... these are a few of my favorite things, October-November 2014

Some stuff I particularly enjoyed ...

Konstantin Kalynovych / The Alchemist.  I'm happy to own a print, meticulously done.  Artist's site: kalynovych.net/

metroplastique.com/bijoux-talismans/208-mineral.html

Koralie (Metroplastique) / Mineral Talisman Earrings from "Collection Composite."  I had to get just to admire.  More here: metroplastique.com/

librairieminima.com/album/la-boutique-minima/

librairieminima.com/album/livres-miniatures/2/

Catherine Prats & Kimihito Okuyama / Librairie Galerie MiniMa.  I've been dreaming of a shop exclusively for miniature art and books.  Edition L'atelier du lierre: librairieminima.com/pages/l-atelier-du-lierre/l.html

Subcultural Girl.  Ballpoint pen, 2014.

Shohei Otomo.  More here: backwoodsgallery.com/shohei-otomo-prints/.  Artist's site: hakuchi.jp/

phlegmcomicnews.blogspot.com/2014/08/totems-moss-norway.html

Phlegm / Totems.  Artist's site: phlegmcomicnews.blogspot.com/

 

I recommend his book of pen and ink drawings, which includes a nice poster of 'Civilisation': phlegm.bigcartel.com/product/phlegm-book

Michel Leiris / Nights as Day, Days as Night (1988).  Original: Nuits sans nuit et quelques jours sans jour, Paris: Gallimard, 1961.

mhpbooks.com/books/la-boutique-obscure/

Another dream journal ... Georges Perec / La Boutique Obscure: 124 Dreams (2013).  Original: La boutique obscure. 124 rêves, Paris: Denoël/Gonthier, 1973.

 

And another of sorts ... Alfred Jarry / Days and Nights, various from Atlas Press.  Original: Les Jours et les nuits, roman d'un déserteur, Paris: Mercure de France, 1897.

taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/art/all/01102/facts.hieronymus_bosch_complete_works.htm

Stefan Fischer / Hieronymus Bosch: Complete Works (2014).  Look inside: 
taschen.com/pages/en/community/video/37396.leaf_through_hieronymus_bosch_the_complete_works.htm

taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/popculture/all/01129/facts.winsor_mccay_the_complete_little_nemo.htm

I'm also looking forward to 2 upcoming releases from Taschen: Winsor McCay: The Complete Little Nemo and van Eyck: The Complete Works.

ohjoy.blogs.com/my_weblog/2014/01/the-coolest-pop-up-book-ever.html

Kimika Warabe / とびだす! うごく! -たべもの, Tobidasu! Ugoku! Tabemono (2008).  My sister gave this mini pop-up book to my nephew, and he loved it.  I must say, it is a very cute book.

Panos Cosmatos / Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010).

 

Susan Sontag / Promised Lands (1974).

Asif Kapadia / The Warrior (2001).

John Coney / Space is the Place (1974).  I like to rewatch it from time to time.

These days, a lot of newly remastered Sun Ra.  More info: the-temple.net/sunradisco/list.php

La Femme / Psycho Tropical Berlin (2013).  More info: lafemmemusic.com/

Melt-Banana / Charlie (1998).  More info: geocities.jp/azaplink/mb/mxbx.html

Pierre Schaeffer / L'œuvre musicale, various from INA/GRM/EMF.

The Lykes of Us / '7:30 Said' (1967).  More info: cicadelic.com/lykesofus.htm

Andrei Khrzhanovsky's Glass Harmonica (1968)

Not quite Mur ...

... these are a few of my favorite things, September 2014

Some stuff I particularly enjoyed this month:

magpictures.com/thedouble/

The best part of Richard Ayoade's The Double (2013), this drawing.

semiotextes.com/shop/fantomas-versus-the-multinational-vampires

Julio Cortázar's Fantomas contra los vampiros multinacionales / Fantomas Versus the Multinational Vampires.  Recently released in translation by Semiotext(e).

theschoolband.co.uk/

The School - "All I Wanna Do" (2008).

vignelli.com/home/product/heller3.html

Massimo Vignelli died in late May this year.  It's nice to have the Compact Stacking Cup.  I also suggest the Stacking Dinnerware and Mug, adds a certain charm to everyday meals.  Heller offers a clear version of the mug, but it suffers from poor production.

too legit to quit

Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently stated about the circumstances in Ukraine: "A course has been set to use dictatorial and sometimes terrorist methods to suppress dissenters in various regions.” 

Below, an antiseptic against those pesky dictatorial and sometimes terrorist methods, foreign or domestic.

Update 02/28/2014: Ukraine will be confronting sabotage on the part of the Russian kleptocracy and its cronies, vacillation on the part of the EU and the US, as well as internal shortchanging. Ukraine will benefit generally from the EU more than from the Russian Federation, now and in the long run ... but it's like dealing with a slightly shinier Mephistopheles.  

Update 03/01/2014: Vladimir Putin has set in motion not only a scary destabilization of Ukraine but his own discrediting.  Russia is aiding and abetting Viktor Yanukovych, wanted for mass murder, also a big time swindler.  Putin showed good judgment in Edward Snowden's case, bad in this case.  Yanukovych is a liability, he has lost feasibility to the point that he can't even defend Russian interests.  With the military push, Putin is encouraging violence in Crimea and elsewhere rather than seeking its de-escalation and some compromise, he isn't seeking "normalization"  ... and he has tipped his hand all too quickly.

Update 03/03/2014: Sen. John McCain is correct in saying Russia's "crown jewel" is Ukraine, but the dumb yahoo forgets that a Cold War goes both ways, nationalist demagoguery and militarist profiteering being telltale signs.  Maybe Putin learned a thing or two from the US playbook.  Hard to breathe with all the hypocrisy.  

Tim's Vermeer, believing isn't seeing

A good rule of thumb may be to critique only the things that one respects.  However, this can't always be the case ... when one doesn't believe the hype, such as the hype of Tim's Vermeer (2013) directed by Teller: sonyclassics.com/timsvermeer/

                                   Tim Jenison's copy of Johannes Vermeer's The Music Lesson.

One can agree or disagree with the unraveling of the so-called mystery of Vermeer, that he used a sort of camera obscura.  Man or machine etc, the implications are pretty hackneyed.  I can admire Jenison's perfectionism but it's not carried over into the painting itself.  Look closely, it's not all that remarkable, flat, a bit "high school" as they say ... nothing 'gainst high school students because some of them are great artists.  Jenison doesn't have formal training, but the excuse undercuts the premise.  The result's mediocre even with "cheating," far from a Vermeer or good photorealism for that matter.  Technology just doesn't replace talent, which's another kind of eye, another kind of vision.  

Copy enlargement here: vanityfair.com/culture/2013/11/vermeer-secret-tool-mirrors-lenses

Original here: royalcollection.org.uk/collection/405346/a-lady-at-the-virginal-with-a-gentleman-the-music-lesson