Annie’s Christmas Tree

My favorite graphic artist, Annie Atkins, has outdone herself this time.

Taking a break from working for the likes of Wes Anderson and Steven Spielberg, Annie has designed the graphics for the Guinness Storehouse Christmas display. After researching the vast Guinness archives, she incorporated classic motifs into a presentation whose new/old style fits perfectly with the brewery’s heritage as well as displaying Annie’s aesthetic.

Annie has a Twitter feed that she uses sparingly to announce her current projects but if that’s not enough for your ‘Annie needs’ you can see her work in cinemas (if they haven’t been shut down again) currently or on streaming in The French Dispatch and the new West Side Story (note the ‘hero prop’ in the WSS trailer at the 1:01 mark.)

Here is a shot of the Guinness “tree”:

Images: Guinness Brewery

Annie Update

My favorite ex-blogger and graphic designer for major motion pictures, Annie Atkins, has been busy even in these Covid-challenged times.

Here is over an hour of her chatting with Creative Boom’s Katy Cowan. It gives a good overview of her career, including snippets about what she’s been working on lately (Spielberg’s West Side Story and Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch) and how her life has changed over the years.

It has been wonderful to see how her life has developed since she dropped in to an unsuspecting Flippist World Headquarters over twelve years ago (Annie pictured at right at a 2008 Halloween dance) Her thick Welsh accent is almost gone, she has published books and she is at the pinnacle of her profession! Her greatest accomplishment, however, is that she is now a mother—with another baby due in June!

Way to go Annie!

Annie’s Nicer Tuesday on a Friday

A wonderful interview with FITK’s favorite graphic designer for film (Wes Anderson, Steven Speilbeg), Annie Atkins, has been posted on YouTube. Her vivacious charm and artistic intelligence is shown over the duration of a half-hour Zoom meeting with Matt Alagiah, editor-in-chief of It’s Nice That, a graphics art-themed website. Alas, due to legal reasons there are no teasers from the upcoming The French Dispatch or the new West Side Story, but for me its always to see Annie and hear her speak about her passion.

The Halloween Visitor

Halloween brought a friendly spirit to Flippist World Headquarters: Annie Rhiannon (Atkins).

Arriving via Amtrak, Annie's charm eclipsed any ill effects from her all-night train ride. After a hearty breakfast, we all crashed for a bit. Awakening refreshed, we were ready for an afternoon spent exploring the wilds of Anoka, Minnesota, the city that is home to Flippist World Headquarters.



Come nightfall, hordes of trick-or-treaters came to the door, whom we obliged with pounds of candy (after all, Anoka is the Halloween Capitol of the World™.) When the kids were finished it was time to hit the highways, destination: HOLLYWOOD! Not that Hollywood, but the "Hollywood Sports Complex," a roadhouse in the country, 30 miles west of Minneapolis. When we got there it seemed as if everybody had read Annie's blog…



The band dedicated a song to Annie by that noted "Welsh" singer
Joe Cocker. Annie seemed most pleased to "Keep Her Hat On."



A surprise visit from a celebrity enlivened the band's performance…



By the end of the night everyone was dancing:



AND A SPLENDID TIME WAS HAD BY ALL!

The Ultimate Christmas Present?

Letters From the North Pole

A Christmas book by Annie Atkins with illustrations by Fia Tobig

A definite first—a review of a children’s book on FITK!

Simply put, this is a beautiful creation. Five children from around the world write to Santa asking for various yet-to-be-invented toys for Christmas. The book contains those letters and Santa’s replies, each in a separate envelope. Although it may sound as if it may be a bit too charming it is, in fact, over-the-top charming. Get it and read it to a child between 3 and 5 years old. Also available in French!

It’s adorbs.

Disclosure: Annie and I go waaay back together from her blog days almost twenty years ago. She even visited Flippist World Headquarters once, long before she made her mark designing graphics for Wes Anderson and Steven Spielberg.

UPDATE: Letters has been shortlisted for the British Book Awards.

Annie's Triumph

Fox Searchlight Pictures

Annie Rhiannon Atkins, my old blog-pal, has been in the news lately.  She was the lead graphic designer for the new Wes Anderson film The Grand Budapest Hotel and is now the subject of an article in the UK publication The Independent (scroll down for image gallery), featured in interviews at the the prowlster, Nylon Magazine, Totally Dublin, as well as an extended piece on the IFTN site. It's great to see her years of hard work being recognized on the world stage. I can hardly wait to see it (opening today in New York and LA; other US cities on the 14th). Close-ups of Annie's graphics start at about the 2:20 mark:



All of the film's graphic elements were "touched" by Annie's genius in some way:


Fox Searchlight Pictures


I really, really, want one of those boxes!

Ten Years Ago on FITK

Annie’s Triumph


Fox Searchlight Pictures

Annie Rhiannon Atkins, my old blog-pal, has been in the news lately.

She was the lead graphic designer for the new Wes Anderson film The Grand Budapest Hotel and is now the subject of an article in the UK publication The Independent (scroll down for image gallery), featured in an interview at Totally Dublin, as well as an extended piece on the IFTN site. It's great to see her years of hard work being recognized on the world stage. I can hardly wait to see it (opening today in New York and LA; other US cities on the 14th). Close-ups of Annie's graphics start at about the 2:20 mark:



All of the film's graphic elements were "touched" by Annie's genius in some way:


Fox Searchlight Pictures


I really, really, want one of those boxes!

French Connections

A three-fer today!

A trio of films I’ve seen in the last two weeks each of which is set in France in the 1960s:

The French Dispatch
A film by Wes Anderson, 2021

I’ve never seen anything quite like it.

There are three extended ‘magazine articles’ as well as bridging segments, all of which take place in France in the 1960s. Grounded by scenes in the office of The French Dispatch, a Sunday supplement of the fictional Liberty Kansas Evening Sun, it would be a sin to give spoilers to any of the stories. Part of the joy of the film is watching it for the first time with no preconceived notions. What I will tell you is that the production design, as is usual for a WA film, is completely over-the-top. My old blog-pal Annie Atkins did many of the text graphics:

There is a full movie’s worth of characters in each segment; Tilda Swinton’s art historian is most notable, but everyone is great. I know I’ll be watching this film again and again:

And now, my second ‘French Connection’:

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
A film by Jacques Demy, 1964

Another movie that has to be seen to be believed, also set in France in the 1960s, but this time in a real city.

All of the dialog is sung to the classic score by Michel Legrand. It is the story of a star-crossed young lovers coping with the obstacles that life throws their way. If you are sentimental, make sure you have a box of tissues with you when you watch. I won’t spoil this one either; instead I’ll mention Demy’s outrageous and sure-handed use of set design. I’m sure that Wes Anderson has seen this movie many times as it explores color palettes that even Wes would be afraid to use. If that isn’t enough of a recommendation, it stars a young Catherine Denueve:

She’s got ‘the look’:

Although it may look as if it is a bit of cinematic fluff the film is actually quite serious, especially in its the conversations with Denueve’s character and her mother which are agonizing and realistic. This film certainly passes the Bechdel Test.

Paris Blues
A film by Martin Ritt (1961):

This is another film stuffed with style.

The moody black and white location cinematography is augmented by a Duke Ellington score (and glorious cameos by Louis Armstrong). A pair of expat musicians (Sidney Poitier and Paul Newman) who play in a trés cool basement jazz club find their career paths derailed by the arrival of two American women (Diahann Carroll and Joanne Woodward):

This would be standard Rom-Com fare except for the racial themes that form a subtext for the movie. Another twist is that Woodward’s character, who first appears as a Doris Day type, is actually a single mother of two and has no qualms about her sexual desires towards Newman. The four principals have an interlocked relationship, indeed, Poitier and Newman have sort of a man-love thing going while Carroll and Woodward have a genuine friendship:

The big difference between Paris Blues and the other two is that it is not the product of a singular vision like Anderson’s or Demy’s. Instead it is a film-by-committee that took the source material (a 1957 book by Harold Flender) and watered it down; three screenwriters and a book adaptation were credited and the script was further tampered with by studio executives. Originally the two couples were to be mixed-race—still too controversial for American audiences—even if it was set in France. The dialog is also a bit disjointed at times; you would think that with all the writers it had it could sound more realistic. The sprinkling of 50s hipster patios coming from Newman is exceptionally awkward. The music, while well done, is in the style of the 1940s, creating an additional cultural dissonance. There is also reference to cocaine use by one of the band members but with symptoms more in line with heroin addiction. There is also a touch of homosexual jealousy between Newman’s character and a band-mate.

This film is a real curio and lesser than the sum of its parts. In some ways its realistic setting set against its dramatic content makes it more of a fantasy than the other two films!

2020 Vision

After an extended absence, Madame Tara returns with this look at

            The Future!

IN THE YEAR 2020…


Elon Musk will release consumer jet-packs, sold with a matching flame-thrower. In a related story, the entire State of California is consumed by wildfire.

Amazon will introduce “Smart-alec” furniture, including a chair that will say “Oof!” when you sit on it and then spout disparaging comments about your weight while it sends information to weight-loss programs that will cause its offers to appear on your digital devices, as well as ads for junk food.

Professor Batty will sell his Flippism is the Key website to a consortium of investors who will then turn it into a multi-platform computer game. It sells 37 copies.

President Mike Pence, in a surprise move, does not pardon Donald Trump. In another, possibly related, move he has a private dinner with Melania Trump.

In the span of a week, Hurricanes Priscilla, Quentin and Reggie effectively wipe Mar-a-Lago off the map. “It’s all Obama’s fault,” tweets ex-president Trump from his prison cell.

Kanye West, vacationing in a North Korean insane asylum, calls the hurricanes “More of that B_____ Taylor Swift’s witchcraft.”

Facebook announces its “FB+” service that not only improves your posts, it creates entirely new ones from the data it stores about you.

Facebook announces its “Super FB+” service: a FB account for every man woman and child on earth, with content supplied by Facebook. It is not possible to opt out.

Professor Batty options Flippism is the Key to Wes Anderson, who turns it into The Royal Grand Life of the Fantastic Mr. Flip. It stars Bill Murray as Professor Batty, Angelica Houston as The Weaver, Bob Balaban as Jono, Scarlett Johansson as Shoshanah, Emma Stone as Sharon Spotbottom, and Annie Atkins as herself. JFDR composes the soundtrack. It grosses $300,000,000. Batty receives only $200 and a mention in IMBD.

Thanks Madame T, we’ll be checking back with you in…

                The Future!

Milestone

Any excuse for a party.

This blog is “officially” ten years old today (actually it started in April, 2004, but those early experiments have long been deleted.) With over two thousand original posts by yours truly along with dozens of contributions by others and reposts. As my late mother used to say to me: “What's the matter with you?” I had no answer then, nor will I offer one now.

While I can’t guarantee another ten years, I will do all I can to finish the serial fiction. In the mean time, who knows?  Revisiting the neglected Flippist Archives for sure.  Another visit to Iceland (in the summer of 2015) is looking likely. I will definitely be in the Mt. Horeb area this fall, and a jaunt to the BWCAW isn’t out of the question for this summer, either.

Thanks for the support! Everyone who has contributed, commented and even visited Flippist World Headquarters (tours available!) has expanded my world immeasurably. I've enjoyed reading all the books published by the bloggers I have been following: Annie Atkins' To the Left of the Midwest, Maria Alva Roff's 88, Shoshanah's (Ex)hausted, and several titles by Alda Sigmondsdóttir. Look for a review of her novel Unraveled Wednesday.

And, finally, here's a big 'takk' to Auður. Without her initial (and continuing) inspiration there would have never been a Flippism is the Key. 

Palettes

Everett/REX Shutterstock

It has been a while since the Professor has posted about movies. It isn't that I haven't seen any lately, it's just that I haven't seen many that were exceptional enough to comment on.

The Todd Haynes film Carol is, indeed, exceptional. Todd Haynes makes very stylish movies, from his Douglas Sirk inspired Far From Heaven, with its deep psychological color schemes, to his film I'm Not There, where he gave each of the six or seven Bob Dylans in it a completely different "look". His latest film, made from the 1952 Patricia Highsmith novel, is a love story between a shop-girl/photographer and a wealthy woman who is in the middle of a divorce. I must remark on the stunning cinematography by the great Ed Lachman, as well as the production design by Judy Becker. The early fifties never looked so true (and yes, I can remember them) especially the department store sequences and the pre-modern decor. All of this worked in support of the very delicate play of emotions between the two main characters—a showcase of of subtle acting.

Jim Jarmusch gives us a different look in his 2013 vampire film Only Lovers Left Alive:


RPC

Kind of silly, this film explores the notion that ageless vampires are cultural connoisseurs, a lot of time is spent prowling the streets of modern Detroit, a metaphor for a collapsing society. The always great Tilda Swinton is magnificent as Eve, while Tom Hiddlestons Adam is suitably dark. Lots of fabulous vintage guitars and electronics. The great John Hurt portrays a 500-year old vampire Christopher Marlowe, still kvetching about how Shakespeare stole his work!

Sometimes films get lost in the shuffle and are hard to find. After browsing my usual haunts for a cheap copy I finally broke down and purchased a new copy of Robert Altman's seriously deranged 1977 masterpiece 3 Women :


Lion's Gate Films

Shelley Duvall and Sissy Spacek reach the highest levels of absurd realism in this strange story of personality-transfer. More great color motifs going on here, as well as great art design and really, really creepy murals by Bodhi Wind.

As long as I'm on Shelly Duvall and Robert Altman, we recently re-watched Popeye (The Weaver's favorite film.)  Robin Williams does a great Popeye and Shelly Duvall, in the role of a lifetime, is Olive Oyl. The Harry Nilsson soundtrack is a little weak at times but, I have to admit, for a colorful comic-strip movie it is pretty entertaining:


Paramount Pictures

It has an insanely great comic-riffing scene between Popeye and Poop-deck Pappy (Ray Walston).

On a whole different plane (a spy-plane?) is Steven Spielberg's cold war legal procedural Bridge of Spies. Set in the early sixties, it is a much more somber mood-piece:


Walt Disney Films

Scenes of men in suits in courtrooms offer a limited palette to be sure, and the murky photography (Janusz Kaminski) and period-correct production design (Adam Stockhausen, supplemented with the graphic design of Annie Atkins) gives a result that is not what one would call "festive." This kind of movie-making is like a BIG MACHINE with lots of power, running on a very high level, although the story is a bit slow. Tom Hanks is perfectly cast but I'm still not quite convinced of the genius of Mark Rylance. The Coen Brothers worked on the dialog; it helped keep this film from becoming a pedantic bore. Spielberg can make movies like this in his sleep.

Speaking of the Brothers Coen, Hail, Caesar! will be out next week. I'll be sure to review that one:


Working Title Productions

Downside

Flippist World Headquarters, June, 2016

What the hell am I doing?

This thought comes to me fairly often when writing blog-posts. Looking back over the last 12 years at Flippism is the Key, I am struck at how things have changed, yet remain the same. The blogosphere was a wild and woolly place then, with numerous confessional and extremely personal sites where the anonymous nature of this form of self publishing encouraged open expression. Whether any of it was any good, or had lasting value, is still to be determined. One hundred years from now will any of it be preserved? There have been a few notable blogs which have inspired movies, and numerous ones which have been the foundations for books. But there has, right from the start, been a parallel blog-culture of crass and unfettered commercialism: Blogs incorporating product placement in an effort to make money.

Josi Denise was a self-described ‘Mommy Blogger’ who ruthlessly built up a mini-empire around her now-defunct site, The American Mama. She recently wrote an extended piece concerning her activities with the site and why she shut it down. It is long, but worth reading. The article's conclusion is brutal:

What could you be doing instead of writing your shitty mommy blog? Would you spend an extra hour in the morning cuddling with your toddler? Would you read some intellectual books or find a hobby? Go back to school and launch a career? Would you leave your marriage? Would you travel? Would you lose weight and be more active? Would you make some new friends you actually enjoy talking to? What hole are you trying to fill by calling yourself a blogger?

Just quit. Quit now before you get burnt out and feel guilty. Quit before you realize you wasted years of your life writing bullshit about your kids’ childhood and your relationships instead of being actually involved. Quit before you get caught up in some legal mess with a brand contract and your house is cluttered with shit to review that you do not need and nobody else needs either. Quit before you feel like a failure instead of finding the intersection of happy and fulfilled.

Quit because your mommy blog fucking sucks. And it’s not going to get better. There are probably a dozen things you are actually good at.

Find what you love, and what you do better than anyone else, and do that.

Sincerely,

A former typical ‘mommy blogger’ whose blog sucked just as bad as yours

Whew.

At times I have been guilty of devoting too much time to FITK, but not for those reasons. The personal blogs I still read all have a component of being complete in themselves—that is to say they aren't shilling for someone else in an attempt to make money. They usually aren't masterpieces of literature (although Annie Atkins' Pinch of Salt came pretty close), but they do have real value and have given meaning and insight into my life. Many of them have ‘birthed‘ books; some have even become successful businesses without compromising their passion.

They're listed on the links in the sidebar, under “People.”

My "Welcome" page has this disclaimer:

Flippism is The Key is not affiliated with any commercial, religious or political organization. No money or other tangible asset has ever been received for the mention of or linking to of any product or service.

Just so you know where I'm coming from…

Icelandic Stories

Over the last few months I've been discovering (and rediscovering) some Icelandic sites and blogs; all of them telling stories- each in their own fashion:

Reading in Reykjavík, by "Bibliophile" is a first-rate book blog with a twist- every Friday she posts an Icelandic folk tale and encourages readers to retell it in their own words, helping to keep the oral tradition of these stories alive. Check out her other blogs too- her food blog is wonderful.

Midnight Shoveler is the blog of Nathan Hall, a composer and Fulbright scholar, on a fellowship in Iceland. Great coverage of the classical scene, especially choirs, along with general trips around the rock.

The Dog-Days Queen is Abi Cooper, a young woman from Somerset who is a rabid Halldór Laxness fan and lives and works in Reykjavík. Lots of photos and stories of her adventures.

I've been following Maria Roff's Iceland Eyes for almost 7 years now, she's recently redone her award-winning blog, including a dynamic view option. Years of posts, photos, and links make this one of the most informative blogs about Iceland. A must for someone thinking about a visit.

The Welsh/Irish artist Annie Atkins has been mentioned here many times, the Little Pinch of Salt is one of the few blogs you can read from beginning to end- just like a novel. She's back in Iceland for a little while, the first link is a good example of her elegant, bittersweet writing style, the second displays some of her photographic talent.

Last, but certainly not least, is I Heart Reykjavík, a new web site by Auður Ösp, offering pictures and short stories about the sights and "scenes" in Iceland's biggest city. Auður has a "wealth" of knowledge about the city and expresses herself with a quirky writing style with a perspective you'll seldom find in a guide book. She's worked in the travel industry for years.

Suicide Tourist

The Professor is out west, acting the tourist. Here is a story about a a different type of tourist, from 2008:

It was a strange confession.

Our house guest was from Ireland, she was pausing for a couple days rest and recreation from her epic “To the Left of the Midwest” sojourn. She had been in a rut and decided that this change of scenery would be just the thing needed to open her perspective on the world. Over dinner we had been talking about the trip—it had been a rousing success so far—but she seemed a little bothered when talking about her stay in Seattle.

“One thing was really weird… Oh god, I actually WENT to Kurt & Courtney’s house. I sat outside on the bench and looked at the garage where they took that picture of his leg sticking out, then I felt a bit silly and left again.”

“His death really affected our boys too, but they didn’t talk about it much; I do remember them being very quiet,” I replied.

“I cried for about six months after he died. My parents were surprisingly patient for the first week or so: I remember my mum hugging me on the edge of my bed and my dad coming up the stairs with two mugs of tea, mumbling ‘what exactly is it that’s happened again?‘ I would have given ANYTHING to be at the vigil they had in Seattle when he died… Although not really, as when my rebellious friend suggested that we ‘fly over there’ I just said ‘… er, I don’t think my mum would let me’. I was fourteen.”

“Was your pilgrimage the final stage of grief?” I asked.

“No, I was just a suicide tourist.”

A real life story, augmented with material taken from the essay Well, what, nevermind by Annie Atkins in The Anti Room , September 26, 2011.

The ABC's of FITK

About once a year I do a post about some of the links which I have recently discovered. As the my use of internet develops, it seems that there are three distinct types of sites: Aggregators, Blogs, and Curiosities.

Aggregators are the "big guys"- sites with multiple sources of information, medium and long form stories, essays and thought-pieces. The news organizations (NYT, BBC, HuffPo) have this format, although bigger isn't always better. Some of the newer, smaller ones I frequent are:

Thought Catalog, irreverent pop and serious culture, a little trashy at times, but definitely has a different mix.

The Browser, better than average writing about a host of topics.

Death and Taxes, unashamedly trashy but has some substance, coming from a younger perspective.

Design Observer, exactly what the title suggests. More readable than most design sites, numerous articles and features, not academic at all.

Blogs are usually "the little guys", but they offer the best showcase for personal expression, here are a few of my latest finds:

Beauty is a Sleeping Cat by "Caroline", is a great book/film review blog with lots of in-depth reviews of a variety of higher-level fiction and cinema.

Enthusiasms, by "Simen", wildly diverse, stream of consciousness essays almost daily.

yowayowa camera woman diary is a text-less series of photos of "levitations", could be a storyboard for a strange Japanese art-film.

The Style Rookie, Tavi Gevinson's teen-age fashion blog. I've written about her before, this is simply a great, great blog.

Finally, we come to that catch-all category of Curiosities. Blogs which simply exist to gather odd bits of information. There are millions of these, most are stupefyingly inane, but a few are curated to a higher plane:

TYWKIWDBI by "Minnesotastan" might just be the best of these, lots of obscure things, most of which I haven't already seen.

things magazine is basically just a list of interesting sites coupled with very brief descriptions and a minimal use of images. Quantity over quality, updated almost daily, but always pushing the envelope.

L'aquoiboniste by "Roller Girl" is an image blog: old prints, film stills, drawings, photos, all very evocative.

One final note: Annie Atkins, my favorite Welsh/Icelandic/Irish blogger is now in Tibet and posting words and pictures almost daily. We all can use a little vicarious vacation now and then.

The Death of Film Criticism

Annie Atkins.com

                       The Grand Budapest Hotel

I braved yet another cold, gray, late-winter day to catch Wes Anderson's latest film, The Grand Budapest Hotel. Being the center of an almost religious cult of fans has its drawbacks—the true believers become insufferable and the haters gotta hate something. It is a most unfortunate situation. The film itself is magnificent in almost every aspect: direction, cinematography, actors, music, art and graphic design (it could be a textbook!), with a madcap plot and even subtle historical allegories. What's not to like?

The problem for me was that the build up to the film was so dramatic and pervasive (thanks to the internet and its army of film reviewers) that what should have been a joyous trip of discovery was diminished by overexposure. It's my own fault, and I knew it going in. There was so much information on the internet, so much really fun eye candy and provocative writing available, that I felt powerless to resist its allure. It was something of an experiment (read as: rationalization) to see just how far I could go with it. I went too far. I almost wish I had known nothing about it before I saw it.

So, I learned my lesson. No more film criticism, no more “b-rolls” and “making of” features, no YouTube clips or multiple trailers on upcoming movies. I’ll try to go in cold, without conscious (or sub-conscious) prejudices, an open mind and heart and hope for the best—at least as far as Wes Anderson is concerned. All these previews and reviews didn’t ruin the film for me (it’s a hoot!) but they did take away some of the surprise and awe.

I’m already looking forward to see it again.