Things I like this week

I have enjoyed seeing the BNE sticker everywhere in my neighborhood and elsewhere in the city. It's almost a thrill when I see more pop up in new spots. It's a little like the "Obey" campaign by Shepard Fairey of yesteryear which I also loved seeing using the Andre the Giant graphic: http://obeygiant.com/  This month there is a window he did on 10th Avenue between 25th and 26th St if you are in the area.

The article in the NY Times above gives some of the "whys" as to this guy's work but doesn't really answer the question of who this is or what the BNE stands for.  Regardless, it's interesting and I am fascinated about Mother, this ad agency downtown who is supposedly helping with the exhibition. Their website with the guy eating the bread is strange but who's isn't these days?  I have actually gone to the site before too.

Anytime someone is "showing their work" in a unique way, I get excited. Maybe we will check out the exhibition as it's only 18 blocks away.

This year, 11/09 and two years ago, 12/07.........http://www.flickr.com/photos/knz/2142439299/in/set-72157594473620586/

I love Ricky Gervais. Here is a sneak peak at the new HBO animated comedy series that I can't wait to see. If anyone has listened to their brilliant podcast, here it is in animated color.....[looks like you will have to go to the rickygervais page and play from there as the embedded one doesn't seem to play on my page here.  It's a short way down on the left and totally worth the click]

Additionally, I found this earlier version on Newsgrounds as this one is called Monkey News (the player is a little annoying as there are no controls and the audio quality is awful but the picture quality is good- but you can also watch it on youtube). Love the concept and think that the animation is cool to look at. Love, in the Monkey News animation, the expressions on Steven and Ricky's face as they hunger to understand the mind of Carl.  The process of animating something for mainstream TV is so fascinating as the detail in the characters was completely expanded and becomes more rich, so even a child can pick out each character.  The talking works really well in the earlier version too.  This is really for anyone who wanted to see what it is like to sit in the room with these three outstanding minds.

My friend Lucien Harriot sent me this link this morning.  He helped with the special effects in this video.  NME stands for New Musical Express and is a popular music magazine from the UK.  Neat to be mentioned.  They obviously like the Fiery Furnaces so it's cool to be included in their site. I am always happy to hear a shout out about our work. We are up to almost 4,500 views on TouTube in a little over 3 months so this is cool.

This is old, but I still like it and wanted to note that I am watching
MASASHI KAWAMURA. He is one of my YouTube subscriptions and I really like his work. The production value on this one is lovely and it's such a clear, well-defined piece. On another note, his new animation made with matchsticks is very cute too and is how I found this old piece. His website is worth looking at too.  I'm going to see if Inco knows him as she may have sent me one of his original pieces on YouTube. 

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88% vs 45%: There is really some value in listening to Rotten Tomatoes. I saw Quentin Tarantino's most recent film two weeks ago and loved it. Think the acting was terrific, and even though I sometimes get tired of all the blood and guts (bloody scalps and fights), I really liked this film, hands down compared to the Kill Bill series and Grindhouse films of late. The actor Christoph Waltz was brilliant as Hans Landa and was a terrific bad guy to fear throughout the story. The opening scene's mood was absolutely riveting and kept me nervous, knowing that bad things were coming. Mélanie Laurent as Shoshanna was also a wonderful strong woman character who didn't take it lying down from her evil Nazi counterparts. Tarantino always lets me taste anticipation and fear in his films which keeps me coming back for more......

But in comparison, the folks at RT warned me about Jennifer's Body and I ignored it because I had heard Diablo Cody talk about it on NPR (WNYC) and was intrigued (can't beat Juno for excellent writing, right?). Unfortunately the best joke was ruined by her saying it out-loud during the broadcast. I didn't even know that this was a horror film until I was sadly freaked by the gore in the first few minutes. Some of the dialogue was decent, but ruined in this Donnie Darko rip-off. Next time I will listen to Rotten Tomatoes.