Harmony Korine on Letterman

admin — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 19:55:01 +0000

Back in the 90′s Harmony Korine made three appearances on “The Late Show with David Letterman” and each one is more bizarre than the next. Let’s hope there’s a fourth installment in the future.

1995

1997

1998

Viviane Sassen “Parasomnia”

admin — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 18:55:22 +0000

I caught some photos by Viviane Sassen in an exhibition at the MoMA earlier this year and it left quite an impression. Her photography is tinged with the same warped sense of surrealism that inflicts Pieter Hugo’s work. Parasomnia is a type of sleep disorder that involves abnormal positions, dreams, and movements, which is a complimentary theme for Sassen’s highly stylized imagery.

Weegee

admin — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:00:39 +0000

Arthur Felig immigrated to New York City and adopted the name Weegee when he began photographing the Lower East Side. Working mostly at night, his specialty was crime scenes and accidents where he often beat the police and paramedics to the scene. He published a couple books, most notably “Naked City” and also made a short film with Stanley Kubrick.

Spot the Reference: “Night of the Hunter” vs. “Do The Right Thing”

admin — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 03:27:34 +0000

“Night of the Hunter” is a noir classic that features Robert Mitchum in a legendary role as a crooked preacher. Although actor Charles Laughton only directed this one film, Spike Lee gave him a shout out in “Do The Right Thing”.

Italy: The New Domestic Landscape

admin — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 03:05:25 +0000

Starting in the mid-sixties something strange was brewing over in the architecture/design community in Italy. A group of young architects and designers were putting just as much focus on the social implications of design as the aesthetics. Their work was a direct response to all the high minded design taking places in Italy at the time and came to be known as “Radical Design”, challenging the role of creating gradiose buildings and objects in the face of poverty and urban decay.

Two of the key groups involved were Archizoom and Superstudio, collectives from Florence that kicked off the initial experiments. Although much of their work was theoretical and never physically broke ground, they used any method necessary to get their ideas across, such as short films, photo collages, and installation art.

The high point of the movement came in 1972 when the MoMA mounted a large scale exhibition called “Italy: The New Domestic Landscape“, featuring the major players from the Florence scene, as well as other Italian designers working in a similar manner. On display were a wide array of items including furniture, posters, films, models, drafts and installations.

Peep game:

Sound Off

admin — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:47:11 +0000

Although we left the golden age of silent film over 75 years ago, some movies are still better (or at least just as good) with the audio on mute.

1) Pretty much anything by Dario Argento

The king of Giallo is unfortunately not the king of great dialogue or logical stories for that matter. Most of his plots have more holes than a mesh shirt, but he makes up for it with some shock and awe inspiring set pieces and orchestrated death scenes.

Recommended - “Deep Red”, “Suspiria”, “Tenbrae”

2)”Juliet Of The Spirits” by Federico Fellini

Fellini is famous for his dream-like imagery and “Juliet” has it in spades. This film was seen as the feminine version of his “8 1/2″ and Fellini took full advantage of his first feature in color.

3) “Holy Mountain” by Alejandro Jodorowsky

I’ll be honest, I never really been able to grasp the storyline of any of Jodorowsky’s films. Just sit back and watch.

4) “Fata Morgana” by Werner Herzog

Apparently this was a big film with hippie college kids in the 70′s and it’s completely obvious why after viewing. I wouldn’t exactly call this a documentary, more like a filmed meditation.

5) “2001 – A Space Odyssey” by Stanley Kubrick

I couldn’t leave this one off the list, although it almost feels like cheating. The sound (or lack of) is really important to the viewing experience 0f 2001, but Kubrick wanted to create a new visual language with this film and achieved it with flying colors.

Rocksmith Spring 2012 Lookbook

admin — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:58:14 +0000

We traveled down to “The Big Easy” to shoot a video lookbook for NYC based clothing brand Rocksmith. Local skate boutique Mad Soulz provided the models, while we handled all aspects of video production and final delivery to the web. Hopefully we can make it back soon for some more Jambalaya.