Current Reading

Ann Douglas' "A Terrible Honesty" is like an opera

L"ESPIRIT D'ESCALIER:THOMAS DEMAND: D.A. P

Party hearty for Rock Diary

Expect all the kids to be out in full force.

Letter by Letter: An Alphabetical Miscellany

TI is a font fiend, having great love for both the classics from Arial to Zapf Dingbats, to those insane new forms the likes of M &M/Paris keep coining. If you are passionate too about the shape, size and scale of the lettering you encounter in your everyday life then you must read Letter By Letter. Designer/calligrapher/artist Laurent Pflughaupt painstakingly traces the history and structure of each and every letter of the "Roman" alphabet. It may sound boring on the surface but visually the book is inspiring and invigorating and telegraphs the idea that evolution is implicit (and inevitable) in all creative human endeavor.

Vive Revolutionaries with good handbags!

2008! Its the 40th anniversary of the May 68 uprising in France, an event forever romanticized and fetished in fashion (Ms Prada), film (Bertolucci's "The Dreamers") and music (check Pet Shop Boys "I'm Not Scared"..the crowd noises at the end are a tribute to Mai 68). The Hayward Gallery is exhibiting a collection of posters curated by Johan Kugelberg and Jeff Boardman of original posters from the uprising.
40 of the stunning graphic works have been reproduced into a limited edition poster book and each page of the hand pulled screen-printed reproductions been perforated along the edge for easy removal and framing (only 68 books are being published).

Hedi Slimane: Rock Diary: JRP Ringier

Hedi Slimane books tend to escalate really fast in value (a " Berlin" currently starts at $2, 475.00 on Amazon ) which means TI will be standing on line for a first run copy of "Rock Diary"!

Proust At The Majestic is a brilliant piece of literary criticism mingled with social gossip

Joseph Beuys & Rudolph Steiner: together at last

What has Josephy Beuys got to do with Rudolf Steiner? Well Allison Holland promises to forge interesting links between the philosopher and artist, beyond their use of a black chalkboard as a ground for their ideas. The title and the cover design is working me in the best way.

The Memoirs of Duc de Saint Simon takes places in the hot-bed of intrigue which was the French 17th century court.

They say it is a seminal influence on Proust's "Remembrance Of Things Past". They say you'll have to wade through pages upon pages of tedious reportage about 17th century French military campaigns to get to the yummy gossip about life in Louis the XIV's court. The duke is accused of being frequently long-winded and terribly ungrammatical in his sentence structures (sigh). But the soap opera of the machinations and power struggles and the aura of a certain era dwindling into the twilight of myth.... It' s a hot read!

Raymond Loewy's legendary design for the Shell Oil Company:1967

Did you know the father of industrial design was French? The things you can discover on an Air France flight! But Raymond Loewy has an excellent case given his design for everything from Lucky Strike cigarettes to the Shell Oil Company logo to the Air France signage. TI is influenced by his MAYA principile (Most Advanced Yet Acceptable) principle referenced in the lead quote which proves this visual genius also had an arsenal of literary dexterity to boost his skill set. Loewy's book (sadly out of print but begging to be reissued) is a great example of that dry Gallic wit which I'm learning to love this week. raymondloewy.com does a champion job of chronicling the oevure, but but the book with that "lipstick to locomotives" blurb! I would have given a left pinky to have come up with that zinger! All hail!