6/18/2008
6/17/2008
delillo II
This review of Delillo's Americana. One of my favorite novels is so well written, it's almost as good as the book.:
The time, the age, the epoch, the season, the culrue, and the genius at full bloom at the outset, March 13, 2007
It has already been written.
This is it. Vonnegut
in his fiction wrote that all you
need to know how to live is in the Brother's
Karamazov, but it's not enough anymore. If you live
in America, this is the supplement. In the negative sense.
One almost should enjoy this novel one sentence at a time.
Each one is genius. I also like the way Delillo micromanages words,
and sentences. The page is extremely claustrophobic, but it is an extremely cozy nook. The vividness with which this novel comes alive is perhaps its triumph. Delillo has described the journey of David Bell so well, that one can live in it vicariously, and doesn't have to make it themselves. I do not want to make that cross country sojourn anymore to writhe the experience out of Americana, get some vital juice out of being an American. He describes the currents and undercurrents very well.
The heart of the book is, I believe, on page 130.
...Something else was left over for the rest of us, or some of the rest of us, and it was the dream of the good life, innocent enough, simple enough on the surface, beginning for me as soon as I could read and continuing through the era of the early astronauts, the red carpet welcome on the aircraft carrier as the band played on. It encompassed all those things that people are said to want, materials and objects and the shadows they cast, and yet the dream had its complexities, its edges of illusion and self-deception, an implication of serio-comic death. To achieve an existence totally symbolic is less simple than mining the buried metals of other countries or sending the pilots of your squadron to hang their bombs over some illiterate village." [...]
I think this is what Americans are striving to ultimately do, (speaking of the general culture) and this is of course, as Delillo points out in the novel is not only destructive but impossible.
He also talks truth about the role of statistics in the national consciousness. Everyone, will, or should find a foible of Americana that they can appropriate as knowledge, something to call their own form now `till death.
One can get distracted, but the entire message for me is this: There is nothing in the American culture worth having. On the fringes, or in the mainstream. Pick your poison. A book dedicated to this is monumental. This really is, I think, the great American Novel, which is as fertile today as it was in 1971.
The time, the age, the epoch, the season, the culrue, and the genius at full bloom at the outset, 
This review is from: Americana (Paperback)
No need to write the great American Novel.
It has already been written.
This is it. Vonnegut
in his fiction wrote that all you
need to know how to live is in the Brother's
Karamazov, but it's not enough anymore. If you live
in America, this is the supplement. In the negative sense.
One almost should enjoy this novel one sentence at a time.
Each one is genius. I also like the way Delillo micromanages words,
and sentences. The page is extremely claustrophobic, but it is an extremely cozy nook. The vividness with which this novel comes alive is perhaps its triumph. Delillo has described the journey of David Bell so well, that one can live in it vicariously, and doesn't have to make it themselves. I do not want to make that cross country sojourn anymore to writhe the experience out of Americana, get some vital juice out of being an American. He describes the currents and undercurrents very well.
The heart of the book is, I believe, on page 130.
...Something else was left over for the rest of us, or some of the rest of us, and it was the dream of the good life, innocent enough, simple enough on the surface, beginning for me as soon as I could read and continuing through the era of the early astronauts, the red carpet welcome on the aircraft carrier as the band played on. It encompassed all those things that people are said to want, materials and objects and the shadows they cast, and yet the dream had its complexities, its edges of illusion and self-deception, an implication of serio-comic death. To achieve an existence totally symbolic is less simple than mining the buried metals of other countries or sending the pilots of your squadron to hang their bombs over some illiterate village." [...]
I think this is what Americans are striving to ultimately do, (speaking of the general culture) and this is of course, as Delillo points out in the novel is not only destructive but impossible.
He also talks truth about the role of statistics in the national consciousness. Everyone, will, or should find a foible of Americana that they can appropriate as knowledge, something to call their own form now `till death.
One can get distracted, but the entire message for me is this: There is nothing in the American culture worth having. On the fringes, or in the mainstream. Pick your poison. A book dedicated to this is monumental. This really is, I think, the great American Novel, which is as fertile today as it was in 1971.
delillo
came across this blurb on amazon.
"For Mark Osteen, the most bracing and unsettling feature of DeLillo's
work is that, although his fiction may satirize cultural forms, it
never does so from a privileged position outside the culture. His work
brilliantly mimics the argots of the very phenomena it dissects:
violent thrillers and conspiracy theories, pop music, advertising,
science fiction, film, and television. As a result, DeLillo has been
read both as a denouncer and as a defender of contemporary culture; in
fact, Osteen argues, neither description is adequate. DeLillo's
dialogue with modern institutions, such as chemical companies, the CIA,
and the media, respects their power and ingenuity while criticizing
their dangerous consequences. Even as DeLillo borrows from their
discourses, he maintains a tenaciously opposing stance toward the
sources of collective power."
I think this is remarkably well put. And it explains an attitude/dialogue which I try to hold high.
"For Mark Osteen, the most bracing and unsettling feature of DeLillo's
work is that, although his fiction may satirize cultural forms, it
never does so from a privileged position outside the culture. His work
brilliantly mimics the argots of the very phenomena it dissects:
violent thrillers and conspiracy theories, pop music, advertising,
science fiction, film, and television. As a result, DeLillo has been
read both as a denouncer and as a defender of contemporary culture; in
fact, Osteen argues, neither description is adequate. DeLillo's
dialogue with modern institutions, such as chemical companies, the CIA,
and the media, respects their power and ingenuity while criticizing
their dangerous consequences. Even as DeLillo borrows from their
discourses, he maintains a tenaciously opposing stance toward the
sources of collective power."
I think this is remarkably well put. And it explains an attitude/dialogue which I try to hold high.
6/16/2008
coolness
no other word for it: cool. every link a journey in itself. Great great site. It contains so much stuff I am really interested in I don't know where to start.
Everyone Forever. Twinned by equally cool Advanced Beauty and Universal Everything
Everyone Forever. Twinned by equally cool Advanced Beauty and Universal Everything
more about book covers
This weblog is all about book covers. Good stuff for book- and illustration lovers (oui, moi)
It also has a post about a bookdesign by Seth (I'm a big fan). I saw this book in the store this afternoon and it's very pretty.
Here's a funny comic of a talk given by seth and Chris Ware. thanks to strippedcomics.
It also has a post about a bookdesign by Seth (I'm a big fan). I saw this book in the store this afternoon and it's very pretty.
Here's a funny comic of a talk given by seth and Chris Ware. thanks to strippedcomics.
alice tait
When browsing in the bookstore I came across a beautiful cover illustration. I (barely) remembered the last name"tait" and when I came home I googled it. Her name is Alice Tait and boy what a gems I found on her website.
By the way I bought a wonderful book: the collected stories of Joan Didion: We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live. And that's the truth.
By the way I bought a wonderful book: the collected stories of Joan Didion: We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live. And that's the truth.
6/06/2008
5/14/2008
fabulous poster designs
The Mountain Goats Noise Pop Concert Poster by Nate Duval
Explosions in the Sky Concert Poster by Nate Duval
Damn, I missed out on the Explosions in the Sky concert last monday in the Paradiso. Such a shame
the Decemberists by Jason munn of the Small Stakes
The Arcade Fire London Concert Poster (#1) by Burlesque Design
by Burlesque Design
Rage Against the Machine Poster by Ken Taylor (a shame about the typography, such a dragging cliché those soviet letterings). The man can draw and design though
Snow Patrol, Hot Hot Heat Concert Poster by Daniel Danger
Decemberists by Jeff Kleinsmith
Hot Chocolate Art Print by Dan McCarthy. this guy is real find for me. I love his work. He;s obviously fascinated by contours and lines.
By the way, I took most of the images from posters and toys, where I got myself three posters! Can't wait!
why wasn't I told? film leaders
Submarinechannel: Supposedly this is one of the 100 websites you must have seen (before you die?), I mean this part of the site: All the great leaders, opening sequences and so on of movies. Subtitle: Forget the film, watch the titles.
A delight it is indeed.
A delight it is indeed.
Great Motion Graphics Design
This is a great intro for "300" by Garson Yu of yU+co (interview here).
Found this on Motiongrapher, a pretty and elaborate and very informative site about, you guessed it, motion graphics.
There I also found a clip of a commercial by 180 Amsterdam for HTC, the Iphone rip-off. Very nice.
Found this on Motiongrapher, a pretty and elaborate and very informative site about, you guessed it, motion graphics.
There I also found a clip of a commercial by 180 Amsterdam for HTC, the Iphone rip-off. Very nice.
5/05/2008
cool furniture
This piece of furniture designed by Giuseppe Canevese features the artwork of graphic artist Guido Crepax (1933-2003), who was influential in the development of European comic art in the second half of the 20th century. His most famous storyline, featuring the character “Valentina“, was created in 1965.
(quote from here and here)
Creator of Erotic comic art, graphically brilliant.
5/04/2008
shepard fairey copycat
Shepard Fairey of Obey design made a poster for the Barack Obama campaign.
The poster was for sale at the obama website, but is sold out ( print run of 5000). I noticed the prices are throught the roof on ebay. Originally sold for $70,- they now fetch at least 200 bucks. Now that's change we can believe in :)
It is a nice enough poster as far as the image is concerned. The iconic value is pretty dubious though, since the aestethics rely heavily on leftwing propaganda. As a poster said: "Good grief, where did this guy study -- the Joseph Stalin Art Institute? This stuff looks absolutely Soviet."
The cause is a worthy one though but the price is too steep for me.
Googling for poster info I came across this interesting article by Mark Vallen. The article points at the plagiarism that is very obvious in the work of Obey (Fairey).
The proof Vallen gives in his examples Vallen can't be denied. This is plagiarism (or nothing is). I am not that familiar with the work of Obey, though I have come across it many times (led zeppelin cover etc). I am not that big a fan (I have seen work like this that is better) , but the blatant stealing of iconic anti-establishment imagery makes obey fall from grace. Although stealing, reproducing, copying and lending is an old phenomenon in protest movements (see Che) I guess every generation gets the protest-imagery it deserves. The thing that bugs me most is that Obey is not a protest movement but a successful design agency (critcally acclaimed). In other words; I can't blame the guy in black, with the dirty ropey hair and the lousy dogs for not coming up with anything more original than using 80's squat lingo, but I can blame Fairey for deliberately stealing images of better and more original artists without giving them credit. Most of all I blame him for making dangerous art harmless by making it "nice looking".
The only credit I give him is that he made a poster for Obama. Though I am getting seriously suspicious about the retro look of the poster. I am sure we'll find out that was a rip-off as well in the future. It is obviously "inspired" by propaganda and the psychedelic sixties (see earlier posts about Griffin, Grimshaw and others), as is all of his work. Since all the images that can be seen here are oviously copied I guess the (style of) the Obama poster must be aswell. Seems the lot of the work just has the word "obey" pasted into it.
I like this image below graphically, but the title (the title is on the guitar) is stolen from the words on the guitar of my hero Woody Guthrie.
The poster was for sale at the obama website, but is sold out ( print run of 5000). I noticed the prices are throught the roof on ebay. Originally sold for $70,- they now fetch at least 200 bucks. Now that's change we can believe in :)
It is a nice enough poster as far as the image is concerned. The iconic value is pretty dubious though, since the aestethics rely heavily on leftwing propaganda. As a poster said: "Good grief, where did this guy study -- the Joseph Stalin Art Institute? This stuff looks absolutely Soviet."
The cause is a worthy one though but the price is too steep for me.
Googling for poster info I came across this interesting article by Mark Vallen. The article points at the plagiarism that is very obvious in the work of Obey (Fairey).
The proof Vallen gives in his examples Vallen can't be denied. This is plagiarism (or nothing is). I am not that familiar with the work of Obey, though I have come across it many times (led zeppelin cover etc). I am not that big a fan (I have seen work like this that is better) , but the blatant stealing of iconic anti-establishment imagery makes obey fall from grace. Although stealing, reproducing, copying and lending is an old phenomenon in protest movements (see Che) I guess every generation gets the protest-imagery it deserves. The thing that bugs me most is that Obey is not a protest movement but a successful design agency (critcally acclaimed). In other words; I can't blame the guy in black, with the dirty ropey hair and the lousy dogs for not coming up with anything more original than using 80's squat lingo, but I can blame Fairey for deliberately stealing images of better and more original artists without giving them credit. Most of all I blame him for making dangerous art harmless by making it "nice looking".
The only credit I give him is that he made a poster for Obama. Though I am getting seriously suspicious about the retro look of the poster. I am sure we'll find out that was a rip-off as well in the future. It is obviously "inspired" by propaganda and the psychedelic sixties (see earlier posts about Griffin, Grimshaw and others), as is all of his work. Since all the images that can be seen here are oviously copied I guess the (style of) the Obama poster must be aswell. Seems the lot of the work just has the word "obey" pasted into it.
I like this image below graphically, but the title (the title is on the guitar) is stolen from the words on the guitar of my hero Woody Guthrie.
5/03/2008
elegant flash design
this website uses flash in such an elegant manner. I know, that word elegant is old fashioned and it is not very fashionable to describe something that is amde recently. But it is the right word. I envy this design (and the knowledge of flash). I actually tore down the swf with a small app called flash decompiler, and it looks as gorgeous under the hood as the coachwork that carries it.
army man with cool new issuu gadget page viewer!!!
Following the also quite smart Picasa webalbum of the army man scans here is an even cooler thing. I absolutely LOVE Issuu. I have been searching for a page flip code souce for hours and hours (and found several) untill I found Issuu. It's free, it's gorgeous and smart and web 2.0 savvy (share, share, share). This is how to do it. Design smart web apps.
Expect to see me using this for the publication of some interactive sketchbooks (reason why I was searching).
Expect to see me using this for the publication of some interactive sketchbooks (reason why I was searching).
5/02/2008
talking about magazines... Army Man scans
oh yeah...
Talking about magazines (and genius writers like Gossage). There is one serious hiatus in the "best of" list that I just have to mention here.
It is of course "Army Man - America's Only Magazine" (even the title and subtitle are thè best ever).
This must be the funniest magazine ever. I found out about this magazine when the believer (the number 2 on my list, naah #1) issued a facsimile of the much sought after #1 issue.
Editor George Meyer (read a brilliant profile from...again a favourite magazine, the New Yorker here) is called the funniest man on eart and I believe there is a lot of truth to that claim.
Because I am such a generous man I will post scans of Army man's pages here. I came across them years ago and have treasured them on my harddisk (I moved them with each new one). Thanks for the guy that did the scanning then, unfortunately I do not know a a name or a link. Too bad the pics aren't bigger (the old days?). What I did was print them and try to read them and memorize them.
Do as I did and give this as a gift to yourself and your offspring.
Favourite? Ask Uncle Trivia.
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| army man scans |
5/01/2008
Send me yr goddamn manuscripts. Cut me in on yr freak-beams. I'll print anything.
Also on the list in the list mentioned in the previous post "fuck you / a magazine of the arts.
Here's the blahblah (the picture above tells it all me thinks)
Fuck You/ a magazine of the arts
Fuck You/ A Magazine of the Arts. (1962-1965). Thirteen issues, considered one of the most influential underground magazine of the early Sixties. Started by Ed Sanders--Beat poet, Fugs band member, and proprietor of the underground Peace Eye Bookshop--Fuck You was a deliberately provocative mimeographed journal, at first emphasizing poetry and later expanding to include other writing. Each issue is illustrated with line drawings by Sanders.
Contributors included Sanders, Tuli Kupferberg (also of the Fugs), Carol Bergé, John Wieners, Andy Warhol, Ray Bremser, Lenore Kandel, Charles Olson, Joel Oppenheimer, Peter Orlovsky, Philip Whalen, Allen Ginsberg, Herbert Huncke, Julian Beck, Frank O'Hara, Leroi Jones, Diane DiPrima, William Burroughs, Gary Snyder, Robert Kelly, Judith Malina, Carl Solomon, Gregory Corso, Robert Duncan, Robert Creeley, Michael McClure, Ted Berrigan, Joe Brainard, Gilbert Sorrentino, and many others--a virtual "who's who" of avant garde poetry in the Sixties.
I wish I could get my hands on a copy of this. I love underground magazines and especially ones where the editor note says: "Send me yr goddamn manuscripts. Cut me in on yr freak-beams. I'll print anything."There is a vol 1 issue 2 listed on abebooks for the slight amount of $1400,- How counterculture babyboomers devour their own children.
the best magazines ever
Best of lists are always a highly dubious claim, but they make for an interesting read. This article lists the 50 best (*Smartest, Prettiest, Coolest, Funniest, Most Influential, Most Necessary, Most Important, Most Essential, etc.) magazines of "all times" and at least some of my favourite magazines are on the list (and period correct).
Howard Gossage
this is a site dedicated to the life and works of advertising genius Howard Gossage (1917-1969) The socrates of San Fransisco.
He did some truly brilliant, disruptive and highly onconventional ads. The guy's a true legend and inspiration.
Here's an article on how he is still relevant, to online advertising (indeed, indeed, strange times).
be sure to read the copy below. It is of the highest quality; monty python would be proud (though I realize prosumers don't read anymore.)
Among the many quotes that are worth being cut in stone and driven through the big glass facades of ad agencies are his : "Advertising: A multibillion dollar hammer pounding a ten cent thumbtack." and "You don't have to bruise an elephant all over to kill him. One shot in the right place will do."
He also had some refreshing approaches to the "consumer" and target audiences:
"I don't know how to speak to everybody, only to somebody." and:
"To ask consumers how they like ads is like asking a galley slave what he thinks of his job calisthenics-wise."
This is an ad for Fina.
and one for eagle shirtmakers.
and quantas.
thanks to addbuzz and ciadvertising
I did not mean to steal officer, just to borrow..
He did some truly brilliant, disruptive and highly onconventional ads. The guy's a true legend and inspiration.
Here's an article on how he is still relevant, to online advertising (indeed, indeed, strange times).
be sure to read the copy below. It is of the highest quality; monty python would be proud (though I realize prosumers don't read anymore.)
Among the many quotes that are worth being cut in stone and driven through the big glass facades of ad agencies are his : "Advertising: A multibillion dollar hammer pounding a ten cent thumbtack." and "You don't have to bruise an elephant all over to kill him. One shot in the right place will do."
He also had some refreshing approaches to the "consumer" and target audiences:
"I don't know how to speak to everybody, only to somebody." and:
"To ask consumers how they like ads is like asking a galley slave what he thinks of his job calisthenics-wise."
This is an ad for Fina.
and one for eagle shirtmakers.
and quantas.
thanks to addbuzz and ciadvertising
I did not mean to steal officer, just to borrow..
Abonneren op:
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