ESPN Endless Drama on Slate, Creativity Online, and Salon.com
Posted on March 29, 2008
Filed Under Design / Work | 1 Comment
Endless Drama (read previous post on ESPN’s Endless Drama launch) was featured on the homepage of Creativity Online as an Adcritic Interactive pick from March 13-15! That’s a first for me. Slate also has an article, and Salon.com as well.
Sadie Magazine
Posted on March 29, 2008
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Sadie is a magazine for young women… but it’s not your typical makeup and fashion articles. The writers and editors at the magazine have put a lot of work into it and have several good contributers and articles on subjects that range from hip-hop in Cuba to transgendered teens. And good art and music coverage, too.
After only a few months, the magazine is getting some good press, tons of hits, and have been asked to contribute to the online version of Elle Magazine. Women and girls in the know say Sadie could be “the new Sassy” which was a girls mag from the late ’80s with a revered, almost cult-like following. So if you know any young girls looking for something non-mainstream (and cool) point ‘em towards Sadie.
So, you may ask… why am I writing about this? Well, my girlfriend is one of the founding editors, and I helped out with a design for their identity and the site. There are still some bugs to be worked out (design-wise) but overall, Sadie is making quite a positive debut.
Dead Bats
Posted on March 25, 2008
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Spooky bat article in the NYT, apparently we are losing them by the boatload to some mysterious white fungus. Read all about it.
Black Mountain: In The Future
Posted on March 24, 2008
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I’ve been a big fan of this band for a while now, and also lead singer Stephen McBean’s other project, the Pink Mountaintops. Good stuff. And the new album is good too. Musically, they are at the top of their game. Keeping up with bringing old ’70’s rock (Sabbath, etc.) back in a big, mean way. Synths, big guitars, and on this album, even more complicated songs, etc. Most of the reviews generally agree with that.
But I have one pretty major gripe that nobody seems to be talking about. Here it is: why oh why did the female vocalist Amber Webber turn into some kind of warbler (and I mean the bird variety) when singing live? There is some weird vocal thing she is doing, a pronounced vibrato. Or maybe this vocal thing has some other technical name, I dunno. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s OK the first few times… but why so much of it? Listen for yourself to the podcast available via NPR’s All Songs Considered Live podcasts.
She warbles on every damn song! Even the old ones… like “Don’t Run our Hearts Around.” So distracting… it gets old for me fast and it honestly just doesn’t sound that good. It’s not so much of an issue on the album, they judiciously used it sparingly, and the mixes are different for studio vs live shows. Other than that, I’ll continue to listen, even though I am finding myself trying to find the warble on the album now after listening to that live show.
Anyway, if you haven’t checked them out before, the band’s back story is very cool, take a peek on wikipedia. And have a look at their website for news, dates, and such.
Mini At-At!
Posted on March 17, 2008
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This thing is wild! It’s being developed by Boston Dynamics for defense, of course. It’s called the BigDog quadruped robot. Check it out on the ice, trudging through the snow, and when the guy kicks it, still won’t go down! Kinda spooky…
Chilly surf
Posted on March 16, 2008
Filed Under Surfing | Leave a Comment
Some decent surf the past couple days, and the forecast looks good all week for us here in the Northeast. It was grey and gloomy and the raw north wind was on it somewhat this weekend; and that’s 36 degree water you’re looking at. Some snow swirling around made it feel even colder. The ice-cream headaches on duck-dives and hold downs are brutal, and even with the best wetsuit, after a while you are just plain cold. But that’s all part of surfing in New England.
Some of the boys paddled out at this secret spot. Getting in and out of the water is a bitch, since there is no clear entry or exit. Boards get damaged there a lot and today was no exception. I was concerned about the tide coming in fast, so I headed out of town to a heavy, hollow beachbreak with some other lads. We all got barreled, and we all took our licks. I was driven into the sand so hard I have a swollen knee and it actually broke the skin through the wetsuit- 6mm of neoprene. Good times.
Modernista gets wacky… or wiki
Posted on March 14, 2008
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Modernista is a Boston ad agency… and they just launched a new site that is well… interesting. Yep, that’s their real homepage. And yep, that’s their real Wikipedia entry… all in one! Like, woah, man. Only problem is that I couldn’t get any of their portfolio to load. This is a pretty big statement on where they think the web is headed. Now if they *really* want to get daring, unlock that sucka and let us all edit, true Wikipedia style!
Form + Function
Posted on March 14, 2008
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Adweek article on Form + Function
“Funny microsites are giving way to useful, sometimes entertaining applications; the showing off of flashy technology is yielding to design geared towards generating sales; and crafting for social interaction is replacing one-way experiences. Now that digital points exist far outside the browser, designing for the Web is passe, with digital design chasing the elusive goal of designing experiences that wrap all of the above together.”
An interesting article about a shift towards functional (rather then just fun and eye-candy) web apps / sites. A good trend, don’t we all like stuff that’s actually useful, even if in only a small way?
Do the test
Posted on March 14, 2008
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This is an interesting video about bicycle safety… I didn’t see the ’secret’ until the third try! Pretty clever, and it really drives the point home. Check it out here.
“Reverence” by Sarah Manguso
Posted on March 14, 2008
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Love not the rider but the old rider,
the ghost in the saddle: Obey that ghost.
A good horse runs even at the shadow of the whip.
But we are not good horses.
We bolt. We stand still in bad weather.
We rely on things we know are unreliable,
it feels so good just to “rely.”
We are relied on.
But I do not know who knows that bad secret.
I do not see who sits astride my back,
who cuts my flank so lovingly on our way to the dark mountain.