Monthly archives:September 2015

  • Drunk Stoned Brilliant Immortal

  • 9 years ago
  • It’s fair to say that most people – even those who came of age during the late 1960s and 1970s -- probably have no idea how influential National Lampoon magazine was (and still is) to American comedy. Douglas Tirola’s entertaining new documentary Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead is a sort of primer for anyone who equates the Lampoon name mainly with a disparate assortment of increasingly juvenile movies. The fast-paced film uses lively animation and tons of vintage graphics, including iconic magazine covers, to illustrate the publication’s history, told via snippets of interviews with those who were involved with the magazine firsthand (Anne Beatts, P.J. O’Rourke) or consider it crucial to their development, comedic and otherwise (Judd Apatow, John Goodman, Billy Bob Thornton). The main focus is (understandably) National Lampoon’s heyday, from birth in the late 1960s through decline in the 1980s, with emphasis on the various characters who shaped it, especially founding editors Doug Kenney and Henry Beard, and chairman/CEO Matty Simmons. In the mid-1960s, the satirical student-run Harvard Lampoon (first published in 1876) fell under the stewardship of charismatic, unstable Kenney and serious, organized Beard, the dynamic duo who would go on to co-found National Lampoon in 1970. Among the film’s many enlightening bits of information is the fact that a popular parody of Mademoiselle magazine was responsible for broadening the college Lampoon’s subscription base, enabling i[...]

  • How Posters "Work"

  • 9 years ago
  • I once had a friend ask me, "What exactly is graphic design?" The answer seemed pretty easy, as the name appears self-explanatory: design using graphics. But, truthfully, it was harder for me to get into the details of what exactly it is, even though it has been one of the most prolific and widely-used art forms in the modern era. And not unlike some other forms of modern art, there is the hackneyed response, "I could totally do that" while viewing graphic design that has been elevated to a higher status. In fact, I even heard it at the Cooper Hewitt's long-running installation How Posters Work. Amazing to hear that response, given the museum's breadth of information presented about not only about the history of the medium but also contemporary approaches to it. Furthermore, the beginning of the exhibit, before really immersing the viewer in the posters themselves, contains a section attempting to relay just how graphic designers see, and how it subsequently affects how we decipher messages from images, be they subversive or overt. For example, how designers use black space, how they visualize colors to lay over each other and blend, and the ways in which they see text aligned on a poster to result in certain reading patterns. That was particularly interesting as areas of posters are darkened except one swirl-type shape, and it notes that eyes begin at the thicker portion of the illuminated swirl, and move down to the thinner part across the page. Images are placed alo[...]

  • Wearable Art: Pyer Moss Delivers Powerful #BlackLivesMatter Showcase At NYFW

  • 9 years ago
  • Talk about 'art for progress!' Label Pyer Moss has left a strong impression at their New York Fashion Week debut on September 10, with what many believe to be one of the most "powerful" showcases ever. Photo Credit: Pyer Moss The much buzzed-about menswear label has recently branched out into womenswear. Last week's NYFW was Pyer Moss's way of introducing this new foray for the label to the world. Instead of presenting themselves with frills and fantasy, they've allowed current events to penetrate their work, bringing the 'Black Lives Matter' movement to the forefront. And from the overwhelming response online, it seems as though the politically-charged gamble has worked! After the jump, find out more about this challenging and nerve-striking event. Pyer Moss used their platform to address racism and police brutality head on, incorporating thought-provoking symbols on fashion pieces, including blood splattered sneakers and gun-holster accessories. There was also a 15-minute video presented to the audience before the showcase, featuring various horrific deaths of unarmed men and women who died at the hands of the police. Police brutality and institutional racism are hot-button topics that founder and creative director Kerby Jean-Raymond, 28, wants people to be more aware of. Personally, the designer has experienced 12 gruesome stop-and-frisk encounters with New York law enforcement between the ages of 12 and 18. Founder/Creative Director Kerby Jean-Raymond. Photo [...]

  • A Brilliant Young Mind: Love and Math

  • 9 years ago
  • The title of Morgan Matthews’ narrative film debut, A Brilliant Young Mind, immediately evokes Ron Howard’s A Beautiful Mind, and both films have in common a protagonist who is an exceptionally bright mathematician with mental challenges. Unlike John Forbes Nash, though, who suffered from schizophrenia, A Brilliant Young Mind’s Nathan Ellis is merely on the autism spectrum. And unlike Nash, he’s a fictional character, though the film is based on Matthews’ 2006 documentary Brilliant Young Minds, about British teens competing in the International Mathematics Olympiad. Matthews, who has made several documentaries, does a solid job with his first fictional feature; the film is nicely paced and well-acted, with a lovely soundtrack and striking visuals. James Graham’s script is both sensitive and witty, including enough real math to be authentic without making the story incomprehensible to civilians. Diagnosed with Asperger’s, nine-year-old Nathan (Edward Baker-Close) is told that he is unique by his dad, who explains, "You have special powers like a wizard and we’re just muggles.” One of Nathan’s “powers” is synesthesia, wherein he experiences one sense (sound) as another (color); he’s often distracted by lights and patterns. He's also a math wiz. His mom Julie (Sally Hawkins) tries but cannot connect with Nathan the way his dad does. When the latter dies in a car accident, Nathan sinks further into himself, until he meets Martin Humphreys (the excellent Rafe Spall), a r[...]

  • AFP Music: Summer Singles

  • 9 years ago
  • It’s been a great summer for music. Taylor Swift is on tour, both the Cobain and the NWA documentary hit theaters, someone finally told off Miley Cyrus and One Direction is going on hiatus. Joy. Although summer isn't officially over until mid-September, the steady drop in temperature and fading light make it feel like it is almost fall. Before the leaves start to brown and fall, let's look back at the season and all the great releases that came with it: 1. “Run Away With Me” by Carly Rae Jepsen Carly Rae Jepsen has gone from that one girl who sang that one sort of creepy song that everyone loved a couple summer ago to a legit pop artist. 2012’s one-hit-wonder has triumphantly returned with possibly one of the best pop albums of the summer. Maybe even of the year. Her new record, E•MO•TION, which was released last month, has already surpassed the popularity of “Call Me Maybe” and her sophomore album, Kiss. It’s no 1989, but it’s shockingly close. 2. “Leave A Trace” by Chvrches In a recent interview with the Guardian, Martin Doherty of Chvrches told the publication that the band "could have sold 200,000 more albums” if they had “put Lauren [Mayberry] on the cover of every magazine." However, Chvrches didn’t want to be "that band with the pretty frontwoman" and chose to sell themselves as their full outfit. The issue of female representation has been brought up repeatedly this summer, starting perhaps with Sophy Ziss and Mariel Loveland’s Pixable article that animate[...]