In the Loop...

Since 1997 animated gifs ( or 'jifs') have been adding motion to the web pages we use and view. If you've ever been curious about the history of the gif , here's a short article. Attached are a few of my favorite animated gifs.

Lights, Camera...

I came across a video for the movie Black Rain on a blog recently. It's a movie starring Michael Douglas that I've never seen, but remembered some of it was filmed at 27th and Lexington, near the studio I had in NYC. So I did a little searching and found this (motorcycle scene @ 7:00 on the video to be exact). Like most movies you see being filmed, there's a lot of waiting/ setting up before any action takes place, so every once in awhile I'd take a break and lean out the window to see what was going on.

Later that evening I wrapped up the job I was working on and headed home down 28th street. I stopped at the corner at Madison where the light was about to change. In front of me was this guy on a motorcycle waiting for the light to turn. Realizing they had just been filming around the corner I took a closer look through the helmet's tinted visor (for obvious reasons, different headgear than in the film) and saw that it was Michael Douglas. The light soon changed and he roared off towards uptown and I continued walking home thinking what a special town this was.

Graphic Noir...

A cool little black and white animated movie by designer/illustrator Richard McGuire.

Still Life...

The photos above are from a great book called Still Life (1983) that Diane Keaton and Marvin Heiferman put together. It's full of color saturated Hollywood stills from the 50's/60's. Cover art (detail at top) is by one of my favorite illustrators- Mick Haggerty.

Now Showing...

This stylish faux title sequence for "A Kiss From Tokyo" was used as a clever way to promote the book Seductive Espionage: The World of Yuki 7. View other movie titles here!

Friends Pneumatic...

I've always liked the idea and use of pneumatic tube systems to transport things. There's something about the lo-tech air powered technology zipping information back and forth that endears them to me. Anyway, they are also one of the many reasons that I like this Hula Hoop segment from the Hudsucker Proxy so much.

Here's one other movie clip where the pneumatic tube steals the scene : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLEJbFKTyQI

Thrills and Spills...

Last weekend I checked out a piece of Richmond's subculture called Slaughterrama. I'd heard about this event for a few years and couldn't pass up the opportunity to see it when my brother-in- law called and said he was going. Local bike clubs and their national 'chapters' compete for bragging rights in the steel skeleton of an abandoned factory along the James River. The favorite bicycle competition I saw had to be the bike jousting, where competitors holding PVC poles with stuffed animals attached to the 'business end' of them are pulled into combat on metal chariots.

The various club 'coat of arms' displayed on banners and the back of denim vests, along with the 'unrehearsed' organization of the event gave it the feel of something you might see in Mad Max or some renegade biker gang movie. There were also some incredible modified bikes being peddled around. I got to take a short spin on the chopper bike above, which was just there for viewing purposes. Being 6'3" it wasn't exactly smooth peddling, but still fun (fortunately no pics of that).

Now Showing

A few deco theater images I found when researching a cover illustration for IBM that I did earlier this year. I also stumbled on the funky Raj Mandir theater (below) located in Jaipur, India.