Amanda Maxwell and Sarah Larnach: Nobody Told Me There’d Be Days Like These

Nobody Told Me There’d Be Days Like These is the debut short story collection from Sydney-based New Zealander, Amanda Maxwell and features illustrations by Record | Preserve | Share favourite, Sarah Laranach. Maxwell and Larnach are both from New Zealand but met and became friends in Vancouver while living there in the early noughties. They now live on different floors of the same building in Kings Cross, Sydney.

Published by Australian independent book publisher Serps Press, the fifteen short stories in Nobody Told Me There’d Be Days Like These are coming-of-age tales which explore teen years –  the fuzzy boundaries between youth and adulthood, friendship and romance, independence and loneliness and, of course, the awkward space between happiness and sorrow. Maxwell’s writing style is simple, crisp and clean and is for anyone who is, or remembers what it’s like to be, young. It goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway), Larnach’s illustrations are H-to-the-oh-T.

You can purchase a copy of Nobody Told Me There’d Be Days Like These here.

2008 – The Year in Photographs

Alan Taylor, editor of the The Boston Globe’s “The Big Picture” photo blog has posted a wonderful three-part story entitled 2008, the year in photographs which includes 120 photos taken throughout the year. As Taylor says “it’s not the story of 2008, it’s certainly not all stories, but as a collection it does show a good portion of what life has been like over the past 12 months.”

Check out 2008, the year in photographs here.

Hilary Thackway

I’ve been meaning to paste up some work from my friend Hilary Thackway for ages. As the Creative Editor of the highly anticipated Canberra-based zine, Elodi, Hilary’s illustrations have a whimsical style and a subdued humour that make the parentheses at the corners of your mouth turn upward. Her female characters possess a playful vulnerability – you almost want to fetch them a cup of tea.

The year 2009 will see Hilary make the move from Canberra to Sydney to chase her creative dream –  and to break the hearts of hard-edged skater boys! Canberra’s loss is Sydney’s gain – we’ll miss you Hil! See more of Hilary’s work in the gallery below:

Ksubi Online (finally)

It really is Christmas. First the guys at Monster Children launch their new look website and now I learn that the crazy kids at Australian fashion label Ksubi have launched their blog. They are five years late – but then those hipster fashionista types are always the last at a party. Scope the Ksubi blog here. Bookmark it now and add it to your daily digital dose.

Glen E. Friedman

Glen E. Friedman is an iconic lensman and his images have captured the spirit of skateboarding and punk rock for over twenty years. Today I learned that the Friedman retrospective, Idealist Propaganda, is showing at Shephard Fairey’s Subliminal Projects Gallery in LA (13 December to 9 January). Unfortunatley, I’m not jumping a flight State-side  anytime soon and won’t be there to see it. But, hearing the news of the retrospective reminded me of this great interview with the man himself. I love this guy – he knows how to keep it real: rebellious and gritty. Check it.

 

Jizz In My Pants

This is so dicked up it’s good. The first single from The Lonely Island’s debut album “INCREDIBAD”. Look out for guest appearances by Molly Sims, Jamie Lynn Sigler, and Justin Timberlake.

Barbie of the Undead by Are Sundnes

Have you ever thought that Barbie was evil and deserved to be reviled as the ultimate symbol of commercialism and sexism? Nah, me neither. But that hasn’t stopped Are Sundnes, a designer based in Oslo, Norway, from creating his latest project: Barbie of the Undead. Having graduated this year as an Art Director from Westerdals School of Communication, Sundnes got creative with some Super Sculpey and acrylic paints to make Barbie resemble a flesh eating zombie.

This model probably won’t be in stores for Christmas. To see some pictures from the making of Barbie of the Undead, go here.

[via Boing Boing]

Monster Children Magazine Launches New Website

By the beard of Zeus! The creative misfits and vagrants responsilbe for Monster Children magazine, one of Australia’s most innovative and influential design-oriented publications, have finally launched their new website. Rumours and speculation swirled around Australia’s graphic design community when their website went offline for a month or two (although Issue 20 of MC had a teaser advertisement stating that the new look site would be up and running in October). While the launch may be behind schedule, it’s been worth the wait.

The new site, developed by Cairns-based digital co-lab Made By Expo, is clean, minimalist and – thankfully – a helluva lot friendlier to navigate. The site includes a blog, shop, and links to the Monster Children gallery. But the nicest touch is the section for community posts where anyone can login and have their say, post info about their own art show, or throw up any random shit they think everyone else wants to know about.

Here’s hoping that the lads keep it regularly updated! Go and explore the new Monster Children website here.

Zoolander Sequel Confirmed

 

In what is the best news so far this week, Ben Stiller has reportedly re-confirmed he is working on a sequel to his 2001 comedy hit Zoolander, in which he iconically portrayed clueless fashion model, Derek Zoolander. Stiller always wanted (and intended) to complete the Zoolander story. The character was based on a 1996 VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards character he co-created with MTV Movie Awards writer/producer Drake Sather. Plans for a sequel were initially set aside in 2004 when Sather, who co-wrote the film, passed away. Stiller says, “I’ve been trying to get Zoolander 2 together and we’ve had a few scripts. I feel that is the sequel I really would like to do some day because I like the original and I would make sure it was something new and worthy of it first.”

 [via The Vine]

Evan Roth vs Jay-Z

Evan Roth is an American artist based in Hong Kong with interests in technology, typography and popular culture. While studying the Parsons Design + Technology MFA program, Roth developed and finessed  a technique he calls Typographic Illustration – in which he pairs typeface and music. After choosing a font (Helvetica, Baskerville Old Face and Times New Roman seem to be favourites) Roth layers thousands of letters on top of one another until a portrait emerges.

Roth created the video for “Brooklyn Go Hard”, a new Jay-Z song for RED & the Global Fund to Fight AIDS in Africa.  The track, produced by Kanye West and featuring Santogold, plays out while the letters “Brooklyn” fall into place, creating an image of the Jigga Man himself. It’s slick and minimalist – watch it below and enjoy:

 

Notably, the track is included on the soundtrack to “Notorious” – the biopic on the Notorious B.I.G. (aka Christopher Wallace).

Father and Daughter – a film by Michael Dudok de Wit

This wordless, minimalist animation won the Best Animated Short Oscar in 2000. I just discovered it today – and it’s beautiful. Father and Daughter is directed by Michael Dudok de Wit and is complemented perfectly by Normand Roger’s score. It’s mystifying that so much pathos and emotion can be communicated by animation.

CIT Student Photography Exhibition

POW! is the end of year Bachelor of Design (Photography) exhibition for students at the Canberra Institute of Technology. Free to the general public, the exhibtion provides a great opportunity to see some of Australia’s new up-coming photography talent (some of which has been featured on this blog). The exhibition is being held at the High Court of Australia from 3 – 11 December.  Get down there for some eye candy. Full details below: