In love with MIA. She is cute as hell (damn that diplo, though that is a Philly claim-to-fame) and this new CD is totally crazy. And I kinda like it better than the previous one, which is sayin’ sumfin’. It was the first time I listened to a CD that was pop and international and felt ok for an American audience (read, myself). Afrikan Boy only reinforces this. His flow is so unamerican, but works so well and is totally acessable; think awkward in a good way. Virgil Abloh of the brilliance has a cool write-up on him. He references this thing Vice Mag is doing with Spike Jonze; a kind of documentary that involves following around M.I.A. and fucking around. If you are obsessed, like myself, its worth a watch.
Favorite Tracks: Bamboo Banger, Boyz, Paper Planes
Also, watch some vids at supertouch…
…it all turns to gold. I seriously don’t push products too often but Chuck Anderson is one of my number ones. Check out his prints here. (I’ve got this one hanging in my work room.)
Anyway, he came out with a line of T-shirts recently. Really, really fresh stuff. Pick ‘em up here and enjoy looking better than your friends.
Published by mike h at August 18, 2007
in Art.
Really taken by communist propaganda. I dont think we (the usa) ever really saw non-wartime propaganda. (A bunch more here.) If you can see beyond the fact that it is hiding some pretty ugly realities, the works are beautiful. How about that lady with the graduated cylinder? Hubba-hubba, right?
Published by mike h at August 17, 2007
in Art.
New maguila mag from San Paulo’s Base-V. Pretty awesome. Base-V is an art collective based out of San Paulo, Brazil. They release free online magazines in .pdf format every once in a while that they pull together from submitted work.
Published by mike h at August 16, 2007
in Art.
OK, heavy post to light post. What do you say, other than ‘cool as hell’? Go to his site for other great photos. I am not sure how he goes about getting the effect but its pretty amazing.
Let me just say off the bat that I am that guy in the group who is always defending aa. From a responsible sourcing angle, from a design angle, from a product angle… whatever, I like the business and what they do. Anyway, I was suprised to see this ad. I know they are always in hot water over pushing the envelope (which I am also defending them for!) but this just seems… I dont know… stupid… unnecessary… and, dare I say (especially when we are looking at a company whose main target are upper-middle class white kids), racist? I don’t know… to me this screams mammy.
So… aa, you are stupid, and maybe racist. But you make great clothing… the moral dilemma of wealthy white kids…
Update 1: Not actually an aa ad? An ID ad? Not sure and don’t have time to look into it. Though the first time I saw it was in an e-mail update that aa sent around. Also they are still posting it on their site… hmmm…
Update 2: I also think it’s funny that of the maybe two aa ads I have seen featuring black models this is one of them. Maybe I wouldn’t have thought it so strange if there were more black models employed by aa, but because they get so little representation in the modeling ranks of this company, highlighting such a racially provocative ad just seems strange, no?
Update 3: See our new aa post HERE.
Published by mike h at August 13, 2007
in Art.
http://www.jamesjean.com/
http://www.politewinter.com/
http://www.processrecess.com/
Being lazy.
via::: protoculture
So this is probably totally illegal but Refinery29 has posted a pretty nice downloadable summer-jam mix.
Also, I’m jonesin’ for a pair a’ Claes.
For me Black Sheep Boy was easily a top 10 of 2005. The Stage Names is really good and just as accessible, but doesn’t quite soar to the same heights. Get it.
Favorite Tracks: Girl in Port and A Hand to Take Hold of the Scene
Gehry, the achetect behind the Museo Guggenheim in Bilboa, returns to Spain with the Hotel Marqués De Riscal. Nuts. You’d think that this strange modernist hotel would look completely out of place in some small Spanish wine town but I don’t think so. The undulating roof lends itself well to the surrounding moutains (apparetly it’s supposed to resemble wine flowing out of a bottle) and seeing it next to that 15th c. cathedral in the town square doesn’t seem disjointed or awkward but a nice marrying of the different time periods.
I’ve followed monocle through its first 5 issues or so and I really want to say that I love it. I do love the presentation. The page layout. The Believer-esque unglossed finish. The heft of the thing - 200-some pages an issue. The unassuming photos. The whole feel of the magazine is both kinda’ retro and progressive at the same time - and is definitely a breath of fresh air. But this style, and you really have to check one out at the bookstore to see what I mean, completely overwhelms the substance of the thing. Upon opening, Tyler Brûlé tried to bill his brainchild as ‘the trendy economist’ and the about section on their site claims it delivers “the most original coverage in global affairs…” Wow, yeah, not at all. More of like an inconsequential economist. You read these obscure articles on something like bike-friendly cities or narcotecture in Afghanistan and you are like, huh, that’s mildly interesting, now why did I drop $10 on this?… oh yea, because of how it looked and felt in my hands at the store - the presentation.
Also, while it is chock full of beautiful people and exotic European locales, for a mag that wants to have at least something to do with word affairs, any mention of poverty is conspicuously absent. I guess it’s ok to leave out the developing world from your reportage but you pay the price of having the whole thing feel contrived and unnatural. You begin to feel like the world is made up of white, good-looking Europeans making over two hundred thousand dollars a year. (Easy way around this Monocle, don’t even feign a connection to the economist, or any other world affairs mag. How about global culture magazine? That works.)
Eye magazine recently critiqued Monocle on the eco-unfriendliness of the globetrotting lifestyle that they advocate. It was a truly bizarre attack on the magazine, but fair at the same time. I guess I would have expected it from Mother Jones and not Eye.
Published by mike h at August 5, 2007
in Art.
However bullshit you think this thing is, fine, but who didn’t lose sleep over wondering how he put that thing together? Supertouch, my new favorite blog, recently posed a bunch of insightful photos from red clover pix that shed some light on the process. The most expensive piece of modern artwork? …I guess.
My favorite of this summer’s D.A.N.C.E. iterations is W.A.L.E.D.A.N.C.E. by Wale (pronounced wah-lay). Download it and his mixtape fo’ free here.
Duke Riley’s recent exposé in the Times. He is one of the artists that took part in ‘book‘ a few years back. (The Gothamist writes about it here.) Anyway, his recent “metaphysical” attack on the Queen Mary 2 near pier 41 in Brooklyn got him and his two friends arrested.
Video: “Hi, my name is Duke Riley and what am I doing? I guess I’m doing something pretty dumb and dangerous.”
Awesome. Isn’t this what art is all about? No? Oh…
