Rappin' Rodney

It's very likely that Rodney Dangerfield was the coolest guy to ever live...

"Le Nez"

Check out this great animated short by Alexander Alexeieff based on the story "The Nose" by Nikolai Gogol.

North By Northwest Title Sequence

I saw this the other night for the first time in a while. I had forgotten how cool the opening sequence is. Once you see it you realize how often it is borrowed from...

The Nameless One Hits the Web!

Turns out the internets are good for something after all. The complete works of HP Lovecraft are on line. Here. All of them. For real. Go technology!

Nobokov on book jacket design

Check out this video of Vladimir Nobokov sharing his favorite covers of "Lolita" while puttering around his study in his bathrobe. Yeah!

A Tribute to the Wilhelm Scream

The scream that is embedded in our very genetic structure by now. Oddly enough, though, they left out The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. The Wilhelm Scream is used when an elf is thrown from the top of the wall at the battle for Helm's Deep. *adjusts glasses*

Phil Hartman

I fully understand that missing someone you've never met is weird, perhaps kind of creepy, but damn it I miss Phil Hartman.

Simplicissimus

Simplicissimus was a German satirical political magazine that boasted one of the most impressive collections of staff illustrators and designers ever assembled at one publication. The list of contributors is a who's who of turn of the century German writers and artists including but not limited to: George Grosz, Hermann Hesse, Alfred Kubin, Heinrich Kley, James Ensor etc. etc. The magazine went out of print shortly after the Nazis came to power seeing as Simplicissimus was highly critical of Hitler and his cronies. Most of the staff was forced to flee the country before WWII, and after the war it never really regained its level of quality, but thankfully some diligent soul has archived all of the pre WWII issues here. Check out a few of these awesome (and fantastically weird) covers..

Max Klinger

Recently I had the good fortune to see a collection of amazing etchings at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. Of the collection Max Klinger's "Paraphrases About the Finding of a Glove" was a big highlight. The series consists of ten etchings that are all based on the artist's real life experience of finding a woman's glove at a roller rink. Apparently Klinger found the lost glove, tried in vain to find its owner and ended up taking it home. The glove held a special fascination for him and that night he dreamt a series of dreams revolving around it. Being a surrealist painter and printmaker Max Klinger knew good material when he saw it (or dreamt it) so, happily for us, he turned his memories of his dreams into a series of etchings. Here they are in order (click for much better detail)..










If you're in the DC area check this show out, it really needs to be seen up close and in person..

Movies movies movies

Looking for interesting updates for your netflix queue? Check out ilovehotdogs.net for awesome stills from lots of great films ranging from the classic to the cultish to the down right weird. I know there are a bunch of movies on there that I really need to see. A couple of examples of the screenshots, can you name them all?

Going West

Crikey! This is an unbelievably cool video for the New Zealand Book Council, an equally cool organization dedicated to promoting reading in New Zealand. Good on ya'!

Do you know what this is?

That's right. It's a mug, woven of crispy bacon filled with melted cheese. If there is a heaven I imagine this is involved in some way..

Jay Mohr Gives Awesome Tracy Morgan Impression, Anecdote

It's a few minutes long, but it's incredible. PCP is smoked, shirts are removed, waiters punched. Tracy Morgan is my hero.

UPDATE: I almost forgot, then at the very end he goes into a dead-on Colin Quinn. I forget that Jay Mohr can be really funny.

A Cruise Down Memory Lane

Guy Mariano from the Mouse video. You gotta love this. Great skating and great music...

The Folio Society

I always find it to sound like an over reaction when people speak of "the death of print". Sure with the interwebs, the digitizing of newspapers and the rising popularity of products like "Kindle" it feels sometimes like the printed word is being edged out, but I don't see how real books could ever become passe. As objects they are immensely satisfying; to me just the weight, the smell, the simple action of turning the page to see what is next can't be beat. The beauty of a well made, well designed book in my mind has a certain charm that digital media is unable to replicate. Sure "Kindle" may make reading a little easier but these days if easy is what you're looking for you can probably just go see the movie remake of the book you want to read anyway. The Folio Society seems to get what people who love books want and have published an impressive and beautiful catalogue of titles so far to help remind us why real printed books are so special. I mean just look at Sam Weber's cover and inside illustrations for "Lord of the Flies." Digital media just can't compete with this...





And here is a mess of other beautiful hardcovers The Folio Society has released. It really is impressive how consistently good their designs are...