yewknee.com

Jun. 17th

Jean "Moebius" Giraud

Jean Giraud, aka "Moebius", passed away in 2012 but his legacy of artwork continues to influence and stand the test of time. Recently, Jed directed me to this collection of rare artworks. You probably know his work from Alien, TRON, Fifth Element, The Abyss or Space Jam but take a gander at this stuff, it's less dark than any of those films but every bit as fantastic. This is a nice jumping off point to dive into much much more.
Bad Postcards

Jun. 17th

Bad Postcards

I posted about Bad Postcards back in 2010 but it's still going strong and absolutely worth a revist. The term "bad" gets used too often for things that are kitsch or a little corny. This ongoing collection of is rarely actually bad. In fact, it's mostly awesome. Images like this are perfect and images like this are perfectly weird.

Jun. 14th

Friday Videos - June 14th, 2013

Alright, I missed a week last week because of the move. Sorry about that! Fortunately, that means this week's playlist is somewhat of a double dose. Enjoy! More goods here or here or here if you need it.

Have a great weekend.

Jun. 14th

White Hot Grid

This animation, White Hot Grid, from Jess Igleheart is 80's nostalgia perfection. The official description says it best:
A brief experiment in 1980s commercial motion graphics, sampling what my young brain was indoctrinated with at the time: Robert Abel & Associates commercials, EPCOT Center promotion and New Wave nonsense.
The reference points are specific but it definitely feels like homage, not complete derivation. The VHS glitches are just the right amount - and so perfectly executed. Love it.

Jun. 14th

The Foursquare Time Machine

The Foursquare Time Machine takes all your check-in's, maps them out and animates them in a rather slick presentation. Ultimately, it's an advertisement for Samsung and "The next big thing" but it's so well done that you don't really notice it. The full infographic is massive. I've only been using Foursquare for a little bit but, even still, it captivated my attention for the duration.

Jun. 14th

The Enclave: The Impossible Image

I've seen a lot of work from Richard Mosse over the years and it's always visually compelling, reveals some sort of intriguing subject and is often somewhat provocative. His next piece, The Enclave, is all that taken up another notch. Watch this behind the scenes video - The Impossible Image - for insight on how and why he chose to shoot in infrared inside the Democratic Republic of Congo. It looks completely surreal to see the green hues shifted to muted pink.

Jun. 14th

Poncho

Unfortunately, it's only available in New York at the moment but Poncho looks to be a fun little weather notification service. Every morning, at your specified time, you get an email about weather conditions or transit / traffic situations. Even if you can't use it, it's worth checking out the pleasant illustrations, color palette, animations and slick onboarding process.

via Casey.
Semantic UI

Jun. 14th

Semantic UI

I spent some quality time digging through the documentation of the Semantic UI framework last night and was quite impressed. It looks great and the implementation system is super sensible. I'm told it's not entirely complete yet but I certainly can't tell from looking. Very tempted to dive right in.

Jun. 12th

Made Man: Bob Odenkirk

I do a terrible job of keeping up with Paul F. Thompkin's series Made Man. It's a shame because he talks to so many great guests, including his latest interview with Bob Odenkirk. It's loose but that's what makes it so enjoyable. It's slightly in promotion of this book but it is, mostly, just two friends chatting.

Slightly unrelated: never forget this.

Jun. 12th

Maurice Sendak on Being a Kid

I've hesitated to listen to this lost interview with Maurice Sendak for fear of it being too twee or trying too hard. Fortunately, that's incorrect. It's sincere, honest and even a tiny bit heartwarming. To hear someone as together, experienced and respected in the world say:
"I still think the same way I thought as a child. I still worry. I'm still frightened... Nothing changes."
Well, that's a calming thing to hear. We're all figuring it out as we go.

Jun. 12th

iOS7 Perspectives

Thanks to Matthew Buchanan (and Daniel) I immersed myself in both these reads on iOS7 - great, calm, metered takes on the new look. There's been an onslaught of opinions about the whole thing but much of it just seems negative with no reasoning. These two, not so much. I've reserved my opinion until I actually see it in action. It's easy to jump on the hate train for something new - because new is always unsettling - but I think it's nice to see Apple doing something different instead of continuing to simmer where they were.

Jun. 11th

Pilipo G

The photostream of Pilipo G is equal parts adorable, unsettling (in the good way), fairy tale and perfectly textured. That is to say, it's not easy to nail one exact thing down that makes it so great but, undeniably, it is so great. Dive into his official blog for even more.

via Sam.

Jun. 11th

Request Quest

Nothing more refreshing than an incredibly well done, educational, quiz to test your insights on current technology - browser behavior in this case. Request Quest is nerdy, no doubt about it, but beyond the content there's a really impressive design and UI system presenting it. That is to say, even if you're not curious about which browser loads a background image established on a hidden DIV via javascript you may still enjoy the overall experience.
eggers

Jun. 10th

Eggers on Selling Out

Since it's already been on the Internet for thirteen years - making it officially Ancient in Internet Time™ - I won't attempt to wax eloquent on this Dave Eggers interview where he tackles the question asked by all teenagers of their favorite artists - "Are you taking any steps to keep shit real?" AKA What's Up With Selling Out or Why Not To Say No?

However, I will suggest if you haven't read it to please partake in the entirety of the addendum at your earliest convenience. It covers a lot of ground but it's great from top to bottom. If you have read it, read it again. It's worthy of a couple visits.

Thanks to Adam for catching me up.
Mobius Strip

Jun. 10th

Mobius Strip (thru My Fingers)

I have spoken of my enjoyment of the works of Jonathan Visger's ABSOFACTO endeavor. I am, decidedly, a fan. He's recently released a new track - Mobius Strip (thru My Fingers) - and it's as enjoyable as anything he's done previously. I'm still on the fence about the band tactic of releasing music as it wraps itself up or releasing it in album groupings but I suppose there is no correct way, only personal preference. Fortunately for us, a new single track may not be much to familiarize yourself with but it's enjoyable listen and a reminder to revisit the depth of the catalog.
Warmest 100

Jun. 10th

The Warmest 100

I know next to nothing of the Australian music scene - with a few stereotypical exceptions - so it was enlightening to encounter The Warmest 100, an inline music player of the "web's most accurate prediction of Australia's popular music countdown - Triple J's Hottest 100." Okay, so that doesn't really mean a whole lot to me either but the site is excellently designed and entertaining to browse. And any sort of easy breezy music discovery mechanism is A-OK by me.

Jun. 4th

Destination NYC

The blog will resume regular postings sometime next week - I'm off on a multi-day roadtrip on my way up to NYC. I'm excited by the prospect of something new on the horizon but certainly will miss my family and all my friends in Nashville. It's a great place to visit but, honestly, it's a phenomenal place to live. It has most of the amenities of any large city but it's not so overwhelming that you couldn't take on any project you wanted to with at least some level of success. What I'm saying is, it's kind of a small pond but not so small that it's crushing. This is both it's greatest attribute and it's biggest downfall. Not to be too cheesy but Nashville will always be my home.

Alright, enough with the personal stuff. I'll resume regular postings soon soon enough! In the meantime, read this 101 Best Written TV Series list and catch up on anything you haven't seen yet (plenty I'm sure).

BRB.

Jun. 4th

The Bitter Buddha

I've been wanting to see The Bitter Buddha - a documentary on comedian Eddie Pepitone - for some time. So, it was a great treat when we had the opportunity to distribute it directly from the filmmaker, Steven Feinartz. It has appearances by a lot of his peers - Marc Maron, Patton Oswalt, Zach Galifianakas, Sarah Silverman, etc. etc. etc. - that all seem to respect him greatly but also freely razz him while discussing. It's informative and funny.

Jun. 3rd

Jim Kazanjian

Typically, I'm not a huge fan of entirely digital compositions as fine art. It feels like cheating. However, sometimes it's done so well that you can't deny the skill and imagination involved. Such is the case with Jim Kazanjian and his crazy collaged home constructions. Occasionally it goes too far for my personal taste but most of the time it's incredibly engaging to pore over.