My Favorite Part of Summer: The End

It's not secret that I love autumn. But my favorite part of summer is happening now. Reliably, around July 15th or so, Michael's Arts and Crafts starts putting out their Fall stuff. For me it heralds the end of Summer and the build up to Autumn.

They first put out the Fall foliage stuff, and about the time the Tulip Tree in the woods behind our house starts losing its leaves, they start putting out the Halloween stuff, too.

Some of my favorite selections from this weekend:

Design Blog

For class we had to create a design blog, so here it is:

http://www.designwithspine.com

Visit it for nerdy art and design oriented posts:



Stay here for personal posts about other junk, and expect some overlap :)

My Favorite Creeps

I've been on a bit of a German Expressionism kick lately. It's aesthetically pleasing to me -- something about high contrast black and white, crazy angles, severe brush strokes and over all creepiness of it.

Visually speaking, I'm rather fond of two German actors in particular: Conrad Veidt and Max Schreck.

Conrad Veidt

Aw, handsome right?

young veidt


mature veidt

How about that hair, right? Nothing says sophisticated like white on the sides. And then there's the long nose and those super dark eyes. Angles and contrast, friends! Dear Veidt was in two pretty excellent films:

The Man Who Laughs

That grin! Holy god.

And The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari


Watch the full-length film, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari:


Max Schreck

No, not THIS Max Schreck:


THIS Max Schreck:


He has been described as being "pointy" and "rat-like". And it's true. But it's the best kind of pointy and rat-like. This is my favorite photo of him -- the fixed gaze, dark around the eyes, pencil thin pursed lips, pointy ears, equally pointy eyebrows and... of course... a widow's peak.

You're probably familiar with at least one of his movies: Nosferatu.


Oh hi, Max!

I am so entertained by Max Schreck, that I made some t-shirts. In an era of lame vampires, his seminal depiction of the undead is refreshing.

Watch the full-length film, Nosferatu:

GWAR

We went to see GWAR this weekend. And because it's tradition, we brought an unwitting victim who has never seen GWAR live before along for the ride. (Apologies to Molly.)

Pre-GWAR, with my Max Schreck shirt. You're SUPPOSED to wear white, but I don't have any white t-shirts.

Molly's first "blood spatter".

Sam, looking a little green!

The floor, after the show. We were standing by that black pillar.

Molly. Even her pupils are red!

Me, looking like some weird barf rainbow.

The dog was not amused by our face paint, or our late night interruption.

Art in Nature: Bower Birds

I love bower birds. They truly have a sense of aesthetic - they know what they like and they go for it. The above is an image of a bower bird nest, who clearly likes the color gray. The nests are meant to attract a mate: if I was a female bower bird I'd be all about this guy.

The nests are all individualistic. One bird might decorate his bower in blue, another red. They decorate their nests according to taste, finding just the right items for their bower. They arrange all of their items just so.

Here's my favorite naturalist, Sir David Attenborough, hanging out with bower birds:


Kudos to Sub-Studio for their bower bird post.
Also, kudos to me, back in the day.

Also, this is the funniest thing I have ever seen. Naturalist Nerd Humor!

Cemeteries: New Orleans

Cemeteries are something I enjoy, aesthetically. A couple years ago I was visiting New Orleans, so of course I had to check these world famous cemeteries. Here's a collection of my favorite photos from the visit:

Thru the Microscope

Some of my favorite art comes directly from science. I'm especially fond of microscopes - both as a tool, and as industrial design. They uncover tiny worlds that move largely unseen and were undiscovered until the invention of this device.

We can thank Robert Hooke for the Microscope, and for uncovering that tiny world.

Read Hooke's Microphagia, complete with drawings of microscopic creatures.

Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder

There are few beverages that enjoy the reputation and mystique that absinthe commands.

It's fabled to be highly addictive, and inducing hallucinatory flights of fancy - as evidenced by the writing and painting produced by famous turn-of-the-century artists, poets and the like.

It has been OUTLAWED in the US, till fairly recently, thanks to this air of mystery.

The prohibition has ended now, which is sort of bittersweet for me. Lovely, because now you can try the *real thing* and not have to suffer licorice flavored liqueurs. Sad, because it's losing some of it's magic - 'the man' has decided it's not a psychoactive drug laden beverage, just highly alcoholic.

I love the idea of absinthe for the same reasons I love the idea of High Tea: I find the era fascinating, and the process involved nothing short of magically ritualistic.

Proper absinthe glasses are glass or crystal, with a reservoir that measures a shot of absinthe. They have a kind of angular deviance to them - at once elegant any mysterious looking. The absinthe spoon is a singular tool and come in artful designs. The main requirement is that the spoon has holes in it to facilitate water flowing through a sugar cube resting on the spoon. But the shapes of the holes and even the material of the spoon is completely up for grabs.

Then there is the process of the classic absinthe drink. It's not a quick dumping of ingredients and a stir. Oh no. There's a sort of meditative style to it. First, the absinthe. Then the placement of spoon and sugar cube. And finally the s l o o o w pour of cold water over the sugar cube. The result: a cloudy liquid that smells like herbs drying in some forbidden place of knowledge and gnarly powers.

Needless to say, I've ordered my glass and spoon and I've got a place in mind to purchase my first bottle of absinthe. Will imbibing inspiring in me works of art and literature? Will it initiate a careening madness? Or will it just lead to a wicked morning hangover? We shall see...

Follow here for absinthe visual delight.

Bittersweet (but mostly sweet)

I'm a fan of NOTCOT.com - it's my go to place for aesthetic stimulation: rest assured there's always a new piece of design delight.

One of their latest posts featured Bittersweet NY. I was browsing their website when I found these:

Maggot Charms.
That's right. You can wear gold or silver maggots, fashionably, around your neck.

It reminded me of a little doodle I did my first year of art school:

"crow sez ' i found a maggit'."

Batty.

A very clever person gifted me a membership to the Bat Conservation International. Bats are fascinating as animals, art, and lore. Which makes them one of my favorites.