I told you about the Kickstarter project for the new album from I Come to Shanghai and, fortunately, it was more than funded. If you weren't ready then to dive right in, please take a moment to watch this video and then hit up their site to hear the whole record. You can still procure the record over on their Bandcamp and I highly recommend that you do - it's a great listen from top to bottom.
It's been almost exactly one year since a tsunami hit Japan and the recovery process is still well underway. Kate pointed me towards one particularly interesting initiative - The Memory Salvage Project. While clearing out rubble from the disaster more than 750,000 photos were found and instead of tossing them away a group of volunteers has taken on the task of cleaning them, scanning them and doing what they can to return them to their original owners. A sampling of the photos can be seen here and a short video on the project itself can be viewed here. It's hard to imagine such a large group of people losing so much but I can I certainly comprehend the small joy that must come from receiving a portion of that lost life.
The fine folks over at Monkey Ink Design (now to be referred to as "MID") have relaunched their site. Finally, there's a proper place to see their portfolio of posters. Their work over the last few years has really stepped up - landing in a place of rather intricate results. The line work and details on the likes of this Black Angels poster or this Swans poster are great - what more can you say?
You know those portfolio sites you encounter and immediately feel terrible about anything you've ever worked on? I get that feeling from Jon Contino and Mark Weaver (to name just two) and now I'm getting it from the work of Curtis Jinkins. The site itself looks great but once you dive into the phenomenalwork... that's when the real awe sets in. Fortunately, encountering work as engaging as this ends up being more inspiring than anything else. The type treatments, the texturing, the illustration styles and implementation are all worth taking note of.
Full Circle is, at the heart of it, a collaboration between fashion label Klezinkski, filmmaker Callum Cooper and sound artist John Kassab. However, none of that is apparent when watching the video - it's just a brilliantly simple idea with the most pitch perfect execution (particularly in the editing department). In summation, the video might be an ad but, really, it's just a pleasure to watch.
Has anyone tried out Sparrow for the iPhone? The intro video looks pretty great but I still feel somewhat burned from that awful Gmail app that came out awhile ago.. you just can't beat the built-in Mail App. Or can you? They certainly seem to have a lot of features at hand that Mail does not and an equally slick interface.
Loving these "Legends" pieces from William Hatch Crosby - vintage portraits skillfully altered with gouache markings. The Lords and Beasts series are also quite nice but there is something vaguely unsettling about those portraits... cultish even.
So I'm finally back from SXSW and fully rested. I'd like to say that the past few days have helped me gather the proper words to encapsulate the event but I can't quite perfectly articulate what's going on down in Austin anymore. Something about the latest incarnation of SXSW Music feels wrong and I'm not talking about the corporate sponsorships from Pepsi, Doritos, Monster Energy, etc. I can deal with some corporate funding to help an event go smoother but it seems like a good deal of the entire undertaking is shifting its gaze from giving independent artists a leg up to showcasing huge acts. How is it possible that the likes of Jay-Z, Bruce Springsteen, Mystikal and Counting Crows are all playing?
Because any surface in Austin can be turned into a music venue (not true for film screenings) it seems like the conference has reached the tipping point. Supersaturation has been accomplished. What good does it even do a band to play down there? Sure it's a good resume builder but when you're competing with hundreds of other shows are you really going to reach anyone?
Long story short, I think we're going to start seeing a change down there. I had a blast hanging out with my friends but something's gotta give!
Since embarking on my freelance adventure I've been quite remiss to update my portfolio with many of the projects I've been working on. Fortunately, I found myself with a little spare time yesterday and did a sweep through of my work folders to showcase some of the goods from the last six months. I seemed to have completely forgotten to mention the new Bongo East Cafe Menu that I designed! It's not an exhaustive list of everything I've done but there's certainly pride in every one of them that's in there. Hopefully there will be even more greatness to come in the next few weeks (that's a lie, I know there will be.. they're almost done).
There's not a whole lot to say about this Animal Planet Rebrand from Double G Studios beyond the fact that, personally, I love the style. It's a great combination of slightly lo-fi, floating planets and somewhat cute animals.You can read a little more about it here but, frankly, you just need to watch it and enjoy.
I'm not sure why they did it but Google has put together a rather impressive campaign for the betterment of online advertising called Project Re:Brief. The site approaches four of the creators of some of the most well known ads - Coca-Cola, Volvo, Alka-Seltzer and Avis - and tasks them with re-imagining their campaigns for the digital world. I haven't had a chance to dig into the videos that go along with each brief but the intro is pretty captivating - not to mention the page layouts for each project.
Maybe Google is pushing to get better ads online or maybe they're just trying to rationalize that ads can be "good" in terms of popular culture but, whatever the reason, this project is certainly worth diving into.
Take some time (or your Instapaper) and read this great article on Ruby programmer _why. Even if you have no interest in programming, no interest in "celebrity" within the world of programmers or any such semi-related thing I still think you're enjoy it. Author Annie Lowrey approaches the topic from a completely ignorant place; no experience with programming or even the lexicon of programming. So, from that standpoint, she can take a step back and express just how it is that _why is as important as he is (or, was, depending on your viewpoint).
The article also points towards this great introduction to programming & Ruby - Try Ruby. It's as basic as it can get but, honestly, that's the best way to dive right in.
I'm still out and about in the wilds of Austin, TX but I was fortunate enough to talk Chris Mikesell into curating a Friday Videos playlist for me. The following playlist of videos were all selected by him as well as the descriptions. Guest curator content! Maybe I can get used to this...
Internet Explorer 9 Promo - Normally I'm not much of a fan of Microsoft's promo videos, but I'll make an exception when they do something right.
The Shoes - Time to Dance - I'm sure a few of you have already seen this, but this made the rounds earlier this week, and I didn't want it to fall through the cracks. (NSFW due to violence)
Fez Gameplay - Lately, I've been playing lots of indie games, I'm really excited about Fez. From what I've seen of the gameplay it incorporates three dimensional gameplay a lot like how Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door did, but better.
Neil deGrasse Tyson on Carl Sagan - Neil Tyson on why Carl Sagan was such an extraordinary man. If everyone was as passionate about their work as this man, the world would be such a better place.
I'm off to SXSW today. Why am I attending the Music portion and not the Interactive? Good question. This year, the professional answer is so I can properly support the Uncle Skeleton performance at Easy Tiger Patio on Thursday. The less than professional answer is - I enjoy it and treat it like a vacation.
Blog posting will, obviously, be much slimmer in the next few days but I'll do my best to get some Friday videos coming your way. Maybe even have this guy curate it so it's extra weird.
If you'd like to meet up - go ahead and get in touch. I'll definitely be around.
BERG posted this great compilation of Videophones in film (with supplemental blog notes) showcasing envisioned devices from as far back as 1927. It's sort of insane to think that we can actually do this now with a product that's smaller than a pack of cards.
I stumbled upon the 2012 Reel of Argentina motion graphics outfit Plenty and I'm kind of blown away by the range of styles. A quick peek at their portfolio makes it painfully clear that they're capable of everything across the board. Give it a whirl.
The photostream of Oliver Bryce Yates doesn't have an archive of hundreds of photos to sort through but what it does have is an actually consumable amount of imagery that pleases the eyes. There's something oddlymysterious to many of the images.. I can't put my finger on it but I'm certainly a fan.
I've been seeing a lot of links to Curator's Code lately - mostly in protest of the message it carries. The creators suggest using two single characters to spread attribution for posts - ᔥ and ↬ for "via" and "HT", respectively. While I love the idea of getting more people on board with proper attribution for the source of their posts (c'mon Tumblr users, get with it) I don't really understand creating an additional layer of comprehension for where things came from. Their heart seems to be in the right place but I couldn't agree with Jed more - Lame.
Take a moment to watch this Inventor Portrait on Ralph Baer - the man often referred to as the Father of Video Games. You may not recall the 1972 Magnavox Odyssey but it definitely kicked things off in the consumer market for the now multi-billion dollar industry.
Now I need to dive into the entire Inventor Portrait Series - loads of inspiration and intriguing stories to be found.
The work of Katie Scott is such an excellent take on science illustration with a slightly off-kilter twist. This piece is my favorite of the bunch but it's rather difficult to pick when you've got works like this, this or this gorgeous installation. Click through and make sure to see the huge versions of the work - definitely worth seeing the details.
