OMG this is so cool: a deck of playing cards emblazoned with colorful images of Tim Burton’s best loved characters, such as Stain Boy, Toxic Boy and Oyster Boy, among many others! Do you want them for your 7 year old boy? Each deck of collectible playing cards featuring the art of Tim Burton (deck measures 2-1/2″ x 3-1/2″ x 3/4″) sells for just $4.95 at This Link!
“I Got Yer Top Ten Right Here”
Everybody with a tongue in their mouth keeps asking me when I am going to post my list of Top Ten Favorite CDs of 2009. I am telling you now that this will not be happening; mostly because I only liked 3 or 4 new CDs released in all of 2009, so that is too few to make a list of ten. Obviously. What I will do however is make a list of my Top Ten Favorite Media Related Things of 2009, which will include not only CD(s) but also TV Shows, Art Exhibits, Movies, Books and other stuff. OK, here we go.
Favorite Documentary: Anvil: The Story of Anvil
Anvil: The Story of Anvil was really my favorite movie of 2009. Sue got it for me on DVD for Christmas, because she rules. Anvil!
Related Worleygig.com Blog Post Here
Favorite Movie: District 9
District 9 was my favorite movie of the year that was not a documentary. It was really, really good. You should see it.
Related Worleygig.com Blog Post Here
Favorite Art Exhibit: Tim Burton Art Retrospective at MOMA I just blogged about this show a week or so ago, because it was so mind-blowing. If you live in the tri-State area and miss this exhibit you are an idiot.
Related Worleygig.com Blog Post Here
Favorite Live Show: Fiction Plane at the Mercury Lounge
Fiction Plane is a band I saw perform at the Mercury Lounge sometime last summer. Sting’s son Joe is the lead singer/bass player of this band, but don’t hold that against them, because they are a fucking awesome band. I also interviewed their drummer, Pete Wilhoit, for an upcoming feature in Modern Drummer, and he was really cool.
Related Worleygig.com Blog Post Here
Favorite Biographical Book: Fall to Pieces By Mary Forsberg Weiland
I generally remain unmoved when drug addicts write books whining about how their lives turned to shit because of drugs. I did not feel that way about this book.
Related Worleygig.com Blog Post Here
Favorite Coffee Table Book: Queen: The Ultimate Illustrated History of the Crown Kings of Rock
This terrific scrapbook on Queen, my favorite band of my teenage years, makes me wish I actually owned a coffee table so I could proudly display it in my home for all to see.
Related Worleygig.com Blog Post Here
Favorite Non-Reality TV Show: Mad Men
Mad Men is the best TV show ever in the Universe of all time. Period.
Related Worleygig.com Blog Post Here
Favorite Reality TV Show: Top Chef
There should be no breaks between seasons of Top Chef, ever.
Related Worleygig.com Blog Post Here
Favorite CD: Adam Lambert, For Your Pleasure
Too gay sounding for even Geoffrey – my go-to barometer for all things in the gay spectrum – to handle, it is a testament to how shitty modern music is that this ends up being my favorite CD of the year. Nevertheless, it is a fantastic CD! Adam Lambert! Runners-up for this category include Call from Restricted from ex-Guided By Voices guitarist Doug Gillard, and Smithereen’s drummer Dennis Diken’s Late Music.
Related Worleygig.com Blog Post Here
Favorite Broadway Show: Carrie Fisher’s Wishful Drinking
Even better than the book!
Related Worleygig.com Blog Post Here
OK, I’m Signing Off on These Lists Until 2011!
Geoffrey and I learned our lesson a few week’s ago about “just showing up” at NYC’s Museum of Modern Art and trying to get in to see the Tim Burton Retrospective on the strength of our Corporate Memberships. That lesson was: it doesn’t happen. I cannot put too fine a point on letting you know that advance tickets are an absolute necessity. Otherwise you’ll never be granted access to what is surely the most overwhelmingly amazing and impressive art exhibit I’ve seen in my life. And I have seen a shitload of art. Continue reading Have Your Mind Blown at MOMA’s Tim Burton Art Retrospective!
A lot of people I know wet their pants with excitement every time Tim Burton directs a film, but I am not so easily impressed. With the exception of 1994’s Ed Wood, which is a work of genius, most of Burton’s films are heavily flawed, poorly directed and a staggering celebration of style over substance that just leaves me puzzled. I realize that I am in the minority on this one, but I doubt my opinion could be swayed. I still plan to see Burton’s take on Alice in Wonderland when it comes out next year, but I plan to get very high first.
My lack of fan-ship when it comes to Burton’s films, however, does not crossover to my view of his artwork, which is pretty amazing. If you’ve seen the illustrations in his book, The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy, you know what I am talking about. So I was very psyched to read just this morning that a retrospective of Burton’s paintings and drawings is coming to the NYC Museum of Modern Art in under two weeks. Burton himself offers that the exhibit is “going to be an out-of-body experience.” Here’s what New York Magazine has to say about the Burton retrospective: “For the show, curators Jenny He and Ron Magliozzi raided Burton’s curiosity cabinets for more than 500 photographs, paintings, doodles, storyboards, stories, sculptures, and sketches dating back to his student years at the California Institute of the Arts. Many have nothing to do with the films he’s directed. Some are on canvas, many on notebook paper. Quite a few are on cocktail napkins. ‘Sometimes these things look like they’re just weird,” Burton says, “but I don’t keep a journal or a diary. They help me to remember a certain feeling — they become time capsules.’” Holy crap, this sounds like one more show not to miss!
Tim Burton at MOMA opens November 22nd!
Oh Boy!
Oh man, these are really cool! Dark Horse has introduced an upcoming line of large-size vinyl figures based on the characters from Tim Burton’s book of short fiction, The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories. This new 6” line brings forward the special nuance of each individual creation and fits very nicely into the ever-growing popularity of “designer vinyl” collectible toys. Three releases are planned for the end of 2009: Oyster Boy, Stain Boy and Toxic Boy. Pricing or run size is not yet available. My friend Vinny owns this book and I’ve read a few of these stories, which are just crazy, so these toys should attract a lot of Tim Burton fans and memorabilia collectors!
Thanks to Plastic and Plush for the tip!
