Matthew Reinhart's Blog, page 24

Artist Watch: Blu

Blu is an Italian street artist, he started painting on Bologna's walls around 1999 but since then he has spread his work everywhere around the world.
His murals are always related and strongly linked with the place where he paints them, his works always try to engage the people in a quiet yet powerful way.His art has contributed to a radical and silent change in contemporary art business by trying to make it free or much more available.
I had the chance to meet him when I was 16 and I still remember how he surprised me.He was much shorter than I though (his walls are huge, I expected him to be very tall) and he didn't say much but I won't ever forget his gentle attitude, much more eloquent then any word.
Find out more about Blu here:http://www.blublu.org/  http://vimeo.com/993998
~Gio

Word of Day: Oblivescence

Oblivescence /ob-luh-ves-uhns/ noun

1. The process of forgetting

Origin:  Oblivescence comes from Latin obliv 'to forget'

History Lesson: April Fool's Day

April Fool's Day is a tradition that dates back as far as 1582.  Historians speculate that April Fool's Day may have come from when France switched to the Gregorian calendar from the Julian calendar.  People had not realized that the new year began on January 1 and continued to celebrate the new year on April 1.  These people soon became the butt of many jokes and hoaxes; these included paper fish placed on their backs and were then called 'poisson d'avril' (April Fish) which is to symbolize young, easily caught fish and also a gullible person.

April Fool's Day came and spread through Britain and Scotland in the 18th century.  This became a two day event where people were sent on phone errands, and the second day called 'Tailie Day' involved pranks played on people's backside with pinned on tails and 'kick' me signs!

Even modern times people have carried out elaborate April Fool's Day hoaxes.  Radio, TV stations, Web sites, and newspapers have all had their fair share of hoaxes.

History Jesson: April Fool's Day

April Fool's Day is a tradition that dates back as far as 1582.  Historians speculate that April Fool's Day may have come from when France switched to the Gregorian calendar from the Julian calendar.  People had not realized that the new year began on January 1 and continued to celebrate the new year on April 1.  These people soon became the butt of many jokes and hoaxes; these included paper fish placed on their backs and were then called 'poisson d'avril' (April Fish) which is to symbolize young, easily caught fish and also a gullible person.
April Fool's Day came and spread through Britain and Scotland in the 18th century.  This became a two day event where people were sent on phone errands, and the second day called 'Tailie Day' involved pranks played on people's backside with pinned on tails and 'kick' me signs!

Even modern times people have carried out elaborate April Fool's Day hoaxes.  Radio, TV stations, Web sites, and newspapers have all had their fair share of hoaxes.   

Word of the Day: Stanch

Stanch \STONCH; STANCH\ transitive verb

1. To stop the flowing of; to check in its course; also, to stop the flowing of blood from; as, "to stanch a wound."

Origin: Stanch is from Old French estancher, "to stop a liquid from flowing".

Weekly Beast: Aye-aye

The aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) is a lemur, a strepsirrhine primate native to Madagascar that combines rodent-like teeth and a special thin middle finger to fill the same ecological niche as a woodpecker. It is the world's largest nocturnal primate, and is characterized by its unusual method of finding food; it taps on trees to find grubs, then gnaws holes in the wood and inserts its narrow middle finger to pull the grubs out.

 ~Gio

Whats Popped Up: A bunch of Bologna

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One of the biggest events in the children's book industry starts today. The Bologna Children's Book Fair has just begun and lasts for the next four days. In it's 48th edition, this fair brings together authors, illustrators, publishers, literary agents, packagers, printers, booksellers, librarians, and many more to learn about the latest trends and developments in children's books. Pop-up packagers and paper engineers make their way to Italy to complete a marathon of meetings with publishers and manufacturers as they present the prototypes of new titles and ideas. With roughly 1300 exhibitors from 67 countries, the massive convention space is host to thousands of industry professionals (so no kiddies, here). Every year there is an honorary country promoted at the fair and this year's guest will be Lithuania.

I have heard many great stories of past fairs in Bologna from pop-up artists like David Carter, Ron van der Meer, Robert Sabuda and Sam Ita, and hope that one day I will get a chance to wander the massive exhibition halls and get lost in a world of wonder and possibility. But I better plan ahead because even though it's the first day of the Fair, hotels are already booking up for next year!

~Kyle

Word of the Day: Nemesis

Nemesis \nem-UH-sis\ noun


1. A source of harm or ruin.2. Retributive justice in its execution or outcome.3. An opponent that cannot be beaten or overcome.Origin: In Greek némesis literally 'a dealing out' verbid of némein 'to dispense (justice)'.  Also in Greek mythology, Nemesis was the goddess of retributive justice or vengeance.

Artist Watch: Kyle Bean

Kyle Bean is a Brighton based young designer. With his "hand crafted mind" he creates projects that make me smile.  A chicken made out of eggs, a computer cut out from a book, a bunch of band instruments covered with musical scores. From looking at his art, I feel I understand everything about it and I don't even ask myself whether the music or the instruments came first, I just enjoy both for being real.  You can find more about Kyle Bean and his work here. 

  ~Gio

Vintage Movable Review: Statistics Weekly

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Another interesting advertisement from the Land Down Under. There is no date but by looks of the clothing and hairstyles I'll put this in the late 80's (but then again I remember seeing a lot of mullets in my travels in Australia in the late 90's, so who knows). The Australian Bureau of Statistics wants to make your life a little more colorful by providing access to their Statistics Weekly commentary. To illustrate the point the movable mailer employs a clever mechanism. I don't want to ruin the magic on this one so just sit back and enjoy the video.

~Kyle