mondojohnson

Nirvana Baby, Spencer Elden from Barry O Donnell on Vimeo.

Odd that this little revelation came about just now…. A couple days ago I was tasked with visually representing certain years in recent history for a professor’s presentation. Most of the dates were easy: 1948: “Dewey Defeats Truman”. 1959: An Edsel. 1974: Leisure suited, feminized man.

But I got stuck on 1991: Gulf War? Paul Tsongas? Bill Clinton?

Eventually, the cover of Nirvana’s “Nevermind” came to mind, and if worked perfectly, of course. Fascinating to see that iconic little baby all grown up.

From the “better-late-than-never” files:

Roy Edward Disney, nephew of Walt, died December 16, 2009 at the age of 79. He is rightly credited with bringing back the hand-crafted artistic legacy of Disney, and also with bucking the greedy grotesqueries of the Michael Eisner years. It was his vision that brought us the beautiful, classically-animated Princess and the Frog (for instance).

But I think Roy Disney’s greatest gift was resurrection of the 1945 collaboration between Disney artist John Hench and Salvador Dali, Destino. Dali and Hench got eight months into the project before the financial strains of World War II put an end to the ambitious venture. In 1999, Roy Disney decided to have Destino finished, handing the priceless storyboards over to French animator Dominique Monfrey, who along with an army of animators completed the short. It is mostly hand-drawn, with a bit of computer animation. There are eighteen seconds of the original — the bit with the two tortoises.

Here it is, enjoy:

[Source: Wikipedia]

Painter and ukulele artisan Amy Crehore has prepared this entrancing (and beautifully framed) work for the upcoming Dark Pop 2.0 show at NYC’s Last Rites gallery.

“We all had to do a piece of ‘dark art’ for the show and this is mine,” says Crehore on her blog. It’s called A Curious Shelter, and features a smiling, Krampus-like monster with inscrutable motives toward the naked girl he’s sheltering. Is he sinister or sweet? Or both — dark art as dark chocolate?

I love it.

Here is the show info for my pals in NYC:

Dark Pop 2.0
Opening Reception: Saturday, January 9th from 7-11pm
Last Rites Gallery
511 W. 33rd St. – 3rd Fl.
New York, NY 10001
212.529.0666
lastritesgallery.com

I entered Gizmodo’s “update classic tv shows for the 21st century” competition with this Dollhouse/Full House hybrid. I wonder how I’ll do?

Remind me to tell you sometime about the time I was nearly stampeded by the entire cast of “Full House” as I innocently crested a hill in a San Francisco park. A true story; one that gives me shivers to this day, almost 20 years later.

UPDATE: I’m pleased to announce I made the “Gallery of Champions”, which carries no award except the honor.

Tremendous sci-fi pulp artwork, thanks to Micky the Pixel and his awesome collection of mag covers. This one looks to me like a gay alien cyclops sprucing up in the mirror before cruising the saunas. Can’t read the writing, anyone want to translate?

5/30/2009: UPDATE! My friend Julia Leyda has translated: “Roto, Rescuer of the Earth!” I always knew the alien gay cyclops were in our corner.