“The Holdovers” by Mark Orton, Various Artists

Just recently, it was Christmas, and I finally caught up on a holiday movie that I’d been putting off for a very long time. Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers is a wonderful little tragicomedy that definitely strikes a chord in me. In an age when AI and CGI make us lose our grip on reality more and more, a modest film like The Holdovers comes at just the right time to remind us how characters can be portrayed like humans and stories be told in the most grounded way. Set in a wintery New England environment with a nostalgic retro aesthetic,…

“The Virgin Suicides” by AIR, Various Artists

The only reason why this cover set for The Virgin Suicides by French electronic band AIR — short for “Amour, Imagination, Rêve” (love, imagination, dream) — was even remotely possible, is the recently released reissue titled The Virgin Suicides Redux. This new edition has not only been newly (re)mixed and sounds notably different from the original album (which is why in this instance I’ve kept both versions in my digital music library), but it also brings along an unexpectedly high-res, 4000 pixel wide update of the original artwork designed by Mike Mills. And it is because of this album art…

“TRON: Legacy” by Daft Punk

Somehow, TRON: Legacy is a near-perfect sequel, a rare achievement considering the nearly three decades that separate it from its predecessor. Director Joseph Kosinski and his team managed to capture the spirit of Steven Lisberger’s 1982 cult classic while giving it a sleek, modernized visual identity. The original TRON was groundbreaking in its use of CGI and animation, but by todays standards it looks incredibly dated – almost charmingly so! Rather than discarding those roots, Legacy embraces them, weaving the geometric neon grids and stark digital landscapes into a futuristic design that still feels distinctly TRON. The result is a…

“Alien: Earth” by Jeff Russo

Looking back at my blog history, it’s obvious how much the Alien series means to me. I’ve spent countless of hours designing individual custom covers or whole CD or vinyl mockups. Heck, for Prometheus alone, I have created over a hundred different designs. For a long time, those projects were my safe space – a way to retreat, to dive into that horrific yet beautiful universe that feels so cold and dark and infinite. I simply fucking love those deep blue-and-black colour palettes in Cameron’s Aliens, for example. For many, this means the ultimate nightmare, but for me it’s like…

“Jurassic World Rebirth” by Alexandre Desplat

“Genetic power is the most awesome force the planet’s ever seen but you wield it like a kid that’s found his dad’s gun…I’ll tell you the problem with the scientific power that you’re using here: it didn’t require any discipline to attain it. You know, you read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn’t earn the knowledge for yourselves so you don’t take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could and before you even knew what you had, you patented it, packaged it…