BANNED 3 – BETTER OFF DEAD

Banned 3 -better off dead trailer!!! from Banned Vids on Vimeo.

There are a lot of "HOLY SHIT!" moments here. I'm hoping Cooper gets a copy of it from somewhere because I'm SO KEEN! Hahahahaha

KOEN HAUSER

Anatomy + photography = FUN!

This is work by Koen Hauser, a photographer from the Netherlands.

The geeky part of me that wanted to be a doctor from the time that I was about seven finds this work really, really appealing ...

SPIDERDEATH

I was supposed to go to Spiderdeath's gallery show at China Heights last Friday, but instead got a rotten cold and asides from work I stayed home (BORING!).

So to make up for it, I'm posting a link to his work here, because it's FUCKING SICK!

If you're into mid-80s, thrash punk inspired stuff (think Pushead and you'll be on the right track!) then this is definitely for you!

ILLUSTRATIONS BY YUTA ONODA

They remind me a lot of a Japanese Dan Mumford.

You can scope out the rest of his portfolio here.

THE PRETTIEST THING EVER...

Not only is Paradise Illusions/Paranoid Delusions one of my fave EPs to come out this year ... LOOK AT THE FUCKING VINYL RELEASE! Someone buy me this right now.....

SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE REUNION?

Via: Ear Candy

"Last night Ear Candy caught wind of a strong rumor that Sunny Day Real Estate, one of the most influential and underappreciated post-grunge groups to come out of Seattle, has reunited with its original members and plan on touring this year.

The band got together in 1992 and released "Diary" in 1994, an album I discovered after Kurt Cobain killed himself and upon first listen I immediately fell in love with every song on the album. Unfortunately, after a few lineup changes and some reported struggles with its label, Sub Pop, the group disbanded in 2001. The original SDR lineup included Jeremy Enigk. Nate Mendel, William Goldsmith and Dan Hoerner and they are credited with being one of the grandfathers of emo. Now before you go blaming these guys for AFI, My Chemcial Romance and all those other emo bands, they aren't responsible for that type of emo. Think more along the lines of "Pinkerton" emo and you've got it.

If a few of those names in their lineup sound familiar it's because Mendel is the bass player in Foo Fighters and Goldsmith used to the drummer for the Foos before he left the group and some guy named Taylor Hawkins stepped in behind the kit. Oh yeah, and Enigk has had a pretty decent solo career too but not as noteworthy as the non-SDR days of Hawkins and Goldsmith.

There has been no official word on when the band will tour, but according to my source, current KEXP and former 107.7 The End jock Marco Collins, the original lineup is rehearsing and planning on touring."

GEOFF RICKLEY RANTS

From a recent show, Geoff from Thursday blows off some steam and then performs “Beyond the Visible Spectrum” off of Common Existence.

Geoff Rickley ... You rule my life!

Via Epitaph Blog

ANIME FIRE – SEA OF SERPENTS

Sea Of Serpents (Live @ YMCA HQ)

Video for a track from their new EP.

Probably one of the best bands Australia has to offer right now! They're doing their own thing and they're doing it well!

DISNEYNATURE – OCEANS

OK so yesterday was Earth Day, but in honour of the day Disney has launched the trailer for their newest nature movie Oceans, due out in theaters exactly one year from today, on Earth Day 2010.

A fascinating journey into the depths of the ocean, amidst the tumult of the storms, in the vast territory of those who inhabit the sea. Part thriller, part meditation on the wonders of the sub-aquatic world.

The videography looks to be AMAZING and I can honestly say that I can't wait for it! Hahahaha ... It's the geek in me coming out!

STANLEY DONWOOD

If you don't know, Stanley Donwood (and sometime with the mysterious collaborator TCHOCK) has been the man primarily responsible for all of Radiohead's artwork – album covers, posters, merch – since 1994.

This video is a really cool little look at some of his processes in the creation of his artwork, so you should definitely check it out!

DAVID LYNCH x MOBY

Shot In The Back Of The Head from Moby on Vimeo.

The clip is animated by David Lynch for Moby's new single Shot In The Back Of The Head from his forthcoming album, Wait For Me.

The song can be downloaded for free from here.

NEW ENTER SHIKARI SINGLE

NEW ALEXISONFIRE SINGLE

New Alexisonfire single, Young Cardinals, taken from the album Old Crows/Young Cardinals, which will be released July 23 in the US. Not sure when in Australia.

UNDEROATH – TOO BRIGHT TO SEE TOO LOUD TO HEAR

Underoath - Too Bright To See Too Loud To Hear

New Video ... It's trippy but a really cool, original concept that is beautiful to watch.

RADIOHEAD COVERING PORTISHEAD

This is what true beauty is...

BOOKS ON MY BEDSIDE TABLE

FOCALPOINT SAMPLES VOL.2

Focalpointbmx Samples2 from Focalpointbmx.com on Vimeo.

Get into it!

www.focalpointbmx.com

Fun in Melbourne!

I was in Melbourne over New Years. Cooper and I visited Michaels (an epic camera store on Elizabeth St) so that he could buy a whole bunch of disposable cameras for a trip he was going on. I was inspired to get one of my own and in the last couple of days that I was there I took a whole bunch of photos. Some are pretty cool, some are just shit!

I put some of my favourites up on my Flickr, so scope them out if you like.

That sort of started my love affair with film – not for serious photography, but more for mucking around and having fun with it all! I have a few rolls from an action sampler, another disposable camera and from this old Praktica that my dad used to have. Can't wait to get all those rolls developed! Hahahaha

THE MAKING OF NIN 'CLOSER'

NIN: The Making of the "Closer" Video from Nine Inch Nails on Vimeo.

This is a REALLY long video (like 30mins) but it's so GOOD! A combination of creepy and strange and awesome all at once! I know the finished video is really bizarre, but the way that Mark Romanek talks about it is really creepy as well!

Via: Wicked Halo

TAMARA DE LEMPICKA

I found out about Tamara de Lempicka somewhere last night. I don't know much about her but I really really really like her aesthetic.

My sister and I went to the Art Gallery Of NSW last week and while we were there we were talking about what we like. Personally, I mostly like classical stuff but I also have a soft spot for this sort of style that I kind of associate with the 1920s/30s. I don't know technical names for anything but this is what I dig! Hahahaha

WACKOMARIA SATIN JACKET

Today seems to be the day that my browsings of the Internet have me going I WANT! I WANT! I WANT!

The next thing on my "I WANT!" list is this awesome jacket from Wackomaria. From the cute pin up on the back, to the Guilty Parties embroidered on the front and just the fact that it's an AWESOME SATIN JACKET!!!! everything about it is just radtactular!

Via: Arknets

NEW MIKE GIANT PRINTS

Are available now at his online store. Got sent this in a mailout this morning and since he is one of my favourite artists I felt it important to share this information.



P.S. DESPERATELY want one of his works :(

CUTEST EVER!

And I think it goes to show that there is some good in the world!

The Tweenbot is a cardboard-bodied, human-dependent robot that navigates the city with the help of pedestrians they encounter. Tweenbot has equipped with a flag stating its intended destination, and rely on people they meet to read this flag and to aim them in the right direction to reach their goal. Kacie Kinzer, the student of Tisch School of the Arts created the tweenbot for his art experiment.

Given their extreme vulnerability, the vastness of city space, the dangers posed by traffic, suspicion of terrorism, and the possibility that no one would be interested in helping a lost little robot...

The results were unexpected. Over the course of the following months, throughout numerous missions, the Tweenbots were successful in rolling from their start point to their far-away destination assisted only by strangers. Every time the robot got caught under a park bench, ground futilely against a curb, or became trapped in a pothole, some passerby would always rescue it and send it toward its goal. Never once was a Tweenbot lost or damaged. Often, people would ignore the instructions to aim the Tweenbot in the right direction , if that direction meant sending the robot into a perilous situation. One man turned the robot back in the direction from which it had just come, saying out loud to the Tweenbot, "You can;t go that way, it's toward the road."


Via: Likecool

JOHNNY CUPCAKES

It looks like Mr Cupcakes is expanding his range beyond hoodies, tshirts and the iPhone case that Cooper got me for Xmas last year and I ADORE!

I am especially in LOVE with these earrings and someone should definitely get them for me when they get released!!!



Even the packaging of them are awesome!

NEW CONVERGE SONGS LIVE

Converge played two new songs at their 3/28/09 show in Europa in NYC. The setlist is as follows:

- New Song #1
- New Song #2
- Plagues
- No Heroes
- The Saddest Day
- Locust Reign Vengeance
- Lonewolves
- Eagles Become Vultures
- The Broken Vow
- Drop Out/Hope Street
- Bitter & Then Some
- Last Light
- Wolverine Blues (Entombed Cover)
- Heartache
- Hellbound
- Concubine

Via Metal Injection – I'm pretty sure that you can see every song from their set on the site. Just click one of the links above.

SEASON OF THE WITCH

Pirate Provocateur

The Season Of The Witch Mystifying Virtual Challenge

Pan & The Vestry Of Virgins

This is one of the coolest ad campaigns I've seen in a long while!

For Agent Provocateur

The ad was shot by fashion photographer Tim Bret Day. Inspired by the work of Paul de la Roche; the execution of Lady Gray - mixed with the Massacre of the Innocents by Peter Paul Rubens.

Click the images to enlarge to full size.

NEW MIKE JUDGE MOVIE – EXTRACT

Someone needs to buy me the Beavis & Butthead DVDs ... Seriously!

SHEPARD FAIREY x BAD BRAINS

SIIIIIICKK!

The 18 x 24 print sold out as fast as it went on sale…obviously.

From Fairey:

Bad Brains are one of my favorite punk/hardcore groups of all time. If you don’t have their self titled debut, “Rock For Light”, “I Agaist I”, or “Quickness”, they are all essential.

Via: World Moves Fast

14 GREATEST BAND MASCOTS

Gigwise came up with this list. It's a cool list! There are the obvious – Misfits fiend skull, Eddie The Head and Snaggletooth B. Motorhead. Let's just face it though, I'm just STOKED that Stanley Donwood's Radiohead bear made it on the list! Ha...

NEW GREEN DAY SONG PERFORMED LIVE

It doesn't really sound like anything new or revolutionary, but FUCK I've missed them!

xKINGDOMx BLOG

"During one of the opening bands I saw a kid beat his own chest. It was during a lull in his mosh routine. And not done in like a "I'm feeling this beat" sort of way, or a single pound like us east coasters are prone to doing, but like, straight up ape. I couldn't even LOL, I was so depressed."

KINGDOM are a fairly awesome band from the US (on Eulogy) and I'm really enjoying their new album (The Rage That Guides) and their blog.

The blog is especially cool. They go into a fair amount of detail of what it's like to be on tour and some of the people they've met and shenanigans they get up to. I've spent the whole morning reading it instead of preparing for an interview I have to do tomorrow or applying for jobs, but hey, at least I'm entertained!

ASTRO BOY

Seeing that really cool poster had me psyched for this re-done version of this CLASSIC from my childhood. Then I saw the trailer below and I'm now of two minds. I'm just not sure about it, to be honest. It's very .... clean I guess is the word that I'm looking for?

Anyway, check out the video below and decide for yourself.

MATTHEW M. LAKOWSKI

Matthew M. Laskowski is currently a student at the Art Institute of Boston. Where he is studying towards a BFA degree in illustration. His work centers around conceptual art design, His style tends to lean much more toward the technical side over organic. He loves to think about mechanical things, gadgetry, and urban life.

Portfolio: plasticshards.com

SIDE B

I haven't read Side A, it's predecessor, but I'm a fan of music and a fan of comics so it would only stand to reason that this collection would be EPIC!

I'm not sure if/when it will be available in Australia, but I suppose you would be able to do a special order from overseas or through your local comic book store.

"Music touches our lives every day. It is an influential and defining part of all generations and cultures. We have compiled an anthology full of stories about the influence that music can have on life - be it the life of the artist as and individual or on the creative process.

Over 200 pages of lost lovers, rocking out, spirit guides, ghosts, and dinosaurs - it's like an action adventure comic for the music lover in all of us. (Edited by Rachel Dukes, published by Poseur Ink.)

The line up of artists includes such comic icons as Jeffrey Brown (Clumsy, I Wish I was Small), Brandon Graham (Multiple Warheads, King City), Ryan Kelly (Local, New York Four), and Jim Mahfood (Grrl Scouts, Clerks); bringing personality and flair to an already intriguing book of stories."

You can find out more information at the Poseur Ink website.

TYPE

Defgrip is a site that I check out almost daily anyway, but having been out all day today it wasn't until I got home briefly this afternoon that Cooper told me about this rad video that Harrison featured on the site.

It had him psyched on learning to do cool things with freehand based type, which is always really cool to see, especially since this is something that I have experimented with on and off since high school. I'm not great, but it is something that I enjoy so I do it.

Having watched it (and seeing Coop psyched on it) had me rummaging through the box under my bed of all my old supplies – calligraphy pens, black felt tips of varying thicknesses and (my favourite) brush markers! So tomorrow's plan is to get a pencil case to put all this stuff in, some ink cartridges for my calligraphy pen and compiling list of some other materials that I may have to go to Eckersley's to pick up.

THE TOUR OF 2009?

NOTE TO SELF: Get all Earth Crisis albums back off Hasselrad in preparation for this tour.

I'm going to put it out there right now and say that this will PROBABLY be the best tour of 2009!

SONS OF ANARCHY

My newest television find! I've only watched the first episode but I'm digging it so hard right now. Can't wait to get the rest of Season One!!!!

Also has a great soundtrack to back it up which is always a bonus...


Oh, and Henry Rollins will be in at least six episodes of Season Two (attn: Hasselrad!)

WiiSPRAY

WiiSpray Teaser from Martin Lihs on Vimeo.

This has the potential to be so very, VERY cool!

FOCALPOINT SAMPLES VOL. 1

Cooper sent this to me ages ago, but I haven't been bothered to blog. Now it's a matter of better late than never, but it's still a really cool video (you get to see Coop get angry and throw his bike ... Rare!).

Focalpointbmx Samples Vol1 from cooper b on Vimeo.

"We decided to release some "Samples" as we are calling them of random clips, crashes and unused clips, for the up and coming release of the next Focalpoint DVD.
Since we are having two separate DVD's on one disc (Focalpoint & Defero) there won't be much room for bonus, so instead you get these edits up until the release in a couple months.
Enjoy."

METALLICA IN THE ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAME

We're all Metallica fans here (well we should be...), so I think this is a very cool post to make! Ripped from World Moves Fast.

"METALLICA played “Master Of Puppets” and “Enter Sandman” at last night’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, with the band’s former bassist Jason Newsted and his replacement, Robert Trujillo, both taking part in the performance (the group played as a five-piece). They also led a “surprise jam” at the end of the night consisting of “Train Kept A Rollin’”, with RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS’ Flea, LED ZEPPELIN’s Jimmy Page, AEROSMITH’s Joe Perry and Jeff Beck (see video above).

METALLICA was inducted by RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS bassist Flea. With his hair dyed blue and wearing a vintage METALLICA T-shirt under a green blazer, Flea recalled the first time he heard METALLICA, in 1984 while on tour with the PEPPERS. It was 3 in the morning, they were tired, crammed into a van and sick of being on the road, and “this music comes on the radio, and I couldn’t believe that it fucking existed,” Flea said, according to MTV.com, as guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield jokingly covered his daughter’s ears. “It was like I had been living in this normal world, where I knew what everything was that came on the radio, and all of a sudden my mind was being blown by this beautiful, violent thing that was unlike anything I had ever heard before in my life.”

Flea profanely described staring at the radio in awe at this music that was explosive, precise, aggressive and intense, with wild and bizarre rhythm changes that he couldn’t describe. “I didn’t know what it was; the only thing I knew for sure was that it was a mighty thing,” he said of “Fight Fire with Fire”, likening METALLICA’s unique sound to a rarified “cosmic chemistry” and paying moving homage to the special gift of late bassist Cliff Burton, who died in 1986 in a bus accident while on tour with the group.

“When a person gets rocking to their music, everything else disappears, and that person is just one with the rock,” Flea said. “It is an inexplicable, awesome thing, and I bow down to it.”

Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich hugged onstage after giving speeches, and both thanked fans who have followed the band through its ups-and-downs that included the death of Cliff Burton.

“I think rock and roll is about possibilities and about dreams,” Ulrich said. “The fact that the six of us can be up on the stage tonight, snot-nosed kids, outcasts, loners who grew up in very different parts of the world, in very different situations and make it here tonight, to this wonderful night in front of all these people down here … Rock and roll truly is about possibilities. Look at us. METALLICA’s in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! Can you fucking believe that?”

Hetfield started his thanks with a list of bands he’d like to see enter next, which included KISS, RUSH, THIN LIZZY, TED NUGENT, IRON MAIDEN and MOTÖRHEAD. He also dedicated the award to the young musicians trying to make it. “Dream big and dare to fail,” he said. “I dare you to do that. Because this is living proof that it is possible to make a dream come true.”

METALLICA flew in from Paris, where the group played Wednesday and Thursday nights. The band planned to rehearse with Newsted at soundcheck on Friday but the equipment and the crew apparently arrived later than expected, forcing the soundcheck to be rescheduled for Saturday."

LAURA LAINE

I found these little gems over on Kanye West's blog.

They're the work of illustrator Laura Laine and were commissioned by her for a fashion accessories spread in Muse Magazine (or so it apparently goes).

All I know is that they're super cute and I really want that orange handbag that's been turned into a swing!