yewknee.com

Frank Lloyd Wright Homage

It's unfortunate that this incredible miniature is associated with a compilation called Chillout Sessions but enjoyable creations often come from strange sources. Art director Andrew van der Westhuyzen did a phenomenal job of paying tribute to Frank Lloyd Wright, 1950's aesthetics and creating a little world that goes right along with the music on the disc (however unfortunate the title). Be sure to watch the promo video that goes along with it as it provides a nice insight into the little world that's been created.

Via Courtney.

Mimesis

There's an overly arty description of the works of Barbara & Michael Leisgen in regards to their Mimesis series but lets be honest - it's a clever group of images with the subject seemingly interacting with / accentuating the background, often times melding with it. Maybe it is a "counterpoint to conceptual photography" during the 70's or a statement on the human condition but I'm content with just enjoying the images.

Via Jessica.

Top Tail Zoo

One assumes this Top Tail Zoo series of images is culled from some cards intended for children to create their own pairings of situations between various zoo / non-zoo animals. Sounds innocent sure but then you get pairings like this or this or especially this and you quickly start tumbling down into a much more terrifying realm of creation. I do not want to envision the situation where this could be a reality.

via Eli.

Richard Colman Art

There's an element to the works of Richard Colman that reminds me Marcel Dzama in a slight way - mostly the character depiction - but that's just enough to draw you in, a vague familiarity that pulls you into a pretty chaotic world. I love all the uses of coffins and repeated shapes. I'd particularly enjoy seeing this in person as I feel like there's a level of detail that can't be appreciated via the Internet.

Via Jeremy.

Josef Schulz Formen

A lot of the works from Josef Schulz have a nice simple elegance to them. You probably know him best for his Sign Out series of the corporate signs with all the identity work painted out but seems almost kitschy when compared to his Formen or Terraform series. I've a feeling there's a great deal of manipulation going on but it's a nice subtle manipulation that works.

Via Drudgeons.

Mcbess

I think it's safe to assume that I've encountered the work of Mcbess before... possibly a KN Wallpaper or some other source but it wasn't until now that I really dug in and spent time poring over the portfolio, listening to his band, watching his amazing videos or scouring the blog. The vague familiarity of style to the old Disney cartoons is a nice base for the slightly rougher edge of the characters being presented. I really can't get enough of looking at all the nooks and crannies of his illustrations to find some great subtle tattoo or recurring theme worked in.

Many thanks to Messes of Men for the reminder heads up that I really should be keeping up with all possible web presence from Mcbess.

Works By Fred Herzog

I'm sort of at a loss for words with the works of Fred Herzog. Actually, the words I would use are along the lines of: stunned, engaged, enamored and even baffled. His documentation of Vancouver and surrounding cities in the 1950's reveals some unbelievable images. Even the simplest snaps seem to tell a story and have a color palette that you just don't encounter that often.

As usual, thanks to Kate for sharing.

Quickly Now - Link Hodge Podge

• GMail Priority Inbox - apparently Gmail is launching a new sorting method to bring your most relevant emails into a more visible view. Has this been activated for you yet? How's it working out?
• Silent Uproar Records Sampler - looks like the boys over at Silent Uproar put together a mix of their artist catalog.. it runs a wide variety of styles but I suggest you put your ear to the ground with the Codaphonic, Feersum Ennjin and Capulets tracks; hard to miss with those. Oh, and nice new logo guys.. liking it!
• Album Tacos - yes, I have seen it.. and yes, at times I think it's hilariously brilliant.

Absence of Water

Take a moment to browse into the portfolio of Gigi Cifali and check out the "Absence of Water" set of photos. Here's the gist:

In the Thirties United Kingdom lidos and baths were at the peak of their popularity. Gradually tastes have changed, resulting in a drop in attendances, leaving the pools uneconomical to run. Many fell into decay and many were demolished. Only a handful of pools remain today as a symbol of a bygone era.

Long story short - it's a set of photos capturing neglected, dilapidated public swimming areas that once were a serious social gathering area. Best viewed at their largest size possible.

Once Again, Thank You Banksy

Once again, Banksy is able to find just the right balance of humor and poignant commentary all rolled into one. His Pier Pressure piece is a reconditioned children's dolphin ride complete with crude oil slick and tuna net. Perfect.

You can see more of his new works here.. I am particularly a fan of the giant rock concert signs.

Via Honor Student.

A Book Apart, Digitally

If you've somehow managed to not pick up a copy of HTML5 For Web Designers might I clue you in to the fact that it is now available as an "E-Publication and priced several dollars cheaper. The book is a genuinely enjoyable read due to the humorous voice of Jeremy Keith but, more so, it's actually an incredibly insightful read. Sure it's got new markup in there that not everyone will care about but the first few chapters cover the history of web markup and give you the facts on how we got to where we are with web language... something everyone should know about as far as I'm concerned.

For Paul

Paul informed me that since starting my stay out in San Francisco the two hour delay in blog postings here has really messed up his browsing schedule. In honor of him and his agreeable insights I'm pre-posting everything today to keep all the Central Time and East Coast readers intact. Consider it a Wednesday Treat.

Everything. Part 10.

Hey, it's that time again! The Danny Jelinek and Jason Whetzell goodness known as Everything has a new episode. So, kick back and watch Episode 10 at your earliest convenience. Be sure to keep an eye out for a maniacal Alia Shawkat, it's my favorite little vignette.

Hollis Brown Thornton: Pigment Transfers

I'm loving this set of Pigment Transfers from Hollis Brown Thornton. The process seems fairly involved but the results certainly seem worth it - very distressed and reminiscent of my old favorite, BEAST Magazine. The works seem to trend towards more pop culture imagery towards the end of the set - movie stills, video game screens, album covers, etc. but I find myself preferring the more ambiguous and anonymous pieces throughout. Good stuff.

Four Lions: Funny

Director Christopher Morris is best known for his work on the TV show Nathan Barley but his absence from the scene of directing (Barley came out in 2005) was apparently just a stop gap to his next enjoyable work - Four Lions. The feature length movie follows a group of British jihadists as they attempt to hone their skills as full fledged terrorists. It's not exactly material you'd think would be appropriate or laugh out loud ridiculous but the trailer is undeniably funny.

As with Barley, Morris is able to take a stereotype of a group of people and stretch it out of proportion just far enough to be absurd but still maintaining an inner seed of believability. I look forward to taking this one in.

Building A Nation Of Know-nothings

It can be a bit of a bummer on the whole but this Timothy Egan article, Building a Nation of Know-Nothings is a worthy read. Here's the gist:

Take a look at Tuesday night’s box score in the baseball game between New York and Toronto. The Yankees won, 11-5. Now look at the weather summary, showing a high of 71 for New York. The score and temperature are not subject to debate.

Yet a president’s birthday or whether he was even in the White House on the day TARP was passed are apparently open questions. A growing segment of the party poised to take control of Congress has bought into denial of the basic truths of Barack Obama’s life. What’s more, this astonishing level of willful ignorance has come about largely by design, and has been aided by a press afraid to call out the primary architects of the lies.

Some argued facts like the President's birthplace or his preferred denomination (or lack thereof) seem fairly harmless on the surface but if you extrapolate the behavior just a little bit you get:

But false belief in weapons of mass-destruction led the United States to a trillion-dollar war. And trust in rising home value as a truism as reliable as a sunrise was a major contributor to the catastrophic collapse of the economy. At its worst extreme, a culture of misinformation can produce something like Iran, which is run by a Holocaust denier.

Like I said.. a bit of a bummer on the whole but something everyone should read and make sure to question their sources and maybe do a little leg work of their own.

Public School

The boys over at Public School just launched a redesign of their site and it is, almost 100%, what I had in mind for the forever forthcoming version of yewknee.com. The main blog column coupled with a sidebar of quicker reads / comments makes for a great site and I'm glad they beat me to the punch.. it's great to see it in action and working so effectively. It kinda goes without saying but I am totally jealous of the work these guys are able to produce and the insane amount of gems they find on the web at all times.. it is, hands down, an absolute must to have in your daily reads - with a minimum of five to ten refreshes per day.

Matt Lehman Studio

Take some time this morning to browse the recently renovated portfolio of Matt Lehman. KNI Nashville is privileged to have Matt share office space with us and it's inspiring to see such a wide variety of styles and perfectly executed solutions for so many design styles.

The Wilderness Downtown

The Wilderness Downtown is the launching point for a new "interactive" video from Chris Milk for the Arcade Fire song "We Used to Wait" off of The Suburbs. You enter your childhood address and the video pulls in Google Maps overhead and Street View imagery an incorporates it into the video. It's not so much 'interactive' as it is 'dynamic' - as it is different depending on what you data you start it off with. There are also a myriad of windows popping up during the duration of the song that can be a little jarring.. I suppose no one told Mr. Milk that pop-up windows are deeply entrenched with a negative browsing experience. Regardless, it's an interesting take on the music video format and the song is one of my favorites from the record, so it's certainly not bad at all.

The biggest irony of the viewing experience for me was that my childhood home was overtaken by an enormous suburb causing my parents to move further out into rural Tennessee to avoid the enclosure... so the trick of the music video to use familiar images / maps to generate vague nostalgia is trounced by the actual sprawl that the whole record is referencing. So, with that in mind, use a more current address to get the proper effect when watching the video.

Reinvigorate: Ready For Launch

Sometime today Reinvigorate will relaunch as a fully fledged, non-beta, service for all to use. It's been my Go To tracking service for years now and it's hard to imagine that it's actually graduating to the next level. I'm not entirely keen on having to pay for tracking now that it is emerging from beta but the service is easy to use and, most importantly, makes the stats easy to understand. While Google Analytics is extremely robust and great to use.. I find the data consumption incredibly baffling most of the time. Keep an eye on the main Reinvigorate page.. as open registrations should be available today.

Tinkertool

Whenever I am in San Francisco I inevitably end up getting exposed to new computer setups that I never would have thought of on my own. Typically this stems from some undertaking Arlo has his computer that I'm curious to try out. This time around is no different. I recently installed Tinker Tool to fine tune some of my system preferences. The software doesn't alter anything that isn't already available to change via Terminal commands, it just gives it a nice GUI to make it happen. I'm currently taking advantage of this by nesting my dock in the upper right of my desktop - giving me more vertical space on the whole... that's just the tip of the iceberg!

Pete Campbell's Bitchface

Ah, thank you Single Serving Tumblr World for Pete Campbell's Bitch Face - a growing repository of images showcasing Mad Men's resident overly smug partner at Sterling, Cooper, Draper, Pryce.

via Paul.

Friday Videos - August 27th, 2010

You know the drill. Watch the playlist and read along my insightful poignant thoughts below for each video.

• In the Summer - disgusting on a number of levels but it's one of those things you just can't look away from. I love the girl screaming at the end.
• Best Dog Food Commercial - hands down, the best way to get someone to buy dog food. Via Public School.
• Hot Drinks - training video from Wendy's on how to handle and serve Hot Drinks. At the end of this video you will have zero questions but you will have a fantastic new song stuck in your head. Via Paul.
• Cold Drinks - same as before but for Cold Drinks. Stick with it or you'll miss the surprising treat before the Tea instructions. Soulful R&B voice? You better believe it.
• Levi's Trademark 1977 - Commercials are way less Out Of This World than they used to be. I say this as a positive thing.. as this Levi's commercial really puts me in a weird headspace. Via Madrid.
• Fire Tornado - not the most exciting footage but c'mon.. Fire Tornado.
• English Bulldog watching TV - this guy is just chillin... There is something oddly offputting / creepy about this clip.
• Cotopaxi Volcano Timelapse - nothing insane or amusing about this.. just super engaging and fascinating to watch.

BONUS

• John Hickenlooper - I know nothing of this guys politics but I'm 100% behind his mentality for campaign ads. His site and graphic identity is pretty nice too.
• Dani Rosenoer - Punching Keys - this was emailed in and is obviously a heavy handed bit of promotion for this guys EP but it totally worked.. as I enjoyed watching him smash up the piano.. which seemed to be in fine working order.
• 1922 Kodachrome Film Test - actual color film reels from the 1920's.. pretty remarkable to see such a thing.
• Tron-a-Sutra - I probably shouldn't even link this as it's rather NSFW but the production values and voiceover work is hilarious in so many ways it really should be enjoyed. So, if you're not a fan of sex - skip this one. If you have a good attitude about such things, please proceed.

Have a great weekend! If this somehow wasn't enough video content for you - spend some time with Zero Views and maybe you can discover the next great meme from the bottom of the YouTube barrel.

Save Our Shore: Abita

Now that the BP Oil Spill has moved on from being a high priority news item in our 24-hour news cycle it would seem that the clean up effort is well underway and will be done any time now. Right? Outta sight, outta mind! Not so much. The cleanup is going to take a long time - most likely years. So, in order to keep the ball rolling on support for this effort Abita Beer has launched a new brew called SOS: Save Our Shores in which .75 cents of each bottle sold will go towards Gulf relief. It's got a great site behind it, as well as a responsible goal:

The centerpiece of the fundraising effort is a new charitable beer created by Abita. The brew, called SOS – A Charitable Pilsner, will generate 75¢ for every bottle sold. This Abita Beer is a message in a bottle...a distress signal for the troubled waters of our Gulf Coast. For every bottle sold Abita will donate 75¢ to the rescue and restoration of the environment, industry and individuals fighting to survive this disastrous oil spill.

So, yea, next time you're out and about having a drink - keep an eye out for the Abita SOS and maybe do some good while having a cold drink.

via David.

Action!

I mentioned this briefly yesterday but I want to reiterate the high enjoyment levels I've been experiencing lately from Friend Weakend, the debut album from Nashville's own Action!. You can snag "Sandpiper" and "In the Basement" for free but, honestly, for just $6 on the digital download you'd be hard pressed to not just buy the whole thing.

It's one of those records that keeps growing every time I listen to it and seems to work as the perfect transition from Summer to Fall. Do yourself a weekend favor.. get it.

Peter Baker Photography

I have vague memories of seeing Peter Baker's work back in `02 but it seems that time has done nothing but improved his craftsmanship. His Flickr stream is pretty undeniable. It's got it all - humor, thoughtfulness, artiness, fog, portraiture and cityscapes - to touch on just a few of the styles. He also seems to travel a good bit as the photos are from a nice bit of variety of the Central / Northeastern region of the States.

Reminder via Kate.. of course!

TN Summer

I realize summer is on its way out but I'm just now seeing this Tennessee Summer Vacation site and I'm sort of enamored with the use of type and overall design. It's great! Whoever is doing the art direction at Design Sensory needs a hearty pat on the back.. they're doing a fine job.

Look At This Kitten!!!

This Craigslist post is too perfect. I've saved it here, in its entirety, for proper posterity.. who knows how long it will last.

I know you are old and grumpy and at this point nearly everything in your immediate surroundings irritates you constantly. You sit at home on the couch you've had for twenty years in the same spot watching your same old television that shows the same old rehashed news stories and mundane Larry King buffoonery. Your only joy in life is waiting for Friday night to call the police on your young neighbors for being too loud with their hip-hopping and light beers and fun time attitudes. The neighborhood just isn't the same anymore, is it? The bright colors and sharp edges of your once exciting life have all dulled. Your zest for girly magazines and waxing your Buick have long faded. Even your bi-weekly poker buddies have become irritating with their war stories and reminiscing on fifty year old fictional sexual conquests.

You need a change. A focus for your old, tired thoughts. An extra ray of sunshine for the sunset of your life. You need a KITTEN!

Take a minute to look at the picture below. Go ahead, drink it all in. Let those tiny, sad eyes melt your heart just a little. This kitten was found in a storm drain. A fucking storm drain! He had no chance of survival out there -- he was sure to die a sad, lonely death. You have the chance now to save his life. You have the chance now to save YOUR life. This kitten will love you forever, he will be your morning, noon and night, your every breath, your sun and moon. All he wants is the chance to make your crummy, sad life just a little better. Help him help you.

Let this kitten be your Anderson Cooper.

Via Kevin and Paige.

Magic Prefs

Has anyone given Magic Prefs a spin? I'm curious if the additional gestures on the Magic Mouse are actually beneficial or if they are like the Back / Forward gesture and just sort of happen at inopportune times causing confusion and browsing frustration. It's a great idea to take the device to a new level but there may be some limits to what is practical and what is best left to the keyboard. So, have you tried it?

We Own This Town: Volume 37

It's been a minute since the last edition of the We Own This Town podcast but I finally found a moment to put it all together and get Volume 37 out into the wild. It is, as usual, a varietal mix of styles all brought to you by a slew of Nashville based bands. I like everything on here for some reason or another but I'm particularly digging the Tetsuo and Action! tracks.. I suggest you find some more from them in your spare time.

• 1. Tetsuo – "Banshee Mansion"
  These Crystals Don’t Burn
• 2. Super Bowl Rocket Ship – "Blood Control"
  EP single
• 3. Hanzelle – "I’m Sorry"
  EP
• 4. Tallest Trees – "All My Fears"
  The Ostrich or The Lark
• 5. Action! – "Remember This One"
  Friend Weakend
• 6. Cheap Time – "Proper Introductions"
  Cheap Time / Bad Sports Split
• 7. De Novo Dahl – "New Pop Song for Young Lovers"
  Family Tree Collection
• 8. Blue Cadet Three – "What It Takes"
  Palomino Wildfire
• 9. Umbrella Tree – "On Paranoia"
  To the Memory of a Once Great Man
• 10. Bravo Max – "Summer Legs"
  Summer Legs EP

Saved By Science

Photographer Justine Cooper has a great large format photo series entitled Saved by Science in which she documents the unseen areas of the American Museum of Natural History. My only complaint? Twenty-One photos just simply isn't enough. View them all.

Via Courtney.

The New Dark Age

It's fairly safe to say that Them Thangs should be a regular read for anyone coming here.. so many inspirational and fascinating photos that it's almost ridiculous to even mention it (also, NSFW if you didn't already know). However, it is worth mentioning that there is now a print version of the site called The New Dark Age. This pretty much sums it up:

Expanding on the themes of his blog them-thangs.com, the zine showcases work from 13 artists and photographers including Erik Brunetti, William Eadon, Corey Smith, Mark Maggiori and Todd Tourso. Disguised as a tiny zine, the mag folds out into a massive 24″ x 33″ double sided poster filled with imagery that your mother surely would not approve of.

I'm intrigued by the idea of a print version of the site but not so keen on a giant fold out poster.

Via Demetre.

Boxee Upgrade

In case you missed it, Boxee released an upgrade yesterday that includes access to several movie libraries courtesy of a bunch of new partnerships they've forged.

I also had no idea that the Boxee Box was slated for a release this November. Just in time for the holidays.