I have only been to Calgary once - a long time ago. From what I remember, the view is picturesque, albeit somewhat cowboy-ish. Afterall, Calgary is most well-known for the annual Calgary Stampede and for being the location of choice for filming Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain. But there is another side to this up-and-coming city outside of the old west stereotype that most of the rest of Canada pins Alberta to: a design scene. I have seen many wonderful designers emerge from Calgary, so it is not surprising that design magazines are beginning to pop up from Calgary. Here is one that I am definitely subscribing to:

Uppercase Magazine is a magazine for “making, curating and publishing visual culture”. I have not seen it in person yet, but these pages look mighty enticing. The logo itself is very clever too, I must say!

Craig Damrauer = (why didn’t I think of that + totally true) x AWESOMENESS ^2:

“Every two years, the owners of the world’s most elaborate facial hair come together for the World Beard and Moustache Championships. On May 23, 2009, the championships will return to the United States for the second time in their history, as the City of Anchorage, Alaska plays host to the world’s bearded and moustached elite. The championships feature competition in a variety of categories that include everything from the delicate Dali moustache to the outrageous full beard freestyle. The competitors appear before a panel of distinguished judges charged with the responsibility of awarding the coveted world titles to the best of the best.” (World beard & Moustache Championships)

This year Canada even has its own team! Look for the mighty beards and moustaches representing Canada by going to Beard Team Canada. I wish I could participate! Maybe a little Rogaine will do the trick?

In honour of the all the men who have food stuck to their chin warmers, below is a poster breaking down beard types by Wondermark.

The poster is available for purchase at Topatoco.

I will be the first to admit that I know very little about Prince George. Nested way up North in British Columbia, Prince George is a “bustling city of over 77,000 situated at the crossroads of Highway 97 (north-south) and Highway 16 (east-west), and at the confluence of the Fraser and Nechako Rivers”. 778 kilometres from Vancouver, it takes a little over an hour by air to get there. I certainly would not mind making a trip up there, if only to see its beautifully renovated airport by McFarlane Green Architecture in North Vancouver:

Pictures sourced from Vitra.

Many times, after watching a movie, I’d wonder about the long process of creating the final product. A film project inevitably involves a multitude of talents, each contributing to the look and feel, narrative process, emotional content, amongst other facets. With so many people and so complex a workflow, it is unsurprising that I find behind-the-scenes footage and other supplementary material to be just as interesting as the movie itself. Behind the gloss and polish of the movies hide all the nitty-gritty details that often reveal a different perspective to the finished product. It is a way to get into the thought process of each party involved in the production - and it’s endlessly fascinating.

Here are some photographs of Daniel Craig filming Casino Royale, taken by Greg Williams:

More at Iconology.

I never really thought of a country as a brand, but it really is - I associate ideas and feelings with every country that I know of, culture-wise, lifestyle-wise and so on. Every country brings a certain personality trait, a certain hope and promise for a visitor or a potential resident. But what happens to the brand image of a country when calamity descends and changes public perception? Take, for instance, America. The country once prospered with limitless wealth and abundance in opportunities, but its economy is now in shambles. Did this great downturn bludgeon that robust, rosy perception? I do not have the answer for that, but it certainly warrants a closer inspection no? Paper Magazine pondered this question and decided to solicit leading designers to rebrand America. Here is an excerpt of the brief:

“As the times we are living in are so radical, I think radical ideas are needed to help save our proverbial asses and to create a new path forward into what I like to call the “new normal”. The best part of being in deep shit is that with it comes a unique opportunity for progressive thinking because the status quo is desperate. I thought it appropriate to dedicate the issue to home, and so the subject of one piece I am producing is about our homeland: The U.S. of A. I… invite you all to create a visual page - as if it was an ad - for America. How would you rebrand America? How would you make people love us again? How would you change our brand image? Our perception abroad? How could you project our future to our citizens? If America had a new ad campaign, what would it look like?”

Here is my favourite response, created by Dan Wieden of Wieden + Kennedy 12.:

There are lots of other compelling responses over at Paper Magazine.

Reif Larsen’s story is somewhat of a fairytale in the book publishing world. He wrote a whimsical novel of a 12-year-old boy - T.S. Spivet - from Montana who has been commissioned by the Smithsonian museum for years, thinking that he is a highly accomplished cartographer. The book begins with him travelling on a freight train after the Smithsonian offered him a fellowship. The premise of this book had publishers all across North America clamouring for the manuscript. After Larsen’s agent smartly refused impressive offers from W. W. Norton and Random House, the rights to the book was auctioned off, achieving almost $1 million. Penguin Group got the deal and the book was released last week - titled The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet.

Marrying a good plot with cartography and images illustrated by Larsen himself, the highly-anticipated cross-country odyssey seems to not disappoint. I have not gotten my copy yet, but I am definitely eager to get my hands all over those fascinating diagrams, as shown here.

“We had an atlas, an old National Geographic atlas from the ’60s, and I would just pore over that. I’d make up stories about these crazy places. I think, like a good story, they give you enough to sink your teeth into. A map has place names, it has a scale, they’re just so delicious to me. Like this map.” (Larsen points at a map of Penrhyn Island in the South Pacific.) “It’s so amazing. I feel one could write a million stories from this map. The Takuua Passage: What goes on there? Why does it have two names? That kind of thing. There’s a real built-in narrative.” (National Post)

“I think it’s a cool area for more exploration: how graphics and images do narrative work and talk to text.”

For more information on the book, visit Cooke Agency. Pictures sourced from Boston.

James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) is one of the most important American Artist from the 19th century. He had a profound impact on the course of European and modern art. The above is a portrait of his mother, created because his model did not show up for a sitting.

“The austere portrait in his normally constrained palette is another Whistler exercise in tonal harmony and composition. The deceptively simple design is in fact a balancing act of differing shapes, particularly rectangles of the curtain, picture on the wall, wall and floor which stabilize the curve of her face, dress, and chair. Again, though his mother is the subject, Whistler commented that the narrative was of little importance. In reality, however, it was a homage to his pious mother. After the initial shock of her moving in with her son, she aided him considerably by stabilizing his behavior somewhat, tending to his domestic needs, and providing an aura of conservative respectability that helped win over patrons.” (Whistler’s Mother)

My parents are advancing in age. Just a few years ago, they looked to be in their 50’s, but it is amazing what tiny lines can do collectively to age a person, with the aid of gravity - they look their age now. And in a few years’ time, they will have entered their 70’s. I do not know how much time I have left with them; I try not to think about it. But the thought haunts me. I rue the day when I am genuinely left to fend for my own good - without that glimmer of hope of running back to the warm embrace of my parents. I do not know if I can ever come to terms with the inevitability of their death, but I suppose that is a reality that I - nay everyone - will be violently coerced to contend with.

It is precisely this reason that led me to admire the courage Phil Toledano showed in putting together a tributary series of his father, titled “Days with My Father”:

“My mother died suddenly on September 4th, 2006… I took him to my mother’s funeral, and to the burial, but when we got home, he’d ask me every 15 minutes where my mother was. I’d explain carefully that she had died, and we’d been to her funeral. This was shocking new to him. Why had no one told him? Why hadn’t I taken him to the funeral? I realised I couldn’t keep telling him that his wife had died. He didn’t remember, and it was killing both of us, to relive her death constantly. I decided to tell him she’d gone to Paris, to take care of her sick brother.”

“I find these scraps of writing all over the house… they are a glimpse into his mind, the disquiet he tries to hide from me. ‘Where is everyone? What’s going on?’ How lost he feels.”

“I love moment like these. For just a few minutes, everything almost feels normal again. My mum isn’t dead, and we’re not pretending she’s gone to Paris. She’s popped out to the store, and she’ll be back shortly. How sweet that would be.”

“My dad died yesterday. I spent the whole night with him, holding his hand, and he died in his bed, at home. For the last three years, I’ve been waiting. Terrified that he would die when I was away. I didn’t want him to go on his own, surrounded by strangers, or plugged into machines. I’m so very grateful for the way it happened.”

“I feel lucky to have had these last three years. To have left nothing unsaid. To know that we loved each other nakedly, without embarrassment… Now he’s gone to Paris, to meet my mother. I miss him so much.”

Frank Genry is an architect with a distinct, inimitable style. His buildings are frequently bombastic and spectacular. His stunning facades come, unfortunately, at the expense of a functional interior. Case in point: Experience Music Project. The exterior is undeniably provocative, with sensual curves and scintillating skin, but the interior is awkwardly shaped and haphazardly laid out. Space should, in my opinion, always be functional, intended for use. Gehry’s work proves that he does not always follow the mantra ‘form follows function’. This is why I was disappointed when Gehry was announced as the architect for the Transformation AGO. However, after seeing pictures of completed Art Gallery of Ontario, I had to reconsider my summation of Gehry’s work:

“Working from the ‘inside out’, Gehry begins the design process with the building program, which is a list of the functional requirements of a building. He and his team use block models to form massing models, multiple configurations that establish relationships between a building’s functions – such as gallery, lobby, hosting and conservation areas. Detailed context models are also completed at this stage to ensure that the building massing is respectful to the neighbourhood it inhabits. Once program needs are met from a massing perspective, the architectural and sculptural phase begins.” (AGO)

I think Gehry’s additions to AGO works particularly well because he integrated the unique sculptural qualities of his work into the functional needs of a gallery instead of overwhelming it. The result is a building that certainly attracts attention but does not detract from the art within the gallery. Bravo!

All pictures sourced from Daily Dose of Imagery.