the city limit

Movie vectors.

2011-12-04T14:24:00.001-08:00

I've devised a more enjoyable way to rate movies.

My 100 favourite films. Entry #38: The Conversation.

2011-11-27T14:30:00.000-08:00

The Conversation (1956)
directed by Francis Ford Coppola
starring Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Frederic Forrest and Harrison Ford
country: USA
genre: Drama

Visuals: 7
Writing: 8
Everyday watchability: 6

I hear people say this all the time: "they don't make them like they used to." They say it about all sorts of things: cars; films; tacos. And it's both completely untrue and completely correct. In the sense that they don't make quality products, it's not true. The movies are as good (or as bad as they used to be). In the sense that they don't make them in the same style that they used to, then it's obviously completely true. Let's put aside for the moment that styles change, tastes change and technology changes (all of which are important factors in the making of The Conversation). "They don't make 'em like they used to" goes deeper than all that. It exists in a place beyond style. Its style and structure is completely informed by its content, full of long shots, murky cutting.and slow builds We only see from a distance, literally and figuratively. Only parts of the story,are revealed, about both happenings and characters. It's a subtly-made movie that's worth watching every decade, as we make more and more ways to pry into private lives, but the fear stays the same.

Movies I've watched recently…

2011-11-27T11:44:00.001-08:00

Langhorne Slim & the Law.

2011-11-21T20:24:00.001-08:00

It's been a long time dear readers and viewers, so I hope this doesn't disappoint. It's my latest poster for a New Year's Eve show at the Bagdad. I made the background wallpaper myself. As a bonus, I've included a desktop background for your computer to get you in the spirit of the New Year. There's a bright version and a dingy version for those who prefer the more textured look.

The History of Punk.

2011-09-04T19:42:00.000-07:00

Here's the last of the posters I did for School of Rock. It originally featured full faces, but I eventually realized that most of the images held more power without them. The style of The Ramones, Henry Rollins' angry energy and Iggy Pop's crowd-supported legs said more about the history of punk than their faces.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

2011-09-04T16:40:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I had an idea. That idea was to make movie posters. There are a number of movie houses in town that show older movies, and I want to make new posters for them. The Laurelhurst for example, focuses on a single genre/era every month; I think it would be great to do a handful of posters in a similar style so that they have a cohesive way of advertising their films. Then I would approach them with the posters and, hopefully, get free advertising for my business. For starters, I made this poster for Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I haven't shown it to the theater (they're not even showing it anymore), but I've got time to make more and maybe show them a crop of posters.

Elton John.

2011-08-24T16:02:00.000-07:00

I had a lot of fun with this poster for the Elton John show. His ridiculous choice of eyewear seemed like the perfect thing to represent Elton on the poster.

Devil signs and lighters.

2011-08-23T00:20:00.000-07:00

Here are two more posters I made for School of Rock. I took the "vs" concept as far as I could with these.

Modern Prog.

2011-08-21T21:00:00.000-07:00

I'm back, y'all! And here's a poster I made for a concert put on by School of Rock. My friend Danielle works there and hooked me up with the chance to make some fun posters for them. This show features "modern prog" bands, which includes "mathy, complex and boundary pushing" music. Stay tuned for more posters soon!

The BoDeans.

2011-05-28T11:14:00.000-07:00

Paper paper.

2011-05-22T19:03:00.000-07:00

The theme for posters this past week was apparently "paper," because here are two posters I did that were strongly influenced by that.

The Tillicum sign.

2011-04-29T08:59:00.000-07:00

While working at Postal Annex, I was asked if we did photo editing. I said, "no, but I can." That led to me doing this, and then making some connections with someone in the graphic design industry. It pays to say, "I can do that." Here's the before and after.

Game Over, Man.

2011-04-21T17:39:00.000-07:00

Dudes, remember this? Well now it's this.

This timeline breaks down every death in the Alien saga (excluding Alien: Resurrection because it's total balls) based on how far into the film it happens.

This smaller one simplifies it down to just the deaths without all the text. I think it's interesting to see how the different movies are formatted.

Movie clips UPDATED!

2011-04-21T13:19:00.000-07:00

So I've been doing this "Movie Clips" thing for a while where I give short short short reviews of the movies I've watched recently. I decided to go with a new format this time. At the top are a number of different categories. It starts with a general rating, telling you whether you should watch the movie, maybe give it a go, or just give it a miss altogether. The other four categories tell you what kind of movie it is: boring; weird; funny or sad. Note that a movie can be decent but boring. Withnail and I for example isn't a bad movie, but I personally didn't find it all that interesting. Movies marked as bad and funny are probably no intentionally funny, but are hilariously bad, such as Trancers II: The Return of Jack Deth.

Plan B.

2011-04-15T08:49:00.000-07:00

Yet more poster work for the Crystal Ballroom. For this job, they had an admat (top image) that I could use as much or as little as I liked. I thought the image was great, so I used that, but did the rest from scratch.

type: museo sans

How to ship.

2011-03-25T21:48:00.000-07:00

I wasn't feeling so well this morning, specifically a sore throat. My job has me shipping things all over the country (and world). I wondered what I would do if I couldn't talk; how would I help customers figure out what mailing service they needed? I thought a flowchart might work pretty well, so I made one. Simply answer the questions, and look for the corresponding color at the bottom to choose your service.

Phosphorescent, Fruition and The Bellboys.

2011-03-04T12:23:00.000-08:00

McMenamins asked me to make two more posters, this time for their historic Mission Theater. Phosphorescent is an alt-country band that's originally from Athens, Georgia but has since relocated to Brooklyn, so I wanted a metro-meets-country feel. Fruition and Bellboys are folksy country bands (Fruition have even been known to busk) so I went with a hobo aesthetic, classing it up with some fun flourishes.

typefaces used:
Phosphorescent: Sans Black, Boris Black Boxx, Museo Sans
Fruition and The Bellboys: Alexandria

Less: four images of minimal poster design.

2011-02-10T17:37:00.000-08:00

I found this minimalist group on Behance (a site for creative professionals looking to showcase their work) that was making minimalist posters for classic works. There's some really great stuff going on there. Here are just a few samples.

My 100 Favorite Films. Entry #37: Children of Men.

2011-01-19T22:28:00.000-08:00

Children of Men (2006)
written by Alfonso Cuarón & Timothy J. Sexton and David Arata and Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby
(based on the novel "The Children of Men" by P.D. James)
directed by Alfonso Cuarón
starring Clive Owen, Michael Caine, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael Caine
country: usa/uk
genre: drama/sci-fi

Visuals: 10
Writing: 8
Everyday watchability: 5

There is a term which directly applies to film-making called persistence of vision. It is the idea that after we see an image, its memory persists for roughly 1/25th of a second. It is how we can watch a film at 24 frames per second and see things in motion and not a series of still images.

I have a second definition for the term as it applies to film-making: the unwavering focus involved in telling a story in its proper idiomatic way. I have just finished watching Into the Wild, an interesting film, but nevertheless a film that has not found its voice. It uses storytelling modes at will, and too many to count, with director Sean Penn almost grasping at straws—albeit well-shot, craftsmanlike straws—for a way to tell his story. Children of Men doesn't need this. The film is so focused and organized that it doesn't for a moment falter in its construction. Every moment leads us through, informs us and pulls us deeper.

I could say a number of things about this film and why it's so amazing, but at this point I doubt I could say anything new. What I truly love about it is its focused ambition to tell the story right.

Galactic type.

2011-01-18T13:29:00.000-08:00

After making some type for my latest poster, I thought (perhaps incorrectly) that it might be fun to make an entire alphabet of characters based on that type. The idea was that each letter must be made from a single ribbon. Some letters were easier than others; F, T, X, Y and Z were probably the trickiest. I also made some alternates, some of which use more than one piece of ribbon.

two-color

two-color alternate

one-color

example

Watching the greats.

2011-01-04T22:01:00.000-08:00

I've seen a lot of movies. To be specific, I've seen 1,985 feature films, 59 TV movies, 64 documentaries, 96 short films and 22 straight-to-video films (a total of 2,226 titles). On November 10, I decided to make an effort to see "great" films. There's a billion lists I could go by for this, but I chose to go by three.

The first was the IMDb Top 250. If fanboys made a list of the best movies of all-time, it would probably look a lot like this. I wanted to see movies that were loved by the movie-loving public and this seemed the appropriate way to do that.

The second list is the 83 winners of the Academy Award for Best Picture. These are the movies that those in the movie-making business love, at least in the January of the year after they come out.

The last list is the Criterion Collection, which is a collection of "important classic and contemporary films" chosen by true movie buffs. This list would give me the arthouse and lesser-known films, but also classics that don't make it on the other lists.

When I started, I had seen:

114 of 491 Criterion Collection titles (23.2%)
62 of the 83 Best Picture winners (74.7%)
233 of the IMDb Top 250 films (93.2%)

My goal is this:

to watch 50% of the Criterion Collection films (132 films)
to watch all of the best picture winners (21 films)
watch all of the Top 250 (17 films)

As of today, January 4, I have seen:

Criterion: 141/559 (25.2%) (since the collection's grown, I still need to watch 138 movies to get to 50%)
Best Picture winners: 66/83 (79.5%)
Top 250: 235/250 (94%)

I still have some work to do, but I'm making headway.

Movie clip roundup 2010.

2011-01-04T21:07:00.000-08:00

This is a list of movies I watched for the first time between July 2010 and December 2010, roughly ranked in order of best to worst.

Galactic.

2011-01-04T20:38:00.000-08:00

Here's the poster I did for Galactic, a New Orleans funk band. I don't actually know if they use both those instruments, but they seem stylistically appropriate. I made the type for "Galactic" myself. I used the wallpaper look from the holiday posters because it seemed to fit the New Orleans aesthetic.

typefaces used: hand-rendered header, Century Gothic, Didot

Christmas posters.

2010-12-25T23:03:00.000-08:00

My co-worker Mike got concert tickets for some of this friends this Christmas. Not wanting to give them just tickets, he asked if I would help him make posters for the events to give to them with the tickets. Although they weren't going to the same person, I thought it would be cool if they went together. He supplied the original images. Here are my ideas.

Movie clips.

2010-12-25T18:21:00.000-08:00

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension

Going My Way (6/10)
No thank you; I'll go this way.

Kramer vs. Kramer (8/10)
I'm going to spoil it for you right now: Kramer wins.

A Generation (6.5/10)
A young Roman Polanski in shorts: bizarre.

Close-Up (8/10)
This movie was meta before the internet was popular.

Downhill Racer (6/10)
Skip this freshman effort and head straight to The Candidate (same director, same leading actor, better film).

Mr. Arkadin (The Comprehensive Version) (5.5/10)
What happened Orson?

Never Let Me Go (7/10)
Beautiful, poignant, touching, unsurprising.

Android (5/10)
I'm going to spoil it for you right now: the android wins.

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension (4/10)
I can't believe I watched the whole thing.

Enter the Void (6/10)
I can think of at least two things right with that title.

Gran Torino (5/10)
You're kidding me, Clint Eastwood.

Terms of Endearment (5/10)
So…plot not required?

Fred Claus (4.5/10)
I'm going to spoil it for you right now: the audience loses.

Toy Story 3 (7/10)
Enjoyable, but I think they've tapped this one dry.

Moe at the Crystal Ballroom.

2010-12-23T00:11:00.000-08:00

I was recently contacted by McMenamin's to make some concert posters. McMenamin's, if you don't know, is a Portland-based chain of brewpubs and theatres. Their first two assignments are for Moe and Galactic, a jam band a New Orleans funk outfit respectively. My first idea for this poster was a fish leaping out of the water, so I started looking around for reference images. One of the images I found was this sweet coloring book drawing of two dinosaurs, and thought fighting dinos might be a sweet poster. I contracted my friend Emily Randazzo to draw it, and she busted out this gem. I traced the line drawing and colored it in based on her recommendations. It's one of my favourite posters I've worked on.

Movie clips.

2010-11-20T22:35:00.000-08:00

House

Bullitt (7.5/10)
Steve McQueen is pretty much the shit.

Welcome to the Dollhouse (7.5/10)
That poor girl.

The Devil's Hand (3/10)
I can think of at least two things wrong with this title.

Caché (7/10)
I appreciate films that are economical in their style, but this almost feels lazy.

Youth in Revolt (6.5/10)
What a surprisingly reprehensible main character.

Fanny & Alexander (6/10)
I don't have time for this.

Slumdog Millionaire (7/10)
Yay, he won! Now I can forget about this film.

The Honeymoon Killers (5/10)
Not much of a honeymoon, and not much killing.

House (4/10)
What did I just watch?

Fat Girl (6.5/10)
Do French people philosophize in real life as much as they do in the movies?

Starry Saints.

2010-10-20T19:05:00.000-07:00

Here's another poster for the Someday Lounge. This one I had to do same day, so I grabbed an illustration that I already had ready-to-go (drawn by the ever-amazing Makenna Lehrer) and played with textures and typography. It incorporates a couple things I'd been wanting to try and just went ahead and did them since I didn't have time to second guess anything. Personally, I think it came out really well, but I'll let you be the judge.

typeface used: Single Sleeve

My 100 Favorite Films. Entry #36: The Omen.

2010-10-16T21:23:00.000-07:00

The Omen (1976)
written by David Seltzer
directed by Richard Donner
starring Gregory Peck, Lee Remick and David Warner
country: usa/uk
genre: horror

Visuals: 9
Writing: 7
Everyday watchability: 5
The number of the beast: 666

This is one of those movies that, like The Thing and In the Mouth of Madness, took me by surprise with how good it was. Horror films often get derided as being base and of low quality, but like any other genre, there are true standouts. The Omen comes before slasher fare like Halloween, and after more psychological fare like The Exorcist and firmly plants itself somewhere in between.

The Omen is a surprisingly straightforward. Richard Donner's camera (via Gilbert Taylor, who also shot Star Wars and Dr. Strangelove) uses some unique techniques, including a dioptic lens, slow motion and the most impressive rack focus I've ever seen. Still, the camera tricks are never trickery. They're just this side of calling attention to themselves but are clever enough to add visual interest.

The movie has an interesting pace, with the scares coming on suddenly in places where you don't expect. Most horror films through in cheap shocks and scares, but The Omen is more patient than that. In one scene, a priest begins his walk home, and a storm quickly begins raging around him. The storm builds to an eerie crescendo, when the priest is suddenly killed by a falling weather vane. And just like that, the storm clears.

Movie clips.

2010-10-14T00:02:00.000-07:00

Vicious Lips

Highlander (5/10)
There can be only one, and he must barely be able to open his eyes and one of those eyes must be lazy and he must speak with a bizarre accent.

Frankenhooker (5.5/10)
If I had to recreate my dead fiancé's body about of other people, I'd use hookers too.

Blood Freak (1/10)
A man turns into a giant turkey-monster-thing because he smokes a little weed. But it turns out it was all a dream. Or was it? Yes, it was.

Ginger Snaps (4/10)
The sequel is about a dog that draws. The full title of that film: Ginger Snaps II: Snicker Doodles.

Highlander II (2.5/10)
A sequel with the same actors and characters but a completely different plot and backstory. This blew my mind.

Ultraviolet (1/10)
Not a lick of sense.

The Lonely Guy (7/10)
In the tradition of Steve Martin's other surreal comedies like The Jerk and The Man with Two Brains, this movie has a lot of laughs and a lot of WTFs.

Nine to Five (5/10)
Jane Fonda is adorable.

Grumpy Old Men (7/10)
I was really bummed when I thought that all these hilarious guys are gone.

10 (4.5/10)
What a boring film.

The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made (4/10)
A cheap compendium of bad movies. I've seen six or seven of them, and I've definitely seen worse.

Zombieland (7/10)
Jesse Eisenberg actually managed to not make me sick.

District 9 (7.5/10)
More of a straight-up action film than I expected.

Swamp Thing (3/10)
See it for the gratuitous use of wipe edits alone.

18-Year-Old Virgin (3/10)
Don't worry. It's a teen sex romp. You'll lose your virginity. And it'll be special.

Dead Calm (6.5/10)
The very definition of craftsmanlike filmmaking.

The Princess and the Frog (6.5/10)
Do we really need this many songs?

Vicious Lips (3/10)
Lots of 80s hair and 80s synthrock. That bought it 3/10.

Kiss My Face redesign.

2010-10-13T20:43:00.000-07:00

I own a bottle of soap by a company called Kiss My Face. Every day I use this bottle to wash my hands. Almost every time I look at it, I think about how unexcited I am by the label's design. For a while, I've thought about redesigning the bottle (for my own amusement and as an exercise) and today I finally did it. Spurred by boredom, I tried out the ideas that have been floating in my head and out came this. I'll show you more as I continue to work on it.

The original bottle design.

The Simple Line: four pieces by Stéphane Dafflon.

2010-10-12T21:00:00.000-07:00

I'm not totally sure what to say here, except that I like this, I like it very much. I'm still impressed my minimalism that works.

Lord's Own Choir at the Buffalo Gap.

2010-10-09T18:46:00.000-07:00

There's this awesome band called The Lord's Own Choir full of a bunch of awesome people. They do country covers of pop songs as well as a few original tunes. They were nice enough to ask me to do a concert poster for them. Originally I had some basic typography and a placeholder drawing of an accordion (see below). My friend Makenna sent me a drawing she did of an accordion and it changed how I looked at the poster. The type stayed the same, but I had fun with color and shape.

If you're in town, check them out at the Buffalo Gap. I didn't make this poster for nothin'.

typeface used: Strangelove Next

The Belle & Sebastian Afterparty.

2010-10-08T23:30:00.000-07:00

I assume everyone has been constantly checking my blawg to see if I've added any new content. Well wait no longer loyal followers (and people looking for Japanese graffiti), because I finally have new stuff for you. This is a poster I made on short notice for the Belle & Sebastian afterparty. They wanted Belle & Sebastian to be really big, but other than that the ball was in my court. I messed around with typography (per usual) and came up with everything but the ownl, which was a late addition suggested by Tim John (and our synchronous thoughts on birds). I like the way he's peeking in from jaunty angles. He's not the star of the party; he just wants to know what's up.

typeface used: Neo Retro

Anatomical heart.

2010-09-21T07:55:00.000-07:00

My friend Makenna gave me this beautiful drawing of a heart to use in any design I liked and not long later Tim John contacted me about a poster design where all four bands were of equal importance. The two seemed to fit hand-in-hand in my mind; I could make the bands into labels for the anatomical heart. After a lot of fiddling, I made this.

typeface used: Din

Lifeguard towers: four images by Amir Zaki.

2010-09-09T23:10:00.000-07:00

These photos by photographer and video artist Amir Zaki. I have to be honest. I'm not a huge fan of his other stuff and I don't think they're presented properly on his webpage—they should be surrounded by solid black, white or grey in my humble opinion—but nevertheless these photos really speak to me. It has that lonely feeling which I apparently love, interesting shades of color and fantastic shapes all over.

Worst party ever.

2010-09-08T20:45:00.000-07:00

I went to a housewarming party at my friend Mike's this weekend. He bought some party hats with dog paw prints on them (opting against SpongeBob and Dora the Explorer party hats as he wanted something "non-denominational"). He had the idea of taking a photo of each party attendee wearing a party hat and looking like they're having a terrible time, either crying, bored or depressed.

I took the best photo for each party-goer, adjusted the color and cropping and made this 13x19 poster. I imagined being for some event that ended up being called the Worst Party Ever, which for some reason needed a commemorative poster.

To see all the photos we took, check out the Flickr set.

Top 200 Songs of the Decade: 10–1.

2010-09-06T22:20:00.000-07:00

10. Justice - Genesis
Cross 2007
I'll confess; I first heard this song in a TV commercial for an SUV. Still, the song that instant recognition as being a Justice song, even though I'd only heard one Justice song before in my life (D.A.N.C.E.). This song sounds like a contained explosion; it's the sonic equivalent of dropping a bomb in a trash can…huge, dirty, but somehow improbably tight.

9. Cut Copy - Saturdays
Bright Like Neon Love 2004
This has everything I like about Cut Copy; it's overly happy, sweet and utterly dancable. It has all this without the overproduction of their later work. There's so much space between the sounds here. Don't get me wrong, I love songs that are awash with reverb, but sometimes a pop song needs that snappy sound.

8. Ratatat - Seventeen Years
Ratatat 2004

Some songs are as much about introduction as they are about quality. Whether or not Seventeen Years is Ratatat's best is irrelevant; it ushered in for me a completely new kind of music, one with perfect hooks and pure energy.

7. The Field - Everday
From Here We Go Sublime 2007
I had read about The Field a few times before I took the plunge. Most reviews noted A Paw in My Face and Over the Ice as the standout tracks, but I wonder if listeners didn't get taken in by the new sound of the first two tracks. For me, Everday is the standout, with its swirling beeps and glitchy beats pulsating constantly. These continue for seven minutes becoming a hypnotic brain-melter that you could still play on the dance floor. It's prog meets disco, the true intelligent dance music.

6. The Knife - We Share Our Mother's Health

Silent Shout 2006

The song starts with bizarre pulsating sounds before it gloms together into some kind of bizarre bouncing melody. The Knife have a knack for making simply epic songs, songs that in just over four minutes manage to sound all-important and bombastic, and We Share Our Mother's Health is probably the most perfect example of this.

5. LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends
Sound of Silver 2006
Starting a with a jaunty piano chord, which remains unchanged, for the songs seven and a half minutes, All My Friends builds slowly, with each new instrument fading in gradually. The lyrics don't come in until 1:22, James Murphy's plaintive vocals telling a story that almost everyone can understand, with themes of longing and loneliness shining clearly through. Despite that, this song gets me completely excited about life; there's an undercurrent of hope running through the song that sits right in-between the constant drum-beat, bouncing piano and synthesizer wails. Feel free to play this song at the dance party that follows my funeral.

4. Wilco - Jesus, Etc.
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot 2002

It takes a lot for a piece of art—be it a painting, a movie, a TV show, or a song—to make me sad. This song, however, makes the shortlist of items that bring tears to my eyes.

3. Klute - Feroxx
Junk Single 2005
I downloaded this song after really getting into Klute's album No One's Listening Anymore. I was casually listening while doing something else, thinking, "oh this is kind of nice," when at the 1:40 mark, the track takes off with a literal scream and I was beat into submission by the deep bass, tinkling synths and hyper drums.

2. Basement Jaxx - Where's Your Head At?
Rooty 2001

If you imagine the timeline of Basement Jaxx music, starting with Remedy and ending with Crazy Itch Radio (I haven't heard Scars yet), it closely resembles an explosion. Still excellent today, 1999's Red Alert and Rendez-Vu are fairly straightforward club tracks, albeit with more flair. The tracks on 2003's Kish Kash are barely held together, as if the Jaxx had to get out the sonic equivalent of hot glue to keep songs like Good Luck and Right Here's the Spot together. Crazy Itch Radio is seemingly named for its sound, Jaxx had an itch to throw everything on the radio into a pot and it, um, came out crazy.

Rooty from 2001 is the perfect balance between straight-ahead dance music and an explosion of music. Where's Your Head At? feels like it has 50 guest vocalists and Basement Jaxx can barely rein them all in. It's a contained explosion, and one that wouldn't work in the hands of less talented producers. Where's Your Head At? is balanced perfectly between "completely out of control" and "obsessive perfection."

1. The Knife - Heartbeats (single and live version)
Deep Cuts 2003 and Silent Shout: An Audio Visual Experience 2006

The first version of Heartbeats I ever heard was the Jose Gonzalez acoustic version featured in a Sony Bravia commercial. It was a lovely song, and the cover gave no hint of its source material. I did research and found The Knife's Heartbeats, and it instantly blew me away. I wasn't expecting anything like this; I wasn't even expecting this genre. After the initial shock, I was completely floored by the material. At once cold and distant, but emotionally affecting, it was exactly what I had been looking to make in music, something with obvious pop influence, but also human and emotional. The Knife would make a u-turn in sound on Silent Shout, but the main crux of Heartbeats is the heartbeat of Silent Shout, the union of the disaffected and affection.

Miniatures: four images by me.

2010-09-06T12:11:00.000-07:00

I recently read about something called tilt-shift photography. Originally, this sort of photography allowed you to take pictures of buildings from the ground and have them appear straight-on. It was later reapplied as a way of making scenes of real-life look like miniatures. I read about a way to do this in post, and tried it out on a few of my photos with varying degrees of success. Here are the results. I will definitely be trying more.

Added bonus: check out this amazing video of Berlin made with tilt-shift.

My 100 Favorite Films. Entry #35: What's Up, Tiger Lily?

2010-09-05T21:38:00.000-07:00

What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966)
written by Woody Allen, Julie Bennett, Frank Buxton, Louise Lasser, Len Maxwell, Mickey Rose and Bryan Wilson
directed by Woody Allen (original film directed by Senkichi Taniguchi)
starring Tatsuya Mihashi, Akiko Wakabayashi and Mie Hama
country: usa / japan
genre: comedy

Visuals: 5
Writing: 9
Everyday watchability: 8

If you don't know about What's Up, Tiger Lily, it's Woody Allen's first motion picture. Instead of shooting his own film, he took a Japanese spy flick and replaced all of the dialogue with his own plotline involving finding the recipe for the world's greatest egg salad sandwich. It's silly, inane and utterly hilarious. It's nice seeing Woody Allen without getting his neuroses jammed down your throat. It's him being ludicrous and witty and uninhibited by self-abasement.

	Suki: Name three US presidents. Phil: Roosevelt. McKinley. Lincoln?
	Grand High Macha of Rashpur: These girls will do anything for you. Phil: Anything?! Macha: Get the recipe, ass…
	Sheperd Wong: Approach me.
	Sheperd Wong: I want to thank you…for clearing up my sinuses.
	Interviewer: Woody, since the story is a bit difficult to follow, would you mind giving the audience and myself a brief rundown on what's gone on so far? Woody Allen: No.

Movie clips.

2010-09-02T00:21:00.000-07:00

Picnic at Hanging Rock (6.5/10)
Not totally sure what's going on here, much like any Peter Weir film.

Adventureland (7/10)
I wish Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart were Michael Cera and anyone else.

The Hit (7/10)
Nicely shot, superbly acted. Terence Stamp never fails to impress me.

Repo Man (7/10)
The punkest movie ever made?

The Cyclist (6.5/10)
Touching but tedious.

National Lampoon's Cattle Call (3/10)
The opposite of a class act.

Pineapple Express (7.5/10)
These guys are great together. And Kevin Corrigan and Craig Anderson do a hilarious job as hitmen.

Stepbrothers (6/10)
I think they pushed it beyond the breaking point here.

Year One (7/10)
I love this kind of anachronistic humor; it works for me.

Dreamscape (4/10)
Trying to kill the president in his dreams is at least kind of clever. Much of the rest of the movie isn't however.

Somewhere in Time (7.5/10)
Surprisingy touching. I love seeing Christopher Reeves in non-Superman roles because he's actually a very good, nuanced actor.

note: I watched these back in March and apparently forgot to write about them.

My camera collection. #4: Polaroid OneStep Flash.

2010-08-30T11:52:00.000-07:00

Maker: Polaroid
Model: 600
Year: c. 1992
Film type: 600
Usability: camera works perfectly, but the film is a little cost prohibitive at $2 a frame
My cost: $4

I simply love the look of Polaroid. I described it today as being high-quality lo-fi. Some lo-fidelity films (110 and disk film come to mind) are just plain shitty, having poor color, poor grain and poor sharpness. Polaroid, on the other hand, had a beautiful quality to its lack of quality. The colors are richly saturated, interestingly imperfect and the frames are filled with what I can only describe as a "warm" grain.

This camera is your basic utilitarian Polaroid model. It's the Volvo of the Polaroid camera world: functional and boxy. This Volvo however has a racing stripe.

...sample images...

Only lonely: four images by William Eggleston.

2010-08-29T11:17:00.000-07:00

William Eggleston's prints are intriguing to me because of the way they capture the mundane aspects of American life—empty streets, cars in garages, uninspired architecture—yet finds an energy and beauty in them that transcends the actual subjects. I could pick almost any four images from his body of work and the overall aesthetic would be the same. He was the true professional amateur of photography.

Top 100 Songs of the Decade: 20-11.

2010-08-28T11:50:00.000-07:00

20. Klute - Finger in the Hole
No One's Listening Anymore 2005

The only thing dirtier than the lyrics is the music.

19. Cut Copy - Out There on the Ice
In Ghost Colours 2007

"Yes, no, maybe." Yes, Cut Copy, yes. This is as anthemic as indie-electro-pop gets.

18. Radio 4 - Absolute Affirmation
Stealing of a Nation 2004

The basic snappy drumbeat always pulls me right in, and the song doesn't so much ramp up as keep chugging away high-energy until the end, when I feel like I should be dancing my ass off.

17. Feist - Mushaboom
Let It Die 2004

The lyrics are probably the sweetest, most wistful sentiments I've ever heard. Add to that a beautiful voice and beautiful music.

16. The Knife - One Hit
Silent Shout 2006

The chorus goes, "a how how how how, a who who who who" but it's still one of the most emotional songs by any band.

15. The Prodigy - Girls
Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned 2004
Ironically (?) his best song since Smack My Bitch Up. I wish I had written that synth line.

14. Aesop Rock - Nickel Plated Pockets
Daylight EP 2002

Aesop covers a lot of ground in this song—slavery, 9/11, racism, poverty—but it all sounds so smooth and it's stated with such authority that I have no choice but to agree with him yet again. Also, that's an amazing beat.

13. Roots Manuva - Witness (1 Hope)
Run Come Save Me 2001

Who made this beat?! Don't say "well well well" Roderick! Tell me on what planet you found this beat! The first ten seconds of this song should get a party started anywhere at any time.

12. The Radio Dept. - Keen on Boys
Lesser Matters 2003

My favorite Radio Dept song because I love the way it slowly ramps up verse by verse, slowly unlocking more and more of its reverb-washed drums.

11. The Knife - Na Na Na
Silent Shout 2006
Beautiful…

VIIF2010 Official Poster.

2010-08-26T23:26:00.000-07:00

The Vancouver International Improv Festival asked for a poster to promote their event, giving me the theme "Video Killed the Improv Star." I mulled over the idea for a little while, and for some reason the idea of a giant monolith (a la 2001: A Space Odyssey) in the shape of a VHS tape stuck in my mind.

I contacted my friend and peer Daniel Soucy of Hearts + Minds Creative about doing the illustration and he was excited about the concept. I showed him some (extremely) basic sketches, we talked about basic styles, and then he started drawing from there. I love the style he used. It feels like Mad Magazine meets Heavy Metal. For the black and white, I wanted a simple pen and ink, line-drawing style, because I think the higher contrast makes it pop more. It also feels kind of like a high school notebook sketch, which I think is fun.

On the Tundra.

2010-08-20T10:46:00.000-07:00

Here's the latest poster for the Someday Lounge. This band had a pretty nice style that was used as a starting point, but hopefully I added a uniquely Lee flavor. The illustration, by the amazing and multi-talented Makenna Lehrer, is of a musk ox, an animal found in the arctic tundra.

typeface used: Strangelove Next

Night photos: four images by me.

2010-08-19T12:52:00.000-07:00

My friend and I went for a walk a few days ago with my camera to take some night shots. I love night photos. The quality of halogen and fluorescent bulbs really changes the character of objects. I think it's also the loneliness of architecture at night that really intrigues me. I hope you enjoy these.

Filligar.

2010-08-12T08:53:00.000-07:00

Here's the latest in the posters I've been doing for the Someday Lounge. My contact there said to make it sound like it was really cool that the band was from out of town, since nobody here would know who they were. I took a listen to the headliner's music and they had a good rock sound with some roots rock influences, so I felt like the state tree of Illinois (the white oak) would be a perfect illustrative element. Beyond that, I wanted a look that felt a little bit like old broadsides. I hunted through my fonts and found three that worked well together to achieve that look.

Big thanks to Daniel Soucy for all his help on this.

typefaces: League Gothic, St Marie, Goudy

Yum.

2010-08-11T17:15:00.000-07:00

It was my friend's birthday, and I wasn't sure what to give her. I remembered her love of bacon and thought it would be funny to make a bacon sign that said something simple like "YUM," so I did it. Then I thought it would be fun to keep going, so I did that too. Each is printed on a 13x19 sheet.

Le Mans: four Images by Laurent Nivalle.

2010-08-11T17:06:00.000-07:00

Aisle One put me onto these images by Laurent Nivalle. The entire series is fantastic, but I'm especially drawn to the architectural images. The lack of people and the washed-out color make these images feel like a paean to the past, as if these images are part of a museum exhibit of past attractions, even though the images are relatively new.

Movie clips.

2010-08-03T16:56:00.000-07:00

Syriana (7/10)
This movie was so confusing and obfuscated, it functions as a microcosm for the state of affairs in the oil world.

Gomorra (8/10)
This movie is proof that you do it to yourself.

2012 (4/10)
How can a movie about the destruction of Earth be so boring?

Cat Ballou (5/10)
I was tired of the Ballad of Cat Ballou the first time they sang it. Then they sang it four more times…

Je, tu, il, elle (I, You, He She) (4/10)
Yawn. If I see you doing something, you don't need to narrate what you're doing.

Hot Tub Time Machine (6/10)
I miss young John Cusack.

The Vampire Effect (3/10)
Hong Kong cinema isn't as interested in genre as we are.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (6/10)
The making-of featurette on the DVD is so telling. Spielberg is a pushover and does whatever Lucas tells him to do.

Inception (8/10)
This movie was a piece of cake. I've seen Primer twice.

Alphaville (5/10)
Less talking, more doing please.

Fever.

2010-08-02T00:20:00.000-07:00

I did another poster for the Someday Lounge. For thise one, I actually did a few sketches. The original idea was that the whole poster would be a big patch of skin with arrows in it. That was kind of gross in practice, so I found this Creative Commons photo, dirtied it up and put the arrows in this awesome guy. The headliner got some special treatment with the hand-rendered type, which reads the same forward and backward, making it a mirror-image ambigram.

Note: the original of this image was found on Flickr and is used in accordance with the Creative Commons Share-Alike License, which is therefore also how this poster is licensed.
typefaces: handmade title, Diamante, Century Gothic

Top 100 Songs of the Decade: 30-21.

2010-07-22T21:40:00.000-07:00

30. Kool Keith - Operation X
2006

In this track, Kool Keith reimagines city blocks as a war zone, where you stick "dynamite in a BMW," ask people to "cover [you] while you go to the store," "duck down low," and "hold these bombs and make yourself a bowl of Honeycombs."

29. Klute - Hell Hath No Fury
Hell Hath No Fury 2005

I love art that deals in juxtaposition. Highbrow meets lowbrow. Hard meets soft. Dark meets light. This list is full of these dichotomies and this song epitomizes all of these things. With tinkly, warm pianos layered over dark, brooding bass and frenetic drums, I want to dance my ass off and watch shooting stars simultaneously.

28. Mystery Jets - Two Doors Down
Twenty One 2008

I found this song while looking for a video of Dolly Parton's Two Doors Down (which incidentally has some of the best writing for a pop song ever) and was instantly smitten with its 80s throwback vibe. They don't rely on the novelty however. It's quality songwriting of its own. "Maybe I should say what's up, invite her around."

27. Bjork - Who Is It?
Medulla 2004

Medulla was made almost completely of sounds made my human mouths. While it's cool as a conceit, the thing that matters to me in the end is the quality of the song. This song is simply beautiful; the beatbox element simply adds a layer of intrigue.

26. Ratatat - Lex
Classics 2006

I believe this song is referred to as a scorcher. Reviewers called it a retread of the best tracks from their first album. Yeah, but at least it's a retread of the best tracks.

25. Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks
Veckatimest 2009
Just beautiful harmonies, perfect melodies, and awesome production.

24. M83 - Kim & Jessie
Saturdays=Youth

It's all about the chorus, which sounds like it's falling from the sky.

23. Digitalism - Pogo
Idealism 2007

The lyrics say "you have to settle," but the music clearly doesn't want you to do that. Of course, they follow that line up with "bring it on."

22. Aesop Rock - No Regrets
Labor Days 2002

Typically Aesop Rock's lyrics are so dense that after 100 listens you're still not totally sure what you heard, and even if you are sure, you don't know what it means. It's a big part of what makes him so impressive. No Regrets on the other hand tells a story simply and beautifully, and it's a story so poignant I wonder if an album full of No Regrets would shoot straight to the top.

21. Ratatat - Kennedy
Classics 2006
Ratatat are you serious? These beats are putting professional rap producers to shame.

Wow! Only $5.

2010-07-17T19:59:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine works for a local venue in Portland called Someday Lounge. They put on some good and usually local acts. He asked me if I could design a poster for a show they're having. I checked out the bands and gave a little sense. It had an 80s vibe so I went for a more 80s palette but with some current sensibilities; here's what I came up with.

typefaces: Museo Sans

My camera collection. #3: Lomo Lubitel 166U.

2010-07-15T20:10:00.000-07:00

Maker: Lomo
Model: Lubitel 166U
Year: 1984–1988
Film type: 120
Usability: works likes a charm
My cost: $0 (it was a gift from my best friend)

This camera was my first foray into the world of medium format, and what an enjoyable foray it was. I'd like to say the Lubitel was easy, but it wasn't really. It's a pretty basic camera, but it's so basic that you have to watch out. There's nothing to keep you from taking multiple exposures in the same frame, which I did a number of times. Focusing is a pain (there's a little magnifying glass that pops down so you can actually see what you're doing). There's no exposure meter, so exposure settings are your best guess (thank Ford for the sunny 16 rule).

But I got some great shots. The new large square format was exciting, and taking pictures from a different angle really changes your perspective on composition. This is definitely one of my favorites.

...sample images...

A logo for incontinent adults.

2010-07-15T08:03:00.000-07:00

My step-mom recently got in contact with me about making a logo for her new business. She's starting an online business with her friend that sells products that help adults with bladder incontinence. They needed a logo for their website and products that conveyed balance. I wasn't quite sure what I could do as far as iconography, because anything bladder or urine-related would be kind of off-putting. They suggested perhaps just a stylized version of their acronym (EAI) would do the trick, so we went with that

The idea behind the logo is that of rhythm and balance. The soft swooping lines are very comfortable and there are no sharp edges. The line that runs through the letters conveys the concept of steadiness and also balance. The letters are spaced out to give a rhythm that mimics that of a heartbeat and also the concept of repeating tasks, as one must keep on top of their incontinence problem to keep it in check. The "e" is lightened to de-emphasize it and the lower "e" and ".com" are thinner weights so that "adult incontinence" punches out.

The logo is designed to work with just acronym, so that when it appears on products, the user isn't instantly outed as suffering from bladder problems.

Movie clips.

2010-07-14T18:38:00.000-07:00

Bachelor Party (5.5/10)
This movie needed to be even more ridiculous.

Moon (8/10)
Sam Rockwell is one of the best actors of our time, hands down.

Greenberg (8/10)
It was like watching myself amplified on screen and snorting coke.

Let the Right One In (7.5/10)
115 minutes of quality filmmaking, almost ruined by thirty seconds of CG cats.

Gilda (7/10)
I could have spent this entire movie saying "ooh burn" and "oh snap" and it wouldn't cover half the insults hurled in this film.

My 100 Favorite Films. Entry #34: Election.

2010-07-14T14:32:00.000-07:00

Election (1999)
written by Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor (from a novel by Tom Perrotta)
directed by Alexander Payne
starring Matthew Broderick, Reese Witherspoon and Chris Klein
country: usa
genre: comedy

Visuals: 7
Writing: 9
Everyday watchability: 7

Every time I take a break from writing about film, and then get back into it, it's an uphill battle. I've fell out of using terms like "mise-en-scene" and "diegesis," and getting to the heart of films is awkward at best. Nevertheless, that's what I try to do. And at the heart of Election, I would say you find denial. Great big piles of it. The film is constantly showing characters voicing one opinion, but acting out another. After having seen the movie about ten times now, it's reaching the point of ridiculousness.

The film follows a teacher who, tired of an overachieving student, attempts to ruin her campaign for student body president. He comes to a point where he believes he's doing it for moral reasons, and for many viewings I was firmly on his side. This moral high-road is just another delusion however; he's really only striking out as a self-defeating means to escape his prison of boredom.

I'm making this film sound like a downer, but it's not in the least. The movie is hilarious. Their denial is played not only as a window into the viewer's own ego, but also for a good laugh. Here's a perfect example: "It's not like I'm a lesbian or anything. I'm attracted to the person. It's just that all the people I've been attracted to happen to be girls." So true.

Top 100 Songs of the Decade: 40-31.

2010-07-02T22:38:00.000-07:00

40. The Raconteurs - Level
Broken Boy Soldiers 2006

The Raconteurs decided to give song structure a miss with this tight little ditty that packs plenty of rock into its 142 seconds.

39. The Strokes - Hard to Explain
Is This It 2001

Listening to this song nine years after The Strokes were part of the so-called rock revival (along with The Hives and The Vines), I sort of wonder what people were talking about. Rock revival or not, this song is amazing, driving forward on the simplest of programmed drum loops.

38. Bloc Party - Helicopter
Silent Alarm 2005

I always thought this album was a continuation of what The Strokes were doing four years prior, but adding more energy, more politics and better drumwork.

37. Feist - I Feel It All
The Reminder 2007

More poignant and more pointed than 1234, I Feel It All didn't need a hit video to get its point across, it just needed Feist's emotional vocals and the tinniest handclaps I've ever heard.

36. The Radio Dept. - The Worst Taste In Music
Pet Grief 2006

Thankfully your current boyfriend isn't into The Radio Dept. I don't think I could handle that.

35. Fall Out Boy - Sugar, We're Goin' Down
From Under the Cork Tree 2005

Say what you will about emo, but holy shit these guys can write hooks.

34. Primal Scream - Kill All Hippies
XTRMNTR 2000

"You've got the money; I've got the soul." It's like Pet Shop Boys' Opportunities for the new millennium.

33. The Postal Service - Such Great Heights
Give Up 2003

Somehow the blend of Ben Gibbard's twee vocals match so well with Jimmy Tamborello's crunchy snappy drums and bleeps and bloops. This song kind of jumpstarted a whole genre, convincing kids everywhere to start a band with a instead of a drumset.

32. Evil Nine - Crooked
You Can Be Special Too 2004

I really hoped that tracks like this would start to tear down at the wall of mainstream hip-hop. It was too much to hope for.

31. Animal Collective - My Girls
Merriweather Post Pavilion 2009

This song is like a brainworm, hypnotically burrowing into your brain and forcing you to sing along to its ludicrous lyrics.

Happy Father's Day, dad!

2010-06-20T14:15:00.000-07:00

This post is in honor of one awesome father who has been there for me day in and day out for 28 years. He believes in me, encourages me and supports me constantly. I wouldn't be in the place I am today if it weren't for his love and guidance.

Thanks dad!

Above and below are the business card and letterhead that I made for his writing service, Timberati.

Bibliophile.

2010-06-19T13:18:00.000-07:00

I mostly share my design and professional artists with you on this blog, so today I thought I would share some art by my friend Emily. She cut open books to reveal the pages inside while simultaneously making a frame for her attractive watercolors.

My camera collection. #2: Yashica Electro 35.

2010-06-17T11:42:00.000-07:00

Maker: Yashica
Model: Electro 35 GS
Year: 1970
Film type: 35mm
Usability: currently broken, but fixable
My cost: $30

The Electro 35 is a rangefinder camera, meaning the viewfinder displays two images superimposed over each and when they line up perfectly, your image is in focus. The setup allows for the camera to be quicker and quieter than an SLR and therefore more discreet, perfect for street photography. I picked this one up from somebody on Craigslist, and just haven't spent the money to get it fixed. That said, it's an attractive and clean camera with a great feel. I hope to use it someday.

My 100 Favorite Films. Entry #33: The Prestige.

2010-06-15T10:18:00.000-07:00

The Prestige (2006)
written by Christopher and Jonathan Nolan
directed by Jonathan Nolan
starring Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Piper Perabo, Michael Caine, Rebecca Hall and Scarlett Johansson
country: usa/uk
genre: drama

Visuals: 9
Writing: 9
Everyday watchability: 5

It's been six months since my last film post. I've been so busy getting through school that I've (rightfully) been neglecting my film analysis duties. But I have missed it. It's a good workout for the old brain cells.

My first movie after my hiatus is The Prestige. The Prestige is one of those movies that people like to brag about, saying "I saw the end coming a mile away." The problem is that the film isn't written in such a way that you're supposed to be shocked by the ending; although I'm sure many were, to be sure. The film is written so that there's no way you can pick up on all the intricacies of the illusion. Not to brag, but I figured some of the ending about half an hour before the credits, but I wasn't about to leave. The movie was simply too gorgeous and too perfectly nuanced to give up on.

My camera collection. #1: Polaroid Land 800.

2010-06-14T22:01:00.000-07:00

I thought that as the summer goes on that I would share with you the different cameras that I own. I believe I own about 15 different cameras of various shapes, sizes, film formats, levels of quality and functionality (i.e. some of them are broken).

Maker: Polaroid
Model: Land Camera, 800 Series
Year: circa 1960
Film type: unknown, presumably Polaroid Packfilm
Usability: unknown
My cost: $0

My mom and stepdad got me this beautiful Polaroid Land Camera as a graduation gift. I've lusted after Polaroid Land Cameras for a while but never owned one. They're truly beautifully constructed and heavy as sin and marked a landmark in consumer photography that really wasn't met until digital cameras came on the market.

Memories…

2010-06-13T00:01:00.000-07:00

…of my first day of school.

The Portland Alliance is out!

2010-06-08T23:13:00.000-07:00

I'm not totally sure what to say here. This is my first design to actually hit the streets and really be printed, so I'm a bit flabbergasted. I's pretty awesome. Andrea, the editor and awesome lady whom I met on a bus, dropped off a big stack in my apartment building. So come get yours.

Second Home portfolio page.

2010-06-03T19:59:00.000-07:00

I finished designing my Second Home boxes, comped them up and took some photos. Here's how the portfolio spread is probably going to look. Imagine a book gutter running down the middle if you like.

Pure class.

2010-05-31T21:02:00.000-07:00

My Stumptown Comics Fest haul.

2010-05-28T22:03:00.000-07:00

Last month—or was it two months ago; I just can't keep track of months anymore—I went to the Stumptown Comics Fest, a small festival of all things comics. Zines, mainstream crap and publishing workshops. I love these events because they're great place to see amazingly talented people and pick up lots of inspiration for not a lot of money. Here are just some of the things I picked up there.

Otto Zeplin	Twilight of the Sea Cow
The Ouija Interviews	Holy Shit It's the Future

Human Body Theatre

Recycle (in style).

2010-05-25T19:20:00.000-07:00

Above is a mockup of three recycling bins from my Urban Living series. The series is going to be made up of three recycling bins, a trash bin, a number of food and spice containers and the cover of the Portland Garbage and Recycling Guide.

This mockup, using Ikea's Retur recycling bin, helps give me an idea of how the idea looks in practice which can be very hard to do by just looking at a design on a screen. The next step is to head to Ikea and pick up a few of these so I can get a better sense of how the bins function and get exact measurements.

The nice thing about this project is that when I'm done, I'll have recycling bins and storage containers that I can actually use.

Career center poster series.

2010-05-23T22:45:00.000-07:00

Another one done. This is my series of posters for PCC's Career Center. I did these for a design contest in class last year and we never heard which design they'd be using (I guess none of them), but I really liked my concept, so it's becoming a portfolio piece. I'm ditching the main poster since I was never totally happy with it and these stand on their own quite well.

Triple yum?

2010-05-21T16:49:00.000-07:00

About a month back I attended the Stumptown Comics Festival and bought this adorable lamb from Lark Pien. I later went back keen on picking up the other two in the series but was too late. I contacted her via her blog and was able to order the cow and pig from her. They're too cute. I find the irony of my vegetarianism the icing on the cake for these gorgeous art pieces.

Coachella banners.

2010-05-20T23:26:00.000-07:00

I've decided to turn my Coachella posters into banners. They still have the same feel as the originals so are all still inspired by Coachella's mountain theme. I'm still working on it, but hopefully it will be a stronger portfolio piece this way and less distracting without all those band names.

Yum?

2010-05-20T21:46:00.000-07:00

These are the updated boxes for Second Home Restaurant. So much better; am I right?

Neofilm boxes.

2010-05-17T11:01:00.000-07:00

These are the final boxes for the Neofilm packaging product. They were finished some time ago, but I didn't have a suitable camera for taking pictures of them. Ironic?

I want to give a huge thank you to Ampersand Vintage on Alberta in Portland. They were a huge help in getting this project done. Two of the photos found there are used in this project (on the 550 boxes) and the polaroids provided quite a bit of inspiration.

Coconut Sunrise & Paradise Island.

2010-05-07T23:44:00.000-07:00

Do you prefer column A or column B?

A	B

Not to give unfair advantage to this design, but here's how it wraps. The other ones wrap in the same relative location, just above the title and just below the net weight.

New School Books photographed.

2010-05-07T17:34:00.000-07:00

When I send out or show my portfolio. These are the three pictures that people are likely going to see. I'm probably going to make one tiny tweak to Player Piano (see if you can spot it) and re-shoot them on a lower ISO with a tripod, but these are the likely the three angles that are going to be used. What do you all think?

Urban living.

2010-04-30T23:24:00.000-07:00

I made some recycling signage for my apartment a while back using really simple white type on black backgrounds. I was inspired by (read: ripping off) Jesse Kirsch's amazing brand project. While helping a friend brainstorm ideas for her projects, I had the thought of taking what I made and making it an entire lifestyle set. It would have not only labeled trash and recycling bins, but also storage containers for dry goods and possibly even artwork.

I've moved away from Helvetica and into the world of Din. And having been inspired by Always with Honor's illustration work (and my recently love of dots), I thought I might apply some iconography in the vein of their What a Relief project.

So far, I've just worked on the labels for the recycling and trash containers, but it's a decent start and there might be something there.

Reaction magazine semi-realized.

2010-04-30T19:50:00.000-07:00

Here's what Reaction might look like if it were a real magazine.

Superstar Graphic Designers of the Past and Present Day.

2010-04-29T21:35:00.000-07:00

I was probably hiding these from you guys for some good reason, but whatever it was, I don't care so much now. These are graphic designer trading cards I made to be used as a promotional piece. They're modeled after baseball cards, with statistics on the back and samples of each designer's work. Mine's the rookie card. Isn't that just a face you could pinch/hire?

Required reading.

2010-04-28T18:49:00.000-07:00

Eyeballs hurting.
Head aching.
Fingers cramping.
Must upload latest version of book series.

It's now called Required Reading, and is published by a company called New School Books. There's a new logo. They all have adjusted palettes, including an additional color on each. The illustrations on most have been updated. Furthermore, the first three books are going to be part of a collection called The New Dystopia Collection. The band at the bottom (not to scale) would go around the three books, unitizing them. I've got some copy on the back, which is still being worked on. All in all, I think it's really turning out and it's sure come a long way.

Timberati business package.

2010-04-21T14:30:00.000-07:00

I finished the business system for my dad. He writes about environmental issues and sustainability. In order, there are two sides of the business card, the letterhead with sample text, a large mailing label and small to and from labels that fit adhesive labels he already has.

note: this is, of course, not to scale.

A reminder.

2010-04-19T22:11:00.000-07:00

Photo: one I took when I first moved to Portland.
Quote: a line from the film Time After Time that has always stuck with me.

Good Books.

2010-04-17T22:16:00.000-07:00

I've expanded the book series idea. It's a now a collection of contemporary classics marketed as such. Right now, the name of the publishing company is Good Books, which I'm not totally happy with. If anybody has a good idea for a non-existent but real-sounding publishing company, leave a comment.

I'm pondering the idea of putting an informational blurb somewhere on the cover that lets you know why it was chosen for the collection as well as possibly the year it was published.

The bottom one has a band across it. This would be a physical band that would go around the books. There could even possibly be a band that goes around multiple books that have some sort of similarity, such as three dystopian novels or three books from the same author or time period.

Ideas?

The 11 songs I've listened to the most…

2010-04-16T16:59:00.000-07:00

…since I got my Mac. You were totally wondering. Admit it.

10. Cut Copy - Hearts On Fire (31 times)
10. Cut Copy - Out There On The Ice (31)
8. Kings of Leon - Sex On Fire (32)
8. Echo & the Bunnymen - Bring on the Dancing Horses (32)
7. Does It Offend You, Yeah? - Epic Last Song (33)
6. Vampire Weekend - White Sky (34)
5. Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma (35)
4. La Roux - Fascination (39)
3. Phoenix - 1901 (41)
2. Digitalism - Pogo (42)
1. Hot Chip - Ready For The Floor (52)

Timberati biz card updates.

2010-04-15T22:00:00.000-07:00

So my dad selected a business card design for his identity. The more I looked at it however, the more I got to thinking, "this could be better." There's an illustration from Kitsune Noir (a site detailed in this post) that I've been using as my desktop background, and it got me thinking about adding some illustration to the cards. Nothing too crazy. Just some simple shapes with some texture. I made four different tree styles, added a paper texture (to keep the paper theme going) and put them in the designs. I think they make nice natural arrows that point the eye back up to the text, which is the important part of a business card anyway.

The last image is an alternate back, which displays his web address. This would be in lieu of a ".com" on the front of the card. What does everyone think?

Another friendly reminder.

2010-04-14T09:00:00.000-07:00

Re-examining the book series.

2010-04-10T19:44:00.000-07:00

Since my portfolio can contain whatever 10 pieces I want essentially, I've decided to re-explore my book series idea from last year.

I've taken the original basic template, added some texture and a logo. Those illustrations are going to be hand-drawn high-contrast illustrations instead of simple vector art. I'm exploring different type treatments for the cover and spine. Which do you think works best?

A reminder.

2010-04-09T22:48:00.001-07:00

You may be seeing things like this around the internet.
Soft images with friendly phrases on them.
Usually with impeccable typography.
Maybe they're over done.
Maybe they're trite.
Or maybe they're nice.
Maybe they're helpful.
I'm not sure.
But I made this.
And I quite like it.

Feel free to download the full size and use as a background.
If you like.

Top 100 Songs of the Decade: 50–41.

2010-04-08T17:48:00.000-07:00

50. Basement Jaxx - Oh My Gosh

Single 2005

If you wondering if Basement Jaxx was serious all those years, this should put an end to any doubt. No, they're not serious, and they're very serious about it.

49. Justice - Stress

Cross 2007

Someone once told me to turn this song off because it was too stressful.

48. Simian Mobile Disco - Sleep Deprivation

Attack Decay Sustain Release 2007

On an album full of terrible titles, this one is shockingly appropriate. The track is like the experience of getting your second wind on the dance floor when a track you've never heard before blows your mind. Cyclically, this could be that track.

47. Daft Punk - Harder Better Faster Stronger

Discovery 2002

First minute of listening to song: what a goofy song.

Second minute: this is actually kind of good.

Third minute: this is actually totally awesome.

Fourth minute: it's done? Press repeat.

46. The Chemical Brothers - Star Guitar

Come With Us 2003

This song is made infinitely better by a perfect music video my Michel Gondry. By itself, it's a gorgeous rolling track that gains momentum quickly and knows how to hold it. My love of handclaps may have started here.

note: the Star Guitar included in the playlist is not the original (as it wasn't available) but it's a pretty sweet cover

45. The Radio Dept. - 1995

Lesser Matters 2003

So sweet.

44. TV on the Radio - Crying

Dear Science 2008

How do they make those sounds pop so much? This song is just so tight, so organized, but still so emotional. It is called Crying after all.

43. Plaid - Squance

Double Figure 2001

Only total nerds could make dance music this pure.

42. Matthew Dear - Fex

Leave Luck to Heaven 2003

Man I like my music organized.

41. Cut Copy - Far Away

In Ghost Colours 2008

It took me a while to enjoy this album because it's so overproduced. But underneath that production (some of which is awesome) are great freaking pop songs.

VIIF business cards.

2010-04-08T09:33:00.000-07:00

The next step in my package for the Victoria International Improv Festival (the first step is this web banner) is a business card. I already showed them three versions, and I liked this one best, with just a few changes. And I made some changes of my own to things that I wasn't happy with. To save money, the front side is full-colour and the back side is black only. Does it work?

The Portland Alliance.

2010-04-07T09:30:00.001-07:00

About a month ago, I was riding the bus on my way to an art show. This girl about my age started up a conversation with me. I discovered she was the brand new editor of The Portland Alliance, a progressive newspaper. She discovered that I was a graphic designer. She accompanied me to the art show (where she won an art piece made by my friend's boyfriend). We exchanged business cards and she suggested that I work with them on the new layout for the newspaper. I said that might be cool.

She checked out my blog and called me to say she liked my work. We met up at her office this past Sunday to discuss what they're looking for. I was going to suggest we do more of a magazine look than a newspaper look (because magazines are cooler and inherently more progressive), but she suggested it first. And now I'm the layout designer for The Portland Alliance.

I'm not making big bucks off this one (we'll call it a labor of love), but this is definitely going into my final portfolio.

Here's the layout of the Dec/Jan issue…

And here's what I've been working on…
(Note: the dotted line simply shows where the fold is; it doesnt print. Everything above the line would be what you see in a newspaper box.)

And then the different banners/nameplates I made for the front page…

inspirations
consciously
Rifflandia 2009 catalog
Colours magazine Teenagers issue
a 1980 issue of The Daily News from Longview, WA
various articles from Things As They Are, a compilation of photoessays
subconsciously
Julie Dery's business card

Timberati identity.

2010-03-29T11:00:00.000-07:00

My dad commissioned me to make his business system for him. He's a blogger that writes about ecology, trees and sustainability issues, with a bent toward rethinking the idea of cutting our dependence on logging. I've made three variations for him to choose from.

The first is meant to echo the height and thickness of a tree and to be generally simple and clean but a little bit light.

The second is simply organized on the front, while the back contains an amusing phrase. He believes that when done right, logging can be a completely sustainable means of production. Therefore, the phrase on the back is a tongue-in-cheek reference to businesses that tout their recycled/bamboo/rock-based alternatives to paper.

The third features a variation on a logo that I made for him, a T resembling a falling tree.

Which do you like best?

Polaroid final presentation boards.

2010-03-16T18:45:00.000-07:00

Here are the layouts of my final presentation boards for the Polaroid identity project. The actual prints are at Kinko's right now and I have to schlep back over there later to pick up the prints, cut them out and mount to the boards. I'm really happy with the way everything turned out. I think it's strong, fun and hopefully really appeals the demographic Polaroid is aiming for.

That said, I'll be so so so glad when it's done.

Polaroid website.

2010-03-14T20:56:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I just want to throw my hands up in the air and say, I don't know where this is going." This is one of those occasions. I'm working on a website look for my Polaroid project. Does anything stand out to you? Do you like anything about these?

Credit where credit is due:
image 1 2 3 4 5
All other images by me.

Papers…business papers.

2010-03-14T20:30:00.000-07:00

I used the fourth image from this post for my last illustration. This "illustration" was made only from pieces off cut paper. I'm fairly happy with the way it turned out.

Polaroid posters.

2010-03-09T18:22:00.000-08:00

For my Polaroid project, we have to come up with three separate collateral pieces. The first was the diorama; the second will be a website. I was having a problem coming up with a third,, but when I really got to thinking about it, the one thing I would love to attend would be a Polaroid exhibition. Imagine walls of a museum simply covered in Polaroids. You could fit thousands on the walls of even a relatively small space. Supposing the Polaroid Corporation actually were to do this, I imagined a series of posters for it. To be honest, I first imagined one poster, and thought of the name "Polaroid's Not Dead," a play off the phrase "punks not dead." [sic]

Then I thought of making that phrase one of a number of slogans being used for the advertising of the Exhibition, which I personally really like. Which do you think works better? Also…any ideas for Polaroid-related slogans?

Four images of abandoned buildings.

2010-03-08T19:17:00.001-08:00

I was looking for a good image for a cut-paper illustration. I wanted something with a good sense of depth, but also nice textures. If you know me, you know that I find beauty in decrepit things, broken down cars, dilapidated buildings, so all this brought me to images of abandoned mental asylums. A few of these are so gorgeous that I felt the need to share them with you here. Enjoy.

Diorama mock-up.

2010-03-08T00:28:00.001-08:00

I'm working on a sort of diorama for my Polaroid project. It's going to be a series of transparencies with different parts of a scene printed on them. You can mix and match them to make amusing scenes. There are even places to stick on Polaroid i-Zone photos. There's going to be three scenes that make sense together: a cityscene; a tribal scene (complete with headhunter poles) and a space scene.

Black current.

2010-03-07T09:52:00.000-08:00

I got this receipt about a month back from Rimsky's (full name Rimsky-Korsakoffee House). I held onto because I thoroughly enjoyed the spelling of "blackcurrant" and the indecipherable drawing on the back. My best guess is that it's an anthropomorphic broken egg in a coffee cup.