I am not sure exactly when it happened (maybe a year ago?) but one day this magazine appeared on my coffee table that had eccentric and fascinating artwork ingrained on the cover.  It had peaked my interest enough to fan through it quickly and see just what this was all about.  I stopped the pages from flying and paused on a page that made my jaw drop.  I turned another page and another and another and my jaw never closed.  Then I decided to go back to the beginning of the magazine and zip through it page by page, taking my time to examine and read the articles that accompanied the pictures.  Only the “zipping” turned into about an hour or so of reading.  I couldn’t believe some of the amazing work that I was holding in my hand.  I felt like I had found something that the word “cool” or “amazing” could not do full justice to.  I no longer needed to go searching the interwebz, it was right here all in one place, collected for me and my viewing pleasure.

Hi-Fructose Magazine covers:

The latest volume 13 blew my mind so I knew it was time I talked about it and get the word out.  What’s great about this magazine is that I don’t always find everything in it that fits my taste but I can still appreciate it as art.  I know I can’t do it justice so you’re just gonna need to see it for yourself to understand what I mean.  You can order it from the website or grab it a your local bookstore.  Either way, this is a must read to add to your list.

Here are a few covers from their previous issues…

It comes out quarterly and each issue is only $7.  Check out the website for info on artists, art shows, past issues and of course the art world as seen under the counter culture.

Hi-Fructose Magazine link for the non-hipster in you.

Tags: Aesthetiophilia, Pictoriphilia by Nekogirl
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Go to captainforever.com, read what Capt. Farbs has to say, pay your $15, and strap in because space is the terrifying place.

Quickly, you will find yourself at the helm of the dinkiest little ship ever loosed on The Great Emptiness Between The Stars. Lost and alone, you’ll be both relieved and frightened when a message buoy slides into view with a pile of spare parts and the message that other nearby vessels “may resort to piracy” in desperation born of some unexplained disaster.

Grab the chunks of armor, thrusters, and lasers. Dock them to your tiny pod (“The Nemesis”) and run like hell, because that message was the truth. For no apparent reason, everyone is coming for you. Assemble your makeshift warship cleverly, fly deftly, and you’ll find that taking out the command modules of enemy vessels releases new and improved bits to tack onto your own. Carefully consider your targets and improve your hardware gradually. Get in over your head and all that hard-won junk will get blown to bits. Soak up too much enemy fire with your module and, well…

Captain Forever is mercenary space combat, distilled. The graphics are perfectly simple, with all the iconic straightforwardness of a War-Room tactical display. There is no character-building, no tech tree, and no economy. The control scheme is as old as I am and as familiar as a favorite chair. Don’t let me mislead you, though: there is no comfort to be had here. The increasing pressure of more, faster Asteroids in each successive level had nothing on a message buoy zooming up with the cheerful alert that you’ve spent too much time dicking with your gear. The pirates have noticed you, they’re en route, and your pants are way, way down.

Get shot up without any protection and you’ll learn The Terrible Secret of Space: The Nemesis can’t be destroyed. It simply obliterates EVERYTHING nearby and then regenerates. Limited lives may have made Capt. Forever’s forebears aggravating quarter-munchers, but you’ll long for the cold embrace of death in deep space when the game’s never over.

YOU MIGHT NOT LIKE: the fact that I’m telling you to pay $15 for a Flash game with no demo. I also can’t seem to get mouse-scrollwheel-zooming to work on my Mac. Huh.

The good news is that the $15 gets you out of paying $20 when the REAL game is released and this Flash game becomes the demo. This is an Indy Game Development experiment wherein an unemployed developer gets to keep eating and paying rent while he polishes something great, and I support it. If that’s not enough reason for you, hold on until the full release and try it then.

YOU MIGHT LIKE: excellent neo-classic arcade game design, through and through. It looks great, sounds great, and plays great. It underscores over and over the kind of quality that can be created by a lone craftsman when technological ambition is kept in check.

And when you need a break, want to do something free, or feel that there still isn’t enough awesome minimalism in your life, go play Canabalt.

Tags: Aesthetiophilia, Technophilia, Videophilia by KahrlZero
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Holla!

I just thought I would mention some local community events for the weekend! We are trying to get a bit more involved with community events. Whether it be your community or my community we thought it would be a nice touch to add that feature to the site. We might talk about something going on in in SF or in the backyard of BoL. Let us know what you think! Feed back, folks, feed back!

Friday: First Friday Art Walk – Portland, Maine

Here a bit of info from their website about the outing that kicks off this Friday night!

Sunday: Head down to the Old Port and enjoy the way life should be!

check out:  Old Port Festival 2009

Tags: Aesthetiophilia, I should probably go to bed by Nekogirl
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November 6th, I started the artwork on my arm with an outline to set the precedence of what was emerging.  I discovered it wasn’t just a forearm tattoo but a transformation that was actually taking place.  Be it a step in the formation of the new me or just the me that has been forth-coming to the surface for sometime now.  I am finding that with each new accomplishment of this transformation, significant or not, the effects are astounding; each in their own way.

For now, I can close the book on this piece of artwork.  The color has been filled in with some minor touch-ups that need to proceed but for now, it will be left alone to thrive within my veins.

People ask me that annoying question:  “Does it symbolize anything or hold any meaning for you?”  I usually smile and say that it is not the items within the tattoo that mean anything it is the representation of the entire piece that holds meaning.

Body artwork holds something you can’t physically hold in your hand, a time, a memory, a nightmare, even hopes and dreams.

Tags: Aesthetiophilia, Pictoriphilia by Nekogirl
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Being a full time student during a recession isn’t easy all it’s cracked up to be. I know I shouldn’t complain, because I might feel a bit more accomplished bring home that A paper than some of my unemployed friends might after completing 20 levels of whatever video game they conquered that day. Lifestyle coveting a side, I come to the realization that I can’t afford to spend money on lunch. I do well enough to stay within my grocery budget. While a slice of pizza or that box of Chinese might seem really perfect in the moment the opportunity cost just doesn’t seem to measure up. Luckily, I have a solution to the drearily dreaded brown bad. Lunch Bag Art is a simple creative blog that feature one dad’s art for his two kids. Everyday during his lunch break he turns boring brown bags into cool lunch totes. His drawings are well done, creative, and not to mention I’m impressed with his attention to current cartoons trends. It’s nice to see a father be very involved with his kids. Hopefully someday I can be that kind of dad.

Tags: Aesthetiophilia, Economics, Pictoriphilia by Gestalt
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