Imaginary Forces: Definitely, Maybe Title Sequence

Check out the slick, almost retro (I'm thinking the original Thomas Crown Affair titles) sequence for Definitely, Maybe. Actually, a really cute film - especially if you find Ryan Reynolds delicious. And the song is by Sly and the Family Stone.

You can watch it here - click on the red link for Definitely_Maybe.mov: http://www.dexigner.com/design_news/imaginary-forces-creates-lyrical-opening-sequence-for-definitely.html

or, to see the bigger version, go to the Imaginary Forces website (click on Play Movie, but you'll have to wait about two minutes):
http://www.imaginaryforces.com/featured/5/454

Arnold Schwarzenegger in Carnival in Rio

(click to watch) I went to the Found Footage Festival last night and saw this early gem featuring the jaw-dropping antics of Governor Schwarzenegger. This is a promo film for Rio de Janeiro. I heartily recommend attending this hilarious performance - not sure when it's returning to New York, but it's touring other cities. DVDs of prior festivals are available. http://www.cine-magic.com/foundfootagefest.html

Happy Fourth! The Big Penis Book/Big Book of Breasts

From Taschen come this year's most anticipated catalogs. Truly mesmerizing stuff. And get this. The jacket is actually clear acetate with underwear/bra printed on it, so that when removed, the true glory of the anatomy is revealed. Back cover is the rear view of the man/woman, with acetate underwear theme continued. These on are display at the new Taschen store in SoHo. I have to say, congrats on the flip color choice. Boys usually get blue, and girls usually get pink.

http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/sex/all/05703/facts.the_big_penis_book.htm

http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/sex/all/03848/facts.the_big_book_of_breasts.htm

Lisa Fyfe: The Boys in the Trees

The story of a father's crime and its affect on a countryside community in late 19th-century Canada. I'm assuming the red birds are the family.

Justice League Shocker!!!

While trying to figure out how to hack an infernal computer, Aquaman, King of Atlantis, gets zapped from behind by his eeeevil brother. From Season 1, Episode 7, The Enemy Below - Part 2.

The Romantics

Note the torn flower print. And the scotch tape is glossy!

The story revolves around an amorous group of nine Yale friends as they reunite for a wedding six years after graduation.

I Love Dollars

Saw this at Three Lives Bookstore a few weeks ago and it jumped right out at me. This jpeg doesn't do it justice--the spine and back cover are fully integrated into the design. So cool!

Here's the publisher's description:

An immediate sensation upon publication in China, I Love Dollars is a hilarious send-up of China’s love affair with capitalism by one of its most gifted new writers. In the title story, a young man, acutely aware of his filial duty, sets out to secure a prostitute for his father, only to haggle his old man out of a good time. Here, gleefully exposed, are the inanities of everyday life in contemporary China. As penetrating as Kafka, as outrageously funny as Larry David, and with a slangy swagger all Zhu Wen’s own, I Love Dollars is priceless.

John Gall? Love and Hydrogen

This is from Vintage so I'm guessing Gall, but will correct later if I'm wrong. Sounds AWESOME (from Booklist):
In the extraordinarily imaginative title story, (Shephard) vividly re-creates the flight of the doomed Hindenburg airship, on which two male crew members conduct a taboo affair. Elsewhere, Shepard enters the minds of The Who's John Entwhistle, the creature of the Black Lagoon, and John Ashcroft.

Found Photo Friday

Somebody's happy it's Friday, and his name is Tom Jones.

The Curious Case of Gould

Thanks for the headz up, Gould. This is the new David Fincher film, based on an F. Scott Fitzgerald story about a man who is born old and gets younger and younger as he grows up. Love the type for the movie logo. The link to the preview: http://www.benjaminbutton.com/
And, lo and behold, I found these two awesome coverz for the book!

More Than It Hurts You

My boyfriend in college was a biology nut. He took an entomology class senior year, and had to run through the woods with a butterfly net trying to catch as many different species as he could. Then he would put them in a "killing jar". He always got very excited when our female friends screamed because there was a yet undiscovered waterbug in their bathrooms. His final project was a vast collection of his dead insects carefully pinned down in a black box, with the species names pinned on tiny pieces of paper. Thirteen years later, he still proudly displays his collection at parties.

Michaela Sullivan: Dictation

A collection of four stories. "The title story follows the female secretaries of Henry James and Joseph Conrad, both of whom take dictation from the two egoist titans. When the authors meet in London, their two amanuenses collude to make their own mark on their masters' work; in so doing, they exalt, with an undeniably sexual glee, that they will thus attain immortality." (PW)

The Sorrows of an American

An arrestingly spare image and complex type treatment. The painterly rectangles behind the type are pretty awesome. OMG. I just noticed the E in THE is pushed over. Seems somehow appropriate.

From Henry Holt: "When Erik Davidsen and his sister, Inga, find a disturbing note from an unknown woman among their dead father’s papers, they believe he may be implicated in a mysterious death. The Sorrows of an American tells the story of the Davidsen family as brother and sister uncover its secrets and unbandage its wounds in the year following their father’s funeral."

Abby Weintraub: Hospital

A reporter spends a year as a fly on the wall at Maimonides Hospital in Brooklyn, and records a ton of insider observations, including the surprising difficulty of getting doctors to wash their hands.

Quite nice in person, the letters are glossy and embossed against a matte hospital green.

Evan Gaffney: The Planets

From Evan's interview with AIGA (this book is a winner of the 2005 50 Books/50 Covers competition):
"The Planets is the story of the solar system, told in chapters that merge the contemporary science and historical mythology of each planet. The jacket art, an engraving from the 17th century, is full of mysticism and wonder. The die­cut circle offers a peek onto the case art, a painting by illustrator Lynette Cook, which is a more factual rendering based on NASA documentation. "

Rodrigo Corral: Devil May Care

Top is Rodrigo's US version, bottom is the UK hardcover - designer unknown. If you look carefully at the flower stem in the UK version, you'll see a surprise! Bond actually wraps around the spine in the US version - a really fun touch, since he's only suggested on the cover. There's also a nice perspective grid pattern on the US version - I think it's glossy on a matte effect. The story involves an evil genius who develops some opiate-derivative drugs - I suppose that's what the flower represents. And here's another Bond-related cutie:

Penguin Boys' Own Books

A couple of gems from penguin's series of classic adventure paperbacks.

Keenan: Personal Days

Trade Paperback: my favorite part is the little bump on the "a novel" key - the same little bump that is on your "j" key.

"In an unnamed New York-based company, the employees are getting restless as everything around them unravels...On a Sunday, one of them is called at home. And the Firings begin.
Rich with Orwellian doublespeak, filled with sabotage and romance, this astonishing literary debut is at once a comic delight and a narrative tour de force. It’s a novel for anyone who has ever worked in an office and wondered: “Where does the time go? Where does the life go? And whose banana is in the fridge?”

Manuel Puig

Kiss of the Spider Woman is from Vintage. Pubis Angelical is from University of Minnesota Press. Two very different approaches, but both gorgeous.

Kiss is about the relationship of two prisoners who share a cell - one is a straight revolutionary and the other a cross-dressing gay man who lives in his cinematic dreams.

from Amazon: "In Pubis Angelical he interweaves three stories, the first about a beautiful Viennese actress held captive in a mysterious marriage to a World War II munitions maker. The second and most interesting story, since it encompasses a history of Peronism, concerns an Argentinian refugee, dying in a Mexico City hospital, and her conversations with an old friend and an old lover. The third narrative is a futuristic spy thriller about a secret agent called W218. The implication is that one of the three women is real, the others fantasies or projections."

The Boat

Beautiful, chilling cover to a collection of short stories. I love the sculptural quality of the waves. The title story takes place aboard a Vietnamese fishing trawler crowded with refugees, where a young woman's bond with a mother and her small son forces both women to a shattering decision. This is a Knopf book - anyone know who designed it?

Henry Sene Yee: Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test

Original concept on top, final approved design below. I'm so sad the original idea was rejected! Check out Henry's blog for more.

Barcodes vs. Humanoids

A Jihad for Love

This is the poster for the new documentary produced by Sandi DuBowski, who made Trembling Before G-d. This time, it's about gays in the Muslim world.

Film Comment Fridays

The other day, I was singing in the shower and thinking, whatever happened to Baz Luhrman? Great typography is what happened! And Nicole Kidman and Hugh "the hottie" Jackman in a pre-WWII epic coming out this November. Here's the HD trailer:
http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/hdtrailers.html

Three Hundred Thursdays

An uncanny coincidence. To be perfectly fair, I think the 300 poster was inspired by a cell in the 300 graphic novel. Still, when I ran across Rob Roy by chance, I nearly fell off my chair. In Imax.

gray318: Netherland

Haven't seen this in person yet, but I can't wait to get a closer look. Anyone know who designed it? Who did the illustration? Lovely.

Totally Tuesdays: Justice DVNO

From Justice comes this latest 80s-inspired typographic xxxtravaganza (click to play). Thanks for the tip, Evan. And check out the video for Dance elsewhere on this blog, or right here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3b1c408gOM

Enlightenment

A mystery set in modern Turkey, where an American woman looks for her friend in a place where no one is who they say they are. I love the way the type has been incorporated so perfectly into the image. The way the star and crescent are placed on the title mirrors the birds. And who'd have thought to put that light shadow behind the type - it's like, awesome!

Does anyone know who the designer is? The publisher is Overlook Press.

Jason J. Heuer: American Nerd

Like a good nerd, this cover is prim and proper and perfectly ordered. The way the story begins on the cover and gets cropped off on the bottom reminds me of a nerd going on and on about something no one else is listening to. All in all, charming.

From Scribners:
Most people know a nerd when they see one but can't define just what a nerd is. American Nerd: The Story of My People gives us the history of the concept of nerdiness and of the subcultures we consider nerdy. What makes Dr. Frankenstein the archetypal nerd? Where did the modern jock come from? When and how did being a self-described nerd become trendy? As the nerd emerged, vaguely formed, in the nineteenth century, and popped up again and again in college humor journals and sketch comedy, our culture obsessed over the designation...

Milan Bozic: Shroom

From Booklist:
"One evening in 1916, "upright American surgeon" Beaman Douglass and his wife ate some "innocuous wild mushrooms . . . fried in butter and served on toast." En route to an evening of bridge, both experienced "preternatural waves of giddiness." After dizziness, hilarity, depression, and difficulty breathing, Mrs. Douglass required treatment with "atropine, morphine, and an arsenal of emetics." "She played cards badly that night," her husband noted. Writing later for a mycological journal, he found "no merit" in the experience and hoped to "prevent others from making similar foolish mistakes." It never occurred to him that people might deliberately seek what he chanced upon. The bulk of Letcher's text concerns people doing just that. From psychoactive mushroom usage by the Aztecs and Siberian tribesmen on, Letcher lays out the history of the use and suppression of psychedelic mushrooms and how they "went from being an obscure poison to being . . . hawked on street corners" and cultivated in cellars. Pretty much essential for popular recreational-drug-use book collections."