TV & Film
We mentioned Lo’s List’s soft spot for podcasting gem Radiolab in our Complete Carry-On post from last year but the love just keeps growing for Jad and Robert. For those of you who aren’t up-to-snuff with the program’s format, the premise is as follows: each episode dissects — whether scientifically or philosophically — a topic, from Parasites to Parabolas, Mortality to Morality…
One of our hands-down favorite crews bombing the walls of Tel Aviv is the Haifa-based Broken Fingaz Crew. The 10-year-strong foursome (Tant, Unga, Dezo, and Kip) have a hypnotizing and intricate style which recalls 1960’s psychedelic posters, old school American comics, and B-rated horror flick poster typography…
Holy gods of fashion! Everything, just everything, is spot-on with this Alon Livne campaign I found on Mitchatnim.co.il. The collection (for bridesmaids perhaps?!) is worn by a waify, pixie-esque model in creepy bug-like poses sporting headpieces fit for any good Cleopatra impersonator. The soft, Victorian color palette brilliantly contrasts the dark, lurking feeling of the clothes, of which I would wear every darned piece…
“Unfortunately in America, babies are not found in cola cans. I asked my mother when I was four and she said they came from eggs laid by rabbis. If you aren’t Jewish, they’re laid by Catholic nuns. If you are an atheist, they’re laid by dirty, lonely prostitutes. So this is where babies come from in America.”
Despite all our efforts here at Lo’s List to bring you the best of art, design and commerce on the internet, there should be little doubt of what the world-wide-web, regretably, is really for: the sharing of sneezing pandas, short-sighted manatees and, now, these adorable, tottering baby sloths. Shot at the Aviarios Sloth Sanctuary in Costa Rica, this video features our Folivoran friends doing what they do best: sleeping, yawning, falling over, eating, sleeping, hanging from stuff while asleep, eating stuff while apparently asleep, scratching their butts and sleeping. No other creature that we know of has evolved quite this degree of somnambulatory excellence.
Yesterday, while frolicking through the visual wonderland of Nowness.com I found The White Room: an eerie & inspired video by Sharif Hamza which brings to life Kris Van Assche’s impeccable, desaturated fall 2010 Dior Homme collection. The sequence is choreographed to Sisters of Mercy’s “Temple of Love” which beside the terrible band and track names fits perfectly with the collection’s austere trenches, tailored tops, and rugged, Gangs of New York-ish leather boots.
I’m just loving Gravité, a visually breathtaking spin on beatboxing by Renaud Hallée (with the help of DP Simon Allard & PA Laurent-Dominic Chantal-Fortin). Ping pong balls, cutlery, glow sticks and sparklers — just goes to show that pretty much anything can be transformed into music!! Remember when you were a kid smashing the bejeezus out of the kitchen pots? Well, this seems to be the grownup rendition of that… Be sure to check out Renaud’s other music-in-motion video Sonar as well!
Argh! It’s been so busy here at the EP studio lately ( & exciting: we have a new addition to the team — badass, go-getting, design sidekick Nicky). But, with all this busy-beeing, poor Lo’s List has been getting the short end of the stick! So, while we keep trucking forth on these exciting new projects (rolling out this month!), we’ll be throwing a bunch of haiku-ed posts into the mix!!
YZ and I have been busy working on the title sequences for Beijing Taxi, a documentary by Miao Wang’s 3 Waters Productions which will be world premiering at this year’s SXSW festival in the Documentary Features category. The film is stunning – telling the stories of three Beijing taxi drivers as they face the tremendous changes of the pre-Olympics city. Miao, the film’s director and producer, took the time to answer some of our questions about the film and what it takes to drive a cab in the Chinese capital.
Okay, so this is a bit of a pat on the back but, hey – I’m lucky enough to sometimes art direct projects that I really love. Case and point: my talented client and friend Susanna LoCascio’s website for her indie film company/collective: Von Deren Films…
Well, YZ and I finally crumbled under the pressure of all those Football Sunday flatscreen commercials and got ourselves a fancy-pants television. So, in celebration of the new gadget, we curled up in front of Juzo Itami’s Tampopo (タンポポ) last night with stomachs growling the whole way through. If you haven’t yet seen the 1985 noodle western about a truck-driving “cowboy” who stumbles upon a young widow’s ramen shop and orchestrates the reopening of all restaurant reopenings, rent it and make sure there’s something tasty in the fridge. This film is serious foodie porn. Of course I couldn’t ignore the stunning soup bowls used throughout the film and set out to find comparable pieces on the interwebs… If you’re willing to drop some serious cash, there’s a wealth of intricately-painted antique Japanese bowls out there. Two good sites to browse for the precious stuff are…
Got some Christmas rascals that won’t stop asking for goodies this holiday? Scare the greed right out of them with this gem of an animated short by Spaniard Rodrigo Blaas. Enlisting the help of some very talented friends (French animator Bolhem Bouchiba, character designers Carlos Grangel and Sergio Pablos, Art Director (and brother) Alfonso Blaas, music composer Mastretta and sound designer Tom Myers), Blaas’ debut film mixes a glorious Parisian art nouveau winter wonderland with a very current and curious main character: Alma. The film has already received a handful of awards and continues to collect accolades as it sweeps the animation festival circuit. Blaas has made the entire film available for viewing for a limited time, so share the wealth!
OK! So, I’m starting a new section here on Lo’s List – perhaps too ambitious for my own good, but sometimes you need something as huge as the blogosphere to kick your ass back into a good habit. Running Shorts will be quick, running-related posts. One run for me here in Brooklyn, one Running Short for the blog. As a motivator – a veritable shame-o-meter – I will be posting the length of each run as well as the sum total mileage at the start of the post. So, without further dilly dallying, lets watch some marathoners in motion! Kudos to Mehmet Dokumcu for this juicy stop-motion piece of this year’s New York City Marathon. The photographer shot one frame every five seconds with his Canon EOS 5D between race miles 6 and 7 on 4th Avenue in Brooklyn. Now… Doesn’t that just make you want to go out for some interval training?!