I was fortunate enough to attend the premiere of the Maurice Sendak doc Tell Them Anything You Want in New York last week. DO NOT miss this extraordinary film on HBO starting October 14th. Directed by Spike Jonze and Lance Bangs.

, 13 October 2009

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As software is continually being overhauled and upgraded, the stuff created on the old stuff looks less like itself when opened on the new stuff. With that in mind, I ported the old Level covers from the original QuarkXpress 4 files to future-proofed Adobe Illustrator CS3 EPSs before it was too late. Like someone recording their vinyl onto MP3, only without the disdain from stylus-fondlers. While I was at it, I made a slideshow of the covers for anyone who’s interested.

Also, for added functionality, this website now has a contents page, available via the link at bottom left.

, 16 September 2009

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The New York Times has just published a great piece about Level favourites Spike Jonze and, of course, his Where the Wild Things Are movie. The article benefits from writer Saki Knafo’s in-depth research and his shadowing of Jonze for a fair few months. Along the way, Knafo seems to have talked to most of the big players in Spike’s life and that of the film and the result is a compelling and telling read.

, 04 September 2009

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Recent Nike SB art department quitter Michael Leon has set up his own studio. The artist, renowned for his repeated recycling of his skull-in-shades icon, has left a trail of excellent work in his wake, including that for the Girl Skateboards group, Rasa Libre and his own Commonwealth Stacks project.

He managed to give Nike SB some good looks in spite of the notorious bureaucracy at 1 Bowerman Drive, so we can only expect this uncaged bird to sing very sweetly.

, 04 September 2009

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Update: The Subliminal Projects Gallery in LA is the venue for the month-long Weekend Pacifists exhibit. The very fine art of Russ Pope, Michael Sieben, Chris Pastras, Mike Mills and Level logger Andy Jenkins—including some results of the latter “trying new things”—is now on show for your delectation, until September 19th.

The gallery has posted images of the art on show on their website and their YouTube page features video from from the opening night and interviews with the artists.

, 01 September 2009

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In honor of the new Spike Jones movie, Girl Skateboards has released a series of Where the Wild Things Are decks. All the characters—and appropriate widths—are available. (I got the 8″ Rick McCrank featuring Emil’s big mug on it.) What better way to commemorate the movie event of the year than with some wild tre flips and impossibles on a board featuring one of the Wild Things?

, 01 September 2009

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When drunk drivers inadvertently collaborated with the current American health “system”, two by-standing Portlanders each lost a leg and gained an armful of steep medical bills.

If the system is proving reluctant to help, Austin and Lauren’s friends have jumped to it, holding various fundraisers such as garage sales (flogging overstock Commonwealth Stacks clothing for a buck a pop, et cetera) and now an email-bid art auction, flogging works by various artists including Andrew Pommier, Geoff McFetridge, Michael Leon and Mike Perry.

It’s decent art with extra good karma.

, 25 August 2009

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This is not a website that blows its own trumpet, but if you need another reason to add it to your iPhone’s home screen, now you will get this cute little icon featuring Tom Oldham’s 1999 photo of Nina Persson from the cover of Level issue 01.

The site works perfectly on the iPhone (apart from the ‘latest entry’ hovering-trick on the section links above) so, if you haven’t already, that makes two more reasons to invest in one.

, 13 August 2009

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Artist and signed-up levelmag.com contributor Andy Mueller is currently avoiding doing anything for the website you’re looking at by showing a selection of his work in Chicago. I’m imagining the Public Works co-showers Chris Eichenseer, Justin Fines and Cody Hudson are also avoiding similar volunteer work.

Please do not make your way down to the Andrew Rafacz Gallery at 835 W. Washington Boulevard before August 29th, that way he won’t get booked for future shows and might “find time” to actually put some minutes in at levelmag.com. Thanks.

, 07 August 2009

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Asian-American pop culture magazine Giant Robot has a few stores dotted around the US, and their LA store, GR2, is having a special weekend art show and sale, entitled “Junk in the Trunk”. They’ve asked a long list of decent artists to contribute pieces of their art, old or new, with the stipulation that they be reasonably priced. You could even try to bargain with artists at the reception Saturday evening.

The next day they’ll also host a yard sale of all sorts of media, clothing, collectable toys and other stuff from the GR basement.

, 05 August 2009

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