Don’t miss Melissa Mendes’ “Joey”
Don’t miss out on a new short story online by Hancock’s own Melissa Mendes! No one captures childhood quite like she does!
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Listen to Sigur Ros’ Kveikur
Time for me to move past Solid Sound musically, and I can’t think of a better way to do that than partaking of Sigur Ros’ new album, Kveikur, which is a lovely experience. Somehow, they lost a member, upped the average tempo, and even at points went a little poppy … and retained the essence of why you like them […]
» Read moreAlois Nebel: Cartoons get hard
The animated Czech film Alois Nebel, by director Tomas Lunak, is as stylish as it is challenging, and the mysteries behind it can seem all the more elevated because of its fever dream presentation. Rotoscoped visuals in stark black and white reveal the unassuming life of Alois Nebel, a train dispatcher who begins to have visions — perhaps memories? — of […]
» Read moreTwo books to challenge you
Marble Season by Gilbert Hernandez Sure, I have kids, but I can’t really know what it’s like to be one nowadays, I can only view the experience in others. It seems alien to me now, largely because the way kids consume entertainment is so much different than it was when I was a kid. That was a world of nothing […]
» Read moreHeartbreaking words, beautiful pictures
If You Knew Me You Would Care by Zainab Salbi and Rennio Maifredi “If You Knew Me You Would Care” is a collection of portraiture photography like none I’ve ever seen. Maifredi is both a fashion photographer and a portrait photographer who found himself looking for something different to shoot, something meaningful. Salbi and the organization Women For Women International […]
» Read moreArt Super Genius: Robin Frohardt
This all cardboard version of the Herzog film “Fitzcarraldo” was created by Robin Frohardt, and it’s just the tip of the iceberg of Frohardt’s talent. Her website reveals all and is well worth a look – she’s a multi-talented painter, puppeteer, and fabricator. You can meet Frohardt here. And enjoy this elegant video.
» Read moreReview: Three children’s books
“Barry’s Best Buddy” by Renee French (Toon Books) Sometimes friendship can be an antagonistic relationship, despite the best of intentions by at least one of the parties. Renee French introduces young readers to the outgoing and spontaneous Polarhog and his best friend, Barry the Bird. Polarhog, bemoaning the dull gray house that Barry hides in, takes his friend on a […]
» Read moreDon’t Go Where I Can’t Follow by Anders Nilsen
This heart-breaking book of multi-media emotion — prose, poetry, illustration, photography, comics and a scrapbook element — stands as graphic novelist Nilsen’s powerful and touching tribute to his late fiancee, Cheryl Weaver, who died in 2005 of Hodgkin’s Disease. Compiling his emotions into a journal that documents journeys they made together, the pieces are the ephemera of their lives and, […]
» Read moreThings I love from TCAF
I was at TCAF – the Toronto Comics Arts Festival – this past weekend and wanted to share this photo of my favorite purchases. There is wonderful work by Leigh Luna (who I spoke with a bit and is awesomely nice!), Andy Warner, super-talented, super-friendly Boston-area artists Braden Lamb and Shelli Paroline (who also draw the comic book version of Cartoon Network’s […]
» Read moreThrough the monkey lens
The road to Planet of the Apes became a reality the moment they handed Mikki the Chimpanzee a camera. Now his work is expected to sell “for more than $100,000 in auction.” This must be great news to all the photographers who either get paid peanuts for their work or just have to watch as artists appropriate their images, stick […]
» Read moreReal life: Joe Sacco and Gabrielle Bell
Journalism by Joe Sacco Sacco is known for his in depth work in Palestine and Bosnia, but this collection of shorter works allows readers to get a wider view of the grim world that Sacco has chosen to document. In the Caucasus, Sacco spends time with Chechen women trying to survive the refugee camps which Russia is eager to force […]
» Read moreArts-related news not spoken of in polite society
The above image comes from a great series of work by Canadian photographer Jonathan Hobin (the subject of an article here at Vice.com) that features disasters and tragedies reenacted as child’s play. This is his 9-11 recreation — there’s also an image of the death of Prince Diana, Jim Jones and his Kool Aid, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the […]
» Read moreMoCCA Fest, NYC, 2013
I was at the MoCCA Arts Fest this past weekend – above is the collection of my purchases. For the unfamiliar, MoCCA Fest is considered by many to be a comic book show, but it’s unlike the one you imagine in your head. There are none of the mainstream superhero publishers there – the anchors are larger indie publishers known […]
» Read moreSXSW: Penny Lane talks about Our Nixon
My man in SXSW, Andrew Osborne, took the time to screen the U.S. premiere of Penny Lane‘s Our Nixon – a documentary film created by Super 8mm home movie footage of Nixon taken by H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman and Dwight Chapin, and presented in public for the first time through Penny’s film. Berkshires residents will be very familiar with Penny, who alongside being […]
» Read moreGeography and its effect
Strange Attractors by Charles Soule (Archaia Entertainment) About half-way through Strange Attractors, I decided it was all a load of bull, and at the exact same moment, decided it didn’t much matter. It was exciting anyhow. The graphic novel follows graduate student Heller Wilson who becomes involved with Spencer Brownfield, a disgraced ex-math professor who seems slightly mad. Heller’s interest […]
» Read moreAbandoned brew
Pabst – An Excavation of Art by Paul Bialas Pabst Blue Ribbon has risen in the beer ranks over the last few years, a return to former glory, thanks to the embrace of urban hipsters who no doubt took their cue from the film “Blue Velvet” and its unsavory characters’ use of the brand as a mantra for a destructive […]
» Read moreGrim tales
Delphine by Richard Sala It’s not easy, at first, to quite know what to make of Richard Sala’s Delphine. There are things that it very obviously is — for instance, a dark and surreal romp through the subconscious. Also, a riff on the the subtext of fairy tales, especially in regard to fears and relationships. But specifically what does it […]
» Read moreFree Tarkovsky
I ignored the Oscars, because I’ve long been of the mind that if you truly, truly, truly love film, the best thing you can do is not waste hours of your time celebrating the clumsy business of it and just devote more of it to the creative side. With that in mind, I’m excited to note that the complete filmography […]
» Read moreSaturday Matinee: Libra
Imagine 2001: A Space Odyssey with cocktail music, lots more extrapolation, a Libertarian agenda, and 1970s clothing and hair styles. Better, right? Yes. And this is proof. “In space you don’t have to worry about things coming apart that aren’t firmly fastened together.” http://youtu.be/3jVxPCECjz8
» Read moreReview: Arts and Crafts label releases
Canadian record label Arts and Crafts is relatively new — formed in 2003 by members of the Broken Social Scene collective — but has managed to gather some formidable musicians in their roster. Feist, Los Campesinos and The Dears have all gotten attention for their strong work, and collective member Charles Spearin scored a major creative hit with his “Happiness […]
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