A while back, I came across John Maloof’s blog, “Vivian Maier – Her Discovered Work”. To paraphrase a bit- originally a native of France, Ms. Maier lived in Chicago through the 1950s – 1970s, where she amassed a body of work containing 30-40,000 shots of various street scenes. Enter John- after discovering the negatives at an auction, he is now in the process of developing and posting her work on a daily basis.
I love looking at this blog. To see the faces of love, concern, joy, and confusion from a bygone era is wild. Here are some of my favorites:
What do you get when you mix Vivaldi, hip hop, glockenspiels, analog synths, and a toy piano? You get the amazingly fresh sound of Emily Wells.
I’m not totally sure what it is that makes her so interesting. Maybe it’s the trippy quality of her voice. Maybe it’s the fact that she uses no prerecorded loops at her live shows. Maybe it’s the clairvoyance with which she channels Biggie Smalls. I mean, I do enjoy an out of place hip hop cover. Maybe, just maybe, it’s the result of seeing an artist who is truly unique. Whatever it is, Emily is definitely someone to watch in 2010.
Check out the tracks below. She recently worked on a stellar instrumental track with Jeremy Sole. Catch Emily live at The City Winery in New York on Janurary 2nd.
No, it isn’t the famous Mall of America that we’re talking about, but rather the South China Mall located in Guangzhou, China. With an outdoor canal system that resembles The Venetian in Las Vegas, carnival rides, and tons of Western themed decor, you’d think you wandered into the bastard child of Walt Disney and Steve Wynn. Yet for all it’s glitz and glamour, the South China Mall is empty. Like, eerily empty. Check out the feature PBS did on it below. Weird.
Liva Rutmane describes herself as having an affinity for the strange. And looking through her work, I can’t disagree. But hidden among her illustrations, paintings, and photographs is a series called “Almost Sunset,” which features subjects interacting with butchered pigs. The fellow painting the pig’s toenails might be my favorite. I’ve included the entire set below. You can purchase her work over at Etsy.
In the land of Brooklyn, there is a man named Reggie Watts. Know this: he’s quite insane. But what’s more, he’s doing crazy shit with a loop machine. And people should notice. In fact, Jimmy Fallon already has. I know, weird, right? More Reggie here.
Ah yes, nothing says Christmas like the NYC SantaCon. Hundreds of red and white clad Kringles jingle and jangle throughout the streets signaling the arrival of the holiday season. I kind of want to start one in Ithaca. Maybe next year; anyone down for it? Let me know. Anyway, check out the video after the jump.
I kind of always forget about Heston Blumenthal. Even though he’s a molecular gastronomist, he just doesn’t seem to get the same kind of press that the other guys do. And as the perpetual second fiddle to Ferran Adrià (that Nitro Caipirinha looks amazing), at least in terms of world rankings, he just sort of…hangs in limbo. Or maybe it’s just me. Anyway, I caught his Christmas special last night and it was quite interesting. The basic concept is that he mixes molecular gastronomy and Christmas dinner. But the real star is that intro…boy is it catchy. So, if you’ve got an hour to spare, Heston’s definitely worth watching.
For some reason, I’ve been listening a lot to The Tallest Man on Earth today. It reminded me how much I’m dying to see him live. He did a fantastic set with Daytrotter a while back, which includes a piano version of I Won’t Be Found. Anyway, I’ve included a track from his Take Away Show at La Blogotheque, where he does an impromptu cover of Jackson Browne’s These Days. And there’s another video of a live performance after the jump. More on TTMAE here.
While the one object, 365 days idea might not be new, I really like this set from Flickr. Homer’s goofy face is something that most definitely needs to see the light of day, everyday. See the entire set here.
I had recently written what I thought would be the only post I would ever do on gingerbread houses, but I stand corrected. Apparently, there’s a whole gingerbread subculture that I had, until recently, been blissfully unaware of. But here it is: new frontiers in gingerbread grottos. Designs were created by architects and auctioned off to charity, with some going for as much as $600. More photos after the jump. See all of the designs here.
