Kodachrome: 1935 - 2010

Today, the world's last Kodachrome processing machine shut down. As the NYTimes reports, in the last weeks, dozens of visitors and thousands of overnight packages raced to Dwayne's Photo, located in Parsons, Kansas. Some customers of note: a railroad worker who had driven from Arkansas to pick up 1,580 rolls of film that he had just paid $15,798 to develop and an artist who had driven there after flying from London to Wichita, Kan., on her first trip to the United States to turn in three rolls of film and shoot five more before the processing deadline.

When Kodak stopped producing the film last year, the company gave famed photographer Steve McCurry the last roll. Some pictures from the last roll:

See the rest here.

It's impossible not to get sad or nostalgic for the film our parents and grandparents used.

Caroline

Best of 2010

As usual, the end of the year always spawns a million "Best of" lists, from important current events, to what albums some pretentious asshole thought were the best (btw, you can check my list here!), the person of the year (also, arguably, a pretentious asshole); even the best blogs (I heard only assholes keep blogs).

As much shit as I'm giving these lists, I do appreciate them. They're like news-on-steroids for people like me who are out-of-the-loop but didn't want to admit it (Sarah Palin has a reality TV show? Natalie Portman is pregnant?! Health care passed??!!).

I think my favourite list so far is NPR's collection of songs from musicians who died this year, most of whom I did NOT know because I am 23 years old. Better late that never.

I hope you all have a wonderful new year's eve and may 2011 be your best year yet!

Caroline

2010 Top 10

Per tradition, my favourite albums (or songs) of the year. Interestingly, many of my selections are closely tied to personal memories/connections I've made which conveniently makes this list a good recap of my year overall. In no particular order:

Surfer Blood - "Twin Peaks" - This summer I listened to nothing but Surfer Blood and The Drums. One of my most memorable SXSW concerts was seeing Jonathan Pierce of The Drums 'dance' around on stage, flailing a tambourine. The show was also very special because my good friend John Wise got kicked out but managed to sneak his way BACK in for epic reunion. There's nothing better than being surrounded by people you love and watching awesome music.

Janelle Monae - "Tightrope" - Hot damn. I fell in love with this girl when I saw her perform with Of Montreal at Lolla in 2009 with my good friends Jon Kent and Jess Lee. She was so pretty and so spunky. Granted, there was a lot going on so I didn't hear her all THAT well (it was an Of Montreal show), but when The ArchAndroid dropped and it was LONG and had a definite concept she wasn't afraid to tackle, it was clear she was more than just a pretty face. Best voice of any singer on this list.

Kanye West - "Runaway" - Put this one in the history books: Caroline likes hip hop. Or at least this song. I have to admit I heard/saw it in the context of the music video (short, then extended) and the beauty of the choreography, ballerinas, and stunning blue background mixed with Kanye's dapper style just took my breath away. Were it not for Matt Medved sending me the short video, I would never have given the song/Kanye the time of day. I'm glad I was proven wrong!

Arcade Fire - "Rococo" - I didn't like Arcade Fire much until I heard Rococo. Mouth dropped, listened to it on repeat, and then went back and listened to their other albums as a result. Also, my talented friend Dan Black designed the tour posters for them and that's awesome.

Tennis - "Marathon" - When I saw they had a song titled "South Carolina," it was over. I love the story of husband/wife duo Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore and love their lo-fi pop/twee sound. I'll be seeing them February 2011!!!

Deerhunter - "Desire Lines" - This album is great and I'm STILL listening to it on repeat. I never thought anything could top Cryptograms; I say that because I saw Deerhunter when they were still small enough to play the Empty Bottle and they had just released Cryptograms, so obviously played all those songs. It was the most transcendent concert experience I've ever had and I saw them with Travis Baer. NOTHING has topped that show for me yet. But gawd, this album. So good.

Wavves - "Post Acid" - King of the Beach is SO MUCH better than his first album. Even so, I saw him when he played a sold out show at the Empty Bottle and it was a fun time. He was 'cute' in that he seemed young and to be having fun. Then I heard about his little hissy fit in Spain and thought less of him.

Best Coast - "When I'm With You" - My introduction to this band was their massive advertising presence, or at least, what seemed like a massive presence since everywhere I looked for a good six months I saw their hideous album cover art. It was because of this I decided not to like them/drag my feet in downloading their album. Logical, right? But when I finally did... *sheepish face* I liked them. Fun, cute, upbeat. I'm always a sucker for 60s garage pop.

jj - "Ecstasy" - Okay, okay. So jj n 2 was released in 2009. However, I honestly discovered them in 2010 and this was one of my favourite songs so if I'm going to list my Top 10 for 2010, this should make it.

Phantogram - "As Far as I Can See" - Despite being last on this list, this band was arguably my favourite for 2010. I love Sarah Barthel's voice and the type of songs they sing (trip hop? psych pop? electronic rock? whatevs. I like all that stuff these days. But NOT chillwave). These guys were my favourite show at SXSW too, especially because I decided to see them on a whim. I'd just learned about them a couple of weeks before the fest and liked them well enough. After seeing them in such an intimate space, surrounded by other people who loved them, too... Well, that's why I go to shows and love music.

Caroline

BMX bikes x 2000 FPS

By now it should be obvious that I have a slight obsession with things shot at extremely high fps.

This video is no exception. I'm not sure whether it's a commercial (quite a few clear shots of brands like Redbull or Etnies in there) or if it's just a bunch of dudes on BMX bikes. No matter! It's beautiful, the colour is amazing, and hands down the best shot is at :30 when everything slows down and the world suddenly becomes clear.

***Note: The really slow slo-mo was achieved in post-production in Adobe After Effects with Twixtor. Also, the rain was added in with Trapcode Particular 2. Even with this knowledge, though, I am still wholly impressed. Shot with a Canon 7D.

7D 2000 fps from Oton Bačar on Vimeo.

Caroline

Lunar Eclipse (of the heart)

Did anyone stay up to watch the lunar eclipse today? Unfortunately, I wanted to get up at 4 a.m. to work some more on a story. I ate some almonds and passed out hours before it happened. Luckily, someone made a time lapse of the event. Also, here's a beautiful still someone created:

Caroline

Darren Booth

I cannot get enough of the beautiful graphic design by Darren Booth. I look at SO MUCH art and graphic design, it's rare these days when something stops me in my tracks. When I saw his work for Steve Martin's new book, I wanted to cry. I know that sounds dramatic, but it was so beautiful, it honestly impacted me on a visceral level. Be sure to check out his other work. It evoked similar reactions.

NOTE: Not that I judge a book by its cover (I do), but I would possibly consider reading that Girl with a Dragon Tattoo series if the covers had not been so godawful and instead designed by Booth.

Caroline

Out of the mouths of babes

Kids are the best. Except, of course, when they're not. However, for the purposes of this post, I'm going to spotlight how wonderfully creative the mind of a child can be sometimes.

WanderMonster is a blog by Rob Kimmel. Every day of school since kindergarten, he sent his son off with a sticky note fixed to the inside lid of his lunchbox. Each of these little pieces of colored paper bears a half-completed drawing and a half-written story. He then anxiously awaits picking him up after school to see how he finishes these miniature comics.

Axe cop is the product of brothers Ethan (age 29) and Malachai Nicolle (age 5). Malachai supplies the story-lines and Ethan illustrates them. It may be the most hilarious comic I've come across. Take a couple of minutes to watch Episode 1 and Episode 2. You will die.

Caroline

ULTRA 2011

ULTRA 2011

Phase 1 line-up:

TIËSTO
DEADMAU5
THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS (LIVE)
DAVID GUETTA
CARL COX
EMPIRE OF THE SUN
CRYSTAL CASTLES
CUT COPY
RÖYKSOPP
TRENTEMOLLER (LIVE)
ERASURE
MSTRKRFT
BOYS NOIZE
CHROMEO
FERRY CORSTEN
STS9
KLAXONS
CSS
BENNY BENASSI
RUSKO
SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO (LIVE)
STEVE AOKI
WOLFGANG GARTNER
!!!
CLAUDE VONSTROKE
SANDER KLEINENBERG (LIVE)
SKRILLEX
HYBRID (LIVE)
GUI BORATTO
MARTIN SOLVEIG
JORIS VOORN
MR. OZIO
NERO
CHRIS LAKE
HOLY GHOST!
TINIE TEMPAH
SUPER MASH BROS.
AFROBETA.

March 25-27. It's happening.

The Black List

The Black List is a yearly list of unproduced screenplays compiled from tastemakers in the Hollywood/mainstream independent movie making scene.

"It began in 2004 as a survey with contributions from 75 film studio and production company executives. In 2009, over 300 executives contributed their opinion. Since its inception, dozens of screenplays that appeared on the list have been optioned, produced, and released, many to great commercial success. Two of the top three screenplays on the inaugural 2005 list - JUNO by Diablo Cody and LARS AND THE REAL GIRL by Nancy Oliver - went on to be nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the 2008 Academy Awards, with JUNO winning the Oscar."

Caroline

Fourteen Actors Acting

NYT magazine put together a fantastic video gallery called Fourteen Actors Acting for its Hollywood issue. They’re all short pieces, around a minute or so, and all in black and white. There's a great assortment of actors from James Franco to Natalie Portman, Tilda Swinton and Michael Douglas. Swinton is positively riveting. ***On a side note, I can NOT get enough of Franco and just love how often he portrays himself as sexually ambiguous, despite being decidedly hetero. Ironically, I find that really sexy. Also, he's been lauded as our generation's Andy Warhol, and everyone knows how I feel about Andy.

Finally, as if it couldn't get any better, Owen Pallett, one of my favorite musicians, scored the music. He's a genius with strings and orchestral arrangements and I'm thrilled he's involved in this project. Kudos to the people who put this project together and selected the creatives involved.

Caroline

Best space pictures of 2010

National Geographic posted some of their favourite astronomic and physics related images taken this year. Here are a few of my favourites:

Annular eclipse over Bangkok

A star destructing as a supernova

A rainbow from moonlight

Aurora Australis from space

Hubble's Mystic Mountain

Caroline

Conflict Kitchen

Today I had the pleasure of volunteering with a hostel in downtown Chicago. The outreach program in which I participated was called Cultural Kitchen and works with Chicago Public School students. The mission is to have the youth learn about the culture of a country of their choice (it can't be a country which the majority of them are from) and then, at the culmination of their lesson, come to the hostel and cook a meal from that country. I was excited when I learned the country would be Morocco since my dear friend Courtney Sharpe has been there for the Peace Corps.

Naturally, being the lazy vegetarian I am (my meals consist of steamed broccoli and garbanzo beans) I was assigned to cook the meat pies with phyllo dough. It started off problematic when we realized the chicken was supposed to have been cooked already. Not knowing how to do this, I gladly let the students (high school sophomores and juniors) step up, and they did not disappoint. I even learned from one girl that if you put a bowl of cold water near you while cutting onions, they won't make you cry! After we finally got the damn pies in the oven, he had some left-over dough which I suggested we use to make little cinnamon and sugar cookies and which other students used to make little meat pockets with the left-over chicken. My favorite moment was when one girl who had been skeptical the entire time said, "Hey, this is FUN!"

The activity ended with the students eating the food they made as well as serving it to a few travelers staying at the hostel and getting to interact with them. All in all, a lovely evening.

So, imagine my delight when I learned of Pittsburg-based Conflict Kitchen. The take-out restaurant only serves cuisine from countries with which the U.S. is in conflict. The storefront rotates identities every four months to highlight a different country. Here's a mini bio:

"Each Conflict Kitchen iteration is augmented by events, performances, and discussion about the culture, politics, and issues at stake with each county we focus on. We are currently presenting the second iteration of Conflict Kitchen via Bolani Pazi, an Afghan take-out restaurant that serves a savory homemade afghan turnover filled with either pumpkin, spinach, lentils, or potatoes and leeks. Developed in collaboration with members of the Afghan community, our bolani comes packaged in a custom-designed wrapper that includes interviews with Afghans both in Afghanistan and the United States on subjects ranging from Afghan food and culture to the current geopolitical turmoil."

Not only is it a great concept, but look how beautifully it's designed!!!! Dear Conflict Kitchen, plz open a storefront in my backyard.

Caroline

Taking food porn to a whole new level

I am absolutely transfixed by the work of photographer Ryan Matthew Smith for the forthcoming book "Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking." Smith was the lead lensman and photo editor behind the project.

A short write-up:

"From compositing several individual exposures for one enticing cutaway shot of hamburgers on a grill to shooting a lineup of eggs with a 308 sniper rifle at 6200 frames per second, Smith masterfully executed and edited the cookbook's selection of images down from the 1,400 he shot. Smith explains that while he had little studio experience before beginning the project, his extensive portfolio of architecture- and nature-focused photos helped prepare him and that 'having a strong artistic sense towards photography in general can easily transfer through any of the disciplines from advertising all the way to fine art.'"

He primarily used a Canon 5D Mark II with zoom and macro lenses to create "minimalist, high contrast imagery that really pops off the page." I'll say.

Building the sets, shooting (and sometimes re-shooting) the food and finally editing the photos was a three year process in total.

If you're curious/want more food porn pictures, there's an excellent interview with Smith on featureshoot.com.

Also, check out his high speed video of popcorn popping shot with (my favourite camera) the Phantom V12.1 (camera was used for the eggs photo, too).

Caroline