Hasta La Ideas

Since Werner Herzog’s 3D film Cave of Forgotten Dreams was such a big hit earlier this year, should we now expect a follow up, wherein the adventurous director travels to the wilds of central London and dares enter a small apartment? If you’re a certain professor of archeology at the University of York, you apparently might consider it. The Telegraph reports that a handful of cartoons drawn by John Lydon (or Johnny Rotten) of the Sex Pistols have been discovered behind a cupboard in what are now offices. The archeologist in question is Dr. John Schofield who has compared the find with the cave paintings at Lascaux in France, or at the very least, perhaps even more important than the “lost early Beatles recordings” the BBC found in the mid-90s. In that case, Schofield is careful to remind that a producer at the time of that finding said the discovery was “like finding Tutankhamen’s tomb,” so his comparison to ancient cave paintings shouldn’t sound so absurd. That said, the Guardian‘s Johnathan Jones isn’t buying any of it. Writing that “archeologists should know better” and that anyone from that field who agrees with the importance of the find is merely doing so “to provoke their own profession” without really understanding that modern culture constantly “glorifies the immediate.” In a general sense, his argument seems to boil down to: why stoop to pop culture’s level when there’s legitimate, albeit less sexy, work to be done? Our personal addendum is that, while we genuinely like Lydon’s drawings, and realize their importance to the comparatively very recent history of music, isn’t it a bit premature to label something a major archeological find when the guy who drew them is still alive, and could likely redraw the same cartoons today?

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“Every artist gets asked the question, ‘Where do you get your ideas?’” says Austin Kleon. “The honest artist answers, ‘I steal them.’” This is the first of 10 pieces of advice that the Austin, Texas-based writer and artist offered to an assembly of college students earlier this year. Last week, Kleon inked a deal to develop his life lessons into a book, Steal Like an Artist: a “guide to the creative life for makers in the digital age” that is slated for publication by Workman Press in March, just in time for his SXSW panel with Kirby Ferguson. Until then, you can find the annotated lecture slides on his website. They offer valuable tips on everything from achieving professional success (“The Secret: Do good work, then put it where people can see it.”) to staying inspired (“Side projects and hobbies are important.”). “More very soon,” promised Kleon in a blog post announcing the book deal. “In the meantime, there’s a new book page with pictures of the work-in-progress, and I’m posting deleted scenes and research on my Tumblr.”
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After last week’s surprise drubbing at the hands of the National Capitol Planning Commission and members of the Eisenhower family, architect Frank Gehry got himself out in front of the debate earlier this week to try and smooth the situation over a bit concerning his planned Eisenhower Memorial in Washington DC. At the meeting last week, you might recall, the NCPC still wasn’t certain about the dimensions and scope of the project, while some members of the Eisenhower family asked that the whole project be put on hold, wanting to slow the whole thing down so they’d be able to think it all through more clearly. The Washington Post reports that in a meeting on Tuesday evening, Gehry admitted that the issues people were having with the memorial were “fair” and that they “are asking good questions.” What’s more, the architect reportedly explained that this is the sort of project that takes on lots of thinking and revisions as it goes along, and that he’s planning to agree to the family’s request for a meeting to make sure he gets the memorial right. “We’re clearly going to make them happy,” he told the Associated Press. Though if none of that works in appeasing everyone, we bet that Gehry will have no choice but to reassemble his Super Tech Squad and demand things go his way…or else.

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Remember back in the very early days of 2010 when Unhappy Hipsters caught the world by storm? The site, which re-purposed photographs taken for magazines like Dwell by captioning them with funny quotes about the tragic ennui suffered by wealthy modernists. Not only was the site wildly popular online, with links galore, it even made it into Psychology Today, which tried to get to the bottom of why all these modernism-loving people were just so darn sad. Now, as these things tend to happen anymore, the Tumblr site has been turned into a book, published by Chronicle and entitled It’s Lonely in the Modern World. Instead of simply going the easy route and essentially copying the site with photos and captions, co-founders Molly Jane Quinn and Jenna Talbott write pieces of advice on “how to navigate the vast array of concrete finishes and plywood grades, accessorize with children and pets, opine with authority on rooflines,” accompanying the funny captions underneath all those photos of sad modernness (here’s a scan of two pages, so you can see for yourself). Apartment Therapy has a nice, quick review of the book, which they describe as having an “extra-dry brand of design-centric humor.”

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It’s getting to be that time of year when the weather turns ugly, trapping you in doors, occasionally even forcing you to spend extended periods of time with your immediate family. As such, you’ll need to start stocking up on good books. Our good pal Debbie Millman, who has just a couple of credentials to her name, like serving as AIGA‘s president, running the world’s most listened-to podcast about design, working as a Chair at the SVA, and being the president of Sterling Brands, to name just a few, has her latest book coming out next week, on October the 10th. Entitled Brand New Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits, Millman talks to a veritable who’s who of branding pros, including Seth Godin, Wally Olins, and Malcolm Gladwell, about what a “brand” means today. We, and most likely you, have been fans of Millman’s for years, so this seems like almost necessary reading and is sure to be great. As an extra perk, since publishing books usually means book tours, you’ll perhaps get a chance to meet Ms. Millman as she starts crisscrossing the country as early as next week, with a launch party on October 27th at the SVA. Here’s a bit from the book’s description:

Slowly but surely, branding has become the umbrella under which advertising, marketing, and PR all reside, which means every forward-thinking business person, every consumer really, must speak the language of brands. After all, we live in a world with over one hundred brands of bottled water and there are more than 19 million customized beverage choices a barista can whip up at your local Starbucks. The word brand is no longer a simple differentiator of the cereals in our cupboards, nor is it a manipulative brainwashing tool forced on us by greedy corporations, as some consumers may believe. As branding moves into every sector of business and pop culture it’s an important topic, and in the book, Millman offers perspective on how branding is shaping society.

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