Another Tantalizing Tuesday

Lots of good stuff to report, some from the tech world, some from music, and some from art. How typical of me, wouldn't you say?

Wired Magazine's list of top 8 online mix tape distribution sites.





Article detailing St. Louis and their Complete Street Project. Finally, urban planning that de-emphasizes auto-centric streets.





New York Times article examining the state of conceptual art and the welcoming of former rebels like Jeffery Koons into the establishment.

Google Android is making a grab at the Ipod Touch market with their Archos 5. It looks incredible.

French illustrator over at Nesk.

Ever get tired of pie charts and PowerPoint presentations? Let David McCandless' new book, The Visual Miscellaneum show you information in a colorful new way.


As per the A.V. Club, Tegan and Sara's new album is awesome to the max. Also, Midlake and Los Campesinos! are coming out with new albums in 2010. Oh Huzzah!

Friday Night Links/P.J.'s Picks

Tatsuro Kiuchi

For those who don't remember, "P.J." stands for Philip Johnson. I picked him as my imaginary blogging buddy mostly because I've always enjoyed his trademark glasses and have respect for him as an architect. How can you not like a guy who hung out with Andy Warhol? As it so happens, I've been getting to know P.J. a little better thanks in part to my recent acquisition of The Philip Johnson Tapes. The book is a transcription of interviews with Johnson done in 1985 by Robert A.M. Stern. I have just started the book, but so far it's a very enlightening read. He really doesn't pull any punches when it comes to his opinions about anything. I anticipate a lively interview all the way through.

In other reading news, I just finished Nicholson Baker's, The Mezzanine. Though only 130 pages, it takes a while to go through in part because of Nicholson's extensive use of footnotes. I admit it got a little tiresome after a while, but his sustained concentration on minutiae is amazing. Most of the book revolved around the main character trying to figure out why both his shoelaces broke within a day of each other. He thinks about the different places of stress; at the knot, at the shoes' eye holes, along the toe, etc. in excruciating detail, but rarely do his thoughts become boring. He forces the reader to examine the everyday in a new light, often reexamining the mundane and finding something wondrous about it. How often do you read an author who cares deeply about paper towels vs. air dry hand dryers in public bathrooms? I enjoyed the book, but it is not for everyone. It takes a certain patience, one I admittedly didn't always have.

During breaks in my reading of Baker, I read a short story collection by Jim Shepard called, Like You'd Understand, Anyway. It is one of the most consistent short story collections I've read recently. Normally, a collection has a few gems, a lot of decent, but not great stories, and a couple that are just bad. Shepard held a tight grip on his material and never let it falter, even as he skipped around through history tackling such time periods as Chernobyl era Ukraine, Hadrian's Wall era Roman Empire, and the French Revolution. Shepard's stories, which largely revolve around father/son/brother relationships, always stay emotionally grounded. He never lets the historical period take control of the story. It doesn't matter what year the story takes place, relationships between men are always they same and, in Shepard's worlds, always failing. Definitely a book worth checking out, even if you aren't a big lit reader. It's very straightforward and lacks any kind of tricky post-modern elements. It's just a solid read. Period.


Last weekend Treasure Island, in the San Francisco Bay, held its second annual music festival. The island was originally built in 1939 for a World's Fair and fell into disuse shortly after World War II. There was been a lot of argument over the years about what to do with the man made island. Current plans call for a small sustainable city to be built. San Francisco always seems to be the most progressive West Coast city when it comes to social policy. Some message board posters have criticized the city for concentrating too much on environmental issue while ignoring larger concerns such as crime and safety. While I certainly don't want crime, I think that's something I'd rather put up with than cancer induced by chemical/pollutant exposure.

Forgot how I found the site, but The Projectivist is a great blog about art and graphic design.

Tatsuro Kiuchi is a Japanese illustrator of immense talent. In addition to his portfolio site, he also has a blog. Check it out, yo!

The Metro Library and Archive has an online database of Los Angeles maps, each detailing proposed public transit routes over the years. It gets depressing when you realize L.A. could have had its "Subway to the Sea" way back in the 1970's.

Syllabus for the Net Generation via McSweeney's.

San Francisco's plastic bag ban has worked and might be extended to include banning paper bags, some residents pissed.

Barnes & Noble is taking dead aim at Amazon's Kindle with their new e-reader device, Nook.

When was the last time you talked to your cousin, Frodo?

"Good Magazine" Associate Editor and all around swell guy Patrick James has a Twitter. Read it before it reads you.

Friday Night Links/P.J.'s Picks

There's a lot of talk among music critics about scenes. There was the grunge scene in Seattle, the hardcore scene in D.C., the punk scene in London, the new Pac Northwest scene that includes Death Cab for Cutie and the Decemberists. Every city seems to have had a "scene" at some point within music history. Omaha, of all places, has a scene thanks to Conor Oberst and Saddle Creek Records. Los Angeles never seems to make any of these scene lists, at least to my knowledge. The closest thing I can think of is the East Coast/West Coast rap battles of the 90's, which cooled down considerably after the murders of Biggie and Tupac as well as the incarceration of Suge Knight.


It's surprising to me that L.A. is void of a scene especially since it's described as being such a small town, socially speaking. This has a lot to do with Hollywood and the massive networking that goes within the entertainment industry. With all these people working together, how can some sort of scene or movement not exist in L.A? I think one does exist and has been around for a while. It's difficult for me to know whether this scene is currently emerging or I just think it is because I'm becoming cognizant of it.

Take, for example, Largo. (I think you will find that after a while, this article will be nothing more than a Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon like scenario which, incidentally, can be played here.) Largo is a sit down theater that is host to many actors, musicians and comedians. A quick look through their schedule shows performances by comedian Patton Oswalt and musician Jon Brion. Both work with director Paul Thomas Anderson whose movie "Magnolia" featured songs written by Aimee Mann who also performs at Largo along with Fiona Apple, who dated Paul Thomas Anderson.

If we expand the circle out a little wider, Zack Galafinakis also performs at Largo. He is friends with Patton Oswalt, who has done stand up for 826LA. 826LA is part of 826, a non-profit organization started by author Dave Eggers who wrote a movie, Away We Go, starring John Krazinski and Maya Rudolph. Maya Rudolph is going out with Paul Thomas Anderson. And this list could go on forever, circling outward into a vast orgy of Hollywood incest. All this is done to prove, however, that L.A. does a very credible arts scene that, at least according to my knowledge, has been developing since the 90's.

Much of the artistic movement of today has a lot to do with the so-called hipsters, particularly around the Echo Park and Silver Lake areas of Los Angeles. There has been a backlash against hipsterdom for a while now, primarily because of their alleged love of anything obscure, cerebral or pretentious. They're the new wave of art school prepsters pretending to barely get by on their boho chic lifestyle. Say what you will about their fashion, attitude, or gentrification of various cities, but at least they have a vested interest in the city's cultural life. I asked a friend how she liked living in Austin. She said there was a lot of plaid, so it was a pretty cool place. Plaid is shorthand for hipster fashion along with skinny jeans and funky colored sunglasses and there's plenty of that around L.A. I can only imagine what the crowd will look like at the FYF this weekend.

And what are the hipstesr listening to, what art are they promoting? They listen to, among other things, No Age, a stripped down indie outfit that often play at Family Bookstore on Fairfax. Family Bookstore, along with Stories in Echo Park and Origami Vinyl are all in the business of promoting local musicians, artists, and writers. Both Family and Stories are collaborating with 826LA on various events. For a mini documentary on Family Bookstore, check out the We Love You Blog all about Spike Jonze's new movie, Where the Wild Things Are. Oh, did I neglect to mention Spike is also a friend of 826LA? Small word, huh? No Age, in addition to playing Family Bookstore also play at a venue called The Smell. Need more like-minded, L.A. based non-profit organizations? Look no further than Machine Project, Ooga Booga, and the Silver Lake Conservatory of Music.

What makes all these people an organizations more than just businesses? The difference is that they are integrally related to the neighborhoods in which they stand. They don't just sell things to the community, but welcome the people in to be participants in conversation. Not just literal conversation, but to be a dynamic force both in the L.A. art world and the immediate neighborhood. There is a reciprocal relationship between the establishments and residents. And not only do the businesses provide workshops, classes, music, art, books, meeting spaces to their customers, but to other business as well. They work together for the betterment of everyone. As mentioned above, 826LA has worked with both Stories and Family Bookstores. It has worked with Maya Rudolph and Spike Jonze and Patton Oswalt and Largo. There are artists, musicians, and actors in Los Angeles who, without trying to, are part of a burgeoning group of people keeping the interest and promotion of art alive in Los Angeles. And that's more than can be said for LACMA who just recently had to cancel its weekend film series. And UCLA narrowly escaped having to close down its arts library. With major artistic institutions falling by the economic wayside, it's comforting to find people willing to make a scene. An L.A. scene at that.


Random Links:

L.A. FreeBee

Sartorialist

Look Book

NPR Story about the comedy scene in L.A. during the 1970's.

Two Martin Short interviews on Letterman that, although about 15 years apart, are eerily similar and equally hilarious.

Interview I
Interview II

Friday Night Links/P.J.'s Picks

After coming across a link in the blog of photographer Aaron Farley I've begun to renew my interest in photography. I've been taking photos since I was about three or four thanks to my dad, who bought me my first camera. I don't remember what kind it was, but I'm pretty sure it involved winding the film and choosing an aperture. My mom like to watch me eat Jell-O with my hands, my dad thought it was fun for a toddler to figure out how f-stops worked. Off I went, camera in hand. My photos were invariably aimed up and more than a little crooked, but sure enough, I was a four year old photographer. Over the years I continued to take photos, mostly on family vacations. Early subject matter included Coke machines and chewed gum.

At some point I was given an SLR camera and started taking photos with it. I think I was about 9 or 10. I didn't know I had an SLR or what an SLR even was, but I kept on taking photos, often imitating and trying to one better the shots my dad took, which were often of buildings. My dad, being the consummate site seer and tourist, lugged around a two ton camera with a zoom lens that doubled as a telescope. My mom always opted to wait for us in a gift shop somewhere and browse with great earnestness for a pair of earrings she thought my aunt might like.

My interest in photography began to wane when I was in high school, probably due to my intense desire to distance myself from anything remotely related to my parents. My photographs up that that point were of mostly buildings and cities, flora and fauna. People were largely absent except for the occasional tourist who wondered into my shot; fanny pack and floppy hat. The camera sat in my closet until college.

Leave it to laziness to reawaken my love of photography. The deal was, according to my school's requirements, that I either take a P.E. elective or photography. Sports is unbecoming to those of us in the geek community, so I opted for photography. It was the usual stuff; weekly photo assignments based on technique learned in lecture and the eventual printing of said assignments. My photos were middling at best. Part of the problem was my inability to load the negatives onto the reel for developing. Instead of opting for the dark room, I always chose to unload the film from my camera in one of those lightproof bags. My hands turned into sprinkler heads and I completely soaked the negative in flop sweat. Not that it hurt the negative, but it was kind of embarrassing to still be loading my film to be developed and watch classmates show off their third print of the day. Needless to say, making prints was not my thing.

Photography faded into the background again until the digital age came about and taking photos didn't involve the cost of film and making prints. I've gone the way of the maniac when it comes to digital photos; shooting indiscriminately and editing later. I've gained a lot of practice time that I wouldn't have had under the cost limitations of film. I've learned to be patient with the execution of taking photos. Tripods are now acceptable as is taking the time to frame and figure out the correct aperture. I have come to terms with photography being a process of trial and error.

Part of my initial reticence toward taking photos was the fear of making a mistake. I'd never know if I had taken a bad photo until I printed it, but the fear was still there as was the proof; that print with the blurred finger in the corner or a building out of focus. Now I can make as many mistakes as I want because it doesn't cost me anything. My photos are better now. Not great, but better. I even have a few that I think would be acceptable as a large print, 8x10 even. It's nice to know I can do decent work.

Why do I take photos, why have an interest in photography at all? A lot of photographers say they want to document their world; capture and remember events that might otherwise fade from memory if not for the photo to remind them. And while this is true, photos do capture moments, they also capture moments in other people's lives. And so the photographer is not just a documentarian, but co-opter. He is taking moments from others and using them to create/remember his own life experience.

Not all subjects want to be photographed and not all photographs are taken with permission. It requires bravery on the photographer's part to essentially steal moments away from people and make them his own. What right does a photographer have to document another person's life? What will be done with those photos? How will the people's lives be judged based on the use of the photos? A photographer has to have a certain brazenness to work against the resistance of his subjects and capture the moments he wants to; to co-opt their lives into his own.

It is a brazenness I lack and probably the reason so few of my photos include people. It seems impossible to me to make such claims, to demand such intimacy from my subjects. It is an invasion I don't feel right making. So I stand along the periphery and gaze at the world.

I look at photos by Diane Arbus and wonder how she got so many people to let her photograph them, how such relationships came into place, and how fortunate it was for both of them that such a relationship existed. Not just for the sake of the photo, but for each other, for the tremendous freedom and relaxation that I fantasize must exist between the subject and the photographer. It all comes down to intimacy and closeness and people letting their lives mingle together for just a moment and to share something together. They are creating a memento and a secret shared by only themselves.

As a spectator, I enjoy imagining that closeness, that feeling that each person (both photographer and subject) is a part of. As a photographer, it is a challenge for me, on a personal level, to break through my shyness and forge those relationships and catch something between me and my subject. The photo that results is largely, in my mind, a happy by-product of the relationship; it is secondary and merely a reminder of something far greater than what the photograph can show. Maybe such relationships don't exist, maybe I have romanticized delusions about how photography works, but I think I am allowed such delusions, as every photographer is. If nothing else, what is photography, but the framing of the world through one person's eyes. And through their photographs we are allowed to see their reality, however unreal it may seem.


FRIDAY NIGHT LINKS:

American Suburbs X: A collection of photos, movies, and essays by and about some of America's greatest contemporary photographers.

I Heart Photography: A photography blog that gets updated daily with photographs from around the world.

Gary Leonard: L.A. based photographer who has a gallery open downtown. The current exhibit shows photos of billboards around Los Angeles in the 1960's.

Robert Adams: A photographer whose career was largely focused on the American West particularly California, Colorado, and Oregon. One of his more famous photo collections, "The New West," came out in 1970.

William Eggleston: Another photographer greatly interested in the American suburban landscape who rose to prominence in the mid 1970's.

Bill Owens: Yet another chronicler of suburban lifestyle.

I'm greatly attracted to suburbia for a couple reasons. First of all, it's a fairly recent development that really came about during the Post-War boom years. The 50's were a time of economic prosperity for a lot of Americans, or at least it was important to project an image of prosperity. We were beginning the Cold War and domestic perfection had to be maintained at any cost. Although the above photographers took their photos in the late 1960's and 1970's, there's still a pervasive image of optimism mixed with the mundane( i.e. watering the lawn or feeding a baby). It's kind of like watching residents of OZ doing their laundry. It's the breakdown of the American ideal into its very real and often uninteresting parts. Life is no better in the 'burbs than it is anywhere else. It just happens to be shiny and new.

Also, I think suburban life is largely overlooked because it has been documented by every family and their point and shoot camera. It is a pedestrian photography subject that is of little interest to the art community. What these photographer have done is explore the dynamics of suburban life and bring to light the complexities and yes, trivialities, of that lifestyle. Suburbanites are people too and are fraught with the same dilemmas as everyone else.

The interest in suburban life has seen a resurgence as of late thanks to movies like "American Beauty" and "Revolutionary Road." Of course, not all of suburbia is as dysfunctional as those films portray. The above photographers, I feel, strike a delicate balance between showing the dysfunction and the everyday.

Jonathan Harris has a couple cool sites that track what is talked about on the Internet.

One is called, We Feel Fine. It searches through websites and blogs throughout the world and picks out sentences with the phrase, "I feel..." It then saves those sentences and records it based on emotion listed (i.e. love, lame, scared, grumpy, busy...) The sentence is then cross-referenced on the site according to emotion expressed, location, age, gender, and weather forecast at time of posting. It then turns all these emotions into colored dots floating across the screen for you to click on. It's actually a lot more fun an interactive than I am describing. Check it out.

The other site is called Universe and it tracks any subject and the articles/bits of information that mention or pertain to that subject. It is similar in scope to We Feel Fine. Again, it is something better experienced than described.

Some miscellaneous links:

Interactive map of farmers markets in L.A. and OC

Good Magazine's three-part series on conserving water.

A highly unauthenticated Wikipedia article about the California Water Wars. Think "Chinatown," but without the incest sub-plot and oddly amusing cameo by Polanski.

Mid-Centrury Madness

It's no secret that I am a lover of Mid-Century design. In honor of such a noble period in international design I've assembled a few links and articles of interest about and showcasing the style. You're Welcome.

Mid-Century children's book illustrations

A look at Brutalism, the one part of Mid-Century design of which I am not particularly fond.

A short article about the cyclical nature of design and how 60's kitsch is now the source of inspiration for current "serious architecture."

Architecture Timeline recounted in broad, yet effective terms.


***Bonus Link for the Modern Reader: 879 free songs available for download via Amazon.

Art 101: Prof. Obama------Building: White House------Time: 2008-2012

I had never really thought about the logistics of moving into the White House until I read a "Wall Street Journal" article about the Obama's art collection choices. While most of us have to settle for posters and prints of famous painters, presidents get to hang the real deal. The Obamas, like presidential families before them, send out notices to museums nationwide, saying they would like to borrow pieces by certain artists for the length of the president's term. These pieces will be hung throughout the White House, some in public space, some in private. As per the article, "The president can hang whatever he wants in the residence and offices, including the Oval Office, but art placed in public rooms, such as the Green Room, must first be approved by the White House curator and the Committee for the Preservation of the White House, an advisory board on which the first lady serves as honorary chair."

The Obamas--like it's any surprise--have a more progressive and modern sensibility when it comes to art. Artists requested include Jasper Johns, Robert Raushcenberg, and Edward Ruscha. In an effort to make the White House art collection more inclusive and representative of the American artistic landscape, the Obamas have also requested art by female and African American artists such as Alma Thomas.

Currently, the roughly 450-piece permanent collection includes five works by black artists: the Clinton portraits by Mr. Knox; “The Builders” by Lawrence ; “Sand Dunes at Sunset, Atlantic City” by Henry Ossawa Tanner, which hangs in the Green Room and was purchased at Hillary Clinton’s urging in 1995; and “The Farm Landing,” a tranquil landscape painted in 1892 by Rhode Island artist Edward Bannister, purchased with donations in 2006.

The Obamas consistently seem to embody an effortless cool and hipness. They are aware of modern culture and openly embrace it. Their goals of inclusion and unity are not a part of a PR policy, but of genuine concern. The national media have taken some heat for promoting and covering this image of cool, while neglecting coverage of the president's political work. Stories on Michelle Obama's dresses or the President Obama's NCAA Tournament picks are seen as inconsequential and letting the president avoid political criticism because his public image is that of a very hip, forward thinking man. (Anyone who gets made fun of by John Hodgman automatically gets some pop culture street cred.) Are the aforementioned stories merely fluff? I think interest in the Obamas art collection, the First Lady's Dresses, and the President's basketball favorites, all indicate a general interest in government. It shows that there is a man leading the country that people are watching and want to know more about. I think any interest at all in political figures is a good sign. It shows investment in the political process and the future of the country. If said investment involves learning about the First Family's love of Jasper Johns, then so be it.

"Wall Street Journal" article in its entirety.

A little background on President Obama's favorite artist, C.M. Coolidge. (just kidding)

Friday Night Links

Friday Night Links/P.J.'s Picks

I've been trying to read more lately and that has lead me to finishing The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao in about three weeks. My pace is pathetic, but it is faster and more consistent than it used to be. Thank goodness for small favors.

I didn't like the book at first, finding the narrator's voice to be excessively flashy and verbose. Later, I came to see its purpose and found the style to be quite affecting. I ended up liking the novel a lot, but wouldn't rate it among my favorites. It won a Pulitzer, which I guess it deserved. I don't know which other books were contenders, so I can't really say.

Also on my reading stack is David Foster Wallace's, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. Before this book the only other work of his I'd read was his short story collection, Girl with Curious Hair. I still rate the collection's final story, "Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way" as among my favorites. Brief Interviews is a less straightforward read, interspersing "interviews" with more traditional short stories. The interviews slow me down a lot because the fictional subjects tend to be men who are deeply neurotic, self-deprecating, and obsessive. Who knew a story about how annoying a baby could be would last for 25 pages? I find most of the stories rewarding and am continually amazed at how Wallace can transform seemingly pointless and neurotic obsession into something profound and illuminating. His writing takes patience, but I find the struggle worthwhile. His mix of heavy intellectualism, emotional self-flagellation, and humor, make for a very unique and awe-inspiring read. I hope to continue my DFW reading trend with Consider the Lobster and A Supposedly Funny Thing I'll Never Do Again.

I just started Italo Calvino's Cosmicomics and am enjoying it immensely. The man can do no wrong. I'm not sure what I want to read next, though I am leaning toward something by Lydia Davis.


P.J. has been trying to get me to join Twitter, but I have held strong against him. I am willing to concede that there are some cool people to follow including, Aziz Ansari, John Hodgman, Eugene Mirman, Jim Gaffigan, and Michael Ian Black. I chose these guys specifically because they are funny comedians and they retain that humor on Twitter. As you may have noticed, Michael Ian Black is up there, but his Stella brethren, Michael Showalter and David Wain are not. As much as I love the other two guys, I found their Tweets to be more pedestrian (i.e. "I have to confess that even though it's in Los Angeles, Langers Delicatessen has by far the best pastrami in the world. I had it today!" ) Thank, David Wain! Although, in his defense he also said, "Redoing my bathroom as one huge urinal, so you can just open the door and pee anywhere. Cost me a fortune but how awesome is that?" I found it funny. Maybe it's 'cause I'm a guy with the mind of a 12 year old.

In other, slightly more important news, I stumbled upon a few cool sites dealing with print design and art.

Velhetica

PSFK

Design Observer

If you feel hungry after all that interwebs browsing, try a recipe from Sam the Cooking Guy.

Least, but certainly not last, the official homepage of professional Canadian and all around cool guy, Mr. Logan Esdale.

Sketches of Neutra: A Review

About a month ago I made a post about a Neutra exhibit at the Los Angeles Public Library. I finally got a chance to go and it was worth it. The only downside to the experience was having to pay for parking. Yeah, I know, it's downtown, I should expect to pay for parking. But still, you'd think of all places, the main branch of the public library would have a free parking lot. Turns out they don't even own or rent a parking lot. Visitors have to park in a public lot on the street or in an underground lot off Flower St. I'm not sure what good it does to offer free books if it costs money just to get to them. I probably should have taken public transportation, but I didn't have the luxury of time to do so. Anyway, on to the actual exhibit...kind of.

Before I talk about the exhibit proper, I would like to give some major, nerdy ups to the library itself as a building and as a warehouse of information. It's just a fabulous place to get lost in and explore and just marvel at. Some people go to the mall, I go to libraries. Okay, enough with the prefaces...

The exhibit is arranged in chronological order and starts out with a lot of early landscape drawings that include sketches of his travels to South America. Some of his figure sketches were influenced by Gustav Klimt, while his basic drawing ability was largely taught to him by his sister, Josephine. I'm a sucker for sketches of any kind because of their roughness. They show mistakes and process and, as an onlooker, I can trace the stages of the drawing from simple form to finished product.

The sketches give way to more formal architectural drawings that really showcase Neutra's meticulous nature. As a curatorial note mentions, "Unlike most famous architects who developed large offices and eventually left drawing function to younger colleagues, Neutra was never willing to relinquish completely this aspect of his practice." The amount of detail and precision required of the drawings is immense. Everything is measured perfectly, the lines are of even thickness and darkness. It looks like the work of a machine rather than a man. To think that Neutra sat down and actually took the time to hand draw all his buildings is mind boggling.

Both the early sketches and later architectural drawings show a man who was constantly engaged with his surroundings and wanted to create buildings that were both aesthetically pleasing and functional. He, like Wright, Le Corbusier, and many other architects, designed whole dream cities, reimagining lifestyle through architecture. He used this city titled, Rush City Reformed, as a reservoir of ideas, constantly coming back to themes of harmony and utility.

Beyond the biographical knowledge presented, the exhibit also expresses and presents Neutra's philosophies concerning architecture, most notably that the buildings around us affect the way we live, that social betterment is possible through architectural planning. Today, it feels like cities aren't planned very well or are planned based on traffic patterns and population density. There is a sense that civic planning is down to its barest bones; just enough planning to make sure chaos doesn't break out. Neutra's vision was opposite of that and cared very much about details and making creative solutions for modern life. Architecture as solution.

The exhibit displays drawings that were amazingly detailed along with curatorial notes that help place them in their historical context, tracing Neutra's influences and his stylistic breakthroughs. Like the sketches, the exhibit allowed me to trace Neutra's life, his shifts in style, his growth as a designer. I was able to see a portrait of Neutra that was fully detailed and by no means sketchy.

Friday Night Links

Friday Night Links/P.J.'s Picks:

P.J. and I have had a pretty slow week and spent most of our time watching TV. We're not sure how or why, but we started getting channels that we never had before like VH1 Classic and The Biography Channel. We watched Joe Cocker belt out "With a Little Help from My Friends" at Woodstock on VH1 Classic. P.J. was pretty into it. I thought the performance lacked subtlety. Whatever.
The real highlight of our week came during the discovery of Ovation TV and one of its shows, "Art or Not?"

Each episode highlights a series of "artists" and their work as well as critics who argue about whether the "artist" creates real "art" or not. It's not nearly as pretentious as it sounds, though P.J. and I both thought some of the artists tried too hard when defending their work. Two artists I recognized were Obey Giant founder Shepard Fairey and Ed Hardy clothing creator, Don Ed Hardy.

I had no idea Ed Hardy was an actual artist who sells his designs to a clothing manufacturer. I thought it was just another clothing brand with obnoxious images. The strangest part is that the guy looks like an average suburban dad with curly hair and a plaid shirt. His laid back surfer/tattoo parlor aesthetic is entirely at odds with the muscular bros I see wearing his clothes.

Although not on TV, Fora.tv is a TED-like website that promotes the review and discussion of national issues including gay marriage in California, the success/failure of No Child Left Behind, and the influence of bloggers.

For those in a Los Angeles state of mind, we bring you Art Blogging L.A. The site is dedicated to tracking and promoting all manner of art exhibitions throughout the Los Angeles area, as well as show reviews.

The last links of the night are from P.J., who insists I promote his architecture-minded agenda. This time he is focusing on World's Fairs which, I must admit, is something of a secret obsession of mine (I guess that's why we get along so well).

Paris Exposition of 1925 and the Creation of Art Deco

San Francisco's Pan-Pacific International Exhibition of 1915.

Chicago's World's Columbian Exhibition of 1893

Expo Museum: Online archive of almost all the World's Fairs since their inception in 1851. It even keeps up with the latest World's Fair news like possible host cities for future fairs (Yes, World's Fairs still take place and or coordinated by the BIE).

University of Maryland also has a pretty extensive library archive.

Friday Night Links

In honor of Fridays and esteemed American architect Philip Johnson (pictured above), I've decided to start a weekly post dedicated purely to cool websites I've come across during the week. I'm going to make a vague effort to group the links thematically, but I'm not making any promises.

This Week's Links/ P.J.'s Picks:

Philip Johnson's Glass House
Good Magazine's Blog
Self-proclaimed "Directory of Wonderful Things:" Boing Boing
Style and design magazine/website: Daily Icon

Neutra

The main branch of the Los Angeles Public Library will showcase 140 sketches and drawings by famed Modern architect, Richard Neutra. Many of the sketches were part of a donation Neutra gave to UCLA nearly 50 years ago and have never been displayed. The exhibit entitled, "Richard Neutra, Architect: Sketches and Drawings" runs through Sept. 6.

Full details can be found on the L.A. Times site.