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Up: A review. With spoilers kept to a minimum.

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

I saw Up, the new Pixar film. And it was… weird. Very weird. Like, it was good, but it SO wasn’t a kid’s film. Within the first ten minutes I said, “Whoa, I feel for the parents in the audience that have to explain the topics touched upon already.” It felt like an independent film, not very Pixar or Disney at all. And yet, there were parts that were total slapstick and very funny. It was a confusing film. I felt some parts were weak plot-wise, and then some parts were too strong and poignant. And sometimes these feelings overlapped. I made a small diagram to explain that:

Each color represents a different emotion I felt. Go see it, you’ll see what I mean.

The most important thing I was reminded of was how much I love the Pixar shorts. I’ve always looked forward to those. And, as usual, the short for Up didn’t disappoint. Because it’s still in the theaters I won’t link to it now, I’ll give you a chance to go see it properly, but some of the others I will share that had a specific impact on me.

This was the first thing I ever saw of theirs, Luxo, Jr.. I saw it on Sesame Street as a wee tot and was totally captured.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1pVidZtnPE

Then, when I was in college, A Bug’s Life came out with Geri’s Game as the short and I became a hard-core lover of Pixar. PIXAR 4 LIFE (insert appropriate gang sign here)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFiHP8TImOo

My favorite of all time came out soon after that, For The Birds. It came out with Monsters, Inc. Still, to this day, I can watch it and laugh like a little schoolgirl.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnX7V8eG8is

Another one that really was sweet and amusing was the short for Ratatouille, called Lifted. Terrific, sweet, funny. I like how the student alien can swivel his eyeballs without the rest of his face.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cv5-SgANG8

And finally, the short from WALL-E, called Presto. I have rarely laughed so hard in my life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=130qT36_UnE

Posted in Movie and Book Reviews. Possibly With Spoilers., Random Art Bloggery | No Comments »

Oh, that can’t be right.

Saturday, June 13th, 2009

People, I present to you… The Sashimi Tabernacle Choir.

http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/sashimichoir

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Two artists I think are very cool and I want to share with you.

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009

Since not much is going on other than work in my world right now, I thought I would take some time out and tell you about two artists I am very fond of. One is Jeremy Fish. He is an illustrator/painter/designer who seems to know no bounds. I can’t really pinpoint why I love his work so much, but I think it has to do with his incredible use of a very limited palette and his excellent brushwork. Also, Jeremy Fish’s marriage of the cute and the creepy is great. No one else in my family likes his work, mainly because he uses skulls so much, but I live alone and need to take no one else’s opinions into consideration, which is why I have one of his pieces on my wall.

Here’s the logo to his website:

A pic of the man himself in his studio:

An album cover for Aesop Rock:

A magazine cover for Juxtapoz:

A hotel room Jeremy Fish painted (I must stay there one day):

Some pics from his Rome exhibition:

And, apparently, he even designed a marital aid:

He is also famous for designing skateboards, shoes, pillows, vinyl figures, etc. You can check out his work on his website, silly pink bunnies.

The other artist I wanted to share is Pete Fowler. I learned about him when I went to Kid Robot for the first time. I fell in love with his vinyl figures, and that was the beginning of my collection. He does these computer illustrations of woodland-dwelling oddities that look like they belong in a suburban basement with wood paneling and brick-colored shag carpeting, so much are they a throwback to the late ’60s slash early ’70s. I just find his work charming and delightful and sweet and eccentric.

Here is a flyer he designed, I assume for the series of vinyl characters “Pets and Their Owners” (which I really need to get):

A wall mural he designed:

And album cover for the band Super Furry Animals:

Some other vinyl characters that I do own:

And look! Someone has made an animated something-or-other with his work! Yay!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1Q5umX4ioI

Once again, while his work is not for everyone, it is really fun and sweet. Pete Fowler’s website is Monsterism.

In fact, here is a picture of my living room with both artists’ work in it.

Posted in Apartment, Random Art Bloggery, Teh Intarwebz | 1 Comment »

Cool art I found in my perusals of the internet.

Monday, May 25th, 2009

What a great football – I totally want it:

http://www.brosmind.com/projects/50

Terrific origami fish made from money:

http://www.booooooom.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/booooooom_580_02.jpg

Phenomenal concert posters:

http://wellmedicated.com/inspiration/50-amazing-gig-posters-sure-to-inspire/

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It’s spring! Spring spring spring! Tulips and restrooms, hurray!

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

Hooray and yay! New York has utter dogcrap winters, so when spring comes it truly is a delight. And the plants are a-blooming. I walked past Bryant Park (my favorite park in Manhattan) and saw these incredible tulips. Not just regular tulips, but big lush tulips with vague sunset hues. And there were tons of them all over the place. It soothes the soul, I tells ya.

However, I did notice something interesting. I happened to glance at the public bathroom on the rim of the park and noticed that there’s a pattern of animal skulls and ornate Grecian swastika-type designs.

That is fabulous. How did I not notice this before? And why aren’t goths and neo-Nazis and Georgia O’Keefe fans hanging around there? I totally would. It’s like a mausoleum… for bodily waste. AWESOME. This became one of my favorite New York buildings.

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Giraffe.

Thursday, February 5th, 2009

Remember Sloth?

I have since decided to make the white part a yellow-orange, give it a little more zip! and ping! And I thought Sloth there needed some friends, so I designed a giraffe to go with him.

New ‘n Improved Sloth:

and Just Plain New Giraffe:

I really tried to capture that bored, slightly stupid expression giraffes have. I think I got it. Maybe I’ll make another forest creature that lends itself to the long, thin layout. I have to think about what animal would suit the space.

Addendum: After looking at the giraffe and sloth together, I think two things: one, the giraffe needs more greenery around him, and two, perhaps he needs a small butterfly or tiny bird on his horn. The sloth has that vine he’s hanging off of, so incorporating elements that aren’t the animal itself is okay. Revised giraffe coming soon.

Addendum to the addendum: Decided against butterfly or bird. Increased greenery. Better giraffe.

Addendum to the previous addendums: Oh dear God, I’m totally overthinking the foliage around this giraffe. I’m going to stop now.

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I has ornaments. Let me show you them.

Monday, January 5th, 2009

I am really, really into glass, especially blown glass. Unfortunately, I am also really, really into about six or seven other things, so in order for me to own blown glass, it has to be small and relatively inexpensive. I started collecting handblown glass balls about eight years ago, when I finally had a (meager) income of my own and could use it here and there for a desired object. Also, many high-end craft stores don’t want to pack those things away, so they put them on sale after Christmas, and I swoop in like a ball-buying demon. Over the years, I’ve acquired quite a few, and now that I own my own apartment, I finally could display them. My mom gave me a table she didn’t want that has rods going all the way around it, so I thought, “A ha! I will display my glass orbs here hanging from ribbon and they will be out of the way (reduced chance of breakage) and they will catch the light from the window and it will be delightful!” So that’s precisely what I did.

Here’s the problem: See those six boxes on top of the table there? Those are six new ornaments I received this holiday season. I am going to have to cull the herd a bit, because space is at a premium. I’m going to hang the new ones around the sides, but I’m going to run out of orb-danglin’ room mighty quick. That’s my New Year’s wish: May this be the most difficult quandary I have to deal with this year. That would be nice.

Posted in Apartment, Random Art Bloggery | No Comments »

Windows at Zahks.

Sunday, January 4th, 2009

Zahks = Saks Fifth Avenue. My grandmother spoke with a heavy German accent and so she referred to Saks as “Zahks” (pronounced like “socks” with a Z). Therefore, I refer to Saks as Zahks. Anyway, the windows this year were particularly cute. For the last few years, they’ve had beautiful windows, but they had creepy dolls in them. Moving creepy dolls.

Brrr, instant nightmare for me. It looks like the demonic ghost of Jon-Benet come back to wreak havoc on those who did her wrong. This year, they found a book (or they had a book written for them) called A Flake Like Mike.

http://www.intergalactico.com/work/design/print_illustration/a_flake_like_mike_1.php

It seems like a nice book with a positive message, but here’s the best part: Saks has some kind of relationship with Swarovski, the crystal manufacturer, so everything was BLINGY BLINGY. Me being a magpie, I was in heaven. And the characters from the book are very cute, so I took some pictures of my favorite parts of the windows.

This is a window of how Mike blends in with all the other snowflakes. It’s all done in felt, which is a very matte material, so there’s no flashy anything. But wait! The hexagons around Mike’s face flip over:

MAD blingy bling. Three-dimensonial sparkly goodness. I stood in front of this window for longer than you’re really supposed to, but I was so entranced. It combines so many of my favorite things: hexagons, repeating patterns, the aformentioned sparkly goodness, radiating lines, etc. You know when you play peek-a-boo with a small child, and you cover up your face and then you “Peek-a-boo!” at them and they laugh over and over? That’s what this was like for me. These panels would flip to plain snowflakes and then flip to this and- “Ooooooh!” -I would be dazzled all over again. I found video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu7ieKBGhpM

The other window I loved was the last one. All the snowflakes are happy, but the best part were the snowflakes riding a merry-go-round of sorts at the top of the window. They were the HAPPIEST SNOWFLAKES EVER. You couldn’t stop smiling at them.

And they’re riding around in a circle, you can practically hear them go “Yay!” “Whee!” “Whoo hoo!” as they swing by. I hope this is a trend that Saks keeps going with, the cute, almost kawaii-style windows. With a great deal of crystals. Gotta have crystals. Blingity bling.

Posted in New York, Random Art Bloggery | 1 Comment »

I would like to give props to my homies (insert gang sign here).

Thursday, December 4th, 2008

Normally, I don’t use people’s real names here because I don’t know if they want to be written about on a blog. However, today will be different. Recently, two people that I went to college with or worked with are REPREZENTIN’ and I want to bring your attention to them.

First, I went to SUNY Purchase for my BFA and studied in the Conservatory of Theater Arts and Design (major: Set Design). You know how there’s always someone in your class who you know is a winner and will succeed because they’re just that terrific? Jason Lyons was in my class (major: Lighting Design). Immediately, he was that guy, a “Most Likely To Kick A Copious Amount Of Ass In His Chosen Major” type of person. I was more of the “Most Likely To Be Not Here Next Semester” type. Or the “Most Likely To Snap Late One Night And Shove A Drafting Tool Into Her Eye” type. So, now about ten years have passed since we graduated (him – with honors, me – not so much), and I get an email about a comedian I like a lot, Mike Birbiglia. Lo and behold, Mike has a show off-Broadway.

And would you look who did his lighting.

Look at that resume. LOOK AT IT. Boy’s makin’ good. I am so proud of him. I mean, it wasn’t in doubt for a second, but still, it’s nice to see the best thing possible happen to talented people. I should also add that Jason is a super-nice person and should you happen to make his acquaintance, you will see that for yourself. Go see Mike Birbiglia’s show. Mike is great, and I guarantee he will be well-lit.

Second, I worked at BBDO for about five years, and I met a variety of art directors and such in my time there. One of those people was Jayson Atienza. He has a distinct painting style and his main canvas is shoes. I built his website for him originally as a side gig when I was at BBDO. The other day I was in Pylones and saw a book called Custom Kicks.

It’s an excellent book, full of really cool ideas. And not only does Jayson get his own page, he gets the closing page as well.

Jayson is also possibly the only person who can look good in a mullet. Really. Not bad at all.

So I just want to say congratulations to Jason and Jayson and I wish them a ton more success. It’s always so wonderful to see that.

Addendum: Here are a few pics from Custom Kicks that I thought we also excellent representations of sneaker adornment. Good design.

Posted in My Art/Design/Business, New York, Random Art Bloggery | No Comments »

Belated Halloween post. Also, sick.

Thursday, November 6th, 2008

I have a raunchy, nasty cold. It started in my lungs, and over three days it migrated up until it was in my face, exploding out of my sinuses like fireworks on Chinese New Year. Throw the Rockettes doing a line-kick in there too and you have an idea. I can’t breathe. My office-mate Nelly is going to kill me because when I drink water I can’t inhale, so I sound like a French bulldog. I don’t feel bad about it, though, because she is the one who gave this disease to me, so she has to listen to me snuffling and horking all day as penance. Ha ha *cough* ha.

We celebrated Halloween here at work, so I got all dressed up as my interpretation of a scarecrow, only to get out of the costume an hour later and not go to the party I had intended to go to because I felt so poorly. Maybe I’ll wear the same scarecrow costume again next year, no one will remember or care. Here are some pics.

And later I had someone take a picture of the nest with eggs I had in my hair.

I was trying to use my hands to frame the nest, but someone looked at this picture and inquired if I was doing the robot. I see that now.

Also, to get my hair curly, I slept in rollers and wore them to work all day and was mocked by one and all.

Go ahead. Laugh at me. Everyone else has.

I wish I hadn’t been sick, I would have enjoyed frolicking in a downtown party. Also, if anyone is wondering why I make my own costumes, this video should clarify that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4rUiV_Hh74

There’s some coarse language in it, so don’t watch it at work unless you have your headphones on.

Addendum:
I thought my homemade costume was lovely, but then I saw my co-worker S.’s costume and I was like, “Oh yeah, there’s a winner.” S. was The Cyclone, the Coney Island rollercoaster. Seriously. Check it out.

S. from the side:

S. from the front:

Wait, it gets better. The whole track is lined with little white Christmas lights, and the red sign is lined with little red Christmas lights, all attached to a battery pack hidden in the boxy midsection. Mind-blowing, I know. S. went down to The Today Show that morning to see if he could win best costume, but he was beaten by Spiderbaby. He was a good sport about it, c’mon, Spiderbaby is freakin’ adorable. And the costume is clever.

http://jezebel.com/5072166/spiderbaby-attacks-today-show-with-killer-cuteness

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