Archive for the ‘Guest-Blogging’ Category

picturenarrative / some rights reserved, used with permission

When I visited the This is Now Flickr group for the first time, I expected to find more pictures like this, very Henri Cartier-Bresson. I do love all the creative photography you can find there, but, sometimes, to capture the essence of now, you don’t need the most fancy equipment or photo manipulation software.

Sometimes, the smaller your camera, the better, so you may be able to hide it while you tiptoe towards your subject, hoping that they won’t notice you. This is how the French photographer, one of the founders of the the world-famous Magnum Photos agency, composed his jaw-dropping portfolio.

His pictures look like drawings; an astonishing combination of geometric shapes and human detail created in one click. I remember when I first saw Behind the Gare St. Lazare projected on a big screen during a photography lesson, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Almost 15 years have passed and I still get goose bumps when I look at it!

“To take a photograph means to recognize – simultaneously and within a fraction of a second – both the fact itself and the rigorous organisation of visually perceived forms that give it meaning. It is putting one’s head, one’s eye, and one’s heart on the same axis.”

Henri Cartier-Bresson (22.08.1908 – 03.08.2004)

You can find Ana on Twitter and on Flickr.

tagged black & white henri cartier-bresson Photography street photography

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This is Now in Fashion. For this Spring-Summer collection, the Dutch designers Viktor & Rolf performed a video with an unique model in the show: Sharlom Harlow, instead or making the classic show with an audience. The entire world could watch the video at the same time. In the designs, new materials, new volumes, geometric shapes and a big work: some of the dress took four weeks to be finished due to the craftwork with Swarovsky crystals.

Have a look at the photos from the show: here.

To see more Fashion, visit the blog http://www.mepasoeldiacomprando.blogspot.com/, written by Chloe

tagged Add new tag fashion this is now Viktor & Rolf

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all rights reserved (c) javiermaseda

This is now, the future of design, the designers of the future, have a place to expand their ideas, their innovative aproach to reality, their vision for a new world, a place called “European Design Labs” by IED Madrid. It’s a Master Degree in Product Design, Fashion Concept and Visual Communication, where designers from all over the world meet together to visit Europe’s most important fairs to know whats happening today in the design industry. It’s a cross-over approach, experimentation, innovation, creativity and project. This is Now in the design world.

tagged creativity design European Design Labs innovation this is now

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all rights reserved (c) ngr07

It’s full spring outside and the sun is shining (at least for the moment). Every year I get this obsession with sunglasses, this spring is no exception. So when I was browsing through the pictures in the This is Now Flickr group and found this one it was a given to choose it for my moment of ‘now’.

I love the sunglass fashion that we have at the moment: it’s all retro, it’s all cool. The best part is that it’s not only retro glasses from one era, it’s from a range of eras. You have the 70’s hippie era represented by the wicked heart or flower shaped glasses. You have the colourful 80’s represented by the huge oversized glasses with plastic frames in all colours of the rainbow and two stripes running along the top of the frame. Or the ones in the picture, with no lenses but plastic stripes instead, looking a bit like blinds. You have the 50’s (and 80’s) represented by the cult Wayfarers that every one from Marilyn Monroe to Tom Cruise have worn at some point.

This mix is perfect for us too young to have worn the shades the first time around to be able to catch up on all styles at once. It’s also great for all of you wanting to re-use your old favourites. You just have to love it!

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all rights reserved (c) ngr07

Det är fullfjädrad vår ute och solen skiner (i alla fall för tillfället). Varje vår blir jag besatt av solglasögon, denna vår inget undantag, så när jag tittade igenom bilderna i This is now Flickr-gruppen så var det givet att välja just den här bilden för mitt “moment of now”.

Jag älskar det solglasögon-mode som är just nu: det är retro, det är snyggt. Det bästa av allt är att det inte bara är retroglasögon från en tidsperiod utan från flertalet. Vi har 70-talets hippie-era representerat genom de hjärt- och blommformade solglasögonen. Vi har det färgglada 80-talet representerat genom stora oversize solglasögon med plastbågar i alla regnbågens färger och två ränder som löper längst den övre delen av bågen. Eller dom som är på bilden, med plastränder istället för glas och som ser ut lite som persienner. Vi har 50-talet (och 80-talet) representerat genom dom klassiska Wayfarers som alla från Marilyn Monroe till Tom Cruise har burit.

Den här mixen är perfekt för alla oss som är för unga för att ha haft möjlighet att bära dessa första gången dom var populära. Nu kan vi komma i kapp med alla modeller på en gång. Det är också perfekt för alla er som vill återanvända era gamla favoriter. Det går inte att göra annat än älska detta!

tagged sunglasses this is now Wayfarers

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Making a movie with guys dressed up as rabbits, boeings crashing on a house, spatio-temporal travels and becoming instantantly cult, this is the tour de force accomplished by Richard Kelly in 2001 with Donnie Darko.

With Southland Tales, he persists in the apocalyptic fantasy genre and imagines a hallucinatory piece that will keep you on the edge of your seat if mixture of genres doesn’t bother you.

Ranging from fantasy to polar and musical, Kelly is a cracked director who masters perfectly his subject by bringing us into a not-so-unlikely world as it looks pretty much like America nowadays.

Overprotected America fed by Big Brother, new energies that screw up climate, dazed cops, ecoterrorists, mind-wrenching drugs, pornstars in tv shows, manipulative elites … Just open your newspaper and you will see that nothing is more ‘now’ that the world depicted in “Southland Tales.”

The end of the world is approaching and Kelly draws the beginnings of the disintegration of this frightened and corrupt Western world with impressive cinematography.

One might think that he draws inspiration from Lynch’s work as they both use the same obscure coded language sometimes, but while Lynch films low-keys and convey to the spectators a feeling of disturbing blackness, Kelly films in scope with a warm Californian light and offers a joyful apocalypse of a staggering beauty.

Of course you won’t get this movie at all like everyone else, but never mind, “Southland Tales” is basically the world we’re living in and it doesn’t make sense anymore, we’re observing and waiting for the end of the world as spectators.

Richard Kelly said it himself : “This is the way the world ends.” Perhaps a bit of a Cassandra’s prediction but it’s more present than ever.

Alan Smithee
http://score-blog.blogspot.com

Faire un film avec des mecs déguisés en lapins, des Boeing qui se crashent sur ta baraque, des voyages spatio- temporels et devenir instantanément culte, c’est le tour de force réalisé par Richard Kelly en 2001 avec Donnie Darko.

Avec Southland Tales, il récidive dans la fresque apocalyptique et nous livre une œuvre hallucinatoire qui vous collera au fauteuil si vous n’êtes pas hermétiques au mélange des genres.

Du fantastique au polar en passant par la comédie musicale, Kelly est un réalisateur superbement foutraque qui maîtrise pourtant son sujet de bout en bout en vous emmenant dans un univers pas si improbable puisque totalement en adéquation avec l’Amérique d’aujourd’hui.

Amérique ultra sécuritaire perfusée au Big Brother, énergies nouvelles qui foutent en l’air le climat, flics à la masse, terroristes alter mondialistes, drogues surpuissantes, pornstars à la une des shows tv, élites manipulatrices… ouvrez vos journaux et vous verrez que rien n’est plus « now » que le monde dépeint dans « Southland Tales ».

La fin du monde est proche, Kelly dépeint les prémices de la déliquescence de ce monde occidental vérolé, apeuré et corrompu avec une cinématographie bluffante.

On pourrait parfois penser que le petit gars lorgne sur l’œuvre de Lynch, leur langage codé et parfois incompréhensible pourrait se comparer mais là où Lynch filme des clairs obscurs et balance aux spectateurs une noirceur dérangeante, Kelly filme en scope avec une chaleureuse lumière californienne et offre un apocalypse joyeux, mystique certes, mais d’une beauté confondante.

C’est sûr vous ne pigerez rien comme tout le monde, mais peu importe, « Southland Tales » au fond c’est le monde d’aujourd’hui et avouez qu’on ne pige rien non plus à ce qui se passe sur notre planète, on regarde et on attend la fin du monde en spectateurs.

Richard Kelly le dit, « This is the way the world ends », prédictions de Cassandre peut-être mais plus actuel on ne fait pas.

Alan Smithee
http://score-blog.blogspot.com

tagged apocalypse Film southland tales

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The evolution of special effects in the cinema has undergone a major revolution over the past years. As a result, many different types of projects leverage the use of modern technologies in order to “deceive” us visually and make us believe that this is the reality while it is unreal elements. These are the genres of film more given to fiction which should be more appreciated for these changes.

My name is Felipe Rivero de Aguilar González and over the last 6 years I’ve been managing Uruloki:: Blog, a blog devoted to Spanish cinema of horror, science fiction, fantasy and comics. All these genres I speak devotedly have revolutionized the modern cinema, taking genres that were not appealing for the public at first sight to levels never imagined before. The “now” of science fiction, fantasy, horror and movies based on comics and graphic novels has a turning point from which nothing had been done before such heights.

This year, we will celebrate the tenth anniversary of the premiere of one of the most regarded sci-fi movies. This film, which I consider an evolution of this cinema genre, reached a milestone by making use of old techniques of oriental films, but giving them a twist as never seen before. I’m talking about Matrix by Wachowski Brothers, the film that led us into the next century and that “now” is seen as a touchstone in the spectacular evolution of the cinema genre worldwide. It has been so cutting edge in its aspects that it still remains on top in terms of design and twists. The fantasy is also not left behind. ‘Now’ in this genre is also represented by the boldness of Peter Jackson to film one of the novel which had the biggest impact on readers’ mind for over half a century. The Lord of the Rings by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien is a bedside book and almost a part of our lives. Hugely studied, read by millions of readers in hundreds of languages, his movie surprised by the greatness that digital technology could achieve for the creation of imaginary worlds of fantasy.

It is at this moment that we need the real “now” of modern cinema. It’s 2009 and as from now we have been marked by the growing use of modern technology and the ongoing evolution in three dimensions. Avatar, the new epic vision of the ever-surprising and innovative James Cameron will be released this year. A secret project which however is known for its reached hyperrealism which won’t differentiate the real actors of those who are not. The use of 179 cameras that simultaneously record the factions and movements of the actors will be almost a decisive step and may prior to the actual creation of virtual characters of almost human characteristics. It is too soon to talk about this film, but it will lead to creative richness, epic adventure and, again as in Matrix and Lord of the Rings, vanguardism. ‘Now’ this is time for change, for marking a new turning point in what is known as FX cinema. However, it is viewed more and more as an innovative & necessary element for the evolution of cinema.

Uruloki
http://www.uruloki.org/felipeblog/

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La evolución del efectismo en el cine ha sufrido una gran revolución a lo largo de los últimos años. Si bien son muchos los proyectos de géneros diversos que aprovechan el uso de modernas tecnologías para “engañarnos” visualmente y hacernos creer que esto que vemos es la realidad, cuando se trata en verdad de elementos inexistentes, son los estilos de cine más dados a la ficción los que se deberían llevar el gran reconocimiento por estos cambios.

Me llamo Felipe Rivero de Aguilar González y desde hace más de 6 años mantengo Uruloki::Blog, un blog español dedicado al cine de terror, ciencia ficción, fantasía y cómics. Todos estos géneros de los que hablo con devoción han revolucionado el cine moderno llevando estilos otrora no tan apetecibles para el público en general a niveles nunca antes imaginados. El “ahora” de la ciencia ficción, la fantasía, el horror y el cine basado en obras gráficas y cómics tiene un punto de inflexión a partir del cual nada de lo antes realizado había alcanzado semejantes cotas.

En este año se celebran por ejemplo el décimo aniversario del estreno de una de las películas más a tener en cuenta dentro del amplio espectro que es la ciencia ficción. Este film, que considero una evolución de este tipo de cine, marcó un hito haciendo uso de viejas técnicas de películas orientales pero dándoles un giro como nunca antes se había visto. Hablo de Matrix de los Hermanos Wachowski, la película que nos llevó al nuevo siglo y que “ahora” se ve como piedra de toque en la espectacular evolución del cine de género mundial. Ha sido tan vanguardista en estos aspectos que aun hoy sigue estando en lo más alto en cuanto a concepción y sorpresa. La fantasía tampoco se le queda atrás. El “ahora” en este género viene representado por la osadía de Peter Jackson a la hora de llevar al cine una de las obras literarias con más repercusión en las conciencias de lectores durante más de medio siglo. El Señor de los Anillos de John Ronald Reuel Tolkien es un libro cabecera y casi parte de nuestras vidas. Infinitamente estudiado, leído por millones de lectores en cientos de lenguas, su salto al cine sorprendió por la grandeza que las técnicas digitales pueden llegar a lograr para la creación de mundos de fantasía imaginarios.

Y es en este momento en el que es necesario del verdadero “ahora” del cine moderno. Este 2009, y de aquí en adelante, vendrá marcado por el pujante uso de modernas y en continua evolución tecnologías en tres dimensiones. Este año se estrenará Avatar, la nueva epopeya visual del siempre sorprendente e innovador James Cameron. Un proyecto secreto del que sin embargo se sabe que el hiperrealismo alcanzado hace indiferenciable a los actores reales de los que no los son. El uso de 179 cámaras que simultáneamente graban las facciones y movimientos de los actores que luego serán criaturas implican un paso casi definitivo y puede que previo a la verdadera creación de personajes virtuales de características casi humanas. Pronto es para hablar de este film, pero ya se manejan términos como riqueza creativa, aventura épica y, nuevamente como en Matrix y El Señor de los Anillos, vanguardismo. “Ahora” es el momento del cambio, de marcar un nuevo punto de inflexión en lo que se conoce vulgarmente como cine de efectos especiales y que, sin embargo, se concibe más y más como un elemento innovador y necesario para la evolución del cine.

Uruloki
http://www.uruloki.org/felipeblog/

tagged Film science fiction

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tagged estatal rock spain this is now

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For me ‘This is now’ is that unexpected song playing in the background while you are doing other things, or while you’re stuck in a jam and for a few minutes everything stops and the music takes you to a world where only the music and you are.

That moment, unknown to someone else, occured with ‘Hoppipolla‘. The title comes from an Icelandic word invented by the band which means “jumping into puddles » in the way a toddler would pronounce ‘Hoppa í polla’. They also wanted to convey the optimistic spirit of the song in the official video and in the fragment of the documentary Heima that you can see below.

To watch the video please visit the YouTube page

‘This is now Hoppipolla’ means breaking the rules imposed by routine, enjoying again those little details hidden in the city, having fun as a child splashing in puddles or going for a walk on the beach even if it rains, only because I feel like it.
You know, the next time you see an adult getting lost because he jumped upon a pond, be aware that he’s not crazy, he’s just enjoying his ‘now’ moment. so instead of looking, join !

All this is what I try to convey every time someone talk about a song or an interesting band. If something similar happened to any of you thanks to a recommendation that we made, our work would be worthwhile. What else can I say: ‘This is Mundo Música Now’.

David
http://www.mundomusica.es/

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Para mí ‘This is now’ es esa canción inesperada que suena de fondo mientras estás liado haciendo otras cosas, o que escuchas en el coche metido en un atasco y que, por unos minutos, hace que todo se detenga y te transporta a un mundo donde sólo estáis la música y tú.

Ese momento, inexplicable para otra persona, me sucedió con ‘Hoppípolla‘. El título procede de una palabra islandesa inventada por el grupo y significa ’saltando en los charcos’, que es cómo pronunciaría un niño pequeño ‘hoppa í polla’. El espíritu optimista de la canción lo quisieron transmitir también al videoclip oficial y, de forma diferente, a un fragmento del documental Heima, que podéis ver a continuación.

Hoppipolla

‘This is Hoppipolla now’ significa romper con las reglas grises que impone el día a día, volver a apreciar esos pequeños detalles que esconde la ciudad, divertirme como un niño chapoteando en los charcos o ir a dar un paseo por la playa aunque llueva a mares, sólo porque me apetece.

Ya sabes, la próxima vez que veas a un adulto poniéndose perdido porque está dando brincos sobre una charca, no está loco, es que está disfrutando de su momento “ahora”, así que en lugar de mirar, únete.
Todo esto es lo que intento transmitir cada vez que os hablo de una canción o un grupo interesante. Si a alguno de vosotros le sucedió algo parecido gracias a una recomendación que pusimos, nuestro trabajo habrá valido la pena. Qué más puedo decir: This is Mundo Música now.

David
http://www.mundomusica.es/

tagged Music sigur ros this is now

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