It's was only a matter of time until I put this up...even though no one's going to watch it all the way through, I just feel better having this up.
This morning's video's are the three parts of a documentary about Timothy Leary: The Man Who Turned On America. Basically, he gave LSD to the people in the 60's. Even thought I've never done LSD, the whole history of how LSD came about to be and what it became and how it basically defined a generation fascinates me so I give you guys this.
It's pretty insightful with lots of interviews from people that were actually there and pretty much goes through his entire life time.
I love limited color palettes. love love love. So I was really excited when I found this set of posters. Olly Moss participated in the Make Something Cool Everyday challenge that is gaining popularity on the internet. These posters are the outcome of that and although I don't like everything in the series, I think these are really really great!
(I am willing to accept that I like almost everything Indiana Jones related....except for the fourth movie)
I should really look into the create something cool everyday thing. and actually do it. I keep saying "oh, I'll do it next year when I'm out of school" but technically... I should be doing that now regardless. But I'm lazy so I'll say I'll do it next year sans the pressure of school!
This is beyond exciting news! For once, the complaint heard round the world was heard by the PepsiCo people! The old tropicana packaging will be brought back next month! So no more:
I really did not see this happening as nothing was done when millions out cried "give us old facebook!" or I cursed the skies for no longer being able to watch animal planet because of this. (no i will not get over it! this tropicana change gives me hope dammit!) For more on this story, we take you to the New York Times. I am feeling rather under the weather and cannot muster more musings.
My friend sam (fellow prattie and 8 year friend)sent me a link to something very similar to my previous post I Can Read Movies. Someone else had the same inspiration of using the Penguin Classics style to make book covers for the Harry Potter books.
My favorites are:
The designer is named M.S. Corley (check out the blog for the rest of the pictures). I love some of the other redesigns, like this one for the Spiderwick Chronicles:
but then again, I'm a sucker for line drawings. For the Harry Potter ones (or even the one above actually), I don't know if this was a color palette choice or again trying the aged effect BUT I feel it works and a bright white would be too stark. They do seem a bit retro but then again that was the inspiration .
Hmm..actually looking through more of the blog, it seems that this is a trend for this designer. After looking at too many it starts to lose the charm that originally drew me to the work but I guess that happens with everything. Anyway, check out the blog! Check out the work! And check sam's blog (yes linking it again), it's full of delicious randomness and she actually walks around the city and takes pictures of lots of interesting stuff. and is obsessed with lolcats (much to my delight haha).
Wowowowow. Wow. This is brilliant! It's called Panamap and why hasn't it been thought of before? I really want to see one of these things in real life! Wow!Ok, trying to not be super excited. And getting to the explaining of what this is!
Panamap is a map which uses the lenticular technology we've all seen as kids (and more exceedingly on dvd's. Those things when a picture changes from one thing to another as you turn the object in your hand. Technical description, I know. Click for wikipedia to explain.). It is developed by Urbamapping and it combines subway, neighborhood and street views. The back lists popular attractions of the city.
Another cool feature of this map is that, unlike many subway maps, it actually shows the subway stops where they actually lie (sorry Vignelli, geometry doesn't always win in functionality. Often, but not always (i still love you)). Also, when you turn the map, the map reveals the exact street view of the subway but, now, unencumbered by the lines of the subway system. In clarity and readability, this really seems like the way to go. Beautiful.
So far, there are only ones available for Manhattan and Chicago. I really like the design of this and it's really a smart idea. The whole thing folds up accordion style into a manageable size (vague I know but the video below should help!):
At about 20$ each, I'd consider buying this. Better yet, I would gladly receive this as a gift (wink wink) and that's saying a lot considering it is just a map.
I found this animation a while ago and have always always loved it! Terrifically done and really engaging. Just over two and a half minutes long, this animated short is really really terrific.
I wish this next video was better quality. It's called 'Samurai Versus'. Super cute. A little predictable and reminiscent of Spy vs. Spy but definitely worth the watch!
Aaaaand last but not least, here's this short little gem. Under two minutes but very funny and, as also seems to be the theme of today, ridiculously adorable. The little robots are at least.
Of course I want to see this! Of course I think it's a little unfair. We love him for the things he's given us yet hate him for ruining a lot of those things (I'm sorry but my love for Harrison Ford does not excuse him surviving an ATOM BOMB in a fridge..). Regardless, Star Wars 4-6 and Indiana Jones 1-3 were VERY prevalent in my childhood and I will forever love him for that.
I found a website that had a whole bunch of amazing photo's from old Life magazine issues.
Here are some of the ones that really hit a nerve with me:
Martin Luther King Jr. in Atlanta Georgia in May 1960 (photograph by Howard Sochurek). Such a simple photo but I've never seen it before and it captures a very different side of him. To me this seems like a photo of the man but without the legend of what he did enshrouding him. Actually cancel that. I don't know how to describe it but it's just a great portrait and I don't know if it's the photographer or the subject that makes it so.
Washington D.C., August 28, 1963 (photograph by Robert W. Kelley). This was during the civil rights march on washington dc for jobs and freedom. Crazy amount of people. There's a lot of photograph's around of this event but I dunno..every single one seems to have the same impact. JFK November 1963, New York, New York... (photograph by Carl Mydans)
RFK, June 5, 1968 (photographed by Bill Eppridge)...
So Kacper Hamilton, a designer residing in England, has designed a series of wine glasses based on the 7 deadly sins. They are all hand made and priced to order. Lust and Sloth are my favorite (mostly because of how ridiculous they are but also very fitting to the sin):
Envy's pretty good too.
The glasses are a cool novelty item and if I was at a party and someone handed me one of these, I'd say my night would definitely improve (unless I got envy I suppose). I can't really imagine anyone buying these for serious though. Unless maybe they have a surplus of cash and want to have a "difficult to drink from" themed wine glass party. Check out the rest of the series (and bigger pictures) on Kacper's website!
Ok, so I'm one of the people anti the new pepsi logo (or is it three logo's?). I don't obsessively hate it (like I do this piece of crap...why? WHY? WHY?! Why was this allowed? The sideways M, fine. Fine make some stripes whatever, fine drop cap the A. Go nuts. BUT WHAT IS WITH THE STRETCHNG OF THE LETTERS?! Why is the N and A's squished wile the I and L stretched to fill the voids? WHY?!)
Ok..enough of that. ANYWAY back to my original topic: pepsi. The new logo has always reminded me of a weird combination of these two:
However, now I will probably always see it as this (teehee):
This was a great idea and I wish I had thought of it. Le sigh. Someone that goes by the name of Spacesick has developed a series of book covers. The book covers are retro versions of movies we've all seen and loved. They are simple, beautiful and very clever. Here are some of my favorites:
I do sort of wish that he didn't add the "aged effect" to them though. That's the only thing I feel brings them down. Otherwise, they are really terrific.
So about a month and a half ago, I got the first of the HPV vaccine shots called Gardasil. There are three shots all together. In two weeks, I’m schedule to get the next one and I must say, I’m rather conflicted. I also wish I hadn’t been so hasty to get the first one so that I could think about this longer than the next two weeks.
Ok, a little background. Gardasil is the first ever vaccine against 2 types of Human Papillomavirus (HPV). You’ve seen the commercials:
The messed up bit about this is that men are the carriers of it. They may have it and pass it without ever having any knowledge of it, although they can sometimes be affected by it as well. It’s transmitted through sex and in most cases clears up on its own. However, it can also lead to cervical cancer. So, in theory, something that helps prevent this is a god send right? That’s what I thought. Not to mention, the commercials are pretty effective in convincing me that this was absolutely necessary. The commercials do point out that some of the side effects include pain, swelling, itching, and redness at injection site, fever, nausea or dizziness. Not too bad in exchange for a better shot at not having cancer, right?
Since June 30, 2008, 9,700 adverse “events” have been reported. The scary thing? No one really knows why these side effects occur. At first it was thought that the aluminum salts in the vaccine were the culprits but Dr. Diane Harper (MD from Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, New Hampshire), who was the principal investigator during the clinical vaccine trials says that this proved to be untrue.
So if they don’t know what exactly causes all those horrible things to happen, why push the drug so fiercely? Merck does have a monopoly on the market and they’ve already supplied 6 million doses of the vaccine in the US alone. With each individual shot costing over 100$, that’s quite a chunk of change in the bank, especially during a recession.
The vaccine is 0% effective for girls already exposed to HPV (now remember, often times people get HPV without knowing about it so if you’ve had sex, you technically could’ve already gotten it, in which case, this vaccine is null and void to you. 90% of the time, HV clears up on it’s own in 1-2 years in healthy women). In fact, the vaccine has only been tested on people who have never been exposed to HPV.
There is no data of how effective it is beyond 36 months post injection. They are now conducting research to see if and when a “booster” shot needs to be administered. Not to mention, regular PAP screenings are still 100% necessary to ensure prevention of cancer.
The side effects that are a result of the vaccine beyond 36 months have also been undocumented. With what I have listed being side effects that happen within a 36-month period, it’s hard to move past that in confidence that everything will be ok.
p.s. Remember Vioxx? Merck was responsible for that one, too.
It’s a strange time we live in. Medicine has really become a double-edged sword where you’re screwed if you do and you’re screwed if you don’t. I’m usually a proponent of holistic cures due to the fact that it’s making less and less sense to me that everything doctors prescribe has negative side effects, for which they often prescribe more miracle quick fixes. As a culture, this has become completely acceptable; diseases and allergies that didn’t exist 20 years ago are a part of life today and we’re just taking it. And I’m really disappointed with myself for slipping into it and believing a COMMERCIAL BY THE SUPPLIER who happens to have a monopoly on the situation.
I’ll keep doing research but just from today I think I may have made up my mind. Cheers to vitamins being the only pills I’ll be popping daily for as long as humanly possible.
Thank you minio for waking me up. Thank you marissa for fiercely agreeing.
Stefan Sagmeister is, in my opinion, a rock star. Living legend. Brilliant thinker. I could go on but enough about that. I'm just one of many many fans and other's, I'm sure, describe him with much more eloquence than my drooling cliches could. So google them.
Anyway, Stefan is in Bali. For 12 months. Not taking any commissions. Did you know? I did not. Apparently, Sagmeister goes on a sabbatical about once every decade. Well, that is the plan anyway, this is only his second one. The first he took was in 2001 and stayed in New York City (where his studio is), just without doing any commissioned work. Just experimenting. In a way, it's almost the exact same thing we (Pratt ComD majors) do in our senior projects. Think of problems and create creative solutions for them. He just does it much muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch better.
Sagmeister's work took on fresh life after his last sabbatical so he then decided to take one about every decade until he is 65 (his planned retirement year...somehow I don't believe him. In my mind, he's as monumental as Rand and that man kept creating timeless work until the year he died! So again, retire at 65? Maybe..but he'll be making a comeback at 67!)
His first journey into experimentation was such a short distant away because the designer was scared that his clients would leave and he would have to start from scratch. Because this is so forgettable. Hah. Lucky for him, no one forgot him and he came back to a waiting list of clients.
Now, Sagmeister's clients are warned up to two years before he up and leaves, just to make sure no one bothers him. He's also super dedicated (surprise surprise) to making sure he does go on his sabatical when he plans to. Even if it means passing on really exciting opportunities (the Obama camp approached Sagmeister to design a poster for them. More proof that Obama's campaign people really knew the difference between what is great, relevant and attention grabbing as opposed to the political agenda's of the past. I'm pretty sure that elections from this point on will look VERY different than those of 2004 and previous years. But i digress..).
The last thing Sagmeister did before his departure was complete another maxim. The beautiful "Obsession makes my life worse and my work better":
The link above is to Steven Heller's website which has the .pdf article (which appears in the current edition of Print magazine) where i got all this stuff from. Just written much better because it's a convo between Heller and Sagmeister...gimmie a break I'm new at this! (yes i will ride that excuse until at least my 6th month writing in this!)
There's a lot about going green that gives me that warm, bubbly feeling. There is also the upside that when I'm not being friendly to the environment, the environment doesn't personally attack me for it. The downside of that is laziness often takes over and I waste instead of conserve.
This house is kind of a voice for that. It produces it's own energy for heating, cooling, electricity and hot water via solar energy. What makes this house really interesting is that it tells you how much energy it's producing and using. The energy meter is on the outside of the house as a series of LED lights that glow green when the house is producing more than it is using and RED when it's using more than it's producing! Pretty cool, eh?
There is also a computer inside the house that records all the specifics and stuff but the LED system kind of set's it apart in the sense that it let's other's around know whether it's doing it's part in being green or blushing that it's not. A cute addition to a very smart idea.
The house was constructed in November 2008 by Brightbuilt Barn (and all the photo's belong to them). Brightbuilt Barn is a....task force I wanna say, aimed at creating eco-friendly buildings. The website manifesto details their commitment to sustainability and open source collaboration:
"...we hold that each of us alive today bears a special responsibility to work toward a way of life that can sustain human life indefinitely, so that we leave a world where our grandchildren may have grandchildren. We conclude that our reliance on fossil fuels is unsustainable in the long run, and may need to be eliminated in our lifetime if we are to avoid catastrophic climate change."
The glasses are a cool novelty item and if I was at a party and someone handed me one of these, I'd say my night would definitely improve (unless I got envy I suppose). I can't really imagine anyone buying these for serious though. Unless maybe they have a surplus of cash and want to have a "difficult to drink from" themed wine glass party. Check out the rest of the series (and bigger pictures) on 
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