Excuse my rant. I feel it’s important.
In the USA it seems there are two choices of mainstream news: biased or irrelevant.
Plainly put, the First Amendment of that double-edged sword known as the United States Constitution lets any media channel say anything they damned well please and label it truth, unbiased, fair, naziism—really whatever they want. A majority of the rest of the world thinks less of Americans because “they” voted in Bush Junior not once but twice, but it really wasn’t their fault. Blame Fox News, the dominant force in news broadcasting in the US, who disturbingly tagline themselves
—Chris Noble, 09 February 2011
Just get the bloody (iPhone) app, will you? (other platforms are available)
A few years ago, Nestlé, the Swiss chocolatiers, put their hand to making a coffee-makin’ wonder system under the name of Nespresso. I wouldn’t be wasting your precious time if it weren’t for the fact that the coffee these little pod-based machines produce is nothing far short of nectar from the coffee gods.
It exposes how mediocre and weak the stuff Starbucks et al charge you far too much for really is. It’s shocking. Shocking. (More so than European chocolate vs American chocolate—even the fancy stuff from Whole Foods. Honestly, yanks, go to Cost Plus and treat yourselves to some Dairy
—Chris Noble, 03 February 2011
Call me sentimental
Maybe it’s because I have kids, or maybe it’s because I started at my craft before the ubiquitousness of computers and will always prefer hands-on work over computer-generated stuff—probably a bit of both—but I love these charming magazine covers from Romania.
They feature in a new 160-page book titled Graphics Without Computer–40 Years of Modest Achievements which, as well as these covers from children’s titles, features print work from packaging to propaganda.
—Chris Noble, 26 January 2011
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THE IN SOUND FROM WAY OUT, PARTS 2 and 3
Lucas Badtke-Berkow has been exploring the world of the printed page in Japan for the past 16 years with his company Knee High Media, producing inspirational, independent and open-minded publications and consistently looking at things with new eyes and an infectious inquisitiveness of the world around him.
Starting with Tokion magazine (which featured 11 years ago in Level issue 05—that’s the ‘part 1’ of this story) Lucas and his company have remained absolutely true to their values while developing new and exceptional places, products, events and publications for themselves and others—and most importantly, for this one-island Earth.
Read the full story of the singular Knee High Media, linked below.
—Lee Basford, 21 January 2011
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You may have noticed the wealth of interchangeable-lens “enthusiast” compact cameras that have bundled onto the market a late. They have most of the bells and whistles of digi SLRs, including the possibility of a bag of lenses, the occasional quandary of which lens to use (occasionally resulting in missing the Kodak moment), and then the later possible considering if the photo wouldn’t have looked better at a different focal length.
Fuji are throwing all that dilemma crap out of the window, though, with their forthcoming X100. They’ve gone and stuck an 35mm (equivalent) lens on the front, which let
—Chris Noble, 19 January 2011
I can see David Bailey sneaking one into his bag come March: he’s probably got $1,200 lying around, and being sensible he’ll be buying one in the US to avoid the UK-taxed price of around £1,000
The only saving grace of The Green Hornet is that Gondry’s fans know he must be more disappointed in himself than we ever could.
For once, something being 3D isn’t the crappest thing about being at the cinema. Jesus fucking H Christ, it makes Tron: Legacy look okay! And thats the best thing I can say about it.
Look, there are plenty of people out there on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes who think it’s okay, good even, but these people are retarded, it was like being transported back to the 90s when comic adaptations weren’t big business and The Shadow, Hudson
—Neil Shrubb, 18 January 2011
One of the most memorable scenes from 1986’s Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, you’ll remember, had Matthew Broderick’s character’s harebrained scheme for taking the miles off of cohort Cameron’s father’s Ferrari 250 GT California (actually a fiberglass-bodied, MG-based replica, sorry to burst that bubble) going, well, a tad wrong.
Now, you can own the location: the Highland Park, Illinois house. From the realtor’s website: “The Ben Rose Home—site of the famous movie ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’, cantilevered over the ravine, these two steel and glass buildings, which can never be duplicated, have incredible vistas of the surrounding woods. This is a unique
—Chris Noble, 13 January 2011
I’ve been working nights everybody
Shooting bands before and after they go on stage in an attempt to capture the most exciting artists in the most candid and revealing of ways, in the seconds prior and the seconds immediately following their live performance.
We’re gathering some great results and getting a worthy hit rate of folks saying “err, okay” despite the huge intrusion at a time most artists are enjoying their rituals.
And whatever they may be, they rarely enjoy and give access to be photographed whilst doing them.
To make it happen takes some work and Ed Bartlett, my super-producer, is hammering all the normal platforms to engage managers and bands to take part and say “yes”. Harder than you think. We’ve a huge amount more to
—Tom Oldham, 12 January 2011
Pictured, before and after, in order: Editors, Friendly Fires, Plan B, The Prodigy, Tinie Tempah, and the plush studio.
More info here: Beherenowphoto.com, Warchild.org and Tomoldham.com
If you can’t beat them
I’ve been tinkering with the site. I threw out my ideals and ideas of a clean and super-simple front page and gone with a more standard set-up. What’s new?
A blog layout. Bosh. All the wordy posts in one big pile, unless you want to browse a section: click on the tiny section-of-choice heading above posts to do that. As always, click on the logo to head home.
Comments. In the print mag, the letters page was called “comms”, short for “communications” so that’s what the comments are titled, short for “comments”. Handy, that. Until there are new things to make your mark on, go back and have your say about the entries that previously had you thinking without means
—Chris Noble, 11 January 2011
As much as I am already a fan of Darren Aronofsky’s work and as soft a spot as I have for Mickey Rourke, I skipped The Wrestler (2008). Though I am open to being proven wrong, the more I saw of the previews, the less I thought it was my thing. Black Swan (2010) however struck me as more of a Pi with ballet and theatre instead of computers and the stock market. It turns out that my intuition was pretty much on point, at least for the latter case. Like David Cronenberg and perhaps Stanley Kubrick, Aronofsky is very
—Roy Christopher, 10 January 2011
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