Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Laundry x The World

France 1921
The above photo reminded me of the daily scene along the ghats of Varanasi, India. (And it wasn't much of a step up in China, where it took 2 involved & laborious hours to do laundry. The process: using a shower-head, fill "washer" with water, throw in laundry, have it slosh around for 15 minutes, remove, empty water (be careful not to flood the apartment), place laundry in "dryer" (some spinny contraption sans heat), and repeat all of the above 2-3 more times. Oh, and obviously re-start the water heater every 30 min, as it always broke down mid-manual-water-refill. Hang laundry up to dry.) ANYWAY... Varanasi - Fall, '07. Pretty incredible to witness this part of the world, which apparently remains econ/technologically on-par w/ early 20th century France. However, Western nations (and the rest of the world, for that matter) pale in comparison to India's color, chaos, grime, and overall spectacle. Normally I'd be tempted to run off with this laundry, but its vibrancy & sense of wear & tear fit so perfectly within its landscape. (And it belonged to people who probably have a lower income than the vagabonds loitering outside 7-11.) So I happily settled for a photo instead. For me, India's streets & ghats were as cool/aesthetically inspiring as "Vogue" is for fashionistas. (The fact that I take wardrobe cues from developing nations may play a role in my struggle to understand dress codes in America...)

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Friday, November 20, 2009

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Steven Tyler x Piano

Steven playing around on the piano. Before YouTube existed, I was(still am?) one of those obsessed fans who'd wait an hour on Aerosmith fan sites downloading 30 second video clips, like this gem.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Friday, October 30, 2009

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Tattoos x Sang Bleu mag

Photo from Swiss tattoo magazine 'Sang Bleu'. Incredible tattoo! Whether on a body or in a notebook, I love the sketch-like image, especially its lively/aggressive line-quality and its candid sincerity - in the way that you can trace the history of its marks.

Chris Jordan: "Intolerable Beauty" (2003-2005)

Photographer Chris Jordan captures the terrifyingly spectacular waste of American mass consumerism. In these portraits of consumption, Jordan sees "evidence of a slow-motion apocalypse in progress". "Desolate, macabre, oddly comical and ironic...darkly beautiful; for me its consistent feature is a staggering complexity." - C. Jordan (above: CELL PHONES, Orlando 2004) "Collectively we are committing a vast and unsustainable act of taking, but we each are anonymous and no one is in charge or accountable for the consequences...my hope is that these photographs can serve as portals to a kind of cultural self-inquiry." - C. Jordan Above: the rare 'solo-shot' of the exhibition. But like the others, this image reveals a history of wear & tear, of interaction & exhaustive use. I'm often fascinated by inflicted formation of shapes & colors -- indication that life happened, in the unplanned way it does. Perhaps this explains my penchant for decrepit objects. (And mangled old rockstars, I guess.) I'm always curious to know the stories, the significance behind each mark, discoloration, or imperfection. Kind of like wanting to know why you have that scar or tattoo. ...Jenga.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Tiananmen Square - 1989

Students on hunger strike.

PRC's 60th Bash

Awesome video of the Tiananmen Square parade.

China's 60th Anniversary national day - timelapse and slow motion - 7D and 5DmkII from Dan Chung on Vimeo.

Crazy to think it's already been 8 months since I was tooling around the Square w/ Quan & Cary. At the time it was completely void of crowds, and way too freezing to properly enjoy its historical/political/cultural significance.

Larry Towell - "Mennonites"

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Dead Weather: "Treat Me Like Your Mother"

One of my favorite videos from the summer. Rock, brrrRRaap, & roll.

Aerosmith x GAP

I still remember freaking out over this commercial in middle school. Here's Joe Perry & Steven Tyler jamming out for jeans. (1997)

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Army Flip

South Korean Military Headquarters: Special Army officers do the flip. (Rehearsal for the upcoming 61st anniversary of Armed Forces Day)

Monday, September 28, 2009

Mick & Keith

Circa 1970.

Vamp it.

Hedi Slimane photographs Robert Pattinson Guilty: I read cheesy teenage vampire romance novels. And I thoroughly enjoyed the whole series. I tend to prefer Jacob Black over the main vamp Pattinson, maybe it's the underdog thing. But as much as I love fantasy creatures in general -- especially when they involve Slimane -- the photoshoot doesn't quite capture "vampire-chic" like Jean-Baptiste Mondino (Below - photographed by Mondino, 2006):

Monday, September 21, 2009

Barker Black Archdale Wing-Tips

Since I can no longer wear sneakers at the office, I have a strong craving for wing-tip shoes. And since I cannot afford nor fit expensive luxury menswear, I can only drool over these rad Barker Blacks. (Skull & crossbones broguing on the toe? Ohh, they're just beautiful.)

Friday, September 18, 2009

Varvatos: 315 Bowery

A couple of weeks ago I was in NYC & meandered into John Varvatos' store on 315 Bowery. I loved it. It felt like walking into a rock band's dressing room -- minus the drugs & groupies. My fantasy closet. (The video emphasizes Varvatos' work w/ Converse, but there's also some good shots of the former CBGBs-punk-club-turned-Varvatos store.)

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

David Bowie - "Heroes"

Not much to the video, but it's a fantastic song. It's been re-made a bit (i.e. The Wallflowers, & Ewan McGreggor in 'Moulin Rouge') -- but Bowie's rocks hardest. Vive la glam!

Friday, September 4, 2009

MJ x Agyness Deyn

Agyness Deyn rockin' a Thriller get-up. (photographed by Terry Richardson).

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Banksy

Some of his more recent work -- in London. Reminds me of ARTH 101 (Napoleon). Meets Mask de Zorro. Zebra sans stripes (Mali, Africa).

Ash Stymest x Balmain Homme

Model Ash Stymest featuring Balmain's new menswear line. (In Japanese mag HUgE October issue -- photographed by Satoshi Sakurai)

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Iggy Pop (photographer Mick Rock)


Bon Iver - "The Wolves (Act I & II)"


Live at '09 Sasquatch Festival. Beautiful song.

Annie Leibovitz x Rock n' Roll

Some critics slam Leibovitz for being too commercial, but even if she is a "sell-out", I still love her work. It could be due to my own fetish for portraiture and rock 'n roll. Regardless, I'm a huge fan.

On tour w/ the Rolling Stones, 1975. Leibovitz initially became famous for her rock n' roll photography, working for Rolling Stone magazine from 1970-1983.

Patti Smith & family, 1996.
Iggy Pop, 2000. "His body is a road map of hard travel." - Leibovitz

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Parkour

SAMPARKOUR from Wiland Pinsdorf on Vimeo.

When I was in kindergarten, I used to launch myself off the top of jungle gyms because I desperately wanted a broken leg (crutches looked fun...& I was a freak-child.). I always ended up running back to class depressed that I wasn't being whisked away in an ambulance, sirens blazing en route to the promised land of bright pink casts and toy crutches (admit it - crutches are the most coveted toy for children b/c you can't buy them at grocery stores & they're reserved only for the physically harmed, which was a very small - and in my mind - lucky minority.)

Anyway, I really should have picked up "parkour", a monkeyish sport my childhood would've loved, but sadly missed out on. Here is Wiland Pinsdorf's 'Samparkour', beautifully shot in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Celebrity Marketing: Michael Jackson x Pepsi


1983-1984: as part of the Jackson family x PepsiCo x BBDO (ad agency)$5million partnership, the "New Generation" campaign targeted the youth-consumer, giving PepsiCo a definite boost in their soda-war vs. Coca-Cola.

Sure, seeing Beyonce in a Pepsi ad, or Miley Cyrus on a cereal box isn't anything special -- my generation has been jaded by the "hype" of celebrity marketing. But back when we didn't have internet, and when the ad/mktg & music worlds weren't so fragmented, the Jackson x PesiCo collaboration was HUGE. Today, the significance of celebrity marketing gets easily lost -- it's largely uninteresting, overdone, and often irrelevant. However, in 1984, this ad was so fresh & so iconic that it still totally rocks!

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Heads Will Roll"

YEAH YEAH YEAHS - Heads Will Roll from Framestore design on Vimeo.

"Heads Will Roll" -- love it. Actually, the whole album ('It's Blitz') is pretty rockin'. Then I saw the video, and now I can't stop watching it. The MJ-moves, the werewolf, the Hedi Sliman-ish attire, the bloody sparkly confetti: rahrah I dig!

Monday, July 6, 2009

Social Advertising/Marketing -- "Polar Bears"


Beautiful online spot. Back in September, 2008, The Environmental Defense Fund, Ogilvy New York, & The Ad Council launched this online viral PSA as part of a campaign urging people to use public transportation and combat global warming. For creative work, Ogilvy approached well-known street artist Joshua Allen Harris to construct the polar bears featured in the video.

Ogilvy New York's Jon Wagner (Senior Copy Writer) & Dustin Duke (Senior Art Director) on Harris: “We found this artist and asked him to adapt his work to feature a polar bear and her cub, the icons for global warming. The idea was to create something that would stop people in their tracks and to encourage them to think about the little things they can do every day to help save the planet.”

As I'm job-hunting, I keep trying to think of products that I respect or genuinely believe in. There aren't many. But there are countless causes I'd love to work for. Socially progressive mktg/comm/advertising sounds like a pretty rad career path. Especially if the message looks like this.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

"Why Is This Pirate Smiling?"

(From a NYT article, April '09. It still cracks me up.)

"1. Because he, Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse, is the only Somali pirate from his crew to survive their attempted takeover of the U.S. ship Maersk Alabama.
2. Because his heavily bandaged hand, which is the reason he survived (he asked to be let off the lifeboat where he and his compatriots were holding Maersk captain Richard Phillips hostage shortly before the other three were shot by American snipers), is healing nicely.
3. Because he knows he's the first pirate to be tried in America in over 100 years, which, let's face it, is pretty cool.
4. Because he knows there are already civil-rights leaders lining up to defend him and attack America for its actions.
5. Because he's only a teenager, and he's already realized his lifelong goal of seeing New York City.
6. Because, duh, when people take your picture, you smile. You Americans are so crazy."

Monday, June 22, 2009

Joe Perry (lead guitarist - Aerosmith)

'80s. I love this man. He helped turn me on to rock n' roll. And for that, I am forever indebted to him.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Aerosmith - Boston 6/16/'09

Aerosmith - Train Kept A Rollin live Boston from AeroCanuck on Vimeo.

Aerosmith opens with Train!!! Show was awesome. Went w/ my big sis Keely (who introduced me to Aerosmith back when I was 11 years old). Have to admit: Steven's slowed down a little. He wasn't spazzing around like he normally does, and he didn't talk to the crowd as much as he used to. That being said, Steven totally rocked, and his attitude & righteous wardrobe were all there. And Joe Perry: still has it all! So f-ing cool.

The band played a lot of their old gems, some of which I hadn't heard live before -- and it all rocked! And by "old", I don't mean late '80s MTV. I'm talking "Uncle Salty", "No More, No More", "Train Kept A Rollin", "Adam's Apple". Gritty, bluesy.

At the end, Drop Kick Murphy's (the opening act) joined Aerosmith on stage for a duet of "Love That Dirty Water", which was fitting as the two Boston-based bands played in their hometown.

All in all, it wasn't the best I've seen from them, but they always put on a great show, and I'm still as obsessed as ever!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Mario Sorrenti/Dash Snow


Artist Dash Snow (Photographed by Mario Sorrenti)

Dash's studio (looks exactly like mine...)

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Cai Guo-Qiang


Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang's "Head On". Exhibition's from awhile ago, but it's something that particularly resonates with me right now. Pictured above are a pack of wolves launching head-on into invisible barriers, their efforts doomed from the start. In this particular installation, the wolves get back onto their feet, suggesting they're caught in a vicious cycle of blindly trusting their (equally-ignorant) leaders & going all-out, only to get smacked down again, unaware of every crushing blow that lies ahead.

Friday, May 29, 2009

"It's a Sneaker Thing"


hahah, this cracked me up -- viral video spot from Footlocker. (i'm not a sneakerhead, but i would probably react the same way...)

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Sally Mann - "Immediate Family"



Two of my favorite images taken by American photographer Sally Mann. I love them for their honesty. Nothing manicured, primped, or cheesy.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Pretty sweet interactive music video - Cold War Kids


http://coldwarkids.mtvmusic.com/ (click here to check it out)
This is the first interactive music video I've seen. It gives you the ability to control what parts of the music you hear by clicking on each band-member.
("I've Seen Enough" - Cold War Kids)

Friday, May 8, 2009

Stages (anti-cancer exhibition)


video of Sheppard Fairey's work being put up (as part of the "Stages" anti-cancer initiative).

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Monday, April 27, 2009

My arrival in Beijing (please ignore the profanities...)



I'm back in Boston. But here is a video clip of my arrival at the Beijing Airport. Quan decided to be a creep & lurked behind a corner. She scared me mostly b/c I thought she was a local Chinese bum. And apparently she missed her cue b/c she thought the same thing about me. (Dad- I'm sorry, again, for the profanities...)

Some pics from Hedi Slimane's diary




Hah, so this last one just reminds me of what I'd wear on a daily basis in China. (Xi'an's pretty dusty/dirty -- it was kinda just more sensible than it was punk.)