Links published in April 2009 — Most recent at top.
Like for many, perfume (like many things olfactive) holds the status of mystery to me; and in a sense, I have never really gotten it, simply holding on and nurturing a signature smell throughout these years. As I was shopping for a new fragrance last year, I was struck by what I was seeing and scenting: the wide array of cheapness repulsed me, you could sniff the marketing machine behind each bottle, nothing seem to smell true and worth my money. I left it at that, hoping to read more about it, learning where the true ideas and smells are.
Evidently, with that in mind, I’m glad to stumble upon things like this: Chandler Burr’s, NY Times perfume critic, Ten Favorite Fragrances.
•Flickr: myvintagevogue is an huge collection of vintage fashion photographs from the 1920s to the late 60s, with sub-classifying by photographer, magazine, model and even accessory (phones!). Lots of inspiring material. A certain authenticity rings from these photographs, a truth in the display of prettiness. Maybe its the simple fact that the models look healthy and are not fourteen years old? Maybe I’m just projecting ideas too. •
Two things to watch one after the other: firstly, the ingenious and beautiful music video for Moray McLaren’s We got Time1; then stay seated and watch its making of, surely the most comprehensible and entertaining yet, the director walks us throught the whole creative and technical process explaining very clearly, how and why it was carried out this way. It’s quite nice to realize that no, not everything is rendered with computers these days, especially animation.
1. Song which, James, being the sentimental man you are, will surely appreciate.
•Good news for electro lovers: Tiga’s new album Ciao! is coming out on April 27th. Spark the attention with a fully ironic litteral postmodern italian music video. I’m betting we’re going to hear this all summer. Can’t wait. •
Pour Joanie: le merveilleux travail d’illustration qui fait rêver de la montréalaise Isabelle Arsenault. Illustratrice et même maintenant auteure de livres pour enfants, elle était finaliste pour l’honorable prix litteraire du Gouverneur Général en 2008. •
Font lovers and geeks behold. 2009 is like 2008, still the year of the Gotham. Hoefler & Frère Jones quietly (where was I?) released Gotham Narrow, Gotham Extra Narrow and Gotham Condensed, all with the equivalent weights and italics, now extending [and completing?] the set. If you thought we were seeing too much of it, it’s only starting. Many have already placed bets on it, becoming over time in popular culture as iconic as Helvetica. •
This has been published awhile ago, is now slightly irrelevant topic, but I hadn’t got to it till now (viva la instapaper) and just might interest you too: As Bush was exiting the white house, Errol Morris discusses with 3 photo editors for the top news agencies about photographing the president over the past 8 years. Quite interesting considering the varying views of the agencies and photographers. Plus many examples of how the same context under a different angle sheds a much different light on the subject. •
Jim, you’ll like this one: An interesting analysis of how the main characters in Fight Club are simply Calvin (Ed Norton’s character) and Hobbes (Tyler played by Brad Pitt) who grew up.
Within the safety of the panel, Calvin is perpetually six years old, terrible things can never happen, and no matter how crazy a stunt he pulls, everything always returns to status quo. Because of this, our hero is free to do as he wishes, free to chase his dreams as wildly as he desires, never having to worry about tomorrow because there essentially will never be one—unless it’s part of a continuing storyline. This makes the reality of Fight Club all the bleaker, because it depicts what happens when you take someone weaned on dreams and limitless possibilities and jam him into a cramped cage confined by rules and regulations. It probably only took poor Calvin a few years in the adult world (or growing-up world) to fully make the sad change.
Obviously “uptight, grade-obsessed Susie Derkins lost her way” and thus Marla Singer was born.
•Wired: The Untold Story of the World’s Biggest Diamond Heist. Long article and well worth it, but there’s nevertheless something utterly simple about this heist. Almost too simple for such a title. •
In The Whale Hunt, Jonathan Harris retraces the whale hunt on the Alaskan arctic sea through the data of 9 straight days of photography (+3200 pics total). The project explores the possibilities of a computer framed storytelling format, how an interface can communicate and relive a high emotion human experience.
The interface is innovative and definitely suggesting more than a usual flickr photoset. Taking advantage of the ginormous amounts of pictures, he also gave us the possibility to break it down to many other substories—“cast”, “concepts” and “contexts” he calls them—which you can view by themselves: a food storyline, a whale storyline, an airport storyline, etc… all with a heartbeat (an excitation indicator) suggesting more or less the current level of excitement (or boredom) depending on the amount of pictures snapped in a given time frame.
Do take the time to explore this fully for there is a lot to see, digest and understand. Seeing twenty some people hauling a whale onto the frozen shore is quite an impressive sight.
And is it me, or do whale steaks look bloody blubber delicious?
•Kasabian’s Vlad the Impaler: bonne toune, bon video. Réalisation et imagerie tissées de façon impecable avec la trame sonore.
Sur une note plus légère: je suis content que Vlad, figure cruelle et historique d’Europe de l’Est, après maintes années de crocs et de cous de jeunes dames bien blêmes sous les spots des studios californiens, ait finalement retrouvé son appétit pour l‘épieu et le carnage grotesque, une activité qu’il faisait si bien avant que Stoker le gentrifie beaucoup trop.
•P.W. Singer and his very excellent TED presentation on new robotics in warfare. The conflict has balanced from one form to its other robotic equivalent, yet the rules relationships and targets between enemies are yet still the same. These new robots are wired for war, can we then say we’re not? •
After Indexed, here’s The New Math. I love simple single-serving sites like these. •
Design 21: Résultats du concours de design Power To The Pedal, invitant des designers à repenser tout ce qui est vélo. Plusieurs idées très intéressantes, mes préférées: les Retrofit handle bars seraient particulièrement utiles pour nos longs et étroits couloirs d’apparts montréalais et le Contrail, un dispositif qui laisse une marque de craie sur le pavé, traçant ton parcours dans la ville. Imagine pendant le tour de l‘Île! (via MocoLoco). •
Hot stuff, this is great news pour vous, Montréalais: the lineup for Oshega 2009. Includes Coldplay, Beastie Boys, The Roots, Arctic Monkeys, Girl Talk, Lykke Li, Crystal Castles, Rufus Wainwright. On sait où tout le monde va être le week-end du 1er et 2 août. •