Now that they shoot Stella McCartney’s parties, the Magnolia Photo Booth Co. is getting some well-deserved attention for their most entertaining booth and prop setup. But in-person enjoyment aside (and they have booths in my favorite American locales: the Bay Area, Chicagoland, my home state of Ohio, and Austin), their retro-themed website designed by Ty Kreft was what first compelled us to have them at our most recent Ignite event.
In identifying their aesthetic, the Magbooth team scoured images of old photo booths and tried to update the purposely cluttered text they saw for their own branding and collateral. A white-washed vintage feel compliments a primary set of colors selected from a WW1 poster. The company, which is unabashedly looking to become “the premier photo booth company in the western world,” started touring with a brick red booth after building one for a house party. Co-owner/frontiersman Peter Tower, who engineered the booth’s structure, said a sleeker-looking booth and site were developed to convey an older quality feel for a company that operates digitally.
While the cover promises contributions from Judd Apatow, Zach Galifianakis and Sarah Silverman, the new collection You’re a Horrible Person, but I Like You: The Believer Book of Advicealso includes the work of notable local writer Daniel Handler.The Lemony Snicket author joined Eugene Mirman and other comedians who participated in the project for a helluva book reading at the JCCSF this week as part of Litquake’s programming. I’ve long enjoyed both the literary fest and The Believer magazine’s column with advice that is simultaneously mis-directed and hilarious; the book resulted from the contributions provided when original question answerer Amy Sedaris became too busy for monthly advising. And, while the crew assembled includes laughter-makers Aziz Ansari and Janeane Garofolo (whose Atlas Shrugged observations in the book are not to be missed), the original antithesis to Emily Post deserves recognition for her work on the “Sedaratives” column:
Dear Amy: I’ve been single for about a year now, after a long-term relationship fizzled. All of a sudden, I’m starting to get those co-dependency urges again. Should I suppress these unwanted feelings without the use of pills or alcohol?
Though sorry to miss it at Sundance, I was happy to catch Exit Through the Gift Shop at the Victoria Theatre as part of a special mid-week screening by Upper Playground. “The Banksy movie” drew a fair number of art students who, though they bore chicer haircuts than my own, nonetheless seemed to be in agreement that the film was startlingly funny. (And refreshing: last year’s premier of Untitled poked a similarly enjoyable laugh at the expense of the art market.)
The international street art man of mystery comes across as surprisingly accessible through the lens of the bizarre French videographer-turned-art-attempter Mr. Brainwash, whose website being two months overdue seems to fit the chaotic persona shown in the documentary. Another subject of the film, Shepard Fairey, expresses his confusion over the engigmatic “MBW” who shot his exploits for years, and his observations are not to be missed. The film begins screening at the Embarcadero cinemas on Friday.
After mutual pal (and art director extraordinaire) Crystal English introduced me to non-profit promotions pro Wendy MacNaughton, I spent more time than I care to admit pouring over her illustrations of her fellow public transportation passengers en route to and home from work (and there’s a big difference in the way they carry themselves depending on destination, the urban observer says).
After being initially intrigued by the ways beards sit on people’s faces, she started sketching in pen while on the BART and bus before painting at home from memory. Not starting the project while she lived in New York and missing the morning chance to catch up on news may be minor lost opportunities, but the daily ritual has created a form of safe intimacy that makes time spent commuting downtown from Potrero Hill less isolating. Ninety percent of the people who notice her drawing them smile or blush–that is, before they put their sunglasses on.
Tal Flanchraych, co-founder of the startup Cabulous, sat down (in vehicle) with VidSF and I to share the taxi hailing iPhone app that’s looking to change the way cab transportation happens in cities. This is the latest video in Women 2.0′s In Conversation series, and, as always, recommendations for can’t-miss interviewees are considered and appreciated.
In paying an inaugural visit to the SOMA offices of the online ticketing service Eventbrite, I was struck not only by their office arrangement (a corner space that could have gone to the co-founders was turned into a Zen room to allow the president to sit at a table next to the newest employee) and caffeine setup (including the largest Ritual Roasters’ bean bags I’ve seen) but by the orange integration throughout. It’s fitting given the geometrically-inclined launch of the company’s logo and homepage refresh by designer/creative director Tricia Choi.
In talking about the importance of creating a lil’ magic before people gather for an event, marketing director Tamara Mendelsohn (she of the branded chocolate bars for staff, above) said, “We wanted to bring this to life with the new homepage and showcase the breadth of events on Eventbrite—from cooking classes to tattoo conferences, concerts to fundraisers.”
Recently VidSF and I had the opportunity to talk with Sharon Vosmek, the CEO of Astia and a longtime supporter of Women 2.0′s workin encouraging leadership of high growth startups, about her organization’s work to fuel innovation in the countries where it works. Offices have recently been added in six Indian cities by the non-profit that started with networks in the US and the UK:
Vosmek will be speaking with Women 2.0′s Baat Enosh and She’s Geeky’s Kaliya Hamlin this Sunday about “Technology, Gender, & the Future of Women in Bay Area Industry” at the Concourse Exhibition Center. If they provide insight on Illuminate Ventures’ recent research about high-tech companies run by women being more capital-efficient, it shouldn’t be missed.
This weekend the Mason Street gallery Medicine Agency will begin showingThe Tenderloin Project, a set of photographs of neighborhood residents by Sean Desmond and other collaborators, before it heads to NY and LA. The black and white work is often devastating and always striking, and silk-screened prints of Mike Giant’s work shown in development here will be sold starting tonight to benefit neighborhood community initiatives.
There was some brutal honesty in entertainer Dave Chapelle’s observation that when he feels depressed, he thinks of what it would be like to live in the Tenderloin. “There ain’t nothin’ tender about that *&^%@,” he said. This exhibit provides the visual accompaniment.
Tonight’s environmentally friendly fashion event at the soon-to-open HUB SoMa in the Mission Street Chronicle Building is likely to include designers, producers of fair trade products, and connoisseurs of organic adult beverages (pick your poison). Global Action Through Fashion is a limited availability discussion of eco materials and sourcing techniques, and the program seems a perfect collaboration between the specialties of co-hosts Ecofabulous, GATF, and the HUB. The “donate what you want” evening will include wares from the likes of PACT and local boutique Eco Citizen–I’ll be hard pressed to leave my (recyclable) plastic at home.
Now that this 7th of April has been proclaimed “SF International Women’s Film Festival Day” by the mayor of our city and county, it’s time to get thee to a few programs and screenings of films by notable female directors, producers and cinematographers. Those I’m most looking forward to include the Herstory mentoring program for young directors, Liz Canner’s Orgasm Inc.: The Strange Science of Female Pleasure, and Joan Braderman’s documentary of the 1970s art collective Heresies. (Really, though, the shows at the Roxie Theater and Berkeley’s Brower Center through the 11th are well worth a glance of your own whether you’re more interested in activism events or international memoirs–SFWFF creator Scarlett Shepard’s programming ensures you’ll go home happy.)
In advance of this year’s festival, the independent film hub IndieFlix hosted an online competition by teasing clips from select films. The result? “The programming is strong,” said IndieFlix CEO Scilla Andreen who described how the platform “helps festivals go global by making content available online for audience members to virtually support the filmmakers, the films and ultimately the festival from the comfort of their living rooms.”
In identifying their aesthetic, the Magbooth team scoured images of old photo booths and tried to update the purposely cluttered text they saw for their own branding and collateral. A white-washed vintage feel compliments a primary set of colors selected from a WW1 poster. The company, which is unabashedly looking to become “the premier photo booth company in the western world,” started touring with a brick red booth after building one for a house party. Co-owner/frontiersman Peter Tower, who engineered the booth’s structure, said a sleeker-looking booth and site were developed to convey an older quality feel for a company that operates digitally.
