Anyone know who made this rather sweet linoleum block print [I’m guessing, at first I thought it was woodblock] of the first stanza of the Jabberwock?
Those hands are awesome.
the making of, by greg allen
re: The 53 Places to Go in 2008
I was intrigued as the next guy by the list of 53 Places we’re supposed to go in 2008, then I realized that almost without exception, the “reason” to go is the opening at long last of that destination’s first “luxury” accommodations. Which seems about the dumbest reason I can think of for choosing where to travel.
I started pulling out all the quotes, Zagat-style, but I got so bored, I quit around 40. You get the idea, though. And you have to admit, those exceptions are rather awesome: who needs an Aman Resort when you have “flower bloggers” and “death squads”?
Just a couple of photos I took while in Kyoto and Hong Kong last week:
The Third Eye: Olafur Eliasson’s installations in the world’s Louis Vuitton windows. Here’s Hong Kong, which required three to fill it up:
A vintage mid-century Japanese prefab house that looks surprisingly modern these days, and increasingly rare: post-war buildings don’t tend to stick around in Japan this long:
I rather impulsively bought an ironing board at Muji, but with no practical way to take it home, I ended up leaving it at the hotel. It was a damn fine-looking ironing board, though, let me tell you.
I mention it because the same hoarding impulse struck me when I saw this eminently restorable black lacquer-finish credenza on the street in Kyoto. The backside was gorgeous, actually. Somehow, I managed to think through–and abandon–any ideas for shipping this bad boy before dragging it across the street to the hotel.
greg.org flickr photostream [flickr]
Michael Weiss’s reading of the crypto-Republican subtext of John Hughes’ 80’s teen films seems remarkably tone deaf, even to someone who was growing up as a clueless cultural Republican teenager at the time.
On the other hand, I don’t know what could be more depressing than to realize the genius behind Sixteen Candles is also behind Beethovens 1-5. Oh wait, I do know: that there are potentially four more Beethovens left.
The Political Conservatism of John Hughes [slate]
So Olafur Eliasson’s work includes many references to the work of Buckminster Fuller, especially to geodesic domes. There are some hanging on the wall right next to me, in fact.
Turns out thanks to the work of a former student/collaborator of Fuller, Einarr Thorstein, the Icelandic power company used geodesic domes as their standard architectural form. They now dot the country, situated on geothermal wellpoints and along pipelines.
AND there’s a double dome house [pictured] in a Reykjavik housing development. Down the street is a double pyramid house, too; otherwise, the place looks like Fullterton, California circa 1980.
One thing that most people notice on arrival in Iceland is the uniformly modernist architecture. It looks like the whole country was imported as flatpack and built in about six weeks–sometime in the mid-80’s.
There’s a little bit of frontier town utilitarianism, a little Scandinavian modernism, and a little eastern bloc uniformity, plus a little Bermudian/Atlantic island nation colored roof fixation.
What stands out? The Kentucky Fried Chickens. They’re everywhere, and they all seem to have relatively innovative/eyecatching architecture. Finally, after seeing this sleek, anthacite-panelled example in Keflavik, I had to start snapping pictures.
Inside, there was very nice clerestory lighting over the cash registers and the indoor playground. The bathrooms were high-end euro-trendy, and all the interior concrete uses the woodgrain from the poured-in-place forms to very nice effect.
there are still some bugs to be squashed, but in the mean time, please let me know if anything looks wildly out of whack…
thanks,
greg
oh yeah, where are all the pictures?? brb
The designer in The Incredibles was named Edna, not Eve. And though she does ressemble her, Edna’s voice was done by the writer/director Brad Bird, not Linda Hunt. Linda Hunt was the willow tree in Pocahontas, though, but I can’t imagine you’d learn that in a Pixar show.
Somebody has some ‘splaining to do.
It’s A Pixar World, We’re Just Living In It [nyt]
The power search page of IMDb is indeed, um, powerful.
But for random delights, the filming locations browser is better.
Pimp my Searching: Internet Movie Database [sew, via rw]
I’ve been crunching on an offline deadline, and I’ve barely even read these, much less thought and posted about them:
The artist is planning to speak about his work, including his awesome The Weather Project at the Tate Modern in 2003. What he needs to explain is who talked him into posing for that photo in Choire’s NYT Guide.
The story of Donnie Dunagan, the child actor who was the voice of Bambi and went on to fight in Vietnam and to lose his most of his savings in the Enron collapse.
American Dad sounds like The Family Guy newly converted to Atkins.
Making lemonade out of an assignment to review Fox’s lame-sounding new series, Alessandra Stanley decides to start throwing concussion grenades into the world of animated comedy she apparently knows nothing about, just to watch the nerds scramble out and attack:
A very talented art director/designer friend is interested in moving to an agency position (he’s currently inhouse at a hip lifestyle/fashion company).
If you either work in an advertising agency in NYC or know people who do, and you’re game to share your insights with him, please drop me a line.
Thanks, I appreciate it very much. [And I know it’s a lot to ask, especially coming on the heels of last week’s “hey, check out my advertisers!” request and all…]