Awfully funny or funnily awful

I almost thought this was satirical comedy at first. Am I the only one who thinks this looks just like a very well made parody of sentimental Hollywood Oscar-flirting cheesiness? Am I just getting old and cynical?

Trailer here.

Google Image Search Improved

Hey, good news, you are now able to search Google with images instead of words. This is great news for anyone who found an interesting image somewhere but can't find any information about it... this is bound to open up new areas of interesting inspiration and research. Just go to Google image search, then drag-and-drop an image in the search field, and behold... Nice!

Adolescence and transgression

This is a fascinating full length documentary about the infamous Norwegian black metal scene, which, beside the actual music, is a scene of church burnings, suicide, murder and prison sentences. What fascinates me most about all this is what can happen to a person during adolescence, this window of time in a person's development where he or she is not quite a child and not quite an adult, but still has the characteristics and abilities of both, and the possibilities to take life into any of millions of radical and transgressive directions.

For most people, this is a 'phase' that runs its course and then they enter the 'normality' of adult conformity. But some people stay there, way into their teens, their twenties, sometimes their whole life. I am fascinated by these people. These are the people who have the potential to become great artists -- or, just as easily, cult leaders, conspiracy theorists and mass murderers.

At the moment I kind of see adolescence as the transgressive and 'magical' (for better or worse) period in one's development where all windows and possibilities are open, when values are questioned and new values formed, when everything is possible and anything can happen. It is what drove two adolescent girls (portrayed in Peter Jackson's wonderful 1994 docudrama Heavenly Creatures) to both experience the most magical aspects of life but also to commit the horrible crime they did. I also think it is what transforms some well-off, well-bred Norwegian boys into what they become, as shown in this documentary.

Or maybe I'm just full of it. In any case, if you have the 90 minutes, this is an interesting documentary to watch.

via Coilhouse.

GAME & WATCH

The sounds - blip-blop, the beautiful design, the frustration and joy these little gadgets brought to me as a kid! All these memories are brought back on the this wonderful site with a nice collection of handheld electronic games:

http://www.pica-pic.com/

Above is the one I remember most - Donkey Kong. Didn't use the "watch" part of it, but I sure played the game a lot...

My mix on Fluid Radio

I was recently asked by Fluid Radio to compile a playlist of music for their website -- if you're looking for some 90 minutes of weird and wonderful music, head on over here!

Weekend WTF: Charlie White

WTF?

Weekday WTF: The 4th Dimension

WTF? The style, the video, the music; it's pretentious 1980's "video art" meets Tim & Eric cheesiness. I find it hilarious.

A Family Portrait

A Family Portrait from Joseph Pierce on Vimeo.

A nice subtle short animation. Nothing's mentioned but everythings told. Very clever.

Scientific Illustration

Here is a nice little collection of scientific illustrations - illustrations we all love and adore:

Weekend WTF: She is your grandma.

Salad Fingers 9

It's out of the bag:

Dutch Classic: Jan van Haasteren

You might be familiar with the funny jigsaw puzzles made by Jan van Haasteren (JvH). His drawings are part of our Dutch collective youth memories, and known all over the world. Born in 1936 he is an old man now, but still produces three puzzles a year. To me, he is a hero that has had a big influence, I remember being utterly fascinated by his posters, at the butchers, in the hospital, wherever I saw his posters I would stop and try to find all the hidden jokes he squeezed on the paper.
He started out as a comic/animation artist for the famous 'Toonder studios' and worked on the various projects they produced, like Donald Duck magazine, the Smurfs, commercial illustrations, mostly anonymous in others' styles and set formats.

He got more and more credit for his work and started creating his own series in which we can see his his style devellop into the one we know.
But far more than for his comics, he is famous for his posters and puzzles. With his vast imagination he makes every scene he draws into a hilarious chaos, adding jokes and funny details in every small space available. But he does this with great craftmanship, superb drawing skills in terms of placement and perspective, character design and use of color. It is always a chaos, but never a mess. He has some copycats trying to do what he does, but he is the master, and always recognisable by the shark fin coming through and the hands coming from everywhere since those are registered trademarks!