Valentine Weekend Video - Part 1 of 2

I've been saving this for Valentine's weekend. It's the final scene of "Cinema Paradiso" when Salvatore, the protagonist and childhood assistant of the projectionist Alfredo, screens the reel that Alfredo had left for him - and finds a veritable history of cinema in censored clips. Set to Ennio Morricone's romantic score, it's a bittersweet valentine to love and an unconditional valentine to cinema.

FYI - If you haven't seen the film, I would strongly recommend the extended Director's Cut, over the original version.

Random Shots From All Over

This photograph by Sean Doerr, used by the New York Times to illustrate the decline of Detroit, shows the once glamorous Michigan Theater, now used as parking garage.

This picture from TMZ.com purports to show a young John Kennedy on a wild cruise. It's a fun pic, but it sure looks fake to me.

From The New York Public Library's current show on Eugene Smith - one of a series of pictures shot from Smith's New York apartment.

And leading off our street fashion round-up - a golden glow from Garance Dore in Brazil

One of The Sartorialist's favorite subjects, Lapo Elkann. You either love or hate his style, but I think it's pretty cool.

A sassy moment (and costume) in Paris caught by Tommy Ton.

And lastly, from a series of pictures by Aaron Gustafson shot with a large format helmet-camera while freefalling from over 10,000 feet!

Corinne Bailey Rae

Just over three years ago, Corinne Bailey Rae breezed onto the scene with catchy singles like "Put Your Records On" and “Like a Star” - another blast of fresh air coming from the English music scene.

Not long after her initial success, however, Rae’s husband – a jazz musician and a recovering addict - died of a methadone overdose, and Rae’s follow up to her eponymous debut went on hold. Now two years later, Rae’s second album – titled “The Sea” has just come out.

Not surprisingly, it’s a deeper, less bouncy sound, and it takes some repeated listening to get fully into it, but the experience is worth the minor effort and the record is more moving than mournful. The title track, “The Sea”, particularly stands out for me. According to what I’ve read it was written before Rae’s husband’s death and is as much a song about recovery as loss.

There isn’t a video for it yet, so I’m thankful to "kdc21" for recording this performance at New York’s Hiro Ballroom. While the camera work could best be described as “impressionistic", the sound is pretty good. And if you don't know what she looks like, here she is in a recent picture:

Tasteless (but funny)!

I wouldn't call this tasteful, but it's so well done and so inside art that when critic Charlie Finch passed it on to me, I felt it was worth sharing.

For those not in the loop, this parody deals with the surprising news last month that in a move masterminded by L. A. philanthropist Eli Broad, Jeffrey Deitch, the flamboyant super-trendy New York dealer, had been appointed as the new director of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art and was closing his galleries. Many candidates fort he job were disappointed ....

Risky Business

Emily Cook, freestyle skiier. Sweater by Rodarte.

As readers of this blog will know, I'm a big fan of photographer Ryan McGinley and New York Times Magazine Director of Photography, Kathy Ryan. And I'm pleased to say - they've done it again! After creating a hugely successful Summer Olympics portfolio in 2004, they've just produced a brand new Winter Olympics portfolio on the theme of "Highfliers".

I won't steal the magazine's thunder by nabbing their pictures so here's a link. And by the way, in my opinion, this kind of collaboration, with no absolute guarantee of success, is one of the few things that can keep that business vital and alive. Be smart. Be creative. Take risks!

Gender Bender

In a recent study by Richard Russell of Harvard University, the two faces above were perceived as male and female. However, both faces are actually versions of the same androgynous face. One face was created by increasing the contrast of the face, while the other face was created by decreasing the contrast. The face with more contrast is perceived as female, while the face with less contrast is perceived as male.

I'm not sure that this proves much more than that pale skin and darker lips are usually interpreted as more feminine, but perhaps it also provides a useful printing (or make-up) tip, and a reminder that our visual perception is extraordinarily subtle.

24/7

A while ago I was looking to see what cool iPhone apps there were for the phone’s camera when I landed on the site TechCrunch and a story on Japan’s 32 best iPhone apps. Most of the apps were games (which are of no particular interest to me), but one app appealed to me because of its blend of photography and what seemed a perfect instance of form following function in the most populist (pandering) way. This is Bijin-Tokei - a clock app which shows 1,440 different pictures of girls (one for every minute of the day) each holding a blackboard showing the current time. (Bijin Tokei means Hot Girl Clock.) To be exact, you often get the same girl displaying several different minutes. Apparently finding 1,440 willing models was too tough for v.1..

This seemed like such a simple formula for any kind of photography – I imagine if you’re a birder or a train spotter the thought of a different picture every minute of the day would cause equal excitement - I immediately recommended the idea to the photographer Stephen Schuster who has been working on a spring break project. We'll see if he takes my advice and gets rich!

As of yet there doesn’t seem to be an American version, but according to Asiajin: The Next Generation Internet Trends in Japan and Asia, there is now Binan Tokei – beautiful boys clock, Gal Tokei, Pit Babe version, a Korean version, and a planned French version.

Not surprisingly the latest Tokei, AV-Tokei, features slightly different girls, i.e. pornstars. (“AV” is an abbreviation of “Adaruto Bideo/Adult Video).

Lady and Gentleman photographers of all stripes: start your engines!