tantramar

Things & People

My friend Sandy has a nice new project under way. It's about Things & People. I'm in it, as you can see. It's a charming little thing uncovering the relationship with the aethetics that shape us.

Still Rather Nice

The regular genius of the It's Nice That returns shortly to our grubby paws, to fawn over with glee and curiosity. The third edition of their journal is available for pre-order on the site and looks as good as ever, or dare I say it EVEN BETTER!

Shown here is the free Parra print you get with the issue (click for larger version)!

Aside from that little gem there are interviews and content from some pretty big hitters such as: Maisie Broadhead, Tom Dixon, Tom Gauld, Milton Glaser, Keith Schofield, Dan Tobin Smith and Paul Smith.

If that's not enough there's also content from: Daniel Eatock, Jochen Gerner, Charley Harper, Lucy and Bart, Susanne Ludwig, Aakash Nihalani, SpY, John Paul Thurlow and Geoff McFetridge (pictured).

 

Oh and there's some words too from: Keetra Dean Dixon, Ken Garland, Dan Germain and Johan Löfgren.

I don't know many media producers that have such an active digital presence and that still manage to produce print media that can sit alongside the digital product so neatly. Hat Tipped.

Whole Earth Catalog

This is the Last Whole Earth Catalog from 1971. I've been chasing a cheap one for a while and last week it turned up.

It's an amazing thing. It's kinda like a paper version of the internet. Stewart Brand invented this crazy idea back in 1968. Essentially it is a catalogue telling you everything you need to know to live (sort of).

Under the title it says 'Access to tools'. It says this because, anything you need in the way of knowledge is in here plus the order details for books (tools) to increase your knowledge on any given subject from Mathematics to childbirth to rearing livestock.

So the sort of things you can find in the hundreds and hundreds of pages are:

Cooking Recipes:

How to guides (Surveying):

The idea was that with the access to this knowledge people could find inspiration and the tools to live in any way they chose to. Very 1970s!

Why not raise cattle!

Yes, it's all wonderfully utopian it what it was trying to do.

A lot of the people (west coast hippies) involved in this moved into the early days of computing when all that kicked off. Kevin Kelly even edited one later edition.

As charming as it is, sadly I don't think I'll ever get to read it all. But perhaps I should just be reading the parts I need when I need them. That was the point after all.

But Dude!

I've always been interested in the word Dude. From when I discovered dude ranches to 'dude, what does mine say?'.

The word in fact dates back a long way to 1883 and in 1889 actually features in Jerome K Jerome's excellent 3 men in a  boat.

Anyway because of all this dudeness I had heard about Dude magazine from the 1960s - a gentleman's magazine but I'd never actually seen one until last week. I of course, snapped it up.

It's quite fun but every now and then there is some copy explaining who a dude reader is (in case the reader is a touch insecure). This text is awesome... dude. I quote:

Hands up...or hands down, the Dude reader knows how, where and why the livin' is good. It's easy, when his life lines are etched in bold, provocative strokes. He knows where the fun is flamboyant, the fiction's fantastic and the fillies are fine fine fine.
He knows he can find it all between the covers of his newsstand's most exciting package... THE DUDE.

I'm off out now, chasing fillies!

Death Be Good To Me

Good Magazine is pretty good, lucky for them really. Somewhat of a balls out approach. Like having a business card that says 'I'm amasing', you've simply gotta be. Anyway, they recently commissioned this cute little animation about Death directed by Alejandro Cardenas.

Death is a pretty funny thing really, we spend a fortune on it, freak out about it and worry about it a load, when we can do so little about it. I think we've knocked out the ability of our race to evolve by constantly trying to cheat it. I say, bring it on death, I'll play you at Twister, or if you're game, destroy you in some rock paper sissors action.

Put Your Finger On It

I stumbled upon Finger magazine recently and I’m pretty glad I did. The whole thing is simply people giving lists of their favourite somethings.

Lists are always interesting, seeing what record someone fell in love to or their favourite books. It gives terrific insight into someone’s character. I don’t know why it’s so intriguing it just is. I might give that some thought actually.

Fresh Graphic

Graphic is a magazine that seems to vary tremendously from issue to issue. This one is a corker though. New Narrative Styles explores different ways current top illustrators and artists deliver their message. The ‘converted’ Pez dispensers by Atypyk caught my eye in particular. Fresh.

"Believer"

"Maneater"

Not A Swindle

This North American magazine is pretty good. It’s one of those expensive magazines that crosses the bridge between style-book and magazine. This one does it better than most though. The Jim Houser cover caught my eye. He’s an artist working out of Philly, who’s pretty big on the skater art scene. There are also good articles on the new streetwear companies and their respective head honchos plus a curious piece about Israeli Hip Hop. Don’t delay, buy one today.