It’s with a heavy heart that we have to report the sad news that Australian Author & Art Critic Robert Hughes has passed away. He died on Monday, August 6th, at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx due to prolonged illness. He was 74 and had lived for many years in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y. He was known mainly as the Art Critic for TIME Magazine but was also a very prolific Author having written many books on Art History. He was also a Documentary Maker & we have a video down below as an example. Some of his most well-known books are “The Shock of The New”, “The Fatal Shore”, “Rome”, & “Goya” ( Chip Kidd designed the covers for two of these ).

This morning Chip Kidd had the honor of appearing on NPR Radio in New York City, specifically their podcast for “NPR Books”. The main topic was, “In The E-Book World, Are Book Covers A Dying Art?”. Please CLICK HERE so you can give it a listen and also let us know what YOU think. Thanks, and Thank You NPR BOOKS!

“READING RAINBOW!” Just a quick post to share this totally hilarious video. Jimmy Fallon recently did a parody music video where he sings the TV Theme Song from “The Reading Rainbow” as Jim Morrison. He does these every now and then and ALWAYS nails it to perfection! In the past he has done Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and now, The DOORS!

Everyone at Random House Publishing is totally freaking out because Julia Child’s 100th Birthday Celebration is in just a few days, on August 15th, to be exact! This lady is a true National Treasure ( Her original Kitchen was moved & donated to the Smithsonian Museum! ) & her books on “Mastering The Art of French Cooking” are required reading for any Serious Foodie. Also, check out this “Julia Child” store display seen very recently at a Barnes and Noble Bookstore, how cool is that?!!

YES! We wanna thank the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for giving a shout-out to THE ART AND MAKING OF THE DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY Book published by Abrams! Yes, this is the one all about Christopher Nolan’s Batman Movies. Over at the STAFF BLOGS website they did a very excellent review and we always appreciate that. One clever angle they used in their article is the fact that some of the recent Batman movie, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, was actually filmed there. It was a huge success for that cities economy as it brought in a lot of money. But otherwise they really do focus quite a bit on the book and it’s a great read, check it out, CLICK HERE!

Here’s a fun photo Chip Kidd wanted us to share here with you. He recently had the honor of meeting the Actor Stacy Keach! Yes, he said he’s an extremely nice guy which is always very cool to hear. Check it out, here’s what Chip had to say about the event:

On Monday I attended the New York premiere of the new installment of the ‘Bourne’ movie series, ‘The Bourne Legacy’ at the Ziegfeld theater. I was invited by one of my best friends in the world, Mr. Charles Kochman, who created the ‘Abrams Comic Arts’ imprint at Abrams Books (he also discovered and published a little book called ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’, but that’s another story). It was pretty great, and at the after-party at the Four Seasons I met one of the stars of the film, the venerable Stacy Keach. He plays one of the crooked CIA bosses, and has had a decades-long distinguished career. Anyway, he is the nicest guy, and posed with Charlie and me for a pic. He’s the one in the middle (duh), Charlie’s on the left. I should also geekily add that he was the voice of the Phantasm in ‘Batman: Mask of the Phantasm’, the great animated movie and a personal favorite.

We’re proud to announce another wonderful Book Review for Chip Kidd & Dave Taylor’s New BATMAN: DEATH BY DESIGN Graphic Novel. We just noticed it this morning and we were pretty excited about it! You can read it at the COMICS ALLIANCE website. It was written by J. Caleb Mozzocco and he did a very excellent job. You can tell he put a lot of effort into it & we always appreciate that. Also, one cool thing is, they also decided to share some really great graphics from the book showcasing Dave Taylor’s artwork! We want to thank them for giving the book some attention. Hey, what are you doing still here? Go Read It!!

Right now, as we speak, TYPO International Design Talks is getting geared-up for their grand event in London on October 19th & 20th, 2012. As sort of a “teaser of what you might expect to see” at the show they showcase, at their website, an older video of a lecture done by Chip Kidd. It’s a speech he did at TYPO Berlin in 2005 ( They hold 3 major Design Conferences in London, Germany, & San Francisco ) and it was titled “You Can Win a Rabbit”. Yeah, weird title but he explains it in the lecture and it’s pretty funny! Anyway, the Video, unfortunately, can’t be shared right here so you will have to watch it at their site. In other words, I’d like to ask you to please check it out because I think you’ll find it very interesting to see. In the video Kidd shares the design concepts for a lot of Book Jackets & also what it’s like to design things outside of his normal area of expertise, like Posters.

To view the Video: CLICK HERE!

For More Information about TYPO 2012: CLICK HERE!

This is just a quick post to share some amazing Bookshelf & Bookcase Design ideas that will hopefully inspire you. OK, we’re not quite sure where you would find some old Piano parts but you have to admit it’s clever, ha! So, create a list of materials needed and then go hit your local Lumber Store this weekend, get busy!

Pantheon Books is set to release BUILDING STORIES by Chris Ware in October 2nd, 2012. It’s an incredible book and we’re all very excited about it! One cool thing happening now is that Book Reviews have already started to surface here and there. Here’s a very excellent one written by Bryony Quinn over at the IT’S NICE THAT website. The photos are incredible too and should give you a very good idea how extremely complex this book is. I mean, it’s more like a Box Gift Set with many goodies inside. Check It Out! ( Thanks Bryony! )