Blindness
October 6, 2008 | Categories: Films

Earlier tonight I went and saw Blindness, a movie about a disease that suddenly makes people blind, which they call “white blindness”. This disease ends up turning into a full blown epidemic, triggering the government to quarantine the sick into facilities in hopes of containing the outbreak. I had been wanting to see this movie for a while now, particularly because of the director, Fernando Meirelles, who directed City of God, and Julianne Moore, who’s a genius in everything she does.

I ended up loving the movie, and this is for many reasons. First, was Meirelles, and his amazing cinematographer, César Charlone. Every scene was absolutely stunning, whether it was showing what it would be like to be blind, or the gritty reality of being trapped in a facility with 100 other blind people. It felt like each scene and every shot was choreographed and planned down to the tiniest detail, nothing was taken for granted. A scene comes to mind where Julianne Moore is walking into the facility they’re quarantined in and she walks between some doorways which is surrounded by glass, showing her reflection from multiple angles all at once. It’s a totally surreal and beautiful moment, captured at the perfect angle.

Second was definitely the cast. Julianne Moore was by far the star of this movie, and she was all over the place emotionally, and truly was the guiding light of this whole film. There was also Mark Ruffalo, Alice Braga, Danny Glover, Gael García Bernal, Yusuke Iseya, Yoshino Kimura, and Mitchell Nye, a rather diverse cast that definitely gave the movie a feeling of taking place anywhere in the world. It’s also interesting to note that none of the character’s were ever called by a name, they were simply known as “doctor” or “lady”. It didn’t feel like it was done in a glaring, in your face kind of way, it really just made it feel like you could easily be one of those people.

My third favorite part was that the movie took place in no identifiable city or country. This was a stipulation made by the author of the book, José Saramago, who wrote the book which the movie is based on. While the movie was shot in São Paulo, I would say that most people watching the film would simply think it’s a big city, any city, somewhere in the world, yet again lending to the feeling that this could happen to you.

On sort of a side note, I had read that the National Federation of the Blind had condemned the film for it’s portrayal of the blind as “uncivilized, animalized creatures,” but I can’t imagine anyone leaving this movie feeling that way at all. If anything, I left the movie with a profound sense of joy that I am able to see all the wonderful sights our world holds. Watching a film like Blindness opens your eyes to the fact that most people take something like seeing for granted on a daily basis. And while the movie made me feel very tense, and it could be graphic and hard to watch in some parts, I still felt it was extremely well done and I highly suggest it to everyone.

Bobby

Stars Is One of the Best Live Bands in the World
October 2, 2008 | Categories: Los Angeles / Music

Last night I had the IMMENSE privilege of seeing Stars play at the Avalon here in Hollywood.I actually bought my tickets on Monday after finding out they released a new EP on September 1st, which subsequently led to me realizing that they were playing last night. I’ve been a pretty big fan of Stars for a few years now, my first encounter with them was hearing What the Snowman Learned About Love and then buying every record they’ve had before and since then. Basically, I couldn’t be more excited to see these guys play live.

I can say beyond a doubt that Stars puts on one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen. First off I’d say there was Amy Milan, who probably has some of the best stage presence ever. She’s also an amazing guitar player, something I didn’t know. She was totally captivating and made the whole thing even more exciting. Torquil, the male singer in Stars, was amazing in his own right, always sounding really in tune and busting out a trumpet on several songs, which was really incredible.

Overall they played everything I pretty much wanted to hear, though I’d have to say that the crowd favorite was Ageless Beatuy. Everyone was dancing and singing along, the lights were bright and pulsed along with the music, and you couldn’t help but smile the entire time. I can’t say anything bad about the show, it was simply epic.

Definitely check out the Sad Robots website to download the new EP, and if Stars roll into your town I can’t recommend seeing them any more highly, your mind (and eyes and ears) will be blown.

Bobby

The Desktop Wallpaper Project featuring Garrett Vander Leun
October 1, 2008 | Categories: The Desktop Wallpaper Project


Oh snap it’s Wednesday, I swear the days go by so fast! This week’s wallpaper is sort of a continuation from the last post, celebrating my roommate’s publication in Feasthetic #9. So I thought it was quite fitting to also give away the wallpaper he made for me as well! His name is Garrett Vander Leun, I’ve known him since I was 8, and he’s one of my favorite artists in the world. Drawing since he was a little, kid, his sketchy style has evolved from Bart Simpson doodles to the magnificent beast you see above. He’s done artwork for bands and movies and can basically draw everything in the world. We’re also working on a t-shirt design as well, so you all might want to keep your eye for that as well…

For his wallpaper above he decided to go with a tribute to Bill Murray, one of the finest actors out there. There are quotes from all of Bill’s movies, as well as visual references to many of them as well. I loved going through here and trying to figure out where all these quotes came from. Some of the images as well, like the purple heart on the side of the car, are pretty random, but make sense if you can figure it out. I hope you all love this as much as I do!

I just wanted to let everyone also know that DESKTOP BATTLE! will be back next Monday, so get your pens, pencils, paint brushes, blow torches ready for some massive art annihilation!

Bobby

Faesthetic #9 / The UFO Issue
October 1, 2008 | Categories: Art / Design / Illustration / Magazine

Faesthetic #9 dropped last week, and man, it’s a beauty. The theme of this issue is UFO’s, something that scared the shit outta’ me when I was a little kid, so I have this sort of masochistic love for it. As you can see in the top photo there’s and AMAZING cover by MARS-1 (he did the back cover as well) and features over 25 artists including:

Mark Pilkington & Prate™ Computer Channel , Rachel Gottesman, Julia Heglund, Gluekit, Paul Sahre, Mark Rubenstein, Arbito, Blonde vs Brown, Garrett Vander Leun, Adam White, James Unwin, PEAP, Jan Kallwejt, Joel Speasmaker, Sam Gilbey, Daniel Cantrell, Think Faest with Brian Roettinger by Forest, Joe Van Wetering, SnakeHawk, Joshua Agerstrand, John Solimine, Adam Cruickshank, Zeroten, Matt Curry, The Artists Guide to UFO’s, Becca Kacand & Thomas De Santis.

There’s one name in there that’s really close to me that I wanted to showcase as well. His name is Garrett Vander Leun, and he’s my roommate and best friend of 18 years. He did the other piece above called Fight Back, which features a little boy who’s sick of the probing and ends up kicking some alien ass, leaving quite a mess behind. Expect to see more of Garrett’s work in the Kitusne Noir universe and the larger art community as well!

You can get more info about the new issue of Faesthetic here, or to order it directly just click here.

Bobby

Music Video for Bjorn Svin’s Modular Noia
September 29, 2008 | Categories: Design / Music Video

Lately when I design things for the web I think about the idea of flat vs. textured. Seeing as how the only way you’ll see these graphics is on a flat computer screen, do we really need to make “texture”? But then again, texture can bring a sense of real-ness to a 2D image that can sometimes make something feel more real. Well, the video above definitely gives a little weight behind the idea of only using flat graphics.

The image above is from a music video for Bjorn Svin created by Niels Fyrst called Modular Noia. The song is a lot of random blips and beeps, but is brought to life through the use of multi-colored squares and circles flying in and out of the screen. Sometimes there’s some logic in the movement of the shapes, other times it just seems realllly random, but nonetheless it looks great. Click the link above to check out the entire video!

Bobby

Off-Register at Little Bird Gallery
September 26, 2008 | Categories: Art / Design / Illustration / Los Angeles

There’s quite a few galleries here in Los Angeles, so I’d imagine getting noticed could be somewhat difficult. Or you could do what Little Bird does and have a big group show with basically the best artists and designers out there. The show’s called Off-Register and features Geoff McFetridge, Steven Harrington, Andy Mueller, Cody Hudson, Mike Perry, Evan Hecox, Todd St. John, Justin Fines, Grotesk, and a ton more people. The show is all about screen printed posters, so it should be quite a treat.

Off-Register opens tomorrow night, from 7 to 11 pm, and runs until October 7th. I would suggest coming out to this opening though, I’m sure many of the artists will be hanging out, and they’re all particularly nice.

Bobby

Department of Eagles / In Ear Park
September 26, 2008 | Categories: Music


No One Does It Like You by Department of Eagles


Waves of Rye by Department of Eagles


Teenagers by Department of Eagles

I’ve been obsessively listening to the new album from Department of Eagles, In Ear Park, since Sunday, and I can definitely say that it’s one of the best this year. Department of Eagles is the side band of Grizzly Bear singer/songwriter Dan Rossen, a band that was actually started in 2000 along with his NYU buddy Fred Nicolaus. They’re original album was a bit all over the place, a bit noisy (though I did include a song from it on my mix Deep Blue Sea), but this new one couldn’t be more pristine and focused.

The album is similar in tone to a Grizzly Bear album, but less folky and less epic, not that that’s a bad thing. It’s a very intimate record, with tinges of Paul Simon maybe, and definitely an entire track that’s basically a Van Dyke Park love-fest called Teenagers. If the new Grizzly Bear sounds even half as good as this album, we’re all in for a real treat.

In Ear Park comes out October 7th, and you can preorder it here.

Bobby

The Desktop Wallpaper Project featuring Andreas Samuelsson
September 24, 2008 | Categories: The Desktop Wallpaper Project


Good morning! I hope everyone has a had a good week so far, it seems like it’s flying by for me personally. Today’s wallpaper comes all the way from Stockholm, created by a wonderful young man by the name of Andreas Samuelsson. Andreas has this uncanny knack for making work that looks extremely simple and beautiful at the same time. He’s also amazing at using off-kilter color choices, something that still perplexes me to this day. His work has been featured in The New York Times, Arkitip, he has his own If You Could poster… the guy is definitely a rising star.

His wallpaper is an awesome blend of shapes, letters, and symbols, which are all kind of remind me of the blog. I LOVE the face with the giant jaws on the back of it’s head, I’m guessing that could be a rabid black fox perhaps? The 100% wool tags and the Asian tea pots are also rather rad as well. Definitely check this out on the iPhone as well, it looks really sweet.

On a side note, Andreas is also releasing a limited edition wall calender for 2009, and only 50 are being printed. It’s an A1 sized poster and is going to be selling for $15 + shipping, which is quite a steal. To check out the poster click here! To try and get your hands on one, send an email to mail@andreassamuelsson.com.

Bobby

Looking Thru The B-Sides by Saimon Chow and Golden Lucky
September 21, 2008 | Categories: Art / Design / Films / Illustration / Internet

HOLY CRAP! The trailer above is for a new short film called Looking Thru The B-Sides which was created by the awesome Saimon Chow and his amazing team at Golden Lucky. The film was commissioned by the folks at FUEL TV and given carte blanche to create anything he really wanted to do. Six months later they came back with an 8 minute film featuring live-action, stop-motion, and hand-drawn animation with one scene featuring over 60 characters rolling around on screen at one time.

The film is about a skateboarder named Ollie who falls into the universe of the B-Sides while searching for inspiration. From the preview above it’s going to be absolutely amazing, I love the depth of field in the stop-motion parts, and the roller coaster scene looks like something out of a Friends With You book. The film is going to be shown at animation and short film festivals for now, so keep an eye out for a screening of this gem!

Bobby

Black Fox Spotted in London!
September 21, 2008 | Categories: Internet / Kitsune Noir

I’m sure there are some of you out there who read this blog who still have no idea what Kitsune Noir means. Kitsune is the Japanese word for fox, and Noir is the french word for black, so if you put them the other way around you get Black Fox. Up until now though, I didn’t realize there were such things as black foxes, that was until my buddy Max sent me this article from The Telegraph titled, “‘Unlucky’ rare black fox spotted in Britain.”

Supposedly in the medieval times (read: stupid times) people thought that the black fox was a bad omen, which is ridiculous, look how cute that little guy is! They’re also rather rare in England, which is what the article is mainly about, as they were hunted near extinction for their pelts. Scary enough, the photo above was taken in a graveyard (aka eating the flesh of dead bodies, duh) but that the man was able to get rather close to it, so it doesn’t eat living people… yet.

Personally I’m quite proud to have the black fox as my mascot! Viva la Kitsune Noir!

Bobby