Once upon a time, a Brit-pop duo known as The Tings Tings were discovered by music producer Rick Rubin, which led to some appearances on MTV and ended with a hit song called “Shut Up and Let Me Go.” Apparently everyone lived happily ever after. The group, which just announced details of its sophomore LP, is nominated for a Best New Artist Grammy, and this weekend will be taking its irreverent antics to Saturday Night Live in an episode hosted by Sigourney Weaver.
Don’t recognize the band’s name? Check out a Dr. Suess-style rhyming primer on the Ting Tings — which was done by artist Peter Oumanski and narrated by MTV host Jim Cantiello — after the jump. We’ve also rounded up some of our favorite illustrated music videos to help you kill the remaining hours in your work day.
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Project Runway — the reality show with it’s own official avenue — has become a television phenomenon since launching on Bravo in 2004. Similar shows like Launch My Line and The Fashion Show have emerged, but they’ve failed to match the original’s viewership. (We’d blame a lack of Michael Kors’ quips.) Consequently, the show’s popularity has inspired a jump in sewing class rosters, and inspired a new generation of Threadheads — who are currently 35 million strong. Apparently knitting is so 2004.
In that spirit, after the jump we’ve compiled a starter list of sartorial reads for the aspiring designer – a mix of how-to guides, photography collections, and influential biographies. We’ve also got a sneak peek at Thursday night’s season premiere. Will you be watching?
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Lou Reed is a stark enigma that just keeps going, ever-changing. As a younger angst-driven star in 1974, he evaded reporters’ questions with unabashed answers and stated nonchalantly that what was written about him was untrue. When a reporter asked him who he attributed the lies to, Reed responded, “journalists.” Cue laughter. He has been described as bohemian, old, cool, realistic, taciturn, a grouch. Yet through it all Reed has maintained the stamina as a prolific underground icon. As Reed once said, only he knows himself better than anyone.
Now in his sixties, Reed continues to reinvent himself as an art photographer with Romanticism, which features architecture and landscape images from his travels. The book is a departure from New York and Emotion in Action, his previous photograph collections of cityscapes. After the jump, peep images from the new book, along with ten interesting facts about Reed.
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Wes Anderson’s fantastic foxes aren’t the only animated thespians in theaters this season. Next week another stop-motion feature opens in New York, and instead of wildlife, stars francophonic plastic figurines — Cowboy, Indian and Horse. In A Town Called Panic, Cowboy and Indian shop online for Horse’s birthday present, only to receive 50 billion bricks more than they intended. Meanwhile Horse tries to court a mare music teacher, but can never find time alone.
Like any clever animated feature, Panic flaunts enough campy misadventure to suit the younger kids, while leaving room for older ones — with hilariously mature themes like the perils of online shopping and perverse scientific advancement. The film, also known as Panique Au Village, is based on the Belgian television series and was the only stop-motion feature at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Stop-motion animation creates the illusion of an object moving by combining frames of the object in incremental positions. After the jump, five other notable stop-motion pictures from around the world.
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If anyone is a fan of New York, it’s photographer Joshua Wildman. As a veteran chronicler of the city’s youth culture, his images evoke a sense of camaraderie and gritty poeticism among the subjects he has captured, like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and skater Harold Hunter, who died in 2006.
And it’s not just that his subjects happen to be cool. Wildman’s aptitude for humor and spontaneity — life in general — engages viewers in even the most ordinary of situations, as part of the series i have known you too long. The intense eyes of a guy shooting a camera in a hotel room, or a guy staring at the camera while holding a gun, make for genuine photos that pique curiosity.
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