Only a few weeks after our most recent Snowmageddon, another blizzard is brewing for the Northeast. Since that may mean a snow day for many of our readers — and we bet no small number of you got your yearly snow-playing out of the way last month — we’ve devised a way for you to frolic in a winter wonderland without ever leaving the cozy comfort of your couch. The films we’ve rounded up aren’t just set in cold climates; they’re full-on sensory experiences that immerse you in a world of snow and ice.
There’s been a lot of talk about how 2010 has been an awful year for film. In fact earlier this year in the Wall Street Journal, novelist and screenwriter Joe Queenan dubbed it the worst movie year ever. While we don’t necessary agree (just look at The King’s Speech, Toy Story 3, Inception, The Kids Are All Right, The Social Network, and Black Swan), we do know that the upcoming year looks even more promising. After the jump check out ten of the films that already have us excited for 2011, and be sure to add anything that we’ve missed in the comments.
On November 5, the fifth annual NY Art Book Fair opens at P.S.1 in New York. Presented by Printed Matter, the weekend-long fair brings together 200 international presses, booksellers, antiquarian dealers, artists, and publishers, and offers special project rooms, exhibitions, screenings, book signings, and performances.
Of the many presses that will be involved in the fair, we’ve compiled a list of ten exciting publishers that you have most likely not heard of, but should know about. They produce art books, limited artist editions, zines, comics, posters, chapbooks, original web books, freely accessible online archives, and exhibitions. Some focus on emerging artists and street art, while others reprint the long-lost work of established artists. And if you have the opportunity to come to the fair, you can take in some of the special projects such as the Zine-Trade-Meet-Up or Goteblüd’s exhibition of more than six hundred Riot Grrrl zines, with a working photocopy station.
Earlier this week it was announced that Terry Gilliam, director of films such as Brazil and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, will helm the live stream of Arcade Fire’s August 5 show at Madison Square Garden as part of American Express’s Unstaged series. Luckily for us impatient types, Gilliam is not the first major filmmaker to use his cinematic eye to commit live rock ‘n’ roll performances to film. We’ve rounded up five of our favorite concert films by well-known directors after the jump. Check out our picks, and leave a comment with any that we missed.
With all of the positive critical buzz, we can’t wait for this weekend’s release of Christopher Nolan’s mind-bender Inception, which promises to be a dream-fueled film that blurs all distinctions between reality and what happens inside the mind. Inspired, we’ve decided to explore one of the most interesting cinematic conventions: the dream sequence. Dreams, unrestrained by any visual logic, tend to be where movies are at their most creative, and these classic clips exemplify that point. They range from funny, to cryptic to just plain scary and over the top. Which one’s your favorite?
Happy Bastille Day, and vive la France! Many of us use this revolutionary holiday as an excuse to celebrate all things French — which is to say, we drink lots of wine. But sometimes we need some eye candy to go with our drinks. So, while we’re paying tribute to our refined European friends, we present to you 10 sexy French guys who have made legitimate cultural contributions — because we could all stand to learn something while we ogle.
The trailer for The Green Hornet has just about everything you see in most caped crusader movies: explosions, gadgets, a pretty girl (Cameron Diaz), a high-octane hard rock soundtrack. But it also stars Seth Rogen as a party boy turned crime fighter and features Christoph Waltz, who scored a well-deserved Academy Award last year for his performance in Inglourious Basterds. Oh yeah, and it’s directed by Michel Gondry. We’re certainly intrigued by this glimpse at The Green Hornet, but we’re also betting it’s going to be a whole lot quirkier than this crowd-pleasing trailer. Let us know what you think in the comments.
1. Michel Gondry is planning some top-secret project with frequent collaborator Björk, but he’s being cagey about it. (“It’s very undefined, so it’s hard to give more precision.”) [via TwentyFourBit]
2. American Idol producers allegedly want Howard Stern to replace Simon Cowell. [via NYP]
3. Check out the trailer for the new Stephin Merritt documentary, which features interviews with Peter Gabriel, Neil Gaiman, and Sarah Silverman. [via Pop Candy]
4. Did you realize that Michael Crichton was an art collector? Christie’s in London will auction pieces from his collection — including Jasper John‘s Flag — in May. [via NYT]
5. This is not a joke: Joe Simpson is getting his own Nickelodeon comedy based on his life. [via THR]
Bonus Giveaway: We use Yahoo! Search to help find the top culture stories of the day. Now we’re giving you the chance to play editor, and you just might win a trip to Coachella.
Use Yahoo! Search to find an interesting link about Björk, and drop it below in the comments. Our favorite entry will receive a Voltaic limited-edition box set, and more importantly, be entered to win a VIP trip for two to Coachella. Topics will be changing throughout the week, so get your search on and keep playing to increase your chances of winning!
Video art was a suspicious, outsider’s medium not long ago. To be sure, it has paradigms, heroes, and conventions — which new generations are feeling confident enough to subvert — but from the ancient perspective of the art-historical canon, it’s an adolescent. Perhaps due to this aura of youthfulness, or maybe because video-based art is very like tiny, short movies, we can’t get enough of it. And at the center of all the fuss is Remote Viewing curator and Art Cinema author Paul Young, whose current LA exhibition culled from the LOOP Video Art Fair is the equivalent of an indie blockbuster.
Norman McLaren was a Canadian filmmaker and animation pioneer; he was known for innovations like scratching and painting film stock, resulting in pieces like the one above. His most famous work, a 1952 short called “Neighbors” is after the jump; the film caused controversy because of its anti-war content, but went on to win an Oscar. Thanks to some brilliant (and charming) stop-motion work, it looks like a precursor to the films of Michel Gondry. [via Tiny Vices Blog] Read More »
, and more importantly, be entered to win a VIP trip for two to Coachella. Topics will be changing throughout the week, so get your search on and keep playing to increase your chances of winning!
