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Thursday, August 21, 2008
Thursday Top 5
An Epic Conversation with Cory Doctorow and John Scalzi, Part 1 An conversation between Cory Doctorow, (technologist, author, and BoingBoing mainstay) and John Scalzi (sci-fi author and noted purveyor of Whatever). The video editing is a bit annoying. Actually, I like all of it except the incredibly annoying, loud intro music. They also use it between cuts. Laaaame. Oh, if you are interested, part two of the video is here.
“This I Believe” by Robert A. Heinlein This short piece makes my cry every time I read it. The Heinlein Foundation recently found a recording of the original radio broadcast for Edward R. Murrow’s radio show in 1952, and posted an MP3. www.heinleinprize.com/rah/thisibelieve.htm
Caduceus Cellars Tool’s Maynard James Keenan has a winery. www.caduceus.org
Waxing the winker A couple guys go to LA’s (apparently) famous waxing salon Pink Cheeks. Yeah, um, definitely NSFW. And btw, “anal bleaching?” Ew. www.current.com/items/89138614_waxing_the_winker
Orwell Diaries The Orwell Prize, a British award for political writing, is publishing George Orwell’s 1938–1942 diaries as a blog. orwelldiaries.wordpress.com
Free Rice Play a vocabulary game, and feed the world at the same time. www.freerice.com
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Thursday, August 07, 2008
Thursday Top 5
“The Streets of San Francisco” might get remade This was a great show, and it looks like CBS might remake it. The original made a star of Michael Douglas. But the best part was the theme song. Even today it still starts playing in my head whenever I drive around the hilly parts of SF. I need to burn the song to a CD and keep in it my car's player at all times.
Save Polaroid Polaroid announced early this year that the company would cease making instant film. It’s a shame that this unique and distinctive photographic medium will go the way of the dodo. But you can do something about it. www.savepolaroid.com
Ani DiFranco I've never really been much of a fan of Ani DiFranco; while I like some of her songs, and I greatly respect her socio-political views and her DIY work ethic, I just never really liked her voice much. The interview with her on “City Arts & Lectures” was worth it, though. Unfortunately, the program doesn’t make downloads or streams available of past shows, so unless you catch the show some time on a rebroadcast, I guess you're outta luck : \ www.cityarts.net
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Thursday, July 24, 2008
Ringo & His All-Starr Band bring on the hits from the 1970s and '80s
When I told my friend Scott that I was going to see Ringo Starr, he actually asked, "Is he still alive?" And he was serious.
*rolls eyes*
Velma is a huge Beatles fan (actually she's little, not huge, but she likes the Beatles a lot), so for her birthday last month I got her tickets to see Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band, who were performing last night at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga.
I'm not a huge Ringo fan, but I like the Beatles a lot, and I was interested to see the show for two reasons: 1) I grew up a couple miles from the Mountain Winery but I've never been to a concert there in all these years, and 2) I was interested to see who was in Ringo's All-Starr Band (not to mention that it would be my first time seeing a Beatle).
The beauty and uniqueness of Ringo's touring band is in the stars he gets. You wouldn't ordinarily see these guys together on stage unless it was at a rare one-off benefit concert or something. But the real brilliance is that they don't just play Beatles songs and Ringo solo material. Each member of the band gets one or two chances at center stage, to trot out a couple of their hits from the 1970s or '80s, with these other exceptional musicians backing him up.
And they are definitely hits. You'd probably know each one from the decades of radio play they've gotten, even if you didn't recognize the song titles, or the names of the guys responsible for them.
At first I didn't recognize Hamish Stuart, Colin Hay, or Gary Wright on sight or by name, but when each took center stage and began the songs they're famous for, it was obvious.
I was particularly psyched to see Edgar Winter and Billy Squier, who both completely rocked. I can't believe Edgar Winter's still rollicking through his über-hit "Frankenstein" after all these years, and still playing four or five different instruments during the song! That guy's gotta be about 104 by now.
Ringo is smart enough to know his roadshow has more appeal with the addition of these other marquee-name musicians. I mean, Ringo was a Beatle, yeah, but he's not the greatest singer of all time. As Velma put it, "I couldn't really listen to a whole show of Ringo singing."
But we both enjoyed the show a great deal. Even most of Ringo's stuff was enjoyable. And when we got bored we'd just scan the crowd to try to find anyone younger than us who wasn't there with their parents.
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Sunday, July 20, 2008
Jerry Levitan meets the walrus
In 1969, then-14-year-old Jerry Levitan, armed with a reel-to-reel tape deck, snuck into John Lennon's hotel room and convinced the Beatle to do an interview about peace. Thirty-eight years later, Jerry and director Josh Raskin have produced an animated short film using the recording as its soundtrack, and featuring the pen work and digital illustration of artists James Braithwaite and Alex Kurina.
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Thursday, May 29, 2008
Metal albums as early graphic design influence
When I was in junior high school, way before I learned there was such a job as "graphic designer," I was into two things: heavy metal and art. Well, okay, three things. Girls were on that list too, but most of them avoided me. Mostly because I was into heavy metal, come to think of it.
We had an art class at school and I was always working my interest in metal music into the art projects. The screen-printed T-shirts I made featured Ozzy Osbourne logos and the pottery lesson turned into a bust of the gore-spewing Ozzy from the cover of Speak of the Devil. Since I was one of the best artists in our class, people were always asking me to help them with their projects. Art class was the only class where I was popular.
Later on in high school, I took art, jewelry making, and four full years of drafting, all of which furthered my interest in commercial art. I was only beginning to think there might be a career for me in graphic design when I took a journalism class and caught the bug, getting sidetracked on that career path for the next four years.
By the time I started my independent newspaper in 1988, I'd already been publishing all sorts of things for years: little fanzines, newspapers, and magazines. I'd even taken a summer school course in "magazine making" when I was probably 12 or so, and I'd been on the "newspaper" staff in the 6th grade, although it was laughable to call that mimeographed atrocity a newspaper. Hell, I was the "Filler Editor" in charge of jokes and word searches to fill in the holes, so that should give you an idea of our 6th grade professionalism.
In the 7th grade I'd started an Ozzy fanzine called The Fellowship of the Blizzard, which I'd painstakingly piece together using pen and pencil art, pictures cut out of rock magazines, and typewritten pages I'd cut into columns like a real magazine. I even sold a few copies on consignment in a rock shop in Los Gatos called Buffalo Trading Co. (sadly defunct now).
In those days of the 1980s (*shudder*), I had two main graphic design influences: Steve "Krusher" Joule and Derek Riggs. Krusher was the art director for the UK's Kerrang! magazine, which I subscribed to at great cost (weekly air mail delivery to the U.S. cost over $100 per year). He was also the mastermind behind the album designs for most of Ozzy's early groundbreaking solo albums.
I copied Krusher's designs for much of my work between the 7th grade and the 11th, when I finally gave up publishing the Fellowship newsletters. You can see his influence by comparing the Ozzy albums above with the newsletter. I designed the Fellowship logo in the 7th grade, deducing the concept of a vanishing point purely be scrutinizing the Blizzard of Ozz album cover. Not bad considering I hadn't even taken my first drafting class yet.
Derek Riggs' work was also influential (as was the music of Iron Maiden, not coincidentally), and I even dedicated a special edition of my Ozzy fanzine to Maiden, with plenty of Riggs album and single covers displayed inside. I would later spend a lot of time avoiding my homework in high school by drawing the Maiden logo on everything from my binders and schoolbook covers to my pant legs and a couple of friends' jackets. If I'd had the smarts to charge people, I could'a made a few bucks.
In later years I'd dabble in copying the style of Pushead, who was famous then for skate decks and lots of Metallica T-shirt designs, and I'd mastered the reproduction of the logos of bands from Queensryche and Dokken to Dio and Megadeth.
Krusher stopped doing Kerrang! eventually and I'd moved on before then anyway, gathering plenty more "traditional" graphic design influences. Riggs stopped doing Maiden's album art when the band didn't like one of his covers, and they've been done by other artists since, often in a similar style and of course always featuring the famous Eddie.
But even today those two artists stand as possibly the first two professional designers I knew by name, and they've had a lasting effect on my style, technique, and aesthetic. Thanks guys.
Velma woke me up this morning before she left for work and told me to meet her at Market and 2nd at 5pm. I remember groggily protesting but she insisted she had a surprise for me.
I dutifully turned up on the corner downtown this afternoon, not knowing what I was in store for.
Turns out The Dandy Warhols, one of my all-time favorite bands, were hosting a pre-release listening party for their new album at 111 Minna Gallery. Velma had signed up for their emails a long time ago so she could pull something like this on me.
The album's called ...Earth to The Dandy Warhols... and I liked the sound of it (although it's always hard to get a good impression when there's a buzz of assorted merry socializing competing with the music). It comes out May 19 on their site, and they've offered the first track, “The World The People Together (Come On),” as a free MP3 download.
Brent and Zia were there early. Zia even came with her case of records to spin for our aural pleasure after they'd played the new album two or three times through. I'm not sure whether Courtney and Pete came down from Portland for this, as I left pretty early. Maybe I'm just old, but after Velma left (she had a prior engagement so she could only spend an hour with me) I got bored looking at people I don't know drinking and socializing. So after a beer and listening to some of Zia's picks, I headed for the hills.
Astute readers may recall that The Dandy Warhols are actually listed on my very long list of clients. I used to shoot the band every time they'd play anywhere in the Bay Area in their early years (mid- to late-1990s) and at one time their management asked if they could use some of my photos for publicity since they had just switched drummers and didn't have any new pictures yet. A bunch of my live shots had been featured on their website way back then too, but they're long gone by now.
Funny enough, I'd just recently been thinking of getting together all my Dandys photos and putting out a book. I'd even gotten the box of prints and negatives down off the shelf just last week.
To top it all off, the photo featured today on my photoblog is one of those old Dandys pictures, which I'd added to the database last week.
I think it's all a sign that I should do the photo book.
Google Me, the movie Jim Killeen Googled his name and found there were Jim Killeens all around the world. So he traveled to meet some of them and made a documentary.
Grabb.it A group music blog anyone can contribute to. grabb.it
I want to see that! Every Monday, Ben and Katie review all the new movies. Even if they haven't seen them yet. iwtst.com
1,000 True Fans Ever heard the term "the long tail" and wondered what the hell they were talking about? Here's an article that posits that a person (an artist, a musician or even a blogger, for example) can make a living if they can reach a point where they have 1,000 true fans. www.kk.org/thetechnium/
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Thursday, April 17, 2008
Thursday Top 5
The Pixar Story I hadn't heard about this documentary, and now I'm looking forward to it. Unfortunately, there's no trailer on the site yet (boo!), even though the film's been screening around the country for months. Meantime, I quenched my thirst by reading this column from a couple years ago, about Pixar's 10th birthday. www.thepixarstory.com
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Thursday, March 06, 2008
Thursday Top 5+5
I've been busy so I didn't have time to post a Top 5 last week. So here's a double dose of distractions for you.
What if humanity disappeared? This Sunday, the National Geographic Channel premieres "Aftermath: Population Zero," which imagines what it would be like if humans suddenly disappeared from Earth (coincidentally, they chose Velma's birthday for the date on which human history ends). Pets will starve, dams will break, electricity will shut down and nuclear plants will eventually melt down. And that's just in the first few months; they continue to forecast out to 230 A.H. (after humans). Using CG and cleverly edited real film footage, National Geographic has created an altogether frightening and fascinating vision. Since we don't have cable Velma and I can't watch it, but I'll Netflix this someday if it gets released on DVD. There's an interactive timeline and several preview video clips on the web. channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/aftermath/
The Wasmopolitan Cavalcade of Recorded Music Legendary producer Don Was has a show on the new online video source My Damn Channel, and so far he's got interviews with and/or performances by Ozzy Osbourne, Slash and Duff from Guns 'N' Roses, Sass Jordan, Jill Sobule (performing in an LA furniture store!), Sweet Pea Atkinson, and Lori McKenna, along with some up-and-comers. The Ozzy interviews contain some of the most interesting questions Ozzy's gotten in years (in this way, Don Was could kick Bob Coburn's ass), and they even briefly discuss the long-forgotten duet Ozzy did with Madonna on Was (Not Was)'s 1983 album Born To Laugh at Tornadoes. www.mydamnchannel.com/explore.aspx?channel=59 I also liked this rock–reggae band — Common Sense: www.mydamnchannel.com/channel.aspx?episode=570
The trouble with Steve Jobs Fortune has named Apple number one on its 2008 list of America's Most Admired Companies. Among the magazine's coverage, editor at large Peter Elkind uncovers some facts behind Apple's stock backdating scandal and 2004 surgery that saved Steve Jobs from cancer. money.cnn.com/2008/ There's also a separate interview with Jobs: money.cnn.com/galleries/
Facebook and privacy Much has been made over the last year about Facebook's privacy policy and terms of service. I happen to think most of this sharing is benign, but there's no question that it could be used (as could nearly any information) for the wrong purposes. While this video's outline of corporate and government relationships to Facebook are a bit tenuous, it provides some interesting insights that all Facebook users should be aware of. www.albumoftheday.com/facebook/
Does Google have a Master Plan? As if the Facebook video wasn't enough, this video contend that Google is secretly cooperating with the CIA and collecting your personal information for purposes that are possibly more nefarious than just simply serving up relevant text ads. I'm not sure how much of this I buy, but I'll look into the allegations of Robert David Steele, the former CIA agent. The video, btw, is worth watching if only for the terrific design. masterplanthemovie.com
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Thursday, February 21, 2008
Thursday Top 5
Time-lapse video: Making a digital portrait of Thom Yorke
How to make bread lol! I like this comment: "Add baking to the list of typical hobbies for gay, white, disco ninjas." www.poetv.com/video.php?vid=24479
Declaration of Romantic Intent When you truly (euphemism for attraction) someone, nothing says it like a form letter. bureauofcommunication.com
iminta My pal Aaron Newton launched his new site a little over a week ago, and it's garnering some good reviews. It's a social-web aggregator allowing you to keep track of you and your friends' activity on a bunch of services like Yelp, Digg, Twitter, and YouTube, but do it all in one place. I helped Aaron a bit with some graphic advice early on. www.iminta.com
Clark and Michael I don't know how to describe these webisodes. They're just funny. You might recognize Michael Cera from Juno or "Arrested Development." You gotta start at Episode 1 though. www.clarkandmichael.com
Harmonica + Beatbox: Final Cut I think I posted a video of this guy, Yuri Lane, a couple years ago. Amazing skillz. www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHUuqsSCn5g
20/20: "Stupid in America" Oh man, it gets worse. The whole Miss Teen South Carolina thing led me to this "20/20" episode. It takes about ten minutes before you see some hope: Some of the alternative schools, where teaching actually happens (shocking!). Oh bog, this makes me want to vote Libertarian again. www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfRUMmTs0ZA
Voice of Bart Simpson gives $10 million to Scientology I don't know what's more appalling, that she gave that much dough to the lunatic cult, or that she earns $250,000 for every episode of "The Simpsons." www.pagesix.com
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Thursday, January 31, 2008
Thursday Top 5
Music for one apartment and six drummers
The Koepp and I (A Play in Two Parts) An interesting post by screenwriter Josh Friedman, who wrote the early script versions of "War of the Worlds," about how a completely different writer got all the credit. hucksblog.blogspot.com
Not Martha My favorites are the enews.org logo cupcakes! Well, that's not what they call them, but that's what I call them. www.notmartha.org
I've been a Clash fan since before I knew what punk rock was. KFRC used to play The Clash in the 1970s and '80s when it was still a pretty hip rock radio station in the Bay Area. Later it changed formats to oldies (which is ironic since they switched formats again recently and now play The Clash again, but now they're the oldies!).
Mick Jones and Tony James were friends before they became famous in The Clash and Generation X respectively, but lately they've been recording again together. For the past five years they've been releasing their songs for free on the net under the moniker Carbon/Silicon. A few of their downloads are available on their official site, and a lot are available on various Clash fan boards like this one.
Now they've released a full "conventional CD" in stores (and on iTunes Music Store), and the pair were interviewed on Tuesday's "Fresh Air" on NPR (listen to the stream or podcast).
Update: I'd be remiss if I failed to point out to Jason A. that there's a bunch of Clash, Pogues, Jam, Sex Pistols, and other bootlegs available in the threads on this board.
111 nude SF women on couches A book (premiered last week at 111 Minna) by Merkley??? (sic – his name includes the ???). Note: Not exactly safe for work or small chill’n. www.threequestionmarks.com I also like his take on "photographers."
The Superest An ongoing character illustration battle between Kevin Cornell, Matthew Sutter, and occasional guest artists. www.thesuperest.com
WGA Strike: A Love Story The Writer Guild strike continues, but the writers keep writing, while the networks give you reruns and game shows. youtube.com/watch?v=EodzF_orJQY
Watch your (fo)odometer How many miles does your food travel from field to fork? Presented in an interestingly animated fashion. youtube.com/watch?v=p4RCyxgz97g
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Thursday, November 22, 2007
Thursday Top 5
Microsoft's Seadragon/Photosynth Blaise Aguera y Arcas of Microsoft Live Labs demos Seadragon/Photosynth, some incredible software that's capable of assembling static photos into zoomable, navigatable spaces.
Hunters Point Open Studios SF artists' studios are open on weekends from Oct 13 through November 4, but the one I look forward to every year is Hunters Point (Nov 3 and 4). Multiple buildings filled with every imaginable kind of artist. Last year I discovered a blind sculptor, among other wonderful work. Frankly, I don't think the images on this page are terribly indicative of the breadth of quality art on display, but here are some samples: www.mesart.com/openstudios_SanFrancisco.jsp
Buy a decommissioned missile base Only $1.5 million, and it comes with 57 acres of land, 16 underground buildings, and thousands of feet of connecting tunnels. Near Spokane, WA. "Honey — can we, can we, can we?" tinyurl.com/2ynfvm
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Thursday, October 11, 2007
Thursday top 5
"Helvetica" A beautiful film about a very pedestrian thing: The most common typeface of all. (I liked the film so much, I pre-ordered the DVD.) www.helveticafilm.com
Leaving Home... A very eloquent, moving, eye-opening story from a surprising source. riverbendblog.blogspot.com
"So You Want To Be a Movie Intern" Apple and the makers of the movie "The Seeker: The Dark is Rising" did some sort of promotion that filmed the experiences of nine interns on this movie. There are some short episodes available on the ITMS and they're kinda interesting. [This link will launch iTunes Music Store to view the videos] phobos.apple.com
Donate blood I'm not sure when the next CNET Networks donation day is scheduled for, but you can always make an appointment at the Blood Centers of the Pacific's downtown location, which is only about three blocks away. I went last week. www.bloodcenters.org
Robots playing Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" "LEV the thereminbot and his newly-built pal thumpbot play "Crazy" with help from a 20-year-old MT32 synthesizer. OK, Lev's a bit out of tune, but hey, ROBOTS..." www.youtube.com/watch?v=19RJEnNUg1I
"BBS: The Documentary" Anybody remember dialing up to BBSes before the Web? I guess everybody needs a hobby: Some guy spent four years filming a documentary about BBSes. www.bbsdocumentary.com
"Planet Earth" This is a spectacular series from the BBC. I will second my friend Olya's recommendation too: Get the BBC version featuring David Atetnborough as narrator, not the Discovery Channel version featuring Sigourney Weaver. I mean, I like Sigourney and all, but she ain't no Attenborough. It's available in HD btw. www.amazon.com/Planet-Earth-Complete-BBC-DVD/dp/B000MRAAJW
The Green I wish I had cable so I could watch programming like this. In a poll ten years ago, almost 80% of Americans said they'd call themselves environmentalists. Yet most people do very little to make the environment better or raise awareness. Programming like this makes me optimistic. www.sundancechannel.com
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Thursday, September 13, 2007
Thursday top 5
Flight of the Conchords, "Jenny" This one's for Ynnej since I missed her birthday by a couple days last month. These two Kiwis are hilarious. There are a whole bunch of good vids of them on YouTube.
Family Guy Star Wars A preview of an upcoming hour-long episode in which the cast of "Family Guy" does the entire first Star Wars movie. www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGyGlp8sEHo
For font geeks and/or Nippophiles Shuetsu Sato is a railway employee who makes intricate, creative, hand-made signs and maps out of colored tape. www.pinktentacle.com
Internet People If you recognize more than half of these people, you're spending too much time in front of your computer. Like me. www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pPCkhYMQgY
Iggy Pop's entertaining rider A rider is a document that spells out what a band requires a venue to provide for the artist. There have been some legendary strange requests over the years, but this one's just plain fun to read. www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/1004061iggypop1.html
How to take a product-shot photo on a white background A pretty simple method. I tried it out the other night, and while it's a little harder to get a really good result than it might first seem from this tutorial, it works pretty well. www.sxc.hu/blog/post/133
In the 7th grade I'd started an Ozzy 
