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Gilbert Garcin

There is a lot of work to see in the portfolio of Gilbert Garcin. This little mini bio should engage you to click on through:

Gilbert Garcin spent most of his life managing a lamp factory in France. At 65, he retired and took up a trick photography workshop. For the past ten years he has been creating comical, surrealistic photographs which warmly highlight sometimes cold, existential questions. Garcin inhabits this strange world and ponders it together with the viewer; with Garcin you have a dedicated, but perplexed, guide. via.

Sometimes the images are perfectly simple and occasionally they are ridiculous.. either way, they're always engaging on some level.

Frances Bean Cobain

Photographer Hedi Slimane recently posted a photo set featuring none other than Frances Bean Cobain - daughter of Kurt and Courtney. It's nuts to think that she is almost 20 years old now - time really does fly by.

via Ronnie.

Vintage Tour de France

I'll be totally honest in stating that I know very little of the Tour de France. However, this vintage photo set showing moments from the competition from 1933 to 1973 is certainly engaging. Nevermind the cyclists, look at this! How have I not heard of / read about the Atomium before? Phenomenal.

via Keegan (who just announced a tour, go look to see if he's playing near you).

Blue Valentine

The other night I caught a showing of Blue Valentine; the supposedly controversial love story from Derek Cianfrance starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. While I liked the movie, I am baffled by how it was controversial or, really, even regarding in such a critical manner. The sexual aspects of the movie are not jarring or any more over the top than loads of other movies - the review board must have been having a bad day when they originally gave it NC-17. Beyond that, it's the telling of an abusive relationship - albeit a more realistic one than you typically see in movies. When things go sour it isn't even particularly unsettling as a viewer because you have no investment in the couple or understanding what their bond is. Sure, you see how they originally get together but it seems just as tumultuous as any other day between them. Overall, a quality watch but not exactly the crushing tale you'd expect going in.

Carnovsky RGB

The RGB Project from Carnovsky (Francesco Rugi and Silvia Quintanilla) is absolutely brilliant. I am smitten! The duo designed a number of full-size room pieces comprised of layered primary colors. Depending on the color of light cast on them the pieces reveal different singular layers of the overall composition. I imagine the initial undertaking of deciphering the right paint vs light combo took some clever researching but it was well worth the effort - the results are phenomenal.

via Public School.

PNTS

Take a moment to browse the works of PNTS; a design studio in France doing some nice things. I particularly enjoy their album packaging pieces. Expect to see some familiar illustrations in there courtesy of Studiofolk...

UNIQLOCK: Japan to France

It's been awhile since I visited the Uniqlo UNIQLOCK but the refreshed Paris / France version was a welcome treat. The number of clips contained within is immense, as I've been leaving it running for some time now and keep encountering something new. Any of the pieces you encounter with the Eiffel Tower in the background are superb but see if you can get the clip with the four girls just running down some stairs... adorable.

Via Chad.

Friday Videos Holiday Spectacular - Dec 7th, 2007

The top two videos are full episodes and 110% worth watching. I realize not everyone has a spare 45 minutes lying around but please take time to watch them both at some point during the weekend. The GUBA video player controls are insane non-intuitive but it's the only place I could find the full episode.. turns out if you right-click the video you can play / pause at your leisure.

The Tyson clip is very NSFW but you have to see all the clips together.

The Vader Redux is a hilarious concept but waay too long. Do yourself a favor and stop watching it after about 30 - 40 seconds, you'll have the taste you need.

Enjoy your weekend.

Purevolume sampler

If you're looking for some good, free, new music you might want to head over to the PureVolume sampler We Were Here First and snag the compilation. I've not heard of everyone on it but it's got The Damnwells, The Stills, Page France, Favourite Sons, and many others that I am familiar with.. so that's a great start. Let's hope this is a regular new thing that PureVolume will be offering (or maybe it has been and I'm just totally ignorant).

Let Them Eat Cake

Combine Kirsten Dunst, Jason Schwartzman, Sofia Coppolla, a New Order soundtrack, and a period piece about the Queen of France and what do you get? Marie Antoinette - that's what. The soundtrack is such a bizarre distraction from the look and feel of the film but it would be pretty ballsy to have a modern soundtrack to a movie set in the 1700's. Well, maybe not ballsy but at least different (and possibly extremely distracting).

jon stewart vs o'reilly

Thanks to Wonkette there is a full transcript of Jon Stewart's appearance on the O'Reilly Factor. I'm sorry but I am just beyond apalled at how ridiculous O'Reilly is - boycotting France? stoned slackers? I don't think every point he makes is completely off base but it's just more evidence that being an extremist (i.e. Islamic extremists, FoxNews anchors, Michael Moore afficianados) is just a bad idea.