Alix Malka

Parisian fashion photographer - amazing.

I don't really need to say much apart from, I am fascinated by this style of underwater photography and thought maybe these photographs are so intriguing because they are in water and because of the style and design of the dresses???

I thought wrong, these non underwater photos are equally as interesting.

I thought of these photos americas next top model style after reading normoyle: http://normoyle.blogspot.com/2009/08/rosenthal.html

"I think this just might be my masterpiece"

Inglorious Basterds by Quentin Tarrantino.

So this is it, his masterpiece, the odd ball who brought us reservoir dogs, pulp fiction and kill bill, his last film a huge flop; Grindhouse: Death Proof. Did he redeem himself? I would say so. If you haven't seen this film, go and see it.

Before I went to see this movie I was under the impression that this would be another typical Tarrantino film. The story as I understood was about the second world war, but with a twist. The Jews get revenge on the Nazi’s.

The film is split into 5 parts:

Chapter One: Once Upon a Time … Nazi Occupied France

Chapter Two: Inglorious Basterds

Chapter Three: German Night in Paris

Chapter Four: Operation Kino

Chapter Five: Revenge of the Giant Face

To sum it up, I don't want to wreck it for you but if you would like the see what would have happened if the Jews got their own back then this is definitely a must see, if not then go because Tarrantino is a legend, or because Eli Roth from hostel is nicknamed "the Bear Jew" or just because the Guardian thinks: "Much of this film seems well below par."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2009/aug/20/inglourious-basterds-tarantino-change-history

*New* The Economist - Let Your Mind Wander

The first ad in UK movie theatres from the economist in seven years, is trying the reach out to a new younger generation of readers. Red Wires is from agency AMV.BBDO and directed by Tom Carty, he who found fame from the Guiness Sufer ads.

According to The Economist, this advertising will reach out to people who may not consider themselves Economist readers... yet. Sparked by research undertaken last year, that showed more people are going to university and that more than 3 million people whose interests in world affairs, travel, news and politics suggests an unconscious association with what Economist reports.

As the previous AMV print campaign for The economist, dated last june, was also targeted at a younger audience. (see below) This was a change from the traditional white on red ad that are held in such high regard by the industry.

The 'Let your mind wander" tag line is meant to reflect the "pleasure in connecting different ideas, and how this is reflected in the wide-range news and analysis available in a copy of The Economist".

http://www.creativereview.co.uk/back-issues/creative-review/2008/june-2008/the-economist

The music works with the film to keep you interested for all 70 seconds.

This ad was used in the trailors for Inglourious Basterds, the new ww2 Quentin Tarrantino film.

Idyllic

When I was on holiday I took this photo and in comparison to all the other rubbish holiday snaps, I absolutely love this photograph. The layers of land that intercept the horizon, the man fishing of the small strip of land that juts into the water. The reflection of the tree in the water that is also clear so below it reveals the texture of the stones and rocks below. This photograph taken by the sea near my mum’s house in Turkey is to me very tranquil and idyllic.

eTeam - Second Life Dumpster

eTeam is a creative duo from Easton, PA and Ilmenau, Germany, but they live and work in Queens, New York and Mannheim.

I don’t particularly find this type of installation art that interesting, but the theories behind some of their work is, they focus their attentions onto land use issues and “socio-spatial interventions.”

They buy plots of land and then compose structures made out of useable things people throw out, old televisions, tennis rackets, chairs etc. These structures although visually interesting are not my cup of tea, but after reading more about them I found out that 2 years ago they decided to expand this idea; by buying a 4096sqm plot of land on SecondLife: a 3D visual world. They then created code that would be used to add “trash” to their site. When the avatars on SecondLife delete rubbish it all is dumped into a folder and like most computer applications if this trash is not deleted the avatars performance could be compromised, so eTeam developed a public dumpster for the duration of one year using a decay script.

Looking at space restrictions and the record of activities has been logged at: www.meineigenheim.org/dumpster_log/doku.php

The most interesting aspect to this part of their work is that from time to time random trash heaps appear from the Second Life into the First life, reminding us that “objects and lives in worlds that copy each other are often just searching for lost originals.”

Climbing the Greasy Pole.

I saw this fabulous photograph in the Times; it is the skyline scattered with poles that are topped with the national flag, bicycles and other toys to celebrate Indonesia’s 64th Independence anniversary. The photograph shows a man greasing the poles, on the day competitors have to climb up the poles to claim the prizes.

The composition is really intriguing; the repetition of the bicycle wheels, the white and orange flags, also the selective use of colours makes you want to study the photography and look at each individual segment of the photograph. The composition complements the actual subject perfectly, this would make a really interesting piece of mixed media art.

This is a photo I found on Google, I will scan the original photo I found and put it on here asap.

Brilliant..

I actually think I'm becoming obsessed after the last post I found this, it's great I especially love the close up on the heart shaped glasses and the bulbs which looks like a face. These kinetic sculptures are so intriuging, would love to be able to create something like this.

Music = Ace.

Sony Heart

The football is back and I don't know whether I really like this advert because it is set in a suitably dull living room or just because it makes a change from the usual advertisements of booze and food that go hand in hand with the ads at half time.

Although this isn't as spectacular as previous adverts we have seen from Sony, it still has a certain something which makes you stop and take note. With a family of football maniacs, at least now half time on England matches on ITV will have something for me to watch, I'm just hoping there is more in the series!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NR1-2ON_7xs

Hot Rods and Car Exhibitions

I recently went along to a car exhibition, it was very informal taking place in a large pub car park, with everyone pint in hand wandering around.

Just outside of Macclesfield, starting at about 5pm, lots of men and women drive up to the Cheshire Lounge in their cars (many of whom have classic car tax on) and park them in car park for all to see, most of these cars are left unlocked for you to look inside too.

The audience was a crowd of car adorers, who, if asked a question could tell you every thing to where the car originated from to when the last one was made.

The cars themseleves were quite incredible with no one genre, there were American Dodges, Italian Maserati's and quite a few Ford Hot Rods. Two inparticular caught my eye, the first being a Ford Fairmount, a car made in the 70s and 80s, that had been restored to an old American Police Service car; complete with an old style siren and flashing lights. Note: the flashing lights were also in the front grille.

When we were there the man who had restored it had just finished painting the outside to put on stripes and a state county badge. He showed us around the car and he had restored the car with something that it would previously never had, a camera that films and a playback facility in the boot and also a speedometer! It was really something, although there is probably lots of these about, the man talked about his work so compassionately, it reminded me of art, because what he has created is art. I recently went back to ask if I could get a photograph but he wasn't there that month, if I do get one though it will definately go on here!

The other car was Dodge pickup truck I'm not sure what type but it was massive, the owner was actually disabled and the back of the truck had a bumper sticker reading: CAUTION! DISABLE DRIVER. For me to get into the truck which would have originally had 5 seats in it, I would have needed at least a 3 step ladder to get up to it, so when I saw this man demonstrating how he got in it and drove, I was amazed.

He had modified the passengers door, so that it was a 'suicide' door (meaning it opens the opposite way) from this door there was a ramp that came down with the help of some wireless controls, when it was firmly on the ground the man wheeled onto the ramp and started the controls so that it took him up so he was able to board the car, the front seat was actually missing and his wheelchair became his front seat. Having never seen anything like this, I was so intrigued, I obviously know they modified cars and such other things for people with disabilities but this man had done it all himself and on such a huge car. The way I have described this sounds like it took him about half an hour to get into his car but it was all over within 2 minutes. It was fabulous.

Since then I have looked more into restorations of old cars and the art that is hot-rodding and classic car restoration. It is very interesting and well worth having a look into.

Fish are Welcome.

Actually worth seeing: genius.

Taken by Lucie Parmane in Prague.

I would love to own a collection of photos like this from around the world. I bet there are millions similar to this!

Urbis Manchester

Despite being opened in June 2002, I have never actually been inside. I had taken photos from outside for a school project but never ventured indoors. Yesterday I wandered into the ultra modern building called located in "Milennium Quarter" next to the printworks. Designed by Ian Simpson.

Architecturally the building is fabulous to look at, although maybe does stand out like a sore thumb. Having said this Manchester's skyline is very liberal, with lots of contrasting types of architecture; the big wheel, Manchester Town Hall, The Beetham Tower, (The Hilton) and The Shambles square to name just a few.

The interior of Urbis for me was actually slightly disappointing, apart from the lift, which moves from the lowest part of the building up to the highest level at the same awkward angle as the building does. There actually seems to be a lot of unused space within the building but this is due mainly to its awkward shape.

Urbis is not advertised as much as it maybe could be, so it was pretty quiet, there are also lots of people who congregate around the building itself which could put off potential customers, who may opt to visit City Art Gallery near St Peters Square instead. With a giftshop, a cafe/bar (The Social), restaurant (The Modern) and Channel Ms headquarters it is definately worth a visit.

Carolyn Roper wins World Body Painting Title.. Again.

This was the winning design by Carolyn Roper. The theme was: "Spirituality beyond the visible eye." The artists got awarded points for originality, their uses of special effects, their painting techniques, colours and how they realised their final outcome.

Carolyn is the first artist is 12 years to win twice in two different categories. In 2007 the themes were: "The year 2525" and "Chaos and Control"

I personally prefer these two from 2007, as the colours and imagery used is more realistic, but you can certainly notice the difference between 2007 and 20o9, 2009 was more based around special effects.

Roper has also done special body painting for a unique way to promote their brand/company. For example Biffy Clyro used Ropers design for an album cover: Puzzled.

I think sometimes we forgot that we can do things manually rather than using a computer to simulate an effect. This is shown through the Biffy Clyro cd Cover and although you could touch up these images with photoshop, they have a real wow factor. I also presume in the flesh they look even better and so would be great for pr events.

Design for the Future?

On Wednesday, The Commision for Architecture and the built environment (CABE) delivered a blow to the US by urging the London Borough of Wansworth to reject the current planning for a New US Embassy on the Thames, which would cost 500m and has been nicknamed " the iceberg." CABE questioned several design aspects including a lack of public space around the building and entrances facing away from river side with no easy public access. The plans also included for the 20 storey building to have a 30m "blast zone" and a 4.5 metre perimeter fence. Currently the design echoes that of the US current Embassy in Baghdad not of that in Mayfair, London.

US Embassy Baghdad.

CABE say the design: ""turns its back" on the local area and lacks a sufficiently "civilising" effect on it."

In recent years many buildings have gone under refurbishments due to the rise in acts of terrorism; for example more recently The Marriott Hotel and Ritz Carlton in Jarkata were the sites of two terrorist bombings. The Marriott that had also been a target to terrorism before in 2003, now has the security of that of an airport, with scanners and bag checks and no vehicles allowed near the entrance of the hotel.

Hopefully in future years not all new archictecture comissioned will be limited by such tight security measures.