November 16, 2012 Video & Multimedia Far-Out By Sadie Stein We at the Review are big fans of the work of Tomi Ungerer, so we were delighted to hear about this documentary on the idiosyncratic illustrator. As the trailer and this interview with the director show, it promises to be memorable.
November 8, 2012 Video & Multimedia Happy Birthday, Bram Stoker By Sadie Stein Web surfers will have noticed Google’s celebration of the Dracula scribe’s big 1-6-5 in today’s doodle. But the celebrations don’t end there: Galleycat has rounded up free Stoker e-books, while those across the pond enjoy a Bram Stoker Wedding. Enjoy an excerpt from the 1922 silent film version of Nosferatu: [tweetbutton] [facebook_ilike]
November 5, 2012 Video & Multimedia Sandy’s Aftermath By Sadie Stein The hurricane may be over, but for many areas of Staten Island, New Jersey, Brooklyn, and Queens, the recovery is just beginning. Here, a reminder of the devastation visited on just one of these areas. Learn what you can do.
October 29, 2012 Video & Multimedia Happy Birthday, Ballpoint! By Sadie Stein On this day in 1945, the first commercially-made ballpoint pens went on sale at New York’s late Gimbels Department Store for $12.50. The model, an unlicensed copy of an Argentine design, was produced by one Milton Reynolds. He called it the Reynolds Rocket, and we’ve been avoiding ink stains ever since. In its honor, watch how it’s made! [tweetbutton] [facebook_ilike]
October 24, 2012 Video & Multimedia Thessaly’s Ideal Bookshelf By Sadie Stein We are so excited about My Ideal Bookshelf, the brainchild of artist extraordinaire Jane Mount and our friend (and founding Daily editor!) Thessaly La Force. The premise is this: Jane painted the favorite books of more than a hundred fascinating people from all walks of life, and Thessaly interviewed them about literature they love and how it has shaped them. Below, Jane paints Thessaly’s bookshelf. Painting an Ideal Bookshelf from Jane Mount on Vimeo. [tweetbutton] [facebook_ilike]
October 23, 2012 Video & Multimedia Postcard from San Francisco By Sadie Stein Greetings from the West Coast! While visiting the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art over the weekend, I was struck by Ed Osborn’s piece, Night-Sea Music, in which a series of music boxes play via rubber cables. Visually arresting and haunting to listen to, it would have been engaging on purely aesthetic terms. But the caption tells a whole other story: The piece is titled after a John Barth story, “Night-Sea Journey,” which is narrated by a confused and not altogether enthusiastic single spermatozoa on its journey in search of … well, something (the narrator is not very clear on the concept). The twisting and spasmodic movements of the piece alludes to those tiny twitching travelers whose brief existence is a suicidal mission to carry information through a difficult environment. The music boxes all play the old folk tune “The Merry Widow,” which serves as a wink and a nod towards the overwhelmingly futile energies expended by all those determined sperm. Night-Sea Music @ SFMOMA from Ed Osborn on Vimeo. [tweetbutton] [facebook_ilike]