iTunes to the rescue

Photo Credit: Wallet Pop.com

I’m a twitter stalker and I’m not ashamed of it, actually I’m a little ashamed but that’s beside the point. The point is, I was looking on the magnation twitter feed when some bozo posted about how those magnation people were ‘deluded fools’ because print is dead, apparently.

Amongst this little twitter war I discovered a Guardian article that was relevant to this issue. According to The Digital Content Blog, publishing powerhouses Hearst, Time Inc and Condé Nast are teaming up with iTunes to create online storefronts for their digital publications. Whilst I have already expressed my feelings towards publishers charging for online content, I think this is a brilliant move. Despite the threat it poses to the print medium, iTunes has become a beacon in online usability. Music, film and talkback radio have been ‘saved’ by Apple cause no matter what they produce, consumers will flock in record numbers with iTunes cards in hand to purchase the latest releases.

Take that @print_is_dead, I will no longer be stalking your twitter.

Felix GT

Photo Olivier Zahm, Purple Diary. Felix Gonzales Torres, Untitled 1991

I have mentioned before how much I love Google reader. Apart from it being a great time wasters, it helps me keep up with the wonderfully creative happenings in Melbourne, Berlin, Dubai and New York to name a few.

One of my all time favourite artists is Felix Gonzales Torres. I love him so much that for one of the projects I had to do in art school last year I payed homage to him in the form of a table a chair. Whilst I will be the first to admit that they didn’t work out exactly as planned, actually they were quite shit, it cemented my adoration for the late artist.

Thanks to Google reader I discovered that the new High Line (one of the most amazing new concepts in urban development) in New York City is paying its own version of homage to Felix GT. One if the things he was most well know for was his billboards that were installed in various locations around New York at the height of his career in the 80s and 90s. Gonzales Torress was committed to social issues surrounding gender, politics and sexuality. Documented on the purple journal blog, one of the artists most know billboards has recently been erected behind the Standard hotel in New York City.

Untitled, 1991 appears on a building in 13^th street, and anyone unfamiliar with the artist will undoubtedly be wondering what it’s an advertisement for. The image is of an unmade, recently vacated double bead with white, ruffled sheets and the overwhelming presence, or in this case absence, of two lovers.

My apparent aversion to public art (as per my critique of Valhalla) is in no way extended to this billboard. I think we need more of them. In a world where advertisements cloud our vision and find their way into our personal space, it is refreshing to see an image in the public realm which references nothing in particular but which still speaks volumes about life.

This enigmatic artists will continue to be missed!

Gadget Envy

photo credit: Business Week

Ok so I really want an iphone and part of the reason I really want an iphone is I suffer from rampant gadget envy, always have. It started when I was little, first it was Nintendo, then it was super Nintendo then I think I got over the whole video game thing and for a while I was into upgrading my cyber shot cameras. Now it’s about mobile phones, ipods and laptops.

In addition to gadget envy I’m a sucker for packaging and in my opinion, Apple kill it. I still remember the first time I bought myself an ipod. I was in New York walking past the apple store in Soho and I was sick of roaming the city streets listening to nothing but crazies and car horns (although now both of those sounds make me quite nostalgic). I remember taking my new white cube back to the apartment I was staying in and opening it like it was some version of Pandora’s box. Everything was simple, white, clean and neatly packaged and I just loved it. Let us look at how they've evolved.......

photo credit: designarchives.aiga.org

photo credit: arstechnica.com

photo credit: farm4.static.flickr.com

An ipod photo and mac book later, the iphone is the new thing (new is a loose term, actually everyone has one) I covet, but optus won’t give me one cause they are mean and I don’t like them and they keep telling me I have to wait, but I don’t think I can wait. I really REALLY want an iphone!!!

cont'd

This is my first post since finishing uni and I decided to make it a pictorial one.

Photo Credit: Larry Clark

Photo Credit: Me

Photo Credit: William Eggleston