memetic tees

Franklyn poster

Franklyn is an upcoming British film written and directed by Gerald McMorrow. Is expected to be released on january 30 in UK, but has already been reviewed at Variety.

Franklyn follows four intertwining stories, three of which takes place in contemporary London and the fourth takes place in Meanwhile City, a parallel fantasy environment. In Meanwhile City, atheist vigilante Jonathan Preest (Phillippe) fights against the various religious presences. Ultimately, his path crosses with three others (Eva Green, Sam Riley, Bernard Hill) from London.

Sadly, although the mix between these two movies sounds too good, it seems that the film doesn’t meet expectations.

A clever idea that could have worked as a novella, the urban-fantasy-cum-sci-fier “Franklyn” doesn’t cut it by the bigscreen rulebook. Shuttling between present-day London and a totalitarian, retro-futuristic city, this first feature by Brit writer-director Gerald McMorrow leaves viewers dangling for so long that most will have checked out emotionally before the big revelation an hour in. Visually striking head-scratcher — somewhere between “Blade Runner” and “V for Vendetta” in its noirish bits — looks to have more of a future as an ambitious but failed cult item than as a contempo earner.

Ryan Phillippe as Jonathan Preest, spends 80% of time in a mask

Well, sometimes I have enjoyed films with bad reviews. For what I see, visually could be nice but let’s wait.

You car read the entire review on Franklyn over at Variety.

Book cover

Many years have passed since I read Neuromancer by William Gibson. I always liked the Chatsubo bar. For those who haven’t read the novel, here is the introduction in the first chapter:

The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel. “It’s not like I’m using,” Case heard someone say, as he shouldered his way through the crowd around the door of the Chat. “It’s like my body’s developed this massive drug deficiency.” It was a Sprawl voice and a Sprawl joke. The Chatsubo was a bar for professional expatriates; you could drink there for a week and never hear two words in Japanese.

I really wanted to wear something about this. I wanted a strong design based on contrasts, something to be seen from far and good looking even if you don’t read the text or don’t know what it’s all about. The idea is like having been in the future having a few drinks  at the Chatsubo and coming back with a t-shirt. Well, I know the Chatsubo wouldn’t be exactly like the Hard Rock Cafe but… what the hell…

Bold strong typography and the beauty of squared Kanji. Yes, those are the Kanji symbols for chatsubo, “cha” means “tea” and “tsubo” means “pot”. I drew the kanji with bezier curves to fit the rectangle. The most difficult part was to make the curves suitable for cutting the design with the plotter as space between lines was too narrow.

The design is printed by Spreadhirt in Flex, that is an extremely durable vinyl heat pressed onto the garment so it doesn’t fade over time. It will last more than your t-shirt.

Do you like neuromancer, or sci-fi, or cyberpunk or simply japan? Well, if so, I hope you like this design.

Until October 31st you can get 20% off for any purchase over $30. International buyers use code “FALL28″.

After many months of hesitation I have decided to work on my shop. By now I am setting the layout of the shop and this blog. Having so few designs made me postpone everything, specially promotion of my designs but with so little time I would never take off. So here I go.

Disclaimer: English is not my mother tongue, so my apologies for any mistake and thank you for any correction that you may want to point.