Dance Lessons from the late, great James Brown
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Some may remember the photos I took at my friends Brent & Annette's wedding cake. They are among my most popular photos with this one having 82 views yesterday, 528 views this week, and 156,585 views in total. 564 people call it a favorite! The cake has appeared in several magazines and online stories and now the makers of the cake, Gateaux, Inc. will be appearing on the Food Network Challenge this Sunday at 7pm. They are competing with 4 other cake makers to make the best Dr. Seuss themed cake. Nerds, set your TiVos!
I was blown away by the Cloud Cult Show on Friday night at the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis. Craig Minowa and the band have great energy and everything sounded great. I really think this band is going to blow up - well as much as a band that produces all of its own small independent releasers can blow up. The band mentioned a new CD but I am not sure when it will be out. Hopefully before the end of the year but i am not sure they will be able to swing that with their current tour schedule.
While I don't see any videos of last night's show on You Tube just yet, here are some from the show they did at the Varsity four months ago. (more)
EXTRA: Check out this fan-made music video of the Cloud Cult song, Transistor Radio.
It is surprising how much interest there is in this cake. Several photos are nearing or have surpassed the 25k view mark and there are 127 people who call one a favorite. I have seen this on Digg, Reddit, joystiq, and TotalFark.com, among many others. It really makes me wish I had done something more than snap some photos of this great cake. In case you didn't see it, this was made by Robin of Gateaux Inc. Hit her up for your next wedding cake.
I have posted 5 more photos that I took with a macro lens on Jesse's D70s (check his photos out for more wedding fun, including Mouser with a moustache and me on the verge of being milked). Enjoy.
At perhaps the best wedding (congratulations Brent and Annette) I have been to, there was by far the best wedding cake I have seen. Other people tend to agree as the photos have been linked to from Boing Boing and Wonderland to name just two. That explains how some of the photos have nearly 7000 views and over 50 people calling one a favorite.
UPDATE: The creator of this cake, Robin, from Gateaux Inc which is located in Plymouth, MN. "was amazing to work with and of course is amazingly talented" according the the bride and I can't say that I could disagree. Just look at some of her other work.
The cake toppers were very hard to find. The bride looked for months and months and finally found a set on eBay.com; they were from Japan's "Nintendo Club"
Here is the whole set (with more to come as I get some closeup macro shots I took, uploaded.)
* If you ever corner me in a bar or such place have me tell you the story about Bob Sagat that Paul Provenza told the entire theater at SXSW 2005 after the preview screening.
Having cancelled my DirecTV service some months back and with the summer network schedule lull I have had a good deal of time away from the TV. Because shows like Lost, 24, and Arrested Development don't resume again until fall, there is nothing to watch, which is generally good, it being summer and all. 
This break has given me a chance to rediscover some of the great PBS programming that I have been neglecting. In addition to some excellent travel and cooking shows, and of course NOVA, there's the weekly news show: NOW - previously NOW with Bill Moyers - currently just Now.
Last week's show, NOW: The Design of Dissent was an interview with graphic designer Milton Glaser - famous for designing the I (heart) NY imagery, the buttons created for The Nation (and shown at right) and more. Amidst some political waxings, Glaser mostly discusses how graphic design can and does change people's perspectives.
That's the thing that makes you most crazy the idea of this passive acceptance of an authority. We thought we weren't that kind of people.
The show's themes correspond with a like-named exhibit at the School of Visual Arts and a similarly like-named new book by Glazer.
I think it's a rather simple-minded idea that if you examine government, those that have the least dissent are those that are most totalitarian. That is, in fact, the manifestation of dissent that defines democracy, (because) it means that there are oppositions to power that are freely expressed and that minority opinion is also considered to be worthwhile. Generally speaking, dissent comes out of a sense of fairness that something is wrong. Power is being used unfairly, and there has to be some manifestation or complaint about it.
I'll try not to quote the entire interview and instead encourage you to read the full interview transcript. I will mention however, that this is what I have always believed - that dissent does not equal disdain. On both a national level and in terms of jobs I have had, I always felt the greatest need to voice dissent, when I cared the most. It isn't worth arguing for thing A to improve, if you don't give a damn about thing A. It surprises me upon how many people this point is lost.
By now the flap over Nike's ill-advised use of album art from Dischord Records and Minor Threat has died down a bit. Nike has offered an explaination and an appology.
Some have (mis)characterized this illegal use of artwork as an homage. Nike's statement that the poster was made, not by Nike employees or creative advertising types but of actual skateboarders lends some credence to this notion. However, this is trickier than that. Regardless of who created Nike's promotional material, the facts of the matter remain unchanged - had this been Dischord Records using the Nike swoosh in homage to classic tennis shoes there would have been a team of Nike lawyers dispatched to Dischord's offices within minutes. Nike (rightly) must protect the investment it has made in building one of the most recognized marks in the world - and, although smaller and less recognizable (especially to those of us who aren't cool enough to be in the know) Minor Threat's album art represents their investment in branding themselves. To have that brand co-opted by a skatepunk on his website, for example, would be one thing, but to have a huge multinational corporation do it, brings about an entirely new set of issues.
Recognizing the absurdity of the homage spin some folks have created a little "contest" where you can submit other corporate messages that "pay homage" to famous album covers. My contribution is shown above.
I discovered one of the highlights of the roadtrip I took over Memorial Day Weekend behind a scrapmetal surplus store in Baraboo, Wisconsin. That is where a man named Dr. Evermore has created a wonderful sculpture garden and a story to go along with it.
I felt the magic of the place as soon as I walked into it and the photos I snapped don't do that feeling justice at all. This PBS site does a much better job of capturing the magic I felt - but I would still recommend a visit to anyone within a day's drive. I plan on visiting The Forevertron again soon, perhaps it is the excuse I need to get a new camera.
While I was searching Corbis yesterday for the dreaded stock photo of people at a conference room table (just for the comp I pray - hoping to get a photo shoot done) I noticed a feature called CorbisOutlineTM on the portraiture section of their site. They have a ton of photos of celebrities in various poses and stages of undress, some grouped by new movies that are coming out. There are some good photos there and I would suggest checking them out. The photo browser is unfortunately in Flash as so I cannot link directly to my favorites. The two photos below just really make me smile (I don't think it is a coincidence that they were both in one of my all-time favorite movies: Rushmore). If you happen to be looking ofr this sort of photo for your commercial work I would suggest giving these a look. All rights to these images are reserved by Corbis and the photographers listed below.
Bill Murray, Broken Flowers
© Mathias Clamer / OUT965837
God is he a funny man - I think that is a copy of Meatballs on the floor.
Jason Schwartzman
© Martin Schoeller / OUT965837
Is it a coincidence that each of them struck a somewhat similar pose? Maybe really funny people recognize a funny pose when they make it?
On a loosely related note (Tom Cruise is pictured on Corbis' Portraiture section home): Tom Cruise is an ass. There is just something wrong with this quote:
"I think every little girl dreams about her wedding. I used to think I was going to marry Tom Cruise."Especially when you think she was just 8 years old when she saw Top Gun for the first time. Plus she is at least 2 inches taler than him! [Source: IMDB]
Avenue Q, a great Broadway musical that I was fortunate enough to see when I was last in New York City has just won the 2004 Tony Awards' Best Musical honor. I can't blame whomever got to vote it was a great show and it wasn't just "dirty muppets" as it has been advertised. It was really a social commentary on equality with vignettes thrown in to offend just about every race, denomination, or gender.
I have had my minions sending me links to bits of great videos and commercials etc.
First off we have some short films and music videos by Ruben Fleischer. A few of my favorite music videos include:
electric six - dance commander (filmed in MN?)
gold chains - i come from sf (that dude is funny)
dj format - vicious battle raps
and (not least)
dj format - the hit song (what a great video)
Then there is a band I had heard of (barley) but never heard, Junior Senior. Their Move Your Feet video is genius. Dance little squirrel, dance!
In other squirrel related video news: the Squirrel Tag spot that is currently running at the Onion is also genius, and so damn funny to boot. While you are there check out the Tri-Runner Demolition Derby spot as well.
Speaking of Hiromi if you are in Minneapolis anytime this month I strongly suggest dropping by The Lounge and checking out some of paintings that are on display. His new work shows how he is growing as an artist. And they are all reasonably priced too, just don't buy "Ivy" I have it reserved.
I tried to make some photos this weekend when I went for a drive with my wife "up north" as they say here in the "Twin Cities". Here are the first results of that trip.
On a side note, this is the 700th post on Alt Text. (Minus some long lost posts from the site's first years as aberratum.com/aberro.com)
I am excited to see Hiromi growing as an artist as he is. What's more exciting is to see him grow as a person. I hope I don't someday chalk him up as someone I should have got to know better. Some of my favorite pieces he has done are: Ivy, Spendthrift, Aaron Kleid, and Figures from a Topical View. I guess I really like those paintings that seem a little incomplete, like there is still something left to do - something more to fill in - kinda like Hiromi.
ArtContext reminds me of what Alt Text started out as. Sometime I wish I would have pushed it in that direction more.
ArtContext reminds me of what Alt Text started out as. Sometime I wish I would have pushed it in that direction more.
I didn't really dig on the pantyhose windowframe things (you'll see what I mean if you go) but I really liked some of his stuff. His movies are pretty bizarre, but like a car wreck you can't really avert your eyes. Except for "Television Assasination" I would stay away from that one. It is far to long and drawn out (like this thought).
It will be open through the new year and I would encourage anyone to check it out. I think anytime I have gone to a museum or gallery I have felt a strong need to run home and draw or paint or "photoshop".
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