Thursday, March 20, 2008

As green as it gets

He makes it look so easy

St. Patrick's Day was earlier this week and it made me realize two things:

i. everyone claims to have some connection to Ireland and,
ii. I have no green clothing!

If I were to go out to a bar and drink green beer on that festive day, I would have nothing to wear! I mean, who doesn't wear green on St. Patty's Day?? It just wouldn't look right.

I have always been simple with my colours: keeping it grey, black and white for the most part. I like the dark, mysterious look. I experimented with purple, but it didn't really work out for me... I sure as hell couldn't go green.

It's not like I hate the green or anything. I do consume things that are green. Like, money (specifically, $20 bills being the most common of cash), my aftershave happens to be green, same with my mouthwash... but clothes? Maybe I should branch out a little, take some risks. Summer's coming up, making it a perfect time to do this. I should have made this a New Year's resolution or something.

But this goes to show you, it's not easy being green.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Pimp my Eiffel


I love design competitions.

Especially those that mess with an iconic structure in attempt to refresh it's image.

The competition is for the 120th anniversary of the Eiffel Tower and was an open call to designers to reconfigure any of the public reception or access areas in a manner that suits Gustave Eiffel’s renowned structure.


The winner of the competition was Serero Architects and their design consists of a carbon kevlar structure TEMPORARILY (thankfully) affixed to the top floor plate. Not only will this double the capacity of the platform, it will give visitors a new and improved 360-degree view of the city and an interesting new look for the structure and the Paris skyline.

What do you wear under that Batsuit?

Bale and Freeman while filming The Dark Knight

Not only does Italian design house Giorgio Armani design the Italian Police Force's uniforms, they will soon be taking care of another crime fighter: one Caped Crusader. Batman's alter ego, Bruce Wayne will be getting the designer treatment in this summer's The Dark Knight being clad from head-to-toe in an Armani wardrobe when he's not in his Batsuit. Why expect anything less from billionaire-playboy Bruce Wayne? You can see Christian Bale looking pretty sleek in Dark Knight-themed print ads in fashion magazines when marketing for the film begins.

Craig and Bond girls

Another big movie getting the designer treatment is James Bond, who has a new tailor, namely Tom Ford. The 007 franchise is known to have brand names associated with it, like Omega watches, and previously, Brioni suits. Daniel Craig is reported to have ruined around 40 bespoke suits by Ford during filming already. I'm sure there will be 40 more by the time Quantum of Solace reaches theatres later this year.

Fashion seems to be the the newest addition to movie product tie-ins, or at least, it's more on the radar because of these two blockbusters coming out. I don't understand why this hasn't caught on in other Hollywood films. I mean, fashion is more realistic to have in your flick than Dominos Pizza or Pepsi, because people wear clothes the whole time - unless it's a love scene or something - maybe then they could have designer underwear or sheets. More films should have fashion incorporated in their marketing campaigns to get the names out there and to even influence style.

This has got me wondering: who will Tony Stark be wearing?

Satellite Radio

I've always wanted it, now I'm listening to the greatness of what is Satellite Radio! They have even have portable XM devices so you can have the world at your earbuds - with no commercials!

I suppose this is how it works

Maybe I'm just really excited because I'm craving an alternative to my ever-static iPod. It's possible they will standardize satellite radio the way they are getting rid of analog televisions by 2010, but no announcements made yet.


XM

Sirius

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

A Greener, Leaner City - Ras Al Khaimah


I haven't gotten all planner on all your asses because planning is handling me pretty well these past few weeks. I'm buried in work and don't see an end in sight.

Here's something to feed your city needs, and it comes in the form or Rem Koolhaas' Gateway Eco City in the ever-booming United Arab Emirates. It's goal is similar to the development in Masdar, and includes that of zero-carbon, and zero-waste. The interesting thing about this development is that they planned it in such a way that the least amount of direct sunlight will strike the city’s buildings during the warmest times of day. That's brilliant. I need to see how they figured that out!

I don't want to write about it, because I've been writing enough about cities, so you can read more about it at Inhabitat. Be sure to check out the associated links to Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) as well.

BBC Essential Mix 03.14.08


I can't believe it's March and I haven't written about an Essential Mix all year! Oh wait, I did... It was Hot Chip's a few weeks back - I guess there really hasn't been many stand out mixes this year. On the topic of Hot Chip, this week's mix is from a Detroit-based DJ who opened for them on their UK stretch of their tour, Matthew Dear aka Audion, aka Jabberjaw, aka False. This guy has a lot of aliases and with that, a lot of different sounds spanning through different genres of electronic music - even inventing a few. This mix, he appears as Audion, and offers a minimalistic techno sound. You have until Friday to check it out. Get on it.

He is set to play Circa on Friday April 11th but I'm not sure if he will be spinning or actually performing with a band.

Southland Tales

"I am a pimp, and pimps don't commit suicide." - uh huh...

Sarah Michelle Gellar always seems to play the overly sexual character in all her film roles.

From the twisted mind of Richard Kelly comes Southland Tales: the movie that stars a random selection of... pretty much everyone you wouldn't expect to see in a movie together and really, makes absolutely no sense. Kelly is the director behind Donnie Darko so you can see where I'm coming from here.

Ladies love JT, even when he's got a nasty scar and is covered in gore.

I'd love to give you a synopsis but I really don't know where to start. I still don't know what to make of this movie, but it comes out on DVD today so I think I'll do a much needed re-watch. Although it got really bad reviews from everyone under the sun (including at Cannes), it's worth checking out what all the fuss is about... that is, if you have 2 and a half hours to spare.

The Rock - who was the breakout star of this film - and Sean Williams Scott

Holler at JE for recommending this one... I think?

Monday, March 17, 2008

Ludwig

Up and coming brand out of L.A.


www.ludwigvantheman.com

Robert Longo

Dancing Trio I from the "Men in the City" series (1980s)

Robert Longo is a New York-based artist who is influenced by mass media as seen through his work. He is a trained sculptor, but drawing is his expression of choice as his work is done using charcoal and graphite, which is then but in the form of a lithograph. Notable of most of his pieces are the extreme poses the figures hold. Some of them seem to be dancing, others look like they are having a fit of some sort. You be the judge.

Most likely from "Men in the City" - more like "Mob in the City" - okay, lame. But look at how 80's these guys look!

American Psycho series, 2000s

Interesting fact: Longo directed several music videos and even the 1995 Keanu Reeves flick Johnny Mnemonic.

Emmy the Great


The cutest girl on a guitar by far!

I think I like her more than her music... But this Pixies cover is pretty good!

Ultimates 3 #3: looks can be deceiving


"Never judge a book by its cover" has never been so true.

Really, the only redeeming quality of this issue is its cover. I mean, who doesn't like dinosaurs? - Even better, eating a naked Wolverine! Yeah, it's a stretch, I know. It's really hard to like this book. The art can't even save it.

Three issues deep and I still have no idea what's going on... It's scary to think there's only 2 left! Hope Jeph Loeb and Joe Mad can get out of this one!

N.E.R.D. @ SxSW

If you didn't know, the South by Southwest music conference happened last week in Austin, Texas. A lot of music happened from all genres - I've been watching performances from different artists all night, like The Acorn, The Jealous Girlfriends, and Emmy the Great (of whom I have a huge thing for). Through my performance surfing I stumbled across a performance by N.E.R.D. (new joint too!). You could only imagine how I must have reacted. I love how a live band can sound like a Neptunes beat.

N.E.R.D. Live At The Levi's®/Fader Fort from The FADER on Vimeo.

Can't wait to see these dudes again.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Winter: Lest we forget

It's about a half past seven in the pm and the sun's still out. The snow is melting and temperatures are sure to rise in a few days. The long, cold winter is almost over and all we're left with is major infrastructure damage and pretty photos I took a few weeks back at Toogood Pond.

Icey waterfall
Kids playing hockey on the pond. The winters of yesteryear have been way too mild to do this. Should have gotten closer for this one.

Watchmen Movie costumes revealed!

Yeah, yeah, I know I'm a week late, but after over 2o years of waiting, it'd be a crime to not post these.


To see the rest, follow the link to Zack Snyder's production blog.

Copping a feel: An introspective look into the Blog Odyssey

As you can see, the Blog Odyssey is still flying - despite the lack of entries as of late. I frequent many blogs on the internet and have noticed that most of them have a particular focus, like exclusively clothing, or celebrity gossip, or wine. I'm at over 100 posts thus far and I'm still trying to find a niche it seems. Not consciously, of course, but it just occurred to me that there is no focus - it's just all over the place. Do I need to have a particular focus? Or can it just be about shit I think is cool?

My interests span across all types of different mediums and Blodyssey shows that as it offers a glimpse into my twisted mind. Maybe I'm just still feeling around, seeing what fits and what doesn't, or what feels right to me. It could develop into some sort of focus, as it is still in its infancy stages... Who knows... I think its sole purpose is to just feed my ever-expanding ego.

I've seen a few blogs out there on the world wide web that are about extremely unrelated things: like the combination of comic books and basketball. I mean, I dig both, but they are the similar like the sun and moon. If I were just into one of those things, I probably wouldn't read that blog - I actually think it's a horrible combination and I refuse to read that particular blog anyways. Could it be said lack of focus is the reason why readership is low?

The strength of the Blog Odyssey is that you get everything all in one place. One-stop shopping, like a big box store! It's the Wal-Mart of blogs - wait, is that a good thing??

Nevertheless, it's efficient and isn't efficiency what we all really strive for?

Guess who's bizzack?

There has been a frenzy of new trailers as of late getting ready for the big summer movie season. Who would've seen this one coming?


Wondering why I posted a trailer for a movie starring a washed up 80s/90s action star? Just watch...


p.s. thanks to Miss Ramón for the heads up
p.p.s. Does anyone know how to embed video on to this thing? It would make things a lot easier, don't you think?

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Aitor Throup


Aitor Throup is a London-based illustrator, fashion designer and must be a rising star because his shit is bananas (yes, b-a-n-a-n-a-s)!



I want this jacket with the lion on the back!
Pretty imaginative stuff. The poses he uses for his illustrations are so dynamic and full of action, even when they are just modeling his clothing. Throup's website has a gallery of his drawings - definitely worth checking out. You can catch a glimpse of his influences through his illustrations which seem to include super-heroic physicality, eastern religion, and some of his designs look like they could be used for a Final Fantasy game. Someone should get Throup to do costumes in a movie or something, similar to what Jean-Paul Gaultier did for the Fifth Element.


He's taking fashion to the next level - a level which he seems to have defined by himself. You can read more about his process here. It also illustrates this process from initial sketches to the transformation into material pieces.

Frank Gehry: "Starchitect"

The Rasin Building, Prague

I was recently inspired by a documentary I saw about world-renowned architect, Frank Gehry. He is known for creating unique buildings that redefine a place and are instant tourist attractions. Many cities go to him to design buildings, because whatever he creates will be innovative and benefit their city by attracting global attention – although it can go dangerously over budget. Gehry's services have now become a badge of distinction beyond the product he delivers. His creations have the ability to breathe new life into a place and creates a new architectural typology within it, while staying true to the existing buildings adjacent. Above all, Gehry is an artist and he creates his pieces at an unimaginablely large scale for all to enjoy and use from a distance or up close.

M.I.T. Building, Boston

Although his works are hugely innovative and rejuvenates a city's landscape, they aren't perfect. Gerhy's work comes with much criticism in terms of scale, safety and reflection issues causing heat. The MIT building above has had it's own share of problems as of late...

The documentary was called Sketches of Frank Gerhy and was directed by Academy Award winning director Sydney Pollack. It’s interesting to see Gerhy’s creative process in the when working on a project. This film illustrates this perfectly as it gets into his head and also shows how he works with others in the creation of his pieces.

Also, check out the homes he designs. He stays true to the history of the home, not removing anything from it’s original form, but adds to it his Gerhy-goodness. I tried Googling good images of homes he’s designed but they are pretty tough to find – but they are totally worth seeing. I want a Gerhy house!

Gehry House, Santa Monica

He is currently working on the redesign of the Art Gallery of Ontario located in his hometown of Toronto.

AGO designs, Toronto

ATTACK of the illustrators!


It's been a slow month in blog-land, but I am willing to make it up to you by POSTING LIKE CRAZY!!

I stumbled across David Bray's work while listening to Mary Anne Hobbs' experimental show on the BBC. She mentioned that he did the album art for something called "The World is Gone." I immediately looked him up. Nude women, bears with freakin' bow ties: what's there not to like? You might recognize his work from Puma campaigns and a h&m promo. I think he primarily uses pen and ink as media.


The other illustrator for this evening's post is Scott McKowen. The first works I've seen of his were his covers for Marvel's 1602 mini series written by Neil Gaiman. He uses a unique technique called scratchboard, created using sharp knives and tools for scratching away - or etching - a thin layer of black India ink, revealing a layer of white China clay.


I've done art using this technique and it is a very intricate, and intensive process (mistakes can be covered up with ink, thankfully - but not white-out). McKowen's work is coupled with colour, really adding to the final image created. He mainly works on covers for fairy tales or children's books.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Adi Dassler


Adidas have created an elaborate website covering the history of the brand and how it became what it is today. Watching this made me realize that we all probably own something created by Dassler and it's amazing how far his brand has come. This feature highlights some of the greatest moments the brand has lived through and is done using very cool animation. Check it out here.