Friday Finds 12.09.11

Aaron: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

I happened to be in London when the new film Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, an excellent new adaptation of John le Carré's great thriller, came out in England in late September. I saw it opening night in Notting Hill and (barring the price of a movie for two in London, $37, no popcorn) it was great. It's a taut, moody espionage film that thrives more on the possibility of violence than breathless gunplay and has wonderful performances all around. The period notes in the production design were spot-on, but mostly Gary Oldman struck the perfect balance of steely cunning and choking sadness. It opens today in America. Go see it.

Jaime: Paint Can Display, Designed by Thomas Bernstrand



This is super random, but I really enjoyed watching this short video of a project by Swedish designer Thomas Bernstrand in action: a display for a Stockholm shop that dispenses small cans of paint, in a sort of Whack-a-Mole manner. Am I crazy, or is this strangely satisfying and calming to watch?

Diana: Jamie Livingston's Polaroid of the Day

The idea of life as art and performance isn't the newest idea on the block, but it's surely one of the most captivating, playing into our voyeuristic desires and giving a glimpse into the private side of a person. This series of Polaroids was taken by photographer Jamie Livingston starting with a 1979 shot of his girlfriend and ending with a 1997 image of him on his deathbed. Something tells me that a .jpg of the day wouldn't be as powerful—long live analog.

Tammy: B&W Look Back on Odd Times

Way before the days of massive digitally manipulated images in pursuit of a good laugh and top spot on icanhascheezburger.com, strange moments were actually captured on film. Fear not, the photo blog Black and White WTF has compiled these—sometimes hilarious, sometimes way too weird—gems for your viewing pleasure.

Katie: Time Lapse View of Earth from Space

Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.

Planet Earth is truly a spectacle, especially if you are looking down on it amongst the stars. This time-lapse assembled from photographs taken during the NASA International Space Station expeditions 28 & 29, shows our planet's surface brilliantly; it's almost eerily surreal. It's also hard not to mention the video's amazing mood music. Intrigued by the our earth's natural wonders? Have a gander at the at The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth on the NASA website.

Leah: iPhone Case

I dig these iPhone cases that let you rock the old-school design style and integrate it with the iconic style of the iPhone. A two-for-one gift for the design aficionado in your life. I won't tell if you put one in the shopping cart just for you, deal?

Kelsey: Coming Attraction: Frank Lloyd Wright Biopic "Taliesin"

Now that Robert Moses is getting his due on the silver screen, it's high time for a Frank Lloyd Wright night at the cinema. Aside from the Ken Burns documentary of 2008, Wright has never been the focus of a feature film—until now, as Bruce Beresford (best known for Driving Miss Daisy!) signs on to direct a film centered on Taliesin, Wright's rural retreat in Spring Green, Wisconsin. As you well know, the personal life of America's most famous architect was not without its drama, especially the period portrayed by the mini-biopic: when, in 1914, the Prairie-style hillside compound was burned down by a disgruntled house servant with the architect's mistress-turned-wife and her two children inside. Fear not, the whole leaving-his-wife-and-eight-children part doesn't get overshadowed by Wright's illustrious career or later personal tragedy; the director tells Hollywood Reporter that the script, written by Nicholas Meyer, "doesn’t whitewash him into some sort of saint."