The color in this new Louis Vuitton campaign is intense. Things don't really look like that in real life, but in this case I think the lighting and post-production are so well done that it inspires a sort of heightened awareness of color, which I think is useful in real life. Photographers Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott (who I have mentioned previously here, here, and here) continue to revisit this theme.
I'm not trying to pimp my cat or something but it has become clear he is far more popular than me or anything I could ever write on this here blog. So in the words of Miss Edie Brickell, "I give up." I will post a picture of him every Friday from now on until his furry, sweet, generous, slightly self-centered, taxed little heart gives out, or until mine does (with all of the same qualifiers before it).
I saw Large Professor at S.O.B.'s one time, I think it was around 2001 or so – one of the stranger, better hip-hop shows I've ever seen. He headlined, following a couple other people, most notably Mad Skillz. At the time, the Extra P, as Large Professor is also known, was in the middle of what seemed like a crisis of direction, having been one of the greatest architects of the greatest era of hip-hop, but failing to transform that success into a banner career as a solo artist (even after, or maybe in part because of, a massive advance from Geffen). When it was his turn to take the stage, he was a little awkward – it was like he had crawled up there after a couple years making beats in his basement, and didn't quite know what to do.
Following the success of the website, the new Totokaelo brick-and-mortar store opens tomorrow in a beautifully remodeled space in the Maritime Building. Fitting right in amidst the design stores and architects on Western Avenue, Totokaelo will feature selections from Rick Owens, Junya Watanabe/Comme des Garçons, MM6 by Maison Martin Margiela, Zero + Maria Cornejo, Isabel Marant, Y's by Yohji Yamamoto, Stella McCartney, Vanessa Bruno, United Bamboo, Rachel Comey, Opening Ceremony, Acne, and others. Stop by and check it out at 913 Western Avenue (between Madison & Marion) in beautiful Seattle WA.
I recently came across this book in the family collection that I absolutely loved as a kid. It was published in 1967 but seems very current, kind of along these lines in a weird psychedelic sorcerous magic sort of way. Here's a small selection of spreads – it's worth clicking-to-enlarge so you can see the illustrations close up and read the text.
I found a bit of info on the author. According to The New York Times, Philip Ressner (1922–2006) authored half a dozen successful children's books, starting in 1965 with August Explains, "the tale of a wise old bear who is very good at magic." 
I love this house in the Green Lake neighborhood of Seattle. (Actually it's right across the street from the lake.)
President-elect Barack Obama marked Veterans Day by laying a wreath at the Bronze Soldiers Memorial in Chicago. He was joined by Tammy Duckworth, Illinois’s director of veterans’ affairs, who served in the war in Iraq and lost both of her legs there.
First there was Visionaire 51 Harmony, a limited-edition set of puzzles featuring the photography and artwork of Maurizio Cattelan, Vik Muniz, Yayoi Kusama, and others. Now Art+Commerce gets into the puzzle game ("the puzzle game?" seriously? what is my problem?! i hate it when people call things the [fill in the blank] game, and here i am doing it. the absolute worst is in that Cadillac commercial where the girl from E.R. says "In today's luxury game...." ugh, the worst. maybe it's okay for a puzzle though)…anyway…gets into the puzzle game with this new 1000-piece, signed-and-numbered offering featuring a classic Steven Meisel photo. My puzzle-obsessed friends—they know who they are—know what they're getting next time I have a spare $750.
This weekend we got in the ol' jeep and headed out once again for a trip across the mountains – Emily's grandma Lillian was turning 90 and the fam threw a big party at her house in Yakima.
On the way back, we stopped through Ellensburg, where the skies are not cloudy all day, gas is $2.04 a gallon, and it would be very, very easy to spend a lot of money in antique stores.
We showed considerable restraint in picking up only the following:
An odd little metal bookshelf with a horse on it. There's a coil on the back that holds the books in place.
A children's record with music by Dick Hyman, and a cover illustraton by Leo and Diane Dillon. They illustrated a bunch of children's books my brother and I loved as kids, as well as this beautiful cover for Lalo Schifrin's The Fox soundtrack, among other things:
The song is called "I May Be Crazy but I Ain't No Fool." The Library of Congress has a listing for it here.
The grooves are on the inside of the tube. When my friend Mike and I were at Joe Bussard's house a few years back, he had a bunch of these and a machine on which to play them. Obviously I will probably never be able to listen to this one but it's a cool little thing to have on a shelf.
It was nice to get out of town for a minute.
Roy Last Climb Up Indian John Hill mp3
On the advice of the excellent mostly-art blog Best Of, we checked out the current show at Vermillion: Ryan Molenkamp's The San Juans. It's very good—it evokes the otherworldly quality of the San Juan Islands without being overly reverential or literal.
The next day we went to Punch Gallery (on Prefontaine just South of Yesler), which is currently showing Justin Colt Beckman's Honky Tonk.
The Ellensburg-based artist has transformed a modern space into a convincing honky-tonk bar, complete with sawdust on the floor, cans of peanuts in shells, and a metal tub of Busch beer on ice, which he offered us as we walked in. "The show's about to begin," he told us. "Grab a bench."
For the show, Beckman appears on stage in video-projection form, lip-synching classic country songs ("There's a tear in my beer / 'cause I'm crying for you deer / you were on my lonely mind") to an enthusiastic audience (that would be us, plus an applause track). You might think it was one of those one-man show kind of deals where you're not sure when it's okay to leave, but you would be wrong – the whole thing was oddly captivating and we stayed right up through the encore-with-banjo.
Honky Tonk is a really unusual idea, executed just about perfectly. The thing is, a lot of actual bars have adopted this kind of decorative scheme in real life, and it would have been easy for Beckman to simply echo that explosion of nostalgia (which actually does often succeed in being relaxing, fun, etc.—who doesn't like to kick back and listen to tunes in the comfort of old stuff while they drink some beers?) Instead, Honky Tonk is a thought-provoking meditation on city vs. country, high-tech vs. digital, and real vs. not real. In other words, it goes beyond the decorative surface appeal and addresses the impulse behind it…or something. I enjoyed the gallery's description of the show, so maybe it's best if I re-print it here in full and leave it at that:Inspired by music variety shows, karaoke, and childhood lip-sync concerts, Justin Colt Beckman’s Honky Tonk transforms PUNCH Gallery into a full-scale country bar for three weeks during the month of November. Combining video projection and sound, with found materials he's dragging over from rural Washington, Beckman continues his investigation into the urban/rural dichotomy and its associated stereotypes as he explores the act of country music stardom vicariously through his art-making.
In their many manifestations, the terms hillbilly, redneck, and white trash have been used in national media representations and by Americans within and outside rural areas to both uphold and challenge the dominant trends of contemporary American life, including urbanization, the ever-expanding centrality of technology, and the resulting routinization of American life. While often used to define the benefits of advanced civilization through negative counterexample, these terms have also been used to question the legitimacy of modernity and progress. Whatever. We just want to drink some cold beer, throw our peanut shells on the floor, and watch Beckman sing a few of his favorite country tunes.
Cheers to that. I would have happily stayed for another, but we had places to be. The show is up through November 22nd; more info at punchgallery.org.
This week's episode of This American Life features excerpts from the late, great Studs Terkel's radio show, among other things. It is riveting stuff. Click here to listen.
Michael Chrichton died this past week from complications related to being an a-hole. He was responsible for a pretty great movie though, the first drive-in movie I ever saw as a kid, over by the Burgermaster off of 520 in Bellevue:
