New Drop in the Boicoshop
Blatant plug alert! The boicoshop [shop.boico.net] has just been updated with a new fabric design via Bon Bon Kakku [bonbonkakku.com] and a heap of new posters available via POD from Imagekind [shopboico.imagekind.com]. Check it. Here’s a poster design that didn’t make the cut…
100 Things #006
‘Let’s Talk About Me’ Postcards
Devised by Scott King [scottking.co.uk] for Polite [politecards.com].
Tonite Let’s All Make Movies in London
The weather’s gone a little wobbly in old London town. I think I got hailed on today. That’s no good is it. If the last couple of days have got you considering setting yourself up for the annual Winter hibernation, or if you’re not in London have a hankering for rotten chilly miserable weather, here’s a list of films about London you may want to sift through. Boicozine recommends grabbing yer duvet, quilt, blanky or doonah and watching them all back-to-back in one sitting (with random snack breaks of course). Got a fave film about London to add to the list? make sure you leave a comment and let us know.
London [iMDB]
No-one does narration like the English and Paul Scofield’s subtly surreal narration in Patrick Keiller’s ‘London’ is second to none. Documenting a city forever teetering on the verge of stagnation, abet with loving care and attention, this film appears timeless and yet documents a very distinct era in British politics and the mindset of the world’s first ‘invisible’ city. This is the only clip I could find, a rare moment in the film that is quite explicit about it’s political inclinations.
Finisterre [iMDB]
Kieran Evans & Paul Kelly’s Finisterre pays homage to Keiller’s film and expands on it by including interviews with noteworthy Londoner such as artist Julian Opie [julianopie.com] and ex-Subway Sect member Vic Godard, amongst others. Commissioned by indie-pop (and proud) group, Saint Etienne [saintetienne.com], as an alternative to having produce a bunch of music videos for their album of the same name, it also benefits from a top soundtrack tailored to the film. The clip below is from a later album. Another little film about London town…
Wonderland [iMDB]
Michael Winterbottom’s ‘Wonderland’ is a bit of a test but only because it aims to give the viewer that unique sense of ‘disconnect’ you can feel in city you can regularly get lost in, both physically and metaphorically.
The Young Americans [iMDB]
Bjork sings the theme song for this very British attempt at a gritty crime drama. Even having Harvey Keitel and Viggo Mortensen on board can’t dilute the resolute gloom of London left that permeates this film. Weirdly uplifting in parts but for no obvious reason. Here’s the video clip to go with it…
The London Nobody Knows [iMDB]
What starts off as a merry jaunt around the lesser known (or cared for) areas of late 60s London ends in a type of morality tale involving meths drinkers. Still it’s enchanting in places and with James Mason as our guide, it’s certainly never dull. I think you can see most of it on YouTube, if you really want. Better to watch it on DVD though if you really want to see what’s going on. Still, here’s a taster…
Naked [iMDB]
Naked is deliberately dark… although you won’t know it from this trailer. America really didn’t know what to make of Mike Leigh’s ‘quintessentially’ English investigation into the murkier side of human nature. This trailer tries to shoehorn it into your a-typical ‘black comedy’ mould but it’s a far more intricate film than that. The highlight being when our main character, played by David Thewlis, takes a preamble around late night London encountering a bickering Scottish couple, a philosophical security guard and a disgruntled flyer posterer along the way.
Tonight Let’s All Make Love in London [iMDB]
The only film/documentary about ’swinging’ London in the 60s that you need to see… if you can find it. The easiest way to see bits of it at the moment is to pop along to the Alan Aldridge exhibition at London’s Design Museum [designmuseum.org]. He is interviewed in the film along with David Hockney, Julie Christie, Michael Caine, Allen Ginsberg and many other noteworthy personages.
Boicovideo #5: Instant Design, A Manual of Graphic Techniques
This time it’s a freaking book… about magazines and graphic techniques, pre-computers produced in 1990 by the man behind i-D magazine [i-dmagazine.com], Terry Jones.
What’s Up: #40: Tristan Galdos Del Carpio
It’s taken me a while to track down the name of illustrator Tristan Galdos Del Carpio [via philippearnaud.com]. His portraits of various fashion aficionados commissioned by Self Service magazine [selfservicemagazine.com] ‘back in the day’ have been etched into my memory. It wasn’t until acquiring Ezra Petronio and Suzanne Koller’s [petronioassociates.com] recent tome (I say ‘tome’ not cause of weight but because of the hefty price tag) [jrp-ringier.com], that I could finally look it up (I think my old issues of Self Service are still in my Mum’s garage in Australia). His recent work does not disappoint either. There’s a nervous energy in his linework that makes anything pop… even dower old fashion bods.
Boicovideo #4: Vogue Hommes Japan
More magazine science with a lesson in feature to advert flow courtesy of brand spanking new publication, Vogue Hommes Japan [voguehommes.jp]. Part of the Boicozine series of mini-movies about magazines. PS When I say ‘gold foil’ I actually meant ‘metallic ink’. Oops!
Stuff from Above: Thanks Côme!
Côme de Bouchony [comedebouchony.com] has helped launch the Boicozine cultural exchange programme by very kindly swapping a bunch of ace Ephemera from Paris with your humble author/blog enthusiast… actually there isn’t really any sort of official exchange thingy… I made that bit up. Sounds like kid of a neat idea though, huh.
From the top, clockwise: Côme’s business card × Social Club is a new… er… club for Paris [parissocialclub.com]. As reported in a recent issue of Grafik ’still no website’ Magazine [grafikmagazine.co.uk] Laurent Fetis [laurentfetis.com] has been changed with producing their flyer which is lush A3 size 12 page colour colour affair featuring contributions from Will Sweeney [alakazamlabel.com] and Gaspirator [myspace.com/gaspirator] × Magazine magazine is a magazine about magazines. It’s totally rad, near impossible to find outside of Paris and guest Art Directed by a different creative group each issue. For this edition the creative reigns were passed to Florence & Johann [florencejohann.com] × Côme may have to decipher this one for me. It looks like an ace two colour flyer announcing new publications by a publishing house but I’m not sure. The front image is a bit saucy isn’t it. × Programme produced for Tram [tram-idf.fr] which looks like some sort of Art Festival covering a number of areas and venues. Designed by a couple calling themselves Camping Design [campingdesign.com] × This is Sportswear is a ‘Icon Book Remix’ produced by Nike Sportwear for Clark magazine [clarkmagazine.com]. It’s one of a number of lush publications Nike have been producing in a push to reconnect with the creative community. Designed by ill-studio [ill-studio.com] × Lastly this is an ace little programme from this year’s Chaumont Poster and Graphic Design festival. Printed in metallic gold and reflex blue and designed by Frederic Teschner Studio [fredericteschner.com]
in Ephemera / Graphic Design / Things / Travelogue
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Marker
This month marks two years of blog posts on Boicozine. Seems like a lot longer. Can I retire now? Here’s a few highlights:
First ever post, odd subject matter really [024] / Spooky Old Tom Adams [438] / A dash of Nilhism [142] / Phone Booth Fetishisation [340] / Most of the ‘Best Magazines Ever!’… apparently [132] / London Councils in ‘we’re a bit shit’ shocker! [260] / I’ve only just gone and lost everything! [009] / Teenbeat Forever [413] / The Unspectacular German Magazine Thingy [331] / Colophon was a definite highlight. Can’t wait for 2009 [118] [121] [113] [335] / Pyramid Power is a bit good [392] / Ssshhh! It’s typography and it’s a secret [386] / A blast from the Past [046] / London makes me grumpy… and often [425] / DIY Publishing Rules OK [274] / I left my heart (and mind) in Paris [277] / Akkurat is a bit popular [226] / A fever you won’t mind having [087] / Alex Stitt, unsung sing-a-long hero [085] / Review 2008 starts [005] / Boicozine HQ moves to Golden Lane [316] / Behold the sorry tale of ‘My worst job ever’ [144] / We start flogging stuff what we have made [465] / I tried to start a trend. Lucky it was sort of happening already [205] / The Tubes, randomly [380] / Typography is all wrong [379] / Want a Free Font? [366] / Nomi is upset and for good reason [356]
