Jordan Swartz- The Rad Times

If you’re reading this it’s probably because you’ve seen my Follow Friday posts on instagram. Every Friday I share a wide range of images (art, food, fashion, travel, design, etc.) that I had seen the previous week. That’s where this newsletter comes in, I often find media that falls outside the bounds of a single instagram image or something that I’d like to expound upon more than just a story share. This space will be for those longer form pieces (videos, bodies of work, music, long form journalism, etc.)

Thanks for hanging!
Be good to each other.

I remember watching Rear Window on TCM as a kid in my dad’s apartment and to this day it is my favorite Hitchcock film. The set was an engineering marvel and one of the largest indoor sets ever constructed at Paramount at the time. Based on a real courtyard in Manhattan, it had 31 apartments, 12 of which were furnished. With some of the apartment buildings being five stories high, they had to dig down with the courtyard was built below ground. Hitchcock worked from Jimmy Stewart’s apartment and would radio directions to the actors in the other apartments who were wearing flesh colored ear pieces. This composite video gives a great idea of the full set and action.

Often in my life I’m interested in things that I later learn was made/ designed/ written/ etc by someone whose work I already enjoyed. That’s the case with this series of 90’s newsstands. I’ve always loved newsstands and the idea of them, literacy accessible and encouraged in the process of your day. I have long wanted to create a portable one and in doing some research I found this series of photographs by Moyra Davey. I’ve long been a fan of Davey and the archival nature of her work. These photographs do just that and archive a time in New York that is long gone.

Jonathan Glazer has been in the news recently because his newest film “The Zone of Interest” is nominated for multiple Oscars, but like many modern directors he cut his teeth on commercials and music videos (Massive Attack, Blur, Radiohead) in the 90’s. The most famous of which is probably the Jamiroquai “Virtual Insanity” video. What I love about this making of video is how directly related it is to his modern day film making process. He thinks outside the bounds of what is expected and often circumvents the known processes of how to get the images he desires. Whether it’s a music video or a movie “about” the Holocaust he somehow leaves the viewer with a similar feeling.

As a kid, I never fully got into comics. I struggled to read them, losing focus on the copy and finding myself drawn into the imagery, motion, and layout but I do remember the stranglehold Spawn had on the industry. Kids my age and especially their older brothers loved them, collecting the comics and eventually the toys. The creator Todd McFarlane has recreated himself many times over to great success and what some may call failure. This is a really interesting story about finding the ways to get what you want in the world.