Forever 27 at Proud in Camdem

27 seems to be a cursed age for musicians with apparently over thirty musicians dieing at that age. "Forever 27" an exhibition at Proud Camdem focuses especially on the five most famous members of this club- Rolling Stones founder, Brian Jones who drowned in a swimming pool in 1969, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain.

The exhibition features a mixture of iconic and never before seen images by photographers, Elliot Landy, Phil Townsend, Joe Sia and Jill Gibson.

Going here will be a cause for reflection on the pressure of fame, the waste of potential talent in the end and a celebration of their work that you think about when you see the images.

The exhibition makes me think will the likes of Pete Doherty and Amy Winehouse end living as tragic images on a wall all for the price of that strange thing called fame.

Buildings of Disaster: The Dakota Building

This has to be one of the strangest items I have seen in quite some time. It is a model of the Dakota Building, with the date that made it notorious inscribed on the bottom. That date be of course, the assassination of John Lennon. 

It is one of a series entitled "Buildings of Disaster" with others in the collection including the Texas Book Depository, Watergate and Chernobyl. The art project itself aimed to look at how disasters change our perceptions of famous landmarks or unremarkable architecture, which is an interesting idea but perhaps buying one for your home is a little morbid. I'm not sure if the demand for them would be high, I don't think I would be buying one anytime soon.

Great Opening Credits

I love watching opening credits. While most shows simply set a bunch of clips to music, a few recognise the power of an unforgettable opening, something that is visually stunning, humorous or just plain cool, all without recyling images from the show.

Here are two of my favourate opening credits...

Dead Like Me. This seqence is quirky, fun and proof that something as depressing as death can be too.

Six Feet Under. "We wanted something that you would see week after week and be entertained enough to keep watching. Something that wouldn't completely reveal itself on the first viewing" - Alan Poul

I love the way that the actual titles themselves were worked in. It's a very elegant and understated approach.

The thing that sticks out the most is the crow. It seemed like something that was not literally tied to the show and not overly macabre, but so evocative of the darker feeling that the show would conjure up.

Did you know that it is illegal to film true crows in the United States for commercial purposes? 

As a result, the crow used was actually a pied crow. It has a white chest, so they had to paint it black.

Tate Museum Liverpool

It might not be an impressive, eye catching building from the outside but this museum is great and a must see when in Liverpool. Displays frequently changing, has a relaxing atmosphere and full of culture.
Recently the museum exhibited many important work by Klimt, most never before seen in this country. There was a reconstruction of Beethoven Frieze because the original will never travel but it was of exceptional quality.

Sawdust

is a passionate and creative design studio formed in 2006. Sawdust work on an array of creative projects large or small with expertise in print design, corporate identity, branding, retail, illustration and digital.

Obviously a design company needs to have a well designed logo themselves and I definitely think they achieved it. Love the simplicity, yet clever design with the W cut like a plank of wood with a saw. The black and white colour makes the logo not look to obvious and connected to sawdust itself, ie using a brown woody colour.

Their work is fresh, modern, aesthetically pleasing and carefully considered. Check out their cool website for a look-

www.madebysawdust.co.uk 

logotype

digital campaign

CD packaging

The Urbis

The Urbis in Manchester is an exhibitibition centre about city life where you can explore exhibitions about contemporary art and design, urban gardening, the city environment and the people who make cities what the are.

The four floors of exhibitions are updated twice yearly. Not great in comparison to Manchester's Art Gallery but at least there is no chance you will miss anything. Also quite frankly I think the building is far to big for what it holds, theres just so much space that is 'wasted'.

This is certainly an eye catching museum from the outside but its design doesn't in-keep with surrounding buildings, (ie printworks) which I think should be important.

Dress Your Family In Corduroy and Denim

I love this book by David Sedaris, which is full of his skewed sense of humour and his spot-on observance of those moments in daily life that ultimately makes us laugh at ourselves.

His world is alive with obscure desires and hidden motives- within a family where forgiveness is automatic and an argument can be the highest form of love.

A refreshing look at a teenager growing up with excepting who he is and coping with being gay.

This book I did find in places slightly warped and little too bitter but nevertheless a great read.

Humor is always a necessity in life! 

www.leoburnett.com

Listed as one of the most important people of the 20th Century, Leo Burnett is said to have "launched today's visual assault on the senses by proving that images, not words, were the nuclear power of advertising".

This site that bears his corporations image is an icon to his creative thinking. Its very inspiring and reminds you that image is everything.

"big ideas come out of big pencils"

The Pianist

This film is the true account of Vladyslaw Szpilman's experience as a Polish Jew living in the Warsaw ghetto during the Second World War. His love for playing the piano is a constant theme in the film and shows how things have changed for him, from playing in the ghetto, imagining to play, and performing in front of a German soldier who saves his life.

The Pianist combines easy emotional connections and refuses to oversimplify, and I think it is one of the most powerful Holocaust films ever made.

I like the restrained, unsentimental way the Director, Polanski tells the story and I believe Polanski wants us to think more than he wants us to emote. It doesn't oversimplify the situation as there are good and bad Jews, Poles and Germans. As a result, there is a certain amount of randomness to the events that is not comforting, but I think that is realistic.

Unlike Schlinders List, the concentration camps are not shown in the film, making it less shocking in comparison and easier to watch. 

The underlying theme here is one of optimism and hope- Wladyslaw and his family never gave up the belief and against all odds civilisation does triumph.

Kill Bill Animation Sequence

The animation sequence seen in the film Kill Bill was produced by Production I.G and is technically known as an "anime".

The Director of film, Quentin Tarantino personally asked them to create an animation sequence that was a homage of the genre films that he loved so much.

One of the notable things here is the extremely violent edge to the film, which are so excessive they actually detract from the "reality" of the situation. Also I feel there was no real reason to make this animated, apart from Tarantino's thought "Wouldn't it be cool to have an anime segment in this film?" There is no doubt that it's good but is it really necessary?

Overall, the segment is executed very well and for the very least, Tarantino deserves credit for exposing mainstream audiences to anime.

Bearskinrug.co.uk

An Illustrator's site, Kevin Cornell, embodies the essence of his style and if you take a look, it does an excellent job of filling the space with content. Count how many things on the page are both navigation and content. Everything has a touch of the illustrator's brush, so the site is saturated with his talent.