Archive for September, 2008
Quote, “The concert system is, as far as I’m concerned, totally broken and stupid.” Garrett Murray offers some reasons why going to live shows just ain’t what it used to be. I’d love to hear some solutions, because I love music, but I rarely go to shows anymore.
President Bartlet Meets Senator Obama courtesy of (of-course-biased) The West Wing creator/writer Aaron Sorkin and the NY Times. We’re just into Season 4 of said show, but I’m amazed Sorkin can still write Bartlet so in character.
Quote, “Visitors enter the church through a lateral door and first see a scattered group of luminous spheres hovering in the choir. As one approaches the center of the entrance, the spheres form a giant question mark. They become a punctuation mark superposing religious symbols. As one moves through the church, the question mark decomposes. The figure becomes abstracted again in order to echo the figures of hanging cathedral lights. Contrasting the symmetry of the edifice, these luminous suspension points are like a sort of musical notation or holes punctuating the architectural volume. The question (or doubt) is absorbed by the space.”
Paul Newman, you wild, beautiful thing. You crazy handful of nothin’. You will be missed.
Our beds are empty two-thirds of the time. Our living rooms are empty seven-eighths of the time. Our office buildings are empty one-half of the time. It’s time we gave this some thought.
— R. Buckminster Fuller
1. Allison Arieff’s NYTimes opinon column By Design
2. Fail Blog
3. Phil Coffman
4. Andrew Sullivan’s The Daily Dish
5. LetterCult
Quote, “The map is not the territory is a remark by Alfred Korzybski, encapsulating his view that an abstraction derived from something, or a reaction to it, is not the thing itself, e.g., the pain from a stone falling on your foot is not the stone; one’s opinion of a politician, favorable or unfavorable, is not that person; a metaphorical representation of a concept is not the concept itself; and so on. A specific abstraction or reaction does not capture all facets of its source.” — Wikipedia
Oh well, I thought about shying away from political commentary here, but it’s gotten so bizarre, I feel the need to at least poke it with a stick. Katie Couric interviews Sarah Palin on the current economic situation and it’s downright laughable how uninformed she is. And by “laughable” I of course mean “scary.” Do with that what you will.
This Terry Colon illustration from the October issue of Reason Magazine is clever, well-executed and informative. No small feat when you’re talking about the U.S. immigration process and what has to be almost insurmountable bureaucracy.
Long, dragged-out projects are demoralizing.
Jason Fried, 37signals
Quote, “This is a hamburger from McDonalds that I purchased in 1996. That was 12 years ago. Note that it looks exactly like it did the very day I bought it.”
The upcoming Canon EOS 5D MKII also shoots full resolution 1080p video. Photographer Vincent Laforet took a prototype out for a spin and the results are stellar for a $2700 camera, especially in low light conditions. With Canon and Nikon both moving into this space, it’ll be an interesting next few months.
I’d embed the video, but I won’t subject you to auto-playing anything. Dancer David Elsewhere doing his thing for a Motorola campaign. Highly enjoyable.
Personality begins where comparison ends.
— Karl Lagerfeld
My powers of deductive reasoning tell me Karl is probably talking about fashion, but the same thing goes for your brand. Or your design work. Or your writing. Or your music. Etc.
No matter how beautiful your interface, it would be more beautiful if there were less of it.
— Edward Tufte
1. Dave Brubeck
2. Ginger Ale
3. Ffffound!
4. The almost-Autumn weather in South Carolina
5. Adobe Illustrator
Seriously, someone save us. (I just don’t get it. Someone help me get it.)
I work with a gent named Jon. He is smart. He is methodical. And Jon gets things done. Currently, he’s managing multi-million dollar construction and facilities-related projects. He interacts with the client and with a multitude of subcontractors. Wouldn’t it be ridiculous if he wanted to be the architect, too? And install the electrical lines? And paint the walls? And make sure the equipment on site had enough diesel fuel? And manage all the deadlines? And do all the things on the punchlist? I wonder if one of the reasons Jon gets things done is because he doesn’t do all of it himself.
I do web design. And print design. And layout work. And creative/art direction. And copywriting. And strategy. And more and more I’m realizing I need to take cues from the way people like Jon get things done, or I’ll never get anything done. (At least nothing exceptional and universe-denting.)
What pieces can you let go so the whole is better?
It took approximately two minutes for me to become hopelessly addicted to image bookmarking site Ffffound! You can see the images I’m finding inspiring at /blankenship or snag my RSS Feed.
For the Bottlerocket fans, Dignan’s notebook has been transcribed.
