STEVEN MOFFAT & MARK GATISS' "Sherlock"

Premiering on BBC1 in the UK, Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss' excellent adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes is both modern and strangely more atune to the source material than Guy Ritchie's kinetic big screen version.

Starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as Dr. John Watson, the series is set in compemporary times to great effect. While Holmes is contemplating the scene of a crime, we are brilliantly clued into his thoughts(and text messages) via some pleasing fontography.

Unfortunately, the series has one of the most off-the-mark trailers I've seen in a long time. To give you more of a flavour, here are two clips from the BBC on the making of the program. Highly recommended

Links:
Sherlock (BBC)
Sherlock Wiki

TOKUJIN YOSHIOKA

Tokujin Yoshioka's synthetic creations of natural elements in flux are like sculptural photographs, a bit like hitting pause on the world and walking among an avalanche or through the surf. Wonderful.

Born in Saga, Japan in 1967. Worked under Shiro Kuramata in 1987 and Issey Miyake since 1988 and established his own studio, Tokujin Yoshioka Design in 2000.

Some of his most important works are displayed as a part of permanent collections in the world's well-known museums such as Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, Centre National d'Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou, Victoria and Albert Museum, Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum and Vitra Design Museum.

Links:
Tokujin Yoshioka
Interview (DesignBoom)
Super Fiber Revolution (DesignBoom)

Favourite Scenes: MAGNOLIA

The opening to Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia is sublime not only for its hypnotic content, but the way in which it establishes the rules of the world in which the film is set (which is our own). Complicated though coherent with numerous characters who have more depth than others given ten times the screen time, it is a modern masterpiece.

Links:
Magnolia Wiki
Paul Thomas Anderson Wiki

Featurette: JOHN GRADE

John Grade's organic sculptures milk stunning beauty from geometry and decay. Absolutely spellbinding.




Links:
John Grade
John Grade (Davidson Galleries)
John Grade (ArtDaily)
John Grade (Cynthia Reeves)

ALEX ROMAN's "The Third & The Seventh"

This beautiful, unbelievably fully CG film from Alex Roman takes a sometimes surreal journey through the art of architecture. Wonderful. Check it out HERE to see it in its intended full-screen glory.

Credits:

CG
-Modelling - Texturing - Illumination - Rendering| Alex Roman

POST
-Postproduction & Editing| Alex Roman

MUSIC
Sequenced, Orchestrated & Mixed by Alex Roman (Sonar & EWQLSO Gold Pro XP)

Sound Design by Alex Roman

Based on original scores by:

-Michael Laurence Edward Nyman. (The Departure)
-Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns. (Le Carnaval des animaux)

Directed by Alex Roman

Done with 3dsmax, Vray, AfterEffects and Premiere.

Links
The Third & The Seventh (Vimeo)
Compositing Breakdown (Vimeo)
The Third & The Seventh (Motionographer)
Alex Roman - CG Portfolio (CG Society)

Featurette: RACHEL GOODYEAR

"Rachel Goodyear’s drawings present captured moments where characters reside within an existence where social etiquette no longer, or maybe never, applied. Many are seemingly devoid of emotion or stare blankly in resignation. Each physical piece of work and the occurrences and characters they deliver are preoccupied with their own individual existence within the boundaries of the surface they are drawn upon. Therefore, when groups of drawings are shown together, further relationships start to occur, creating an ever-evolving disjointed narrative as pieces are added and taken away.

She looks for unlikely relationships in everything she encounters and an idea is just as likely to be sparked by a peculiar happening that interrupts the mundane, as a major event that changes the way she lives, as a few words lifted from an advert for car insurance. From this constant everyday cross-referencing she creates carefully constructed coincidences that are delicate in their nature and unsettling in their content."

Links:
Rachel Goodyear
Artist of the Week (Guardian)

DAVID FINCHER & BLUR STUDIOS present ERIC POWELL's "The Goon"

Combining the talents of David Fincher and Blur Studio to bring Eric Powell's The Goon to the big screen with Paul Giamatti and Clancy Brown sounds like a perfect storm scenario. Click on the movies below to get a taste of some supernatural, depression-era high jinks.

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

Links:
THEGOON.com
The Goon (Darkhorse Comics)
The Goon Wiki
Eric Powell Wiki
David Fincher Wiki
Blur Studio
Paul Giamatti Wiki
Clancy Brown Wiki

MASSIVE ATTACK: Saturday Come Slow

This short film featuring Massive Attack's "Saturday Come Slow" with Damon Albarn packs quite a punch. The track is from their album Helgioland and the video is directed by Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin of Chopped Liver.

Links:
ZeroDB (Music Against Torture)
Massive Attack
Chopped Liver
Damon Albarn Wiki

LAURENT CHAMPOUSSIN: J'ai vu des écrans qui ne s'éteignent pas

Rene Champoussin's portfolio is worth a look. My favourite is her series, J'ai vu des écrans qui ne s'éteignent pas which roughly translated is I have seen the screens that don't go out.



Links:
Laurent Champoussin

DANIELLE VAN ARK

Danielle Van Ark has some interesting work in his porfolio. In particular, his series of taxidermied animals, The Mounted Life, is captivating though that may be influenced by my predilection for fur and eccentricity.

Links:
Danielle Van Ark
Danielle Van Ark blog
Mrs. Deane (Source)

CRYSTAL FIGHTERS

On of my favourite discoveries this year, Crystal Fighters' sound is fresh, diverse, and ornate. Their debut album is due for release in September 2010 and I can't wait to hear what else they've got up their sleeves.

Here are a few samples:

Links:
Crystal Fighters (Official Site)
Crystal Fighters (MySpace)
Crystal Fighters (Facebook)
Crystal Fighters (YouTube)

WANDERING EYE PRODUCTIONS' "Becoming"

This short-film from Wandering Eye Productions is a story of man v. nature masterfully combining stunning cinematography with sublime choreography. See it HERE.

Links:
Wandering Eye Productions
Becoming (Video)
Becoming (Homepage)
Ayelén Liberona(producer/director/choreography)
Joseph Johnson Cami(producer/director)
Guy Godfree(cinematography)
Colin Penman(makeup)
Ticklebooth (source)

Favourite Scenes: THE BIG LEBOWSKI

The Big Lebowski split critics and audience as it was released. Of its ample clutch of standout scenes, the Gutterballs sequence harkens back to MGM's classic musicals and Looney Tunes with several twists and bowling imagery. While others may try to combine disjointed elements like this, the Coen brothers do so deftly to create classic scenes like this.

Links:
Gutterballs (YouTube)
Big Lebowski Wiki
Dissertations on his Dudeness (NY Times)

LANDSAT-7 SATELLITE: Ocean Sand, Bahamas

This detail from a satellite image of the sands and seaweed of the bahamas being sculpted by currents much like the wind sculpts sand in the desert, is intriguing. See more satellite images like this on Earth As Art.

Links:
Earth as Art: Ocean Sand, Bahamas
High Resolution Image
Earth As Art (homepage)

TRAN ANH HUNG's Adaptation of HARUKI MURAKAMI's "Norwegian Wood"

From director Tran Anh Hung(I Come With the Rain, Scent of Green Papaya) comes the film adaptation of Haruki Murakami's classic novel Norwegian Wood.

I love Murakami and look forward to his upcoming novel 1Q84 (a play on the Japanese pronunciation of 1984) which has been released in three volumes in Japan. 1Q84 volumes 1-2 translated by Jay Rubin are due for release in the USA in September 2011, with volume 3 translated by Phillip Gabriel following thereafter.

Below is the synopsis and bite-size teaser trailer for Norwegian Wood.

“I once had a girl, or should I say, she once had me.”

The melancholy tune and sentiment of this classic Beatles song seems to have taken the life of Toru Watanabe (Kenichi Matsuyama), who is similarly uncertain as to how he should view his relationships. At heart, a quiet and serious young Tokyo college student in 1969, Watanabe, is deeply devoted to his first love, Naoko (Rinko Kikuchi), a beautiful and introspective young woman. But their mutual passion is made by the tragic death of their best friend years before. Watanabe lives with the influence of death everywhere, while Naoko feels as if some integral part of her has been permanently lost. On the night of Naoko’s 20th birthday, they finally made love to each other. However, shortly thereafter Naoko decided to quit college and become a recluse. It is at that time Midori (Kiko Mizuhara) – a girl who is everything that Naoko is not -- outgoing, vivacious, supremely self-confident – marches into Watanabe's life and he has to choose between his future and his past.

Links:
Norwegian Wood (offical film site)
Norwegian Wood Stills (Wildgrounds)
Tran Anh Hung Wiki
Haruki Murakami (Random House)
Haruki Murakami: After Dark (SiouxWIRE)
1Q84 Wiki