music, culture, discourse, new media
art
Visiting Aria
Jan 18th
Over the weekend I made a trip to Las Vegas for my friend Katie’s 30th birthday celebration.
On Saturday we paid a visit to CityCenter, the newest development on the strip that includes 2 hotels, a condo structure, restaurants, shopping center and spas.
The development, officially opened in December, is completely LEED-certified making it the largest sustainably-designed architectural development in the world. Rockstar architects involved in the project include Helmut Jahn, Studio Daniel Libeskind, and Foster + Partners.
The modernist design is breathtaking with plenty of glass and steel, extraordinary lighting and surprising turns and angles at every step.
It’s a beautiful complex and well worth the visit. I had a great time visiting the Aria Casino where we caught a few football games, played some games of our own in the casino and nibbled at a totally delish patisserie. Check out some snaps below!
More:
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gensler-leads-design-of-citycenter-79314067.html
http://www.dwell.com/articles/citycenter-las-vegas.html
http://www.inhabitat.com/2010/01/07/is-it-green-citycenter/
Lady GaGa “Bad Romance”
Nov 13th
“Bad Romance” is Lady GaGa’s first single from The Fame Monster.
On collaborating with director Francis Lawrence on the music video, she explains to MTV that
“I could give him all my weirdest, most psychotic ideas, but it would come across to and be relevant to the public.”
Indeed.
The Cremaster 3 meets bats-in-the-belfry Russian vodka advert gives most “artsy” music videos as of late a run for their money.
I’ve been on the fence about Lady G as cultural device.
I used to believe that she was everything wrong with the music industry.
Now I’m finally starting to realize that the stranger she gets, oddly enough the more relevance she has – and the more I like her.
Perhaps devoid of serious musical talent with lyrics certainly distanced from being poetic, this is artistry folks – however served up.
What do you think? Leave your comments at the top.
Banksy’s Coming for Dinner
May 19th
I’m quite excited to see the film Banksy’s Coming For Dinner from Director Ivan Massow. It stars Joan Collins, her husband Percy and various other guests as they gather for a dinner with the infamous street artist. Banksy is known for his anonymity, prefering to keep his true identity under wraps. Based on his artwork I wonder just how much of it will be real. And I also wonder what he’ll bring to dinner. A casserole, perhaps?
*Bonus: music for the film is arranged by Mr. Scruff
Free Video Download: Oren Lavie “Her Morning Elegance”
Jan 20th
iTunes is featuring the beautifully-produced new video for Oren Lavie’s Her Morning Elegance as a free download this week. The video makes great use of stop-motion photography and is a really cute concept in general. Check it out!
Lawrence Lessig and Hybrid Economies
Jan 12th
Lawrence Lessig on the Colbert Report, 1/8/09:
“Artists have gotten no more money, businesses have not gotten more profit, and our kids have been turned into criminals.” – Lawrence Lessig
I agree with Lessig. Remixes and mashups aren’t going away. It’s time that Congress developed ways to address the new medium rather than fight it. Artists including Yo Yo Ma have warmed to the idea and encourage remixes of their work. Great collabs crop up daily on the music blogs and beyond. See last week’s Jaydiohead, a Jay-Z and Radiohead mashup by Minty Fresh Beats that, despite what Pitchfork had to say, had people including the likes of Carson Daly talking it up.
I enjoyed hearing Lessig briefly explain his “hybrid economy” theory. Hybrid economies are seemingly more prevalent than we think. This blog is a hybrid. Particularly if I chose to sell ad space on it. So I feature content from other places like Comedy Central on this blog which is hosted by WordPress - a platform that I did not partake in the creation of. When the copyrighted content is fused with the editorial I write, it creates a new piece of work with additional opportunities for revenue.
I believe that artists should get paid for their work and all derivatives thereof. Just as Comedy Central tracks the embed of the above video and WordPress hosts my blog, each creator deserves a fair share of what is rightfully theirs. If Congress could learn to move forward with that idea instead of fighting the very idea of a collabration, remix, mashup, or hybrid project…well…that would be good.
Vote for my photos at Wired.com
Nov 7th
Wired Magazine is having another photo contest - and this time the subject is music. Submit your photos here or check them out and submit your vote. Note: my pictures are towards the end!
“LA is deeply superficial”
Oct 22nd
Frances Anderton of KCRW’s Design and Architecture interviews Robbie Conal and Shepard Fairey in a segment entitled The Graphics of Political Protest.
Stream or download the show here.
For more: DNA blog
artist spotlight: Christopher David Ryan
Oct 16th
Yesterday Bobby from Kitsune Noir tipped me off to a new (to me) artist, Christopher David Ryan from Portland, Maine. Ryan is featured in yesterday’s Desktop Wallpaper Project and has several sites where you can view and purchase his work. On his personal website he offers up a daily design with full archives, and also offers really great poster downloads (free!) for the 2008 Presidential election.
The Pop-Down Project
Oct 7th
Catching up on PSFK tonight, I found a great piece on a group dubbed the Pop-Down Project. Originating from France and now nearly 500 strong globally, the subversive art group likens real world advertising to internet pop-up ads. Their trademark, a large “X” affixed to the upper right hand corner – similar to what you’d find on a pop-up ad online – is downloadable from their site in template form.
