Maybe. The New York Times is reporting that for some tattoo aficionados and newbies alike, getting a tattoo commemorating the COVID pandemic is a new trend. These are so-called “pandemic tattoos.” A byproduct of our collective slow-burn health and economic nightmare of the past year and a half. We’re personallyContinue Reading
One could draw a Venn diagram with one circle for artists, designers, musicians, actors, and all manner of creators, and the other circle for surfers, and there would be a healthy overlap of the two. (Among some well-known visual artists who are surfers are Barry McGee, Catherine Opie, and AlexContinue Reading
Here it is, folks! A brief run-down of our current media diet: Some of the TV shows and movies we’ve been watching, books we’ve been reading, and podcasts we’ve been listening to and more. We usually only list things that we’d recommend and highly rate. Occasionally we’ll list something that’sContinue Reading
We saw this wheat-pasted poster on an electricity utility box on Fairfax Avenue in Hollywood on Monday. And we thought “Hey, street art!” The poster was cool-looking and cryptic. The image was a simple back-and-white Sharpie-like drawing of a guy or girl with shoulder-length hair and dark sunglasses. Under theContinue Reading
. . . . . Travel Oregon‘s newest campaign promoting tourism to the state includes an animated commercial that’s a dead ringer for a magical and epic anime film from Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli production company. The ad is part of a campaign called “Only SlightlyContinue Reading
Worldwide fast-food restaurant chain Burger King has revamped its brand identity, including its iconic burger logotype, color palette, typography and icons. The change is a big deal for such a large and recognizable brand. It’s the first change to BK’s branding in over twenty years. The new branding was designedContinue Reading
British novelist John le Carré passed away this past weekend at the age of 89. As the Guardian newspaper reported he died of pneumonia Saturday night at a hospital in Cornwall, England. A master of the espionage novel and literary storytelling, le Carré made a life for himself as aContinue Reading
Here’s a bit of Swedish you can bust out at cocktail parties (remember those?) when the global COVID-19 pandemic ends and social gatherings become a thing again: The word is ” överväldigad!”* Roughly translated it means “mind blown!” And that’s what we uttered, dare we say “exclaimed,” when we heardContinue Reading
The cover of Vanity Fair magazine’s September 2020 issue is a triumph. It’s a beautiful, bittersweet portrait of Breonna Taylor by the artist Amy Sherald. The issue is guest-edited by Ta-Nehisi Coates and includes a feature article edited by him in conversation with Taylor’s mother. Taylor was in the newsContinue Reading
Rest in peace, Milton Glaser. You did many things. Your creative achievements were many and influential. You created an enduring, brilliant, and beloved logo for New York that is a graphic design classic and timeless. “I Love NY.” You co-founded the great New York Magazine. You created that iconic posterContinue Reading
Mural artist Jules Muck’s (a.k.a., Muckrock) painting on the exterior of The Gym Venice (which is technically in the Venice-adjacent Los Angeles neighborhood of Mar Vista) is an homage to an iconic American black-and-white photo know as “Lunch Atop a Skyscraper.” The photo was taken by Charles C. Ebbets inContinue Reading
Coffee is so central to contemporary daily life for millions — if not billions — of people all over the world. More people than ever before in human history drink it. Some form of coffee, be it the regular drip-type served black or a fussy almond-milk cappuccino with an extraContinue Reading
God bless the New York Post. Love it or hate or both, as many New Yorkers do, amusing, pun-filled headlines like the one pictured above are almost a tradition at the Post. Journalists and editors dream of news stories that might warrant such a funny yet legitimate headline. In thisContinue Reading
We — and possibly you, too — are a big fan of large coffee-table art books by the likes of publishers Taschen, Phaidon and Rizzoli, to name but a few. Among our favorite stack of these large tomes is a book by a lesser-known German publisher. It’s a book ofContinue Reading
“Can’t Steal Our Vibe” is a lo-fi, black-and-white ‘zine published by Lone Wolfs (sic) Objets de Surf, a surf brand and shop in Venice, Los Angeles, as well as a music production company and studio. CSOV is more of an art zine than a surf mag and has virtually nothingContinue Reading
In case you missed it, one of the best — if not the best — TV commercial from the broadcast of last weekend’s 2018 Super Bowl was this ad for Tide laundry detergent. It’s already being talked about as one of the best ever and an “instant classic.” There areContinue Reading
Have you binge watched season two of Stranger Things? If you have then you know how good it is. Some are saying it’s better than season one. Go figure. We admit we’ve already seen all of season two of the Netflix original series. It lives up to the hype. Yes, that’sContinue Reading
There are few things in life that make us positively giddy with excitement. These few things are … Good waves and the promise of good surfing; A quad-shot espresso in a cup filled to the top with ice first thing on a hot, humid morning, preferably near a beach withContinue Reading
Smack in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, far, far away from any significantly large land mass or continent sit the Hawaiian Islands. This archipelago is a well-known paradise full of lush flora, beautiful beaches, dramatic mountain ranges, gorgeous waterfalls, volcanic landscapes and a warm, balmy climate where the water andContinue Reading
We love Apartamento magazine. And so should you. The new issue of this mag devoted to “everyday interiors” and design/designers just arrived at our local purveyor of printed matter and it looks gooooooooood!