoshop. The S/H filter tries to balance lights and darks of a photo, making it look ‘hyper-real’, or whatever you want to call it. But Kalle’s use of it is done pretty well, I feel like he actually gets how to use the filter. He also does a great job with the colors of his photos, it’s the same sort of effect I try to get when I adjust photos.

He’s got 4 different sections on his site, fashion, beauty, editorial, and travel, all of full of beautiful images. The sad thing is that you have to view them one by one, which makes it a somewhat tedious task, so don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Found through virtualanthropology

Bobby

Nalden
April 24, 2008 | Categories: Blogs / Internet / The Desktop Wallpaper Project

One of my favorite things about the internet is how it enables you to meet people. I have friends all over the world, which is a very new thing to me, and I absolutely love it. So one day about a month ago I got an email from a fellow named Nalden, who was writing to tell me that he liked my blog and he’d like to feature some of the wallpapers on his site. I’ve had offers from people to do this before and honestly it’s just not something I’ve wanted to do. But I took a visit to his site anyhow, and I was blown away!

Nalden’s site, titled appropriately Nalden, is more like a desktop browser than a blog. It’s made for full screen viewing, with all the things he posts about lining the bottom which you can scroll through with ease. He also has a random background that shows up as well, which is where I fit into the picture. So I decided to say yes, because not only does this bring readers from the Netherlands, but Nalden is a pretty rad guy as well.

There’s only one small problem… it’s all in Dutch! It’s still worth a visit though, that interface is just so damn impressive. And if you don’t see the Dan Funderburgh background at first, just keep refreshing, it’ll show up eventually!

Bobby

Flavor Country Salt and Pepper Shakers
April 23, 2008 | Categories: Design / Food & Drinks

I’ve never personally been a fan of smoking, if that’s what you like then that’s great. But I think it’s interesting that designer Myan Duong has combined cigarettes with a common household item like salt and pepper shakers. The idea is titled Flavor Country, and it features the classic cigarette shape as a pair of miniature shakers. And what’s better to hold cigarette shaped shakers then a bowl shaped like an ashtray, just in case you spill any salt or pepper after you’re done flavoring your food.

I could imagine it being a pain in the ass having to refill these all the time, but the idea is totally clever and the metal ends give a classier touch. These are just a concept though, so if you’ll want anything like these you’ll have to make them yourself!

Found through Yanko Design

Bobby

Bury Me in the Sand, A New Show by Geoff McFetridge
April 23, 2008 | Categories: Art / Design / Illustration

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything about Geoff McFetridge, or at least it seems like a long time to me. Anyhow, Geoff is having a show this Friday at Mollusk called Bury Me in the Sand. From what I’ve seen of the show it looks like he’ll have some new screenprints, including one GIANT piece that looks like it would be a sail for a sailboat. Also be sure to check out Mullosk’s website and shirts they sell as well. They have a really great online store and I bought Jeff one of their t-shirts for Hanukkah last year and it looked great.

The show goes from 7 to 10 pm and music provided by DJ Trace. I wish I was going to be in SF this weekend, I’d love to see this show! Check under the cut for some preview photos that Mollusk posted.

Keep reading Bury Me in the Sand, A New Show by Geoff McFetridge…

The Desktop Wallpaper Project featuring Dash Shaw
April 23, 2008 | Categories: The Desktop Wallpaper Project


Good morning, afternoon, or evening! Another Wednesday, another wallpaper, and this weeks is a special treat. I’ve received wallpapers in all sorts of styles, mediums and from people all over the world. But so far, I’ve only been given one wallpaper that made me laugh hysterically, which is what today’s wallpaper is. Before you read any further, I want you to look at the wallpaper, try and figure it out, and then come back and see if you got it.

The artist of this fantastic wallpaper is a guy named Dash Shaw. Dash is a 25 year old SVA grad who is currently living in Brooklyn. I found Dash through this amazing Dr. Strange spread he did for the still-yet-unreleased Marvel Indie Anthology, but since then he’s been quite busy! Coming up in June he has a 720 page graphic novel called The Bottomless Belly Button which is being published by Fantagraphics (check out photos here), and he also runs a weekly comic on his own site called BodyWorld.

Honestly though, the first time I laid eyes upon the wallpaper you see above, my immediate reaction was, “What the hell is this?!” But then I read Dash’s description which said:

This is someone’s life story told in desktop icons.
The icons read from left to right, like a comic. This
person has passed away and his desktop is all that we
know about his life. He loves his cat.

At that point I started laughing my ass off, realizing what an effing genius he is. I hope you all enjoy this wallpaper as much as I do. I think it’s so damn clever how the icons have double meanings, how spot on the icons represent life, and how in the end we all end up in the recycling bin.

Check back next week as usual for a wallpaper that’s the complete opposite of this!

Bobby

Ghostly Swim
April 22, 2008 | Categories: Design / Music


Then It Happened by Milosh

Jam of the night tonight is Adult Swim’s newest musical release, Ghostly Swim, an audible outing teaming up with the folks over at Ghostly International. Adult Swim made some waves with their work with DangerMouse, although this time their effort is a much more electronic one as opposed the hip hop influenced albums of the past.

There aren’t a whole lot of big names on the album, but you may recognize Matthew Dear and Tycho, who’s better known as Scott Hansen of ISO50 fame. As always the album is free to download and comes with the beautiful art you see above. You can’t beat free.

Bobby

50 ways to Help the Planet
April 22, 2008 | Categories: • Accessories / Life

I wanted to post something in honor of Earth Day today, but I didn’t want to be preach-y, so I’ll just say that you should read Wire & Twine’s 50 Ways to Help the Planet. These are all probably things you’ve heard or known, but it can’t hurt to get a refresher course on what you can do to help. Since I’m moving into a new apartment I was thinking that I could get drying racks for my clothes, which would help the environment in a small way and save me 75 cents a pop.

I’d also suggest checking out NOTCOT’s insanely detailed list of reusable bags, if you can’t find a reusable bag you like there, you must be insane.

Bobby

Poolga
April 22, 2008 | Categories: Apple / Art / Design / Illustration

When I started doing the Desktop Wallpaper Project, I made the iPhone and PSP versions because I knew that I wanted to carry around these awesome images as well. But the DWP only comes out once a week, so if you’re ever in need of more backgrounds for your iPhone, head over to the folks at Poolga.

Poolga works on the same mantra that the DWP does, make awesome backgrounds for your iPhone. The ones above were created by an artist named Eika, or Karina Eibatova, an artist from Goteborg, Sweden. She’s just one of over 30 artists who’ve contributed, so you could basically have a new background every day of the month if you wanted. Definitely pop over and check out all the great images!

Bobby