20 Years of Photoshop

I bet you didn't know it, but this man changed your life. Yep, this guy. Take a look at this great retrospective of Photoshop's 20 years. So cool.

Thanks again Nubby for the heads up.

Shane MacGowan & Friends Charity Single for Haiti

A whole bunch of my heroes have put together a charity single for Haiti. Vocals are done by a bunch of great singers, including Shane MacGowan, Nick Cave, Crissie Hynde, Glen Matlock (really, he can sing?), Bobby Gillespie, and guitar from Mick Jones and Johnny Depp. Yeah, it's that awesome. It's more than a little better than the God-awful "We Are The World" remake, which truly is garbage btw.

From Stereogum:

The opening shot of Shane wobbling into the studio here sorta says it all — MacGowan and Johnny Depp took their sweet time assembling and releasing this alternative-star jam — but considering the media’s gnat-like attention span, that’s for the best. Remember Haiti? At least you’ll remember a few of these names. The roll call: Shane, Depp, Chrissie Hynde, Nick Cave, Primal Screamer Bobby Gillespie, the Clash’s Mick Jones, Glen Matlock, and Eliza Doolittle. Their cover of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’s “I Put a Spell on You” benefits the Dublin based Concern Worldwide, who have been in Haiti for 16 years.

Kubrick's Napoleon: The Greatest Film Never Made

I have always been intrigued with Stanley Kubrick's never made film, Napoleon. His struggle to get the film made has fallen into legend. Now Taschen Books attempts to put that film in book form - collecting all of Kubrick's research in one amazing book. Watch the trailer - and if anyone wants to donate this book to me, I'm grateful!

Hero of the Week: Iggy Pop UPDATED

Here is a new feature here at Speak A&D, the Hero of the Week. This column will shed a light on one of my personal heroes, from art, music, film, literature, or whatever. Someone worthy of praise, admiration, or have been an extraordinary influence on me.

The inaugural Hero of the Week is the living legend Mr. James Osterberg, AKA Iggy Pop.
Iggy came from the wilds of Ann Arbor, Michigan (the only good thing to ever come out of Ann Arbor).

Top Ten Reasons Iggy Pop is the Hero of the Week

10. His small but funny role opposite (another hero) Tom Waits in Cigarettes & Coffee.

9.5 Ewan McGregor played him as Curt Wilde in cult rock film Velvet Goldmine.

9. His 1977 masterpiece The Idiot was still spinning on the turntable when the body of (another hero) Ian Curtis was found after committing suicide.

8.5 Andy Warhol wrote the introduction to his autobiography, I NEED MORE.

8. The reissue of Funhouse by The Stooges featured liner notes by (another hero) Jack White, who totally accurately stated, "I remember screaming in my head, 'This is Detroit!' And that's what Fun House is to me, the very definition of Detroit rock & roll, and by proxy the definitive rock album of America. The record's passion, attitude, power, emotion and destruction are incalculable."

7. Fronted The Stooges, the greatest (at least tied) American rock n roll band of all time. The Stooges personify the punk kill-or-be-killed attitude that informed a million bands after, from The Sex Pistols to Them Crooked Vultures.

6.5. His solo Letterman performance of Mask. Watch the faces in the audience - hilarious.

6. His small but incredibly memorable role in underrated classic Dead Man. Watch this.

5. The moment Ig says, “Jesus, this is Iggy” on Turn Blue from Lust For Life. Makes me laugh every time. Also when he says “Oh you slay me” on Success, and the line "we're gonna get stoned, and uh, run around" from Funtime too. Without fail, I laugh out loud everytime.

4. Worked with Bowie during his legendary Berlin Trilogy. Classics all.

3. Wrote the twin 1977 masterpieces The Idiot and Lust For Life which continue to be an enormous influence on my life and work.

2. The Stooges second album, Funhouse, is a perfect album - the best (tied) American rock n roll album of all time. Oh, and he wrote Raw Power. Yeah.

1. The man has been, and still is, the living embodiment of rock and roll. Nobody does it better.

God bless the Ig, the world is a better place with you in it.

Husk Industries Print Terrifying, Cool

Husk Industries are an awesome art shop, full of goodies like this. Check them out here.

Scorsese & Bass: A Match For the Ages

One of my favorite directors of all time, Martin Scorsese, recently commented on his partnership with legendary designer Saul Bass. Too awesome, and as usual, right on the mark.

From Unbeige:

And speaking of movie posters, Paramount has cast wide the media net for Shutter Island, the lunatics-are-taking-over-the-asylum thriller that opens Friday. While Ben Kingsley was chatting up Maxim, director Martin Scorsese penned a tribute to the late, great Saul Bass for the March issue of Architectural Digest (the one with Jennifer Aniston and her Robert Motherwell painting on the cover). "He was an artist, and a great one," writes Scorsese, before offering a Bass primer that highlights his iconic graphics for Otto Preminger's The Man with the Golden Arm and Hitchcock's Vertigo (that famous spiral? Based on drawings by a 19th-century French mathmatician, not an afternoon with the Spirograph kit). "Saul's work was always dynamic, never just a dry illustration of an idea or a demonstration of pure design that veered away from the source." Of course, Scorsese is more than admirer of Bass's. He collaborated extensively with the designer, who with his second wife, Elaine, created title sequences for four consecutive Scorsese films before his death in 1996. It went a little something like this:

Each time [the Basses] would study the film, take a few months, and then send us back a test that exceeded my wildest expectations. The simple, speeding graphic of the Goodfellas (1990) titles synced to the sound of speeding cars on an expressway...the ominous, wavering reflections in water of phantom images that began Cape Fear (1991)...the endlessly blooming flowers, like love renewing itself again and again, under layers of lace for The Age of Innocence (1993)...the form of a man falling through a neon hell in Casino (1995). These title sequences didn't just complement my pictures, they gave them another layer, embodying the themes and the emotions in a way that led viewers into the mystery of the film without giving it all away.

Listen to the Horrors "Primary Colours" For Free

My choice for Album of the Year 2009 - Primary Colours by the Horrors, is here to listen to for free.

Enjoy.

Spike Jones' Robot Love Short Is Awesome

Keep Calm and Wait for the Creme

This...is so awesome. Dig it.

Hatch Show Print's Jim Sherraden Comes to Greenville

Recently I had the wonderful treat of meeting Jim Sherraden, the head honcho at the legendary Hatch Show Print. Hatch Show is the longest continuously operating letterpress in the world. Jim came to G Vegas to speak about the history of Hatch Show and sell some killer prints. I finally got my hands on the extremely famous Triple Cash piece.

Jim was incredibly cool - signed my Hatch Show book, and did a fantastic little drawing for me too.

Good stuff. Give them a shot next time you are in Nashville, Tennessee.

PS - thanks for the pic Jane!

Febuary Heat Opens at Art & Light Gallery

Been super crazy over the top busy of late - new shows are always calling it seems - not a complaint, just a clarification. One of those calls has been another great group show at the ubiquitous Art & Light Gallery featuring tons of great artists. Come out to Art & Light and take a look - for a limited time only.

From the Art & Light blog:

I have had this pinch-me-I-must-be-dreaming feeling all week while hanging the second annual "February Heat" exhibit. This show will knock your socks off. 14 local artists trying their hand at encaustic work - the show includes an all star cast including Annie Koelle, David Slone, Pat Kilburg, Kyle Buttram, Blake Ross, Paul Flint, Greg Flint, Kent Ambler, Alexia Timberlake, Diane Kilgore Condon, Teresa Prator, Tim Speaker, Teri Pena, and Joseph Bradley..PLUS Susan Young's "Broken Requiem" installation - that adds up to 15 and if you need more reasons to join us...

Above is another great encaustic piece by my friend Paul Flint. Enjoy.