Ingmar Bergman: Goes commercial



A series of Swedish soap commercials made by Ingmar Bergman in 1951. (This is a repost)

Via the one and only Mr Josephzohn (not Erland)


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Ingmar Bergman: Demonology

Demonology. There has over the years been a lot of talk about demons in connexion with Bergman. In early days it was mostly because of his great demands on actors and other personnel that he was named a "Demon director". Later on it was his own demons - his fears - that he showed on the screen and sometimes talked about.

The little drawn devil that Bergman used to "brand" documents with.


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Ingmar Bergman: Playing chess with death

A church painting from late 15th century depicting a man playing chess with death. The painting which is found in Täby church in Sweden was made by a painter or rather a painting company lead by a man they called Albertus Pictor.

This was of course one of the major sources of inspiration for Bergman's world famous image of Death.

An old post, another parody.

Ingmar Bergman: Chessmate

Foto: Louis Huch © AB Svensk Filmindustri

Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007)

died this morning.

"ANTONIUS BLOCK
Nothing escapes you -- or does it?

DEATH
Nothing escapes me. No one escapes from me."


Ingmar Bergman Face to Face

Also, to brighten up this sad day watch this funny Bergman parody called De Düva.

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Blogger: Hey! I've got a cloud!

Do you also think that the list of labels that Blogger offers is boring? And have you also jealously been admiring some of those neat tag clouds out there? Do you also consider yourself as, more or less, ignorant when it comes to changing codes to make your blog look nice? Don't worry. I managed to create a tag cloud and so can you. Just take some time (maybe an hour or so), copy your blog code for backup and follow the instructions carefully.

Oh and yes, I will place the cloud at the bottom of the blog as soon as I have shown it off a bit (it's there now) ;)

Thanks to Bibi for boosting my confidence!

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Ephemera: Volvo booklet










The other day
I found a nice vintage Volvo promotional booklet in a thrift store/nostalgia store. The booklet is from the late 50s and written in English. It definitely is promotional material targeting the American market. We follow the American couple Philip and Janis Benson on their trip to "Volvoland" - Sweden.

"They love their Volvo. Every day they get a thrill out of its wonderful driving characteristics - its roadability, convenience, comfort, pick-up, the way it "parks on a dime," and above all, the honest quality built into every inch. They often wondered, "How can a car be this good?" When Phil Benson, instructor at the University of Minnesota, received a year's fellowship from the American-Scandinavian Foundation to study theater in Sweden, he and Janis thought, "Aha! Sweden - now we can drop in and find out what's behind VOLVO QUALITY"















I have made a pdf document (58,9 Mb) out of the whole booklet. You'll find it here (MegaUpload), here (DivShare) or here (Files-Upload)
The file is in rar format and the password is: martinklasch

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Illustration: School book stickers

If I had a kid (or knew one) of the right age and if I, or rather the kid, was anglophone there would be absolutely no reason left not to get these print out school book stickers (pdf)! They are illustrated by the brilliant French illustrator Marc Boutavant whom I have briefly covered before. I sure wish his children's books would be published in my language!


The stickers link was found at The Small Objects, worth a post or two of its own (coming!). Actually it was found at its old address.

PS. I wonder if this Japanese commercial is made by Boutavant...

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Art: How about getting an owl?


"Friend Owl" silk screen paper print by Heather Amuny-Dey can be ordered here.


Via Design Milk


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Blog: I'm Learning To Share!


A little bit of everything
with a taste of yesterdays - visit I'm Learning To Share!

There is no way you'll be disappointed at these great shares.

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Fun: I was going to recommend you...

...to visit this picture thread (LOL80s) where quite outrageous pictures of 80s pop bands are shown; what 80s pop band didn't look outrageous?! However, the main idea seems to be attaching a "funny" little text to them and I think it ruins the whole thing. Why can't they get that the pictures are funny as they are? So I won't recommend it, but sure do swing by if you have nothing better to do! ;)

By the way, name the band. Anyone?



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Art & illustration: Mope the Onion & Company




Have you seen Dan Goodsells parade of mini watercolors? No? They are really charming and they are displayed on his Flickr site so why not pop over there and have look.



It's been raining all day so I kind of feel like Mope the Onion... waiting...





Dan Goodsells blog: a sampler of things
His personal art site: The World of Mr Toast
...and: Tick Tock Toys

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FYI: mod*mom is getting a make over! (edit)

No, the excellent blog does not need a make over! OK, here's the deal: mod*mom thinks she needs a make over and she's among the final few to win one (over here). If you know her stylish blog you might also know that she has been fighting breast cancer for a while now. So if she says she needs a make over I'll believe her.


UPDATE:
Voting is over - MOD*MOM WON!!



Thanks for voting for her!

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Le Jukebox Français 4: Sylvie Vartan

Le Jukebox Français is back! As if you would care! Anyhow, this time it's finally time for a lady. She is one of the most famous yé-yé girls and her name is Sylvie Vartan.








Other artists found in Le Jukebox Français:
Michel Fugain
Jacques Dutronc
Michael Polnareff



Thanks to the artist and to those who uploaded the videos to YouTube!


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Vintage ads: Take me to the cleaners!









Vintage cleaners ads
from public transport in Stockholm. Click the images to enlarge!

From a book called Reklam i rörelse (Advertisment in motion) published by Trafik-Nostalgiska Förlaget (in Swedish)
Buy "Reklam i rörelse"
here. It's a great book with loads of images and it only costs about eight bucks!!

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Animation: Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed



"Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed, aka The Adventures of Prince Achmed, (1926): directed by Lotte Reiniger and Carl Koch, with the collaboration of Berthold Bartosch and Walter Ruttmann, based on the character Prince Ahmed, from the book 1001 Arabian Nights."

"It is the oldest surviving feature-length animated film, and it featured a silhouette animation technique Reiniger had invented..."

I would have had to post about ten images from this movie to give you an idea of how brilliant it is; it must be seen. Now it has been made possible by Videos with Bibi.

UPDATE:
This video is unfortunately no longer available. You have to be quick when things like this comes along!

UPDATE:
Stephen of ASIFA wrote to remind us of these articles:
Reiniger's Adventures of Prince Achmed Part One
Reiniger's Adventures of Prince Achmed Part Two

Thanks!


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Arboriculture: About a tree

Immanuel Kant - the famous philosopher - was born in the East Prussian capital Königsberg (Koenigsberg). He allegedly never traveled more than a 100 miles from his hometown and died there in 1804. Around that time a tree was born in Königsberg. It is still standing - in Kaliningrad - the administrative center of the Russian exclave Kaliningrad. However, you might say it uses some help standing up...(more)


(You might say this post didn't have much to to with arboriculture. You'd be right of course. The drawing was found here.)


UPDATE:

About "Kant" check this old post out!


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Fact: I hate memes


I recieved a mail from Lex10 - the GlyphJockey. It read:

"C'mon
1. only eat GOAT cheese.
2. Pictures? I actaully hate pictures.
3. Klasch is really spelled Clash

etc etc.

wanna do the 8 random facts?
I hate the concept too, but you, I trust"


Well, well, dear Lex10, you think you can trust me do you? This is my answer:

"I hate the concept too..." will be the only fact coming out of me I'm afraid. * (1.) If I started the blog today I would possibly call it "I hate memes". (2) 'Cause I do. I'm honored (3) (though I'm not sure why) that you tagged me but I hate you - mildly ;) - for it. You are not totally misinformed about the goat cheese - I do love cheese. (4) My favorites are Italian and Spanish ones like Parmesan, Pecorino Romano and Manchego. No. I don't hate pictures (5). Not the painted ones, not the moving ones, not the drawn ones, not the photoed ones. Many of them are dear friends of mine. Some of them can be found on Musselsoppans Vänner. Martin Klasch is spelled Martin Klasch (6). I'm not Martin Klasch. Who is Martin Klasch? Who is P-E Fronning? He is me (7). Or is he? If he is, who is he? * I am a contradiction (8).


This is was not the first meme "questionnaire" I've gotten. I have not answered any yet. I have not forwarded any yet. I'm not about to start now. I can not deny that I feel honored getting them but, for me, they usually take to much time and effort to answer. And the forwarding part- chain letter style - I especially don't like. So, know this: P-E Fronning of Martin Klasch is a boring bastard who hates memes but loves the people who sends them.

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