In the “culture of the remix” that we are currently experiencing, there are some pretty fascinating and creative things going on. The appropriating of other visual elements to create new work can be seen in streets all over the world. This technique was taken further into the public eye when, in 2008, street artist Shepard Fairey became world famous (infamous?) with his graphic of Barack Obama taken from an AP photograph.

In the popular musical world, there are “mashup” artists like Girl Talk who take all kinds of different music and mix it together (check out Feed the Animals). However, this is not a new technique as DJ Shadow pioneered this on his critically acclaimed debut album Endtroducing….. in 1996.

This past week, a new website launched that really caught my eye. Thru You is the creation of Israeli musician and producer, Ophir Kutiel, aka Kutiman. He’s taken a number of unrelated YouTube videos and compiled them together to create some really amazing pieces. You just have to see it to get the full effect and I was completely impressed.

Of course, all of these different interpretations of these mediums bring a lot of questions to the surface which I can’t quickly cover here, but like them or not, they are starting to shape the culture that we live in. Feel free to weigh in and share your thoughts!

This Saturday, KU will face North Carolina in their first Final Four appearance since 2003. The excitement has been building here in Lawrence all week and this will either be an amazing, fun-filled weekend, or it’ll be “depression city” for the next few weeks. Let’s hope the Hawks win it all this year!! ROCK CHALK!

UPDATE: What an amazing game! KU over UNC 84-66. Monday night is the championship against Memphis so keep the KU vibes coming!

Went and saw the movie Juno last night and it is wonderful! I highly recommend seeing it. In addition to a sweet story and really great acting, the graphic design work in the movie is awesome! Done by L.A. design firm Shadowplay Studios, it incorporates a lot of hand drawn type set in motion and photocopied imagery. Read an article about the creation of the title sequence.

Another great film with unique motion graphics is a favorite of mine, Stranger Than Fiction. The user-interface based graphics were done by Kansas City’s own MK12. Both are great movies so check them out!

From the website for the movie:

Fall From Grace is the first in-depth documentary feature film to focus on Pastor Fred Phelps and his hate group, and features unprecedented access, interviews with Pastor Phelps and other members of the Westboro Baptist Church. Fall From Grace also includes interviews with the myriad of dissenters: Topeka leaders and officials, ministers, theologians, and two of Pastor Phelps’s adult children who have chosen to leave the church and their family.

The documentary is excellent and gives a very even-handed look at a controversial subject, especially in the state of Kansas. This hate group has given Kansas, and the city of Topeka, a bad reputation nationally and internationally. Ryan spent almost two years with them filming and interviewing both at home and in public and his results are really amazing. So amazing, in fact, that the Showtime channel will be premiering it in December of this year. AND, to coincide with that, Ryan will be featured on the evening news show “20/20″ in the days prior to the premier. He’ll be relocating to New York City in the next few weeks to work on some amazing things, so good luck, Ryan!

For more reading, check out:

The Official Movie site

View the Trailer

Lawrence.com article on Ryan

This is a publicity photo I shot for Ryan. Despite looking quite serious here, Ryan is a really funny and friendly guy.

(This photo is a still from the film.)