Song Of The Week 30.07.10

I have decided to restart my song of the week. This weeks song of the week is:

Laura Marling - My Manic And I

Below is an archive of all my old songs of the week from last year. I'm so bloody lovely I also made a spotify playlist of all them songs - which I will be adding to. And you can listen to it here.

Past song of the weeks have been:
Feb 26th: No song of the week, Listen to the albums: Heligoland by Massive Attack or  Junior by Royksopp
Feb 19th: Massive Attack - Splitting the Atom
Feb 12th: Kid Kudi ft. Ratatat & MGMT - Pursuit of Happiness (nightmare)
Feb 5th: The Bronx - History's Stranglers
January 29th: White Rabbit - Percussion Gun
January 22nd: Maximo Park - Lets get Clinical
January 15th: The Maccabees - No Kind Words 
January 8th: Excision & Datsik - Swagga 
December 25th: The Power of Love - Frankie Goes to Hollywood 
December 18th: Mylo - Sunworshipper 
December 11th: The XX - Shelter 
December 4th: Lykke Li - Possibility 
November 27th: Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse ft. Jason Lytle - Everytime I'm With You 
November 20th: Muse - Undisclosed Desires
November 13th: Royksopp - This Must Be It
November 6th: Wiley ft Chew Fu - Take That 
October 30th: Caspa - Radio1 Essential Mix
October 23rd: Foreign Beggars - Contact
October 16th: Hypnotic Brass Ensemble - War
October 2nd: Metronomy - A Thing For Me 
September 25th: Mumford & Sons - Little Lion Man
September 18th: Blur - Beetlebum
September 11th: Arctic Monkeys - Crying Lightning 
September 4th: Emalkay - When I Look At You

Pixar Letterhead 2003

letterheady:
Finding Nemo letterhead, used by Pixar director Pete Docter in 2003.

Previously: Pixar’s 2008 The Incredibles letterhead.

Pixar Animation Studios, 2003 | Submitted by Terri

"Sometimes, Müller-Brockmann and I would get shitfaced and design stuff *off* the grid. 
We were such crazy bastards back then."

AngryPaulRand makes me happy (via krislane)

Where Spandex Goes To Die

French contemporary artist Gilles Barbier made this sculpture: "Where Spandex Goes to Die: Superhero Nursing home Sculpture." I love the wit and humour used as it sees superheroes who have passed their shelf life sit in their own nursing home. (Obviously they have to have their own one as a normal old OAPs home would simply just not do).

Although humour being a key part of this piece there is also something very sad and melancholy about their old and decrepit form. It shows superheroes who have given their all to save the world (obviously these things do happen in real life), but have been left misshapen and useless, just former shadows of their younger and much more glorious selves.

A lady called Kim Levin wrote about this with much more elegance than I did here back in 2003, she said:"...Gilles Barbier's equally ambivalent and hilariously deadpan take on the American hero. In this French artist's life-size tableau, Nursing Home, our beloved comic-book superheroes have been aged since the year of their tabloid births, as if fictional archetypes of invincibility were subject to mortality, too. The Incredible Hulk, flabby and in tatters, vegetates in a wheelchair. Catwoman dozes. Superman leans on a walker. Mr. Fantastic dangles his overstretched limbs. And Captain America lies comatose on a gurney, attended by a decrepit Wonder Woman. The TV plays, but the sound is pure golden oldies from the Platters. This piece isn't subtle. But it's deserved: An artist from "Old Europe" has succeeded in suggesting (tempus fugit, sic transit gloria mundi, gotcha!) that others may have a more sophisticated understanding of superpowerdom than we have ourselves." 


I think it's damn bloody beautiful and genius, and has a slight hint of Darren Aronofsky's film The Wrestler. (which I did a little cheeky blog about here).
For more of Gilles Barier's work you can look here.

The XX - Somerset House

 
The other week I saw The XX play the Summer Series of gigs at Somerset House. It was literally amazing. I wasn't sure how it was going to go, as much as I love their album - and I do, it was my favourite album of 2009. None of their songs really build up to anything. Which is fine and relaxing and beautiful when I'm sitting in my room or when I'm on my way to work. But when I'm standing in an open air gig with a beer in hand - I wasn't sure how it would go.

The whole thing was just dead simple, beautiful and engaging. Romy's voice is so effortlessly amazing and rings out over the sparse guitar and electronic drum beats. I just stood there in amazement as they worked their way through their set. The whole of the internal square of somerset house lit up with a slow change of colour which faded with their songs.

All the photos I have robbed from numerous places - they are not my own, I did not take them, most of which are off Flickr. Unfortunately I have totally forgotten whose profile I stole them off as they have been sitting on my desktop unlabeled for a little while now. So apologies to who-ever took those. 


I think that you should all check out their website which utilizes the best use of an X ever - such a simple and effective graphic device. and watch the numerous videos they have produced - all of them are amazing which such beautiful and understated meloncholly.





And if you weren't quite XXed out yet then you should read about this covered on creative reviews blog in January of this year.

The Vinyl Factory and director Saam Farahmand made a 3d sculpture come music video come installation. In which you could walk around and experience the album as a whole. Stunning piece of installation work. Would have been dead lovely to go but unfortunately I missed it - and it's long gone now. So these pictures will have to suffice.

Oh and one more thing, watch this. It's would have been properly amazing to see this live. Simply Beautiful.



Post beautiful count: IIII
Post amazing count: IIII 

University Blog

For a uni project I have to make a blog to document and comment on the inspiring and all bloody beautiful things that cross my path. I have to comment on the seven catagories; books, films, architecture / places, museums, artists, websites/online and design.

For the next couple of months I will pummel you with a loose but as coherent as possible stream of consciousness. enjoy.