September 14, 2012
Afrofuturism is an emergent literary and cultural aesthetic that combines elements of science fiction, historical fiction, fantasy, Afrocentricity, and magic realism with non-Western cosmologies in order to critique not only the present-day dilemmas of people of color, but also to revise, interrogate, and re-examine the historical events of the past.
Examples of seminal afrofuturistic works include the novels of Samuel R. Delany and Octavia Butler; the canvases of Jean-Michel Basquiat and the photography of Renée Cox; as well as the extraterrestrial mythos of Parliament-Funkadelic and Sun Ra, and the music of DJ Spooky.
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September 14, 2012
Aesthetic relativism is the philosophical view that the judgement of beauty is relative to different individuals and/or cultures and that there are no universal criteria of beauty.
For example, in historical terms, the female form as depicted in the Venus of Willendorf (prehistoric figurines) and the women in the paintings of Rubens would today be regarded as over-weight, while the slim models on the covers of contemporary fashion magazines would no doubt be regarded in a negative light by our predecessors. In contemporary (cross-cultural) terms, body modification among ‘primitive’ peoples is sometimes regarded as grotesque by Western society.
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September 13, 2012
@earth is a 2011 book made by London born (and based) photomontage artist Peter Kennard with Lebanese artist Tarek Salhany. It is a photo-essay told through photomontage with seven chapters exposing the current state of the earth, the conditions of life on it and the need to resist injustice. Apart from the title (which is also in different languages on its back cover) the pocket book contains no words and its story is told in sequences of constructed images. ‘@earth’ combines images created digitally over the past two years by Kennard with Salhany especially for the project, with Kennard’s earlier darkroom based photomontages (spanning over 40 years of work) some of which are part of the Tate Permanent Collection. They have been recontextualised for the book. The authors met whilst Kennard taught Salhany at the Byam Shaw School of Art in London.
‘@earth’ has received recognition from, amongst others, Naomi Klein (author of ‘No Logo’ and ‘The Shock Doctrine’) who has said: ‘This book perfectly captures the brutal asymmetries of our age: heavy weaponry trained on broken people, all-seeing technologies and disappearing identities, perpetually exhaling industry and an asphyxiating planet. If there’s a word that’s worth a thousand pictures, it’s ‘@earth.”
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September 13, 2012
Ron Fricke is an American film director and cinematographer, considered to be a master of time-lapse photography and large format cinematography. He was the director of photography for ‘Koyaanisqatsi’ (a film consisting primarily of slow motion and time-lapse footage) in 1982 and directed the purely cinematic non-verbal non-narrative feature ‘Baraka’ (1992). He designed and used his own 65 mm camera equipment for ‘Baraka’ and his later projects.
He also directed the IMAX films ‘Chronos’ (1985) and ‘Sacred Site’ (1986). His most recent work was as cinematographer for parts of the film ‘Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith’ (he was hired to shoot the eruption of Mt. Etna in Sicily for use in scenes of the volcanic planet Mustafar). The sequel to ‘Baraka,’ ‘Samsara,’ premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2011. Fricke writes about his work: ‘I feel that my work has evolved through ‘Koyaanisqatsi,’ ‘Chronos’ and ‘Baraka.’ Both technically and philosophically I am ready to delve even deeper into my favorite theme: humanity’s relationship to the eternal.’
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September 13, 2012
70mm film is a wide high-resolution film gauge, with higher resolution than standard 35mm motion picture film format. As used in camera, the film is 65 mm wide. The additional 5mm are for magnetic strips holding four of the six tracks of sound.
Although more recent 70 mm prints use digital sound encoding, the vast majority of 70 mm prints predate this technology. Each frame is five perforations tall, with an aspect ratio of 2.20:1. The vast majority of film theaters are unable to handle 70mm film, and so original 70mm films are shown with 35mm prints at these venues.
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September 12, 2012
Mingering Mike is a fictitious funk and soul recording artist created in the late 1960s as the subject of works of album art by a young Mike Stevens, an outsider artist. More recently, Mingering Mike was rediscovered by law firm investigator Dori Hadar and his friend Frank Beylotte, who came across the art work at a flea market. Mingering Mike had created a whole complex, yet nonexistent music career (including a Bruce Lee concept album), and had released more than 50 album covers in 10 years.
When Mike was rediscovered, it was learned that he had yet more unreleased material from the same time period as his first releases and it is in the process of being released as a real album. Mingering Mike at first refused to release his real name or allow a photo to be taken of him, because he’s afraid his new celebrity status will cause him to lose his two day jobs.
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September 12, 2012
Luaka Bop is a world music-oriented record label established by David Byrne, former guitarist, singer-songwriter and producer of the art rock-new wave band Talking Heads. It has been a wholly independent label since leaving Universal Music Group’s V2 in 2006. Luaka Bop has been responsible for compilations representing sounds from around the world as well as the release of full length albums, EPs, and singles from individual artists and bands.
‘Brazil Classics’ kicked off the label and a set of seven albums surveying eras and artists ranging from Samba to Tropicália. Ventures into Afro-Peruvian and AfroPean musics unearthed the talents of Susana Baca and Zap Mama, respectively. ‘World Psychedelic Classics’ is made up of three albums and includes artists such as Shuggie Otis, Os Mutantes, as well as West African artists of the late 1960s. Additionally, the label has released ‘Cuba’ and ‘Asia Classics.’
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September 12, 2012
Sun is the ninth studio album by American musician Cat Power, released in 2012. Her first album of all-original material since 2006’s ‘The Greatest.’
Work on the album initially began soon after the release of ‘The Greatest,’ with Marshall announcing the album’s title as far back as 2006 in an interview with ‘The New York Times,’ where she also claimed that the entire album had already been written.
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September 12, 2012
America is a 2012 studio album by American electronic musician Dan Deacon. The album cover is a photo of Lake Placid. America was recorded using both electronic sounds and live recordings.
An anechoic (echo-free) chamber was built in Baltimore to record the orchestral track ‘Rail.’ Deacon felt that electronic beats were limited by a lack of flaws; he said that he wanted the ‘slight imperfection in timing’ human musicians have.
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September 10, 2012
‘Gangnam Style‘ is a 2012 K-pop single by the South Korean rapper PSY. ‘Gangnam Style’ is widely praised for its humor, catchy rhythm as well as Psy’s unusual dance moves that have introduced many people to K-pop (South Korean pop music). ‘Gangnam Style’ is a Korean language colloquialism that refers to a luxurious lifestyle associated with the Gangnam district, an affluent and trendy area of Seoul. The music video depicts Psy dancing at various locations in Gangnam.
The song is about ‘the perfect girlfriend who knows when to be refined and when to get wild.’ The music video shows PSY dancing a comical horse-riding dance and appearing in unexpected locations around Gangnam such as an outdoor yoga session and a hot tub. The ‘skewering [of] the Gangnam image’ by the ‘non-Gangnam PSY’ is recognizable to Korean viewers, but those less familiar with the cultural context have found the video ‘fresh’ amidst the teen pop idol groups increasingly popular with overseas viewers.
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September 8, 2012
Paul Bacon (b. 1923), is an American book and album cover designer and jazz musician. He is known for introducing the ‘Big Book Look’ in book jacket design, and has designed about 6,500 jackets and more than 200 jazz record covers. His first big hit came in 1956 with ‘Compulsion,’ a novel by Meyer Levin.
This cover also marked the inception of the ‘Big Book Look’ that Bacon became known for. This look features a large, bold title, a prominent author’s name, and a small conceptual image. Instances of this ‘look’ include ‘Catch-22’ by Joseph Heller, ‘Visions of Cody’ by Jack Kerouac, and ‘Bullet Park’ by John Cheever, along with countless others.
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September 8, 2012
¡Three Loco! is an comedy hip hop supergroup composed of Andy Milonakis, Simon Rex (Dirt Nasty), and Jody Christian (Riff Raff). The trio has self-proclaimed themselves as the ‘Holy Trinity of hip-hop.’ The three rappers are MTV alumni:
Andy Milonakis had a sketch comedy show titled ‘The Andy Milonakis Show’ from 2005 to 2007; Dirt Nasty was a VJ during the mid-1990s; and Riff Raff was a contestant on the second season of the reality show ‘From G’s to Gents,’ before being booted out during the second episode. Their self-titled debut album is slated for release by Mad Decent in late 2012.
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