VOODOO VILLAGE: January 2010

Vanishing Point

Nice motion graphics from Bonsajo.

Via NTIMM

For his installation in The Curve, Céleste Boursier-Mougenot creates a walk-though aviary for a flock of zebra finches, furnished with electric guitars and other musical instruments. As the birds go about their routine activities, perching on or feeding from the various pieces of equipment, they create a captivating, live soundscape.

Things I love about this ad for Thomas Cook holidays

1) The blur effect on the frame's edge that makes everything look ever so dreamy.

2) Jamie Redknapp pinging golf balls on the beach with his shirt off.

3) Jamie Redknapp playing keepy-uppy on the beach dressed in a suit sans shoes (obvs he didn't want to get sand in them).

Hear 'n Aid

Following the success of Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and USA for Africa's "We Are the World", Ronnie James Dio decided to make a similar project exclusively built on artists from the heavy metal scene. On May 20 & 21 1985, 40 artists gathered at the A&M Records Studio in Hollywood, California to record the song "Stars".

Posh Brit Posse Spit Mad Rhymez

Taken from a 1980s BBC documentary about hip-hop in the UK.

DESKTOP CLEAN OUT

EL NIÑO MAS BONITO

The golden child of reggaeton, Mini-Daddy, steps up with an eponymous banger that's burning up clubs in Mexico. Somebody buy that boy a burrito.

Makeout Videotape

Two dudes on a lo-fi, fuzz pop vibe: Makeout Videotape.

DESKTOP CLEAN OUT

Brick carvings from bygone eras

I'm not a fan of graffiti, but these carvings, etched into bricks around Arnold Circus by boys and girls from bygone eras, are something else...

From the wonderful blog Spitalfields Life...

The first I noticed was G.GOLDSTEIN 1950 AGED 12 and I halted in surprise, although the graffiti had been there sixty years it looked spontaneous and fragile. Immediately I wondered, where is G.Goldstein – now aged 72?

Quickly, more caught my eye, all at child height and some incised deeply into the bricks. As I took out my camera and began snapping, I became aware of two workmen with brushes touching up the bricks, they were a few yards to my right and edging towards me as I was taking my pictures. With a flash of emotion, I thought, is this the last moment to capture these inscriptions before they are erased forever? But once the first workman arrived, I showed him the graffiti and he lit up with delight, bringing his pal over to see the names, written before any of us were born. We shared a reverential moment of silent awe, before the guys reassured me that they were simply tinting some of the bricks to restore the tone of the wall and the inscriptions would not be affected.

So then the three of us set to work, conveniently sheltered from the rain by the scaffolding, the workmen tinting the bricks and me recording the dozens of names on the wall. You can see a few of my pictures below. Some people just left their surname and initial, some their full name, some the date, some the date and time, and a few their date of birth. I was interested by those who had chosen to give the day of the week and exact time, commonly 3:30pm, because I assume they had just come out of Virginia Rd or the Rochelle School. These timed inscriptions serve to pinpoint a single moment, whereas those where the age is given record a time of life and those with the date of birth simply declare “I exist.”

Master accuracy

My buddies Mike and Jess over at Time Based Arts just knocked out this spot for Nike, which features strikers Wayne Rooney and Fernando Torres, plus a heavy dubstep soundtrack.

All I need to get by

Chairs - Upcycled

SuperVan

This clip features on the Everything is Terrible DVD, which I purchased recently, but which I haven't been able to watch yet because Mr Postman couldn't fit it through my letterbox, which is a pain because now I have to trek over to the Postal Depot, which is in the middle of nowhere.