Archive for February, 2008
Barackatoon
Time, Newsweek, Oprah, Esquire, GQ, The New Yorker, LIFE, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal. You name it and chances are, he has already done it. In this high political season, caricaturistJohn Kascht is at it again. His latest subject: Barack Obama. And for good measure. The Illinois senator is flying high in the polls, poised to become the Democratic nominee for the ’08 presidential derby. In a YouTube video, John explains how he came up with the image in the likeness of the Hawaiian-born political rock star. The work is part of a series on presidential candidates. One observer has only high praises for John, for “simply using his caricaturist’s eye to get to the heart of their true nature”, without necessarily advocating one candidate over another. Unlike editorial cartoonists, there’s also that none-threatening feel about his pieces. No wonder John’s subjects have become fans, from Katharine Hepburn to Stephen King, Sean Connery to Ray Romano. Still, he packs hefty intellectual punch. If not, The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery would not have acquired at least two-dozen “Kaschts”. “My sketches are very sketchy,” John would humbly mumble. And that’s not a put-on. For a man who lives on a tiny farm in Pennsylvania with his wife, a beekeeper of 500,000 honeybees, he embodies it. Sweet!
Nyan-nyan
Walk through the narrow streets of Kyoto, the ancient capital of The Land of the Rising Sun, and one thing you will notice aside from the quaint shops (and if you are lucky, the beautiful and enigmatic Geishas), are the army of cats. They are all over the place, they can easily outnumber the Shinto monks guarding the centuries-old temples. Cats, or neko, are a highly-revered animal in Japan. They even came up with a beckoning cat ornament for good luck. And here’s a bit of trivia about Niponggo, they don’t meow, they purr and say, “nyan-nyan.” If you know this stuff, you’ll understand Taiyo Fujii’s fascination of the feline class. Even his flickr ID is a picture of his cat, Zizi. Goro and Alan are his two other kids. This fat cat in the field of software development, design and illustration is based just outside of Tokyo, but his work goes beyond the border, to Hefei in China, the Philippines and across the Pacific in the United States. In one of his travels, he let us into his suitcase, sketched into his Rhodia. If he is not traveling, he enjoys driving his bicycle or grilling fish with his wife. It’s not clear if Zizi, Goro and Alan also partake of the grilled fish. Nyan-nyan.
Yellow Boots, Kosovo
Last Sunday, February 17, 2008, Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia, sparking tensions in Belgrade and the Balkan region, sending chills in Europe and across the globe. The declaration marks another historic moment for the week-old country’s storied past including the very turbulent ’90s. One American artist poignantly captures that very painful era in his work, Yellow Boots, Kosovo. This accomplished writer slash painter slash brilliant illustrator (Hellraiser, X-Files, Tales from the Edge just to name a few) from the Tar Heel State, is known for his biting anti-war commentary as reflected in many of his masterpieces. Once, he wrote, “As a species of this planet, we are an anomaly. While we are the only species knows to have created a written language, e are also the only species known to participate in actions the contribute to our own demise.” In his blog entry, dated February 18, he wrote: “I have been following the situation with Kosovo lately and read that they have declared their independence and been recognized by western nations. I realize that the separation of Kosovo is painful for some and joyous for others, but I am hopeful that there will be acceptance and peace instead of the bloodshed of a decade ago when Albanians and Serbs were being killed on a daily basis. This piece was done after reading a story about a child killed with her yellow boots still on. It was the first of many anti-war pieces that I did between 1998 and 2001.”
See more of Bill Koeb’s works here.
Madame Hulot
From Buddhist meditation to Burt Bacharach, this newly-wed video producer from Brooklyn, New York is the “curator” of the Museum of Notebooks. A certified francophile, this collector of “the best and brightest notebooks in the world”, describes herself as having “a Monsieur Hulot quality of knocking things over.” But there’s nothing clumsy about this girl, only a Jacques Tati-like eye for unique quality of visual style and taste for things chic. Don’t miss her honeymoon photos of the South of France, and see how she captures Corsica, showing its charm while plausibly paying tribute to Hulot. Wherever she is the world, however, Jennifer Hsu is able to spot things beautiful, and through her artistic eye, shows it to us in a captivating way. On a recent blog entry, this producer, who apparently works with the likes of Mary J Blige and Dave Matthews, writes about her indubitable amour for the orange notebook. Jennifer said that after scanning the cover of a Rhodia, “I really see just how amazing the Rhodia logo is. Makes you want to jump on a plane for a trip to the Swiss Alp.” What a way to describe Rhodia!
Photo: Jenn Hsu
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Rhodia, how do I love thee?
From Umeboshi Panda in Toronto:
1) The portability
I usually use No.11( 7.4 x 10.5 cm). I just put in my bag so that I can jot down something whenever I want to. No. 11 is really small and I can put it in my pocket easily, too.
2) The endurance
The paper quality is really good that a sheet of the paper won’t get worn out quickly. Even if I write something on the pad, tear it out, and keep in my wallet for several months, the sheet of the memo is still there, not being ragged at all.
3) The colour
I just like the orange colour of the cover. The grid line is pale lavender colour, and it’s really soothing somehow.
More stationery obsession at her blog.
February wallpaper
Download February’s wallpaper featuring the Rhodia classic stapled lined black notebook (8.25 x 5.75 inches), classic stapled graph (3 x 4.75 inches) and the signature pencils. Select your screen resolution below, then right-click “Set as Desktop Background”.
Flickr Friday
Francophile by Nubby Twiglet
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Rhodia no 11 notebook graph paper. Used for everything from photo ideas to misfits guitar tablature to flight times.
The items we carry by eight double
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Notepad I got around August 2006 in Borders, Oxford. It’s full of work stuff I had written in it, plus some photos and some doodles. The doodles are better so I’ve included them.
Rhodia doodles by sharpie
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