Supercool

Stop: look and listen #4

13 Jun 2011

Categories: Inspiration, Stop: look and listen,

Look
Treme – Season 1 (HBO series / DVD)
Worth watching just to experience John Goodman's slow burning, melancholic performance. Mesmerising. Oh, and the music! Set in New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina, the team behind The Wire manages to transport you to the heart of this fascinating and vibrant place. Inspired casting all the way through.

Genius of Design (BBC series / DVD)
As much a history lesson as a design documentary, this insightful and entertaining BBC production manages to show the literally life-changing impact design has had and continues to have on our everyday lives.

Dial M for Murder – Alfred Hitchcock
Suddenly I found myslef watching a lot of Hitchcock – and I really can't fail to appreciate his precise and clever way of conducting a story. It's simply classy entertainment that has stood the test of time. And there are plenty more of his classics to choose from. Dig in.

Listen
Jamie Woon: "Mirrorwriting" (album)
Initially I was put off by some lukewarm reviews and a bit of too much hype surrounding this young gentleman. But then, after not being able to play much else than this record for a couple of weeks I was sold. This is an album, though not short of single potential, that works best listened to from start to finish. It really gets under your skin, with a dense and bass-heavy production. Yes, it is smooth but it's got just enough rough edges and soul to make it much more interesting than most popular music. Play it loud.

Kate Bush: "Directors Cut" (album)
She's back. Not with new material, though. These are re-workings of her own songs from "The Sensual World" and "The Red Shoes". The concept is not unlike what Joni Mitchell did with her "Travalogue" album but there is no orchestra involved here, making this is a much more stripped back affair. The 80's production sheen that defined the originals has been replaced by an intimate, soulful atmosphere.

You can't listen to her new versions of "This Woman's Work" and "Moments of Pleasure" without being moved. Really, really special.

Check out Alex Petridis' well-worded review in The Guardian.

Pretty, tickled, shocking

14 Feb 2011

Categories: Inspiration, Useful/interesting,

This year, it's all about pink.

Amongst the various Valentine pinks which are no doubt bombarding your eyes at the moment, you may have spotted a very specific shade; Pantone's Colour of 2011, Honeysuckle or PANTONE 18-2120 to give it its technical moniker.

From browsing the interwebs when it was announced last year, there doesn't seem to be all that much love for Honeysuckle – but maybe its dusky hue will grow on folks over the course of the year. The colour pink supposedly stimulates energy, encouraging action and confidence, so perhaps we shouldn't knock it until we've tried it.

What do you reckon then; Pink Panther, Pink Martini and Thomas Pink – all big in 2011?

Hmmm, I'm not sure but if you do happen to be a fan of pink and feel like showing some love this St Valentine's Day, there's always the option to shop pink.

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If you're interested in colour trends, Pantone've put together a complete Honeysuckle palette (I used it to make that hearty image, up yonder) which can be downloaded as an Adobe Swatch Exchange file.

Stop: look and listen #3

08 Dec 2010

Categories: Inspiration, Stop: look and listen,

Look
Christmas noire!
Check out Bendik Kaltenborn’s beautiful cover illustration for the Norwegian literature magazine "Vinduet".

A year of bad art
You might not agree, but these are the worst album covers of 2010. According to Pitchfork.

Interview Project
On a road trip across the United States, director David Lynch has been busy conducting interviews with a selection of people he found interesting.

Stranger than fiction? Have a look.

Listen
Keith Jarret: "The Köln Concert” (album)
An absolute jazz classic from 1974. Improvised music doesn’t get much better – or easy-going – than this. And the record has got an interesting story behind it too.

Brian Eno: "A small craft on a milk sea” (album)
In addition to containing this year’s most poetic song titles, “A small craft on a milk sea” is an arresting journey through a typical Enoesque musical landscape. You know, music for a film that doesn’t exist … it's all in your head. Sit back and enjoy.

If you've got an iPhone, check out Eno’s “Bloom” app on iTunes. DIY ambient!

Looking back

01 Nov 2010

Categories: Inspiration, Nice stuff, Useful/interesting,

I seem to be on a bit of a typographic history binge at the moment; starting in the 60s with Mad Men typography the other week, I've now jumped into the early 70s.

Why? Because that's when the very first volume of U&lc – Upper and lower-case – came out and it's just been made available to download (for free) thanks to the kind folks at Fonts.com.

The scanned pdfs are pretty hefty but worth the download time as they're full of amazing typographical treats; including these creatures which reminded me of what I did with some Type Faces a while back.

(Though these chaps are much cleverer and more refined than my little project – I especially love the snail.) 

Want your own a piece of typographic design history? Download U&lc Volume 1 from over on the Fonts.com website.