Pedro Vidotto's Minimalist Movie Posters

2 things that give me a boner...minimalist design and movies.

clearly, I was pleased as punch to find Vidotto's
clean, clever posters.

hey, Pedro...a few ideas...

Black Swan
Blue Valentine
Enter The Void
Rabbit Hole

check 'em out at Fubiz HERE

Gaspar Noe Punched My Eyeballs

I've always been a little nervous sitting down for a
Gaspar Noe flick. I just know I'm going to go through
the ringer to some degree.

that being said, I'll be doing just that this weekend
when I see Enter The Void.

thought this post is about the opening credits of the film.
tailored for the drug culture/A.D.D.-set, the eye-reddening
onslaught of an entire font library strobing before a deluge
of After Effect fireworks....ack...just watch it...

Kerouac's Letter To Brando

this 1957 letter was found in Brando's house and brought
in $33,600 at auction.

Kerouac pitches On The Road to Brando...in addition
to hailing himself as an angel, waxing on French Cinema
and proving himself a good son to his mother.

very cool. read it yourself. (click to enlarge or
read transcript below)



Transcript

Jack Kerouac
1418½ Clouser St
Orlando, Fla

Dear Marlon

I'm praying that you'll buy ON THE ROAD and make a movie of it. Don't worry about the structure, I know to compress and re-arrange the plot a bit to give perfectly acceptable movie-type structure: making it into one all-inclusive trip instead of the several voyages coast-to-coast in the book, one vast round trip from New York to Denver to Frisco to Mexico to New Orleans to New York again. I visualise the beautiful shots could be made with the camera on the front seat of the car showing the road (day and night) unwinding into the windshield, as Sal and Dean yak. I wanted you to play the part because Dean (as you know) is no dopey hotrodder but a real intelligent (in fact Jesuit) Irishman. You play Dean and I'll play Sal (Warner Bros. mentioned I play Sal) and I'll show you how Dean acts in real life, you couldn't possibly imagine it without seeing a good imitation. Fact, we can go visit him in Frisco, or have him come down to L.A. still a real frantic cat but nowadays settled down with his final wife saying the Lord's Prayer with his kiddies at night...as you'll seen when you read the play BEAT GENERATION. All I want out of this is to able to establish myself and my mother a trust fund for life, so I can really go roaming around the world writing about Japan, India, France etc. ...I want to be free to write what comes out of my head & free to feed my buddies when they're hungry & not worry about my mother.

Incidentally, my next novel is THE SUBTERRANEANS coming out in N.Y. next March and is about a love affair between a white guy and a colored girl and very hep story. Some of the characters in it you know in the village (Stanley Gould etc.) It easily could be turned into a play, easier than ON THE ROAD.

What I wanta do is re-do the theater and the cinema in America, give it a spontaneous dash, remove pre-conceptions of "situation" and let people rave on as they do in real life. That's what the play is: no plot in particular, no "meaning" in particular, just the way people are. Everything I write I do in the spirit where I imagine myself an Angel returned to the earth seeing it with sad eyes as it is. I know you approve of these ideas, & incidentally the new Frank Sinatra show is based on "spontaneous" too, which is the only way to come on anyway, whether in show business or life. The French movies of the 30's are still far superior to ours because the French really let their actors come on and the writers didn't quibble with some preconceived notion of how intelligent the movie audience is, the talked soul from soul and everybody understood at once. I want to make great French Movies in America, finally, when I'm rich...American Theater & Cinema at present is an outmoded Dinosaur that ain't mutated along with the best in American Literature

If you really want to go ahead, make arrangements to see me in New York when you next come, or if you're going to Florida here I am, but what we should do is talk about this because I prophesy that it's going to be the beginning of something real great. I'm bored nowadays and I'm looking around for something to do in the void, anyway—writing novels is getting too easy, same with plays, I wrote the play in 24 hours.

Come on now Marlon, put up your dukes and write!

Sincerely, later,

(Signed, 'Jack Kerouac')

Plaid To Meet You, Merlin Carpenter

Merlin Carpenter's recent show (closing this Thursday) at Miami's Formalist
Sidewalk Poetry Club consists of poorly knocked-off
Burberry plaids half-assedly draped over canvas frames.

somehow this works for me.

what works for me even more is his ornery slingshot-
back-pocket of past exhibitions...including his fleecing
of the ICA Philadelphia's group show, Make Your Own Life,
for $4000 in cash for his own, personal shopping spree. Zing!

check out his website (with links to his shows) HERE

Liz Artinian Lurks In The Background

Liz Artinian is a painter. an EXCELLENT painter.
and also happens to do the background artwork for
The Venture Bros. on Adult Swim.

check her site out HERE

James Reynolds' Last Meals

London artist James Reynolds photographs trays of (mostly)
food taken from actual death row inmates' requests for last meals.

ranging from not surprising to wtf, the photos give an
insight into what may be cooking in one's mind
(or stomach) at death's kitchen door.

more about Reynolds' work HERE

The Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves...

...for the love of performing, an enormous fan base
and for the long-awaited documentary, Bar d'O.

Craig Abell-Champion, Bobby Sheehan, Chris Jannou
and a slew of talented film folks chronicle
the infamous, glamicious NYC club, Bar d'O, highlighting
performances by Sherry Vine, Joey Arias and
Raven O.

The Facebook page is up. Wig-out HERE.

You Sunk My USB Port!

the C77UGG stuffs another batch of clever goodies
into our stockings this year.

check it out HERE.

Give To Her Your Metal, Take From Meighan O'Toole Her Lace

Meighan O'Toole = superCoole

check out the link HERE

Web Services Cover Therapy

couldn't help but think of Spacesick's "I Can Read Movies" series
when I saw these.

check 'em out full-size HERE.

Quentin Thiaucourt's Scroll Clock

as the creator himself said, "it's useless and nerdy".

works for me.

check it out HERE

Poetry Animations on YouTube

part Conan O'Brien, part something even creepier...but addictive.

Poetry Animations HERE
(or some shortcuts to a few below)


POE


UNKNOWN GIRL


GERTRUDE STEIN

Eat Some Paste!

The official homepage of Doug Allen.

See Steven come to life... and don't miss out on the
brilliant animated feature, "Drinking Cactus",
sure to cure what ales ya!

check it out HERE, dammit!

Craighton Berman's Coil Lamp

Chicago designer, Berman, kicks out a concept I'm sure
we all wish we'd thought of ourselves.

Craighton Berman website

Art History via The Brothers Quay

check it out

Ads for America's Next Top Model

love these.

check 'em out HERE.

Typewriter Ribbon Tins

The first issue of Uppercase Magazine features this
flickr photo set of some exceptional ribbon tins from
"back in the day".

check 'em out HERE.

Spacesick's "I Can Read Movies" series

I can't stop thinking about these.

check out more HERE

you know, for kids...

R.I.P., John Hughes

a flier I did for "homo night" at The Continental in Chicago
a couple years ago.

thanks for carrying me through those agonizing post-adolescent years
(not to mention, introducing me to The Smiths), Mr. Hughes.

you were a lifesaver in a sea of fuschia and chartreuse angst.

Gladys Knight

GK and her Pips present the Best Song nominees for
the 1975 Grammys. Gladys actually SINGS them, in turn,
making the original performers appear a tad less talented.

Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavillion

I've been listening to Animal Collective's latest while
cleaning my just-moved-out-of apartment of four years.
The two experiences compliment one another...both
are echo-ey, cavernous and a little melancholy.

Truly, a great album. And how 'bout that nauseatingly,
trippy album cover?

Gucci's "Flora", dir. Chris Cunningham

Chris Cunningham directs a spot for Gucci's
new fragrance, Flora. kind of a warmer
counterpart to his "Frozen" video for Madonna.

check it out HERE

Green Porno

I love Isabella Rossellini.

She's teamed up w/ the Sundance Channel to create...
well, just check them out...

HERE

Where The Wild Things Are trailer

Finally!

poor Spike has been in production hell.
here is the first, official trailer...
lookin' good, Mr. Jonze.

release date: October '09

watch trailer HERE

Adult Swim DVD Cover Design

yes, I am a sucker for packaging. especially
DVD packaging. I even considered buying
the reissue of SALO, which I could probably
never stomach to watch again, purely on the
basis of it's design.

so on the advent of the release, on March 24th,
of The Venture Bros. Season 3, I'm showcasing
the consistently rad artwork that Adult Swim
has been implementing for its equally rad
cartoons on DVD.