a major production

Blog Postings

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 01:32:00 +0000

While it seems as though I may have abandoned this site for lack of material, in actuality I have moved on to be more vocal on other services such as twitter, tumblr (which you can access through the main site), foursquare, and instagram. You can generally find me elsewhere at @mattheworley. I will keep the blog up as an archive of interests past. MHO

There's Good Stuff Going On

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 23:17:00 +0000

This past weekend some friends had some pretty good stuff happening. Austin Peters was shooting the music video for The French Kicks. Keegan Gibbs, who was the cinematographer for the shoot got some amazing stills, and a really good one of my brother.

Here are some of the photos that he took. There are more over on his blog:

Meanwhile, I was at the premiere of Andrew Simkiss' film, Sane Jules Blaine. The movie was great, even though it was shown in conjunction with some other films that were on another level, for better or worse. I won't get into that, but if you are interested in seeing some intense shit, google Bohemibot.

This is the trailer for Sane Jules Blaine:

Sane Jules Blaine Trailer from nevernever on Vimeo.

NEW DEAL

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 03:41:00 +0000

Last week a friend of mine curated an art show called "NEW DEAL." A bunch of friends exhibited their works, and there were some great write-ups about the whole thing in both Interview Magazine and The New York Times Style Blog, The Moment. The show was great and I just wanted to throw up those articles here to share.

The New Deal: Interview Magazine

Now Graduating | 20-Something Curators: The Moment

Rewatch: The Talented Mr. Ripley

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 05:19:00 +0000

We watched The Talented Mr. Ripley the other day. I seriously think this movie is amazing. Definitely worth your time to check out again.

I didn't realize till after I looked it up that the director Anthony Minghella who also directed The English Patient also produced both Michael Clayton and The Reader.

The Filson Store

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:40:00 +0000

I was in Colorado recently on a ski trip with some friends and on the way back through Denver I made a detour to check out the Filson shop. There are only three stand-alone Filson stores around- Seattle, Portland, and Denver- so while most other stuff I knew I could have found easily in New York, I made a point to check out this spot.

The stuff is great there and the bags are the best in the business. Here are some photos that I took from inside:

LIFE Archives | Cranbrook

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:06:00 +0000

I was turned on to the free photo archives from LIFE Magazine that are hosted on Google from dozens of blogs that have all been pulling out some really amazing pictures from the mid 19th through mid 20th centuries. I had yet to check it out for myself but decided to see if I could find anything of my own.

I was looking for something that was relevant to my own life and I came across these few photos from Cranbrook, the high school I went to in Michigan. Cranbrook is anything but a normal high school and the pictures testify to what an amazing place it is.

From what it seems, all these photos were taken on the same day, during some sort of rally that was being held on the grounds of the campus. That day was October 22, 1952, and the photographs were taken by Joe Scherschel. If anybody has any idea what this was let me know.

Cranbrook
Cranbrook Educational Community on Wikipedia
Cranbrook High School on Wikipedia

The Changing Bowery

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:33:00 +0000

There's some really good stuff happening on the Bowery lately. In the last two years since I have been living there it has seen some pretty radical changes for the better. Needless to say that the Bowery Hotel is one of the best places in the city to go hang and have a drink. Between the lobby and Gemma I could hang there every day.

My newest obsession as well is the Great Jones Cafe. That spot has the best wings in the city and has a great vibe. I've been there 5 or 6 times for dinner in the last month.

Last week I stopped by two new spots that just opened off the Bowery- Partners & Spade and The Smile. Below are some pictures from Partners & Spade- it is a sort of flea market, sort of do anything space. Whatever it is, theres some pretty cool stuff in there, and everythings for sale.

I'm sure the guys at ACL would dig these staplers...

My brother picked up one of these trophies as a gift for a friend. The captions are custom engraved, his read:

WORLD'S STRONGEST MAN
Both Physically and Emotionally

The store reverts back to its original purpose as an office during the week so hit it on the weekends.
Another spot that has yet to open but I'm really looking forward to is The Smile, part-Cafe, part-clothing store. It is soon to be opened by two great guys, Matt Kliegman and Carlos Quirarte. I've been by the space since they've been getting it ready and it looks amazing. Will be a great spot to hang this spring. From what I've heard, all the items that they are selling will be exclusively made for The Smile so keep your eye out for the opening and go check it out.

One last note...if you've never eaten at Great Jones Cafe run over there and check it out. That place is the best in the business.

I made a map below of good stuff on the three blocks that make up the north tip of the Bowery if you're so inclined to check it out-

View Larger Map

The Smile- 26 Bond Street
Partners & Spade- 40 Great Jones Street
Great Jones Cafe- 54 Great Jones Street

Sully

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 19:13:00 +0000

The grammys were painful to watch last night. With each artist that came on it progressively became worse. I can't even pick the worst performance of the night cause they were just all so boring.

That being said, the best thing last night was the crew of Flight 1549 on 60 Minutes. Sully is the man, and as 60 Minutes replayed the video of the failed ditch of the Ethiopian Airlines plane in the Indian Ocean, it was remarkable the confidence this guy had in knowing that he could land successfully.

Here is the video from last night's broadcast:

On My Way Back...

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 01:19:00 +0000

I've been gone for a while...thinking about what to do with this blog...I'm going to start reposting again, hopefully get this back on the right track.

Weekend Video

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 20:28:00 +0000

One last Paul Newman reference...found this great video of a James Dean and Paul Newman screen test. good weekend video.

The Photography of Jan von Holleben

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 02:55:00 +0000

I was recently introduced to the photography of Jan von Holleben, a German photographer currently based in London. His series Dreams of Flying is amazing. It literally is children lying on the ground while positioned to appear as if they are floating in mid-air. It is very cool how he set up the backgrounds of each shot to appear as if they were all different locations.

Here is the press release for the series:

"Crossing the desert on the back of a dog, or searching for lost treasures on the bottom of the ocean. Inspired by classic childhood books as well as modern superheroes von Holleben’s photographs allow children to make their dreams come true. His focus on the visual representation of childhood, 'Child-History' and concepts of 'Playing', come from his teacher training course and he combines these theories with his personal experience and childhood memories.

Jan von Holleben spends his time between Berlin and London and his homeland in South East Germany where he produces the majority of his photography. Involving his local neighbourhood kids and their friends with his playful and adventurous ideas. 'Dreams of Flying' is his most acclaimed photographic project to date and was published as a special limited edition board-book.

Born 1977 in Cologne and brought up in the Southern German countryside, von Holleben lived most of his youth in an alternative commune environment. At the age of 13 he followed his father's photographic career by picking up a camera and experimenting with all sorts of ‘magical’ tricks, constantly developing his photographic skills with friends and family. Following a professional photographic apprenticeship with a commercial photographer and learning all about the technical side of the art, he moved to England aged 23 to study at Surrey Institute of Art and Design in Farnham. After his graduation he became submerged within the London photographic scene where he quickly set up two photographic collectives, became involved as picture editor and photographic director for magazines and agencies and won several prestigious awards a year with his own photography. Jan von Holleben’s work is now widely published in magazines and books and he has had solo exhibitions in New York, Berlin and Paris."

I've attached a few of the photos below, but definitely check out his site to see the rest of them. Click on each image to enlarge.

Reading Material

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:52:00 +0000

Andreas Gursky photo via MOMA

Joel Stein's First Fashion Show: [TIME]
Robert Altman and Francis Ford Coppola Rule The Seventies: [The House Next Door]
'The Rocketeer' No Longer Fiction: [BBC]
Glenn O'Brien on Thom Browne: [The Style Guy]

Funny Stuff | SNL

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 06:07:00 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

Saturday Night Live has only been fair so far this season, but their skits involving Sarah Palin have continued to be the funniest bits of the night. This week was no exception, and the opener was Tina Fey as Sarah Palin in her interview with Katie Couric. The skit is below, followed by the original CBS interview that it mocks.

Another great sketch from the night was during the Weekend Update segment where Darrell Hammond came out as Bill Clinton. He almost breaks into laughter for a minute and breaks character and it is hilarious.

On a related note, the people over at the great blog The Year In Pictures, made the uncanny connection between Sarah Palin's oratory and that of another famous Internet star, Miss Teen USA 2007 South Carolina. Watching Palin and South Carolina side by side is just as hilarious as it is frightening. Thanks to The Year In Pictures for pointing this out.

Thinking About Paul Newman

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 22:21:00 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Vanity Fair

Paul Newman died today. I had just read the really great article about him in last month's issue of Vanity Fair. He was not only a great actor but a really interesting person. It is fascinating to read about him moving from acting to philanthropy to start "Newman's Own" and also how he was an IndyCar driver and won several championships. He will probably best be remembered for his roles in some of the coolest movies ever made, such as Hud, The Sting, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. I have attached some videos below from two of those films. He was one of the best actors of his time and to this day, you don't get much cooler than Paul Newman.

Paul Newman video from The Biography Channel:

Paul Newman in Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid:

Paul Newman in The Sting:

A Major Introduction: Dawes

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 21:55:00 +0000

You may remember the now-defunct band, Simon Dawes, from their great 2006 release, Carnivore. If not, that's ok, here's a link to their blog and their wikipedia page so you can catch up. All that you really need to know is that they are back, with a slightly different lineup and a truncated name, but still the same great music.

I just got a copy of their upcoming album that will be released soon and it really is excellent. Their myspace page has some of the demos that will be featured on the CD, and they've also released a great video for one of their songs, "Love is All I Am".

Right now I've really been loving the song God Rest My Soul, but Give Me Time which is featured on their Myspace is great as well. In any case, get to know this band 'cause you're gonna be hearing about them a lot more soon.

Dawes "Love is All I am" from THE FEAR on Vimeo.

The Music and Philosophy of Weezy F. Baby

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 19:24:00 +0000

Without a doubt, one of the year's best albums has been Lil' Wayne's "Tha Carter III". The excitement that constantly surrounds him is amazing as well; some people hold him in as high regard as one of the best rappers of all time, as well as one of the greatest musicians of our era.

David Ramsey wrote a hilarious and thought-provoking piece for the Oxford American Magazine in which he details his time as a teacher in New Orleans and how Lil' Wayne was an undeniable influence over his teaching methods. The article is titled, "I will forever remain faithful by David Ramsey: How Lil' Wayne helped me survive my first year of teaching in New Orleans."

David Ramsey writes:

On New Orleans radio, it seems like nearly every song features Lil Wayne. My kids sang his songs in class, in the hallways, before school, after school. I had a student who would rap a Lil Wayne line if he didn’t know the answer to a question.

An eighth grader wrote his Persuasive Essay on the topic “Lil Wayne is the best rapper alive.” Main ideas for three body paragraphs: Wayne has the most tracks and most hits, best metaphors and similes, competition is fake.

Lil' Waynes style and status as a cultural icon are undeniable, and from this article it is clear that he is so much more than that, especially to the people of New Orleans.

Read the entire article here

Good Reads | Revolutionary Road

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 20:33:00 +0000

I've been writing "Required Reading" posts every few days with good articles I come across on the internet that are worth taking a look at but I thought I would go a step further and recommend books that I am reading as well. I've been reading Revolutionary Road for the last week or so, partly because the Sam Mendes-movie is coming out this winter starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, partly because I've been really into the Mad Men-esque time period in which the story is set. The story details a couple who struggle with the conformity that they see their suburban life forcing upon them.

Richard Ford wrote the introduction, and as if you needed any more convincing, he had this to say about the book, "Everyone in Revolutionary Road drinks way too much, and everyone smokes. Pregnant women do both with alacrity. Business lunches feature four martinis, and afternoons are sacrificed to trysts with your secretary, followed the next morning by the gentleman slinking back to work, making nice, but never calling again."

I found the first edition cover of the book on wikipedia and its a great cover as well:

Weekend Video

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 02:43:00 +0000

This song, Aguas de Março, might very well be my favorite song ever, specifically this version which is a duet between Elis Regina and Antonio Carlos Jobim. I am lucky that there is also a video of the two singing together from which you can really get a sense of how great this song is. The song was the first track off of their 1974 collaboration album titled Elis & Tom.

Lament on RRL

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 21:01:00 +0000

One of my favorite brands, and lately the maker of my favorite shirts, is RRL. I think their stuff, both of their own brand and the vintage pieces that they sell in the stores are great- with one problem- you can't find the clothes anywhere! There is no RRL website, it is just a collage of pictures that pops up from the Ralph Lauren main site. Even Barney's which just started carrying RRL doesn't even have it anywhere on their website. Even in writing this I have searched yet again for the clothes online but it seems the only place to buy RRL is if you are physically in the few stores that they have. I'm lucky to live close to one, but still, this seems to be rediculous. Does anybody know where to get this stuff outside of the stores?

I've put up some pics of RRL stores so you can appreciate it for yourself.
Photos via ACL via Brian Berman.

Reading Material

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 21:09:00 +0000

photo via flickr

The top 50 films that influenced men's style: [Mens Vogue]
Eddy Chai expands his Odin stores with a new store for women: [Refinery 29]
Historian Eric Rauchway gives his two cents on Bush vs. FDR and the 2008 recession vs. 1932 depression: [The Edge of The American West]
The Best Shoes for Fall: [A Continuous Lean]
TV On The Radio's Unbelievable New Album Drops Today: [Pitchfork]

Fall Exhibits at the MOMA

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 04:58:00 +0000

I had the chance to go this weekend to the previews of the Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night exhibit opening this week at the MOMA. I love Van Gogh and have already seen most of his best-known works so I was unsure if the current exhibit would seem fresh but I was happily surprised as I thought the show was great. The exhibit as a whole is extremely understated with just a few rooms that are split into Van Gogh's night scenes across various locations with accompanying notebooks and letters. The simplicity of the show allows each painting to stand out individually and there were some pieces that I had seen before though found a new appreciation for in their new respective placements. One of these pieces was The Cottage, pictured below. Not even this picture does it justice though. See the real thing.

Definitely go see the Van Gogh exhibit if you have some time and are in New York. It's not at all what you would expect for a show about the artist and because of this it is great.

I also checked out the New Photography 2008 show. This is the annual MOMA show that highlights a few groundbreaking photographers. This year only two photographers are on display, those being Josephine Meckseper and Mikhael Subotzky. I enjoyed the documentary photography of Mikhael Subotzky though I was mixed on the "fashion photography as a comment on politics" by Josephine Meckseper. Her photos detailed fashion between the war-torn Germany of the '70's and how the fashion magazines of East Germany continued to propagate a uniform look in the fashion. Her work, as I got the feeling, reeked of heavy influences from Martha Rosler, especially from her series Bringing the War Home: House Beautiful, which was originally done in response to the Vietnam War and which she updated for the Iraq War in 2004.

Below is a video from the MOMA about the New Photography 2008 exhibit.

The photography show was alright. Only see it if you are already at the MOMA seeing the Van Gogh exhibit as you should be.

“Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night” and "New Photography 2008: Josephine Meckseper and Mikhael Subotzky" both continue through Jan. 5 at the Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53rd Street, Manhattan, (212) 708-9400, moma.org.

The Polls Are Open

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 03:50:00 +0000

photo via flickr

I make a conscious effort to know whats going on in the election, especially of the legitamate issues and not the minutiae that ends up being discussed en masse on every news program. It's hard to find places that give the straight news but there is one place that I constantly can go to to find unbiased and precise election information. That site is fivethirtyeight.com. This site is amazing and really is the first site any politically-conscious person should know about. FiveThirtyEight was started by Nate Silver, a baseball statastician in Chicago who took his skills in baseball and applied them to politics and the result is pretty wild to see. After computing statistics for every individual state, Silver makes election predictions every day and his polls have gained a reputation of being more accurate than any other. I am nowhere near as interested in the election as Silver is with his obsessive-tendancies but I can appreciate information that is unbiased and tells me just what I want to know in 40 different ways.

FiveThirtyEight.com

Drinks of Choice

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:33:00 +0000

I came across these amazing bottles of whiskey and wanted to share them. I really do not care for vodka and primarily stick to tequila, whiskey, or scotch. I definitely want to try to get my hands on a few of these bottles. These bottles are small, about 20cl, and resemble viles of insulin or some type of medicine. At their website, Douglas Laing, they do say that the bottles attempt to "Replicate the sample bottles sent to us from stock held at the Distilleries." Unfortunately for me, the only New York distillery seems to be out on Long Island in the town of Syosset so it doesn't look like I'll be getting these mini-bottles anytime soon.

I also saw the new advertisements for Canadian Club a few weeks ago which I immidiately thought were cool for their Mad Men-esque style, but I just learned that these print ads actually won the top prize at the 2008 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.

I like the direction that these drinks are going, though I would admittedly be into anything that kept me away from vodka. Let's see if tequila can come up with anything as good as this.

The National Portrait Gallery's Photo Prize

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:50:00 +0000

I was going to write something about a photographer who I think is great and has been in the news all week, Jill Greenberg, but I think everything that can be said about her has been. If you haven't been up on the news, she attempted to sabotage the photographs she took of John McCain for the cover of The Atlantic and has since been dropped from her agency. You can just google her name if you are interested in that. I really loved Jill Greenberg's work when she came out with the series of crying children. The pictures are huge in real life and the detail is amazing. I attached a photo from the series below.

Rather than talk about Jill Greenberg, I thought I would look at the National Portrait Gallery of England and their annual Portrait Prize which this year is called the Taylor-Wessing Portrait Prize. I really like this prize and one of my favorite photographers, Julia Fullerton-Batten, won the award a few years ago. The shortlist for the award was just announced this week and it is an interesting set of portraits that made it to the finals. Below, in order, are photos by the photographers Lottie Davies, Catherine Balet, Hendrik Kerstens, and Tom Stoddart. I personally like the first photo, Quints, by Lottie Davies the best. I think the photograph could easily be taken for a Renaissance painting and is taken from a series about dreams and nightmares. This one specifically comes from the nightmare of a woman in which she had quintuplets. Bags, by Hendrik Kerstens came about after the artist noticed the thousands of plastic bags that were disposed of each year. The other photos, Connected with Amina, by Catherine Balet, and a portrait of Rupert Murdoch by Tom Stoddart round out the group of 4 finalists. Quints really is the only one that shows me something I haven't seen before, which is even further noticed by Balet's photo which doesn't strike me as particularly unique. I hope Davis takes the prize.

I have also attached below another photo that will be in the portrait prize show though was not included in the shortlist. This photo is by Colin Pantell whose blog I read often and whose portrait I loved. You never know what goes through the minds of judges, but I definitely like his photo more than some of the ones above. Pantell's photograph, along with the 4 shortlisted and about 55 others will be on display in London in the National Portrait Gallery from November 6, 2008 until February 15, 2009.

Weekend Video | Volkswagen Advertising

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 21:51:00 +0000

I've been busy the last few days and haven't really had time to post. I'll be back on the ball next week. Here's a good video I found. The video is basically a psychoanalysis on the film Toy Story, though it turns out to be an ad campaign for Volkswagen to promote independent film makers and to "See Film Differently."

Volkswagen has always had great ad campaigns, starting in 1959 with its "Think Small" campaign which was rated the #1 ad campaign of all time by Ad Age Magazine.

I remember a few years back when I saw this Volkswagen ad that I thought was really amazing. This really was one of the best TV spots I think I ever saw.