Listen: Podcast no30

I think I might join a church and get baptized and eat more breadflesh and drink more wineblood. Enjoy:

"Panic" by The Smiths
"Warm Heart of Africa (feat. Ezra Koenig)" by The Very Best
"Lazer Theme (feat. Future Trouble)" by Major Lazer
"I Hate People" by Jemina Pearl (video)
"Horchata" by Vampire Weekend
"Should Have Taken Acid With You" by Neon Indian
"Apples and Pairs" by Slow Club
"Ancient Mysteries" by Brakes
"Pretty Visitors" by Arctic Monkeys
"Hummingbird" by Born Ruffians
"Random" by Gary Numan
"Don't You Be the Judge (Live)" by Danielson Famile
"Islands" by The xx
"Psalms 40:2" by The Mountain Goats
"Surf Solar" by Fuck Buttons

Here are some additional link(s) I blathered on about:

* The "Skins" music blog features an episode-by-episode breakdown of tracks featured in the show
* Danielson: A Family Movie is a documentary about the Danielson Famile and is available on Netflix

As usual, the podcast is available through RSS or iTunes. Here are the appropriate links:

* Subscribe to the enhanced podcast. (rss)
* Subscribe to the mp3 podcast. (rss)
* Click here to visit the "Pleasing To Your Ears" page in the iTunes Music Store, where you can pick and choose from available episodes.
* no30 :: God is GREAT! Praise His Name! (mp3)
* no30 :: God is GREAT! Praise His Name! (enhanced)

That's it for episode 30. Here is an (outdated) list of tracks played on Pleasing To Your Ears! Please tell your friends. Please tell me what you think. Please post a link on your Facebook page. Please tune in for a new episode next weekend.

Listen: Podcast no29

What song of Summer are you? Wanna be fake friends on Facebook? Ahh fuck this, I give up. Enjoy:

"Raindrops" by Basement Jaxx (video)
"Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell" by Das Racist
"What Up Man" by The Cool Kids
"Idiot Heart" by Sunset Rubdown
"Auditorium" by Mos Def
"Daniel" by Bat for Lashes (video)
"No One Does It Like You" by Department of Eagles (video)
"Good Ol' Fashion Nightmare" by Matt & Kim
"The Rip" by Portishead
"The Tenure Itch" by The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
"You Go On Ahead (Trumpet Trumpet II)" by Sunset Rubdown
"Good Distance" by Northern State
"Titus Andronicus" by Titus Andronicus
"Movie Romance" by Love Is All
"Kissing the Beehive" by Wolf Parade

Here are some additional link(s) I blathered on about:

* Buzzfeed's "What Song of Summer 2009 Are You?" quiz

As usual, the podcast is available through RSS or iTunes. Here are the appropriate links:

* Subscribe to the enhanced podcast. (rss)
* Subscribe to the mp3 podcast. (rss)
* Click here to visit the "Pleasing To Your Ears" page in the iTunes Music Store, where you can pick and choose from available episodes.
* no29 :: WHOMP! WHOMP! (mp3)
* no29 :: WHOMP! WHOMP! (enhanced)

That's it for episode 29. Here is an (outdated) list of tracks played on Pleasing To Your Ears! Please tell your friends. Please tell me what you think. Please post a link on your Facebook page. Please tune in for a new episode next weekend.

Listen: Podcast no28

I'm going to see David Byrne in Prospect Park this evening. So this week I've provided excerpts from Byrne's "The New Sins" to guard your moral piety. Enjoy:

"Strange Overtones" by David Byrne and Brian Eno
"Heads Will Roll" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs (video)
"When I Grow Up" by Fever Ray (video)
"Dorchester Hotel" by The Sounds
"Hard Times" by Patrick Wolf (video)
"Help I'm Alive" by Metric
"Wet Hair" by Japandroids
"Century Eyes" by Shearwater
"Vermin" by Wavves
"Psychic City (Voodoo City)" by YACHT
"Introducing Palace Players" by MEW
"Dream City" by Free Energy
"Moth's Wings" by Passion Pit
"Kids" by MGMT (video)
"This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)" by Talking Heads

Here are some additional link(s) I blathered on about:

* More info about MEW's new album and image-based track names
* Wavves Barcelona breakdown

As usual, the podcast is available through RSS or iTunes. Here are the appropriate links:

* Subscribe to the enhanced podcast. (rss)
* Subscribe to the mp3 podcast. (rss)
* Click here to visit the "Pleasing To Your Ears" page in the iTunes Music Store, where you can pick and choose from available episodes.
* no28 :: Let He Who Is Without Sin... (mp3)
* no28 :: Let He Who Is Without Sin... (enhanced)

That's it for episode 28. Here is an (outdated) list of tracks played on Pleasing To Your Ears! Please tell your friends. Please tell me what you think. Please post a link on your Facebook page. Please tune in for a new episode next weekend.

Listen: Podcast no27

I graduated from graduate school. Graduate (x3)! With my new found free time, I'm hoping to get up to my old tricks and that means frequent, scheduled episodes of Pleasing To YOur Ears you guys! Enjoy:

"My Girls" by Animal Collective (video)
"1901" by Phoenix
"All Wasted" by Jay Reatard
"Stillness Is the Move" by Dirty Projectors
"Knotty Pine" by Dirty Projectors + David Byrne
"Tightrope" by Yeasayer
"Train Song" by Feist + Ben Gibbard
"The Shrew" by Beirut
"No Dice" by Realpeople (Beirut)
"MAD MAC" by Polysics
"Rain On" by Woods
"Two Weeks" by Grizzly Bear (video)
"When I Was Afraid" by The Thermals
"TMNT Mask" by Chad VanGaalen (a video for VanGaalen's "Molten Light")
"Snookered" by Dan Deacon

Here are some additional link(s) I blathered on about:

* Pitchfork followed Dan Deacon while he recorded his current album Bromst

As usual, the podcast is available through RSS or iTunes. Here are the appropriate links:

* Subscribe to the enhanced podcast. (rss)
* Subscribe to the mp3 podcast. (rss)
* Click here to visit the "Pleasing To Your Ears" page in the iTunes Music Store, where you can pick and choose from available episodes.
* no27 :: Reboot (mp3)
* no27 :: Reboot (enhanced)

That's it for episode 27. Here is an (outdated) list of tracks played on Pleasing To Your Ears! Please tell your friends. Please tell me what you think. Please post a link on your Facebook page. Please tune in for a new episode next weekend.

POPVISUALIZATION 1.0

Pop Visualization 1.0 - Wham City from Tiny Hands on Vimeo.

This is an excerpt from the first Tiny Hands project, POPVISUALIZATION 1.0, which asks participants to visually interpret pop songs using common art supplies (markers, crayons and finger paint). While trying to deduce a song’s form, color and overall feeling, participants become active, rather than passive, listeners. Also, it’s fun to drink tons of wine and color with friends. This footage shows a variety of physical and aesthetic interpretations of the song “Wham City” by Dan Deacon. Read more about the project here and become a fan of Tiny Hands on Facebook.

Advisors + Development Videos

Gripped by the siren's call of productivity, I find myself slogging through more work for my thesis. Good news: I've got an advisor. Other news: there's some interesting posts on the development blog. I promise I'll do a podcast soon.

http://devblog.tiny-hands.org/

Tiny Hands

The MFA Design thesis, am I right folks? You in the back, you know what I'm talking about, I can tell. Guy waiting in line to pee, you feel me, don't you? Yeah, he feels me. He feels the unyielding desire to pee but he also feels me. Ahhhh, thesis.

Anyway, my project is called Tiny Hands, it's a difficult to explain but it's super fun in practice. It is an online, open-source art collective for regular people. For the time being, it is here:

http://devblog.tiny-hands.org/

You should totally read about it, tell me you read about it and, as a direct result of that closed feedback loop, be invited to participate in it when the time is right.

EMUHLAY!

Emily was in town a few weekends back and we all went to Applewood for brunch. It was nice to hear about her plans for business school and recent nordic travels as well as filling her in on my ongoing thesis work. She dropped a lot of perspective on me, gave me one great contact and even squeezed in a silly hat photo shoot. Claire and I, to our surprise, have many silly hats.

Listen: Podcast, no26

I'm back at school, but accumulated apathy and free time have yielded this podcast. I promise that this time there is more where this one came from and in short order. Enjoy:

"The Package Is Wrapped" by Marnie Stern
"Going Insane" by Vivian Girls
"After Last Night" by The Rev-Lons
"Peanut Duck" by Marsha Gee
"Un Dia" by Juana Molina (video profile)
"Banana Slugs/Cosmonaut" by High Places
"House Jam" by Gang Gang Dance
"Twice Born" by Fucked Up
"Steely" by Marnie Stern
"Monkey Trick" by The Jesus Lizard
"Feedback In the Field" by Plants and Animals
"Whole Wide World" by Wreckless Eric
"You Ain't Got Nuthin' (Feat. Juelz Santana & Fabolous)" by Lil Wayne
"Good Day" by Nappy Roots
"Miss Meri" by Two Gallants

Here are some additional link(s) I blathered on about:

* You can get the Hot Chip remix of Gang Gang Dance's "House Jam" here, presuming you don't mind signing up for the mailing list
* Here is Pitchfork's Top 100 albums of the 1990s (more on that next time, probably)

As usual, the podcast is available through RSS or iTunes. Here are the appropriate links:

* Subscribe to the enhanced podcast. (rss)
* Subscribe to the mp3 podcast. (rss)
* Click here to visit the "Pleasing To Your Ears" page in the iTunes Music Store, where you can pick and choose from available episodes.
* no26 :: Indie Rock & Empty Promises (mp3)
* no26 :: Indie Rock & Empty Promises (enhanced)

That's it for episode 25. Here is an (outdated) list of tracks played on Pleasing To Your Ears! Please tell your friends. Please tell me what you think. Please post a link on your blogs. Please use the hotline: (206) 202-3142. Please tune in for a new episode next weekend.

A Couple of Things

I've been working on my thesis project for the better part of two months now, often at the expense of other design projects. I was able to sneak a few things in, two of which are below. With luck, I'll be able to work on a few additional personal projects before the end of the year.

This video is the result of a Saturday of shooting and about $24 worth of apple green craft paper. My classmate Devon and I made it in response to a really loose brief for a class that acts as a sorbet to cleanse the thesis year palette. Devon and I have an aversion to people and a love affair with the absurd. Every sequence needs a bit of editing for time. I'll upload the streamlined version once I finish it.


(More of my videos)

I completed this opening title sequence for a department podcast back in September. If I find the time, I'd like to make some companion credits. The sequence follows the evolution of an idea, from concept to market. Fart.


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NY Times: "Hot's Not Cool"

British Steve and I designed a companion graphic for William Safire's On Language column in this week's New York Times Sunday Magazine. The project was part of their annual college issue, so all of the image-making was the product of current undergraduate or graduate students.

Our task was to design the column title, without any logical restrictions beyond reasonable legibility (for example, it didn't have to translate or in anyway interpret the meaning of the article). We perused back issues and saw a lot of digital solutions, the least interesting of which tried to create a connection in the graphic to the article, but we opted for something more playful, building a diorama of sorts, that measured more than fourteen square feet. All of the type elements were built from Play-Doh, Legos or stray toys, with additional decorative toy elements and a tinsel ocean. The end result was a lot of fun to do and I think it really stands out when held up to past issues. Below are some close-up shots that capture some of the detail lost in the overall picture.

Type Experiment: Fragmentation

I was tinkering around last night when I got a call from my friend David. "What're you up to?" he asked. "Just doing some type experiments." He laughed. "Is that what they're calling it?" "I wish I was masturbating. Sadly, I am actually playing with type."

For lack of a better source text, I used the word "type" as a starting point and began applying the Fragment filter in Photoshop again and again and again. The result creates a surprisingly organic form, given that the filter is pure, algorithmic pixelization. The text appears to bleed, like ink soaked in water. The layering of distortion and digital artifacts even starts to pull a muted blue tone into the mix (at least when working with black text on a white background). I think the result is quite beautiful.

Click the full sample for a hi-res version of this experiment that provides greater clarity. Also, note the cropped portion below, which shows the effect at it's actual size--pixel bonanza. Next step: color and a more complex grid of text.

Completely By Accident

Listen: Podcast, no25

Design school is but a distant memory, for the time being at least. We now return to your regularly scheduled podcasting. Enjoy:

"Party" by Envelopes (video)
"Raging in the Plague Age" by Les Savy Fav
"Shove It (feat. Spank Rock)" by Santogold
"Navajo" by Black Lips
"Fools" by The Dodos (video)
"Blind Mary" by Gnarls Barkley
"Bonafide Lovin' (Tough Guys)" by Chromeo (video)
"Editions of You" by Roxy Music
"Strange Times" by The Black Keys (video)
"Say Aha" by Santogold (Zune Arts video)
"Trick For Treat" by Neon Neon
COVER: "Cobrastyle" by Robyn (Letterman appearance w/Teddybears)
"Run to Your Grave" by The Mae Shi (video)

Here are some additional link(s) I blathered on about:

* A quest for moonshine/White Lightning with The Black Lips in South Carolina (courtesy of VBS.TV)
* This week's covered song: "Cobrastyle (feat. Mad Cobra) by The Teddybears"

As usual, the podcast is available through RSS or iTunes. Here are the appropriate links:

* Subscribe to the enhanced podcast. (rss)
* Subscribe to the mp3 podcast. (rss)
* Click here to visit the "Pleasing To Your Ears" page in the iTunes Music Store, where you can pick and choose from available episodes.
* no25 :: Didja Miss Me? (mp3)
* no25 :: Didja Miss Me? (enhanced)

That's it for episode 25. Here is an (outdated) list of tracks played on Pleasing To Your Ears! Please tell your friends. Please tell me what you think. Please post a link on your blogs. Please use the hotline: (206) 202-3142. Please tune in for a new episode next weekend.

Backwards Portfolio Review

I haven't posted any of my school work lately and precious little otherwise. That said, I presented this concept/idea this evening and it went over pretty well. One of the critics even went so far as to call it "genius," a fact I considered omitting here but include if only because this late in the semester, when the idea tanks are empty, it's good to know there's still some gold left uncovered.

For my final presentation in Scott Stowell's class we were asked to present work from the semester in a manner consistent with a mission statement of our own design. I wrote my speech, recorded the audio, reversed it, transcribed the reversed speech phonetically, performed it on camera and then reversed the result again to create an intelligible presentation (with some assistance from subtitles). This is my literal attempt to look back(wards) at my output (a great deal of which I wasn't completely satisfied with) while pushing my belief that my best design work is witty, conceptual and performative.

Here is a truncated version of the phonetic manuscript.



And here is the final video.


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Progress

I compiled and uploaded a portfolio here. It got me a job here.

Early Morning Radio

A few weeks ago, I noticed that Claire and I have been waking up to a radio station of fair quality. She usually gets up for work, showers, has a bowl of cereal and is out the door before I've done than piss and then crawl back under the covers. Imagine my surprise when the DJ was going on about The Raveonettes and Los Campesinos! I could've sworn that the early morning alarm radio was always NPR or some world music station.

This morning I awoke to The National's "Fake Empire," a beautiful yet regrettably somber song, especially for so gray a day. I've added it to my Muxtape, so feel free to listen. I will continue to add songs to that site when the quality of a track compels me or until it gets shut down for copyright infringement. Think of it as a stop gap until I'm out of school for the Summer and my interest in podcasting is revived.

Liquid Psychedelia

We're taking this course that is a simultaneous introduction to writing and an exploration of books and the form they take. It's more often than not pretty hippie dippy stuff with esoteric "writing exercises" that usually yield little more than awful poetry. I'm not receptive to the writing crash course b'c I can already write, but I understand how part of this course serves the greater good.

In a recent assignment, our instructor asked us to take some smaller bits of writing and some other pieces that were the product of free association exercises and create a bunch of varied type treatments. Type treatments are little more than artfully arranged text on a page, with an attempt at making a point or playing with a theme.

I was working on a more mundane series the night before everything was due, composing the work in Illustrator. This yielded the usual too-slick result, a piece of graphic design that has some visual appeal but no real soul. Rather than continue in this direction and have all of the enthusiasm sucked out of the assignment, I decided to experiment with a more physical transformation of simple, black, sans serif text.

Over the course of a few hours, I manipulated printed versions of my text while mid-scan and photocopy. Moving the text back and forth over the scanner and photocopier lens either stretches or condenses the text, often times separating the black portion into it's CMYK composite colors (cyan, magenta, yellow, etc.). I am FUCKING IN LOVE with the results. They are dynamic and each experiment has a surprising outcome. Further explorations are in the works using this initial foray as inspiration. The next obvious direction is the transformation of organic images, the introduction of video/animation work and an attempt of a large scale installation of scanners that act not as devices for capturing static images, but real time video input devices.

Mother fucking art school, ya'll.

Flying Cake (Trial 001)

(More of my videos)

On Saturday, I met my group at the studio and we set to work on the first cake flight. Scott brought in six over-sized, helium-filled balloons, but they struggled to lift an empty Nalgene bottle. A trip to the 99cent store for more balloons also failed to turn the tables in our favor. We hollowed out all but the outer ring of an angel food cake and frosted what was left. From the beginning, the integrity of the floating cake has always been paramount and, as such, we were never interested in floating a box that looked like a cake.

Unfortunately, even the lightest store bought angel food cake (which, by the by, was infinitely lighter than the one we baked in Maira's kitchen) is too heavy to really take flight without strapping an unsightly number of balloons to the base. We have since resolved to frost styrofoam and even sculpt cupcakes, create vacuum molds and churn out perfect, hand painted, nerf foam replicas. All these eventualities didn't stop us from shooting a few screen tests for the ugly prototype. In the end, it took flight twice, owing more to large gusts of wind than defiance of gravity. Pretty magical, if I do say so myself. We are shooting again tomorrow with lighter materials. Here's hoping the fucker floats for a few hours.

Your Basic (Horny) Chair

Last week, I mentioned my first visit to the wood shop for our 3-D Product Reality course. I had to transform a basic wooden chair from IKEA into the embodiment of the word "horny". I cut the legs and back on two simultaneous angles with a power saw, sanded the edges flush, filled in some holes with wood filler and then painted the entire thing with nine coats of plasticized rubber. Bind it, gag it and truss it up to a ceiling pipe and you've got yourself a kinky chair, begging to be whipped.

My classmates were kind enough to spank the horny chair again and again for a few final photos.