George Rodrigue's Blue Dogs of Summer 2011

George Rodrigue captures summer heat and bewilderment with his famous Blue Dog. Below, some of our absolutely favorite images of summer 2011.

"At the Head of the Red River," 2011, 48x72
wendyrodrigue.com

"Four Oaks for Four Dogs," 2011, 48x72
wendyrodrigue.com

The Art of George Rodrigue:George Rodrigue Prints: A Catalogue Raisonne 1970-2007Blue Dog SpeaksWhy Is Blue Dog Blue?

FACE Stockholm for J.Crew

How can we not love two of our favorest brands ever joining forces to create this awesome collection? From the left, "Hot Pepper," "Crush Worthy," "Bright Dahlia," "Neon Azalea," "Never Nude," "Sandy Shores," and "Metallic Pecan."

courtesy of vanityfair.com

New Track from Feist, "How Come You Never Go There?"

How can you not love Feist? Folk meets smoky, jazzy rock meets sweet vocals. Check out the first (and BRAND new) track from the forthcoming album, Metals, out on Oct. 4. It's a win.


How Come You Never Go There by Feist

Classic WASP Style: Ocean House RI, Pringle Sweaters, and Thierry Lasry Shades

Because who doesn't love a game of croquet and a twinset?

The Place

A morning jog up the hilly, wooded, harborside streets of Watch Hill, RI, will take you to the grand Ocean House staircase. Not only are the beaches near tropical, Ocean House itself is immaculate. Set atop a bluff, the dining rooms feel like you're on a giant ship because all you see for miles is water all around you.

courtesy of oceanhouseri.com

courtesy of oceanhouseri.com

The Sweater

We have Pringle of Scotland to thank for all things argyle. The brand was founded in 1815, in Hawick, Scotland, and continues to produce timeless cashmere and wool sweaters. Below is actress Jean Simmons in a Pringle twinset, circle 1950.

courtesy of pringlescotland.com

And, the Next Must-Have Sunglasses

The moment you've all been waiting for, ladies and gentlemen. Though Ray-Ban Wayfarers will forever be in our hearts and Selima for J.Crew revived a classic name in eyewear, every iconic style needs a rest sometimes. Not to fear. There's a new name in town, and it's Thierry Lasry. This is what's up.

courtesy of thierrylasry.com

courtesy of thierrylasry.com

Want, Love, Need: Goodwill, Hook N Sling's "Take You Higher" (Club Mix)

DJ Goodwill + Hook N Sling = good things. Would this be an appropriate wedding song?

Goodwill, Hook N Sling - Take You Higher (Club Mix) by freshnewtracks

She say, "Hello, mister. Pleased to meet you."

I want to hold her; I want to kiss her.

Rick Mereki's Cool: Move, Learn, Eat

Short film director Rick Mereki brings a very, very cool revelation of the world in movement, lessons and food. He cites "3 guys, 44 days, 11 countries, 18 flights, 38 thousand miles, an exploding volcano, 2 cameras and almost a terabyte of footage" as the resources for these films. Below is one of his most recent films, "Learn," uploaded to Vimeo yesterday.

LEARN from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

You can check out "Move" and "Eat" here.

Marcus Samuelsson's New Harlem Haunt, Red Rooster

One of the coolest men in the kitchen, Marcus Samuelsson was born in Ethiopia and adopted by a family in Gothenberg, Sweden, at age 3. He arrived in New York at age 21 and was the youngest chef to ever receive 3 stars from NYTimes at age 24. New Yorkers know him as the head chef of Aquavit, and he himself seems to be deeply rooted in stories and roots. He writes on his website:

"My grandmother, Helga, would gather us in the kitchen to teach us how to pickle fresh vegetables, and make meatballs, ginger snaps, cookies, and apple jam. These experiences taught me to love and appreciate fresh and local food."

marcussamuelsson.com

He just launched his newest restaurant, Red Rooster, in Harlem, and it has quickly become one of the hottest tables in town. If a bowl of chilled yellow tomato soup sounds as refreshing on a hot summer day to you as it does to us, or you're dying to try Helga's meatballs, or a side of Créole red grits with crab, shrimp, and chorizo strike your fancy, you may need to take a trek to Harlem stat.

marcussamuelsson.com

Happy Shark Week 2011!

Tune into the Discovery Channel all week long for absolute cinematic and toothy greatness.

Peel P50 Microcars Are Cool!

The smallest car to ever go into production, the Peel P50 is a super badass mini mobile. The original P50 was designed and produced in the 60s, though for a limited time, just 50 reproductions are available. Also, where did you get that rhino? Check. It. Out.

Get yours today!

Must-See Film: Life in a Day

Life in a Day, a film documenting a a day in the lives of all people across the planet, opens nationwide on July 29, 2011. The film's editor Joe Walker told NYTimes of editing the 4,500 hours of film: 

"The analogy is like being told to make Salisbury Cathedral, and then being introduced to a field full of rubble. You have to start looking for buttresses and things that connect together....We could have made a continuous 12-hour film out of people walking....We could have made a film about watermelons."

If this trailer doesn't give you the chills, you may have no soul.

"When I close my eyes, I can see all different people in the world."

                                                             -one of many voices

Check listings here.

How We Feel Everyday of the Summer

Go Outside, by Cults from Boing Boing on Vimeo.

Little Dragon's New Album Out Today, Ritual Union

Well, hello. We're back, and we don't want you to miss out on Little Dragon's third album, Ritual Union, out today. Click play if you like feeling good and wondering:

Ritual Union by Little Dragon

Father, tell me how it is.
I know you’ve been through all of this.
You ran away so many times

Your kids, your heart, a couple dimes.

The lyrics reminds us vaguely, oddly, of Paul Muldoon's "Cuba." If you're curious:

My eldest sister arrived home that morning
In her white muslin evening dress.
'Who the hell do you think you are
Running out to dances in next to nothing?
As though we hadn't enough bother
With the world at war, if not at an end.'
My father was pounding the breakfast-table. 

'Those Yankees were touch and go as it was—
If you'd heard Patton in Armagh—
But this Kennedy's nearly an Irishman
So he's not much better than ourselves.
And him with only to say the word.
If you've got anything on your mind
Maybe you should make your peace with God.' 

I could hear May from beyond the curtain.
'Bless me, Father, for I have sinned.
I told a lie once, I was disobedient once.
And, Father, a boy touched me once.'
'Tell me, child. Was this touch immodest?
Did he touch your breasts, for example?'
'He brushed against me, Father. Very gently.' 

Taking a Long Vacation

If you've been wondering where the BRM is at, not to worry. We thought about going legit, but decided against it. We'll be on vacation for a while, but look back for us in the spring!

Making Amends with the Front Row

Don't miss our new sister site, Front Row Mafia. While we're about great taste and style, the folks at Front Row Mafia are about the lack thereof and they're damn good at being tasteless.

Visit them here: http://frontrowmafia.blogspot.com.

Like them here.

The Commercial Anti-Commercial Narrative of American Adolescence

This video from Hedi Slimane for e-commerce site thecorner.com, "I Love U.S.A.," is homage to American adolescence from the flowing blonde hair, pom-poms and sparkles to the breezing American flag, worn Converses and cutoffs. It's a modern-day Midsummer Night's Dream visual romance that gets away from commercial advertising, and the stills are equally compelling. Check it.

We're Believers, Too.

You can always take a trip through time with Goldfrapp. They'll be waiting for you in a faux-dusted "80s" vault right here, but it's not everyday you'll experience vibes this magical:

Goldfrapp - Believer (Little Loud Remix) by MuteUSA

Guster Has a New Album Out TODAY!

Quite exciting news, and testament to Guster's penchant for inventively embracing 21st century novelties of the WWW like piracy, they've compiled the best fan-created videos for their new album, Easy Wonderful, into a website at guster.com/easywonderful. One of our favs? Chad Carlberg's rendition for "Do You Love Me?" in which Ryan Miller dances just like Hermey the misfit elf from the 1964 claymation version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Adam Gardner does stop motion calisthenics in matching onesies covered in splatter paint.


Do You Love Me from Guster on Vimeo.
"Do you feel it?
Do you feel it now?
'Cos we want it,
but we don't know how."

You'll Get Your Butt to the Guggenheim If You Know What's Good for You.

"Chaos and Classicism: Art in France, Italy, and Germany, 1918—1936" opens tomorrow through January 9, 2011. This will be one of the major must-see exhibits of 2010 because it curates the aftermath of "chaotic" WWI artistic movements such as cubism and expressionism—movements even the hard-of-art have at least heard of. That aftermath—the "classicism"—saw through the reemergence of distinct figures, clean lines marked by bright colors as in Fernand Léger's "Woman Holding a Vase" (1927), below.

guggenheim.org

Be there or be square with rounded corners.

Oversized Toboggans from Nike Extreme? Sigh, If Only They Were Real.

Creative agency Access Agency turns the ultra-iconic "swoosh" brand symbol of Nike into an outdoor experience like no other. We'd say, like all things oversized, the appeal is the oversized nature of it all. We meaaaaan, who doesn't want to slide down a football-field length water slide into tropical blue waters?

access-agency.net

access-agency.net

access-agency.net

Read more here.

TODAY: Ben Folds, Nick Hornby, Magic

Can it possibly be? Ben Folds and Nick Hornby wrapped up together? In a FULL-LENGTH album? Not only confirmed, but out today. Lonely Avenue is a monumental collaboration from two artists who always rock and rarely-to-never stray from their (hilarious and scintillating) voices. Including the blues of Levi Johnston, the CD also features four stories by Nick Hornby. Even the pop hit, "From Above," is cool:

"Maybe that's how books get written, / Maybe that's why songs get sung..."

Eamonn McCabe

Sample the tracks at Nonesuch, and buy the album at benfolds.com.