Cold Cave Soundtrack a Radio Shack Commercial
- story Matthew Schnipper
Merry Christmas + Death in June = Bluetooth? Tear into it!
Usain Bolt Adopts Baby Cheetah
Now that the New York City Marathon has ended we can all go back to doing what we do normally: obsess over Usain Bolt. The Lightning has been taking a break from JA to hang out in Kenya for a few days, where he has “already impressed local children with his football skills, and become an honorary Maasai warrior,” according to the BBC, further proving he is our second most admired jedi knight/sensai/dream date slightly after Barack Obama. But Bolt’s moved up like 18 notches on our list after his recent adoption of A. Baby. Cheetah… as part of a conservation effort focusing on sustaining the environment in Africa via the Long Run, a new campaign he is launching. Appropriately, he christened the cheetah “Lightning Bolt,” and we immediately began singing the Vybz Kartel verse “BOLT / LIGHTNING BOLT,” weirding out our coworkers for the 49th time today. Watch a dubiously edited YouTube of Bolt “beating” a less adorable cheetah in a race after the jump.
Anthony Pappalardo Rides the Circleboard
- story Matthew Schnipper
There is a renewable life metaphor somewhere within this video of Anthony Pappalardo riding a Mark Gonzales crafted “circleboard,” a tangle of skateboards curled into a wheel. Though most know Pappalardo as a professional skater, we’re just as equally fond of him as a craftsman, having featured his incredible wood benches in a recent issue of our magazine. Check out footage from a recent show he had in Brooklyn. It’s nice to reconcile these two Pappalardos—the smiling man riding through the streets on a bulky contraption and the artisan with pristine skill. Together they make a well rounded man—there’s that metaphor! (via Bobby Sattler)
Lee Perry’s “Blackboard Jungle”: From Dub to Dubstep
Obviously the root sound of dubstep is um, dub, but this video documents legend Lee “Scratch” Perry’s transition into making actual dubstep and does a good job of showing how the genres/cultures inform each other without explicitly saying so… at least until the end when it promos Perry’s new track with FADER fave Jahdan Blakkamoore and Subatomic Soundsystem. Worth watching for great footage of Jahdan performing at Terminal 5 with Major Lazer, a brief interview with Rusko on the topic, and a very, very serious Jamaican gyal narrating. (via Dutty Artz)
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posted on Oct 28, 2009 in ART+CULTURE VIDEO tags caribbean, dubstep, Dutty Artz, Jahdan Blakkamoore, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Rusko, Subatomic Soundsystem
Contest: Win Limited-Edition Shepherd Fairey Poster Art From His New Collection for Levi’s
- story THE FADER
Shepherd Fairey is doing a live art installation in Times Square at 7PM Thursday night to kick off the launch of his new collection for Levi’s. The eight pieces in the line are inspired by Fairey’s personal stash of Levi’s with silhouettes, finishes and the smallest distressed details taken from his favorite true blues, including this hooded denim jacket. We have 10 limited-edition posters of artwork featured in the collection—all doubled sided—to give away. We’ll have images of the posters up for grabs after the jump tomorrow—hit us in the comments with your actual email address to win.
The FADER Double Vision Photo Special
- story THE FADER
For this year’s Photo Special issue, The FADER showcased the work of Victoria Sambunaris and Peter van Agtmael, two photographers who have traveled the country extensively to document its people and places with exceptional eyes for the details that reveal the spirit of America. Sambunaris’ epic landscapes subtly focus on humans’ necessary struggle to balance preservation of the land with our need for its resources, while van Agtmael’s photos strive to bring us a transparent record of the mostly unseen people and places he’s encountered on his many travels. Although formally very different, both artists’ work is connected by a deep curiosity about this country and its people. In the Double Vision section of our site, listen to van Agtmael discuss his view on America in a randomly ordered slideshow of his photos, including outtakes from the magazine. And take an up-close look at the eagle-eye perspective of Sambunaris’ photos with Zoomify, a digital pair of art binoculars. After the jump, read a conversation between Sambunaris and van Agtmael about their approaches and the current state of documentary photography. We got them some beers before they talked, so you know it’s how they really feel.
The FADER Double Vision Photo Special
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posted on Oct 28, 2009 in ART+CULTURE INTERVIEWS, ART+CULTURE NEWS, Homepage Main Spotlight, Homepage Top Spotlight tags Peter van Agtmael, Victoria Sambunaris
Girls Hardcore XXX “Lust For Life” is a Major Letdown
- story Peter Macia
It’s really hard to put into words how disappointing it is to see a bunch of indie rock sites post the title “Girls ‘Lust For Life’ Hardcore XXX Edit” and then after watching the video come to find out that it’s just a bunch of shirtless girls and one guy singing into another guy’s dick. Maybe we’ve been living in New York too long, but this is basically what happened on the train ride to work today. Plus, the girl next to us was listening to Flo-Rida really loud on her headphones. Talk about hardcore. If you haven’t yet read our Girls cover story, you may not be as unsurprised by the free-spiriting in Focus Creeps‘ directors’ cut, but don’t let that be an excuse not to read it—or enjoy watching a bunch of SF bros and ladybros have a little fun for the camera. (via MBV via P4k)
Form & Function: Invoice for Day-Ruining
- story Peter Macia
As the recession begins to ease slightly and we all begin to look forward to a little more prosperity, it is hoped that some of the lessons learned over the last couple of years will stick, namely the idea that the most creative designers in the world can use their artistry, vision and humor to create things that are both nice to look at and incredibly useful. In this irregular new Arts + Culture section, Form & Function, we’ll highlight some of the things we think meet that criteria.
First up is something so simple (and free) that it kind of sets the tone for every post hereafter. Jessica Hische spent valuable time creating this Invoice for Services Rendered Day-Ruining, an obvious result of dealing with lunatic bosses and employers who took the downturn as an excuse to be total dicks. Hopefully, she’ll get a chance to use it, but in the meantime it’s enough for us to keep a stack tucked in the desk drawer.
(via Selectism)
In Matthew Chambers We See Ourselves, and Cats and Beer
- story Peter Macia
Someone once asked each FADER editor to paint a self-portrait and, unsurprisingly, each one of the finished works looked like the same smeary pile of acrylic crap. Okay that never happened but if it did they would. Point being, it is not easy being a painter, so when someone is willing to paint a self-portrait that looks as awesome as Matthew Chambers’ does and names it “Self Portrait With More Difficult Shirt to Paint,” we applaud it. We won’t buy it because we are poor, but someone should. And someone else should buy the other paintings in Chambers’ new show at Rental Gallery in New York, which will only be up for a few more days before Brendan Fowler aka BARR’s show which opens on October 24th. None of us have art history degrees here, but it doesn’t take years of study to know a good painting of two dogs in an ice cream cone from a bad one. We’ve spent a lot of time looking through the varied works of the exhibit, titled An Activity So Pure, and feel comfortable saying without qualification that there is not another artist alive today who can paint a bottle and glass of Stella Artois and have it make us think of anything other than getting drunk. Specifically, it makes us think about why we chose music writing instead of the glamorous life of an artist, but what can you do. An Activity So Pure runs through this Saturday. (via SG&T)
Dallas Boogie: Mr. Hit Dat Hoe
- story Felipe Delerme
My first introdcution to Treal Lee and Prince Rick and probably more importantly, Kedrick “Mr. Hit Dat Hoe” Wilson, was the above promo video for “Get Off Me Now.” Sometime this past spring, the video was making its way around gossip blogs, posted to responses of glee toward Wilson’s country swagger, but also contempt that a “rapper” would name himself “Mr. Hit That Hoe.” In actuality, Wilson isn’t a rapper, but a fearless dancer who inspired a hit song, and a deeper look into Dallas rap culture offers insight into his otherwise off-putting namesake.
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posted on Oct 7, 2009 in ART+CULTURE NEWS, ART+CULTURE VIDEO tags Dallas, hip hop, Mr. Hit Dat Hoe, Prince Rick, Treal Lee
