Cold Beer, Beautiful Girls

Ed Ruscha, 2009

Urivlle

Urville, the capital of a large island province, has a population of nearly 12 million, making it the one of the most significant cities in Europe. It is also entirely imaginary. Gilles Trehin, an autistic man with exceptional creative talents and an obsession with large cities, conceived and developed Urville over the course of 20 years. He shares his vision in this beautifully illustrated guide to the city, which he renders convincingly real in nearly 300 drawings of different districts of Urville. He describes, in remarkable detail, the architectural styles of its individual buildings and provides historical, geographical, economic and cultural information. This includes historical figures and cultural anecdotes grounded in historical reality - Trehin accounts for the effects of the Vichy regime, the Second World War and globalisation on his imagined city. This book offers fascinating evidence of and insight into the creative power of the autistic mind and will be of interest to people with autism and without.

On Learning a New Dance: 'Miss You'

The official music video, during a time when that term meant something very different than it does now. Prime Jagger at 2:00; The lyrics to follow (surrounding "central park...") are exactly how I sing them in the shameless privacy that I hold so dear.

Domesticated Women

Marianna Rothen's collection of vintage-inspired portraits of women strikes a chord with me that is undoubtedly interlinked with my grandmother, Julianna, and her life as a suburban mother of three boys. I'll have to agree with my source and say part of the appeal of Marianna's Domesticated Women series is "all the women in it seem rather unfulfilled with their domesticity." The vices, the blank stares. Sadistically, I feel the need to watch The Graduate—am I right?

Around Us, Jonsi

"...Smell of men and gasoline."

Two killer assassins (one who looks a lot like my grandfather), one desperate waif and a fourth star: the music. Colt Is My Passport has all the elements of a spaghetti western, but they swapped John Wayne for James Bond and desolate countryside for a Japanese shipyard.