the mehallo blog. beta.

Video for Billy Joel’s Pressure.

Tags: music // Comments Off on Pressure, 1982

‘From his Reality Tour’

Here’s the entire concert. Love this album.

Tags: cool finds, music // Comments Off on Under Pressure, 2003

In 2008, punk rocker turned fashion designer Keenan Duffty did his own interpretation of David Bowie – for Target – leading to an incredible, understated, sophisticated line.

Starting with Bowie’s Thin White Duke persona, Duffty’s collection featured tuxedo jackets, thin ties, skinny jeans, shirts with lyrics and lightening bolts, pea coats and more. Peppered throughout were tiny details, hidden buttons and subtle edging that amped things up a bit (see video below). It all were complemented with some alpaca clothing accessories, which by the way you can get for you at that link.

Target’s rollout was a bit spotty – not all stores carried the complete line. Tho this did give things an exclusive edge. And unfortunately, final construction wasn’t always great (it appeared to be the same tailors as Target’s Merona line) – but for 25 bucks for a well designed shirt, one should be willing to sew a few buttons back on.

An interesting follow up happened the next year, as Duffty came up with additional looks as part of his already established Target England’s Dreaming brand. It was cool to watch Duffty go from worn punk to a whole other level in a short amount of time.

I still have (and wear) clothes from the collection (I also love blacks and grays). David Bowie was always about good fashion just outside the mainstream – with Duffty the musician/designer – it was a great mix.

David Bowie: TVC 15

Street photo via Harley Sears

Tags: cool finds, design, design history, fashion, music // Comments Off on Bowie fashion, 2008

‘The Illustrated Biography by Miles and Chris Charlesworth’

Designed by Pearce Marchbank, published 1980.

David Bowie: All The Young Dudes

Found via Gábor Kóthay, Counter-Print

Tags: art, cool finds, design, design history, music, photography // 1 comment  . . .   

‘Made by Austin filmmakers Andrew Shapter and Joel Rasmussen, Before the Music Dies tells the story of how the music industry has abandoned both artists and fans in its single-minded pursuit of corporate profits.’

Creativity doesn’t follow a formula.

It’s pure, anti-establishment and doesn’t fit in little boxes. And the more corporations and conservative elements of the community decide to dictate and choose for us – the less interesting things will become.

Snag the DVD here.

Found via meiko

Tags: cool finds, music, thoughts // Comments Off on Before the Music Dies

Music video for The Birthday Massacre’s In The Dark. Grab their newest album, Pins and Needles, here.

Tags: cool finds, music // Comments Off on In the Dark

‘Broken,’ mixed media and found objects on wood, 2010

New piece by artist Susan Moloney. Twitter here, store here.

Tags: art, cool finds, design // 1 comment  . . .   

‘How does art survive in a time of oppression? During the Soviet rule artists who stay true to their vision are executed, sent to mental hospitals or Gulags. Igor Savitsky  . . .  pretends to buy state-approved art but instead daringly rescues 40,000 forbidden fellow artist’s works and creates a museum in the desert of Uzbekistan, far from the watchful eyes of the KGB.’

Trailer for The Desert of Forbidden Art (above). More info about the film here.

my take
In my design history class, it’s always a shock when I show how strongly the Nazis reacted to modern art. Just the concept that ‘art can be dangerous’ – so dangerous that the artists must be killed – seems so distant. Yet in the news today, book burnings have become a common topic. Just like the Nazis. Again.

Art and ideas are often dangerous to individuals who have the intense need to control other people. What they say and do. Who they associate with, what they read, how they think, or love.

As someone who champions free speech – I find the concept of book (or art) banning (or burning) thoroughly disgusting.

Not looking forward to election day this year.

Trailer found via Ai Buenafe

Tags: art, cool finds, design history, thoughts // Comments Off on Banned masterpieces: Desert of Forbidden Art

‘Donald nos enseña la magia que se esconde en los números y la naturaleza’

‘The Golden Rectangle’ explained in Spanish. Challenged by Donald Duck in Spanish.

(Here’s an English version – though I prefer it in Spanish)

Found via Menosunocerouno

Tags: cool finds, design, design history, education // Comments Off on ‘The Golden Rectangle’ en español

‘The geography of prejudice’

Digital illustrations by designer Yanko Tsvetkov of how various – groups – classify Europe. Above, ‘Europe according to the USA.’

Below, Europe as seen by Britian, Germany, Italy, France. Click for larger view/jump.

More here. Prints are also available.

Tags: cool finds, design, education, thoughts // 5 comments  . . .   

Jessica Hische’s newest font is really cool. Literally. Grab it here.

And watch it melt on your tongue.

Tags: cool finds, fonts, typography // Comments Off on Snowflake font