Two Lane Blacktop
Posted on January 5, 2011
Filed Under Film, Notes | Comment
In 2011, I’m planning on a lot of road tripping and sea faring.
In January & February: Dia for sure. Perhaps DC? (HMMPH)
In March: Ballets Russes & some gold soundz! (HAWKWIND)
Ralph Lauren’s garage Photos by Todd Eberle
An aside: Have you seen Two For the Road with Albert Finney & Audrey Hepburn, directed by Stanley Donen lately? If not, why not?
2000-and-then
Posted on December 31, 2010
Filed Under Film, Notes | 2 Comments
I’ve been watching other people’s New Year’s parties, home videos from the 60′s and 70′s. A lot of wood paneling and semi-shy teens.
Some favourites:
Unknown family home, ’71 NB Quiet girls on the lounge
Altoona, 60′s NB Make-out king & queen
Unknown location, 60′s NB Decorated pool room!
East 28th St Brooklyn, ’60 NB Cute kid crashing out early
Warning: Most are set to not-so-great soundtracks. Volume down.
Lo-oking forward to 2011. Every December 31st I think about The Zombies song This Will Be Our Year (set to a home movie here, no less) but this time I really mean it. Took a long time to come.
“The Quaint Little Australian”
Posted on December 30, 2010
Filed Under Australiana, Curios | Comment
(L-R: Kerry Koala, Blinky Bill, Angelina Wallaby, Walter Wombat)
Cute flashbacks down in the ABC foyer at the moment. Normally I’m rushing in and out of work for coffee/lunch/retrieving things I’ve left behind in cinemas/sneaking peeks at my favourite news anchor, but today my stroll out for a seaweed salad was almost leisurely and for the first time I noticed the Blinky Bill cabinets underneath all the big screens. Excuse the iPhone photos (you’d never know I own a whole bunch of other cameras, huh), but who knows when they’ll be rolled back into the aunty archives.
These are puppets from the 1984-1987 television series of The New Adventures of Blinky Bill, based on Dorothy Wall’s 1933 classic. The show was filmed in French’s Forest though I always thought it was in my own backyard. Here’s an episode where Blinky makes the ranger spill his beer (beer! on children’s television! increds). Note that the puppets are KNITTED! Not hard felt like I’d have imagined. The details are really quite beautiful, the mottled colours of the fur. I dig Kerry’s batik look too.
Feliz Naviblah
Posted on December 24, 2010
Filed Under Notes, Records | Comment
My father, with cats and a humble tree, late 60s? Great shorts.
I’ve a soft spot for Christmas music, an innate appreciation for bubblegum. Usually my favourites verge on novelty (I swear to you there must have been a super producer, Buddah Records style, behind the Pebbles & Bam Bam holiday record because Snowflake verges on exotica), but heavy on the Vince Guaraldi too. This year though, nup, no interest. Too busy listening to this one goofy George Harrison record on repeat and Lizzy Mercier Descloux’ Mambo Nassau. Perhaps it’s being back in the southern hemisphere, but musically, I’m all troppo or bust these days. There are a few warmer temp tunes, c/o that Beach Boys record — “It’s been my secret passion to try it, to spend my Christmas surfing, I can’t deny it… I wanna spend Christmas where I dig it the most” — but let’s face it, most exclude the idea of tanned santas.
About the only holiday song I can stand this year is The Free Design Close Your Mouth (It’s Christmas) with it’s totally cool yule message, “bring your mind and body back from the store, get to know the people in your house, you might like ‘em.”
Here’s to you, your holiday and the people in your house.
yule love it
Posted on December 24, 2010
Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment
My new year’s resolution: to set all text in Linotype’s Rad.
La Belle
Posted on December 22, 2010
Filed Under Film, Notes | Comment
“Take it easy!” said my my GP, as he examined my convalescing tonsils.
OK! I said, fingers crossed behind my back, and went out immediately to buy a bicycle. About time. A shout out to my father who would never read this because he has only sent two emails in his life (both to me, the first one had the subject line, “look what I can do!”), but no matter because at 68 years of age, he is the most xHCx cyclist I know.
In honour of him, I’m going to start out like this:
and work my way up to this.
Some tasty waves, a cool buzz and I’m fine
Posted on December 14, 2010
Filed Under Design | 2 Comments
Got a headache? Me too. Just wait for the 3D lenticular printing!
Sometimes it’s fun to make things you normally wouldn’t.
Unintelligent clashing. Aiyaiyai.
Come down to London town
Posted on December 3, 2010
Filed Under Hold the Phone, Telly | 1 Comment
While searching for live Pentangle clips online (no, no, not procrastinating or anything of the sort), I came upon the opening theme of a BBC series from 1969 called Take Three Girls, a title recently referenced (a-ha!) for a Dolly Mixture documentary that I’m pretty desperate to see.
The three:
(single mum)
(art student)
(cellist)
Reading up on the show, I was bummed to find out that fourteen of the twenty-four episodes made are completely lost. BBC archives, for shame! Opening credits featuring a Pentangle song here, a 1970 chart-topper, believe it or not.
Postcards from the hedge
Posted on December 1, 2010
Filed Under Curios, Notes | Comment
I like receiving postcards. Everybody does, no? I keep a favourite one sent by CW from Paris, tucked into the sun visor in my car to amuse myself in traffic jams. The front of it features a terrifying gargoyle, and the overleaf inscription explains that it wasn’t picked for me but he’d filled that one out already, accidentally addressing it to his landlord’s cat. Perfect.
Two favourites that were also not sent to me:
From Colin Fulcher (aka Barney Bubbles) to art school classmate Maisie Parker in 1962. “Yours nicely” is how I’ll be signing everything off from now on. Image from & more history here.
From Morrissey to Linder Sterling. Totally words to live by.