"Everybody Knows It. It's a fact. Kiss Kiss"

Okay, Lana Del Rey's "Born To Die" might actually, officially be my favorite album of 2012. I don't really care about the rumors and what everyone says that she's just to made up and "fabricated". Come to think of it: nowadays, who isn't anyway? She happens to have a great team behind her curating her impeccably rendered prissy-meets-rowdy image which, honestly, couldn't fascinate me more at this point.

National Anthem is one of my favorite tracks off "BTD" and though it triggered images of a different feel in my head, I am utterly in love with this 7+ minute video. Directed by Anthony Mandler of Les Enfants Terribles. National Anthem is amazingly styled and lazily evolves into a gorgeous masterpiece. I love how certain iconic references are beautifully woven together in a pretty unconventional light and script!

For some reason "Money is the reason we exist, everybody knows it. It's a fact. Kiss kiss." is stuck in my head since the first time I heard this song, maybe because -sadly- it's the truth.

Nomint for Google Art Project

Greek animation production company Nomint, which recently opened their new offices in London, created the below amazing video for Google's Art Project. I found it breathtaking. A crisp, smooth celebration of art (project)! 

(Images & video via Nomint.gr)

My "Best" of 2011. Now Give Us 2012

This past year was an intensely awkward one, for all of us. It was a challenging, troubling year from whichever point of view one chooses to examine it. 2011 was, confessedly, an intensely awkward year. However, I -being the eternally "half-full glasses" I am- believe that it was not an absolute and total loss, (ironically though, "loss" was -for many- a defining word for this year). Some aspects of it seemed to gleam "through the ashes"; some events of significant, life-altering gravity, in a positive light this time,  did occur as well. So, what we should do is focus on some of the good things 2011 left us with. 

On a personal/professional level, 2011 was life-changing for me. This past, turbulent, year set the foundations -in a challenging way- for things which felt that they were meant to happen. I was urged to make choices and take actions for which I am the only person to be held responsible for the outcome, whatever that may be. 

I am not going to get all profound and mushy in this post, though I am prone to doing that lately; I will just focus on the "lighter" things which stood as some sort of "psychological support" -if you like- this past year. Below you will find a humbly assembled list of my personal "bests" and "favorites" of 2011. 

**There's more inside the post**

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty

I will not get into detail on this Alexander McQueen show currently running at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The fact that this is happening is old-news actually.

I chose to post about this (now) because I was blown away after seeing the pictures of the show, the promotional studio photography of the Selected Objects by Sølve Sundsbø, and the amazing blog the people of the Met set-up for the show. In the Selected Objects section, each piece is presented with an accompanying (many times accurately prophetic) quote from McQueen's interviews over the years.

Also, back to the photography; Sundsbø, or whoever came up with the mannequin concept should be given an award! It couldn't be more eerily appropriate, and perfectly fitting to McQueen's body of work! Giving kudos is clearly something I'm not entitled to do, so I'll just humbly bow.

Olly Moss : Paper Cuts

Paper Cuts is british illustrator/designer Olly Moss's latest show, which opened on May 7th, 2011, and will run for the next two weeks at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles.

The show consists of approximately 350 pieces of cut-out silhouettes of the artist's favorite pop culture icons over the years. Excruciatingly detailed cut-outs of Kermit the frog, Bruce Willis in Die Hard, the gang from Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs and the Simpsons are some of the characters featured in the show.

I am posting this not only because I would love to see the show, but because I am wondering how come he's allowed to sell the pieces, since they're so directly based on someone else's work. I am asking this out of genuine curiosity and interest, and not to accuse Mr Moss of anything. I've also started working on a series of posters based on some of my favorite relics from the past (and was trying to figure out how to and if I am allowed to sell them) and when I saw this I just had to know. (Anyone?)

Sarah Kay: Inspirational Kick!

"It's not just the adage 'write what you know',

 it's about gathering up all the knowledge and

 experience you've collected up to now, to help

 you dive into the things you don't know." -Sarah Kay

I found this when SwissMiss or as I call her: the Queen of Blogging, posted it on her blog.

I couldn't help but repost this. Sarah Kay, a performing poet, just blew my head away! Whether you like poetry or not her two poems in this video "B" and "Hiroshima" will definitely draw you into this fast-paced, yet smoothly-flowing world, which, I imagine, is exactly how 22 year-old Sarah Kay's mind works; and I envy her for that. 

Kay, is the founder and co-director of Project V.O.I.C.E. (Vocal Outreach Into Creative Expression); which encourages young people to use spoken word to express themselves and to understand the world and who they are.

Genuinely Inspirational!

(via)

Ayten Alpun Yilmaz

Ayten Alpun Yilmaz shot these amazing pictures part of a meticulously impeccable fashion editorial for the November 2010 issue of the Turkish Marie Claire. 

I was stunned by how perfect these photographs are and by how painting-like every single shot is.

(via)

Dexter (Part Two)

23 year-old, Australian, music and video artist Pogo, known for his amazing Up-inspired mix Upular, worked his magic with sounds and snips from Dexter. This is, plainly put: Brilliant!

Now, off I go to watch another episode of Dexter.

Kylie + Frieder Weiss + AlexandLiane (and other artists)

Kylie & Co in "Get Outta My Way"

a Chunky Move dancer in "Glow"

Being the pop-drenched graphic designer I am, I couldn't help but fall for Kylie Minogue's new video to Get Outta My Way (video at the end of the post), off her new album Aphrodite (which is a great album by the way). After all, the first post I ever did on this blog was Kylie's video to The One, which still remains one of my favorite music videos. 

I don't know who had the idea for this video, well, most probably the directors AlexandLiane, but I mean who thought of bringing Frieder Weiss' work into play and all that brilliant styling? (maybe with the exception of the white socks, donned by the dancers)

Frieder Weiss' amazing- a m a z i n g - interactive graphics are the most visually exciting thing I've seen in the past few months! Many of the effects from Outta My Way were introduced in the Frieder Weiss - Chunky Move collaboration titled  "Glow" which premiered back in 2006 (also this year, in Sydney Australia, 13-16 October). I guess, this music video is one of the cases in which the widely accessible pop culture meets the somewhat alternative and densely creative art world. While some will rush to label this coexistence as "selling out" (from the part of the fine artist) I, and many others, tend to see this as a great opportunity for more people to learn about these brilliant artists. I, myself, didn't know about Weiss until I googled to find the credits for the video. 

Imagine the good that the availability of all this info can do to an aspiring designer/artist at the beginning of their course! Whether people like it or not, the Madonnas, Gagas, Kylies, and Beyoncés (and in my case the Mariahs too) define a bit more than just the pop culture of today. It could be said that they open new exploration routes to those who are capable of handling (or even deciphering) the bundle of info that's given to them. (I hereby declare that I partially owe David LaChapelle and Herb Ritts to Mariah Carey)

Inception: Genius!

I finally got around to watching Inception last night. I wanted to see it long before the Inception hype began, around the time I read that a film directed by Christopher Nolan, and starring Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard and DiCaprio was going to come out; and especially after the word "dreams" was thrown in (I, kinda, have a soft spot for films about dreams and the concept of dreams in general).

I'm a big fan of Nolan's work, especially since he did Batman Begins in 2005, (another soft spot here, Batman) and then The Dark Knight and now this.

Again, I'm not going to analyze or critique Inception, but I will express my absolute awe by saying that it was an impeccably put together movie, flawless in every possible way and with an amazing array of actors. (oh, that did come across as a critique...) I am still shocked by how amazing all the imagery was. The scene where Ariadne, (even the choice of the name and the connection with the mythical Ariadne are awesome) realizes she's in a dream, with all the explosions in the street, and the scene where she "bends" the city rendered me plainly speechless!

Also the video below, which gave me the chills, comes to prove how meticulously they put everything together. Here's to hoping that we'll see a featurette about the research they did on dreams for this film.

Note: The above video was not created by me, I found it via an article on the Guardian.