Why I Watch Movies

What do the following two films have in common?

Honeydripper (2007), starring Danny Glover, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Keb' Mo', Charles S. Dutton, and Kel Williams

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), starring Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Shia LeBeouf, Ray Winstone and John Hurt

Yes, that's right, they both had bar scenes where the characters were drinking PBR!

Obvious commonality when it's pointed out, right? I saw both of these movies in the past week, and the Pabst Blue Ribbon drinking was perhaps the most exciting element in both of them for me. Honeydripper is about a bar in Alabama revitalized by a young electric guitar whizz giving a big concert, and has excellent music and an easygoing pace. Indiana Jones is a nonsensical but broadly enjoyable thriller about some old guy in a hat. The first is set in 1950 and the second is set in 1957, so I suppose that was the heyday of PBR, and I very much appreciated the detail.

Oh, and while I'm writing a blog about art and stuff, both movies also have nice posters. I like an old-fashioned touch.

Millennium Approaches

"Greetings, Prophet! The great work begins! The Messenger has arrived!"

What a wonderful image, the moment when the Angel breaks through Prior's ceiling and begins to proclaim his destiny to him. Incongruous and awe-inspiring at once.

If you haven't read Tony Kushner's Angels in America, this won't mean much to you, and also WHY haven't you read it yet?! Go out and read it, or see it. The first image here is from the Angels in America HBO series, showing Justin Kirk as Prior Walter and Emma Thompson as the angel (love); the subsequent images show the same moment in several different stage versions. Fascinating to see how they have conceived of the same scene in different ways, and within different limitations. Dude, I would kill to see this play on stage.

(Credit for this post goes to this wonderful blog, which is full of great images, mostly great images of boobs, so you can't go wrong there.)

(By the way, it always struck me as amazing that the first half of Angels in America, Millennium Approaches, was written and had its debut on stage considerably earlier than the second part, Perestroika. Can you imagine having to wait that long to see what had happened to the characters? Seeing a three hour play and knowing that there are three more hours with the same story and characters somewhere out there in the ether seems far worse than having to wait for the next episode of your favourite tv show, say. I think that they still stage the two parts separately. Seems odd to me.)

Past, Present, Future: All Buffy

These are hilarious. Dark Horse, in their infinite wisdom, are putting out a set of Buffy the Vampire Slayer tarot cards. It's an odd idea, but they seem to be going with the plot and charactersiation of the series to some extent, and kudos for hiring some nutso artist with a penchant for symbolic semi-nudity instead of using the same old publicity pictures. But yeah, these are mental.

The Magician

Temperance

The Devil

Death

(Who is this?)

These are the four publicity shots, the deck will be available for purchase in August, I believe. Anyone know anything about tarot?

Sweet.

So, that's my degree done with...

Cue Snoopy Dance!


Every single piece of work and exam for my entire four bloody year degree is done with, and there is nothing more to do except chill out for a few weeks and then graduate.

I have also had an excellent birthday, fun party times, plenty of sleep, plenty of alcohol, plenty of excellent people to spend my new-found downtime with.

Unfortunately I am too stoical to properly express my current happy situation; that's where everyone's favourite beagle comes in handy.

Shiny Candidate A, or Shiny Candidate B?

I have rather lost track of how the Obama versus Clinton thing is going, but Oregon is about to go vote for their candidate, so in honour of that...

I am far more interested in the American political news at the moment than the Brit situation, I am ashamed to say; but as usual, I am yet more interested in pretty pictures. I think if I had a say I would vote for Obama, and I think that on the whole I like his publicity picture the best, so everything works out!



I gather that, believe it or not, the photograph of Clinton is by Canadian rocker Bryan Adams, who is a published photographer on the side, obvs inbetween claiming that everything he does he does it for you.

Both of these posters have the candidates looking off to the side with an expression of determination, integrity, and sincere emotion. I presume they are gazing off into a utopian America where they are in charge. Each employs a subtle but noticeable pallet of US flag colours, and some stripes, as a subconscious 'America YAY' indicator. Each seems to be harking back to the 30s WPA poster style, with no more than, what, five distinct colours? Because we all know Americans love nostalgic design (have you seen their candy bars?), it makes them feel like they are back in the past when politicians were honest and people had awesome family values. I have a vague feeling that Hillary's radiating spokes of light are also very reminiscent of 30s-50s propaganda design in general. Obama's little US flag rainbow design thing is interesting too: Obama is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow of unfortunate Republican decisions. Both candidates also look at their best while looking businesslike (suit and turtleneck, hello), which is useful because you want a president who is good-looking but not too good-looking so they don't seem like they might sleep with their secretary.

This is all rubbish, really, I know nothing about the flavour of US political campaigning. I do love the images though.

Ride The Rabbit

Ride the Rabbit, Acrylic and Block Printing on Wood Panel, 2006

I love this print above. Just love it. The colours, the shapes, the "rabbit" font, the frame, whatever else makes up this image, I just love it. (Having said all that, the phrase "ride the rabbit" refuses to stop sounding vaguely dirty to me.) This is the work of Sonia Romero, she sells through Etsy. Kid-themed block prints, it seems, and all pretty great, although I will never have as much affection for her other prints as I apparently do for the rabbit one. There is a series of tiny people riding various animals, and an alphabet series, and a few assorted trees, flying rabbits and tea parties.

(You may have noticed a slight contempt for subject matter I tend to term "cutesy-twee", which would include flying rabbits and tea parties. However, my cold heart is occasionally melted by such things despite my protestations. I tell myself that a bold and skillful block print is the perfect antidote to fluffy bunny sickness, but I suspect I may also be mushy after all.)

Ride the Goat, Acrylic and Block Printing on Wood Panel, 2006

Ride the Fox, Acrylic and Block Printing on Wood Panel, 2006

Tea Party Tree, Block Printing on Paper, Monoprint, 2006

Craft and Folk Art Museum Benefit Print, Serigraph, 2006

Leaping Rabbit, Hand carved and hand printed linoleum cut print, 2007

Scared Now...

Cat Power would probably be quite melodramatic to be in a relationship with, I always thought, but I didn't think she would be this bad... and that's when I noticed this was an advert for PETA.

Wanna Come Over and Listen to Some Records?

I was just flicking through the music on my laptop today, and felt like posting some fave covers from among the albums I have. This is by no means representative, either of what I have or my favourite bands (although this is all excellent music). It's also not a super-artsy dissection of album covers. These are just the ones that make me happy to look at when I'm listening to the music within; and I have to admit that generally speaking, I mostly like the ones with hot lady musicians on the front.

Cat Power- Moon Pix

This album is actually one of my favourites of all time, but more than that it beats Cat Power's other releases hands down, cover-wise. The old ones are too weird to look at, and the new ones are too obvious and mainstream. I enjoy the otherworldly innocence of this, and the fact that Chan Marshalls is hot. (What did I tell you?)

Grizzly Bear - Yellow House

I don't actually have this album; or rather Nick gave me a copy but it didn't work on my computer. But having come across a few bits of Grizzly Bear artwork, I'm been pretty impressed. If only I could actually listen to them now.

The La's - The La's

This one is a bit of a classic, let's face it. So 60s, I always think, although I have never been quite able to articulate why an image this simple could be so distinctively linked to a time period for me. Just the makeup and the b&w? The font is very 90s, though.

Madeline - The Slow Bang

Dude, this is just cute. And I enjoy a cover where the female singer songwriter looks fun and vaguely indecorous rather than pensive and winsome.

John Martyn - Solid Air

Never has a cover image gone so subtly yet persuasively with the title. Love it. The decision to leave all that black space, and put the hand in a cameo, slightly off-centre... you know what, forget any analysis, this is just damned cool.

The Avalanches - Since I Left You

Remember The Avalanches? They made an entire album from nothing but ancient samples from songs, tv shows and other scraps, and probably never made another album because of the copyright trouble the first one caused them. I enjoy the painting they used for the cover, and the art deco (?) font.

Beth Gibbons and Rustin Man - Out of Season

An arch, seductive and autumn-tinged album (oh my god, I should never review music if this is the language I come out with), which corresponds nicely to the sepia and blood-red colour scheme, as well as the picture of Beth Gibbons looking like the tough yet soulful chanteuse she is.

Simon and Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water

I just enjoy this one because it shows how short Paul Simon is, with Garfunkel's head popping out above him like that. Cute!

Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans

A lovely ink drawing.

Northern State - Can I Keep This Pen?

Oh my god, the colours and the all-American aesthetic, I love it. Although I don't get the random bone in the bottom left-hand corner; what is it doing there? I strangely like album covers where the band are looking off to the side, too.

Lemon Jelly - Lost Horizons

Lemon Jelly do gorgeous artwork, full stop. I think they take the 'music-art fusion creative collective' approach to their releases, and it seems to work. The band do their own artwork, am I right?

So, there's a few of my fave album covers, poorly appraised and selected based on unprofessional artistic criteria. Does anyone else have any favourites?

ETA: Just found a link to "35 Beautiful Music Album Covers". Some I agree with, some I do not.