Aicher Rumba!

Today's title is either my best pun or my worst depending on your love of the pun...
Either way, this is one of the less iconic (I feel we can use that term here) pieces of graphic design that Otl Aicher came up with, but I love the paleness of the green and the simplicity with which he blocks out the text.


Whereas, this one is a bit of razzle dazzle.
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L'Enfer-No

In 1964, Henri-Georges Clouzot tried to make a film called L'enfer, which would have been a radical departure from his previous films (including The Wages Of Fear). For various reasons, such as going a bit barmy and having a heart attack, he was forced to pull out of the production, which was running seriously over-budget, partly due to the spectacular dream-like sequences that depicted the diminishing mental state of the lead character. In these sequences, the actress Romy Schneider was glazed with various artificial substances and shot under coloured light, in order to represent the way in which she was seen by her jealous husband. There's an excellent documentary about it, and the obsession that gripped Clouzot, but I've just posted one little picture showing Schneider in blue lipstick.
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Happy Talk

Too beautiful for words...

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Cover Me

Found, found found.
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Love Me Fender

I can't even swim, but this is the way that I feel...
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Horsing Around

Today, I watched Andrei Rublev, the Tarkovsky film about a 13th Century Russian icon painter's life (and so much more besides).
It was striking and simple in its execution, though, as with all of his output, the complex philosophical questions rumble on long after the end. One scene showed a horse writhing about, managing to breakdance its way through 360 degrees. It somehow combined grace and turmoil in a single moment.
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Women Of The World Take Over

I met Women at a show in Italy and they were kind enough to say they liked my band.
I understand that this sentence can be read in a couple of different ways...
I'm excited about their new album, which will come out in August. It has a pretty sleeve, like the last one.
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Raincoats Weather

I'm in love with this song today. It feels like a woozy magic spell.
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Belgian Kerfuffle

I've just completed a short story by the Chilean writer Roberto Bolano, called Vagabond in France And Belgium. In the story, the central character discovers a Belgian literary magazine called Luna Park in a Parisian second-hand bookstore. I decided to search for it and it turns out that it has a beautiful cover, as you can see.
I was unsure whether it was a real publication or not, even though that's irrelevant. However, had I not bothered to follow it up, I would never have found this little picture.
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Wild Colour Combination

I went to the sea today and bought this pair of shoes to go with my turn-ups. Very bohemian.
When you purchase a pair, the company that makes them (TOMS) give a pair of shoes to kids in countries such as Argentina, where shoes aren't as plentiful. One for One, they say. Good company, I say.
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The Pun Starts Here

So, Roy Orbison (AKA The Big O) is already a legend. Then you have some danceable music that is truly uplifting and joyful. Thus, Joy Orbison makes complete sense. This track is 'rushing'. All the hipsters already know this tune and I mentioned it last year in some interviews, but I just heard it and it blows me away.
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Going Solo

Alone, in the spotlight, gently strumming a quiet, clean electric guitar, Laetitia from Stereolab cuts an exposed figure. Her songs are lilting and go through subtle changes rather than demanding attention, but she seems comfortable, even as a ripple of chatter goes on as she makes an introduction. I hope I can be this confident. In some ways, it's much easier to get in people's faces.
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Death of The Bourgeois

The sculptor Louise Bourgeois has died. Here's a tourist photo I took in Brazil of one of her monumental spiders.
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