I just stumbled upon this iphone app that contains a checklist you can bring to senior year critiques / design degree shows. I have to admit it’s a little cruel, but hopefully you’ll get a good chuckle along the way.

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Original Royal Blue Coach Services poster illustrated by Daphne Padden

Recent renovations at the Notting Hill gate tube station have uncovered these mid-century posters. The posters were located in a non-public area and date from c1956 - 1959 when the station’s lifts were removed and replaced by escalators. Mike Ashworth, who is the ‘Design and Heritage Manager’ for London Underground, has more images at his Flickr account.

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To Have & To Hold is a new documentary from Jony Lyle that celebrates and explores the phenomenon of collecting Vinyl. The documetary includes interviews with well known collectors like Bobbito Garcia, ?uestlove, Chuck D, Andre Torres (From Wax Poetics), Amir (of Kon & Amir) and Bruce Ludvall, the owner of Bluenote. Based on the trailer the film seems to be heavily focused on collectors in or around New York.

You can learn more about the film at the official Facebook page. Also there’s an interview with the director over at Mat Dolphin’s blog.

I’d love to hear from other record collectors out there. What are some of your favorite pieces of vinyl in your collection?

(via Dylan over at the excellent Hard Feelings blog.)

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Makedonium monument in Krusevo

I recently stumbled upon a slideshow of modern memorials in former Yugoslavia over at Robert Burghardt’s FZZ Fanzine. The memorials date back to the early 1960s following Yugoslavia’s emancipation from the Soviet Union. In the preface to the slide show Robert mentions, “These monuments belong to the most important witnesses of Yugoslav memorial culture and stem from the most active period of Yugoslav modern art which has been described as socialist modernism or socialist aestheticism.  As War-monuments they are unique: They do not express the fighting and death, but life, resistance and the energy by which they were carried. They are directed forward while they mark the starting point for a new society, whose products they are.”

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The opening film sequence for Up in the Air (2009) takes the viewer on a journey through the clouds and across the abstract landscapes of America. Each still is like a vintage postcard. The moving sequence is inter-cut with slides of lush greenery, dusty canyons, and intricate cityscapes. And the cherry on top? Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings’ “This land is your land” is the soundtrack behind the film edits that make the images float, glide, spin across the screen. It kicks the sleepiness out of the aerial footage and gives it a boost of vibrancy. The studio responsible for this, Shadowplay Studio, also made film titles for Juno (2007) and Thank you for Smoking (2005).

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Geoff Mcfetridge and some of the concepts for the final credits for the upcoming “Where the Wild Things Are” film.

I know i’m not the only one excited about the upcoming Where the Wild Things Are film directed by Spike Jonze. The film is based on a book of the same name published in 1963 by author/illustrator Maurice Sendak. I remember staring at the book for hours when I was a kid. It’s still one of my all time faves.

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Jerry Fujio and Jo Shishido in A Colt is my Passport c1967

I had a chance to check out a few films from the No Borders, No Limits: 1960s Nikkatsu Action Cinema series this weekend. These super stylized films produced by the Nikkatsu film studio were heavily influenced by Hollywood and the French New Wave. The Seijun Suzuki films re-released by Criterion are part of the Nikkatsu catalog. If you’ve seen any of Suzuki’s films, it will give you an idea of the films featured in the No Borders, No Limits series.

The series focused on some of the more obscure films to come out of the Nikkatsu studio. All 3 films I saw were great. I just wish I could of seen the other 3. You can find out more about these films at Outcast Cinema.

Many thanks to Laurent for sending me this animated short. After watching it, I couldn’t believe that it’s a student film. It looks like something straight out of PIXAR. Laurent mentioned that films, cartoons and design from the 1960s were the inspiration for the project. Excellent animation and great use of James Bond soundtracks to set the atmosphere.

View Zoudov on Youtube or check it out on the official Zoudov website.

Have a great weekend everyone!
Speaking of which, after getting a tip from my friend Wes I decided to rent “King of Kong”. Thats on the playlist for the weekend. Anyone else seen this?

1960s penguin book covers

Things magazine..wheew sweet mother! They have put together a kick butt gallery of penguin book covers. Includes beautiful covers overseen by Jan Tschichold as well as the late typographer Hans Schmoller. My favorite years are between 1961-1972 when Italian art director Germano Facetti was in charge of design. Facetti enlisted Polish graphic designer Romek Marber to redesign the look of the Penguin series and the rest is history.

Side note: Watched Jules Dassin’s Brute force last night. Great Flick. I also recommend Riffifi which was directed by Dassin as well.

(via Ace jet 170)

Eames demetrios, grandson of Charles and Ray Eames presents a rare glimpse of the Solar Film produced by graphic designer Saul Bass. The film was commissioned in 1980 by Robert Redford. If you listen at the end of the film you can hear Saul Bass speak for a few seconds. He mentions something about pumping hot water to the house.

I’m not sure if the illustrations/ animations in the film were created by Saul Bass or Art Goodman. The film credits Goodman, but it is unclear if he was just involved in the animation process or if he created the illustrations as well.

Cool film and as one person mentions in the later half “If you stop and think about it, the Sun doesn’t send you a bill each month”. So true my friend.

Can’t get enough of Saul?
check these out:
Henri’s Walk to Paris - children’s book illustrated by Saul Bass
San Francisco International Film Festival poster
Saul Bass’s Case study house