Even if you have no opinion on Lana Del Rey or anything else, this is a great/worthwhile read. Do it. →
One novel I really adore is Manuel Puig’s Kiss of the Spider Woman. It’s about two prisoners, in Argentina, sharing a cell: Molina’s there because he’s gay, and accused of corrupting a minor; Valentin’s there because he’s a leftist revolutionary. Through most of the novel, Molina is recounting to Valentin, from memory, the plots of films he loves. He has a keen memory for the sensual, glamorous, swooning side of them.
One of the films he recounts is, essentially, a Nazi propaganda thriller, and he describes the things in it the way the film sees them — at some point, he’s describing all the beautiful, masculine German soldiers marching through Paris. This annoys Valentin, who challenges him on it. And Molina’s answer, as I remember it, is to just let the issue pass for a moment, and appreciate the type of beauty that this film, right or wrong, is trying to offer at that moment.
And that issue, the thing that’s contested between them at that moment, has more to do with “camp” than laughing at things because you think they’re bad — to me, camp is always about seeing some overblown proposition of what beauty is, and knowing that the fundamentals behind it, the belief system it grew out of, is defunct or rotten or collapsed. It’s like a touchingly grand expression of a belief that has no worthwhile purchase on the world.
Now click through to read the whole thing.
Fresh off his success with Buzz Spillman, Kevin returns to the Photoshop game with SPILLEX.
I work with the most talented people, y’all.
Attention Designers! GroupMe is Hiring!
We are a small, passionate team of dedicated people working on a product that we love. We spend our days in a sunlight-filled loft near Union Square in Manhattan. At night, we sing karaoke sometimes. Basically, we love our jobs, and we have a lot of fun doing them.
We are looking for someone with ambition, confidence, bold opinions, and talent, whose primary responsibilities will involve collaborating with our designers and engineers in order to flesh out product ideas from early wireframes and sketches to pixel-perfect final designs.
In addition, responsibilities will include supporting other departments in all design functions: presentations, spreadsheets, marketing materials, whatever. You should feel comfortable working on multiple projects simultaneously under tight deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
Applicants should have an online portfolio that includes work that is beautiful and usable, demonstrating a love for tight detailing and impeccable typography. Ideally, it should show off your work in a range of platforms (web, mobile, tablets, print) and applications (sites, apps, branding, marketing). Any coding experience would be a major plus, as well as any motion graphics, video editing, or illustration skills.
We can’t wait to see what you have to show us!
Send your work to kevin@groupme.com
And here is the Notre Dame with a double rainbow behind it. You have to trust me about the second one. (Taken with instagram)
I’m on top of a mountain. No filter. (Taken with instagram)
Beer in the airport. Here three hours early. Wooooo. (Taken with Instagram at Boston Beer Works Terminal E)
