Robot Love- Spike Jonze's New Film Free Online

Facts are facts and Spike Jonze is a genius. Along with Michel Gondry, he’s one of my long-time favourite directors (ever since his legendary vid for Björk’s “It’s Oh So Quiet” all the way up to last year’s “Where The Wild Things Are”). And now he’s about to explore the humanity of being a robot.

His latest half-hour short film “I’m Here” is now available free online! Commissioned in collab with Absolut (and say what you want about corporate sponsorship, Absolut has a long history of supporting the arts and working with up-and-coming designers and artists through various campaigns) it’s the story of two robots meeting up and falling in love in LA.

If you've got an interest in adorable robot love and wanna feel full and empty and loved and alone all at the same time, click the pic or head this-a-way!

Rafaël Rozendaal- Online Artist

Stop what you are doing right now and go explore the hypnotic world of artist Rafaël Rozendaal!

Rafaël makes websites as art pieces, sells them with their domain name, but the work remains public. His art is for all to see and best of all its interactive- simply by clicking your mouse. It's also extremely hypnotic. His main site includes the links to all his "art works" AKA other websites, each better then the next. So turn up your volume (some sites are audio-based) and prepare to waste time effectively!

The Three Muskateers Getting Remade...Twice

I love studio screwups! To the great joy of classic French literature fans: There are currently two separate adaptations of 'The Three Musketeers' in the works.

The first was announced in September and is being helmed by 'Alien vs. Predator' director Paul W.S. Anderson, who is planning to add a contemporary feel and shooting in … wait for it … 3-D (similar to his Resident Evil IV). Also, like any other sensible people currently making a movie starring humans, the project’s producers were hoping to cast Taylor Lautner. Anderson is now working on the screenplay with Andrew Davies and they better write fast! Warner Bros. is going full steam ahead on their own adaptation, with 'The Men Who Stare at Goats’ Peter Straughan hard at work on the script. While there’s no director set, 'The Devil Wears Prada’s' David Frankel and 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith's' Doug Liman are on the top of the wish list.

Of course we’ve seen this epic battle of the studios before; remember Dreamworks' 'Antz' and Pixar's 'A Bug's Life'? The Illusionist/The Prestige? And isn’t 'Percy Jackson and the Olympians' and 'Clash of the Titans' pretty much the same thing?

Arkan Zakharov- Too Many Words

In recent months, Toronto-based photographer Arkan Zakharov been steadily raising his own bar. With stunning and haunting fashion spreads and editorials, short fashion films seemed a likely next step. With Aphex Twin and hints of Lee McQueen- here’s his latest short project ‘Too Many Words’.

Stop-Motion Phenomenal

Oh wow. Sometimes there are videos that I just have to put as soon as I see them, and the new single Grindin’ by Nobody Beats the Drum is most definitely one of them. Hundreds of sprayed wooden blocks, stop-framed to within an inch of their life make for an abstract feast. Although seeming like it, this ISN't animation, it's stop-motion. Six months has been spent making the next three minutes of your life an absolute joy.

Time Aint Ticking, It's Spinning

The Aspiral principle is simple, instead of a dial, a spiral and instead of hands, a ball.
Made in London and launched at the end of last year the spiral face turns slowly over a twelve hour period with a ball resting on the spiral ledge. When the clock reaches the final twelfth hour it drops through a hole to start all over again. Very nice.

Sexy Smoking

Hold on a minute... aren't we meant to be discouraging smoking these days? Judging by the amount of smoking in fashion shoots we've seen lately the answer is, apparently, no. For like it or not, smoking makes for a sexy photo, as demonstrated most recently by Lara Stone and Kate Moss in the 3rd issue of Love Magazine.

Lara Stone & Kate Moss; Love Magazine February 2010, Anja Rubik; Ellen von Unwerth, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley: DT Spain January 2010, Anna Selezneva; Vogue Nippon March 2010

VISA world cup

Fresh out of Saatchi & Saatchi HQ comes a new World Cup Visa advert. Charting the journey of one fan from armchair to dream-land, they seem to have tapped straight in to the minds of football fans everywhere, and inspire me to want to get up off my ass and go to the gym. maybe. watch full-screen.

Tarantino to Free the Slaves?

With the commercial success and impending Best Picture victory for his WWII-shortening Inglourious Basterds, it sounds like he's interested in whimsically improving history again sooner rather than later. According to the Daily News, this is Tarantino describing his next movie.

"I'd like to do a Western. But rather than set it in Texas, have it in slavery times. With that subject that everybody is afraid to deal with. Let's shine that light on ourselves. You could do a ponderous history lesson of slaves escaping on the Underground Railroad. Or, you could make a movie that would be exciting. Do it as an adventure. A spaghetti Western that takes place during that time. And I would call it 'A Southern.'" Can't wait right?

Best Olympics Ad

The Vancouver Winter Olympics kick off later today and London based Studio AKA have created this fantastic spot to accompany the BBC coverage of the event.Directed by Marc Craste and featuring the awesome illustration of Jon Klassen, the sequence follows a legendary quest by an Inuit hero who has to draw on all his skills to restore light and peace to his dark and troubled world.

RIP Alexander McQueen

Iconic British fashion designer, Alexander McQueen, was found dead after committing suicide.

Acclaimed fashion designer Alexander McQueen was found dead in his London home Thursday morning after an apparent suicide. The 40-year-old designer was famous for shaking up the fashion world with avant garde designs that often offered a socially conscious narrative. In recent years McQueen had become one of the most popular designers in fashion. His Spring 2010 collection was shown during New York's Mercedes Benz Fashion Week last September, and it became a major event when Lady Gaga debuted her single, "Bad Romance" at the show. Gaga, an outspoken fan of McQueen's work would go on to wear the "armadillo" shoes he debuted at that show in the "Bad Romance" video. McQueen was the youngest of six children. His death comes just over a week after his mother died.

NYC+The High Line

Voted best city of 2010 by Wallpaper Magazines spectrum of judges (including James Murdoch, Galliano and Almodóvar) NYC has never felt so compelling. Undimmed by the new era of austerity, its energy and creativity have merely been refocused. In this city once driven by excess, there’s a greater appreciation of quality over quantity. Not a day goes by without one-of-a-kind shops and restaurants or striking buildings springing up all around town.
And snaking its way through New York City on former train tracks, Manhattan’s “High Line” with new hanging gardens has proved a hit with both locals and visitors. With its great views and naturalistic planting, the raised promenade (ones an elevated railroad) now provides one of New York’s most uplifting experiences. All the more reason to return to the greatest city this side of the ocean.

Bleak and Disturbed- The Films of Michael Haneke

Michael Haneke is an “intellectual” filmmaker, that is, his films operate on numerous levels beneath the surface of the screen, which make his films all the more challenging and engaging – they are not meant to be “consumed” but considered without proper consequences.
He denies the traditional revelation. We don’t find out the answer at the end, as we except to with any other story. His films leave you unsettled, agitated and reflective afterwards, which is the sign of a great film(maker) when it sparks off a cerebral reaction that keeps buzzing around in your head for a few days and forces you to confront, analyze and challenge the ideas and concepts within the film. His films are bleak, disturbing and unnervingly ambiguous BUT they give you (the spectator) much needed credit and leave you thinking. Can you ask for any more from a film?
MUST-SEES: “Caché” French 2005, “The White Ribbon” German 2009, “The Piano Teacher” French 2001, “Funny Games” German/French 1997

V Love Courtney

The self-made, rough-and-tumble glamour of Courtney Love couldn’t feel more of-the-moment. In an ode to Love, whose new album is FINALLY out this month (!), V Magazine, supermodel Natasha Poly and photographer Glen Luchford pay homage to the queen of grunge.

The Bleeding CD

Hubero Kororo designed this interactive CD cover for the band Uceroz. When you open the CD packaging on the side, ink is set free and bleeds into the cover of the CD. I really like this idea.

No More Shhhhh!

If you’ve ever wanted your own private cinema, this might be the next best thing – or perhaps, even, a step up. “Silent Cinema” is a thoroughly simple concept to remove the ambient sounds of a public cinema – popcorn chomping, coughing, chatting, unwrapping – by equipping viewers with their own pair of wireless headphones. Imagine- an uninterrupted sound experience, and the ability to munch on a noisy food to your heart’s content. You can even pop off to the washroom without missing a word of dialogue. And you still get the benefit of the big screen and the communal atmosphere. Or as they call it, an individual experience, together.

The concept premiered at the Andaz hotel in London (England). Though it probably won’t become mainstream enough to make its way across the globe, and indeed there is a certain pleasure in the traditional theatre experience, it will present an appealing alternative for some. It also speaks to our current age where, for better or worse, the line between public and private experience is increasingly blurred.

Beach Boys meets David Lynch

At first, Alex Prager’s images seem sunny as an early Beach Boys song—what could be wrong with all those California blondes hanging out by the pool or silhouetted against a bright blue sky? But check out the way they’re looking at one another, the weirdly forceful body language, the waxiness behind the tans. Something’s deeply wrong in those lives, and all the saturated Kodachrome-y color and retro buoyancy in the world can’t disguise it. These new photographs, entitled ‘Weekend’ add an extra, more personal dimension to the otherworldliness: They were all shot in the L.A. neighborhood where Prager grew up, and the models’ clothes came from an actress friend of her grandmother’s.

As with previous works ‘Weekend’ continues Alex’s fascination with the retro-kitsch, highly saturated, and mind-blowingly vibrant. The result is an incredible staging of the beautiful with the crisply sterile, and will sometimes have you wondering just who or what you are looking at. It also hasn't hurt that she's chucked in a few lovely ladies smoking on car bonnets.

If you’re a David Lynch fan, this is the photographer for you.

Avatar is Actually #26

When looking at ticket sales vs ticket grosses, Avatar is actually the 26th biggest movie in the world. Box office is arguably more straightforward to report than TV ratings yet one respect in which boxoffice reporting is pretty odd- emphasizing ticket grosses yet rarely mentioning ticket sales. With everybody reporting how "Avatar" is The Biggest Movie of All Time based on grosses ($2.039 billion and counting), it's important to remember how rising ticket prices skew the returns. "Avatar," despite topping the worldwide gross list is only No.26 on the ticket sales list…at least, so far..

Here's the Top 20 movies of all time- by number of tickets sold

Lady Gaga Named Creative Director at Polaroid

Eek.

Okay, good news is that the partnership will reignite Polaroid and make it the perfect analog product in the digital world. Bad news is the desperate attempt Polaroid made by hiring a celebrity with no relationship to photography. It’s a marketing move pure and simple- put a famous person on my brand. But naming someone “Creative Director”, I think that is where people may find a problem.

Ads will launch during the 2010 holiday season

Back in Basquiat

Graffiti and neo-expressionist painter Jean-Michel Basquiat (bas-kee-a) is soon to be reignited into the mainstream consciousness. At the Sundance film festival, director Tamra Davis released her documentary “Jean-Michel Basquiat- The Radiant Child,” to much appraise. Davis was friends with the painter and while in film school began shooting footage of him at work in his loft and at exhibits. Also at Sundance, a quasi-doc called “Exit Through the Gift Shop” covers the history of graffiti art, starting with Basquiat in the late 1970’s. These are both perfect additions to Julian Schnabel’s 1996 fictional film “Basquiat” starring Jeffrey Wright and David Bowie and Andy Warhol. See it!

Andy Warhol and Basquiat- Rare Interview 1986 (turn up volume)

Bird and Wisdom- Andrew Zuckerman

I’ve never been crazy about animal photography but photographer Andrew Zuckerman really takes the genre to the next level. His latest book and film “Bird” is so stunning and simple in style even those completely apathetic to birds will find beauty in his work. Telus should think about hiring him to spice up their animal campaign.

Zuckerman is also behind the acclaimed “Wisdom” project. The film includes the advice and perspectives of over 50 people who have all made their mark in the world.

Virgin* Runners!

Just when you thought the work of Andy Rementer couldn’t get much better he went and animated it. Part of a series of promotional videos for the 2010 London Marathon, they almost make you want to run the 26 miles and 385 yards...

*Mobile Marathon.

Madonna for D&G

“This is crazy!” Stefano Gabbana enthuses, waving a page of his new ad in the air. “Madonna washing dishes? This will go down in history!”
The designer may be overstating things, but a housewife performing mundane daily chores a-la Italian neo-realism certainly represents a new identity for the world’s most famous chameleon. And the photograph Gabbana is so excited about is just one of nine black and white Steven Klein shots depicting Madonna in her latest incarnation. M can also be seen wielding a broom, peeling vegetables and eating spaghetti with her fingers. Together the images make up D&G's spring campaign, which launches worldwide in February.

Best Posters of the Decade

I was inspired to gather my favorite film posters of the decade after looking at Adrian Curry's selection at the auteurs.com. There are many great ones out there but these are the ones that come to mind. If you've seen any of these films you'll notice how great these posters are in achieving a visual summary of what one can expect to see. They're essentially one-frame synopses.
Here are my top 10, in no particular order.

The Art of Taxidermy

Polly Morgan, a young British taxidermy artist, removes her subjects from their classic poses and habitats and challenging the viewer look that them as if for the first time.

"What [taxidermists] are trying to do is to recreate a wildlife image in 3D, a classic pose, something you'd see in the countryside. I am more interested in the moment between something dying and decaying - anything between a few hours and a week. There's something beautiful about that."

- Polly Morgan

We Will We Will Pollock You

A fan of Jackson Pollock or not, you've gotta admit it's fun to paint like him, even if it is using your mouse.

To paint your own Pollock click HERE

Drag mouse to paint

Click mouse to change the colour of the drip

Press SPACE to erase

Press ALT when you're done!

Swinton for Scotland

Two days- two Pringle of Scotland videos. No, I don’t work for them. But you might be interested to know that the lovely Tilda Swinton- a heritage Scot herself, has become the new face of the company’s Spring/Summer campaign.

Photographer Ryan McGinley photographed and filmed Swinton in iconic Scottish locations for the campaign (below). The collaboration is the first in a series of creative projects planned for the brand with the aim of promoting Scotland’s renewed cultural surge.

This is the perfect harmony of branding and filmmaking proving that advertisement CAN be art.

Tilda Swinton for Pringle of Scotland

Dieter Rams- Master and Commandments

It’s not an overstatement to say Dieter Rams is perhaps the most influential living industrial designer of modern times. His ‘Ten Principles’ of good design have become a mantra – a checklist and a rule book – for industrial designers all over the world. In ten simple commandments, Rams defined what design for a post-war modern world should be. They're useful to not just the industrial designer, but to any creator, be it art, photography or film.

Lo and behold, The Ten Commandments.

Tough Love- Gaultier vs DSquared2

DS2 one-ups Gaultier in model blood bath. On January 18^th Jean Paul Gaultier presented his A/W 2010 men’s collection in Paris. Boxing influences were taking quite literally when models came out with bloody noses and cut-up lips. With athletes jumping rope and audio archives of the fights of Mohammed Ali in the soundtrack, beat-up models paraded in perfectly tailored suits and jackets. Just when we thought Gaultiers bloody models were one-of-a-kind, two days later DS2 goes American Psycho on their collection. With blood-drenched models sporting corporate-chic suits, hand-stiched denim and biker jackets, DS2 took over Milan with another glam-rock phenomenal. If you thought clothes could make you look tough, getting beat-up and flaunting your scars might be the next level of cool. KIDDING!

Back in Blood; backstage with Jean Paul Gaultier (above) and DSquared2 (below), taking tough to the next level

Pringle of Scotland- Life Behind The Scenes

Pringle of Scotland is a luxury knitwear manufacturer established in…Scotland!

Glasgow-based artist David Shrigley has created an animation telling the story (with a few artistic tweaks) of Pringle's history, full of Scottish charm. The film was unveiled on 18th January during Pringle's menswear presentation in Milan.