music: This Charming Man

Film: Bond

After seeing Quantum of Solace last night, I am officially going on the record by saying that Daniel Craig is the best Bond ever.
You can disagree if you want, but I most likely won't be paying attention.

file under: sometimes fashion can kick Ass

Adam Kimmel presents: Claremont HD from adam kimmel on Vimeo.
don't be fooled by the slow start....

photo: Duane Michals

If you think that Pace/ MacGill is too staid, go see Duane Michals' newest photos.

Duane Michals: Photographs from the Floating World until 1-10-09
Pace MacGill, 545 W22nd St, NY, NY

music: Willy Mason

reading: night table

Nantucket: The Life of an Island by Edwin P. Hoyt; for research. I do not recommend. Read my pending book, instead.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by CS Lewis; because I need to read it at least every other year.

and lastly, to whomever sent me a subscription to Rolling Stone, please tell me that you got it for free and didn't need to use any money of your own...?

music: One For My Baby

film: To Catch a Thief

file under: Perfect Timing

Is there an artist alive with the prescience of Damien Hirst? Who else could have sold over $200 million in new art as the world financial markets were shuddering a death knell?
Sounds like the perfect subject for a new Damien Hirst, actually.

tv: Korla Pandit

I love

you, Nan Goldin.
No one can do better what you do. The kids these days... so obsessed with wanting to be "cool;" if you have to try, you ain't gonna get there, I'd say.
When I came across this photo recently it immediately reminded me of those times with the initial shock of your stuff; I was hunched in the dreary corridors of Mount Holyoke College's library, a lad in the veritable wilds. A new world unfolded, all taking place somewhere not far from where I sat.
Thank you!

music: la Divina

music: the Mamas and the Papas

goods: Steelcase furniture

how much do I love my battleship gray Steelcase desk? More than I might share. So much of this company's furniture has been imbedded into our American consciousness, it might be hard to separate fact from creative memory. Try imagining a schoolhouse from the latter half of the 20th C. without one of these beauties holding forth at the front of the classroom like a temple, a veritable altar in steel.

our history in print

ahhh, the gentler time in America, when decent people smoked in blithe unawares.

film: Los Monstruos del Terror

the weather

music: Henry Purcell

Hedi Slimane, or the collision of art and commerce

is there a better fashion photographer working today? Nope. Is it a reduction of the highest order to call him simply a fashion photographer? Yupp.
Somehow, I never really liked his clothes... didn't dislike, but rather a detached admiration.
However, the photographs? Now that's a different story. Ever heard of Irving Penn, Frantisek Drtikol, August Sander, Richard Avedon, or Herbert List? So has Hedi Slimane, yet somehow he manages to absorb and then quietly explode beyond anything they ever did. That's right, I said it.

vows: Tammy Wynette & George Jones

music: Hejira

film: My Own Private Idaho

my favorite comment from Congress

As the big three sat before Congress a couple weeks ago, the meeting is alleged to have grown somewhat hostile to the CEOs.

When asked, by Representative Peter Roskam (R-IL), if in return for federal assistance, they would each draw a salary of one dollar. Ford's Alan Mullaly, 2007 compensation somewhere around $22 million, stated, "I think I'm ok where I am."

film: Mahogany

what happened to Anthony Goicolea?

with all due respect, where did the brutal, aesthetic, comedic imagery go? Thom Browne's clothes are cool, yes, but does your art need to be contingent upon the vagaries of his fashion design? The environmental stuff is also pretty three years ago. Sorta looks a little too Parke-Harrison, without the weird dude.
Sorry man. You are a good photographer. I expect more.

historic crush: Robert E. Lee

well, the North may have won the war, but the South certainly had their share of victories also. This man failed only in having a chain of leadership who failed him. Us Yanks were very lucky to have won the war, indeed.
Could be that it is my "favorite" war, but RE Lee is a character for all times: authentic, flawed, loyal, heroic... a man to define history. All this from a lifelong Massachusetts resident. It don't hurt that he was h.o.t.t. either.