Liftingfaces

Author: Ryan Dunn

  • Excessive Perspectives

    The art of Frank Stockton.

  • Fun With Sand

    This is a group of professional sand sculptors called Team Sandtastic. They take on a wide range of projects from very small to very large. their site is hard to navigate, but each of the images on the home page will generally take you to a whole other section. Enjoy.

    For a cleaner page to navigate, go straight to their Sculptures Page.

  • Quote of the Week #006


    “As long as we have courage, today is beautiful.” –    Colleen Campbell

  • Burst of Beaden

    The art of Jon Klassen.

  • Steel the Boy Excerpt

    Here’s an excerpt from a short film I am writing…

  • WALL•E 5 Is Alive!

    What a difference 22 years can make. For those of us old enough to remember Number 5, you’ll appreciate this post. I remember thinking that WALL•E reminded me of Short Circuit, but that was just me remembering in my head.

    Then I pulled up an image of Number 5, and was pretty astonished. The head shape, tire tread shape, even the digits, all are spookily similar. It’s a little disappointing from a character design standpoint, but I still thought WALL•E (especially the first act) was a fantastic film.

  • Why Haven’t You Bought Me This?

    (“THE DEEP” BY CLAIRE NOUVIAN)

    Just look at the following images from the book “The Deep,” and you’ll see what might be the most beautiful and terrifying photographs taken of the deep sea, like ever (sorry Blue Planet). I need to get this book, and soon.

    Fanfin Seadevil

    Unidentified Species

    Scaly Dragonfish

    Johnson Sea Link-1

  • Grace Says “Can You Hear the Ocean?”

  • The Pursuit of Flight

    The art of William Lamson.

  • Quote of the Week #005


    “You crashed your plane again, a beautiful tailspin. It was going to happen soon enough, the only question was when.”    –Jonathan Meiburg

  • Faux Show

    The art of Shannon Goff.

  • Reconstructed Renaissance

    The art of Diann Bauer.

  • Addicted to SWIRLZ CUPCAKES

    If you live in Chicago and haven’t had a Swirlz cupcake, shame on you. These are the best cupcakes I’ve ever eaten, and I’ve had a few (too many). The chocolate is a classic, and the vanilla is ridiculous. My wife rather likes the red velvet, and they have seasonal flavors like banana walnut, chocolate peanut butter, and malted chocolate.

    And for those of you who live in the LA area, the answer is “YES!” Swirlz is definitely better than Sprinkles. Sorry guys, not on the same level. Anyone in NY have a great cupcake spot you think might rival the heavenly flavors of Swirlz?

  • Bad Word Pairs #008

    “Tighty Whiteys”

    What a stupid phrase. For men who wear briefs, save yourself the stigmata and just get them in gray. But be aware, wearing “tighty whiteys” can lower your fertility. Use at your own risk.

  • Little Director on a Big Set

    Click for a larger view.

  • Why Haven’t You Listened to This?

    (JESCA HOOP’S “KISMET”)

    I went to see Martha Wainwright at the Troubadour, and Jesca Hoop was the opening act. She played part of her set solo (just her voice and her guitar), and part of her set with two harmony singers (there were a couple of those songs where her friends the Ditty Bops came up to lend their voices as well).

    Needless to say, Jesca was a standout for me (though Wainwright was also very good). I looked her up and found out one of her songs was highly requested on KCRW (not surprising), and also found some other tidbits (she was a nanny for Tom Waits, but not before being raised a strict Mormon, where MTV was banned and such and such).

    I grabbed her album that night, and I’ve been playing it quite a bit. She reminds me of a weird blend of Fiona Apple, Kate Bush, and Nina Persson from The Cardigans. But it’s easier to listen to her music than to trust my vocal concoction.

    Listen to “Seed of Wonder” and “Enemy” for a better reflection of why I’m digging her stuff.

  • Addicted to FAILBLOG

    I’ve wasted too much time scouring FAIL blog. I’m not the first to find this site, nor will I be the last, but for those who haven’t witnessed it yet, it will be a fun discovery all the same.

  • Raucous Serenity

    The art of Petri al-Maunus.

  • John Bauer Meets Norman Rockwell

    The art of Eimar Norelius: 01, 02.

  • TOP 5 QUIET BANDS

    (TO FALL ASLEEP TO)

    5. Great Lake Swimmers – Mp3 – A relatively new band, Great Lake Swimmers have mastered the whole acoustic-guitars-in-a-barn-silo-with-no-audience-save-for-the-crickets subgenre of folk music. All of this works, in large part because of lead singer Tony Dekker’s vocals, which sound as much like another instrument as Thom Yorke’s at his finest. I’m not saying Tony can outsing Thom (few can), but his voice certainly serves his own band perfectly.

    4. Richard Hawley – Mp3 – He has a timeless voice, a strange blend of Frank Sinatra, Roy Orbison and Morrissey. Hawley evokes dream-like imagery every time I listen to him. Sometimes his songs shimmer and swell, other times they’re just quiet ballads to relax to, but always his voice pierces through.

    3. Stars of the Lid – Mp3 – The ambient beauty these guys create is so soothing, it’s hard to stay awake through an entire album. Which is why I play them while I’m working, just to find out what that last track sounds like. And with album titles like “December Hunting For Vegetarian Fuckface,” it’s clear there’s more than one level to appreciate this band on.

    2. Low – Mp3 – Their early material built in layers at a glacial pace, and as the pioneers of a sadcore subgenre from Duluth, Minnesota, this husband/wife team have put out some of the most laid back, haunting, and beautiful songs ever recorded. Mimi Parker’s voice is one of a kind, and Alan Sparhawk only serves to compliment her with mellow, minor key vocals of his own.

    1. Red House Painters – Mp3 – Mark Kozelek tops my list for sheer consistency. I originally put his band’s entire catalog in a CD changer and just let it shuffle (something I rarely do). It took me several weeks to figure out which songs belonged on which album, and that was a good thing. It was like I kept rediscovering their music every night. His voice is usually mixed back with the instrumentation (esp. the older material), which serves the songs well. It’s hard to pick one song or even one album when I want to listen to them, which is what puts Red House Painters safely at the top for me.

  • Wild Beasts Sound Good to Me

    I like Antony and the Johnsons. I like Tindersticks. I like Mark Eitzel. And yes, I do like Morrissey, too. So I guess I’m guilty by association, because I also like Wild Beasts, whose frontman Tom Fleming Hayden Hayden Thorpe is a curious blend of all of those singers (to me anyways).

    Check out one of their songs, “The Devil’s Crayon,” and if you dig it, go buy their album on their site.

  • Quote of the Week #004


    “For every life, forgo the parable. Seek the light, my knees are cold.” –Justin Vernon

  • She’s Got Legs

    The art of Futo Akiyoshi.

  • Cloud Tears Beneath the Locks

    The art of Cate Anevski.

  • Why Haven’t You Rented This Lately?

    (THE THIN RED LINE)

    If the above 12 actors aren’t enough reason to go back and check out “Thin Red Line,” the tragically overlooked war movie (maybe one of the best war movies of all time), then at least see it so you can tell your friends you have been watching Terrence Malick films of late, and that you can’t wait until Tree of Life comes out, to see Brad Pitt and Sean Penn search for immortality.

    That’ll get them thinking your scholarly!

  • Some Bands Never Quit

  • Grace Says “Why Won’t You Hold Me?”

  • Sean Cullen Will Win Last Comic Standing

     

    “Food of Your Choice” #2

  • Wolf Trumping Rope Dart

    Legacy Flash video removed. See surrounding links in this post.

  • Obama as Japanese Monkey?

    I returned from week up in the Northwoods of Ontario, Canada, amidst a cage match between the two US presidential candidates, only to have a buddy of mine from Japan send me a link which is, well, astonishing to say the least.

    eMobile, a Japanese mobile phone company, is running a campaign, with a monkey, playing the part of . . . . . Barack Obama. They even lifted his campaign slogan, declaring “Yes, We Change!”

    Do the Japanese creatives even KNOW how racist this is? I can’t wait for CNN and MSNBC and FOXNEWS of America to get a hold of this one.

    Check it out now, and judge for yourself.