Kyle Cooper = WOW

You know Kyle Cooper from his pioneering title sequences to Seven, Donnie Brasco, and others. He is amazing. Check out his reel below. WOW.

I Want This Book!

This is all in lead up to my inevitable future epic blogpost about Joy Division, Peter Saville, Factory Records, Ian Curtis, Manchester, etc.

So here is a little teaser for it - from the Chronicle Books site:

"Factory Records -- A creative juggernaut of the post-punk era, Factory Records was the catalyst behind the U.K. music explosion of the late '70s through the '90s with groups like Joy Division (soon to be the subject of an Anton Corbijn movie), New Order, and Happy Mondays leading the New Wave. At Factory, musicians and designers commingled creatively, with innovators such as Peter Saville, Den Kelly, Mark Farrow, 8VO, and Barbara Kruger elevating album covers to a new art form. The label broke further ground when it opened its own disco, the legendary Hacienda. Factory Records is the ultimate and only collection of Factory's complete graphic output, including every single piece it produced: extremely rare record sleeves, club flyers, and posters all gathered together for the first time. A must for collectors and enthusiasts, Matthew Robertson's meticulous compilation of underground ephemera is poised to introduce a new generation of music and design fans to the creative genius of Factory".

Dexter Covers, Showtime, Excellent

As a promotional lead up to the fantastic new season of Showtime's Dexter, Showtime created several different magazine covers featuring lead Michael C. Hall as the show's namesake. To a graphic designer, these are an interesting study in the replication of a concept. Too cool.

Oh, and Dexter is great too. One of the most original, well written and acted programs in television history. At some point Showtime just flat out passed HBO for the highest quality. Since The Sopranos took the dirtnap, Entourage has been kind of slow and Curb Your Enthusiasm has been up and down, Showtime has come on strong with The Tudors(featuring Jonathan Rhys-Meyers), Dexter, and my favorite, Californication. Californication is very adult content, but is very well written and acted by the killer David Duchovny as Hank Moody, one of my favorite characters ever.

This Makes Me Laugh

This is really funny to me...had to post it.

Hey Everyone Look!

Oooooh, look! It's beautiful typography....

This Just In: Schnabel Still The Man

Most everyone has an opinion about artist and filmaker Julian Schnabel. Personally, I love his work, and his films (Basquiat, Before Night Falls, The Diving Bell & The Butterfly). Check him out here, he's the man.

Underrated Band of the Week: Echo & the Bunnymen

Finally feeling better from a lingering sickness, and now I can't sleep. So in honor of insomnia, I bring you the Criminally Underrated Band of the Week: Echo & the Bunnymen. Near and dear to my heart are the Bunnymen, so I will try to keep this one brief.

Maybe you know them from Donnie Darko (it's the song that opens the film), maybe you've never heard of them, maybe you just think that have a silly name. But the Bunnymen feature one of he greatest singers in rock history, Ian McCulloch(a big influence on me in my band days), a truly inventive guitarist in Will Seargent, a bass player that defined the post-punk style in Will Pattinson, and a drummer in Pete De Freitas who could shift from African rythyms (All My Colours) to punk attacks (The Back of Love) to orchestral pop (Lips Like Sugar) without missing a beat. From 1980 until 1985 they were the best band in the world, and that is really saying something when you consider that during that period The Smiths and U2 were out in the world. They also hold the distinction of being the only band in history to break up for an exended period of time (1988 - and have a member die - De Freitas), and get back together (1997) to create work that equaled their previous break up peak.

Lets's just run down their albums:

Crocodiles - 5 stars
Heaven Up Here - 5 stars (so underrated)
Porcupine - 5 stars
Ocean Rain - 5 stars (a masterpiece; one of the greatest albums ever made)
Echo & the Bunnymen 3.5 stars

and post reunion
Evergreen - 5 stars
What Are You Going To Do With Your Life? - 5 stars (one of the best albums of the 1990's)
Flowers - 4.5 stars
Siberia - 3.5 stars

Anyway, here they are back in the day performing The Killing Moon (a good entry point to get into them). Enjoy.

The Saville Rules (Because Saville Rules)

British designer Peter Saville is one of my all time favorite graphic designers. He is best known for designing the seminal Joy Division, New Order, and Suede album covers. I can't get enough of his sublime style and color palettes, but it is his work as a typographer that I love the most. On his website he has posted many of these typefaces for free. They are beautiful, they are free, and you don't get to say that very often.

Anyway, I found this great list on another graphic design blog. Enjoy.

'Things I Learnt from Peter Saville' by Sarah Morris
1 Never answer phone calls directly until after midday.
2 Use all surfaces as work space including the carpet and coffee tables and closets and drawers.
3 Think of your persona. Think of your house as your persona. Think of possessions as extensions of your persona.
4 The preparation of coffee is an art form.
5 Treat all institutions with heavy scepticism.
6 Treat yourself sceptically but very indulgently.
7 Money is to be spent only. Well and fast.
8 Collect all ephemera around your life and work and archive it incessantly.
9 Never learn computer programs. Don't get that involved with technical information.
10 Take notes. Carry paper.
11 Areas of comprise have potential.