Lost AT E Minor

Rejected Star Wars toys

Merchandizing was as important to the Star Wars franchise as the films themselves. Almost anyone can probably remember some random product those iconic movies generated. For every Luke Skywalker action figure and plastic light saber that hit the shelves over the past 30 years, dozens of product ideas were rejected. Read more

Tiny Tim

This guy just freaks me out, plain and simple. There’s something so eerie about him that almost sends a shiver down my spine. Maybe it’s his falsetto voice, the sort of thing you’d hear whistling down the wind on a dark night in a graveyard; or maybe it’s his appearance, the last thing you want to bump into down a dark alley. Once you get over that, however, his rendition of Tiptoe Through the Tulips is actually a great song, even if he did die of a heart attack whilst performing it.

Steve Schofield’s Land of the Free

In his series Land of the Free, photographer Steve Schofield captures geeky, cosplay fanatics in their own homes, sometimes with their costume-less family members. Two Klingons relaxing in a Middle-American living room as if waiting for grandma to serve cookies and tea makes for a truly compelling image. Schofield’s photos seem tense, as if halfway stuck between a mundane but warm reality and an exciting fantasy world. Read more

Urs Fischer’s installations

New York and Zurich-based artist Urs Fischer’s entropic sculptures and installations blows apart people’s expectations of what to expect at a gallery. Last year’s installation, You, at Gavin Brown was a 38-foot-by-30-foot crater dug into the gallery floor. His huge, ambitious works seem frantic and impulsive despite the immense planning and meticulous execution they often require. His mockery of physics, and the enormous scale and shock-and-awe quality of his work suggest the god-like potency of an artist, at least within a gallery space. Read more

Paper Water Bottle

Design company BrandImage has just come out with their line of paper water bottles made out of renewable resources. The bottles themselves are recyclable, and while not as reusable as a plastic bottle, can still be reused a few times. These are cool designs, even if they still pander to our on-the-go, single-serving, throw-away culture. Their environmental friendliness is also dubious, considering most people will still choose to throw these things in the trash rather than taking the time to find a recycling bin.

Faith No More reunion

Very few band reunions get me excited, but I’ve consistently loved Faith No More since I was 13. I loved their pre-Mike Patton era, I loved King for a Day, and I even loved their track with Boo Yah Tribe on the Judgment Night soundtrack. Kerrang recently hinted that a FNM reformation is in the works for ‘09, and though bassist Billy Gould has emphatically denied the rumors, the general consensus is that the reunion is on.