Old Youtube videos, miscellaneous pictures and assorted media from the vault can be found at BusyBeingBetter's brand new Tumblr .

Magazine Fiends

Spread from Paradis Magazine Issue #4



A magazine subscription can be the perfect Christmas gift to bestow upon friends or family. So, in order to pre-lick your fingers for the holiday season, BusyBeingBetter has compiled a list of several publications that will remind you once again of why you gloat over gloss.



Dazed and Confused (UK)£75 p.a.
Not to be confused with its lesser Australian counterpart, the UK version of Dazed is quite a well balanced representative of the alt vox populi. Even if you find it can't impress you with reviews of the young brit-pop stars of tomorrow, there's at least one obscure reference made per issue thats worth a wiki.

Paradis Magazine30,00€ per issue
The one thats taken top spot on my own Christmas wish-list, Paradis Magazine is a bi-annual publication with an archive only 4 issues deep. Distributed in both French and the Queen's English, dense sections of prose have so far articulated the life and times of Damien Hirst, Rupert Murdoch and Simon De Pury to name but three. No cheap thrills here, Paradis lay the pulp to rest and opt for opulence.

Gotham Magazine US$70 p.a.
Heavily NYC orientated, Gotham is the magazine you'd be reading if you found yourself twixt the glammer and glitz of anything Josh Schwartz has lent his production talents to. A mature outlook on the best the Big Apple has to offer.

Forbes 17 issues for US$19.99
It's no guarantee but if you're brushing breadcrumbs off the pages of Forbes whilst you tuck into your toast, your shares are going to be moving on up. Or given current conditions, falling less fast.

Alaska Magazine £25.00 per issue
A photography publication for those who demand a little more than a combination of Google image, FFFFound and some Tumblr's in your favourites, Alaska is more of a book than a magazine. Again, it's bi-annual, so I don't know if it's safe to call it the gift that keeps on giving, but it showcases fresh photographic talent from all 4 corners of the globe in a crisp graphic-conscious format that could easily outstay its welcome on your coffee table if you pushed it.

Russian Vogue ??????
Yes, Vogue Russia. With Anna Wintour's reign over the fashion mega-mag due to come to a close any day now, all eyes are on Aliona Doletskaya, editor-in-chief of Russian Vogue. Her editorial skills are hard to fathom when you can't read any of the articles, but Russia has it's finger on the pulse and features generally 100% original content, only sharing perhaps one shoot with it's US sibling per issue. It should be noted that Russian Vogue also boasts higher paper quality and printing resolution for the videophiles.

Purple Fashion Magazine 64.00 € p.a. (2 issues)
Purple magazine, curiously created as an 'anti-fashion' magazine of the earl 90's is anything but. Bi-annually released, each issue comes with an artist book, arguably more valuable than the magazine itself, which is so thick it's more of a tome. Artist books to date have included Terry Richardson, Hedi Slimane, Dash Snow and Juergen Teller.

ZINEZ
For those discontent with culture rags, hit the above link for all you could ever want and then some re: homemade zines. From design, to fanzines to even lofi porn pulp all you need to do is let the links point you in the right direction. A lot of content to get through, so if your down for the independent press and have no desire to better yourself through contemporary knowledge, dive into the piles of pages that await!

No Shades Of White, Fiona Foley 2005





Artists creeping their way under the roof of Sydney's MCA in 2009 include Yayoi Kusama and Olafur Eliasson both with solo exhibitions, as well as numerous other artists whose work deserves your aesthetic assessment (Right click THIS, save target as for the PDF file of all upcoming exhibitions).

Hipgnosis, the design firm that spawned such timeless album covers as Pink Floyds 'Dark Side Of The Moon' and Led Zeppelins 'Houses Of The Holy' are in town (well, Storm Thorgerson is) for an exhibition opening this Thursday at Paddington's Global Gallery. Featuring prints that span Thorgerson's 40 years in the industry, the inspiration literally drips off the walls (just ask KROZM). If your mind isn't buzzing after a quick lap around the premises, it's time to suit up and ship out to an office cubicle somewhere, strap in and slave over some spreadsheets or something.



The Works Of Storm Thorgerson
Global Gallery 5 Comber st. Paddington
Tuesday to Saturday 11am to 6pm
Sunday 12pm to 4pm

(Drinks and BBQ with the artist, 2pm Saturday 6th Dec)

INSENS8

CLICK

Gareth Pugh, in collaboration with SHOWstudio's Nick Knight have just completed their 'Insensate' project, which sends us on journey through space and time, as well as his aw08 collection. Monochromachaos engulfs Pugh's creations, as we wade through a thick Pughvian fluid, our feet cautiously seeking our next sure step, accompanied only by a minimal soundtrack mixed/created by Gareth's musical oracle, Matthew Stone.

Dry Spells

Do Not Pose

Cattle Crucified

I'm not too into Sienna Miller, nor am I into The Hours, but Damien Hirst co-directed this new video and it's worth it just to see the crucified cow scene.

Jean Baptiste Mondino

Before THIS, Jean Baptiste Mondino was filming music videos for Prince, Bjork, Madonna, Bowie and even Chris Isaak. One of his first was Don Henley's - Boys Of Summer, which won 4 MTV Video Music Awards in 1985.

Vogue Vivisection

For Vogue's December issue over in the United Kingdom, the hired help was a little more assuming than a run of the mill waif-with-a-nice-jawline-and-some-dark-eye-makeup that you so often find sunk into the pages of numerous fashion rags.


Tim Walker is represented by Thomas Treuhaft.

Murakami

Takashi Murakami for Louis Vuitton


"First of all, distinctively situate his/her position in art history. Second, articulate what the beauty of his/her art is. Next, sexuality. Then, death."



The MMK is currently hosting the largest Takashi Murakami retrospective to date. Perhaps best known to western audience's for his album covers commissioned by rapper Kanye West, the artist is one of Japans most prolific contemporary artists, producing work heavily influenced by Otaku cultures. The accesibility of his work, deemed to be in the same pop vein as Warhol, has even encouraged the sponsorship of Louis Vuitton, who commissioned artwork for handbags released as recently as June of this year. This came shortly after he auctioned off his controversial sculpture My Lonesome Cowboy at Sotheby's for over 15 million American dollars.

An interview with the man revealing his art philosophy can be found here

Jeff Koons

Designer Tom Ford on Jeff Koons



Getting a rare chance to re-fit the baroque halls of France's Palace of Versailles, Jeff Koons has chosen the palace for a 17 work retrospective exhibition. Ruffling the feathers of French monarchist pheasants, who are outraged at the 'kitsch' stylings of Koons invading there beloved palace, he hopes that the setting will bring to light the more philosophical aspects of his work.

Jeff Koons - Versailles

Video link. N.B. Extremely boring. Although relevant interview with the man himself in regards to the current exhbition

Updates

(David Perry, despite his speech impediment, hammers home the value of video games. Suss his statistics and leave your commerce degree to get into some game design)

Paris fashion week showed us that Karl can still regulate at the age of 70. Gareth Pugh makes it interesting (again).


Annie Leibovitz is documenting Obama's campaign trail, reportedly for another Men's Vogue feature article. Evidence HERE


In reference to my post about the Four Seasons water menu, and it's status as a luxury good, Jean Paul Gaultier is now on board with Evian. See for yourself HERE


CERN shut down its accelerator for repairs, but gave this song new relevance as it commenced trafficing data through the LHC Computing Grid. "When the LHC turns on, data will be transferred from CERN to 11 large computing centres around the world at rates of up to 10 gigabits per second". Beats your bigpond.


Ex gay pornographer and now homo-erotic visionary Jeff Burton and high profile designer Kris Van Assche collaborate again on 12 homo-erotic advertising layouts, running in 12 select magazines around the world in a unique campaign to promote Van Assche's new 08/09 range.
"Jeff Burton pulls (poetry) from the world of pornography : a place where it is hard to find"
Find it all at KrisVanAssche.com


Jay Walker's library. Housing articles from a legit Sputnik satellite to the original prop for The Addam's Family's 'Thing', it has to be seen to be believed.

(Updates soon)

Greed

Jennifer Steinkamp

Coming home from a gallery scouring youtube, vimeo etc etc for the latest video installation i've witnessed so i can add it to my favourites has been a common occurence over the last couple of years. In retrospect, my advice would have to be for you to just stand in front of it for an hour or so then hopefully it'll burn itself into your memory. In the case of Steinkamp its even possible her work could float around your vitreous humour on some kind of overtly synthetic lilo for the summer.

Jennifer Steinkamp's 'Daisy Bell' (not featured in the video) is currently running at Lehmann Maupin in NYC. Yet another reason to head to America.

Damien Hirst

Some hours ago at Sotheby's auction house, he grossed 127 million (US) dollars with the sale of 56 works. At a time of extreme economic pressure, with the credit crunch hitting harder than a jab from Zab Judah, it's amazing he even sold anything, let alone for such a staggering amount of coin. His 'Golden Calf' went for 10.3 million pounds, proving itself to be quite the literal cash cow, although at least 18 works struck above the million pound mark. A pretty amazing turn of events for the 43 year old, who is as much a master of filling galleries and art columns as he is his bank account, single handedly lifting the net worth of Sotheby's stock by 1.1 percent.

As Andy Warhol once alluded to, business simply is the best art, because nothing can be more impressive/inspiring/amazing than than belittling over 95% of the worlds populations life savings in 90 minutes, whilst "off playing snooker somewhere in Camden". Goal well achieved Mr Hirst. I hope the masses of gold trickling into your most industrious smelters may gild the hoofs of many dead animals in the future.

Winning

Bruce Weber

Part of his Summer Camp series for W magazine i think back in July. Even though he's pretty into men, Kate Moss still rules.

HUORATRON

Natasha Poly Nomial

Vogue Russia's current cover girl Natasha Poly. Brandishing the kind of Bolshevik cheekbones that could only have been shaped by far too many windy nights out on the tundra, and a complexion about as warm as the Siberian sun. Definite Jadis.

JARED SELIGMAN

21 years of age, $40 000 000 made. Jared Seligman

A regular Brantley Foster, the man only just reached legal drinking age, but is already vice president of the prestigious Corcoran group and is soon to be earning the kind of coin that could buy you more than a few of the properties he's selling.
His 21st, which just came around just a couple of months ago, was celebrated with clients and friends the Olsen twins, Alison Mosshart, Jessica Stam and no doubt several other babes whose digits are knocking about within his Blackberry.
Needless to say the kind of chic corporate majesty he's on his way for is rarely seen now that Gordon Gecko's on the out, but Jared's surely proving that power hunger is the most hip it's been since Wall Street 85-90, and that life is ok when after you seal the deal on a $5 million apartment to some young LA honey, you also know where you'll be heading that weekend for a housewarming.

PLAYA HATAZ

CLICK HERE FOR CASSETTE PLAYA T.I.M.E. VIDEO EXCLUSIVELY AT SHOWSTUDIO

Night Flight

Will Govus fogging up the PM.

Future Shock

THE SUPERVISORY

The Supervisory are a design duo consisting of Paul Recalde and Don Kim, and according to their own website are 'completely unorthodox and not restricted by the convential standards of today's creative industries'. Arguable, as they don't seem to be as groundbreaking as that insinuates, but they still catch your eye with there glistening examples of great photography and apparently effortless post production. It's like rinsing your eyes out in a cold rain and then imagining the Delorean lead a heard of ghostriders out of the storm clouds. Strictly Commercial.

Zena

Zena Holloway

KEVIN COSTNER

Mike showed me this

Sydney's Four Seasons Hotel has just launched a water menu at its Kable's restaurant. Featuring expensive water's from all over the globe, such as India, Norway and NZ it's a fine time for any big midnight oil fan greenie to get up on there 100% recycled soap box and vomit up their latest spiel re: conserving water or how H20 is becoming a commodity or stopping global warming or killing less whales but lets face it, they aren't killing the blue ones, or the beluga's, so really whats the fuss? The cool ones are still down there hopping scotch through the streets of Mu. Point is what could be deemed by some (cough Warren 'Boring' Buffet cough) as a gross missapplication of funds, is definately the kind of high level consumerism that Australia needs in order to stop all the bright sparks heading over to Europe or America cause its "better" over there.

Patrick Bateman and his buddies had a soft spot for Evian or Perrier, but now in the new millenium we are far from restrained to two high-end waters. Be it still or sparkling, low sodium content or a high minerality, there is definately a space in the market for connoisseurs of H20. The most expensive bottle available at Kable's is the afore-pictured 420, from New Zealand, setting you back about a dollar a mL, thats $100 a litre. The fact that somewhere someone decided that it was worth that much is almost as spectacular as the headstrong approach taken by The Four Season's in shipping it over here and putting it on the menu.

Everyone knows what your thinking, and no, bottled water ISN'T necessarily better for you than tap, unless another dog winds up in Warragamba, but as consumers i think it's fair to demand to be spoilt for choice (especially as in Australia, we never are). It's good to finally find a niche market where we can display our sense of taste and our affluence more blatantly than ever before.

For all your watery needs: Fine Waters

WATCHMEN TRAILER

MODERNIST MAJICK IN THE MIND OF DESIGN

As a youth, countless hours were spent at Powerhouse Museum, trying to play ode to joy on the huge keyboard in the floor, eating hot chips in a room illuminated by Ken Done's own distinctively Australian palette and learning the secrets of Tesla's Plasma Lamps (still unaware of what happens if you break the glass. Contributions welcome). It's appearance in Sydney is never to be undervalued.

This August, the Powerhouse Museum presents another edition of Sydney's Design week, entitled "Modern Times: The Untold Story Of Modernism In Australia". Should be heaps heaps sick, indulging us all in rare photographs and insights into the Modernist culture found within Australia whilst our general knowledge compasses point infuriatingly north.

Opens 8 August
Powerhouse Museum


In the spirit of design week, a symposium is set to be held re: the influence of Modernism on 21st century culture. Definately worthwhile for anyone interested in any kind of interesting progression in design, or any field. The lameness of the Biennale's MCA component should be enough to get anyone worried about the future being at all interesting.


Symposium: Modern Times, Untold Stories of Modernism
8 August, 1-5pm
$30 Concession, $55 Otherwise from Moshtix

QUAD CHAIR TO CHAOS

It's getting cold outside, and the snow seasons looking up, way way up, and apparently Warren Miller's new film is too so you know it's not too long before you'll need to bind up and bail out of your tertiary education for as long as it pleases you to head for the slopes!

FLOSS LIKE SHAUN ROSS

Black Shelf Break

Creep over the contintental shelf closest to you, and maybe if the moon's blue enough the salt will quit stinging your eyes and you'll find your nose pressed up against one of Tiffany Bozic's submarine masterpieces. Her immaculate use of colour in rendering the soft shapes of endless stylised animals, paramount to her success, is matched only by her enviable sense of composition. Definately worth hanging in your home.

P.s. The JSC Digital Image Collection, an online gallery of images documenting every manned mission initiated by NASA is pretty cool.

Livraison

Images sourced from Livraison

EU4U

Fresh out of the European Union, recently de-pressurised and 100% DVT free, busybeingbetter makes a comeback tinged with a strain of summer that quarantine must have missed. Here is a quick shortlist of what the east side of Pangea had to offer BBB.






Fine form from the Tate Modern currently exhibiting Street & Studio, a history of the never-more relevant genre of street photography. From streetparty's website to the pages of Vogue, the use of what was previously known as poor lighting combined with a re-definition of what it means to pose has never been more "cool". From works by Juergen Teller to Robert Mapplethorpe, it's all there to feast your fashionable eye on. On the flipside of that coin (no, not a Dark Knight reference) there comes many photos with a far more poetic and often undeniable energy, such as the above shot from Pieter Hugo's study of Nigerian men with pet hyenas.
Street & Studio is on until August 31st.






Endless Ting Tings and Rihanna on the wireless. I was almost sure we'd pon'd the replay under her umbrella enough in this country, and when it comes to the Ting Tings, even if we still don't know her name i thought those in England might. Apparently they are still pretty into the drums, the drums, the drums.






Ischia, currently playing host to the Ischia Global Film And Music Festival 2008 is also worth visiting for a few other reasons. As an island off the coast of Napoli, it's a short boat ride away from the picturesque town of Positano on Italy's Amalfi Coast, and an even shorter boat ride away from the Capri's famed blue grotto. Also recommended on the Ischia is Valentino, the largest and most famous nightclub on the island, down the end of Corso Vittoria, Ischia's main drag (If it appears dead when you get there, make note: doors regularly do not open 'til 1)





Fabric on a friday. One of the best known nightclubs on the planet, voted by many as the best Europe has to offer, Fabric doesn't try to dissapoint. Three rooms dedicated to extremely well managed bass frequencies, generated at the decks by an array of often bearded post-hypem/pre-hypem men and women. It's like a dragonboat race of the Gods as sonic warriors try to keep themselves in time with the future by playing tracks you won't hear down at the local until a snotty nosed collector of rare t-shirts rips the tracklisting from the next Fabriclive cd on Amazon.






One last stop for those with some serious taste and serious money. Stocking the latest from Pierry Hardy, Raf Simons and Walter Van Bierendonck to name a few, DSM or Dover Street Market, located on Dover St. in central London is six floors of nouveau chic chaos. Watch your bank account dry out as your debit card hacks up a slimey portion of savings whilst you literally punch in your pin for some footwear extraordinaire.

I'm in London still but i hate The Waifs, back on Monday in time for some real winter, and also to ensure this blog doesn't go down the path of some virgin on a fast chairlift by reaching its peak too early.

CATCHUL8A

Kinky Nastassja Kinski And Richards Retrospective

London tomorrow, Rome soon after. France doesn't feature in the itinerary at the moment, but could do considering the Richard Avedon retrospective thats about to start at Jeu de Paume.

Cars For Ishtar

Givenchy and local label Toni Maticevski supply the threads for this shoot by Australia's own Georges Antoni. Featured in the new Oyster magazine that I picked up flying out of Melbourne yesterday, the baby in the backseat gives the image an extreme poignancy re: the current issues of gay marriage, whilst the cross hanging from the mirror is echoing the evident awareness of catholicism that resounds within Australia as the papal visit draws ever nearer. The androgynous appeal of the child's two cold companions destroys the stereotyped butch femme dichotomy, whilst also supplying the resident teen-libertine-come-fashion-student-come-hipster Oyster audience with a healthy dose of Ballardian chic, both conceptually and in aesthetics as seen in this 1985 cover of J.G. Ballards' Crash. The photo is also quite good.

CALL ME TRIMTAB

LDN

I'm there in less than a week, in time to catch the Fashion In The Mirror exhibiton running from the 18th of July to the 14th of September at The Photographers' Gallery. Featuring photos from Steven Kleins Valley Of The Dolls project (above), it will also be serving up steaming pictorial plates of Melvin Sokolsky and Grégoire Alexandre to name but two more, so just watch me suit up, scone up and ship out to smash the Motherland for a grimey six faster than you can do the rolex sweep.

Cretins!

The plot of this movie is murkier than the Yarra after rain, but the above video clip showcases some moments of The Cell that are pretty undeniable in both there heinous nature and also the quality of Tarsem Singhs signature large scale concept execution. Warning: Nearly as dark as every third friday.

EXYZT

Exyzt are the french design crew behind Etienne De Crecy's amazing live setup, amongst lots of other things involving bright fluoresence and dance music. Pictured is their design installation within the Social Club in Paris from Janurary this year. Word to 3rd or the Gerb.