Must See

The Phoenix Dust Storm

I can’t believe this hasn’t gotten more press, this is CRAZY looking. 30 second time lapse of the Phoenix Dust Storm.

(Thanks Monica! You and Seth have been key to WL this week )

Must See

American Apparel Does Something Likeable

I don’t care much for the American Apparel branding and marketing philosophy, but this video is awesome.

Shot by Tony Kelly and featuring the absurdly talented Lil Demon (yes he’s really doing that breakdancing himself) and Jalen Testerman, also a break-dancing 9 year old, against the downtown LA skyline.

 

Must See

Like No Other

There’s no way this video/ad won’t put a smile on your face. It made me so happy I almost cried.

Maybe y’all have already seen this, as it was on TV, but I don’t watch TV really (except whatever my dear roommate has on in the background while I blog, or series that I get way obsessively sucked into via Netflix instant, but then there’s no ads) so I miss out on all the ads that get raved about. And I don’t really care if you’ve already seen it. Watch it again.

 

The team (who I think are brilliant) behind this spot for Sony Bravia TVs wanted to connect people to the product in an emotional, rather than rational way, which is SO smart– it’s what Apple does all the time.  TVs are traditionally sold by bragging about the specs and high tech this or that. This spot said absolutely nothing about the product other than “Color like no other,” as part of their larger “like no other” branding campaign, and they made you feel something instead of telling you something.

I also loved this behind the scenes/making-of video, as I was very curious about the details! Here are the basics: 250,000 bouncy balls, 23 cameras. (Tangentially, did anyone else get really thrown off when the theme music from NPR’s On Point came on??)

Also, the images at top are available for purchase as prints– photographer Peter Funch was at the scene and captured these amazing shots.

PS- Happy birthday to my sister Kaki and my niece Ginny! Festive post for your birthday, no?

via WTF

Must See

L’Amour Fou

Really looking forward to the new documentary on Yves Saint Laurent, L’Amour Fou.

The NYT did a great review of the film that convinced me that L’Amour Fou is about precisely the parts of Saint Laurent’s life I am most intrigued by — his love (and collection) of art and homes and his relationship with his partner in business and life, Pierre Berge.

 

Previous documentaries have focused on the fashion (which is, of course, amazing), but I really became intrigued by Saint Laurent during the time of the Christie’s auction of his estate when photos of his homes and art collections began to surface, and this documentary centers around that event.

Oh, btw, the auction netted $484 MILLION. See what I mean? He had one hell of a collection.

For more images from his estate, check out this Vanity Fair article and the beautiful black and white photos by Hedi Slimane.

Must See

Could Our Inherent Empathic Nature Save the World?

Do you ever wonder how humankind will continue to survive on this planet with all the awful things going on? In this 10 minute talk, Jeremy Rifkin introduces us to empathy, how it works, how we are hardwired to have it, and how it could potentially save the world as technology continues to further the connection between us and everyone else around the world (and thus further our empathic concern for them).

If you want to feel a little more hopeful about the world this morning and have a few wonderful a-ha moments, definitely watch this video!

PS- Another amazing thing you learn in this film… there really were two people, a man and a woman, that started our entire race…Adam and Eve??!

PPS- I also think this is an excellent argument for why socially responsible businesses are the future of our economy– people want to care and connect and will buy products that help them do that and will respect companies that they feel share those values.

Must See

Devendra Banhart + Oliver Peoples + The Rainbow House

More LA for you today!  Continuing the trend of fashion houses creating artistic short films featuring collaborations with famous directors to go along with their print campaigns, Oliver Peoples has created a real show-stopper.

For their new campaign, they brought in former fashion editor-turned-director and photographer Lisa Eisner to shoot Devendra Banhart and his (stunning) real-life girlfriend Rebecca Schwartz at the famous John Lautner Rainbow House on Mulholland Drive in LA.

NSFW, in an artsy kind of way, I’m pretty sure this video couldn’t be any sexier.  The colors, the light, the song, the setting… allow yourself to be lulled into a daydreamy haze.

PS- How awesome is this song? It is called Brindo and is by Devendra.

[via Wine & Bowties]

Must See

Eataly Flash Mob

At Eataly earlier today for lunch, I was already in food/pretty packaging heaven/overload, when a violinist started to play in the middle of the charcuterie and cheese area where we were eating.  It’s not unusual in New York for musicians to crop up in random places, so at first I wasn’t too surprised, and he was actually really good, so we went about our lunch just enjoying the added background music.

Then, with song #2, the volume started to increase, and I realized there was an amp… and then I knew it.  We were about to be flash mobbed!!  …And the violinist turned out to be the super-famous David Garrett!

So without further ado, first, the video of the violinist playing song #2, a lovely classical number that started to get people interested, but before the mayhem began.  You’ll hear at the very end of the song he starts to play “Smooth Criminal,” which would turn into the mob song.

And then, the mob begins:

Update: David Garrett’s people have uploaded this HD video of the event– I noticed after the event that there were cameras stuck up on the walls everywhere, and planted videographers, so I was waiting for something like this to surface!

PS- Thank you to Huffington Post and EaterNY for the re-blogs!

Banner photos by What Katie Ate

Must See

The Art of the Steal

If you ever took an art history class, you probably learned about the Barnes Foundation.  The restricted-access private art collection of Albert C. Barnes outside of Philadelphia was, and is, legendary.  Barnes, with unbelievable foresight, put together a collection of dozens of Renoirs, Matisses, Picassos, and other 19th and 20th century masters, many of whom were not even being collected yet by anyone else.  In addition to this, he amassed an extensive African art collection, which he was passionate about and saw as just as important as the other Western art movements while his contemporaries still considered it “primitive art.”

[Image: The original blueprint for the Barnes Foundation, 1922]

As an art history major, I was always dying to go to the Barnes Foundation– a grand building outside of Philadelphia where the whole collection was housed, carefully curated according to Barnes’ preference for a style he called “wall ensembles,” that gathered art around themes, rather than by time period.

The foundation, which Barnes had intended as an educational center, was open to small numbers of students and educators and was known for its excellent seminars and classes.  But after Barnes’ death, though his will was definitive in stating that he wanted the collection to remain as one collection in perpetuity, never to be sold off, the fate of the collection was exposed to the larger forces in the art world (including his biggest rival), starting a great controversy over what would happen to this famous collection.

[Image: The digital rendering for the new building in Philadelphia]

Today, a new building is being added to the Phildelphia Museum of Art to house the collection (after lots of drama, as detailed in the documentary).  Because it will now be housed in a public museum in a major city, the collection will be much more highly accessible, but does that justify the fact that this was against the wishes of the man who built and owned the collection?   And was largely carried out by one of his rivals?  Check out the trailer to see what happened and how… it’s one of the greatest present-day dramas in the art world!

Must See

Must See: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Must See

Must See: Andy Goldsworthy documentary Rivers and Tides