Jockohomo Blood and Shaving Cream

I think of this image when I lift…

“I Want To See All My Friends At Once”: Arthur Russel and The Queering of Gay Disco:

“Disco, it is commonly understood, drummed its drums and twirled its twirls across an explicit gay-straight divide. In the beginning, the story goes, disco was gay: Gay dancers went to gay clubs, celebrated their newly liberated status by dancing with other men, and discovered a vicarious voice in the form of disco’s soul and gospel-oriented divas. Received wisdom has it that straights, having played no part in this embryonic moment, co-opted the culture after they cottoned onto its chic status and potential profitability. With Sylvester and John Travolta marking out the polar opposites of disco’s terrain, it was supposed to be easy to spot the difference. The sequined black gay falsetto, who delivered soul and gospel-charged disco, embodied the movement’s gay roots, while the white straight hustling star of Saturday Night Fever, who was happiest dancing to the shrill pop of the Bee Gees, represented its commercialization and suburbanization. In this article, how- ever, I want to refract this popular analysis through a queer lens in order to explore not just the mixed composition of early dance crowds, which I take to be historically given (Lawrence 2004a: 22, 31, 104), but, more importantly, the way in which both the dance floor experience and disco’s musical aesthetics could be said to be queer (rather than gay). I will also examine how disco producers, responding to the mainstreaming of disco culture from the mid-1970s onwards, took the genre in fresh and unsettling directions. These questions will be explored through the decidedly odd figure of Arthur Russell, whose disco releases stand as an allegory of the unexplored rela- tionship between gay and queer disco.”

Muji Manifesto, the Japanese based retailer (distinguished by its design minimalism, emphasis on recycling, avoidance of waste in production and packaging, and no-logo or “no-brand” policy.) recently published a manifesto of sorts that presents a unique refreshing view of consumer culture and brand consumption:

“We do not create products that lure customers into believing that “this is best” or “I must have this.” We would like our customers to feel the rational sense of satisfaction that comes not with “this is best”, but with “this is enough.” “Best” becomes “enough.””There are degrees of “enough” however. Muji aims to raise the standard of “enough” to the greatest extenst possible. “Best” contains a fair emount of egoism and disharmony, but in “enough” we sense restraint and compromise.”This is enough.” That is Muji’s vision.”

Oh, and that’s a Tamotsu Fujii photograph as part of a Muji advertisement.

The loading image for motaitalic is really sweet…

Love the classical vocabulary contrasted with street art, piece by Lucamaleonte

Equalizer T-Shirt: Electro-luminescence (EL) is a technology in which a small electric current is passed through a phosphorus material. This current causes the material to radiate light. Electro-luminescence generates no heat and requires a very low power source, is light weight, flexible, durable, waterproof and landfill friendly because it’s production uses no hazardous materials. Just turn on the small battery pack that fits snugly in an interior pocket of the shirt and watch it go. Also available as a time piece, rock the house animated, graffiti, love meter and 4d equalizer model.

Part of Slava Mogutin’s curator’s statement for the show “Burning the Candle at Both Ends @ Visual AIDS”: “Was it a coincidence that AIDS wiped out some of the most radical and experimental artists of the 80s? And was it a coincidence that they were just as radical and experimental in their private lives as in their art, “burning the candle at both ends”?

It’s been reported that a divorcing couple in Connecticut spent $75,000 to $100,000 a year to maintain the Jeff Koons artwork titled “Puppy”. Newsprint magnet/media mogul Peter Brant and his wife, former Victoria’s Secret model Stephanie Seymour own an exact duplicate of the Bilbao statue.