Paris is Burning – Janus Films are rereleasing Jennie Livingston’s documentary on the 80s drag ball scene, and have released this simple yet spectacular new poster. Sometimes all you need is a damn good still and some tidy type.
David Carson – Remember when it was illegal to be a designer unless you owned a well-thumbed copy of The End of Print? A couple of decades and several migraines later, Carson has another book out, this time a collection of recent collage work. Interesting to see a more physical version of his inimitable Quark-chaos aesthetic.
The Design Of Childhood – Right now I’m nose-deep in Alexandra Lange’s excellent book, a fascinating look at how changing attitudes to learning and play have shaped our homes, schools and cities. Essential reading for all parents. And designers.
Are the hyper-specialist shops of Berlin the future of retail? – Sticky tape! Ants! Textile … meat … ! I love the idea of going on an obscure shop-crawl of Berlin. More of this sort of thing please.
Ermanno Olmi – Adrian Curry’s Movie Poster of the Week blog continues to deliver obscure design gems from the past. This collection of posters for the films of Italian auteur Olmi is wonderful – as usual, it’s the Eastern European interpretations that are the most striking.
Band brands – Dave Dye on the benefits of long-term band branding across multiple albums, with different approaches by the likes of Chicago, ELO and Pet Shop Boys. The Phil Collins style – big face, handwriting – is notable because he reshot all of his sleeves for recent reissues.
The paper airplane collector – Harry Everett Smith spent the sixties, seventies and eighties rescuing hundreds of paper airplanes from the streets of New York. The result is a collection of random print ephemera and pure joy. Going to keep my eyes peeled for them now.
Preston and Logan – As the new film goes into production, Ed Solomon shares his and Chris Matheson’s very first hand-written script for Bill and Ted, written for fun over coffees. “We’ve said to each other: if all we did in our career was put the phrase ‘be excellent to each other’ out into the world, that wouldn't be such a bad thing.”
The seductive fantasy of Saarinen's TWA Terminal – The architect's long-vacant Flight Center at JFK Airport has been reborn as part of a new hotel. Karrie Jacobs booked a room and came away conflicted.
University Press cover round-up – Enjoying Spine’s new monthly feature on the best work coming out of the academic publishing world. Often these titles are hyper-specialist and printed in tiny runs, so it’s good to see them get some exposure here.
That is all.
… almost. This is the first subscriber-only edition of Meanwhile. If you like it, be a darling and tell your friends. Okay, now that is all.