Oscars

Very happy to see Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest win a couple of Oscars, especially for sound, which was used to devastating effect. Am reminded of Glazer’s Guinness advert Surfer – still absolutely slaps after 25 years – and its stunning use of silence. A24 have released a couple more thoroughly weird Neil Kellerhouse posters for the film and now I’m in the A24 store and somebody needs to take my credit card away from me at once … unless … should I get my kid a Midsommar t-shirt?

For more Glazer, I highly recommend tracking down his Directors Label DVD, featuring videos for Radiohead, Jamiroquai, Blur and Massive Attack. A bit of a sausagefest, but that whole series was an incredible snapshot of directors working in videos and advertising in the nineties.

A little disappointed the underrated Nimona lost out to The Boy and the Heron for Best Animated Feature Film, but it was to be expected. Interesting look at the design of the film here. Even more disappointing, the Academy continues to belittle animated films as content to keep the kids quiet; the Oscar coming across as little more than a pat on the head. Christopher Miller and Phil Lord wrote about this after the 2022 ceremony, and it still needs addressing.

Still, another exceedingly deserved Oscar for Billie Eilish is always good. Probably my favourite sleeve and photograph from last year.

TinyLetter RIP

"It was good to be reminded that there were things I would write even if nothing was necessarily going to happen with them … sort of the original spirit of the internet. What if we made no money? What if money wasn’t even something we were thinking about?” — The Verge’s excellent obituary of TinyLetter (former home of this very newsletter).

Goodtaste

Elizabeth Goodspeed on developing taste in the era of sharing, inspiration sites, and automation:

As templated tools, the proliferation of AI and the ubiquity of design tutorials make technical skills more accessible than ever, it’s simply not enough to be able to draw or design anymore. Now you need to have taste. Taste is what enables designers to navigate the vast sea of possibilities that technology and global connectivity afford, and to then select and combine these elements in ways that, ideally, result in interesting, unique work.

Sunshine

We rewatched Danny Boyle’s Sunshine the other day. Not sure it entirely works, but fascinating to watch a young Cillian Murphy play a physicist whose mission is to save mankind by setting off the exact chain-reaction Oppenheimer was trying to avoid. And calling a ship “Icarus 2” will never not be funny. Pleasing to discover Gia Milinovich’s official production blog is still online. Wish more films would be this generous with pre-release behind-the-secenes coverage.

Poster review

I finally whittled down my selection for the year’s best film posters for Creative Review. It involved a lot of shortlisting, mind-changing, agonising, caffeinating and dragging my wife into the room so I could ask her inane questions about the comparative qualities of Emmas Stone, but I got there eventually.

McQuades

A stroll through Nicole and Mike McQuade’s portfolio is always a joy. Their unused collages for the Criterion Collection’s 4K release of Citizen Kane is a particular favourite. (The final, more typographic design is also lovely btw.)

Boooks

It’s that time of year when “stop asking for books, you have too many books, look at all these piles of bloody books” echoes around our house. My excuse for all this tsundoku stacking: it’s professional research! After all, my job is just … book. Plus I have an untested but absolutely correct theory that books pay for themselves by acting as insulation and thus reducing your heating bill.

Anyway, just like everybody else in your inbox, I’m festively rolling out the affiliate links and sharing a few of my favourite reads/stacks from this year (plus a couple I don’t have my hands on yet but absolutely need to find space for … maybe I should ask Santa for bookshelves). Leave this email open near a loved one to make sure one/some/all find their way into your stocking.

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Marc Alcock

Marc Alcock is a British photographer based in San Francisco. I love this shot, discovered via one of my regular trawls through the visual wonderland that is Artsy, but his book California Topiary also looks great, capturing the curious flora-architecture of his adopted home.

The Creator

I urge you to see Gareth Edwards’ spectacular The Creator at once. Do not wait for it to stream; this absolutely deserves the biggest, loudest screen available (despite being shot on a relatively humble Sony FX3). Once you’ve seen it and your retinas have recovered, go treat yourself to Titan Books’ The Art of The Creator.

Nuts

Most intrigued by Richard Turley’s new magazine-lookbook-thing, Nuts. It’s a delightfully large chunk of black and white stuff, like an old-fashioned zine made on the fanciest photocopier imaginable. I feel compelled to cut it up and turn it into lots of something else. Available from magCulture.

Some books

Some bookish links:

  • I got my grubby mitts on Theo Inglis’ new book The Graphic Design Bible, and it looks like an essential addition to the studio reference library, sitting happily alongside his brilliant Mid-Century Modern Graphic Design.

  • Given that they publish the excellent The Age of Collage books, I was a little confused by the title of Gestalten’s Collage … which isn’t about collage. Still, it looks great – showcasing outstanding female-presenting photographers who have been shortlisted or nominated for the Prix Pictet, the leading global award in photography and sustainability. The cover, with a picture by Italian photographer Yvonne de Rosa, is particularly striking.

  • “Janet Halverson’s jacket is not violent. And it’s not exactly ugly. It’s just … pathetic. And weak. And awful – and I can’t look away. I also can’t bring myself to spend time with it. I find it so upsetting. It is … amazing.” – another cracking post from The Book Cover Review, Michael Russem on the weirdly brilliant 1968 cover for Jeffrey Frank’s The Creep.

  • Dropping to my knees and doing my best Charlton Heston at the sight of Jamie Keenan’s cover for Greg Jackson’s The Dimensions of a Cave. Now there’s a cover meeting I wish I was around for.

Micaela Alcaino on Ai

Micaela Alcaino looks at AI's influence on cover design, the future of book publishing and how to utilise these new tools in a healthy way. I’m totally against using this technology as a replacement for genuine human creativity, but there are certainly aspects of it that can be useful – for example, the whole “let’s expand the Mona Lisa’s background!” thing is, on its own, crass and absurd, but I’ve found gentle deployment of that type of effect is an absolute godsend for getting into the bleed without losing the edges of the art.

Dominic Turner

Although it pains me that my budget doesn’t allow me to buy up their entire stock, following Photobook Junkies on Threads is currently my favourite way to discover new/old photographers. For example, yesterday they mentioned Dominic Turner’s new collection False Friends and goodness me it looks beautiful. Scrolling through a selection of the images on Turner’s site, the closest comparison I can make is that episode of Twin Peaks season three; eery images seemingly floating to the surface of some oily darkness.

Songs of Silence

I refuse to believe that next month’s Songs of Silence is Vince Clarke’s debut solo album. That can’t be right, can it? For the album, Clarke set himself two rules: first, that the sounds he generated for the album would come solely from Eurorack, and second, that each track would be based around one note, maintaining a single key throughout. Lead single The Lamentations of Jeremiah, sounds like Arvo Pärt meets Trent Reznor, which is quite something. The album artwork and video by Turkish photographer Ebro Yildiz are suitably stark. Also worth a look: interviewing Clarke for The Quietus.