punkysdilemma-blog

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Studio Ongarato / Western Australian Museum / Signage & Wayfinding / 2020

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THINGS SAVED FROM ELSEWHERE MAY 2025

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Russian emigré architect Serge Chermayeff and his family in Cape Cod circa 1940s. I had never heard of him until recently when I saw some chairs he designed while living in England for Birminghams PEL (Practical Equipment Ltd.) beautiful Cantilever armchairs in the vein of Marcel Breuer or Mart Stam from the 1930s, turns out he had a life very much like that of the fictional protagonist in the Brutalist, in fact like so many post-war emigré's carving a new role in the U.S.A after prominent positions in Europe became untenable. fascinating.

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I love that as time goes on Lady White Co. has transformed from a cool but slightly generic heritage jersey brand to a level of sophistication that feels like The Row or LEMAIRE doing a skateboard brand. Some of these pieces like the belted heavyweight jersey trousers or the cropped hoody are incredible, even things like the panelled long sleeve tee are just so on point. As a guy in his late 30s who is increasingly drawn back to what he wore when he was 15 this is exactly what I want from clothes right now.

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Albrecht Dürer's proposed memorial to the 1525 peasants revolt, imagining a plinth made up of farmyard animals, piled with butter cheese and hay and topped with a peasant with a sword in his back. An almost certainly satirical twist on the idea of war memorials, how do you celebrate slaughtering a underclass defending its rights?

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Rei Kawakubo & Otomo Katsuhiro / Comme des Garçons / 2 / Printed Matter / 2013

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Tesh for Helmut Lang Jeans (1998)

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Once again reminded how locked in late 90s Helmut Lang was and how how influential he continues to be by the is 1998 Smart magazine editorial on Helmut Lang Denim. No one is doing it like him (although I'm excited to see what Patrik Ervell comes up with at Proenza Schouler menswear)

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FUGAZI - MERCHANDISE

"YOU ARE NOT WHAT YOU OWN"

1990

When we have nothing left to give There will be no reason for us to live But when we have nothing left to lose You will have nothing left to use We owe you nothing you have no control Merchandise keeps us in line Common sense says it's by design What could a businessman ever want more than to have us sucking in his store We owe you nothing You have no control You are not what you own

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King Lear performed in the fire-damaged ruins of Teatro Municipal de Lima (c. 1999), conceived by architect Luis de Longhi

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Opening and closing shot of The Searchers (1956) , just about the only likeable thing about the film but beautifully shot.

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Anton Corbijn is maybe the greatest portrait photographer of the back end of the 20th century, but deeply slept on as a film director.

He's spoken in documentaries and interviews about how his childhood in a very religious Calvinist household affected both his approach to aesthetics which are raw, simple, honest and his worldview which is observant, quiet and reflective which means you rarely get a satisfying resolution to his films, what you get instead is an original and idiosyncratic take on film convention.

These films aren't warm or neatly resolved but they have a stark beauty that carries over from his photography, and there is love in the space he gives his characters, wether they are real life friends (Ian Curtis of Joy Division who Corbijn knew well) or fictionalised spies (Philip Seymour Hoffman's great final turn as a German intelligence officer in A Most Wanted Man) they feel like they are live breathing presences and while that makes these films sound like art-house fare, it's worth saying that these are essentially genre films (two biopics, two spy thrillers) they have a satisfying pace to them that makes them work as better than average popcorn films.

Do yourself a favour and get caught up on one of our great living European directors before his return this year with Switzerland.

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SCARS - all about you (1981): I always loved that Scottish post-punk had this yearning romantic edge, it was never quite as jagged and doomy as you got from the English variety, bands like Orange Juice, Josef K and Skids had this yearning quality that I love and this track has it too, shame it doesn't seem to be available to stream.

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