is joaquin phoenix still here?

save the beard, glasses, and ill-fitted suit – you never looked this cool as an actor

what ever happened to joaquin phoenix after his hip hop daddy hoax? i must say, i liked him for it for a minute, to throw away everything for nothing, although he behaved (acted) rather childish even as a fake character… wonder what came out of the mockumentary “i’m still here”? did anyone see it? worth the time or not? by dd

CATEGORIES: music, must not see films

highly disputed 51 park: the ground zero mosque by soma architects


renderings of the park51 community center, aka ground zero mosque, as prepared by the architectural design consultants soma architects

who ever knew this is what those “evil-doers” were planning all along? as much as the “playground of the devil”, manhattan, is a non-religious city as a whole, and more than that, a godless city for that matter, i must say that if this center is to be designed properly, as some of the fabulous churches and synagogues in the city that are more than holly, then its a welcome site indeed. ironically i was sent this clip from CNN which is pertinent to this issue, and although we don’t dabble into politics on tomorrow started, this post is as much about urban planning and architecture as the lady gaga is about her music… not to mention that we cant resist but to oppose bigotry and malinformation of any kind and will find a way to do so.

from CNN: a synagogues reborn in beirut lebonan. by xy

CATEGORIES: architecture, ny places

jean-luc godard: film socialisme

very funny how lincoln center chose to place patti smith as the single image defining the godard film in their booklet. not that any one image could do the job, but given patti was almost irrelevant in the film, and perhaps a good lure is rather funny.
for those expecting to see a rock film, be advised….

la porte etroite, renoir, palestine, jj martin, des choses comme ca, napoli, greece, andre gide, patti smith, cruise ship, opera, egypt, wind, balzac, barcelona, hitler, chris marker jab and meow meow… just a few of the things i took away on sept 29th.

115 years of cinema and the man dominating the second half of it, was at it again. godard’s latest film at the new york film festival at lincoln center was a must see. first off let me say how much i love lincoln center, it reminds me of why i love new york so much. just being there i felt vibrant and at ease, its the best of new york in one place. the film started on time, and the audience was a who’s who of film buffs. I ran into wes anderson after the film while getting a coffee in the lobby before going back in for the discussion panel. ironically i had just seen ‘the fantastic mr. fox” and i told him how disappointed i was that jarvis cocker had such a short role in that.

anyhow, back to film socialisme. as i had anticipated i was amazed, bored-to-tears and lost. to clarify, godard remains my hero but that doesn’t change this. after prenome carmen, in my opinion, you must be fluent in french in order to watch a JLG film. even then you best have read up on your literature, art history and philosophy to put that puzzle together. the audio is so dense and layered there is simply no way to do subtitles on the later godards. i was mad at myself for my lack of lingual stamina–if nothing, just to be able to see his films. so yes, it’s not for everyone and chances are it will not be released in cinemas. but as balzac said: you must never forget… who your real daddy is. by dd

CATEGORIES: must be considered films, ny places

art is for mobsters – jean says


always loved jean toutou’s tone. this one from the apc journal is great, my favorite is “art is for mobster”, but i have to say that “fashion is for losers” don’t make sense out of his mouth, feels a little phony, isn’t it? even if this is true… by pp

CATEGORIES: fashion

hotel labels – lv coffret



saw this box on nice french blog djgm and found it really cool. this is a nice coffret edited by vuitton, there is 30 postcards in there, all die-cute and nicely printed as the old hotels labels from around the world. the box is made out of a re-edition of the 30’s lv print. really calling off a certain era and it’s style. love when fashion brands do things that are not just so irrelevant. by djgm + pp

CATEGORIES: design, eye candy, perfect gift

la carte d’apres nature – thomas demand curates at nmnm





the nouveau musee national de monaco (nmnm) inaugurate its second gallery (art nouveau building, villa paloma) with an exhibition curated by german artist thomas demand. named after rene magritte’s magazine, the show features 18 artists including tacita dean, luigi braies, thomas demand himself and many others.

“demand chose magritte as a hook for the show that would transcend historical categorisation and, as its muse, prompt exploration as to why similar thoughts and ideas go through the minds of artists working in disparate locations and indeed eras. ‘rené magritte plays the role of a connecting link here in at least two ways,’ says demand. ‘he reshuffled the cards with regard to the meaning of representation: “it is not possible to paint a thought; it is only possible to paint the things that were necessary for this thought,” he once said, in response to a reporter who asked what he thought when painting his pictures.'”

by wp + pp.

CATEGORIES: art

le corbusier – his true colors


amazing article by alice rawsthorn in the new york times about le corbusier’s wall colors, must read here, a couple of lines for lazies:

“by 1931, le corbusier had settled on a palette of soft pastels and brights to accentuate white, and arranged for them to be reproduced on wallpaper swatches by the swiss manufacturer salubra. esver the control freak, he specified exactly ho salubra should group the colors together to indicate which ones could be combined.”
…
“a book of all of the swatches made for corbusier by salubra from 1931 to 1959 was published by birkhäuser in 1997. a young chemist, katrin trautwein, the co-founder of kt color, then started to explore the possibility of manufacturing the paints and secured a license to do so from the fondation le corbusier.”


by ar+pp.

CATEGORIES: design, musings, perfect gift, read