Sunday, October 31, 2010

Youth Sentiment

Ultimate Nostalgia: De Fabeltjeskrant. It ran everyday at 19.00 on Dutch TV during the 70ies, much longed for and looked forward to by myself in pajamas, the end of which was immediately followed by bedtime departure.





















Swedish stamps

Four nice new Swedish stamps with a culinary theme: polkagris (a typical Swedish candy cane striped red and white from the city of Gränna), gravad lax (so famous it contributed its name to the vocabulary of the world), surströmming (a lot less famous, thank god!, because this dish consists of traditional and utterly disgusting Northern-Swedish fermented herring) and spettekaka (a Southern-Swedish egg cake). I put them on my blog partly because of the funny choice of subject, and partly because I really like the original artwork of Stina Wirsen.

Skydiver in silver BetaPants falling towards Burning Man. Cool!!

Interpol - Hands Away

A shot from the trenches in Vietnam?

"...charging a man with murder here is like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy500..."
Captain Willard in Apocalypse Now.

...tack Johanna...

Betabrand

I just saw something I really like: The Black Sheep Sweater from San Fransisco based fashion company Betabrands; it's exactly what it sounds to be: a sweater made from the wool of only black sheep. Organic wool from Ireland; non-dyed natural black wool; and the sweater is Made in San Fransisco. Wow! What a great Christmas gift! A worthy recipient in every family!

When looking at some of the other stuff this company makes I am equally intrigued and fascinated: there are corduroy pants with the cords going horizontally instead of the usual vertical, there are reversible dinner jackets, attach-you-own-belt mailman bags, chino pants with reflective pocket insides for evening biking., etc! Fun tongue-in-cheek innovation. Do have a look at their great website: www.betabrands.com They ship worldwide, and of course I could not help myself and put in an order. Must have that Black Sheep sweater, those quirky cords, and that strange mailman bag!

Friday, October 29, 2010

Mumford & Sons - Dust Bowl Dance

Fantastic Song! Talk about anger turning into frenzy! Love it

The Antlers - Kettering

3-11 Porter - Surround Me

3-11 Porter is a Norwegian band, formed by Per Arne Bertheussen in Oslo in 1997. The other band members are Svein Hansen and Tracee Meyn. The song ‘Surround Me’ was remixed by Mental Overdrive and became 3-11 Porter’s international breakthrough when it appeared on Hôtel Costes, Vol. 6. In 2008, the song appeared on the soundtrack of the film Fireflies in the Garden starring Julia Roberts (on which below clip is based).

This original version of Surround Me sound perhaps a bit naked and flat when comparing to the more famous Mental Overdrive remix, but to me (in all its simplicity) it is authentic and honest, and one of the most beautiful songs of the past decade.

... and some more by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorski 1905-1915





Photographs taken by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorski, Photographer to the Russian Czar, 1905-1915





Rural Industrial Americana


Saul Leitner

So very very beautiful. New York in the 1950s, captured by photographer Saul Leitner.










Stephen Shore

Some absolutely fabulous 1970s Americana images from photographer Stephen Shore





Evan Leavitt

"Athens, Georgia based photographer Evan Leavitt has become a bit of a Flickr superstar through his documentation of the rural South. Leavitt’s photos incorporate a post production texturing effect to make them appear somewhere in-between a photo and a painting" -
A Continuous Lean





a Private Skyscraper in Mumbai


Mr. Mukesh Ambani, apparently India's wealthiest individual, has built himself a private residence downtown Mumbai (Bombay). It's a 170m tall 27 floor skyscraper, with
parking space for 168 cars, an entire floor for “car maintenance,” an “in-house service centre, an “entertainment floor” and three helipads.

Donald Trump has been Trumped!























source: www.joehallock.com

Sunday, October 24, 2010

The Messerschmitt KR200 micro car from 1955

Messerschmitt made fighter aircraft for the Luftwaffe during WWII. Famous planes such as the Bf-109, and the Me-262 jetfighter. After the war they converted to charming & cheap little cars such as the KR200.

The Heinkel Kabine micro car from 1956

During WWII Heinkel made bombers for the Luftwaffe. Planes such as the He-111, infamous after the bombing of Guernica, Warsaw and Rotterdam. After the war Heinkel converted their factories to the manufacturing of scooters and micro-cars.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Heegermeer sailing



Valhalla Rising


Just saw Valhalla Rising by Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn, and featuring Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen as the main character, One Eye.

The story is set around 1000 AD. What appears to be a bunch of pagan and newly converted norsemen or celts travel by longboat through endless mist, aiming for the Holy Land. In fact they travel the exact opposite direction and land in North America where they are one by one killed off by a very unpleasantly portrayed tribe of Indians, but at the same time meet their individual destinies.

This movie is odd to say the least. Hypnotic and misty. Raw, cold and dirty. Violent. It's beautifully shot, but the story remains as vague as the fog that envelops it. There is very little dialogue; Mads Mikkelsen for example doesn't utter a single word in the whole movie.

The (non)-meeting of these pagan europeans with american indigenous people I find interesting though. The atmosphere of it all reminds of the arrival of Willard upriver at the camp of Kurtz in Apocalypse Now. Something very primitive, pagan and deeply disturbing. Perhaps this movie is to be read as a new and quite abstract interpretation of The Heart of Darkness? Anyway, it's intriguing.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Classic picture

...but somehow the gold medal winner looks slightly more convinced of the political message than the bronze medal winner, who seems to be more like well yeah whatever....
Another case of architectural Retro-ethno-kitsch: the Brandevoort district in Helmond, the Netherlands

The closest we came... at the World Soccer Championship Final - 11 July 2010