Peter Greenaway’s Last Supper Installation

Wow, I wish I could see this in person.

WPA Posters

The site Vintagraph has some posters from the Work Project Administration era on display and for sale. I’ve always liked the Deco-ish look of them, but there are some really odd ones.

Well, true enough I guess. But a poster? Isn't it a little obvious?

"So Don't Even Think of Trying It!"

"By Sitting There Doing Absolutely Nothing, Nearly Catatonic."

ZOMG!!!!!!1!!! IT'S A FUCKING ELEPHANT, GET IN THE CAR!!!!!!!!111!!!

In New Deal America, Zoo visits YOU!

My Mom, The DJ

Is YOUR mom a DJ? I didn't think so...

My Moms killed it with floor-filler after floor-filler!

Photo by Farzad.

This was a surprise party for my 40th Birthday… It was incredible. Even more incredible is that my friends all went in on a ticket to Ireland for me!!! I leave on Wednesday! I’m freaking out. I get to meet family I’ve never met before and visit archeological sites I’ve dreamed of visiting since college. Wish me luck!

Thriftstore Purgatory and Vintage Chinese Erotic Ads

I came across a Flickr group called thriftstore Hell and it’s members have posted everything from the ridiculous to the downright creepy. I particularly like the disembodied window displays. Here’s a sample from user Opal in the Rough:

"Evil Lurks Among the Haughty"

From user Fauns and Ferns:

Cigarette Girl

And from it’s newest member, me:

Purgatoy

And this, which has even creepier details enlarged:

Smile Hair

Also, the always-dependable-for-daily-weirdness nicolas cage vampire teeth has posted a bunch of Vintage Erotic Chinese Advertisements.  Or at least I can tell that some are ads, but I’m not sure about the rest. Does anybody know anything about this lost art?

The Sky Crawlers

As much Japanese cinema as I watch, I never was very interested in anime. Part of it was the otaku stigma (”I am not a fan boy!”). Then I saw director Mamoru Oshi’s live action sci-fi masterpiece AVALON and had to see the rest of his work. So, I made myself finally watch GHOST IN THE SHELL which turned out to be amazing. So I got over some of the trappings of the genre (like The Major’s oversized breasts) and have watched most of Oshi’s work (I saw GHOST IN THE SHELL II - INNOCENCE in the theater twice, and countless more times on DVD) and, more recently the work of Satoshi Kon.

So, I was delighted to find a thoughtful review of his new work THE SKY CRAWLERS over at Akibanana. Comparisons to Ozu! More mind-blowing 3-D animation! I can hardly wait!

For those of you who might have similar misgivings about anime, I would highly advise you go ahead and watch one of his films. They are really, really intelligent and visually innovative.

From the Akibanana review:

Like an Ozu classic, The Sky Crawlers does not have much ups and downs nor an exact climax in the story. The mood and ambience of the film itself as well as the relationships and emotions rather than the plot tells the story. The director wants you to look nowhere but precisely the everyday lives of the Kildren - their habits and lifestyle. Although the Kildren may be in their adolescence, they smoke, drink and sleep around, living everyday of their life to the fullest, aware that they could well be dead the next day.

Baghdad Blues

Dj Rupture has a short review of a new compilation put out by the good folks at Honest Jon’s Records.

Here a sample track: Kementchedji Alecco - Taqsim.

From Honest Jon’s description:

There is dance music featuring Arab folk singers from the countryside, backed by professional Jewish musicians in Iraqi styles popularly termed ‘Egyptian’, and perfected in nightclubs where the first duty of the secular women singers on this album was prostititution. A Hebrew hymn is kick-started with a cry of ‘Allah!’

Sounds like a delightful mish mash!

Late Summer Approaches

Severance,
The birds of leaving call to us,
yet here we stand
endowed with the fear of flight.
Overland
the winds of change consume the land,
while we remain
in the shadow of summers now past.
When all the leaves
have fallen and turned to dust,
will we remain
entrenched within our ways.
Indifference,
the plague that moves throughout this land
Omen signs
in the shapes of things to come.

Tomorrow’s child is the only child

Left Click to Download: Dead Can Dance - Severance

A young man cycles home with his late summer conbeni dinner.

(photo by Skorj)

Fourteen Passive-Aggressive Appetizers

I was having a rough day recently and this made me LOL for about half an hour, for real! Thank you, New Yorker!

by Yoni Brenner July 21, 2008

1. Top thick slices of country bread with fresh goat cheese. Sprinkle with herbs and bake until crusty; serve to everyone but Jeff.

2. Vegetarian friends? Try veggie rumaki: wrap a strip of imitation bacon around a water chestnut, spear with a toothpick, and broil—but instead of imitation bacon use real bacon, and instead of a water chestnut use veal.

3. Steal Cheryl’s famous potato-salad recipe. When Cheryl asks, “Why did you steal my recipe?,” say, “I don’t know, Cheryl, why did you break my heart?” Then laugh so she knows you’re just kidding.

4. Blend fresh crabmeat with diced avocado, scallions, and a dollop of mayonnaise for a canapé topping so delicious that it will take your guests a full minute to realize that they’re eating it off dog biscuits. Once they catch on, act mortified and stammer that you must have “mixed up the boxes,” until everyone calms down. Then start crying because the biscuits remind you that today marks exactly eight weeks since you had to put down Buster, and you just miss him so much.

5. Tell Marissa that you appreciate her concern, but in the two years since Cheryl broke off the engagement you’ve grown up a lot, and you’re really in a much healthier place now. Then say, “Speaking of fiancés, how’s Peter’s alcoholism?” (Note: This is not technically an appetizer.)

6. For a taste of the U.K., fry up mini-servings of fish-and-chips. Take it to the next level by wrapping them in small pieces of newspaper, which, oddly enough, all seem to be printed with unfavorable reviews of Jeff ’s novel.

7. Have you ever noticed how sun-dried tomatoes and top-grade peyote look exactly the same? Not a suggestion, really. Just saying.

8. Another one for the vegetarians. If they think they like tofu, wait until they sample your delicious mock tofu—all you need is chicken fat, puréed pork loin, and five cups of piping-hot tallow. Cheryl will never know the difference.

9. Tempura makes great finger food, and the batter locks the flavor of just about anything in a savory, opaque crust. Impress your friends with creative choices, from squash blossoms to mislaid car keys to the two-carat engagement ring that Cheryl gave back to you after she “reassessed things.” Surprise!

10. Guests getting antsy? Head them off with a big bowl of steamed mussels. No one can resist mussels, not even emotionally stunted ex-fiancées and their new poorly-received-novelist boyfriends. Besides, disappearing into the kitchen will give you a chance to collect your thoughts and also to go slash Jeff ’s tires.

11. Homemade sugared almonds make the perfect sendoff, sure to please all your guests, even the ones who would be bludgeoning you with a tire iron if Peter weren’t standing between you. Good old Peter. He may not be the brightest or the handsomest person, but he’s very large.

12. As the party disperses, your guests might seem a little ungrateful, calling you an obsessive sociopath or pelting you with sugared almonds. Don’t worry, it’s probably the peyote talking. Just stand on the porch as their cars pull out, your eyes brimming with tears, and shout, “You know, I try, I really do . . .”

13. Add, “My dog died! He died! And he’s never coming back!”

14. Hepatitis! (Note: This is not technically an appetizer.) ♦

First Obligatory Olympics Post

Weird Asian News is reporting on an awesome hand-made bamboo replica of the Beijing Olympic Stadium. Geez, even this is cooler than anything that had anything to do with the Atlanta games. Remember Izzy?! Sheesh…

One's very own Bird's Nest

Please don't remind me that I live in Atlanta

The Atlanta design firm Clunky Robot says:
Izzy. There are so many things wrong with this mascot, it’s hard to know where to begin. So we’ll start with the most obvious: His total lack of quality on any level, including but not limited to: Design, Intent, or Philosophy. It also looks like he was the very first idea the design committee had. Although, you can be sure this is not true. Originally named Whatizit, Izzy went through many changes after he was announced and before the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics. They took a marginal design and watered it down even more. The result was spectacularly unpopular.

By the way, if you missed the Opening Ceremony I urge you to watch it in as high resolution as you can. It’s by far the best thing Zhang Yimou has done in years (ever?). It’s available on Bit Torrent sites in anywhere from 533 MB to over 40 GB in HD! If you need any more urging, check out these hi-res photos.

….and laugh at this Microsoft FAIL (Bill Gates was in attendance). Giggle…

The Dreaded Blue Screen of Death

The Mysterious “Door To Hell”

Over at EnglishRussia, there is a series of photos and a video from Uzbekistan that will give you the chills.

The Door to Hell

From the site:

This place in Uzbekistan is called by locals “The Door to Hell”. It is situated near the small town of Darvaz. The story of this place lasts already for 35 years. Once the geologists were drilling for gas. Then suddenly during the drilling they have found an underground cavern, it was so big that all the drilling site with all the equipment and camps got deep deep under the ground. None dared to go down there because the cavern was filled with gas. So they ignited it so that no poisonous gas could come out of the hole, and since then, it’s burning, already for 35 years without any pause. Nobody knows how many tons of excellent gas has been burned for all those years but it just seems to be infinite there.

Yikes!