neonresolutions

More fabulousness culled from ye olde pages of the New York...

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 03:39:58 +0100

More fabulousness culled from ye olde pages of the New York Times, this concerns the Ur-pop star Eva Tanguay, profiled here magnificently by Jody Rosen, who smartly connects the wild-haired vaudeville sensation with the later characteristics of punk and hip hop, as well as the mad headdresses of Lady Gaga (see the article’s accompanying slideshow).

Educational illustrations from a booklet acquired in Puerto...

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:38:22 +0100

Educational illustrations from a booklet acquired in Puerto Rico: Transportation and Communication from Laminas Latino No. 10. Undated. (reblogged from the amazing publiccollectors)

Reading about the New York Times’ great scrapple debate of...

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 05:34:08 +0100

Reading about the New York Times’ great scrapple debate of 1872, I came across this letter from an anonymous New York bachelor in the same newspaper. In recounting his household budget and personal luxuries, the author tells a better and shorter short story than I’ve read in ages. Amazing.

"Schubert’s not distant, not alien, not detached, he’s full-blooded and alive, he’s home for me, he’s..."

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:33:39 +0100

“Schubert’s not distant, not alien, not detached, he’s full-blooded and alive, he’s home for me, he’s the emotional trailer park where I live, don’t you get that?, don’t you hear it’s so beautiful?, so much more intensely felt than this movie?, I wanted to scream all through the room, to the mainly 50-something women who had come alone in their Lexuses through the Florida rain to the mildewed and neglected theatre. No, no, so beautiful, I thought as Schubert’s echoes dopplered away and we returned to the morose mediocrity of the main score. I was like Bella abandoned by Edward, soundtrack bereft.”

- Jeremy Denk addresses the ironic use of Schubert in The Twilight Saga: New Moon, in a post entitled Schubert’s Killer Abs and tagged Abs as Metaphor for Verse, General Cultural Self-Degradation, Shameful Movie Attendance, Twilight New Moon, Vampire Musicologists.

Madonna goes Mamma Roma for Dolce & Gabbana (via Towleroad)

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:26:05 +0100

Madonna goes Mamma Roma for Dolce & Gabbana (via Towleroad)

It’s snowing in Berlin this morning and I’m getting...

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:30:00 +0100

It’s snowing in Berlin this morning and I’m getting ready to start moving to my new apartment. Fanfarlo’s cover of Tom Waits’ In the Neighborhood seems to be the best soundtrack for both. See Waits’ marchier original here.

Vladimir Nabokov, Invitation to a Beheading, designed by Helen...

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 03:03:30 +0100

Vladimir Nabokov, Invitation to a Beheading, designed by Helen Yentus and Jason Booher

Tasked with redesigning the entire Nabokov oeuvre, designer John Gall was inspired by the author’s passion for lepidoptery to create a series of display boxes to be filled by eminent book jacket artists. Among the other designers he picked for this Nabokov Specimen Box Project are Chip Kidd and Dave Eggers. (via Design Observer)

This mysterious image was taken from Square America’s...

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 02:41:08 +0100

This mysterious image was taken from Square America’s slideshow of images from the 1933 and 1939 World’s Fairs.

A Trip to the Fair (Chicago 1 & New York 1939)

To stay in typographically geeky mode, here’s a sweet...

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:37:51 +0100

To stay in typographically geeky mode, here’s a sweet tribute to the Neutra font set to the tune of Gaga’s Pokerface. (via jockohomo)

Some Flickr-clicking led to to this sublime sketch by original...

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 02:37:08 +0100

Some Flickr-clicking led to to this sublime sketch by original Penguin designers Jan Tschichold and Erik Ellegaard Frederiksen. (via David George Pearson, also check his collection of sketches for the Penguin logo)

Chloe Sevigny’s East Village apartment totally has the Ed Ruscha...

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:35:15 +0100

Chloe Sevigny’s East Village apartment totally has the Ed Ruscha magic (via andrewromano, via Apartamento)

If the Phone Don’t Ring, It’s Me, 2008, Oil on...

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:03:29 +0100

If the Phone Don’t Ring, It’s Me, 2008, Oil on canvas, 213x155cm, Photo: Stephen White

The revealing George Michael interview in the Guardian also notes Mr. Michael’s art collection, leading me to check out Harland Miller’s work, much of which artfully departs from classic Penguin paperback covers.

Yoonha Park directed this documentary video for Small...

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 02:00:00 +0100

Yoonha Park directed this documentary video for Small Black’s Despicable Dogs, starring singer-keyboardist Josh Kolenik’s surfing uncle. Find my own surf-and-Seattle-themed mixtape here.

Before we get too far up into the whole “Best of...

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 13:59:49 +0100

Before we get too far up into the whole “Best of 2009” business, here’s a taste of some of the best of 2010 as Final Fantasy previews Midnight Directives off his Heartland concept album for Pitchfork.tv’s Tunnelvision series.

Then, now that we are on the subject of photograms, here are...

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 01:59:51 +0100

Then, now that we are on the subject of photograms, here are some more of these primitive but elegant images, courtesy of Les Rudnick’s Photograms.org.

Körner Union also created these elegant photograms from crystal...

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 13:58:49 +0100

Grand Noir, 2008

Körner Union also created these elegant photograms from crystal fruit bowls, see more of their very diverse portfolio at their site.

Is there anything more beautiful than destruction in slow...

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 01:57:53 +0100

Is there anything more beautiful than destruction in slow motion? Körner Union new video for Bo’tox’s Blue Steel reveals an innocuous country road to be the site of much stuffed toy and bouncy castle carnage.

“In the late 19th and early 20th century, enigmatic...

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:56:50 +0100

“In the late 19th and early 20th century, enigmatic photographer T. Enami (1859-1929) captured a number of 3D stereoviews depicting life in Meiji-period Japan.” (via ink Tentacle)

“The more that which is written takes from me, the more it...

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 01:56:38 +0100

“The more that which is written takes from me, the more it shows what was missing from the experience that was lived. Only the words make this discovery, because they didn’t know it earlier. And where they catch the lived experience by surprise is where they reflect it best. In the end they become so compelling that the lived experience must cling to them in order not to fall apart.”

Herta Müller, this year’s Nobel-Prize winner for literature, lectures beautifully on writing, family, dictatorship, and the importance of always carrying a handkerchief.

AfterElton.com posted up this Glee season recap all done up in a...

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:46:41 +0100

AfterElton.com posted up this Glee season recap all done up in a Facebook stylee, click through for the next, spoiler-laden jpegs.