Close Encounters

Werner Herzog is on a roll, not counting the Rescue Dawn disaster. Encounters at the End of the World is a must-see movie he made about Antarctica. It's beautiful and extraordinary (not to mention funny) and it will change your life a little.

I Can Feel It

The Breeders' Mountain Battles is my favorite album released in 2008. Kim Deal is forever.

And here's the band shopping for inspiration in Dayton, Ohio back in December 2007.

Risky Business is A Great Movie

An unbeatable combination of Prince's "D.M.S.R." and Rebecca De Mornay.

Photographer of the Year

As a gift to someone last year I gave a calendar featuring images shot by Julius Shulman and I've been confronted with those images (posted to the side of a refrigerator) on a daily basis throughout 2008. The angles and clear lines he gets in almost every shot are ideals to strive for, not only in the photography of architecture. 

Prior to the publication of his enormous book by Taschen in 2007,  there was a summary article about him in Metropolis that sums things up nicely.

Buddy Art

Gilbert and George have been partners since 1967, residing in the same house in London's East End and creating some of the most brilliant art I've ever seen. A great exhibition of their work is on view now thru January 11, 2009, at the Brooklyn Museum. A must!

MBV vs. EARS

Photo by Kurt W. Sawilla

My Bloody Valentine @ Roseland was worth any damage my body may have sustained. Even with ear plugs begrudgingly placed in my ears, Kevin Shields' beautifully frayed music connected me to here knows when and I don't think I'll ever forget it.

Paris

"Good Americans, when they die, they go to Paris." 

  - Thomas Gold Appleton

Incredibly, I had been to Weehawken hundreds of times but never to Paris until last month and I'm still trying to process how beautiful it is.  The hotel I stayed at, Hotel du Petit Moulin, was made over from an old boulangerie (bakery) with charm to spare.  I'll be back.  Check out Edmund White's take on things.