Kidnapping

Went to 2 different locations with a good friend of mine, to shoot these. The one on the road was the most fun to shoot, since we had to watch out for police and traffic. My friend had a bag over his face and I was standing backwards towards the cars - not the most comfortable feeling.




the last one doesn't really match, but I shot it in the process and didn't want to trash it.


Alex

Love Is...

Words of wisdom

Most Stylish

Designer.

Being an avid reader of GQ (I kid not, I am, quite possibly, their #1 fan among females. And, like, #7 among males), I pay a huge amount of attention to what they talk about fashion-wise, how they style their editorials, and the products they endorse. I think that even a man that has no idea what a pocket square is can appear to be a style expert if he strategically follows what GQ has to say. I'm not saying, you copy what you see on the photograph, but you follow the rules, be realistic about your body structure, and shop wisely.

Anyway, now that that is written, I hate to delete it, but I was actually not going to write about GQ. The reason why I did start with GQ, however, is because I wanted to say that despite being one of my favorite magazines, it is not the people on the pages of GQ that I consider the most stylish. I agree that they all look like dapper devils, but who doesn't look amazing in GQ? These guys are experts at what they do, and they can take the most helpless example and turn them into Alain Delon.

An Unlikely Christmas Worth Remembering

I have a love-hate relationship with airlines (with the hate part usually outweighing the love part by a margin). I know I couldn't go places that I love without them, but when every time you board a plane, you learn new rules about flying (it started with pay per view films and stretched to pay per rest pillows), it becomes frustrating to say the least. What gets me the most is that it seems like while you usually pay a significant amount of money for at times questionable comfort and service (on top of that you get your luggage lost, your plane delayed, and a fee the price of the initial ticket to get a date changed), at the end of it all it feels like they couldn't care less. You step off a plane and you see tired, expressionless faces, and undeniably, frustration starts creeping in.

But, there are exceptions apparently. And as much as I hate when it happens, I have to admit, I got proven wrong on the 'they couldn't care less' part. Apparently some could. Spanair did a wonderful gesture to their passengers on a flight between Barcelona and Las Palmas on the 24th of December. The flight started at around 20:00, and when it landed it was almost midnight. Check out the video to see how Spanair tried to brighten the mood and add a little celebration into an otherwise blah Christmas Eve.



P.S. Recently, I have made several posts about advertising, and I have to say, this is another great example. But, I rather not look at it from that perspective. Firstly, because it's a nice gesture regardless. And secondly, because a part of me still believes in Santa, and if he had anything to do with this, I don't want him to find out that I doubted him when he comes to pregnantwhalescanboogie to get an update on Alex's new photography. I don't even celebrate Catholic Christmas, but hey, 'tis the season to be jolly falalalala lala lala.

"only the birds fly first class"

Went out to take some photos of birds, to create some custom brushes, in the process shot these.




Alex

Pretty Picture

 
What a wonderful photograph of Juergen Teller on a piano...
I have zero musical talent. I tried learning to play the guitar and was told by my own teacher - who I was paying money to btw - that it just was not worth the struggle.
Now, if I knew this is what playing a musical instrument gets you, I might have not taken my music teacher's advice.

Most Stylish

Couple.

Let's admit that we've all done it. Whether it was while walking around Williamsburg in Brooklyn, or hanging out on the beach in São Paulo, or consuming a baguette in Paris, we all went "awww" when we saw that super stylish couple across the street. I'm not miss romance, but two people dressed well, with taste, and to compliment one another is by far the most romantic thing out there.

There is a well known couple that makes me go "awww" pretty much every time I come across a picture of them. Find out who they are after the jump! Oh the suspense..

Love Is...

...Roof Sex



After looking at Alex's flashes of genius also known as t-shirt designs, the arm chair made me think of PES and his short animated film about roof sex recently shown to me by a friend. Enjoy, and if you decide to try this at home, make sure your roof is safe.

an armchair

Designed it just for fun

Alex

And another one

another design by me

Alex

Threadless

What's great about Threadless.com is that its a community based tshirt website. Anybody can come up with a good design, submit it, community will rate it, and if its good enough, it goes for printing. The designer of course is going to get paid $2,500 which is not bad at all. I can't say I am a designer, or that I can actually draw, but I can definitely take photos and use photoshop. So I decided to try it out and come up with a design, check it out

Alex

Time Doesn't Stand Still

Unfortunately for me, Christmas/New Year has never been an extremely extraordinary holiday. More than anything, I associate it with the opportunity to take it easier and relax while catching up on my massive list of films to watch and stuff to read that I never got around to by being a lazy ass the rest of the year. In other words, few things surpass the importance of the advent chocolate calendar for me during this time.

This year is slightly different however, thanks to Darren Aronofsky. Yes, you read it correctly, my Christmas will be spent primarily waiting to get my hands on Black Swan, the film everyone has probably already heard about. There are many reasons why I am so excited about the film: Darren Aronofsky, great cast, Darren Aronofsky, the storyline, ballet finally being shown for the tough, impossibly competitive, and sometimes gruesome form of art that it is instead of the pretty, fluffy dance that it is usually portrayed as in movies, and Darren Aronofsky. The film has already got many great reviews, and I’m sure that it will be as good as everyone says it is. I also love how Aronofsky chooses his projects. I have no idea if it is intentional, but there seems to be a very interesting social perspective when it comes to his films. His previous film, The Wrestler was a typical guy film, about a guy competing in a strictly guy’s sport/show, and dealing with typical guy problems. In the Black Swan, Aronofsky uses the same outlet, that being athleticism, but approaches it from a strictly female perspective – what women go through for success, the pressure, and the way they struggle to juggle real life (it rhymes! Mental note, email Lil Wayne) and the high expectations in their careers. What’s especially great is that athleticism is in the essence of both of these films, because, having competed in professional sport, I know for a fact that it is one of the best ways to demonstrate the sacrifices people make in order to succeed. (For those who would argue that ballet is strictly a form of art that has nothing to do with sport, I beg to differ. I know a number of ballet dancers, and their regime resembles one of an Olympic athlete much more than say of a poet or a painter).

Ok, initially I was not planning on talking about the Black Swan at all, but clearly couldn’t help myself. The reason for the post, however, is not Black Swan, at least not completely.

What I like about well-done films that portray physically ambitious craft is that many times, real life professionals get to participate in the making of the film to make it more realistic and believable. In this case, Benjamin Millepied, a principal dancer at New York Ballet and a renowned choreographer plays a significant part in the creation of the Black Swan, as an actor and choreographer. I am not a big ballet aficionado, so I have never heard of Mr. Millepied before, but apparently he is a pretty talented actor, as well as an aspiring moviemaker, and he has an awesome tattoo! I found a short film by him and American filmmaker Asa Mader, starring Millepied himself alongside Lea Seydoux, called Time Doesn’t Stand Still. As is expected, dancing plays a big part in the short film. For now, a director’s cut is available to take a look at, and you can find it here. The short film will be available in its entirety in 2011, and I think it looks like a promising start for Millepied to expand his career into a new art form.

Fog

Sometimes simple pictures are the most beautiful ones. Yesterday I stepped out of my house and was astonished how thick the fog was. I ran to get the camera and shot these.

Givenchy

Just a few posts back, I talked about Hublot's advertisement starring Bernie Ecclestone. It seems that controversial advertisements is the best way to try to get people's attention lately. But, while Hublot's ad came out of a very unfortunate incident, Riccardo Tisci has been pushing Givenchy to think a lot more outside-the-box consciously for some time now.

Ever since Tisci has come to head Givenchy as creative director, there has been a full on transformation of what the brand has come to represent. It didn't lose any of it's high-end tradition, but it has found its way back into the hearts of the most fashionable people of the world by doing something new and fresh with every season.

I must say that I always look forward to Givenchy's ads just as much as I look forward to the collections. The last ones were especially awesome, because Tisci has opted to think even more outside-the-box than usual. Last season, he used his muse Lea T (who also happens to be a transgendered model) as part of the autumn campaign. Now, Givenchy is giving us another great ad, this time starring an albino model.

Most Stylish...

...Leading Man.

In today's world of stylists, magazines, runway shows, and, thousands of blogs/websites/tv shows dedicated to fashion, it seems like dressing the part should not really be THAT hard. However, often times, we see people, that possibly have the most access to looking phenomenal, opt for a "not so phenomenal" look, shall we say.

However, there are people who time and time again get it right. I especially love to see Hollywood's leading men looking dapper, whether on the red carpet or on a trip to Whole Foods. Being a big fan of Old Hollywood, I always get very touched when I see today's stars put the effort into looking their best, which seemed to be the standard rule about half a century or so ago.

Check out today's most stylish leading man after the jump!

Beautiful Biutiful

A film by Alejandro González Iñárritu has come out in Spain about a week or so ago. It stars Spanish star and Oscar winner Javier Bardem and tells a story of a man struggling with raising his two children while discovering that he is fatally ill. The film is set in the metropolitan love of my life, Barcelona. The film runs just under two and a half hours during which I have gone through many different stages of human condition ranging from nervous laughter to weeping in a cinema full of people while curled up in my seat in the fetal position (not particularly proud to reveal this one.)

After the movie world has been introduced to such films as Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Biutiful will be a drastically different view on the city for the audience. It is set in the more underprivileged area that even I have never been to nor heard of, and I’ve lived here for years.

Catwalk

Pre-Fall 2011 continued. Burberry Prorsum.

Catwalk

The pre-fall 2011 collections are now out. There were not that many collections to look at, and Chanel’s Byzantine celebration got the most attention from the fashion peoples. My three favorite collections, however, were by Thakoon, Jason Wu, and Rag & Bone. Here are some of the looks I liked most.

Jason Wu

Jason Wu

Rag & Bone

Rag & Bone

Thakoon

R.I.P. Alexander McQueen

Please take a look at Nick Knight's video tribute to the late Alexander McQueen's work. This could possibly be last time his work is seen on living models, since his most iconic pieces are all moving to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.



Video by Nick Knight. Gowns by Alexander McQueen. Styled by Edward Enninful.

The Art of Seeing the Glass Half-Full aka Advertising Campaigns

Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone was attacked and mugged about a month ago. The attackers threw a few serious blows to Mr. Ecclestone's face before running off with jewelry worth about 200,000 pounds. Among this jewelry was an Hublot watch, a brand that works with Formula 1.

Not to be outdone by some measly thieves, Mr. Ecclestone sent a photograph of his battered face to Hublot and proposed a campaign. Check out what turned out:

wall project

It was a fun photo shoot. I still have a lot more photos to edit and can end up having about 6-7 different pics in this series, but for now I got too lazy and will keep it at 3.

All of the elements are completely shot/drawn/edited by me.

Alex

notes

I recently got a new phone and while I was scrolling through things and cleaning my old phone to get rid of it, I found this quote in my Notes.

Alex

How It Should Have Ended, College Humor - Inception

Anna's post about Inception reminded me of different parodies on it, here are 2 of my favorite ones (Freddy does a cameo in the HISHE parody)





Alex

Freddy vs. Leo

In honor of Inception coming out on DVD (and Bluraaaaaaay) today, I decided to post about the film. I actually found the film to be a very thought-provoking (albeit somewhat confusing) and engaging movie. A big part of that was, being the fashion fanatic that I am, me being very impressed with Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s wardrobe. Seriously, that guy was so dapper in this film, I thought I could have spent the two and half hours just observing him float through that hotel.

Unlike many, I didn’t come away with a gazillion question marks over my head after the film, and that may be for one of two reasons: I took the film for what it was and didn’t delve too much into the twisted plot, or I wasn’t smart enough to notice a lot of the details that everyone else did (many mentioned that they lean towards the second one). Overall, I was a happy camper.

There was, however, one thing that made me think and think about the movie for a long time after seeing it, and that was… what would Freddy Krueger think about all of this? I mean, let’s give credit where credit is due, and no one, I repeat, no one knows how to navigate a person’s dream and dig up the toughest psychological traumas like one Mr. Krueger.

I could just imagine Leonardo DiCaprio running through someone’s dream, shooting at bad guys, and then suddenly, instead of his wife that liked to frequent his subconscious, Freddy showed up (yes, maybe staying up late last night and watching Horror on Elm Street on pay-per-view was not such a great idea after all).

So there they are, facing eachother. Who would take who out? Forget Freddy vs. Jason, these are the big boys here. What I was mostly interested in, was if the two decided to dislike each other, and a battle would break out, who would be the winner? On the one hand, Freddy knows a lot about this subconscious world, that even DiCaprio had a hard time deciphering at times, and he’s been there for a lot longer. The man’s afterlife is dedicated to torturing people in their sleep. On the other hand, DiCaprio has technology and guns. Freddy is very capable, but, let’s face it, a glove full of blades can only get you so far, just ask Edward Scissorhands.

Apart from that, DiCaprio has buddies. They helped him beat an army full of soldiers in the middle of something like the North Pole, so they can help him deal with Freddy and his dungeon-like hangar.

As far as style is concerned, I have to admit that there is a charm involved in Freddy’s everyday ensemble. I would call it casual with a touch of ivy league preppy-ness. Mr. DiCaprio doesn’t exactly disappoint either, but, he’s no Joseph Gordon-Levitt in this one style-wise, so I will have to settle on a tie in terms of sartorialism.

Lastly, I have to mention one query I do have about this. As we know, Leo and his team work for money. So, say a high-schooler from Elm Street were to break his piggy-bank and ask the fellows to help him beat Freddy, what would the price they ask for be? Considering the buyer’s age and very sticky situation? I would like to believe they would help the kid out just for the sake of doing the right thing, and, maybe making sure that if Leonardo DiCaprio’s character does get to raise his children afterall, they won’t be in the risk group of Freddy victims – whether in the real or subconscious world.

an old idea of mine

I wanted to combine a drawing together with a photograph for some time now. There were a lot of ways I could go with it, but I decided to use my sister's awesome face drawings and combine it together with the photos I took.

Boy in Plaid

Life Imitating Art

...so I like to visit the cinema every now and again...

Love Is...

...Making room for your little buddy in the garage.

The Sound of Camden

I've always been a fan of ex-Sugababe, Mutya Buena. She always seemed to have a lot of problems with the media while being part of the girl band, and after the Sugababes seized to exist, I kind of lost track of her for a while.

However, her vocals were always very impressive, and even with the Sugababes pop profile, songs like "Lost in You" impressed me a lot. Later she came out with songs like "This is Not Real Love" in a duet with George Michael which showed that her range was impressive.

She is out with a new album which covers many songs of the 90's. The album is called The Sound of Camden. I really like her spin on the songs, and I reaaaally like her voice. There is something very attractive about it. I was very excited when I saw that she covered Rolling Stones' "Anybody Seen My Baby" because it is possibly my most favorite Rolling Stones song, and I was real interested to see what she would do with the song.

I really like it, but, please, judge for yourself. You can listen to the song here.

ZINESWAP

A really cool website that started out with people being able to publish their own work. Now, ZINESWAP is a big deal with a lot of projects and even an iPhone and iPad application that allows you to buy different “zines” by different people. I think it’s a cool concept and it’s again one of those “why didn’t I come up with this?” internet ideas.

I knew about ZINESWAP for a while now, but never really spent much time on the site (because, unfortunately, I didn’t have much to share, nor, after seeing the high level of work, did I want to look like a cheesy third grader writing a “How I Spent my Summer” paper). Anyway, regardless, I came across ZINESWAP again while reading an article in Dazed & Confused. They wrote about a real awesome zine called Dead Ends by Theo Simpson, which consists of photographs of different discarded job applications. I’m not always a big fan of huge movements that take place in the art world when something big happens globally. I feel like many times, instead of getting creative, work sometimes becomes redundant. From time to time this is the case with the current underlying subject of pretty much everything – the economic crisis and everything that comes with it. Nevertheless, in my opinion, Dead Ends is an exception. On top of that, anyone who can take the single least creative object, a job application (a blank one that is, because the filled out ones can get real original), and turn it into a piece of art, deserves to be checked out.

Visit the website of the project here, and, if you ever have a minute, or have something to share for that matter, check the ZINESWAP website out: (www.zineswap.com)

On a totally different note, but no less creative, tomorrow is El Clasico!!! I am a die-hard FC Barcelona fan, so I will be nervous and giddy all day long. VISCA BARCA!

Carriers

I was never a big fun of horror movies, and the reason for that is very simple - I get easily scared by ghosts,zombies and other similar shit. At the same time, I am a big fun of post-apocalyptic movies and since post apocalyptic and horror genres often intertwine, sometimes I watch horror-apocalyptic movies.

I was scrolling through different movies on Wednesday night and I realized that Chris Pine(the actor I recently watch all the movies with ) has a main part in the movie Carriers. So I gave it a try, regardless the horror genre it had written in the description.

The premise of the movie is simple: some kind of flue pandemic spread around the globe, killing mostly everybody.The only survivals try to avoid big cities and coming in contact with other people; since the virus is highly contagious and its often very hard to tell if someone has it or not. The idea is simple and is very real(we did have an epidemic in Mexico about a year ago). Throughout the movie, our protagonists have to make a series of difficult moral decisions in order to survive. What makes this movie exciting is that you can't but constantly relate to the main characters and keep on questioning your self, wondering what would you do, being in their shoes. Overall it was an OK "horror" movie with pretty good and very convincing acting from Chris Pine. If you have an extra evening to waste and you are in the mood for a semi scary post apocalyptic film, Carriers is the way to go.



Boy in Plaid

NUJABES

I started listening to Nujabes about 3 years ago and instantly fell in love with it.
A hip-hop producer and a DJ from Japan, Nujabes died at the age of 36 this February. His music, very ambient and beautiful, will make anybody happy and free minded.

Nujabes - Modal Soul - download http://www.mediafire.com/?yzvmwkmz2yz
and a tribute by a collaboration of different musicians - http://www.mediafire.com/?qbgzb5qh3q83os7

Boy in Plaid

Johnny Flynn

A Larum by Johnny Flynn is traditional American blues and English folk blended together.I rarely keep the whole album but had to, with this one.


http://www.mediafire.com/?tmly03tyq4z - download

http://www.amazon.com/Larum-Johnny-Flynn/dp/B0013KJAQ6 - buy


+ here is a cover for The Wrote & The Writ by Laura Marling



Boy in Plaid

Mark Ronson

I am possibly the millionth person to talk about Mark Ronson’s latest album that came out about a month and a half ago, but I am going to do it anyway. The album called Record Collection is by Ronson and The Business Intl plus a dozen other artists ranging form Boy George to D’Angelo (!).

I heard a lot about the album for while before it finally hit store shelves from the hip I-don’t-listen-to-radio-hits crowd. I thought I would wait and see for myself.

Honestly, I thought that the highly anticipated album was doomed to suffer the inevitable – self-implode. The huge number of serious artists on the album, most of whom you can hardly call commecial, Ronson’s stint as designer of super exclusive custom kicks for Gucci, and his great style when it comes to… well, anything, all served as reason. To be frank, being the musical-fashion obsessive that I am, it seemed too good to be true. But guess what, it is true. The album is fresh, unlike anything else I heard in a while, it has Ronson’s stamp and style on it, and the guests performers seem to have been picked out perfectly for every single track. All the different music blended together to create a complete album. Surprisingly, it was also very unpretentious, which is not always the case when it comes to the I-don’t-listen-to-radio-hits crowd.

I can’t tell if it’s Mark Ronson’s unstoppable growth and progress, his innate talent when it comes to sound, or his new hair, but the album is definitely worth a listen.