Exercise in Gravity

Do you know that critical moment when human flesh is just about to mercilessly slam against the asphalt? No? Well, neither do I. But Denis Darzacq, a French photographer, captures that instant with an effortless click of a button in his photography series, The Fall. Here are a few images from the series:

My eyes threatened to pop out from their sockets' snug fit when they first saw those unnerving set of images. The skeptic in me immediately wrote it off as something digitally manipulated. But when I scoured the internet for answers, this unbeliever was fiercely given the middle finger. No retouching or special effects were done. Everything was real.

As it turns out, Darzacq hired professional dancers to launch themselves into space while he waited with his camera in hand for that magic moment to occur. Pretty awesome, pretty awesome.

Watch the goings-on behind the scenes:

Now if ever we do find ourselves falling into space, lets all hope our downfall's as graceful as that.

Exercise your threshold for amazement by checking out his latest project - Hyper - or his personal site.

The Anatomy Lesson

I’ve always marveled at those who can create a new fuzzy friend just by twisting and maneuvering two needles and a ball of yarn. The few times I had dug deep inside and channeled my inner Martha Stewart, I had ended up pitifully twirling an inedible dish of yarn spaghetti with my metal chopsticks. This is more commonly known as Arts and Crafts Fail.

Now Sarah Illenberger, on the other hand, is the ultimate modern day Ms. Crafty McCraft. She puts a whole new dimension to organ-ic phrases such as “Watch your lungs, you smoker” or “Spill your guts" and my personal favorite – “To you, I offer my heart.”

Obviously not a smoker's lungs.

How's the movement goin', Bowels?

Isn't that a fine work of heart?

Amazing, eh?

Now if frog dissection were this cute, I believe I would have gotten an A in my lab class.

Declare Yourself

Cat got your tongue every time you come face to face with the love of your life?
Do the words suddenly evaporate into thin air when your reason for being appears?
Are you too scared to approach the object of your affection for fear the he or she might hear the intense pounding of your heart?

Worry no more! Thou which that holds all the answers to life’s pressing problems – the internet – saves your ass once again!

Presenting, the form of declaration you wish you came up with:


Just fill up this wonderful form - sign, seal, deliver it and whoever he or she is, is yours. Or not. At least you tried and isn’t that all that matters?

The Magnificent Anderson

It was back in 2004 when my then boyfriend introduced me to this gangly young man who had a curious proclivity for wearing spiffy suits. He wasn’t exactly what anyone could call dapper nor dashing but nonetheless, I was enamored. He had a geekiness about him that you could smell a mile away. And naturally, I sniffed his nerdy scent to track down his whereabouts. This man’s name was Wes Anderson.

The first Anderson film I unknowingly watched was The Royal Tenenbaums. In the middle of my daily exercise routine that consisted of Channel Surfing and Couch Yoga, my eye caught these two little dudes wearing red Adidas tracksuits. I tuned in and was pleasantly surprised by what was unraveling before me. That night, I talked to ex-boyfriendo and described to him this cinematic gem I had channel surfed upon. He shed light upon my poor ignorant soul and the rest, as they say, is history.

This November, the very esteemed Criterion Collection will be coming out with Bottle Rocket, Anderson’s initial foray into the path of Great Auteurship or Supreme Auteurity or becoming The Auteurialist (Ok, I’ll stop now). And I say, it’s about time!


Now isn’t that awesome? Lovely artwork was done by Ian Dingman. Work out that finger of yours and click on the link to see more of his work.

Criterion also has 3 more of Anderson’s films in their spectacular vault of exquisite titles:




If I'm not mistaken, I believe the DVD artworks were done by Anderson's brother, Eric Anderson. Wow, this family sure didn’t waste anytime on their asses when God was handing out talent to the mortals.

Now imagine having all four of these DVDs lounging around with you in your room. That’s some pretty damn good company you’ll be in, I must say.

From the Bottom of Your Art

My little anecdote about stumbling upon an illustration straight out of Wong Kar Wai's In the Mood for Love reminded me of another inspired work of art by one of my favorite artists. His name is Matthew Woodson. He took a stab at rendering on digital canvas what he saw on screen:


And wasn't he right on the mark?

A month ago, while getting my daily dose of vitamin blog (I know you want to chuckle, don't stifle it, let it out), I came across this bit of humorous but sad news:

"Artist Matthew Woodson was recently bit by an unknown spider. Unlike Peter Parker who gained untold superpowers from a similar incident, this comics-related spider bite has put the artist in a tight financial situation. Read his blog for full details, but essentially, he is taking on commissioned illustration work — no job too small — to help pay for the medical bills over the next 8 months to keep the poisonous infection at bay."

Go on, clicky the linkies. Look at the guy's work. It's really awesome. I want his work to hang on my walls but transacting money on the net is an unknown joy for my Momma doesn't allow it. But for those of you who are allowed by their Mommas, go and help out the man! It's about time you stopped rubbing dried-up snot on your poor walls and put something nice on it for a change.

Nerves of Steel

I'm just sitting here alone all day, but my lips are moving because I'm saying dialogue out loud, and I'm making poses and expressions in mirrors and stuff to get those things worked out."

- Adrian Tomine on what shocking happenings
could greet those peering through his window

The first time I laid my eyes on one of Adrian Tomine’s illustrations, I was quite taken. I was a junior back then in college and was fervently bitten by the Wong Kar Wai bug. Googling Wong Kar Wai led me to stumble upon Tomine’s labor of love, a colored illustration of a scene straight from In the Mood for Love (One of the Top 5 All-Time Favorite Films of My Young, Impressionable Wanna-be Filmmaker Self, Back in the Day When Everything and Anything Was Possible and When Life’s Harsh Realities Didn’t Slap You Across the Face Yet, but that’s another story).

Tomine's portrayal of In the Mood for Love

In the Age of Google, a click of the mouse can lead you to open countless doors of so-called knowledge. So I made my way, banging open door after door, and my hunger for all things Tomine was briefly satiated. I say briefly because the truth sunk in, the probability of my owning any of Tomine’s titles was equal to the probability of me waking up blonde and blue-eyed the next day: It can happen, but not just yet. To make a boring story short, I made my way to the US of A, scoured the shelves of heaven a.k.a Barnes and Noble and snagged every Tomine title that my beady little eyes fell on: Summer Blonde and 32 Stories: The Complete Optic Nerve Mini-Comics. And I was a happy camper.

Last year, Tomine came out with his most recent work to date, Shortcomings. What I love about Tomine’s work is his accurate portrayal of life in the real world. There are no super heroes, no super powers, no grown men prancing about in leotards and masks. But in my opinion, it's just as good as its brothers from the same medium. Tomine whips out his knife, cuts out a slice of life and uses that as a jumping off point to tell his stories about the bitterness and sweetness inherent in life. In all honesty, my love for Tomine's work really lies in his artwork. When you get the privilege of laying your eyes onto his colored illustrations, please be prepared to let out a gasp of amazement. His comics are usually drawn in black and white, but don't let the lack of color bore you. Tomine has such a firm grasp of the nuances in facial expressions that the emotions of his characters really do jump off the pages, and you can't help but mirror those feelings as well.

If you’re lucky enough, you can find Tomine’s work over at Fullybooked. But if you really want to make sure that you happily go home with a Tomine comic in your hands, trek on over to the lair of magical things, Sputnik in Cubao X.

"Missed Connection", Tomine also illustrates for The New Yorker

"Facebook"


"Lucky Alan"