Guns N' Roses - "Sweet Child of Mine"

Doesn't get much better than this.

The Dead Weather

Jack White's new band (includes lead singer from The Kills!).
Some promo shots for "Treat Me Like Your Mother". Video's guns a blazin'! Brrrrap.

From Hedi Slimane's Diary

Why? Androgyny.

Heartless doodles

The FRAY - Heartless from overunder on Vimeo.

I love doodle art (& this video).

Ray LaMontagne - "Burn"

Addeboy vs Cliff - "Beep My Beep"

3 months later & it's still one of my favorite jams of the summer.

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

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.

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!

Somebody I used to know

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.

"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."

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.

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!

Yes, please.

Nike Air Hoop Structure-Triax.

Mario Sorrenti/Dash Snow

Artist Dash Snow (Photographed by Mario Sorrenti)

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

My first hardcore crush

Just got tix to the Aerosmith show!

Rock on.

Truck 'em.

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.

"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...)

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.

Diane Arbus - "Child with Toy Hand Grenade"

There are days when I feel like this.

"Velvet" - The Big Pink

The Big Pink - Velvet from rob hawkins on Vimeo.

A video to emo-out to...

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)

Stages (anti-cancer exhibition)

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

Life is Beautiful

Life is Beautiful from Stephen Niebauer on Vimeo.

You look at my shop!

Xi'an (Jan '09)