May 2012
13 posts
1 tag
OMG SHOES: "Self-Objectification Strategy" by...
“Self-Objectification Strategy” is a new piece from Scott Hove. The back of the heel has a functional switchblade attachment. See more of his new sculptures here.
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"Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story"
The following embed of a notorious 1987 indie film called Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story comes to us courtesy of New Zealand-based comic book writer and artist Dylan Horrocks, who says “I remember seeing it at the Auckland Film Festival and being disconcerted, impressed, and powerfully moved. […] The audience laughed a lot at the beginning. But by the end, we watched in stunned...
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Rachel Brice and Illan Rivière Duet, Tribal Fest...
(via)
Reports are coming in fast and fervent from several friends who attended this year’s Tribal Fest in Sebastopol that the following duet between Rachel Brice (featured many times on Coilhouse) and Illan Rivière (also featured here previously) was one of the most electrifying performances at the diverse and thriving event:
Illan’s solo performance and Rachel’s group...
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Know Your Rights: Photography in Public (Courtesy...
Over at Lifehacker, Thorin Klosowski has written a clear and edifying overview about First Amendment rights in the US as they apply (or sometimes don’t apply) to taking pictures in a public place:
Nearly every modern phone has a camera attached to it and subsequently more and more people are taking photos in public places than ever before. The shot might be as simple as snapping a picture of...
1 tag
In Observation of World Goth Day:
Happy horrorday, batlings! Shake ya cobwebs.
(Or if you’re feeling more subdued, you can always just peruse the rather vast archive of Coilhouse posts tagged “Goth”.)
“I’m So Goth I Shit Bats” needlepoint by Defiant Damsel, available on Etsy.
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Brené Brown's TED Talks: Vulnerability,...
Brené Brown is a big-hearted, über-thoughtful Texan research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. She has spent a decade of her life studying the effects of “vulnerability, courage, authenticity, and shame” on the day-to-day human experience. Both of her TED talks have gone megaviral, for understandable reasons. She bravely asks her audience to...
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Opossum Massage by ME Pearl
DOIN IT RONG:
DOIN IT RITE:
Via Tristan.
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BTC: SHOCK's "Dynamo Beat" is Candy-Colored,...
Good morning. Pretend for a moment that this is not, in fact, the Spring of 2012, but rather the Spring of 1982, now thirty years past. We’re in England. New Romance is budding. Rocky Horror is a’rockin’. The likes of Gary Numan, Spandau Ballet, and Klaus Nomi rule subterranean radio.
Under the banner of SHOCK, two young London lads with very excellent bone structure and pop...
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Maurice Sendak 1928-2012
Maurice Sendak [Via] “I said anything I wanted because I don’t believe in children, I don’t believe in childhood. I don’t believe that there’s a demarcation. ‘Oh you mustn’t tell them that. You mustn’t tell them that.’ You tell them anything you want. Just tell them if it’s true. If it’s true you tell them.” ~ Maurice Sendak With this...
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RIP Adam "MCA" Yauch
“I think every person has the ability to effect change. I think we’re often led to believe that it’s just celebrities [who] have some ability to effect change, but I think that what’s important for us to realize is that everyone of us affects the world constantly through our actions, through our every smallest action, through our every thought, our every word, the way that we interact with...
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“Pentagram Sam” by Da Grimston & Mist-E
Guys, I’m gonna be real with you.
I may have just peed a little in my witchy-pooh panties.
And that’s all I have say about this:
The sprawling, quicksilver lyrics to this bilaterally symmetrical magnum LULZ opus have been posted below, because they’re… well, just read ‘em. And weep bitter crimson diamonds. Ov Darqueness.
[via DJ Dead Billy / Dangerous Minds]
...
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Silent World
I’m not going to claim to understand the process by which French duo Lucie & Simon captured these images of cities like Paris, Bejing, and New York without people (save for a single figure). It involves using a “neutral density filter that allows for extra-long exposures, which removes moving objects like people and cars.” How that works or what a “neutral density...
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The Enduring Power of the NYC Vogue Ball Scene and...
A quick heads up: NPR just posted “The Music and Meaning of Paris Is Burning”, an article by Julianne Escobedo Shepherd that discusses Jennie Livingston’s classic 1990 documentary Paris Is Burning and the legendary scene and songs that it celebrates.
In addition to providing an overview of both the documentary and vogue ball culture (both past and present) the NPR feature...
April 2012
13 posts
1 tag
BTC: Birdy Nam Nam
[vimeo video_id=”5003279” width=”400” height=”300” title=”Yes” byline=”Yes” portrait=”Yes” autoplay=”No” loop=”No” color=”00adef”]
Bonjour, mes petits concombres!
If you’ve already experienced Will Sweeney and Steve Scott’s animated psychedelic 2009 music video for Birdy Nam...
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Cornelius Boots Keeps On Rockin' in the Weird...
Edmund Welles, 2010 press photo. Aaron Novik, Jeff Anderle, Jon Russell, and creative mastermind Cornelius Boots in the foreground.
Confession: I’ve been meaning to write a feverish and swooning rave-up of Oakland-based musician Cornelius Boots’ absurdly beautiful and strange and intelligent and mischievous and sincere and meditative and heavy-as-fuck bass clarinet chamber music...
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Yves "Jetman" Rossy and His Marvelous 10min...
[vimeo video_id=”40477489” width=”400” height=”300” title=”Yes” byline=”Yes” portrait=”Yes” autoplay=”No” loop=”No” color=”00adef”]
Yves Rossy, a latter-day Swiss Air Force fighter pilot and current full-time daredevil, has been working on this jet-powered carbon-fiber design with an...
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Levon Helm (May 26, 1940 -- April 19, 2012)
Levon Helm died today at the age of 71. Here’s a spectacular photograph of Helm that Siege made at the legendary musician’s studio, The Barn, in Woodstock (for Rolling Stone magazine) a few years ago:
Photo by Clayton James Cubitt.
On heavy rotation today: “Up on Cripple Creek”, “The Shape I’m In”, “The Weight”, “The Night They Drove...
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R.I.P. DICK CLARK, VIVA SPARKS.
It’s hard to believe Dick Clark is gone. Is it safe to surmise that secretly, many of us kids who grew up watching him on the boob tube decided long ago that Clark (or, at the very least, legions of indiscernible vat-grown clones of Clark kept in a top-secret underground facility located a few miles beyond the city limits of Fresno) would be Rockin’ our Eves for centuries to come?...
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Wrap Party / Sneak Peek of "The Narrative of...
[vimeo video_id=”32556927” width=”400” height=”300” title=”Yes” byline=”Yes” portrait=”Yes” autoplay=”No” loop=”No” color=”00adef”]
For the past two years, Kevin McTurk —a world-renowned cinematic effects artist— has been hard at work on a breathtaking personal project called...
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Ariana Osborne's "Cartes Infernales"
Should they choose to delve deep into the dreckish pools of distant memory, some Coilhouse readers may recall this cheeky wee embloggening from 2009, written about the Dictionnaire Infernal, with illustrations by Louis Breton.
Well, here’s the sitch: dearest Ariana Osborne, who (in addition to sending over all manner of silliness and cuteness and beauty for us to blog here through the...
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"Waves" by Daniel Palacios
This is so lovely. Daniel Palacios, ‘Waves’ installation (2007):
[vimeo video_id=”12075151” width=”400” height=”300” title=”Yes” byline=”Yes” portrait=”Yes” autoplay=”No” loop=”No” color=”00adef”]
(Via Siege, who describes it aptly as “‘Double Dutch’ meets ‘Unknown...
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(UN)HOLY FUCK. MOTHER OF LONDON dot COM IS LIVE.
Unf, UNF, UNF, UNF:
QAPLA
An hour ago, the darque benevolent sartorial powerhouse known as Mildred Von launched her official Mother of London website, with a webstore containing her glorious new, never-before-available, ready-to-wear line of MoL garments. Creaking black stroppy strappy happiness. Studs and grommets and buckles. Softly eldritch curve-hugging knits and witchy tees. Go take a...
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Truly Gone Fishin'
Long white clouds in the sky above the southernmost tip of the North Island. Photo by Mer.
Greetings, comrades, from the Motu-Kairangi valley of Aotearoa. New Zealand’s north island is spectacularly sun-drenched at the moment— an unseasonably serene autumnal week, by Land o’ Long White Cloud standards.
Perfect timing, too, ‘cos Nadya’s here! Squee! We’ve been...
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Jessica Joslin: Gilded Beasts (Lisa Sette Gallery,...
Mignon, 2012 by Jessica Joslin
Jessica Joslin is in Scottsdale, Arizona right now, installing and celebrating a big solo show at the wonderful Lisa Sette Gallery: ”Birds chirping, cacti and magnolia trees all around… sipping coffee and feeling excited about my opening tonight, and about the many other shows soon to come!” By all means, if you’re in the neighborhood, go...
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Help Jess Nevins Create an Encyclopedia of Golden...
Robotic Lion & Warrior illustration by Greg Broadmore for Jess Nevins’ article in Issue 05.
Those of you who own Coilhouse Magazine Issues 03 and 05 will remember Jess Nevins’ pieces on Russian and Chinese pulp. You may have also seen Jess’ Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana, his many comic book annotations, or his writing on IO9. As a librarian and author, Jess has an...
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"LastBreathe" by Robert Wun
The ghostly garment resembles magically symmetrical wisps of smoke curling around the model. Below, zip ties are used to create a striking crown of thorns.
These images are from a series called “LastBreathe” by fashion designer Robert Wun. A recent graduate of the University of the Arts in London, Wun creates textured, airy garments such as the ones pictured here. This series was...
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They see Gandalf trollin', they hatin'.
Thank you, kid-named-Jav-dressed-like-Gandalf-and-doin’-the-mongo-longboard-thing-for-the-sake-of-a-very-silly-joke. Thank you.
March 2012
28 posts
1 tag
“Survival is triumph enough.” --Harry Crews (June...
Author Harry Crews. The tattoo is an excerpt from E. E. Cummings’ poem “Buffalo Bill”. (“How do you like your blue-eyed boy, Mister Death?”)
A great and grizzled powerhouse of American fiction has left us. He was 76 years old. A wild Southern gent with a penchant for heavy drinkin’, Harry Crews wrote like he lived: hard, bloody, sharp, gritty. His...
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A Brief Introduction on Dubstep Production: The...
Snarkily hilarious (abbreviated) animated version of Dubba Jonny’s infamous dubstep tutorial piss-take. By TreeHouseCharles.
(WEEB WOB WOB WUGGUDUDDUH WARG WOOB WOB)
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Hitchcock's Definition of Happiness
In addition to creating several of the most nerve-wracking and suspenseful movies ever made, filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock was an infamously vicious prankster and tormentor of ingenues.
Nevertheless, this has got to be one of the most succinctly and serenely affirming definitions of happiness ever uttered by an artist:
Via Devour
“…you’re looking forward, the road is clear...
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Astronauts & Amazons: Lado Alexi's Fashion...
While most of Lado Alexi’s photography falls squarely in the realm of traditional, commercial fashion photography, a few of his photos are too magical not to share here. The character in the image above looks like an spellbound Russian princess, while the fetish gladiatrix below resembles a rendering or a sculpture more than a real person.
After the jump, a couple more of Alexi’s...
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Farewell, Adrienne Rich
Adrienne Rich - a poet, essayist, and activist - died today at age 82 from complications of rheumatoid arthritis. As Margalit Fox wrote in Rich’s New York Times obituary, “triply marginalized — as a woman, a lesbian and a Jew — Ms. Rich was concerned in her poetry, and in her many essays, with identity politics long before the term was coined … She accomplished in verse what...
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R.I.P. Earl Scruggs (Bluegrass Badass) January 6,...
The hard-picking, war-protesting American folk music legend Earl Scruggs has died, aged 88.
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Shien Lee Launches "Not Your China Girl"
Shien Lee. Styling by Vecona. Photo by Tina Cassati.
New blog alert!
New York-based artist/performer Shien Lee - who you’ll know as the fanciful designer of the anachronistic event Dances of Vice - has launched a new blog, titled ”Not Your China Girl.” In Shien’s own words:
The title of the blog was conceived in response to the frequent catcalls I’d get on city streets,...
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BTC: Good Morning. Do You Need More Batbran In...
Here’s one way to find out:
(Via Jesse Kaminsky.)
If, upon surveyance of the above clip, compulsive butt wiggling occurs, you are probably Bat-deficient.
Here’s another test to help determine whether or not you are Batmanemic:
Did you lick the screen? If yes, consult your general practitioner immediately.
This has been a public cervix announcement.
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How to Dance Goth: A Hubba Educational Film
Last night at the DNA Lounge in San Francisco, the wonderful Hubba Hubba Revue unveiled (hurr!) Jim Sweeney, Lara Miranda and friends’ How to Dance Goth— the first volume in HH’s Educational Film Dance Instruction series:
[vimeo video_id=”39084398” width=”400” height=”300” title=”Yes” byline=”Yes”...
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Spring-Loaded Tricking Badass Brandon McCuien
Guh… buh… WHAAAA:
This is footage of Arkansas-born tricking phenom Brandon “Li’l B” McCuien, rumbling and tumbling at Loopkicks Camp 2011 in San Jose, California. Utterly bonkers. (And the random tacked-on ending is hilarious.)
Previously on Coilhouse:
Tricker Hit Parade and the Hastening Heartbeat
The Ross Sisters: Solid Potato Salad!
Briohny Smith for...
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Devastating/Gorgeous Music Video for "Small Hands"...
[vimeo video_id=”38851290” width=”400” height=”300” title=”Yes” byline=”Yes” portrait=”Yes” autoplay=”No” loop=”No” color=”00adef”] Via Jhayne.
Director Joseph Mann, in cahoots with the puppeteering team Jonny & Will, has crafted this sweet, beautiful, and incredibly sad music video for...
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The Latest Awesome Sauce from Zoë Keating
It’s been a while since we mentioned Zoë Keating on the blog! Here’s a lovely six-minute feature about our very favorite avant cellist in the whole world, produced by Intel Visual Life:
Zoë’s been up to all kinds of cool stuff: traveling around the world along with her cellobaby and cellobabydaddy, making cellotastic “In-C” remixes, analyzing the Spotify hubbub...
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Owning the Cardinal Directions of the Heart: An...
O frabjous day! (Callooh! Callay!) It is March 20th, 2012— the official US release date of UK-based author Nick Harkaway’s second novel, Angelmaker.
Comrades, if you appreciate joyful and highly original storytelling, you need to pick up this book. Immediately. Trust me when I tell you that Angelmaker is easily one of the most endearing works of fiction that will be published this...
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BTC: Lady Peanut, Sarah Donner, and a Kitteh...
Good afternoon! Is anybody else having trouble staying awake today? You’re not alone…
This is Lady Peanut. She is a very good listener:
(Guh. Is it any wonder this video’s going spectacularly viral?)
The soporific object of this wee kitteh’s affection is Sarah Donner, a self-proclaimed singer/songwriter/creative type/cat lady with a bright, sweet voice. She says...
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Red Moon
Directed by Jimmy Marble and written by Marble and Doug Sacrison (who also wrote the original one-act play), Red Moon chronicles the sad, tortured life of famed submarine captain Alexei Ovechkin: hero of the former Soviet Union, and werewolf.
What follows is 15 minutes of amazing, cardboard and plywood sets, fantastic facial hair, werewolf suits, and terrible, terrible Russian accents. I loved...
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Coilhouse Interview: Molly Crabapple Discusses...
In September of 2011, shortly after launching a highly successful Kickstarter campaign, our intrepid chum Molly Crabapple locked herself into a hotel room in New York City for a week, eventually filling 270 square feet of paper-covered wall with her art. Yesterday, IDW published The Art of Molly Crabapple, Vol #1: Molly Crabapple’s Week In Hell, a book chronicling the whirlwind project...
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Bonus BTC: Every Single Deadwood "Cocksucker" Ever...
Shown in order of appearance, here are nearly eight full minutes of ”Cocksucker”s (with a righteous ”Fuck you, sir!” cherry on top). Three Deadwood seasons’ worth.
Mesmerizing, isn’t it?
(SFW, provided you’re on headphones. Via Dusty.)
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BTC: Reformed Whores
Photo by Kristin Doennelly
NYC-based southern belles Marie Cecile Anderson and Katy Frame have a musical comedy duo called Reformed Whores. As such, they “sing about everything from venereal diseases to drunk dialing with sweet harmonies and old-timey flair.”
“I’m a Slut” is their shame name-repurposing, smile-until-it-hurts rebuttal to Rush Limbaugh, Santorum, and...
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Moebius -- 1938 / 2012
RIP
“We artists can only go so far as the people can follow us. We are not alone, we are part of the system. We can take risks, but if you want to go to the peak of your consciousness, you may very well find yourself alone. Even if you know how to translate what you see, maybe only ten people will be able to understand what you tell. But, if you have faith in your vision, and retell it...
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Bad Romance: Women's Suffrage by Soomo
Slick, thoughtful, and surprisingly moving, the following Gaga parody music video pays “homage to Alice Paul and the generations of brave women who joined together in the fight to pass the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote in 1920.” (Sharing this feels like a good way to acknowledge International Woman’s Day!)
It was conceived and produced by the Soomo...
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Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights": The 36-Minute...
OH SHI-
It’s Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights” slowed down to a crawl by Looking at Blue from the Kate BushNews and Information forum.
This technique never fails! Whether it’s Justin Bieber’s “U Smile” or a dial-up modem, the result is transcendent.
If this isn’t quite your speed (hurr), try the metal version of Wuthering Heights, performed...
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"SOLIPSIST" by Andrew Huang
Many of us remember Andrew Huang’s DIY sci-fi short, “Doll Face”, which went viral on YouTube in 2007, boosting the USC graduate’s professional career. Huang’s most recent work, this short film called “SOLIPSIST”, is nothing short of a vibrant, sensual revelation. It earned him and his team the Special Jury Prize for Experimental Short at Slamdance...
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Lana Del Duck
Pro-LDR? Anti-LDR? LDR-ambivalent? S’all good. (No matter what, it’s important to maintain a healthy sense of humor about life. And scrutiny. And Donald Duck.)