Word art by French artist Christian Robert-Tissot:











Also...

WOOLOO is an artist collective with crazy projects like:

AVANTGARDE DATING is an experimental dating service investigating issues associated with contemporary relationships.

LIFE EXCHANGE invites applicants to perform actual Life Exchanges and thereby exchange lives with other individuals for a time.

&

If you fancy movie title sequences more than the movies themselves, check out Submarine Channel.

Marcel Marceau, the man who said:

"It's good to shut up sometimes."

has died.

3D pavement drawings by Julian Beever:

Meeting Mr Frog

Superheroes II - Batman and Robin to the rescue

Self-Portrait Of The Artist With Liquid Refreshment

Taking the plunge

The fall issue of Action, Yes is up. Lots of good reading in it, especially the lyric essay by Ariana Reines called "Sucking":

"The patron saint of hag writers is Marguerite Duras. When I read her writing, sometimes the emotions are too heavy for me, and I think, this is weepy and grotesque. However, other times, when I read her writing, I think that she is the most incisive, elegant, perfect writer, and that her sentences are pure and pierce my heart."

I rarely delve into the art of politics, but this video (Caitlin found at Feministing) hit me on such an emotional level that I had to post it here for others to see. This is San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, a Republican, who had been expected to veto a resolution in support of same sex marriage, but as you will see he could not go through with it. If only there existed more politicians like this guy:

If you want to contact Mayor Sanders to thank him for his change of heart, you should go here.

The new issue of Typo is up-and-at-em. Interesting poems abound, including this one by Craig Morgan Teicher called "Like a Pebble in Space is Like a Planet," which includes this bit:

III

To speak is an incomparable act
of faith. What proof do we have that
when I say mouse, you do not think
of a stop sign? The obvious response
to such a question is that whoever asks it
is thinking too hard about a soft
thought.
          On bad days, I see
the same people passing me on the streets
over and over again, blocks and blocks
apart, and I begin to wonder if there are
only a few actors, extras, to play
the whole cast of characters composing
my life. But why such an elaborate
pageant just for me? Or if I am
one of the extras, should I be
thinking so much?

My brother sent me the link to a fashion spread by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott:

Comme des Garçons

Etro

Emanuel Ungaro

Here is an interesting article on artists who suffered from cataracts and retinal eye disease, and how their works were influenced by their afflictions.

Ever since it came out (when I was in like fourth grade) Savage Steve Holland's One Crazy Summer has been one of my favorite movies. If you haven't seen it, you really should. If you haven't seen it in a while, you should go back and watch it again to relive the memories. There are so many classic bits, but my absolute favorite is the hilarious "Why are you so fat?" scene between Bobcat Goldthwait as Egg Stork and Curtis Armstrong (aka Booger) as Ack Ack Raymond:

Check out the international photography fair called Paris Photo:

The Discovery of Blue Beard’s Wives
by
John C. Browne
(1866)

Versus #4
by
Kyungwoo Chun
(2006-2007)

Dr. Heisenberg Magic Mirror of Uncertainty
by
Duane Michals
(1998)

Untitled work by Drew Beckmeyer:







Also...

Canada's most famous Oulipian practitioner, Christian Bök, on Writing & Failure (part one, part two, part three)

Here is an interesting article on why Jean Sibelius stopped composing.

And here's an article on why fashion is art.

CSP tuned me into this superhero art work by Australian artist Anthony Lister:

spiderwoman
(2007)

wonder what
(2007)

batgirl fronting
(2007)

The new issue of Word/For Word is up. In it you'll find visual poetry like this:

winnipeg 1
by
Derek Beaulieu

Span Cluster
by
Ric Royer

Untitled
by
Irving Weiss

Tex Jernigan's new project, ONE, is "a traveling series of installations, each revolving around the central idea of the human identity and it's visual shape."

These photos were taken in Nebraska City, NE:

Dominique

Noah

Laura

Dutch artist Ab Van Hanegem:

The California Accident
(1997)

Untitled
(2001)

Untitled
(2007)

Click here to listen to Donald Antrim read Donald Barthelme’s brilliantly absurd short story “I Bought a Little City” and then discuss it with The New Yorker’s fiction editor, Deborah Treisman. Other New Yorker podcasts can be found here.

ps - Did you know that the United States Postal Service sells Postal Service cds?

Today, Caitlin & I went to this great alternative craft fair called Craftin' Outlaws, where alongside cool knitted beanies and monster-faced totes were some interesting paintings by Ohio artists. Two highlights:

The bird paintings of Yumi Yumi:

Honeyeater

Zebra Finches

And the unsettling children of Abril Andrade:

Looks like the most overrated author in history might not really be who he claims to be.

CSP just sent me this music video for a Sweedish Indie/Techno/Blues band called Familjen:

Drunken Boat does Oulipo:

Here is the Oulipo …

Here is the Oulipo that François Le Lionnais created.

Here are the happy members of the Oulipo that François Le Lionnais created.

Here are the books by the happy members of the Oulipo that François Le Lionnais created....read more

For a while it seemed like the new poetry journal Diode was following me, maybe even taunting me. It seemed like everywhere I turned there was a call for submissions to this mysterious journal that didn't exist. I did not heed its request. Now it exists. And it has good taste.

Concert for Piano and Orchestra (1957-58)


New York Public Radio has a web reliquary to John Cage.

The new issue of DIAGRAM is alive; in it you will find one of Blake Butler's fantastic Markson-esque lists.

Also check out this scholarly journal dedicated to Pataphysics.

Now then...

Bettina Sellmann earned her MFA from Hunter College:

Choker
(2004)

Wind
(2001)

While doing research on conjoined twins, I came across Daisy and Violet Hilton, who toured with Bob Hope in 1926 as The Dancemedians. Throughout the 1930s they toured in the U.S. sideshow and vaudeville circuit. They were also friends with Houdini. Eventually they spent their fortune and were forced to open a hot dog stand in Miami. They died in 1969. Here is a clip of them performing:

My short piece
"The Death of Stalin"
is now appearing at
Monkeybicycle.

[beware: contains questionable material]

The work of Kay Kang, a Korean-born artist who received her MA in printmaking from San Francisco State University:

Feather W
(2004)

Artist's Statement:

"The inspiration for my installation "It's A Girl !!", is from traditional Korean customs for announcing the birth of a new born baby. When a male is born, charcoals and peppers are hung on a hemp rope, which is proudly attached to the front door of the home. When a female is born, only charcoal is hung on the hemp rope, for the birth of a girl was not met with the same congratulations as the birth of a boy. "It's A Girl !!" is a celebration of the birth of a girl, which has been neglected too often in Korean customs."

WARNING!!! What you are about to see contains moments of disturbing cinematic gore and clips of unbridled violence. Viewer discretion is strongly advised.

Disclaimers aside, this six minute music video called "We Are The Massacre," from the Japanese band World's End Girlfriend, beautifully contrasts the unsettling images with sublime sonics. This piece raises many interesting questions, and shows how sound can manipulate the emotional aspect of moviegoing.

In film school they taught us:

sound conveys 70% emotion / 30% information
picture conveys 70% information / 30% emotion

What's your reaction?

Thanks to my brother for finding this and sending it to me.

I have answered my own question: Yes, it is too soon to declare Best Album of the Year.

Today I got an advance copy of the new Beirut album The Flying Club Cup, which officially drops October 9th. This posse put out my favorite album last year, the mind blowing Gulag Orkestar, which means that this one comes much anticipated. At this point it's too soon to compare the two, having only listened to this new one twice through, but I can safely say it's a captivating collection full of the familiar gypsy sounds from the last album as well as some new unpredictable grooviness; that said, it isn't much of a departure from the last. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I don't know yet.

Thanks to CSP for sending me this fantastic (but unsettling) short film by Alfonso Cuarón and Naomi Klein, directed by Jonás Cuarón, called The Shock Doctrine:

The new Stars album officially comes out on the 25th of September, but advanced copies exist and have a way of getting into people's stereos ahead of time. I have been so lucky and can tell you honestly:

It is supercalafragelisticexpialadocious.

I'm serious.

Is it too early to declare best album of the year?

America's premier literary pamphlet The Cupboard has a new issue, which contains a fantastic piece called "False Starts For An Upcoming Art Book, Each 400 Characters Long Due To Certain Complex Publishing Restraints." I recommend it. I also recommend submitting to their upcoming themed issue: prose adaptations of film adaptations of books.

Speaking of books, Stephen Hawking is writing a trilogy of children's books.

Speaking of children's books, Madeleine L'Engle died last week.

Speaking of...well...I don't have a transition for this one, but Ron points out this interesting article on Aram Saroyan's infamous "lighght" poem. In it, George Plimpton was asked by a congressman to explain Saroyan’s poem. He responded, “You are from the Midwest. You are culturally deprived, so you would not understand it anyway.”

Here is the work of French Woodturner Alain Mailland:

The Village
(2006)

I Had A Dream
(2006)

The Elegance of Pelagie
(2005)

French/Albanian artist Thomas Bernard could possibilly be neither French nor Albanian:








ps - Click over and tell Julie at Eluvium congrats on a year of excellent work.

In last Sunday's NYTimes Magazine, the question was raised: Can Rick Rubin save the music industry? My answer is: forget Rick Rubin, the savior of the music industry is named Ronald Jenkees - and he's really really good:

Speaking of music, Passion of the Weiss has a snazzy new site.

Also, check out this unbelievably great story: Clowns vs. the KKK.

California artist Chris Pew:

The Fluctuations of Gravitational Bends
(2007)

The Gantry's Excretion of Harmonius Aether
(2006)