Websites / ASCII generator
Lovers, ahoy! Take a photo of your darling’s face (or your own if it’s prettier) and put it into an ASCII generator for an old-school arty gift. Because, let’s face it, every day is love day.
Also by JULIA HENNOCK
The tightly-wound compact fluorescent light bulbs we’ve welcomed into our homes have a little sister. Plumen is low-energy, yet she’s trendy, twisted and a designer’s dream. Not yet in production, you can see Plumen hanging alone in MOMA.
Fancy a fern in the face? The Sky Planter will fulfill your greenest fantasies. It is designed to conserve water, save floor space and puzzle visitors. An internal reservoir system to feeds water directly to the roots, so no water evaporates or drips. And somehow the soil is ‘locked in’. Woo!
A brick of any other kind would look as sweet, believes artist Jan Vormann. She began filling crumbling walls with multi-coloured Lego bricks in Bocchignano, a little village close to Rome, and was then invited to continue her rainbow reparations in Tel Aviv and Yaffo. Beautiful appropriation or ugly sacrilege?
YOU'RE SAYING (3)
Gary said | 10 March, 2008
This is soooo cool. I’ve always wanted to have a portrait of myself in that style. Hehe.
Julia said | 10 March, 2008
Self-love is the best kind, Gary.
HAVE YOUR SAY
New York artist Louise Belcourt works out of a studio in Brooklyn where she paints with a ‘strong emphasis on line, color and texture, of forms and surfaces brushing up against one another, almost kissing, or pulling apart. Branches and limbs reach out, spread, and sprout new growth. Small buds appear. There is sense of wide-open space, but filled with activity and life’.
Days Off is an incredibly catchy but smart punk band from Chicago. While they’re the best of what pop music through the ages has to offer, they’re by no means pop-punk. As infectious as their hooks and choruses are, there are enough off-kilter rhythms and complex guitar work to give their music a layered feel, putting them into a category all their own.
With its long history in poster design and with a younger generation of artists who grew up with both Eastern and Western European influences, the ‘new Poland’ is booming. I had a blast when I visited Warsaw about a year ago and met all the movers and shakers in design. My friend just sent me a link to Tymek Jezierski’s amazing comic works. They’re so fresh! The only problem I have with them is that I don’t read Polish.
WeMe Creative has an awesome new female tee available called All About Me, featuring ‘pattern wrap over’ printing. Read more
Aesop’s signature space in Fitzroy, Melbourne, looks amazing, we’ve got the word on how and why. Why was Gabriel Garcia Marquez chosen as the featured author? ‘There are literary giants and then there are writers like Gabriel Garcia Marquez, whose talents redefine not only the genres they choose to work within but what’s possible in literature as a whole. The fact that his work has transcended his own language and culture has also prompted our decision to pay homage’. Read more
This entertaining documentary follows a group of seemingly clichéd American teenagers in their last year of high school. Through a comprehensive recording of their lives it reminds us that, when examining anything in detail, there is no such thing as a cliché. The naivety and hope of each student shines through, providing a memorable and accurate portrait of a middle-American high school. Read more
DJ Spooky — That Subliminal Kid — is just about the deepest crate digger around, trawling the barrels of long-lost record stores for choice vinyl to spin in his wickedly dubby sets. He gave us the inside word last week on his eight favourite songs right now via our sister website, My Secret Playlist. This is what he had to say about Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry’s Panic in Babylon: ‘If there’s anything that the twenty-first century has told us, it’s that dub is the real original hip-hop. Lee Scratch even had to make it clear in 1965 by adding “Scratch” to his middle name. Take that, Grandmaster Flash!’ Read the rest of DJ Spooky’s Secret Playlist.
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
Kristin Baker’s paintings strike the eye like massive Hollywood blockbusters, but have the elegance of delicate watercolors. Read more
I like Roots Manuva because he tells stories. I know that sounds simplistic, but honestly, have you noticed how rappers, certainly American rappers, have stopped narrating their lives and are purely focused on how great they are? I know, I know, hip-hop is all about word play, slang, and blah blah blah. Read more
Lightspeed Champion performs The Kids unhinged
We met Lightspeed Champion (Londoner and former Test Icicles member Dev Hynes) backstage at Oxford Arts Factory at precisely 4.15pm. Read more
Sam Weber on his favourite emerging artists
We asked illustrator Sam Weber to give us the inside word on some of the young artists who have caught his eye recently: ‘Francis Vallejo, Yoko Furusho [above], and David Jien [below]. For up-and-comers, they are a few with some really amazing work’. Read more
Adult Hotel opens in Nanning, China
State-controlled news outlet Xinhua reports that a new ‘adult hotel‘ is opening in Nanning, the capital of Guangxi Province in southern China. Apparently state censors think homosexuals and tattoo parlors sully their nation’s image, but not establishments aimed at facilitating heterosexual unions. The owner is apparently worried his business will be perceived as a brothel. Hmmm. In any case, the photos of a staff member demonstrating the, uh, equipment is caption-worthy for sure.
We have a stack of CDs and DVDs to give away to a lucky new subscriber who signs up to receive our free weekly email publication between now and New Year’s Day. There’s 50 new CDs in the pile, along with a handful of DVDs. So sign up now and leave a message here telling us what album you hope will be in the pile!
This pendant by Portland designer Stephanie Stimek hangs from an eighteen inch 14 carat gold chain. Made from a Japanese quail egg, the entire shell has been coated in plastic for strength and is available for purchase through the Lost At E Minor store. Read more
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Tim said | 8 March, 2008
This is an interesting idea! Hey,thanks!!
My wife will definitely love it.
Tim