Sunday, April 27, 2014

George R.R. Martin Wisdom




















Rolling Stone - "George R.R. Martin: The Rolling Stone Interview"

"Where does your imagination come from?

Ideas are cheap. I have more ideas than I could ever write up. To my mind, it's the execution that is all-important.

...

It was the summer of 1991. I was still involved in Hollywood. My agent was trying to get me meetings to pitch my ideas, but I didn't have anything to do in May and June. It had been years since I wrote a novel. I had an idea for a science-fiction novel called Avalon. I started work on it and it was going pretty good, when suddenly it just came to me, this scene, from what would ultimately be the first chapter of A Game of Thrones. It's from Bran's viewpoint; they see a man beheaded and they find some direwolf pups in the snow. It just came to me so strongly and vividly that I knew I had to write it. I sat down to write, and in, like, three days it just came right out of me, almost in the form you've read.
...

Modern historians are interested in sociopolitical trends. I'm not interested in that. I'm interested in the stories. History is written in blood, a gold mine - the kings, the princess, the generals and the whores, and all the betrayals and wars and confidences. It's better than 90 percent of what the fantasist do make up."

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Jeff Koons' $420,000+ Fabrege Egg





















Jeff Koons' 40-inch-tall egg has hit a record $420,000 in a charitable auction held on Paddle8.

New York Post - "Jeff Koons’ FabergĂ© egg breaks record at auction"

Locke



April 25, 2014.

"There are films to see on huge screens, but this is one that almost cries out for a small cinema, surrounded by total blackness. It's a daring experiment brilliantly executed, with Tom Hardy giving one of the performances of his career" - Empire Magazine

Monday, April 14, 2014

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Florentijn Hofman - Rubber Duck


















Rubber Duck 
Osaka 2009
10 x 11 x 13 meters
Inflatable, pontoon and generator

"The Rubber Duck knows no frontiers, it doesn't discriminate people and doesn't have a political connotation. The friendly, floating Rubber Duck has healing properties: it can relieve mondial tensions as well as define them. The rubber duck is soft, friendly and suitable for all ages!"

Wikipedia - "Rubber Duck (sculpture)"



Normcore

















New York Times - "The New Normal, Normcore: Fashion Movement or Massive In-Joke?"

"Normcore (noun) 1. A fashion movement, c. 2014, in which scruffy young urbanites swear off the tired street-style clichĂ©s of the last decade — skinny jeans, wallet chains, flannel shirts — in favor of a less-ironic (but still pretty ironic) embrace of bland, suburban anti-fashion attire. (See Jeans, mom. Sneakers, white.)

2. A sociocultural concept, c. 2013, having nothing to do with fashion, that concerns hipster types learning to get over themselves, sometimes even enough to enjoy mainstream pleasures like football along with the rest of the crowd.
...
A little more than a month ago, the word “normcore” spread like a brush fire across the fashionable corners of the Internet, giving name to a supposed style trend... As widely interpreted, normcore was mall chic for people — mostly the downtown/Brooklyn creative crowd — who would not be caught dead in a shopping mall. Forget Martin Van Buren mutton chops; the way to stand out on the streets of Bushwick in 2014, apparently, is in a pair of Gap cargo shorts, a Coors Light T-shirt and a Nike golf hat."

K-HOLE - "YOUTH MODE"

"Once upon a time people were born into communities and had to find their individuality. Today people are born individuals and have to find their communities."

"Normcore doesn't want the freedom to become someone. Normcore wants the freedom to be with anyone."

"Normcore is the eyes of the Mona Lisa. This is the new world order of blankness. You can no longer return a dead stare or fall into the Gap, now you have to respond appropriately, meet every situation head on. (This is why it's Normcore to be Mass Indie in Williamsburg.) Normcore capitalizes on the possibility of misinterpretation as an opportunity for connection - not as a threat to authenticity."