Share That Beat

The best track.

Francis Bacon, Real Friend

There is a knockout exhibition of Francis Bacon at The Met that must be seen if you are in NYC this summer. The paintings he did of George Dyer (above) are so emotionally satisfying you'll find yourself lingering longer then you ever have in a museum. Even his self portraits (below) are mesmerizing.
Also worth checking out is the movie Love is the Devil with Daniel Craig as George Dyer. Derek Jacobi is uncanny (and campy) as Bacon. It may have been a TV movie made for the BBC (and only available in 4x3 on DVD right now) but it plays like the real deal.

Polly Jean Harvey, Light of the World

PJ Harvey's strong new track, "Black Hearted Love", with John Parish on some serious guitar, is out now. The unreliable Chapman Brothers, who occassionally do good work, directed the official video but, sadly, it doesn't do the song justice. So instead check out when Parish and a barefoot Polly did Leno.

"I want to take you, I want to take you to a place I know . . ."

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.