A never ending celebration of monstersWhat a wonderful world. There’s always something new to become completely obsessed with. I give you my latest: Mexican pulp art which is on display at Monster Brains.
But wait! Monster Brains has even more cool stuff for your perusal. Like: grotesque animals, creepy vintage ads, D&D books, sci-fi covers and other generally disturbing, wild or scary pieces of art.
It’s way excellent!
at Symphony SpaceMiranda July is a marvel. Her work is poignant, funny,personal and universal.
She recently read along with some superb actors excerpts from her non fiction book It Chooses You as part of the Selected Shorts series.
By way of procrastination, July began reading the Penny Saver and eventually called and met sellers, documenting it all with a photographer.
The resulting conversations are at times silly, creepy, hilarious, touching, heart breaking and exhilarating.
Not only did the evening strengthen my respect for her but it introduced me to the Selected Shorts radio program whose archives I plan to explore soon.
Curating eclectic interestingness from culture’s collective brainAnd look! Already my first great discovery via Twitter, the fascinating Brain Pickings blog, brain child of writer Maria Popova.
Within the eclectic collection of interesting articles you’ll find lovely design, must read books, interesting thoughts, provocative photography and lots of lovely maps. It’s an amazing hodgepodge of all sorts of things I love.
Most lovable about the site though, is that in a sea of snark, it retains a real sense of wonder at the world. Nothing’s worse than someone who is bored by things, and Popova and her team find inspiration everywhere. I dare you to scroll one page without joining in their enthusiasm and stopping to read more.
BP also distinguishes itself from many sites by offering unique finds and information that hasn’t been re-linked from a million other places.
I’ve only browsed a portion of the archives, because doing too much more would be ignoring the life I have to lead today. Definitely be prepared to be sucked in to the awesomeness.
Music As LiteratureThese clever, funny, and amazingly rendered albums reinterpreted as novels are fantastic! There are so many great ones, but of course a science fiction cover for Purple Rain ranks among my very favorites.
London designer Christophe Gowans has also done a bang up job reinterpreting classic art as classic album covers. Just check out that Black Sabbath/Nude Descending a Staircase mashup. Genius!
Thanks to Will from The Stencil for posting these on FB…
Which in turn posted a link to these Pelican Book versions of classic albums.
These pretty much made my day.
Amazing Collection of Children’s BooksOh my goodness I am in LOVE with the blog Atelier Pour Enfants, in love. I can’t read a word of it, but who needs to with all the adorable, interesting, beautiful artwork.
I’ve spent hours looking through the entire archive getting all kinds of inspired. In fact, I’ve started a whole new project with all the new ideas these wonderful books have inflamed in my brain.
An absolute must for lovers of illustration or really anybody that enjoys looking at cute, great design. I would love to find some of the books for Mr. Van – will have to keep an eye out.
Found this site through another great site (and previous Brix Pick) called Vintage Kids’ Books My Kid Loves.
A Field Guide to Wild American Pulp ArtistsThanks so much to my mom for letting me know about the amazing site, Pulp Artists that not only boasts a seemingly inexhaustible collection of dime store mystery and sci fi art, but does a great job of giving the artists their due with biographies and even photos.
It’s wild to see how many artists did work for the pulp market, from the famous (Norman Rockwell) to the home town heroes (Zoe Mozart was born in Colorado Springs!).
I am impressed that David Saunders was able to get so much information and present it in such an organized, easy to browse manner (more sites could take his queues).
Give yourself some time to look through it all. By the end you’ll be itching to read stories about blackmail and alien robots.
Fab BlogRetrospace is a new discovery for me and a great, constantly updated treasure trove of all things retro: from long forgotten magazines, catalogues, found photographs, TV shows and books. There are also Podcasts that feature old radio ads, novelty songs and other intriguing oddities.
The archives go back three years, so I have only really scratched the surface but I am in love already. Any blog where you can find Mexican porno mags from the 70’s and a history of stewardess outfits through the decades is alright with me. Do set aside some real time to go through it all.
Every Sentence of Jack Kerouac’s On The Road, Retold for Bros.Most of you may have already seen On The Bro’d, an ingenious retelling of On the Road for today’s bro: Full of references to Bud Light Limes, Axe Body Spray, Big Dog tees, and beer bongs.
The author, Mike Lacher, is featured in McSweeney’s, The Huffington Post, and more and his web design is just as funny as his prose (see the The Geocities-izer). His other work can be found here – where you too can become an instant fan.
Pizza, Pranks, Chuck Norris!I know this brilliantly presented collection of quotes on Buzzfeed is supposed to make you glad you didn’t have to read the autobiography Justin Bieber: First Step 2 Forever: My Story, but it just endears me to him (for the first time – I wasn’t even swayed by his CSI appearance and I’ve never heard a song of his that wasn’t slowed down 800%). I mean he LOVES pizza, pranks, and Chuck Norris sooooo much!! It reminds me of another great personal story, Ice by Ice: The Vanilla Ice Story in His Own Words (now I am wondering where my copy of that went to). Honestly, I just added it to my amazon wish list.
A Lovely CollectionWhile I can’t read any of the information on the lovely French Book Covers website, the gallery of images ranging from sci-fi to noir, classic literature to smut is intriguing to browse through. I’ve added a few favorites here, but any lover of design should take a look at the extensive (and growing) site. I only wish there were more.
Click here for the rest of French Book Covers