we're into bands that don't even exist yet.

get to know:




crystal stilts are apparently blowing up, now getting the pitchfork sign of approval

cap cracked an egg of knowledge all over your face about these guys not so long ago. classic novel designs move.

"Neither a Rat Pack-styled slickster on crutches nor a Devendra Banhart tribute (that I know of), "Crippled Croon" is a song by Brooklyn band Crystal Stilts, who pour a ton of reverb over rudimentary girl-group drums, surf-inflected guitars, and post-punk's haunted aloofness." surprisingly little mention of joy division is made.

they're made of flour, milk and, uh, whole eggs.

lest ye forget, this earth is 70% water, so i celebrated earth day by surfing. for those unfamiliar with this sport and its equipment please refer to the informational video below. special guest appearance: 0:48.

earth day now!

happy earth day readers. here at novel designs, we celebrated by taking a trip up to topanga

the marshall brothers (aka boys behind gonz) celebrated earth day (and "no rules sunday") by taping a radio show with special guest travis graves from mt.egypt and frequent appearances by their mom. enjoy!

throwaway lines often ring true.

the new york correspondance school

the documentary "how to draw a bunny" recounts the mysterious suicide of ray johnson, an artist whose work helped launch the pop art and mail art movements. in 1962, johnson founded "the new york correspondance school," encouraging recipients to add to his artwork, often collages incorporating found art. he chose to kill the school by mailing an obituary to the new york times in 1973, but later reincarnated it as the "buda ray university."

celebrate record store day.

crown royal, good idea

ha lf ha lf

certainly one of the coolest, most straightforward lomoblogs out there.








this guy is somehow connected to the venice mollusk crew as shown by the presence of bandito brett

art-decko

western edition. painted ladies series.

i wrote a joke too...well, um, i read it in a book

a '95 letterman interview with harmony korine and an '83 interview with david byrne. its fascinating to imagine harmony writing the film "kids" not too long before this (not to mention larry clark picking him out on the street and asking him to do it). even more so i am intrigued by the similarities between these two interviewees. harmony is awkward and nervous so he stammers and speaks candidly (mclovin'-esque voice cracks?), but db's a full grown absurd human being. (there's also the not unlikely possibility that they both made nice with mr. frosty prior to taking the stage). makes me look forward to "mister lonely" and further pondering a byrne-korine connective thread of some sort. watch for the finger point and preemptive hand shake harmony tosses out at around 4:45. special.

i will go somewhere and mail you something from there

this is pretty much the job description of david horvitz, who lives at 99 vernon ave #1 brooklyn, ny 11206. he is a 25-year old blogger/artist/world traveler. and he needs your help. from april 19- may 3, he will be putting on a exhibit (location tba but somewhere in los angeles) called "to a sunset in palos verdes." i coached a lacrosse game in palos verdes this past weekend and it seems to be an excellent sunset-viewing spot.

david has a bunch of other on-going projects. for example, he plans to take a picture of the sky every day for the rest of his life, and as part of this effort he will send you a photograph of the sky for every day in 2008. you can also subscribe online by sending an email with the subject "subscribe to a photograph of the sky everyday in 2008" to hikarusaru@gmail.com.



he's also been documenting bands such as xui xui, sunset rubdown, and handsome furs as part of his polaroid project and picture disc series:




here's some other stuff he's up to. and his flickr page.

what else? well, for the bargain price of $100, he will go to the small Okinawan island called Taketomi and send you an envelope filled with star-sand.

geico comes alive

the amazing adventures of spider man (two)

get michael chabon's spiderman 2 script here. my inestimable love for mcsweeneys continues to grow.

art-decko

new feature. weekly best deck design. whoop whoop! starting with a tough one to top.

you take your car to work

danny hess is skyrocketing to fame in the surf world as one of the most innovative board shapers around thanks to the unique wood (poplar) boards he designs. these things are absolute works of art. simply gorgeous. they're environmentaly friendly (made from recycled materials) and have longer lifespans than typical boards thanks to the wood and cork being more durable than foam. also, they rip. his site was recently reworked and is something to behold even if you don't surf.

the gallery will give you a sense of what he's got going on.

sure, i've got pictures of my own

since 2005 the photobloggies (zero points for creative name) have been awarded annually to the best photoblogs on the internet.

i spent some time poking around and i don't know who the committee deciding these things is, but it seems to be doing its job well. the photobloggers in question appear to carry their cameras with them everywhere and the results are pretty inspiring.

here are a few samples from past winners and runners up:



no traces


daily dose of imagery


making happy


joe's nyc

you give 8 hours...they give you money

cashback was made in 2004 by sean ellis, a fashion photographer by trade, and was nominated for an oscar for best short in 2006. the short was so popular on the festival circuit that it ended up being made into an eponymous feature film which ultimately didn't fare too well with larger audiences or critics. the short though, is excellent. NSFW. (so caitie, don't watch at Valley, i guess.)

warriors of radness

i don't post enough about surfing but then again we're only about 25 posts in to novel designs. today that changes as i have received a picture of the newest addition to my quiver.

a few months ago I met a dude Javier who coordinates surf trips. J and i got talking about wave sliding. turned out Javier also runs a company called Dread or Dead and has partnered with an east coast shaper by the name of ricky carroll (check him out). somehow i ended up getting a free custom made board out of this brief conversation. I can only assume it has something to do with my love of lip bashing and never looking back.

i got my first pic of it today. it's pretty rasta'd out (the bottom is completely green/yello/red) so i'm looking forward to rolling up to porto blasting sizzla and tosh. it's a 6'6" tri-fin, in between (shortboard meets rocket fish), with a swallow tail. it's gonna get here right in time for summer. whoop whoop!

I mean true fame, a devouring neon...

to help celebrate the magazine's 40th anniversary, the writers of the NYMag culture page attempted to define the "New York Canon" (1968-2008). all categories are worth checking out (Movies, Art, Music, etc.), but i was most interested in the books. the 26 picks included some of my personal literary faves for:

best title - enormous changes at the last minute by grace paley

best first page - great jones street by don delillo

best first chapter title - bright lights big city by jay mcinery

apparently this last choice was somewhat controversial, but nymag is standing by the decision

we've done four already but now we're steady and then they went one! two! three! four!

while this is undoubtedly one the greatest rock albums of all time i really don't care for the cover. so when i learned the first cover art submission was as described below i was stunned. nothing could be further up my alley. i'm sure no pictures of the original exist. might have to recreate myself. and put on a tshirt.

"Jimmy Page has stated that the album cover was actually the second version submitted by Hipgnosis. The first, by artist Storm Thorgerson, featured an electric green tennis court with a tennis racquet on it. Furious that Thorgerson was implying their music sounded like a "racket", the band fired him and hired Powell in his place. Thorgerson did, however, go on to produce the album artwork for Led Zeppelin's subsequent albums Presence and In Through the Out Door."

aesthetics aside you can be damn sure i'm listening to this all the way through the moment i get home tonight. check out storm thorgerson's website and discover you're far more familiar with his work than you thought.

i know where the summer goes

Team Gallery : Brooklyn, NY : April 3 - May 3

The title of this exhibition, taken from an early B-side by Belle & Sebastian, is more than just a piece of poetic musing. McGinley does, in fact, know where his summers go. In the summer of 2007, for example, he traversed the United States with sixteen models and three assistants, shooting 4,000 rolls of film. From the resulting 150,000 photographs, he arduously narrowed down the body of work to some fifty images, the best of which are on display here at the gallery.




"the photographs i choose and group together aren't really reality -- it's not real life. someone once said to me that it's always warm in ryan mcginley photographs. you never feel cold. you always feel like you are in the sun. and i love that."

loudon wainwright III. john cale. jj cale.

welcome additions to the family.

jettison your loved ones.

A short film by ray tintori (partizan), wesleyan '06. he was given 10 minutes of film stock and this is what he shot in a day and a half. he wrote it one night. check out death of a tinman on this month's (quarter's?) wholphin for confirmation that great things will come from this man.

imagine the croakies that go with these

i am sad to have missed justice and diplo on monday @ the mayan. but i may be sadder about missing the chance to see these in person. they're like the opposite of sunglasses.

UPDATE! i have purchased several pairs of these at a site called "night magic" and, in addition, have resolved to invent glo-stick croakies.

we pass our time doing the coolest things we can imagine

http://www.ghostshrimp.net/pages/illustrations/pages/SECRETmission.html

on a scale of one to awesome this ranks pretty high.