Rosey Morris

These sweet little paintings my Rosey Morris on Etsy made my die just a little inside. The gold and silver edged landscape, portraits and nature scenes have a child-like unfinished quality as if they were details stolen from a mural. The moon and clouds round is just like looking up through an open observatory dome. Also, rooster.

Who said good art can't be affordable?

(I didn't. I did not say that)

via Bijou and Boheme

Olympic Comedy and Tragedy

I knew something was up with Olympic coverage when I couldn't find a live showing of the opening ceremonies. The Washington Post TV guide had a '(L)' next to the prime time scheduled event, which I had to patiently explain to my father couldn't be live (No Dad, it'll be 2 AM there. Trust me no one is going to the stadium when the tube won't even be running).

Thank goodness for streaming BBC One's (excellent) commercial free coverage. I didn't even have to sign up for a $100 a month subscription to a cable-TV service of their choice (Neither of my parents have cable btw NBC. And they likely never will).  Heidi Moore has a great piece on NBC insistence that we "huddle around the radio" to receive our Olympic news in "NBC fail shows network's commitment to 'the last great buggy-whip Olympics'".

I'll continue to show my displeasure by making use of the trending #nbcfail twitter hashtag (Women's soccer gold match game anyone? Oh, never mind.  You need a cable subscription for that too. I braved Lucky Bar by myself on a Thursday for this?). I also highly recommend following NBCDelayed on Twitter to feel vindicated.

Tip of the Hat to the Guardian for their London 2012 Viral Video Chart: the 10 best videos from the Games, which showcases the viral video highlights of the Olympics thus far. Cry all over again with South Korea's Shin A-lam's mind-boggling defeat with (literally) a brick-by-brick recreation of the women's fencing semi-final. Then watch Funny or Die's video of Sir Patrick Stewart swindling yanks as an Olympic ticket scalper to make the pain go away.  (sigh. wishes were a knight or a dame or whatever.) You get Simon Pegg, Ryan Lochte's patriotic grille and that girl who plays Arya on Game of Thrones.

 Enjoy.

The Inspiration Grid

For a daily dose of arresting images, visit The Inspiration Grid.  This curated gallery presents new works in art and design from creators around the world.  It's easy to immerse yourself in these beautiful, amusing, and provocative pieces.

Some of my favorites come from the photography gallery:

Interiors of classical instruments, created by Mona Sibai and Björn Ewers for an advertising campaign to promote the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.   Photographer: Mierswa KluskaIf

Lips: Creative Photography by Nikos Vasilakis

The War Against Christmas, high speed photos of exploding Christmas ornaments by Alan Sailer

The Inspiration Grid

Rosemary Rain

So I was flipping through the online pages of I Love Cat Party again, because of its hypnotic sweetness and mooncalf sexiness is just so soothing.

They've turned me on to Rosemary Rain, an etsy store of (literally) cheeky watercolors and digital art. The theme here seems to be maryjane and nude babes in a soft, sweet, I love Californian sort of way. Bizarre? Check. Adorable? Check.

I mean come on. Naked. Lady. Riding. Dinosaur.

I just want to purchase of collection of them, frame them and stick them up in my guest bathroom. It would be, I don't know, a really good time.

Texts From Jane Eyre

Mallory Ortberg wrote Texts from Jane for the Hairpin.

A snippet:

JANE I BOUGHT YOU A DRESS MADE OF TEN THOUSAND PEARLS AS A BRIDAL PRESENT where on earth would I wear that YOU COULD WEAR IT ON THE MOON that seems impractical how would i even breathe on the moon? I WOULD BREATHE FOR YOU MY JANE

Read it because it is funny. Read it because, I could read a whole blog just about texts from characters in classic novels. Really, I could read the whole of Jane Eyre re-wtritten as texts. Are you listening Mallory Ortberg?

Like it? Try Texts from Scarlett O'Hara.

Geek glam

Captain America by Jangasara

Self taught artist Jangsara is about to make cosplay or just getting dolled up for a Friday night a metric ass tonne more awesome.   She makes being a nerd impossibly glam with her takes on Star Wars, The Avengers, and The Hunger Games.

I am left without words.  Just gasps and squeaks and now if you'll excuse me, I have to go buy ALL OF THE THINGS at Sephora.

Makeup your Jangsara via

You Scream, I Scream, we all scream for The Scream

"The Scream?" the doorman asks. I nod. "Straight through and up the stairs to your left."

"No screaming," says another doorman, pointing to the infant strapped to my chest.

I check my bag and go through three security checkpoints before finally entering a dark room containing more security than punters and one £50m pastel glowing sinuously from the far wall.

I have a two-minute audience with Edvard Munch's The Scream, the third version he created of four (not counting his woodcuts, known as The Cry) and the only one in private hands. It is making its way to auction at Sotheby's in New York next month by way of a limited London showing. It is also the only one to actually leave Norway: the other three, all in Oslo museums, are not insurable to lend due to the potential for theft, which only adds to the appeal. (One of them was simply lifted off the wall and walked out, apparently.)

Originally created for Norwegian shipbuilder Thomas Olsen, this version is pastel on board and features a prose poem by Munch painted on the original frame. It also has a variation: of the two figures on the bridge, which are either approaching or retreating from the central figure, one is leaning against the bridge's handrail, forehead in hand. It changes the reading of the piece, which Munch himself never revealed.

Behind me the experts are educating. One is pontificating on the "flowing lines", which I can't help but think is the kickoff to a pickup, and another -- a man in his late 50s with longish grey hair, square frames and a tendency to pat his rear end, as all the men here seem to do -- explains the origin of this painting to a dim but excruciatingly well-dressed American woman, who apparently couldn't be arsed to read the exact same text outside the gallery, despite the fact it was on a display 30 feet high. If this broad has £50m to drop on a painting there in no justice.

Nobody says how the pastels really just look like Crayola, that the piece is much bloodier than any of the reproductions suggest, or that the face, which is mostly unworked board peaking through, is ghostly and washed out in comparison to the rest of the saturated colouring and therefore that much more haunting and sad. They also don't comment on how small it is. The smaller version of the inflatable scream my other bought me during my mid-twenties breakdown is surprisingly comparable in size.

What they also don't say is how much more impressive it is in person, or more pointedly, how disappointing other masterworks are up close: the Mona Lisa is impossible to get to as it hides behind Plexiglas and flash-popping tourists, who not only seem oblivious to the fact that each flash is physically damaging the paint but also are taking pictures of a painting they could easily buy reproductions of in the Louvre's many gift shops. At MoMa they click-click flash-flashed around van Gogh's Starry Night as though proud of themselves for recognising at least one masterwork, as if that damn painting isn't a screen saver for dorm room walls. The ubiquitousness of Leonado da Vinci or Vincent van Gogh -- and their merchandising -- makes their work underwhelming up close, but the opposite is true of Munch. Inflatable Screams, key chains, postcards, prints, finger puppets, and Simpsons parodies aside (I am guilty of buying all of these), the violence and horror in his work -- which prompted a ban by the Nazis, if you can stomach that particular irony -- make his pieces that much more immediate and striking.

Hopefully a museum not in Norway will buy The Scream next month and not some rich bastard who will squirrel it away on a yacht or some such shit. Not that there's anything wrong with visiting Oslo, of course. But.

And if anyone has a copy of The Mystery of The Scream board game, please let me know. I'm dying to play it.

My Closet in Sketches

My Closet in Sketches is an adult picture book, an illustrated journal if you will, with delightful hand-drawn doodles, which also happens to be the blog of fashion illustrator, Lauren Friedman. 

I dunno. I kinda dig, you know, fashion sketches. Kat McLeod blew my mind apart with her mixed media, paper doll-like art, which graced the page of and absolutely glittering cocktail book.

But Friedman's art is completely different. The smudgy water-colored shoes and impressions of bracelets and bangles make a statement about how empathic these pretty things make us feel. And her post about a wet, hot American Spring makes me feel good in a Liz Phair sort of way.

Judge for yourself.

In the Tower

You still have a chance to catch at the National Gallery of Art exhibit, "In the Tower" by Mel Bochner. The show is a retrospective of 43 thesaurus-inspired works from the last 45 years.

Give me a minute ... (squeeeeee!). Okay. I'm done.

Explore the transistion of the bomb (bad) to the bomb (good) and other language evolutions painted as conceptual art using words as a medium.
A schedule of art talks can be found here.

Did you know he used to compose portraits to his friends composed of synonyms describing them? Best. present. ever.

Get off your duff, it's only through April 29th.

Robot Unicorn Attack

So I'm slow on the uptake. Even though Robot Unicorn Attack came out in 2010, its mystery tour has just recently bedazzled my smartphone.

You race a rainbow coloured unicorn through clouds, stars and fire. Besides sounding like the power-up of a Sailor Moon magic attack the game is otherwise Completely. Awesome.

Nylon magazine recently said the game induced the "girly '80's joy of a Lisa Frank notebook". One commenter on the Nylon's website claimed, "I love dashing through the stars more so when dolphins are with me!" And Kieron Gillen of Eurogamer wrote

"Like a comet made of gold, glitter and Lady Gaga's eyelashes, Robot Unicorn Attack circled the Earth and filled the firmament with its irresistible radiance for the whole of 2010. It changed lives. It challenged sexualities. It involves pressing two buttons. It is undoubtedly the greatest game of all time which features a Robot Unicorn, unless you're a metalhead who digs its sequel." 

Pay just a buck for android, iphone and ipad. You can also play at adultswim.com

Literary Composites

We all have a mental image of what the characters in our favorite books look like.  Brian Joseph Davis has gone one better, using law enforcement composite software to create a sketch based on the writer's description.  The results aren't perfect, and some hover on the edge of the uncanny valley, but others like Lolita's  Humbert Humbert seem pretty spot on.

He's taking suggestions.  Who would you like to see?

THE COMPOSITES via bookshelves of doom

Hula Cam

Have you ever looked at a hula hoop and thought, "oh, that could be a little more sonic heroic"?  London based artist Helen Buckley did, and the result is a trippy perspective that sends the world spinning.





Via

Warco

There's a new first-person shooter in town. However, instead of changing an M16 for a shotgun, you'll be switching the zoom and film angles for your video camera.

Being developed by Defiant Development, an Australian-based group, Warco is an FPS with the intention of simulating the experience of a war correspondent (or warco).

From deviant's website, the object of the game is to:

"Record dramatic images of war, save them in-game, then edit the results into a compelling frontline TV news story." 

One of the interesting aspects about this concept, is how Warco developers have latched onto the way gamers have already been using video games to create movies. For instance, Red vs Blue appeared on the scene just as gameplay cinematic experiences, and the "Machinima" movement in general increased in popularity. Players of Quake and Halo have spent hours filming and editing films of their gameplay.  And clips from the Halo community's best films are routinely submitted to content generators like Halo Waypoint (I recommend any of the 'top five' or 'top ten' content).

Ars Technica has a good discussion of Warco at, "Warco: an FPS where you hold a camera instead of a gun".

While Warco is not on the market yet and only prototypes have been tested, I, for one, will be waiting with baited breath.

PS  You can watch episodes of Red vs Blue, here. But that's another post.

Paper City Paris

Made by Joel, carries this, "Paper City Paris," set that you can download, color (if so desired) and put together yourself. He's got other cool printable toys, too, like a little paper dollhouse you can make using magazine covers and a super-neat Memory Game.

Why are you just stiting there? Go download! Download now!

P.S. Dear Joel-- Ahem. Paper City London? Thanks.

The Nerdy Dozen: 12 Must-Hear Songs of 2011

Thanks GeekDad, for "The Nerdy Dozen: 12 Must-Hear Songs of 2011" a lyric-slanting collection of Star Wars worshiping, vowel slurring, rap-spouting, musical-high inducing, geek guzzling off-the-hook robot rock tunes.

Also, I learned the meaning of nerdcore. You can you, too.

Dude. Where IS my AT-AT at?

When Star Wars droids suffer from low self-esteem

io9 posted " When Star Wars droids suffer from low self-esteem" under their concept art section.  It's a most excellent series of wallpapers from PaperBeatsSciossors.

Guess I finally found something as cool as my StuntKid chicken-man wallpaper.

Just Sayin Is All

So, I like thinking about science and words and pin-ups and how if I'm careful and articulate they will change the world. But perhaps you like thinking artfully about new music. JustSayinIsAll lays a palette of musical selections over poetic text strewn with an illumination of cutting edge images. Whether your visiting for the music samples or to find yourself a new avatar, just go. Go now.

"This track is as cold as the slick on the sidewalk. The words are as plain as translucents and whites. The chorus tapers and repeats like the drifts. The hope is rigid and melts like lonely delusions. And tonight when I lick it, it sticks to my tongue as I sleep."--December 12, 2008

Really? I mean, goddamn. Or try this one:

"Dwayne scratches his voice like a skipping vintage record over a freeform jazz riff to tweeze Macy Gray out of Louis Armstrong. Practically acapella, his voice is stretched and flailing at :48 when "CAPture what I say" tapdances his words against the floor in trip-a-let."--December 14, 2008

Kyle Pfister is the genius behind this wonderment. He makes videos on Vimeo too. Enjoy!

Io9 Movie Mondays

Io9 has launched Movie Mondays, A live-tweeting event that involves selection of a sci-fi gem from Netflix's watch instantly library. Fans start the flick or their own DVD of a movie at the same time, all around the and then tweet the heck out of it.

It's kinda like watching a movie in your living room with all your geeky friends, except they can all talk while it's on. The inaugural event cued up the theatrical release of David Lynch's Dune. Followed by Christian Bale's lackluster performance in Reign of Fire the following week.

Taking part is easy, all you have to do is follow I09commentary on twitter or visit Io9, to find out the movie selection, then at Monday, 9:00 PM EST, fire up your DVD/Movie platform of choice and proceed to tweet your heart out using the @io9commentary reply tag or #io9moviemonday index tag.

Ahh, the things we will do to re-live MST3K.

Enhance the Everyday

Stylist, photographer, and author Pia Jane Bijkerk's blog, "Enhance the Everyday," especially her homewares tag, is an aesthetics worshiping gem worth its little hand-made buttons. Why shouldn't we shamelessly pursue our ideas of beauty and relentlessly apply them to our daily rituals? Pre-packaged ideas about our homes and our bodies have become the sad after effect of a reality television driven nation. Too often I forget to just acquire what I really, really like and hang other ideas. What makes me feel fabulous (And you know, I've found a million uses for that top hat) makes me look fabulous and therefore the world a little more fabulous because of it.

Visit Bijkork's blog and revel in that which is a little bit retro and a little bit modern and a little bit everyday.

Brad Neely

I have to admit, this post was inspired by wax|wendy's St. Patrick's day post.

You've probably already seen a Brad Neely cartoon. Perhaps it was his cult classic "Cox & Combes Washington Washington" cartoon that debuted on the now defunct Super Deluxe website (which was subsumed by the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim). Or maybe one was included in a viral e-mail sent around the office that made you laugh so hard, your co-workers sprinted over to your cubicle to find out what was causing your debilitating nose snorting.

Neely, an comic book artist from Austin and purveyor of Creased Comics, was made infamous by the New York Times for his insouciant, unauthorized, alternative film soundtrack to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone called Wizard People, Dear Reader (not unlike a brilliant one off Riff Trax). He and his hilarious knock-off was also featured in the documentary film "We Are Wizards," (the "Trekkies" of J.K. Rowling fans). His irreverent cartoons are akin to watching a seventies tootsie roll commercial on acid. Therefore, they should not be missed.