Must See >> Martin Scorsese for Bleu de Chanel

What happens when you give Scorsese only 1 minute to tell a story?

It comes out just like a Scorsese-- a man trying to find himself, flashing camera bulbs and shutter sounds, an opening sequence pulled from another point in the story's timeline, Rolling Stones, etc. The only thing missing is violence, but you wouldn't necessarily want that in a cologne ad.  Pretty fantastic little film.

Speaking of short films, have you noticed the trend of fashion houses hiring big name directors to shoot "short films" rather than "commercials" these days?  I like it!  I'd much rather watch a little short than a traditional ad!

The GANT film wasn't a big name director, but it did definitely have this short film feel.  If you missed it, catch it here.

PS - I'm mad for the painted patterned floors at 0:30.  Aren't they amazing??

Thomas Pink debuts "The Informal Collection"

Love the happy-go-lucky English weekend-y lookbook for Thomas Pink's new collection...

"Conscious of the ever blurring line between dress up and dress down, Thomas Pink has created the Informal Collection."

[Thomas Pink]

[Oddly can't find who 

the photographer is!]

Interiors >> Enoteca in Charleston, SC

Loving the looks of this new wine bar, Enoteca, designed by Angie Hranowsky.  The mix of rustic wood with the rich grey paneled walls, button-tufted banquette, luxurious curtains, and gold accents makes for an incredibly visually interesting environment.  I wouldn't mind having a glass or two here when the light gets low, would you?

[Angie Hranowsky]

Arts Visuels >> Claire Morgan

In the same way that people often describe experiencing the moments of a car wreck or calamitous accident as though it were in slow motion, so slow that they can recall every detail with supernatural clarity, Claire Morgan's painstakingly precise installations composed of taxidermied animanls, manmade plastics, and natural elements seem to reconstruct a freeze-frame of the metaphorical factors that collided to cause the death of the animal on display.

[Claire Morgan]

Listening To >> Portugal. The Man

Full on obsessed with Portugal. The Man, despite that obnoxious "." in the middle of their name.  (I realize it's hypocritical for me to critique someone else for reappropriating punctuation since I regularly make up my own words and generally feel free to use punctuation as I see fit, but for some reason that period really irks me.  I reappropriate punctuation in order to affect a certain reading of the sentence, whereas I feel like they did it just to be "conceptual.")

HOWEVER, I am able to overlook this gaff because their music is SO GOOD.  I haven't fallen for a new band, since, well, let's be honest, the last time I uttered that phrase on this blog, which probably wasn't that long ago, but I'm blinded my newfound love for them.  Their sound is hard to pin down, but if you can imagine a cross between the Black Keys and a grown-up MGMT, and if you ever loved 311 (I swear there's some faint echoes of 311, it took me forever to figure out who it is, but that's it), and all of this is sounding appealing, you should check them out.

I was immediately won over by their tinges of neo-soul, but they are nothing if not heterogeneous, building an indie-rock sound from influences ranging from classic rock, blues, and gospel to electronica and psych-pop with floating harmonies and John Gourley's vocals being the constants tying it all together.  Interestingly, the producer was Paul Kolderie, who has worked with both Radiohead and Pixies, and you can hear his influence in their as well.

So the first two songs are from their new album, The Satanic Satanist (meant to be ironic, don't worry), and I'd recommend starting with that one if you want to pick an album to download.  They've got their story a little better figured out by this album, paring down the influences slightly and avoiding self-indulgent guitar solos, and it's more immediately accessible because of it.

Then, if you're hungry for more, venture on back to Censored Colors, which you might take a little longer to warm up to but is ultimately rewarding.  The final song here is from that album.  You'll see what I mean-- at first you're going to be like, "hmmm," but wait until 0:28 when the piano comes in, and then at 0:52 you're going to really know I didn't lead you astray.

Boast is Back

Iconic seventies tennis brand Boast is being relaunched with the help of Partners & Spade, who art directed these awesome photos by Susanna Howe.

Partners & Spade also helped produce this animated video about the history of Boast and its founder, Bill St. John, the tennis pro at the Field Club of Greenwich.  

I'm pretty taken by Partners & Spade (and, well, all the Spades for that matter)... they crush it every time.  See past post on Partners & Spade here.

Graphic Fix >> 2010 Rolling Roadshow Posters

Over the summer, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema and Levi's collaborated to put on free screenings of "famous movies in famous places."  For the series, they had new, awesome-ly graphic and pared-down posters designed for the films by Olly Moss.

I discovered these through screenwriter John August's website in his post about what he calls "unsheets."  "One-sheets" are what Hollywood people call the posters designed for movies that are hung outside of theaters and are solely meant to sell tickets.  They are generally formulaic and not very artistic, and almost always use the font Trajan (see hilarious video here about the unending use of Trajan for movies).  

"Unsheets," on the other hand, are movie posters designed by fans after the movie has come out and typically have no commercial purpose, but rather are just designed as an homage to the movie (like these A Single Man posters I loved or this Coffee & cigarettes poster).  While one-sheets are often photoshop horrors of scenes from the movie that you would never want to hang on your wall, unsheets are distilled artistic representations that get at the essence of the film and are often quite well-done, like the Olly Mosses here.  

I love this concept of unsheets, both because they are often really well designed and because I like that they are commonly done by designers for fun... ie, random acts of creativity!, and will have more posts to come on them...

[2010 Rolling Roadshow]
[Olly Moss]
[past unsheet posts here and here]

LustList >> Quilts, Or More Specifically, an A.P.C. Quilt by Jessica Ogden

After visiting Paula Rubenstein in Soho (see below image) recently, I've been having a bit of a thing for quilts, (looking at them on etsy and whatnot, and then generally feeling sorry for myself that I didn't have a mom who quilted (because quilts are so much more legitimate when they're made from materials with a meaningful heritage)), so when I saw that A.P.C. is going to be selling limited edition quilts designed my Jessica Ogden made from fabric samples from the vast A.P.C. archives, it fairly put me over the edge.

(An image from the NYT of the wall of antique American textiles and quilts at Paula Rubenstein)

How cool to have a quilt made from fabrics from the archives of a beloved brand?  Their clothes, though I love the Frenchness of the pared-down, effortlessly-casual-yet-just-right designs, generally fit me quite oddly, so I've only ever bought a few select items, preferring to just wander the Soho store soaking up the aesthetic... particularly the wonderfully worn and uneven wood floors... those floors were a revelation the first time I went to the store.

So anyway, this quilt thing seems a must-- if I can't wear their clothes, I'll sleep under them!  Or at least, tiny bits of them all sewn together with love.  

Masters and Their Crafts >> Tartine

Tartine is one of my absolute favorite bakeries and a must every time I'm in San Francisco.  I actually am a little bit worried about what might happen once I move up there... I fear it could be habit-forming.  

Their bread is incredible, as are their sandwiches, desserts... pretty much everything.  It's a bakery, cafe, and even wine bar, and I love the vibe that comes from people opening up a bottle of white at lunch on a Saturday.  With the line almost always out the door, there's always a ton of energy, great people watching, and a cool European cafe-meets-San-Francisco,-specifically-the-Mission,-vibe.

Check out this video to see the owner and head baker, Chad Robertson, in his element.  Although I'll warn you, this is dangerous to watch if you're hungry.

[Tartine]

[Tartine cookbook]

[Kitsune Noir]

Yes to All >> Mr. Newman

LustList >> Vintage Blue Note Records

More Blue Note album covers, for the most part art directed by Reid Miles, photos on 1, 2, and 5 by Francis Wolff.

Must See >> Where Good Ideas Come From

"Chance favors the connected mind."

Happy Friday

The one and only Augusta, my inimitable niece, as captured by Michelle Warren.

Tastemakers >> Marc Jacobs (before & after)

I've had a bunch of images of Marc Jacob's apartment saved for a while, and when I went to create this post, I realized that they didn't all look like they came from the same apartment... and then I realized that the shots that show Marc himself showed two very different Marcs.  Interestingly, they are of his first and second Paris apartments, before and after his transformation into a tan, fit, and meticulously groomed version of himself.  Here, his first apartment.

Had you forgotten that he used to look like this??  I had!  He looks like a baby!  Would you ever see him  in this outfit or with hair like this today?  Never!  Pretty crazy transformation.

Click through for shots from his current Paris apartment.  Apparently after the personal-image transformation he also went on an absolute contemporary-art-buying bender, as his previous apartment had almost none and his current apartment his practically overflowing with Ruschas, Currins, etc. 

Yes to all.

I frequently send my boss an email full of issues and questions and in response I get back, "Yes to all," which is frustrating in its vaguery, but at the same time seems to imply (I hope) that I'm on the right track with everything.  To this girl's outfit, I simply give a "Yes to all."

Collector's Edition

Awesomely designed promo packaging by designer Nitin Budhiraja.

Listening To >> Sleigh Bells

Alexis Krauss and Derek Miller (Sleigh Bells) GETTIN AFTER IT.  I kind of want to be Alexis Krauss after watching this.  

A little over a year ago, Derek Miller and Alexis Krauss were a waiter and a 4th grade teacher, respectively.  Then Spike Jonze discovered them, and played them for M.I.A., and the rest is history.   Interview on Pitchfork here.

(I think I must be in an intense mood today... first a video of chopping wood, now this...)

Best Made Co. Strikes Again

In my ongoing love-hate relationship with Best Made Co., I present to you a preview of their soon-to-be-released short films, which, based on the clip, seem to prove that their designy axes actually are functional, not just pretty.  And of course, the video itself is pretty.  Shot at 2000 frames per second, it's actually pretty stunning.

I still maintain that anyone who is seriously into axes and hard (yard) labor probably doesn't care if their axe is painted with cool stripes, but, nonetheless, I'm a sucker for everything these guys put out there!  From the axes to the maps to the videos!  Why!  The degree to which this stumps (bahhh axe pun) me is sort of absurd.

I have no problem with functional objects being well-designed; in fact, on the contrary, I'd say I'm borderline obsessive about my functional objects being pretty.  My problem is that I don't think the business model makes sense-- I just can't believe that if you made a Venn diagram of axe-wielders and pretty-functional-object-lovers that the circles would overlap very much.  

Hence, I'm dying to know the profile of their customer.  If they largely live in Manhattan and Brooklyn, then that proves my point but only furthers my annoyance, as I can just imagine people hanging these things on their wall to look cool and never touching them again.

Graphic Fix >> I ____ You

[These are Things]

Girl Crush >> Sofia Coppola

"And there’s always these kind of moments in life that are kind of magical and perfect, but they never last and then you go on, but they’ve always left something with you." -Sofia Coppola

As photographed for L'Uomo Vogue September 2010

Ball Nogues Studio

 Ball-Nogues studio designs these installations of dyed twine, which they call "Suspensions," using a computer program they created, and then they hang the twine by hand.  Are you in awe??  I am!

Ball-Nogues studio is a design and fabrication studio based out of Los Angeles and is headed by Benjamin Ball and Gaston Nogues, who studied together at Southern California Institute of Architecture.  Represented by Edward Cella Gallery in LA, their work has been featured at P.S. 1, the Venice Biennale, the Guggenheim, and many more prestigious institutions and exhibitions.

PS- if you like these, check out these installations.. highly reminiscent!

[Ball-Nogues]

[Edward Cella]

[via Kitsune Noir]