Curio: Kino Kicks

Alexa here with your weekly film craftiness.  During my search for Powerpuff-Girl-related paraphernalia for my daughter's birthday I've been running into loads of hand painted shoes. And I mean LOADS.  I am not one to wear one-of-a-kind art on my feet; the weather here in Chicago is not kind to footwear so it seems a waste of cash. But I have to admire the artistry of some of these selections. So if you are a lover of Vans, TOMS or Converse, and are perhaps already planning your fashion for next year's Comic-Con, these are for you. And as an added bonus, most of these sellers create any custom pair you'd like; maybe I could be tempted by a pair of Werner Herzog tribute Vans?

The Notebook Vans, Star Wars Converse, and LOTR Vans, all from this etsy shop.

More after the jump, including Casablanca, Disney villains and Jaws...

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Curio: Suspect and Fugitive

Alexa here with your weekly arts and crafts.   Nathaniel's banana Bond boredom from last week reminded me of a project that Seattle-based artist Kris Garland/Rakka Deer did back in 2008.  Titled Suspect and Fugitive, the series involved making one item a day from suspect (questionable) and fugitive (non archival) materials. This involved Rakka combining pop culture portraiture with food (and sometimes other materials) in new and clever ways every day for one year.

Like this pancake Cate Blanchett...

Pancake Blanchett

Maybe Nathaniel should try this.  Favorite actresses and foodstuffs maybe?  In any case, here is some more inspiration courtesy of Rakka from Donnie Darko to Doris Day after the jump

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Curio: James Garner, Jim Rockford, and an altered matchbox car

Alexa here, back from vacation with an atypical Curio. I was very saddened at the news of James Garner's passing. While I am a fan of many of his films (The Americanization of Emily ranks especially high), he is primarily remembered from television, and, for me especially, as Jim Rockford. His beleaguered, Marlowe-esque hero was a touchstone of my childhood.

In fact, I am something of a Rockford Files obsessive: I even altered a toy Firebird to more closely resemble the one made famous from many a car chase. [More...]

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Curio: Uneek Dolls

Alexa here. It was an empty dollhouse that inspired Debbie Ritter to start making clothespin dolls. Over time, inspired by history, literature, and old movies, she's designed hundreds of different miniature caricature dolls; her etsy shop currently stocks over 600.  Her clever classic film dolls have been catching my eye for awhile now; I really admire her ability to paint a caricature on the end of a clothespin.  And the fact that she has a Bette Davis obsession doesn't hurt either. And, she does custom orders!

Bette, Joan, Tippi, Edith Head (!) and more after the jump...  

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Curio: Movie Posters Most Minimal

Alexa here. These were making the rounds last week, but because I love anything involving fancy paper I had to share. Perhaps bringing the minimalist movie poster trend to its logical conclusion, Spanish design firm atipo has created a movie poster collection entitled “Papers For Characters” that uses only papers of various colors, textures and weights. The paper is manipulated by hand in various ways - burned, cut, sewn, torn - to demonstrate an essential motif of each film.

As the A.V. Club pointed out, they also make a fun guessing game.  (You can find captions here if you don't want to play.) I'm sharing some and I've numbered them for reference...

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